Chapter 520: We’ve Been Duped
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The young man's reply confused the treasure hunters of the Tucson Brotherhood. Princeps asked, "What? What's going on?"
Li Du didn't explain; instead, he smiled at Princeps. "You can't beat me. Even if Tucson's your turf, you still can't win!"
Princeps looked sullen and vexed. "What does that mean?"
"It's simple: you've lost."
After saying this, he returned to unit 10 and waved to Godzilla and Big Quinn. "You can get to work now and move everything out."
Princeps followed Li and asked, "What exactly are you up to?"
"I'm not up to anything," Li Du answered. "Everything I did is lawful. You're the one who better not play any more tricks. You better hurry and some trucks for us, or your men will be going to jail."
Princeps was not someone with a good temper. He started to speak in a more threatening tone. "Dude, don't be too much. You know I'm not afraid of all this. My men might not go to jail. The judges will decide, not you!"
"You're right," said Li Du. "Then there's no need to negotiate with me. Go negotiate with the judges instead. See if the judges are willing to talk to you."
What Princeps said did make some sense. Despite the fact that the Tucson treasure hunters were in the police station, it was not absolute that they would end up in jail.
Li Du accused the men of robbing him and Hans, but the treasure hunters lacked the motive to do so. On top of that, there was a surveillance camera in the hotel parking lot. From the video, one could see that the Tucson treasure hunters smashed the windshields and then both Li Du and Hans appeared and fought the treasure hunters.
From the video, the treasure hunters did not seem to be robbers. If Princeps was able to get a good enough lawyer, Li Du might not be able to win the lawsuit. Even if Li Du won, the crime wouldn't keep them in prison for long.
Princeps knew this very well, but he was willing to let Li Du have his way. He felt that there was no need to go to such great lengths for such a small matter.
Furthermore, once the case went to court, there might be a lot unforeseen and unpredictable circumstances. If his men did go to jail then Princeps, as the leader of the Tucson Brotherhood, would be in deep water. His men had gotten into trouble carrying out his orders. No one would want to work for someone who could not protect his men.
Because of these reasons, he wanted an out-of-court settlement and for Li Du to retract the charges.
The American law system was different from China's. A criminal case in the United States was determined by the prosecutor as they had the discretion to pursue criminal charges. The plaintiff was the prosecutor, not the victim themselves.
In this kind of situation, the out-of-court settlement that existed in Chinese law could not work. The victim was not the plaintiff, so there was no way the victim could retract the charges—only the prosecutor could do this.
An example was the infamous O. J. Simpson murder case. This "case of the century" almost triggered the attention of the legal community globally. During the trial, the prosecutor was the one who filed the lawsuit; the victim's family members were not the plaintiff.
However, nothing was absolute. Like any other country, America did not have a perfect judicial system. There were loopholes and dark areas in the law.
In the state of Arizona, the police submitted criminal cases to the prosecution. As long as the case had not been submitted, the prosecution would not be able to intervene.
Take Li Du's case for example. If Li retracted the charges on the Tucson treasure hunters, then their case would not be submitted to the courts.
Princeps hoped he would do that, and both parties had agreed to each other's conditions before signing of the transfer papers.
Listening to Li Du's grim and cold reply, Princeps snorted and was speechless. He could only grit his teeth and tolerate it, for Li Du had the upper hand in this matter.
He made a few calls, and soon enough the trucks arrived.
As the leader of the Tucson treasure hunters, it was easy for him to mobilize several trucks.
Li Du assigned the trucks to the Flagstaff treasure hunters and got them to hurry up with clearing everything.
Although there was much work to be done, all of them still crowded around the entrance of unit 10 and stared at the wooden planks with curiosity.
"What's everyone doing here?" Li Du waved his hands. "Get to work."
"Come on Big Li—satisfy our curiosity," Dickens said with a grin. "What's inside this unit?"
"Yeah. What treasure inside here is worth you going through so much hassle to get it?"
"I heard that they put up a show with Max Conrad. D*mn, I wasn't there to see it just now. What a pity!"
Indeed, what had happened earlier was a ruse. Ted Karmel was actually Max Conrad, his new subordinate, the guy who liked to be called "Lu Guan."
The items inside the unit were valuable in Li Du's eyes. He couldn't take it lying down that the Tucson Brotherhood had taken it using their dirty little tricks. Since yesterday, he had racked his brain on how to take it back.
The chance came when the Tucson Brotherhood had decided to teach them a lesson by vandalizing their trucks. Making full use of the incident, he arranged for Lu Guan to put up the show, which managed to fool Princeps and get back unit 10.
As for how he'd gotten ahold of the information about the previous owner: he had found it yesterday when he went to make payment after sending the little bug into the safe of the company. Their customer information was all in there.
Li Du laughed at their remarks. "Everyone's so curious. Is anyone able to tell what these make? It's right in front of you."
The group shook their heads; nobody could make out what all the wooden planks were for.
If Li Du hadn't seen the blueprint, he wouldn't have been able to make out what they made either. He had destroyed the blueprint after Princeps took the unit from him so they wouldn't know what the wooden planks and the pieces of wood were for.
He touched the pieces of wood and said, "If I'm not wrong, this is a mobile giant—a siege tower!"
Yes, the information on the blueprint proved that the pieces of wood, when assembled, formed a siege tower.
Siege towers were mostly made on the site of the siege and could be constructed into various sizes.
Li Du could not tell the exact size of the siege tower from the blueprint. But judging from the number of wooden planks used for assembling the tower and the metal plating and the animal hides used for protection, the tower was huge.
Li Du had used the little bug's Relive The Past ability on the wood. This had also proved that the siege tower had been around for a long time. When assembled, it had a height of over 30 feet, which was enormous.
The group of treasure hunters looked at each other in disbelief upon Li Du's reply. "Siege tower? This is a siege tower? How do you know?"
"If you knew about siege towers, you would be able to identify them too," Li Du laughed. "Look at these. When you combine these pieces of wood, they become a protective chamber."
The wood for assembling the chamber was the wood Lu Guan had said was for building the cottage.
It was no wonder Princeps had been taken in by this unit. The siege tower's basic structure was the protective chamber, and that was similar to a cottage. Of course, that was a trapezoid cottage, as there were other structures above the chamber.
Li Du stopped talking. It would be better to show the assembled siege tower to them.
Princeps was really frustrated. A young black man beside him spoke with hesitation: "Princeps, we've been duped."
When he heard that, he almost vomited blood.