Feng Chao picked up the knife from the ground. After what had just happened, he knew that only by taking up a weapon could he protect himself and the people who mattered to him. He glanced at the people cowering in the corner, wanting to flee but too afraid to leave.
He couldn't be bothered to say more. He simply instructed the few people willing to risk their lives with him, "There's no way the few of us can handle this alone. Go upstairs and get the guests to come down. Only if we all stand together can we defend the hotel!"
"Divide the floors among yourselves, one person to each floor. Don't waste time trying to persuade anyone who refuses to come. Just remember to take down the fire extinguishers!"
"You two, come with me to get weapons from the kitchen."
Someone asked, "Brother Feng, what if they refuse to come down?"
Feng Chao furrowed his brow, a vicious glint in his eyes. "Tell them that if they don't come down and help now, their lives won't be any better than ours if we die. And if we survive, we won't help them with anything ever again—not even food."
These were extraordinary times. What was the point of talking about benevolence and morality?
The group sprang into action at once. Feng Chao glanced at the woman standing nearby with a watermelon knife in her hand. He wanted to comfort her, but couldn't find the words.
"Xiao Min, go hide in the back for a while."
The woman looked at him and tightened her grip on the knife. "So I can wait for someone to protect me?"
Feng Chao said, "...I'm sorry."
When everything had gone wrong, all he could do was watch helplessly as the woman he loved was humiliated.
Xiao Min said nothing. She lowered her head and looked at the watermelon knife in her hand. She would never hide behind someone else again, and she would never put her hopes in anyone else.
She wanted to be as strong as Ye Zhao.
Feng Chao and the others went to the kitchen and tossed every knife and club they could use into baskets meant for vegetables and fruit. Then they carried them all out together. Feng Chao took apart a fire extinguisher nearby and hooked up a high-pressure water hose, determined to make use of every weapon they could find.
At this point, they could only fight to the death.
Once they were ready, the people sent upstairs began coming down. Hundreds of people were staying at the hotel, yet only a little over thirty had come.
Feng Chao gave a cold laugh. If they wouldn't come down to help, they shouldn't blame him for showing them no mercy later.
He handed out a weapon to everyone: cleavers, rolling pins, whatever they had. The strongest people got the fire extinguishers. They were meant to put out fires, but in times like these, they'd be just as effective sprayed at people.
Before long, a colleague he had sent to keep an eye on the supermarket came back, excitedly announcing, "Brother Feng, Brother Leopard and his men have been ambushed!" The group crowded excitedly around the window. Sure enough, they saw Brother Leopard and the others being attacked. When they saw the car Brother Leopard was in explode in the middle of the road, they couldn't help cheering and clapping.
"Serves him right! Good riddance!"
"It must have been Miss Ye! She's incredible!"
"Her aim's a little off, though. She looks like a rookie??"
"Miss Ye has a machine gun and a sniper rifle, and now she even has grenades. Who is she?"
"Who cares who she is? She saved our lives. I'm following Miss Ye from now on!"
Feng Chao said, "Save that for later. Hurry up, they're driving over! They'll definitely come back to the hotel. Stick to the plan!"
Brother Leopard's death had greatly boosted the morale of this group of unfit survivors. They grabbed their weapons and rushed out.
Brother Leopard's underlings thought they'd be able to make a grand entrance when they got back to the hotel, find the sniper, and kill him to avenge Brother Leopard. But the moment they entered the hotel, several heads rolled to their feet like bowling balls.
The wounds were bloody, the faces familiar. Their skin was pale, their features twisted, and their eyes still wide with the fear and shock they'd felt at the moment of death.
The hostages who had been tied up had all disappeared by now. The hotel lobby was deserted. Other than a few bodies and blood all over the floor, there was nothing there.
"Shit! What happened? Where is everyone?"
"You couldn't even keep an eye on them? Those useless bastards deserved to die!"
"Still no answer on the phone."
"Where's Mad Dog? Did he crawl into some woman's bed again? That dumbass can't keep away from women. One of them will be the death of him."
"Could the sniper have done this too? Should we pull back for now?"
"Pull back where? Where else will we find a base this good?"
"Exactly. They're just a bunch of useless office workers. If we caught them once, we can catch them again!"
Feng Chao had already told his people to hide the bodies of the others. He wanted to lure the gang into a trap and wipe them all out. Otherwise, what if they escaped, built up their numbers, and came back for revenge?
He wanted to eliminate the threat once and for all! He wanted revenge!
Unfortunately, none of his plans worked out. He'd wanted to trap some of them in the elevator first, reducing the pressure and making it easier to pick them off one by one.
But they hadn't split up. The whole group came sweeping toward the hotel's back-office area.
It looked like they were there to check the surveillance cameras.
Feng Chao picked up a cleaver and gave the order through his earpiece. "They're coming. Attack at the second intersection!"
Brother Leopard's underlings walked along, banging their knives and clubs against the walls and doors. "There's not a soul here. Those cowards have probably run back home to find their mommies!"
The group burst into laughter. But then, without warning, two men suddenly charged out, holding fire extinguishers and spraying them at the group. Nitrogen dioxide rushed into their noses.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
A cloud of white mist filled the air, and coughs rang out all around. The underlings covered their noses and eyes as they retreated. They hadn't gone far when several more people came running out of nowhere, blasting them with fire extinguishers and high-pressure water hoses!
"Shit! You're asking for it!"
"Charge! Kill them!" someone shouted. The underlings, who had been in a panic, found their leader and charged with their knives!
Feng Chao rushed over too and shouted, "If you don't want to die, then kill them!"
The two groups clashed. Amid the swirling smoke, Brother Leopard's men were attacked from both sides. They were quickly overwhelmed and fell one after another, wounded by knives...
Xiao Min stood behind the crowd with her watermelon knife in hand. One of the underlings had been cut and stumbled at her feet. Without a word, she plunged the knife into his heart, then stabbed him twice more three inches below.
The underling couldn't believe it. He stared wide-eyed, dying with his eyes open.
Looking at his twisted, lifeless face, she felt the satisfaction of revenge well up inside her and couldn't help laughing.
Ye Zhao stood behind the crowd with a machine gun slung over her shoulder. It looked like they didn't need her here, so she turned and left.
Xiao Min looked up and saw Ye Zhao walking away. Her smile fell. Had she been too creepy just now? Had she scared her?
But Ye Zhao had chopped off several heads. Surely Xiao Min wasn't that bad, right?
Ye Zhao returned to her room and set up her sniper rifle by the window, aiming in every direction. After those few shots earlier, she felt very confident. She thought she was ready to graduate.
With no one in charge of the supermarket, the survivors rushed in to fight over the supplies. The place descended into chaos and was soon cleared out.
Ye Zhao saw a girl come out of the supermarket clutching a pile of supplies and hurry away. Two men dressed in black, wearing hoodies and masks, blocked her path and tried to take what she was carrying.
Ye Zhao removed the silencer and fired at one man's backside. She missed and hit the ground near his feet instead. The gunshot made everyone downstairs look up.
The two men in black looked up in fear. They were too far below to tell whether the shooter was human or a ghost. But remembering how Brother Leopard had just been taken out by the sniper across the street, they immediately raised their hands, begged for mercy, and backed away.
The girl had escaped disaster. Tears poured down her face as she bowed again and again toward the distant window, then hurried off.
The two men in black didn't dare chase her. They could only leave in frustration.
Ye Zhao fired two more shots at them. She missed again, wiped the blood from her nose, and took a carrot out of her space to munch on.
She had spent the whole morning watching what was happening downstairs, until Feng Chao came to knock on her door, pushing a food cart.
"Miss Ye, thank you for saving us!"
"If it weren't for you, my colleagues and I would have had only two choices: die sooner or die later."
The food on the cart consisted of the vegetarian dishes she'd ordered recently, along with her favorite tom yum soup.
Feng Chao said they had killed all the bandits. A few of his people had been injured too, but at least things had turned out well. The hotel had little medicine in reserve, so they planned to go to a nearby pharmacy that afternoon and buy some.
Ye Zhao said, "I hope it goes well."
Feng Chao said, "If you need anything in the future or want something to eat, just tell me. I'll bring it to you."
They exchanged contact information so they could get in touch whenever needed.
Not long after lunch, Xiao Min came upstairs with a plate of fruit and desserts. "Miss Ye, thank you."
She didn't say much. Her eyes were clearly shadowed with gloom, and she didn't seem to want to remember what had happened. Ye Zhao grabbed a handful of milk candies and offered them to her. "Want some candy? It's sweet."
There were a lot of candies, and Xiao Min had to cup both hands to hold them. "Thank you." So Miss Ye liked candy. Xiao Min could bring her some every day from now on.
After Xiao Min left, Ye Zhao unwrapped a milk candy herself and popped it into her mouth. Then she continued aiming her sniper rifle downstairs.
Perhaps thanks to her impressive deeds that morning, robberies downstairs noticeably decreased that afternoon. Some people who were being robbed even deliberately ran in her direction to escape. Whenever Ye Zhao saw them, she fired a couple of shots.
Without anyone realizing it, the area seemed to have become a safe haven.