Seven Criminals

When Hu Xiaoniu was in Haicheng, he frequented legal firing ranges in China, so he had seen this thing before and heard the firing range instructors explain it to him.

Putting aside how these criminals got their guns, the key issue is that it's extremely difficult to secretly acquire silencers in China; even smugglers rarely sell such items.

Moreover, most firearms, when fitted with silencers, are not as silent as depicted in movies; at most, the noise level drops from 140 decibels to 120 decibels, without any substantial change.

The silencer has been mythologized in movies and TV shows.

However, there are a few firearms that, when equipped with subsonic bullets, can indeed reduce the sound of gunfire to a minimum.

The Glock 34 in the hands of the criminals was one of them.

Hu Xiaoniu suddenly realized that the other party was extremely professional, and might even be a former professional mercenary from abroad.

Liu Dezhu was in despair. This turn of events came too suddenly. The big boss only warned him that there were criminals, but did not warn him that the criminals would change into police uniforms!

Hu Xiaoniu took a deep breath and said, "Do as they say."

The three of them were forced back into the courtyard with guns pointed at them.

At the same time, five men, armed with guns, emerged from the back door, taking hostage the Cloud Inn's staff, the owner, and two Kunlun members hostage.

These people acted even faster than Qing Chen had anticipated, having already roughly figured out the entire area before midnight, and only finally made their move after returning.

The reason they chose to act only after returning was to prevent Kunlun members from leaking the information in the Inner World, thus buying them enough time.

Several girls gasped in surprise.

But then a thug pulled the trigger, and the bullet struck a Kunlun member in the calf with a clean, decisive motion.

The Kunlun members fell to the ground, but kept their mouths tightly shut and did not utter a single cry of pain.

The thug turned his gun on Hu Xiaoniu and Liu Dezhu, then said coldly, "Shut up, or your classmate will die now, and many innocent people outside the inn will die too. Look, this comrade from Kunlun is very clever; he knows his wailing will attract people from outside, but on this Laojun Mountain, no one can save you. Attracting people from outside will only needlessly increase the casualties."

"And he knows very well that the people who can save you will not arrive for at least 6 hours, so please be quiet and don't get yourself into trouble."

The Kunlun member who lay on the ground silently closed his eyes. The intense pain caused a fine layer of sweat to form on his forehead, but he remained silent.

At this moment, a thug in a black trench coat stood in front of the students. He smiled and said, "It's a pleasure to see you all on Laojun Mountain. But don't panic. I'm not interested in ordinary people. Once I find all the Time Walker among you, I'll take them away. So, please cooperate, okay? If you cooperate, it will be over soon."

Suddenly, Wang Yun said from the crowd, "Everyone, don't panic. Don't get Hu Xiaoniu and the others killed."

Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen exchanged glances, seemingly lost in thought.

Liu Dezhu had only one thought in his mind: there were more than five criminals, and the boss's information was wrong.

At this moment, the students were terrified, but their fear of guns and the threat to their classmates' lives kept them somewhat rational, and they only sobbed quietly with their mouths covered.

The screams that Cloud Inn seemed to have alerted the people outside.

In the guesthouse next door, the owner, who was preparing food for tomorrow, wiped his hands with his apron and walked out into the courtyard.

He stood on the street in front of the door, peering into the doorway next door.

But then they saw a person in a police uniform standing at the door, seemingly on duty.

Driven by curiosity, the shop owner approached and asked, "Officer, what's going on next door?"

The middle-aged man in the police uniform responded, "There's a drunkard causing trouble. Okay, stop watching and go back."

"Okay, sure," the owner nodded and prepared to return to the entrance of his guesthouse.

As he walked, he felt something was amiss. The owner quietly gripped his phone in his pocket, intending to call the police as soon as he got back to the guesthouse to find out what was going on.

Before he even reached the entrance of his guesthouse, he felt a cold dagger pierce his heart and lungs from between his ribs.

A black-gloved hand tightly covered his mouth and dragged him through the gate of the Cloud Inn.

Immediately afterwards, the criminal in the police uniform went out again and closed the door of the Cloud Inn tightly from the outside, while he himself remained standing at the door without moving.

His hand was always on his waist.

At this moment, everyone in Yunshan Inn was gathered in the courtyard. The students were trembling with fear and huddled together, while the thugs, carrying two black plastic bags, confiscated their cell phones one by one.

Before throwing the phones into the plastic bag, the perpetrators would carefully turn them off one by one.

Liu Dezhu, Hu Xiaoniu, and Zhang Tianzhen were also pushed back. A thug with a scar on his face came in front of them and silently opened a black plastic bag with his hands.

Left with no other choice, the three of them obediently took out their phones, but the thugs did not leave. Instead, they continued to stare at Hu Xiaoniu with a blank expression.

Hu Xiaoniu sighed inwardly, then took another cell phone from his left trouser pocket and threw it into the plastic bag.

The thug sneered and pushed the three of them into the crowd.

The man in the black trench coat approached Liu Dezhu and said with a smile, "I'll give you a chance. Tell me, why did you suddenly discover our movements after your return, and why did you know so precisely that we were surrounding this place?"

Liu Dezhu kept his mouth shut and trembled, unusually defiant in not saying a word.

The thug chuckled. "Not planning to say? Let me guess... You have companions who are Time Walker outside this Cloud Inn, right?"

Liu Dezhu suddenly realized that even though the other party had guessed the truth, they did not seem to be flustered.

Could it be that the other side has other tricks up their sleeve? Or perhaps the thugs in front of us are not the whole story?

At this moment, Qing Chen stood silently in the room, holding the switchblade he had brought back, with Jiang Xue, who had also just returned, behind him.

Qing Chen heard a faint clicking sound, but he didn't know it was the sound of a silenced pistol.

However, the owner of their guesthouse never came back after he went out.

The woman, seeing the knife in his hand, immediately understood. "Xiao Chen, what are you trying to do?"

Qing Chen took off his shoes, turned around and went out. "Aunt Jiang Xue, you take Xiaoyun and wait here. Lock the door and don't go out. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Jiang Xue said from behind, "Maybe I can help you in some way. I have a robotic arm!"

Qing Chen suddenly turned and looked straight at her. "But you have no combat experience. Believe me, I will come back."

After saying that, he disappeared outside the door.