Just as Jack and Lin Zheling entered the hotel's dedicated elevator to the penthouse suite, Justin reported back.
"Jack, wait, they don't just seem to be after elevator control. I noticed they've hijacked the penthouse's Wi-Fi and replaced the login URL of a Swiss bank with a Trojan page."
Facing the "pure" look typical of a computer novice, Jack explained.
"The electronic key in Zhang Mingjun's hand is a decoy. If the VIP attempts to transfer the billion dollars to their account electronically, they'll be lured into the Trojan page, which will then deplete their balance."
This also proved that Zhang Mingjun and his men had no intention of wiping themselves out together; otherwise, this would be a waste of time.
After notifying Ma Xidao and Jiang Zhentai to act immediately, Jack switched channels. "Anna, how's the situation over there?"
"Hold on a minute. They're installing something on the rooftop. The doctor says it's almost certainly a VX dispensing device."
Anna, speaking from the other end of the channel, lowered her voice. She and Stanley had long since ambushed the hotel rooftop, waiting for their opportunity.
Jack breathed a sigh of relief, but he remained cautious. "Proceed as planned. Also, tell Stanley to report any problems, like if the device can't be dismantled. Our lives are in his hands."
At this point, he instinctively reached for the pre-prepared first aid kits, such as phosphate-dissolving needles, in the pockets of his tactical vest. These were merely psychological comfort.
If the VX was released slowly from the rooftop air conditioning system, even he wouldn't have survived, let alone the others.
Once atomized, VX would be slightly denser than the same volume of air. Once it entered the air conditioning system from the rooftop, it would automatically descend, simultaneously following the wind's direction and spreading to the surrounding area.
At that point, centered around this hotel building, anyone exposed to the aerosolized poison would die within ten minutes from asphyxiation caused by paralysis of the respiratory muscles.
Furthermore, before decontamination could begin, as the VX slowly evaporated, any living organisms entering the contaminated area would also perish, a situation that could persist for days.
Meanwhile, the high-ranking official in the presidential suite was unaware of the presence of such a deadly device on the rooftop above him. He was furious that nearly $100 million he had "hard-earned" had vanished.
"You bastard! What have you done?" the official snatched the bodyguard's pistol and pressed it against Jang Mingjun's head.
Jang Mingjun's eyes were bruised, and blood oozed from his ears, nose, and mouth, making his smile even more terrifying.
Behind him lay a small indoor swimming pool, with a huge floor-to-ceiling window at the end. From the edge, he could see most of Seoul.
"Haha. Hahaha. Hahahaha!" Jang Mingjun, strapped to a chair and subjected to nearly half an hour of waterboarding, was now laughing breathlessly.
"Who's the bastard now? Ah? Beg me, without money, who would risk their lives for you, who would follow you on the run?"
Tears of blood trickled down Zhang Mingjun's cheeks. After years of forbearance, he finally tasted the joy of revenge.
The officer's finger rested on the trigger, the muzzle of the gun trembling violently against the man's forehead, yet he dared not fire.
He knew his life and property were now in his hands. Once the arrow was shot, there was no turning back. From the moment he decided to flee, there was no turning back.
Granted, the dozen or so people in the room were his trusted subordinates, utterly devoted to following him, some even abandoning their wives and children. But he knew their motives.
Without the money, he was nothing. Those loyal subordinates would tear him apart in a moment, carrying his body back north, begging for mercy, a chance at life.
At that moment, the sky seemed to collapse, even the light filtering through the vast floor-to-ceiling windows dimmed.
No, the light had indeed dimmed suddenly, as an elevator, routinely used to clean the building's exterior windows, slowly descended. Two figures armed with MP5 submachine guns instantly filled the VIP's field of vision. With a thud,
the
huge floor-to-ceiling windows shattered, and a barrage of bullets pelted the room, instantly shattering the luxuriously decorated suite.
A few bodyguards stationed at the corners of the room managed to escape the initial barrage and attempted to retaliate.
Unexpectedly, the emergency exits on either side of the suite were flung open, and two teams of armed personnel wearing SWAT vests filed in, quickly dispatching the remaining bodyguards.
After a lull in the gunfire, the two gunmen hopped off the elevator, walked around the pool, and approached Zhang Mingjun. They used knives to cut the ropes binding his hands and feet and handed him a remote control.
Zhang Mingjun, freed, draped the remote control across his chest. He easily stepped over the trembling official sprawled on the floor, walked over to the laptop on the table, unplugged the electronic key, and shook it at him.
"Do you know how many schemes we've concocted to lure you out? Desperate, huh? Now you can wail as much as you want."
He shot the official in the knee, tilting his head slightly toward the gathered crowd.
Facing a pair of eyes blazing with crimson, the official raised his hands and cried out in a voice almost shrieking, "Money! It's all yours, spare me."
In response, the black muzzles of guns pointed at him, and the bursts of gunfire erupted from them. The screams ceased abruptly, replaced by a continuous barrage of gunfire.
When the shooting stopped again, the man lying on the floor was an unrecognizable, rotten body.
"Are you all ready? Prepare to retreat!" Zhang Mingjun had also emptied his magazine and was reloading when suddenly, a ding sound came from the elevator at the other end of the hall, followed by the sound of the elevator doors slowly opening.
"No!" He reacted with remarkable speed. According to the original plan, the hacker experts in the computer room should have stopped the elevators directly to the two exclusive presidential suites to hinder the South Korean security personnel downstairs.
With this thought in mind, he opened fire directly at the half-open elevators, and his men around him raised their submachine guns.
Bullets struck the elevator doors, sending sparks of fire flying. The bullets that entered the elevator ricocheted dangerously, bouncing back and forth in the narrow space.
However, when the elevator doors finally opened, there was no one inside.
The scene was a perfect match for classic movie tropes. Everyone subconsciously became alert, not emptying their magazines completely, but keeping their guard up, waiting for some fool to suddenly jump from the open elevator roof.
However, unexpectedly, although the top of the elevator did suddenly open, what descended was not a person, but a whole bundle of stun grenades tied together. This scene inexplicably gave Zhang Mingjun a sense of déjà vu.
However, he was only hit by a single stun grenade last night. In fact, this was the first time in his life that he had seen five or six stun grenades tied together and used as a cluster grenade.
The huge white light and deafening explosion instantly took away everyone's five senses at the scene. The excessive heat even ignited the carpet in the hall.
As the smoke rose, the hotel's fire alarm was automatically triggered, and with the sound of the alarm, the automatic sprinkler system began to work.
(End of chapter)