Chapter 602 - 546: Releasing the Tiger Back to the Mountain

Kelly did not expect Song Heping's reply to be so resolute.

She felt that she was losing face.

"Song, our relationship is one of cooperation, you've refused our requests many times, isn't this a bit too dismissive of us?"

Song Heping hated intelligence officials like Kelly the most.

You say they're in the intel business, they should be heartless and ruthless.

If you're kind-hearted and soft, go do animal breeding.

A ruthless person should speak their mind, if they don't agree, they would just go for it.

But damn it, people like Kelly have to adopt an official tone, always with "partner" this and "one of us" that.

He really wanted to curse this old woman out loud.

Who the hell is your "partner"? That's just an interest connection!

Who the hell is "one of us"? I'm not blonde or blue-eyed.

Dammit "one of us"!

If it weren't for the fact that you from the CIA might be of use in expanding into the South American market, do you think I would give a damn about you?!

"Kelly, stop bringing up partners all the time, is that how a partner acts? Meddling in my plans every day. Do you know we Chinese have an old saying 'Don't employ those you distrust, don't distrust those you employ'? Calling and ordering me around every day, micro-managing, do you know why the Kaisen Captain you supported during the Liberation War was utterly defeated? He damn loved to micro-manage! If you want to handle the situation in Mexico well, to reach your goals, then please stop meddling in my business from now on, all my actions have their arrangements and planning, you just need to coordinate with me, understand?!"

After being scolded by Song Heping, Kelly was completely silent on the other end.

Song Heping wasn't in a rush either, he watched as Jiang Feng and the others loaded the prisoners onto the trucks with his phone.

After waiting a full minute, there was finally a response from the other end of the phone.

"Fine, I won't interfere."

Then she hung up.

"Old squad leader, you gave Old Witch a scolding?"

Song Heping laughed: "What kind of thing is she! She really thinks she's my leader? Calling me every day with demands and requests."

Jiang Feng laughed: "You just chastised her like that, will that old woman smash her phone?"

Song Heping said: "She didn't dare in front of me, but who knows after she hung up. Forget about her, let's load up quickly and stick to the plan."

Soon, all members of the Los Zetas Organization were tied up and loaded onto a bus, and Song Heping returned to his bulletproof car, escorted by men sent by Shorty, heading towards a villa in the outskirts of Saltillo City.

The villa belonged to Shorty, quite similar to the mansion he was previously captured in.

Secluded location, heavily guarded.

Shorty really put in effort this time, sending over two hundred gang members to guard the mansion and handle security.

Soon, Lascano and the others were taken off the truck and locked in the dungeon.

As for himself, he was quickly brought to the basement of the villa by several fierce-looking members of the Sinoloa gang.

There, he saw Song Heping.

"Save your breath, I won't say a thing."

He saw the video equipment in the basement and realized Song Heping was going to interrogate him.

Recalling that Song Heping had mentioned having interrogation experts on his team, Lascano still felt somewhat fearful and uneasy inside.

Although he had received Special Forces training, he knew the capabilities of interrogation experts.

Whether he could endure it was another matter.

To his surprise, Song Heping pulled up a chair, sat in front of him, and started chatting about everyday life.

"Lascano, I heard you came from a poor background, why did you choose this path?"

Lascano was totally unprepared.

He thought Song Heping would interrogate him for information and secrets about his organization, such as hideout locations, money stashes, drug trafficking routes.

At the very least, he would have expected Song Heping to extract information about the Gulf Group's drug operations from him.

But unexpectedly, Song Heping started talking about life itself.

This is freaking...

"Money..."

Lascano cautiously looked at Song Heping and answered: "I was scared of being poor. Why should those drug dealers be so rich? Why when I joined the army at seventeen, after six grueling years of training, passing various assessments, and graduating to the Special Forces, is my monthly salary not even worth the price of their cigar box?!"

"Oh... do all your brothers feel the same?"

Song Heping kept asking.

Lascano was stunned again.

Isn't that obvious?

Why is this kid chatting with me about such obvious things?

"Of course, we share the same ideals!"

"Tell me about your dreams..."

"..."

"Talk about your family..."

"..."

"How do your parents feel about your career choice?"

"..."

After a full half-hour, this kind of idle conversation finally became unbearable for Lascano.

He exploded.

"Song, if you're going to kill, just kill! Do it quickly! You ask all these irrelevant things here, what are you trying to do!? Don't get too close to me here, I'm not familiar with you! You're just my target, an assassination target, that's all!"

Song Heping was not at all anxious, taking a sip of mineral water and even offering some forward: "Do you want some water?"

"No! What exactly do you want?!" Lascano felt this was simply an insult.

As the boss of the Los Zetas Organization, after being caught the opponent was actually chatting with him about life and family aspirations?

Oh, come on!

He couldn't take it.

"What do I want to do? You mean, why am I asking you all this nonsense, right?"

"Yes!"

"Well, if I asked you crucial things, like how many stash spots your organization has with the Gulf Group, and where are they? Or, if I give you a map, and you point out the locations for me, so that I can send people to raid them."

"Hahaha!" Lascano laughed wildly, looking very smug he said: "Look at that, in the end, you couldn't help but ask the right questions, can you?! That's what you came for all along, isn't it? You're just trying to wear me out with a war of attrition, to torment me, right?"

Watching the man in front laughing crazily, Song Heping felt like he was watching a gorilla in a zoo.

After the other party completed their performance, Song Heping calmly said: "So, are you going to talk or not?"

"I won't talk! Don't even try to pry a word out of me!"

Lascano put on a tough-guy act again.

Song Heping spread his hands: "Look, I ask you these things, yet you won't speak, so why should I ask? If we're not going to talk about dreams, life, or family, what should I ask you about?"

Lascano froze.

He couldn't argue back.

The other person was right.

You refuse to talk.

If not about life or dreams, then what else is there to discuss?

"Just kill me!"

In the end, he repeated the old phrase.

Song Heping waved his hand, saying to the person beside him, "Take him away, I need to eat something. Oh, and give them something to eat as well."

Song Heping instructed Jiang Feng and White Bear standing to the side.

"Remember, treat them well with food and drink, no killing, understood?"

"Okay..."

After Lascano was taken down and settled, it was Jiang Feng and White Bear's turn to be puzzled.

"What is the boss planning to do?"

White Bear scratched his head and asked Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng shook his head: "You're asking me, but who am I to ask?"

White Bear said: "The boss discussing life with a drug cartel's assassin leader? Don't you find that strange?"

"Strange..." Jiang Feng said: "But I think he must have his own plan."

White Bear was at a loss: "Honestly, I can't see what he's aiming for."

Jiang Feng laughed: "If you could figure it out, you'd be the boss instead."

When Lascano returned to the dungeon, he was also full of questions.

He simply couldn't guess what Song Heping was trying to do.

He thought he was a dead man.

Handed over to the Sinoloa Group was certain death.

Handed over to the Mexican government was also certain death.

And handing him over would definitely be a major contribution, with lots of benefits.

Even if subjected to brutal torture and forced to reveal some secrets, that would be a full harvest.

But that Song guy neither beat nor scolded him, instead providing water and food.

"What is he really trying to do?"

Now Lascano was starting to feel a bit scared.

Song Heping was unpredictable.

It's the people you can't see through who are the most terrifying.

After finishing the food and water, Lascano was awakened in the middle of the night, as usual, brought to the basement.

It was the same scene, with Song Heping across from him.

Still discussing inconsequential topics.

Still talking about dreams, talking about life.

Finally, they brought up the drug manufacturing process.

Initially, Lascano was resistant and didn't want to answer.

But later he found that Song Heping's questions were not at all harmful, so he answered.

After all, he was still in the hands of others.

He couldn't afford to annoy them.

By the next evening,

after a total of six discussions, just when Lascano thought Song Heping really intended to play a war of attrition with him, all the people in the dungeon were called out.

They were then taken to the yard of the mansion and made to kneel on the lawn.

Lascano thought his time had come and calmed down.

Death, from the day he joined the Los Zetas Organization, had always been something he was mentally prepared for.

"Is it time to hit the road?"

He looked at Song Heping and put on a tough-guy facade again.

"Yes, it's time to hit the road."

Song Heping nodded.

"Can you make it quick?" Lascano asked.

Song Heping nodded: "Of course, and it'll be quick."

"Good, thank you." Lascano closed his eyes, waiting for death.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of an engine.

A bus drove into the courtyard and stopped next to everyone.

Lascano thought that they were probably going to be taken away for execution and then hung from the streetlights.

Hanging from streetlights was a form of warning and declaration of war.

As the leader of the Los Zetas Organization, being hung on a lamp post or a footbridge would surely cause an uproar in Mexico the next day.

"Load them onto the bus, drive near Monterrey City, and drop each one off by the roadside. Remember, be gentle, don't injure them."

"What?!"

Lascano suddenly opened his eyes wide.

He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

Looking at Song Heping, he couldn't help but ask: "Did you just say, you're releasing us?"

Song Heping casually spread his hands: "That's right, letting you go. What, did you think I was going to kill you?"

"If you're going to kill us, don't toy with us!"

"Get on the bus!"

Song Heping couldn't be bothered with further talk, waved his hand, and White Bear, Jiang Feng, and others, with a group of Sinoloa members, loaded the more than twenty members of the Los Zetas onto the bus and sped off towards Leimonte City.