Li Zhiyuan hung up the phone and asked the owner, "How much?"
The owner swallowed his saliva with some difficulty. He still thought that the kid was just being mischievously playful, but to be safe, he pressed the speakerphone button and then the redial button.
The brief ringback tone made the owner's eyebrows twitch. When the call connected, the voice of a dispatcher came through:
"Hello, this is the Tongzhou Police Station..."
"Click!"
The owner immediately hung up the phone. He couldn't believe his eyes as he stared at Li Zhiyuan; he hadn't expected the kid to actually make a real emergency call!
"What the hell are you doing, kid!"
The owner, seemingly out of his mind, left the cashier and ran next door; he had to tip off the video rental shop so they wouldn't get caught red-handed when the police arrived.
Li Zhiyuan glanced at the phone. He had thought the owner would tell the police "It was just a kid messing around, sorry for bothering you."
