Embrace

The newcomer was a middle-aged man wearing a basic bulletproof vest. His messy brown hair hung to his shoulders, and he was unshaven. His weapon was nothing special, and there was plenty of commotion outside, clearly indicating there was more than one or two of them.

Chi Li assessed the situation and slowly raised his hands, panic appearing on his face. "Who... who are you people? My grandmother is still outside."

The man pointed his gun at Chi Li's head, then toward the door. "Cut the crap. Get out."

Chi Li took two steps and glanced at the man. After being glared at, he did not dare lift his head again.

Seeing him like this, the man dismissed Chi Li even more and reported to the people outside, "One kid and one cripple. Drag them both out."

Outside, another man handling the transfer gave Chi Li a warning look. "Behave yourself. You don't want to get shot, do you?"

Chi Li cooperatively shuddered. The man snorted and shoved him forward. "Move it!"

Chi Li had thought they would take him downstairs. There were bodyguards below, and if the commotion got too loud, it would be enough to draw their attention.

But the route out did not lead downstairs. It led up.

The residential buildings in this area stood tightly packed together. It took little effort to cross from one rooftop to the top floor of the next building.

At that moment, quite a few people had already gathered on the rooftops. All the residents were being driven toward the rooftop of the building in the middle.

Chi Li wanted to look downstairs. Logically, such a huge disturbance should already have caught the bodyguards' attention.

Chi Li had the ability to escape, but he could not expose his identity because of it. That would not be worth the loss.

The moment he glanced downstairs, someone sharp-eyed noticed. The man threw a stone at him, striking Chi Li in the face. "Want to die? Stop looking around!"

Pain flared across his face, and Chi Li coldly swept his gaze over the man.

The man caught the fleeting killing intent in those eyes, but it vanished in an instant. When he looked again, the boy's eyes were timid and fearful. Thinking he had imagined it, the man felt a chill run down his back, yet unusually, he said nothing more.

After crossing several buildings, Chi Li saw thirty or forty civilians packed tightly together, as well as people being brought in intermittently.

Most people living here came from poor families, without power or influence. These desperados would gain no material benefit from kidnapping dozens of impoverished civilians, yet they were making such a spectacle of it. It was more like they were deliberately trying to lure someone here.

Some people had already broken down into quiet sobs. There were mothers holding their children, and those who had tried to stand up in defiance, only to be shot in the arm and thoroughly subdued...

Chi Li also silently crouched among them, observing everything around him.

A miniature steel knife was hidden in his sleeve, one of Chi Li's favorite weapons. Its handle stored three bullets; once the blade was retracted, it could become a handgun for long-range shooting. It was easy to carry and highly lethal.

He had stuffed it into his sleeve when he hid the communicator earlier.

Chi Li pondered their purpose. These people were clearly desperados. They did not fear death, so there was nothing they feared.

The West City civilian district actually carried a special implication. When people mentioned West City, they thought of decay, corruption, and disease, while East City represented prosperity, wealth, and glory.

Within the Great Empire, which championed equality, freedom, and love, there were still stark divisions of rank, status, wealth, and poverty. How ironic.

When Chi Li saw a small live-broadcast drone for news coverage slowly rise into the sky, he instantly understood the desperados' intentions.

Given the character of these desperados, they certainly did not intend to expose the Empire's ugly side to the public once more so it could be addressed. They wanted to intensify the conflict, perhaps to gain something from it.

The man in charge gave a rough sweep of the crowd, pointed at a mother and son clinging to each other, then a little girl, and selected several others. Finally, his gaze stopped on Chi Li.

He pointed at Chi Li. "You, come here too."

The video captured the scene as well: the trembling mother and son, the crying little girl, and the panicked face of a young boy...

Countless civilians were bound together. Facing the camera, the man wore a crazed expression. "I imagine the Empire's distinguished officials and the public have already seen this. Let's make a deal..."

Not far away, Si Jinyan, who was racing toward the West City District, happened to see the scene through the prisoners' forced-intervention live news channel.

A few minutes earlier, Si Jinyan had received word from the guards that a riot had broken out in the West City District and that they lacked manpower and needed support. At the time, Si Jinyan was nearby, carrying out the final cleanup of another international criminal organization case.

Not long after, a message arrived from the base: prisoners were kidnapping civilians in West City.

When Si Jinyan opened the live news feed, Chi Li's pale face and frail figure appeared in his sight.

In that instant, an indescribable, nearly uncontrollable fury suddenly exploded from the depths of Si Jinyan's heart.

Si Jinyan had always been fearless in the face of danger on the battlefield, calm and composed. But at that moment, violent pheromones swirled around him, and his bloodthirsty gaze nearly tore the man on the screen apart.

The spacecraft sped toward its destination even faster. Beside him, Qiu Rui had already issued orders to the other subordinates, and several military spacecraft continuously raced toward the nearby West City District.

On a West City District rooftop, the leader of the desperados had already shot two civilians. Yet when he prepared to shoot the third, a crisp chime came from the small communication device in his hand, announcing the deposit of 100,000 starcoins. The man stopped before shooting the third person.

During this slaughter-like livestream, the man threatened the Federal Empire: if they paid 500,000 starcoins within ten seconds, they could save one civilian's life.

After two people had been shot, all the civilians on the rooftop had sunk into despair. That bullet of fate might strike any one of them in the head the next second.

Then the man began loudly mocking the civilians again. "They don't care about your lives at all. You're disgusting, lowly sewer rats."

The conflict between rich and poor had long been glaringly apparent. Many viewers behind their screens had already begun voicing their dissatisfaction: Had these criminals gone mad?! Where was the Empire's rescue team? Why was there still no sign of them?!

Did poor people's lives not count as lives?!

It was only 500,000 starcoins. When they squandered money extravagantly, 500,000 starcoins was not even a fraction of the cost...

As the 100,000 arrived, the criminal leader mockingly lowered the gun he had aimed at a man's head. Behind the man, a frail little girl was crying and calling for her father.

The criminal leader continued, "Looks like I underestimated those bastards. Are you surprised they actually tried to save you? But I said 500,000 starcoins saves one person. They only paid 100,000. Fine, then we'll take an arm."

The next second, a gunshot rang out. The man who had thought he had escaped death instantly let out a miserable scream. One of his arms flew off and landed on the ground, the scene bloody and blurred...

Several military spacecraft circled above the rooftop, with more arriving one after another.

A rescue team had also come up through the stairwell. They moved silently, and several guards had already been taken down before they could send out an alarm.

On the rooftop, the criminal leader realized something was wrong and shouted upward, "I've planted explosives in this building! If you don't want to die with us, withdraw within thirty seconds!"

Withdrawing entirely was impossible. The subordinates listened to Si Jinyan's order from the command cabin. "A6, A11, A12, fall back. Activate anti-explosive interference. The rest, prepare to snipe."

The criminal leader known as Wild Leopard thought his warning had worked and grinned triumphantly.

Then Qiu Rui's voice boomed across the rooftop through a loudspeaker. "We are willing to negotiate."

Wild Leopard burst out laughing, bloodthirsty light gleaming in his crazed eyes. They had never intended to return alive, much less expected the Empire's people to actually negotiate with them. He did not entirely believe it, until 3,000,000 starcoins were directly transferred into his account.

Qiu Rui demonstrated his sincerity. "You may make any demands you want, as long as you let these civilians go. They are innocent."

Many people watching the news recognized who was speaking and whom he represented. Qiu Rui often represented Si Jinyan in handling official matters and social dealings, and another considerable uproar erupted across the Empire's network: The Marshal personally sent someone...

Wild Leopard casually grabbed at someone beside him. That person was Chi Li, who had remained inconspicuous at the side. He did not fully believe Qiu Rui and the others, but when the chance to escape and enormous wealth were truly laid before them, their resolve to die began to waver.

Qiu Rui's conciliatory voice still rang in his ears. Just as the criminal leader was about to touch Chi Li, a bullet that had been lying in ambush for a long time shot toward him at high speed.

The bullet seemed to convey some kind of signal. Immediately afterward, bullets flew one after another toward the other prisoners.

Chi Li sensed the bullet the moment it was about to reach him.

He instantly dodged to the side. Wild Leopard was hit in the shoulder, and blood splattered across Chi Li's face.

Wild Leopard realized he had been tricked, and the desperados began indiscriminate attacks again. But they were already surrounded by people below and in the sky.

In an instant, the scene became utter chaos.

The bullet had clearly enraged Wild Leopard and stirred up his reckless, life-or-death ferocity. The bullet could not kill him immediately, and if he was going to die, he would kill a few people first. He aimed at Chi Li beside him, the pale and frail boy.

Chi Li dodged Wild Leopard's lunge, and Wild Leopard picked up a gun from the ground.

With Chi Li's angle and skill, he could have slit the man's throat faster and thrown off his aim.

But Chi Li could not expose himself. He was not sure whether Si Jinyan was here. If Si Jinyan was, he had certainly already noticed him.

The man clearly did not think a child could evade him. He only believed the boy had been excessively lucky to avoid his first shot. When the man raised his gun at Chi Li again, Chi Li, in order not to expose his identity, had already decided not to fight back. Instead, he calculated the angle so the shots would avoid several vital areas.

At the same time, Chi Li noticed that one of the accomplices who had already been knocked to the ground in the distance was secretly aiming a gun at him.

To avoid exposure, Chi Li decided to take Wild Leopard's shot. A small section of a gun barrel slowly emerged from his cuff, and he would use a bullet to kill the man in the distance first. In the chaos, no one would notice that he had fired that shot.

Just as he was about to fire, he suddenly heard someone shout, "Marshal!"

Chi Li froze. In that single second of hesitation, the hidden bullet had already shot toward him. Together with Wild Leopard's bullet, it flew straight at Chi Li's chest. Chi Li turned sideways, letting the bullets avoid his vital areas.

In the distance, a figure swept toward Chi Li at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow.

In that instant, time seemed to slow several times over. Yet afterward, whenever Chi Li thought back on it, he still could not understand or believe how fast Si Jinyan had reached his side.

The time the bullets needed to reach him was less than a second.

Yet Si Jinyan reached him even faster.

At that moment, even the wind seemed to stop. It was a speed faster than the wind. Chi Li only felt someone approach from behind and wrap their arms around him. Then his vision darkened, and Si Jinyan instantly appeared before him.

Chi Li's vision was blocked by the taller figure. Then came the muffled sound of bullets entering flesh, twice.

Bright red blood splattered onto Chi Li's hands and face. He looked up and saw Si Jinyan's face, grave and as calm as ever.

Chi Li also smelled the familiar scent of pheromones. He sensed Si Jinyan holding him protectively in his embrace with enough force to nearly crush him, and his senses seemed to amplify countless times over.

The next moment, Si Jinyan's brows drew together slightly. One hand pressed against the back of Chi Li's head, protecting it against his chest.

It was Si Jinyan. Si Jinyan had stood in front of him.

Chi Li was stunned and unable to believe it, with even a faint, almost imperceptible trace of panic.