His heart pounding with anxiety,
Xu Ke answered the phone and put it to his ear.
“Hello? Hello?”
he asked cautiously.
Then a voice came through from the other end: “Hello, is this Director Xu Ke? We’re the Spring City Criminal Investigation Unit.”
At those words, Xu Ke’s pupils contracted sharply.
Holy crap – the Criminal Investigation Unit?!
Why the hell are these guys calling me?
His heart was in his throat. He instinctively straightened up and said, nervously and formally, “Yes, yes, this is he. How can I—”
“We’ve received a report that Jiang Nian is currently being hunted by a group of terrorists who are planning to detonate a building. Since you’re his supervisor, we’re notifying you as per procedure, and we’d also like you to come in and assist us with some paperwork.”
By the time she finished, Xu Ke had frozen solid.
Noticing his strange behavior,
Director Zhang Zhiliang couldn’t help asking, “Director Xu? Director Xu? What’s wrong?”
But Xu Ke seemed to have lost his soul, muttering under his breath: “Jiang Nian… Jiang Nian…”
“What about Jiang Nian?” Zhang Zhiliang asked, puzzled.
Then Xu Ke turned his head and flashed a smile that looked more painful than crying: “Jiang Nian’s being hunted down!”
“???”
At those words, Zhang Zhiliang was completely dumbfounded.
The only thought running through his head right now was: What the hell are you even talking about, Xu Ke?
Jiang Nian is being hunted?
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, take charge of the event for now. I’m heading to the police station.”
With that, Xu Ke hurriedly left the venue and rushed straight to the station without a moment’s delay.
As for Zhang Zhiliang – after Xu Ke left, he looked at the packed crowd below the stage, then at the actors standing beside him, and felt his eyelid twitch.
Damn it. He feels like Xu Ke just dumped him in it.
You’re leaving me to deal with this giant mess all by myself, are you?
Just as Xu Ke was rushing frantically toward the police station,
back at the mall –
Hiding inside a shop, watching the scene finally settle down,
Fatty cautiously poked his head out from the storefront, looked at Scar timidly, and said, “Scar, uh… is it over?”
“I—I guess so.”
Scar’s voice was trembling now, barely able to form words.
Because everything that had just happened here was simply too unbelievable.
Jiang Nian had suddenly started fighting with Sunglasses Guy and his crew.
Then Sunglasses Guy and his men had shot crossbow bolts at Jiang Nian, forcing him behind the shop.
After that, Jiang Nian had charged back out and blown a hole straight through Crew-Cut Guy’s chest with one punch.
Even though the whole ordeal had lasted less than two minutes,
those two minutes had completely overturned everything they thought they knew!
“So… what do we do now?”
Fatty asked again.
Even though it was a question, the answer in his mind was already crystal clear.
Things had escalated to this point – whether it was Jiang Nian or Sunglasses Guy and his people,
neither side was someone a bunch of small-time thugs like them could afford to mess with.
If they were stupid enough to push their luck, they’d end up dead for sure!
Obviously, Scar understood that too.
So he fumbled a cigarette out of his pocket with trembling hands, lit it, took a deep drag, and said, “We run. I’m calling the boss right now. Anyone else who wants to get involved can go ahead, but I’m not getting mixed up in this anymore!”
With that, he was about to pull out his phone to contact their boss.
But before he could do that—
“Who’s there? Come out!”
A beam of bright light suddenly hit them, exposing them completely.
Scar was caught off guard and startled so badly that his phone dropped straight to the floor.
He was just bending down to pick it up when—
Click-clack – Click-clack—
A few sharp metallic clicks rang out, freezing him in place.
He slowly turned his head, and through the blinding light, he saw several dark, ominous gun muzzles aimed squarely at him.
Those were—
“Guns!”
Gulp.
Scar swallowed hard. In an instant, cold sweat poured down his body.
Without a second’s hesitation, he raised both hands to show he wasn’t a threat.
Fatty and the others did the same.
Seeing this, the group didn’t waste any time either. They raised their pistols, moved in, and subdued them on the spot.
Only then did Scar and his crew get a good look at who their captors were – the Spring City Criminal Investigation Unit!
Because when Gao Yuán’er had filed the report, she’d mentioned that the perpetrators were planning to blow up the building.
So when they dispatched the officers, they’d brought guns just to be safe.
They’d also split into two teams: one to sweep the mall for hidden bombs, and the other to search for any remaining terrorists inside.
“Are they the ones?”
After the investigators had Scar and his men under control, a burly middle-aged man with two bars and three stars on his shoulder walked over slowly, surveyed the scene, and asked in a low voice.
The officers were frisking them. Hearing his question, they shook their heads: “Not sure, but they’re carrying quite a few restricted weapons. They’re probably in the same crew.”
At those words, Scar and his boys went wide-eyed and immediately started protesting: “No, no! Officer, you’ve got it wrong! We’re not with them, we’re not!”
They couldn’t afford to be tagged with that label!
They were just a bunch of hired thugs doing dirty work for money.
Sure, they’d committed plenty of offenses, but if they got caught, they’d only do a year or two at most, and then they’d be out and free again.
But if they were identified as accomplices of Sunglasses Guy’s crew,
once they went in, they’d be eating lead!
Hearing this, the investigator frowned: “Shut it. Nobody asked you to speak!”
Then he turned to the middle-aged man: “Chief, what should we do with them?”
“Take them back for questioning first. Whether they’re connected to that group or not, wandering around here at night with restricted weapons means they’re definitely no good. We need to get to the bottom of this.” The middle-aged man ordered.
The investigators nodded: “Yes, sir!”
Then they hoisted Scar and his men up, hauled them out of the mall, and loaded them into the police van.
After taking care of that, the middle-aged man looked at the young officer beside him, who was fiddling with an old-school phone: “Xiao Li, has the location come through yet?”
Xiao Li glanced at the phone and was about to say no.
But the next second—
Ding-dong—
A message suddenly came in. Xiao Li quickly opened it and saw, in the otherwise empty chat interface, that someone labeled “Big Account” had sent him a real-time location.
It was Jiang Nian.
“Chief, it’s here!”
Xiao Li said immediately, handing the phone over.
The middle-aged man took it and looked closely.
On the screen, a red dot was moving continuously.
And where it was located—
“It’s up on the mountain!”
The middle-aged man looked up, gazing through the mall’s floor-to-ceiling windows at the mountain range in the distance, a glint of surprise flashing in his eyes.
Because from the time they’d received the report until now, it had been less than ten minutes at most.
And Jiang Nian had already made it from here all the way up the mountain.
That speed—
He withdrew his gaze, picked up the radio, and said: “Target locked. Everyone, follow me up the mountain. We’re rescuing the hostage and countering the terrorists. Let me repeat one last time: this is not a drill. Load your magazines with live ammunition, and take this seriously!”
“Yes, sir!”
