Chapter 103: The Underground Bank

Wei Hua was highly satisfied with the consequences of his operation. His goal was clear: to sow terror. In the parlance of the twenty-first century, Wei Hua was, for all intents and purposes, a terrorist. He had already selected his next target: the largest criminal syndicate in Jakarta, led by a man named Hutomo Habib. According to intelligence provided by He Xiaoya, Hutomo was backed by high-ranking officials within the Indonesian government. His business interests were vast and varied, spanning hotels, nightclubs, casinos, smuggling, drug trafficking, arms dealing, and usury—he was involved in everything. Using his wealth, Hutomo had bought off a large number of Indonesian police officers and government officials. President Suharto was known as the "most corrupt leader in the world," and as the saying goes, "if the upper beam is crooked, the lower ones will go aslant." At that time, corruption was rampant within the Indonesian government, allowing Hutomo to easily bribe officials to provide protection for his illicit enterprises. In return, the high-ranking officials behind him relied on Hutomo to handle their dirty work and launder their illicit gains.

To prepare for his move against Hutomo, Wei Hua had spent nearly a month gathering intelligence, as the information provided by He Xiaoya lacked sufficient immediacy. Wei Hua’s methods of intelligence gathering were brutal; he relied on the art of soul-searing. After interrogating a dozen of Hutomo’s lieutenants of varying ranks, he had mapped out Hutomo’s patterns, his haunts, and the nature of his personal security detail. Dealing with Hutomo himself was not Wei Hua’s ultimate objective; he wanted to use Hutomo to unearth the high-ranking officials pulling the strings from the shadows. Small, petty acts would not instill fear in the Indonesians, especially not in the high-ranking officials who cared nothing for the lives of ordinary citizens. Only when their own lives were threatened would they feel true terror. This time, Wei Hua decided to forgo subtlety and opted for a brazen, daylight-style raid.

Wei Hua knew that the daily proceeds from Hutomo’s various businesses were consolidated into an underground money laundering center every night. Nighttime was when nightclubs and casinos saw their peak revenue, and since these establishments dealt primarily in cash and banks were closed at night, the money was funneled to this center before being deposited the next day. Wei Hua planned to raid this facility and set an ambush there to capture Hutomo, hoping to expose the powerful figures behind him.

Darkness was always Wei Hua’s greatest ally. After triggering a massive blackout by greedily siphoning electricity, he reached the exterior of the underground facility in little time. The site was an abandoned shipyard, formerly owned by a Chinese family whose members had been massacred during the September 30th coup. The shipyard had ceased operations and been left vacant, with no one stepping in to take it over. Hutomo had chosen this location for his money laundering hub precisely because it was remote, rarely visited, and offered high security. Wei Hua began by using a silenced military pistol to eliminate the sentries outside before shouldering his heavy pack and entering the shipyard grounds. The bag was filled with the weapons he had prepared.

Because Jakarta had been suffering from frequent, unexplained power outages in recent months, the facility was equipped with diesel generators. Even though the rest of the city was dark, the entrance to the facility was brightly lit, with numerous armed guards patrolling the perimeter. Wei Hua produced his M16A2, pulled down his mask, and opened fire. The crisp, rhythmic cracks of the rifle echoed through the shipyard like firecrackers. He shattered the lights at the entrance, leaving the area in darkness—a condition that did not hinder him in the slightest. The guards, caught in the assault, became nothing more than stationary targets, picked off one by one. While the muzzle flashes of his rifle revealed his position with every shot, Wei Hua’s reflexes and speed were superior; he moved from his position long before the guards could return fire. Using his rifle and grenades, he cleared the exterior guards in less than five minutes.

The heavy doors of the underground facility had been sealed shut. Inside, the guards had locked down the building as soon as the shooting started and notified Hutomo. Reinforcements would take twenty minutes to arrive, a contingency Wei Hua had already factored in. Seeing the locked door, he pulled a large package of C4 military explosive from his pack and attached it to the gate. Once the detonator was set, he retreated to a safe distance and pressed the trigger. The explosion blasted a massive hole in the door, light spilling out from the interior. Wei Hua then pulled the pins on three grenades, waited three seconds, and tossed them through the gap. Following the three thunderous detonations, he used the cover of the thick smoke to dash inside.

There were few guards left inside, and their weaponry was far inferior to the gear Wei Hua was equipped with. If he couldn't handle these remaining men, he wouldn't be much of a soldier. Clearing the interior took even less time than the exterior. Once the area was secure, he opened the warehouse doors to find piles of cash stacked on tables. Wei Hua had no time for theft; he fetched gasoline, doused the currency, and retreated to the doorway before firing a single shot to ignite the fuel.

Wei Hua crouched on the roof of a shipyard shed, overlooking the road leading into the facility. If Hutomo came, his car would have to pass through this point. Checking his watch, he estimated that the reinforcements were five minutes away, though he doubted Hutomo would be among them. Despite the gunfire and explosions, he wasn't worried about the police; Hutomo would handle that himself. He would certainly use his influence to suppress the incident, and since there were no residents nearby, there was no risk of major public alarm. Four or five minutes later, Wei Hua spotted the headlights of seven or eight vehicles approaching at high speed.