Chapter 149: The Hostage Chapter 150: The Execution

Inside the living room, a muscular and fierce-looking man stood erect, leaning casually against a magnificent marble pillar. With both hands tucked lazily into his trouser pockets, he seemed entirely indifferent to everything happening around him.

Fang Xiong, feeling a bitter turmoil inside, smiled at the muscular man and offered a chuckle before sitting on the sofa opposite Ni San. He appeared thoroughly courteous, poised, and at ease, resembling a master dealing with an impatient student when compared to the visibly volatile Ni San across from him.

Ni San looked at the composed Fang Xiong with intense irritation. He flicked his cigarette ash onto the floor and said with a sarcastic sneer, "Old Fang, if we count from the days we wore split pants, you and I have had a friendship of nearly thirty years, haven't we? Heh! Back then, my deceased old man didn't even bat an eye when he took the fall for your family's patriarch. But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that today, I'd still be the one taking the fall for you. Look at your Fang family—aside from spending some money, you're completely in the clear, while I have to shoulder all the blame and run for my life to the ends of the earth. Tell me, what are we going to do about this?"

Fang Xiong smiled faintly. "Third Brother, my family has never forgotten the kindness and sacrifices of your family. You should know that in your heart after all these years. Sigh, during such extraordinary times, we need to remain calm above all else. Your losses this time are indeed heavy, and as your older brother, my heart aches for you as well. However, rest assured, Third Brother. Once you reach Shenzhen and find that person, you will immediately escape this predicament. Within a week at most, he will safely send you to Malaysia."

"I'm not going! Tell me, how do you plan to compensate me?" Ni San leaned back against the pristine white sofa, lifted his feet, and placed them heavily onto the luxurious low coffee table, staring at Fang Xiong with a half-smile.

Faced with Ni San's filthy shoe soles, Fang Xiong sighed. "Third Brother, why put yourself through this? Haven't we already settled the matter of money? The moment you arrive in Shenzhen, you will receive a fifty-million HSBC cash check, which is more than enough for you to live carefree abroad. Are you truly unsatisfied with your older brother's arrangements?"

Ni San lowered his feet and suddenly lunged forward. "Older brother, it's not just me! What about the officials who broke their backs working themselves to death for your Fang family over the past dozen years? What about my men whom you sold out? What about their families? For all I know, the moment I walk out your front door, you'll sell me out too!"

"This... Third Brother, please calm down. How could my family ever ignore such a matter? It's just that the dust needs to settle before we can take action; otherwise, there will be endless trouble!" Fang Xiong said patiently, trying to persuade Ni San.

Ni San burst into laughter. "Such a fine phrase—'wait until the dust settles'! Let me ask you: when exactly will the dust settle? Your Fang family spent over a hundred million to protect yourselves, so why are you unwilling to spend some money to help the brothers who took the fall for you? Even if they are as foolish and unlucky as I am, surely you should at least take care of their families! Heh, I'm uneducated and won't beat around the bush with you. Just state the exact amount of compensation they'll get. Give me a definite word today, and I'll leave immediately. Otherwise..."

Fang Xiong's expression shifted, and he said in a deep voice, "Otherwise what? Are you telling me that you came here today to threaten me?"

Ni San stood up angrily, about to unleash a torrent of abuse, when the cell phone at his waist suddenly rang. Seeing the number displayed on the screen, Ni San's expression changed. He glared into Fang Xiong's eyes and brought the phone to his ear. "Speak!"

"Third Brother, run quickly! The three brothers at the entrance have all been captured. I escaped by going out to relieve myself... Third Brother, I've let you down, I'm running too!"

At that moment, Ni San's bodyguard, Brother Hai, had already opened the front door with a stern expression. Ni San drew his pistol, pointed it at the pale-faced Fang Xiong, and backed away rapidly while snarling viciously, "You've got guts—you actually dared to call the police! If I can't escape today, none of your family will survive! If it weren't for those brothers and their families waiting for money, I'd slaughter you right now!"

Ni San rushed frantically out of the villa's main gate and dove into the back seat of a Jetta police car. Bodyguard Hai swiftly pulled open the door and scrambled inside, and with a loud slam, both doors closed simultaneously.

Seeing that the driver was not moving, Ni San lashed out from the back seat, slapping the driver across the head. "What the hell are you waiting for? Drive!"

The driver's head slumped sideways against the door. Seeing this, Brother Hai immediately understood the situation, and the distant, flashing lights of police cars confirmed his suspicion.

Hai leaned over, opened the driver's side door, and shoved the unconscious driver out onto the ground. Crouching down, he was just about to slide into the driver's seat when a sharp, stabbing pain in his ankle made him roar, "Agh... Third Brother, get out of the car, we've been ambushed! Quick, rush back into the building and take Fang Xiong's family hostage, or nobody will make it out! Move!"

Hai bolted from the car and rushed toward the slowly closing front gate. With a flying kick, he struck the gate, sending Fang Xiong—who was standing behind it—flying backward. Ignoring Fang Xiong, who lay on the ground bruised and groaning in agony, Hai grabbed the venomous snake still coiled around his ankle. With a powerful yank, he hurled the snake onto the hard marble floor. Ni San, eyes bloodshot, rushed back into the house to secure the front door just as seven or eight police cars screeched to a halt around three sides of the villa.

Gritting his teeth, Ni San charged at Fang Xiong, pressing the muzzle of his Type 54 pistol directly between Fang Xiong's eyebrows. "I'll castrate your mother, Fang Xiong! If I don't kill you today, I'll change my last name! I swear to..."

"Stop! Third Brother, don't kill him yet! He's our human shield!"

Crouching on the floor, Hai saw that Ni San had regained some composure. He quickly unholstered a small dagger, unscrewed the cap at the end of the handle, and took out a small red wax pill. Crushing it open, he swallowed the soybean-sized red pill inside. Then, tearing open his trouser leg, he used the dagger to slice a four-centimeter cross-shaped wound over the snakebite marks on his ankle. Putting away the dagger, he squeezed the venom out of the wound with immense effort. From start to finish, his dark face remained completely calm, without uttering a single groan.

Ni San asked anxiously, "Little Hai, are you alright?"

"I'm fine! Third Brother, quickly drag this bastard upstairs! It's not safe here, hurry!"

Hai issued his orders loudly, stroking toward the servants' quarters on the ground floor. He kicked open the door, stepped forward, and yanked a terrified, trembling female servant up from the bed. Grabbing her by the hair, he dragged her ruthlessly out of the room. Then, locking his left arm tightly around her neck to use her body as a shield, he drew a Type 54 pistol from behind his waist with his right hand, quickly chambered a round, and moved rapidly and vigilantly toward the stairs.

Walking backward up the stairs, Hai caught sight of a figure outside the window. His thick brows furrowed instantly, and he raised his gun and fired. A muffled cry followed by the sound of a falling weapon made it clear to him that the target was dead. He swiftly rounded the stair corner and fired two more shots at a dark silhouette outside another window on the far side, once again eliciting the shriek of a hit target.

In the second-floor living room, Fang Xiong—who had been held at gunpoint by Ni San—lost all semblance of his previous poise and elegance. Hearing the gunshots and screams plunged him into a state of sheer panic and terror. For the first time, he felt death standing so close to him that he trembled violently, unable to utter a single word.

Hai shoved the nearly suffocating female servant onto Fang Xiong, causing Fang Xiong to let out a terrified scream.

Regaining some senses, Fang Xiong knelt on the carpet. Amidst the blinding red and blue flashing lights of the police cars outside and the booming demands of the police through loudspeakers, he begged Ni San tearfully, "Third Brother, please don't be rash! Whatever amount of money you want, just name it, and your older brother will satisfy your demands!"

"Satisfy your mother's cunt! Why didn't you say that earlier? You only say it now that I've got a gun pointed at your head? Fuck your ancestors, if anything happens to me today, you're the first one I'm slaughtering! Ptooey—"

With that, Ni San spat a thick glob of phlegm squarely onto Fang Xiong's bloodied nose, followed immediately by a fierce kick to his face.

Chapter 150: Execution

The vigilant Hai had just lowered a corner of the window curtain and turned around when a wave of dizziness and nausea suddenly struck him. His heart began to beat irregularly, the wound on his ankle grew increasingly numb, and his vision began to blur intermittently. Knowing that his intense exertion had driven the venom deeper into his bloodstream, he murmured a brief word to Ni San and hurried into the bathroom.

Hai gulped down several mouthfuls of water straight from the tap, lifted his foot to rinse the wound in the washbasin, and immediately caught sight of a sniper silhouetted on the roof of the adjacent villa through the sheer curtains. Swiftly pressing his body flat against the wall beside the window, he gently pulled the heavy drapes shut before returning to his original spot to properly treat his wound.

Amidst the booming demands broadcasted from the police department's high-powered loudspeakers, the panic-stricken Ni San noticed Fang Xiong's eyes repeatedly drifting toward the bedroom door. A sudden realization struck him: Fang Xiong's mouth-watering wife was likely hiding inside. He shouted into the bathroom, and hearing the call, Hai emerged holding dual pistols and hurried to the living room.

"Little Hai, watch him. I'm going to drag that bitch out! Son of a bitch, I'm going to rape and kill his wife right in front of this dog!"

Under the terrified gazes of Fang Xiong and the female servant, Ni San strode up to the bedroom door, twisted the knob twice, but found it locked. Enraged, he holstered his gun, stepped back a few paces, took a deep breath, and lunged forward with all his might. With a deafening crash, Ni San smashed the door open, but neither Zheng Yi nor any trace of her was to be found anywhere inside the room.

Blinded by fury, Ni San drew his pistol again, violently yanked open the doors of the wardrobe one by one, and bent down to inspect the empty space beneath the bed. Straightening up with a string of curses, he marched toward the balcony. When he spotted the cloth strip tied securely to the railing pillar, he didn't even stop to think—he stuck his upper body out over the balcony with his gun drawn to scan the surroundings. All he saw was a long strip of fabric swaying gently in the breeze.

Even now, consumed by blinding rage, Ni San failed to realize the danger. His head was already dead-center in the crosshairs of two sniper rifles. The split second he cursed aloud and began to turn around, a gunshot rang out. A bullet pierced Ni San's forehead, abruptly ending his sinful life. Like a deflated sack, he pitched forward instantly, caught briefly on the railing, and then plunged down to the ground below.

Hearing the gunshot, Hai was profoundly startled. The familiar report of sniper rifles made his expression shift drastically.

With a swift punch, he knocked the female servant unconscious, grabbed the nearly paralyzed Fang Xiong by the collar, pressed his gun barrel against Fang Xiong's temple, and ordered harshly, "If you want to live, listen to me! Walk to that large window in the front, face outside, and slowly draw the curtains open, or I'll blow your brains out!"

Trembling uncontrollably, Fang Xiong shuffled over to the large floor-to-ceiling window facing the front of the villa. He raised a shaking hand, lingering hesitantly, unwilling to open the drapes. Retreating just inside the bedroom doorway, Hai fired a shot that blew off Fang Xiong's right ear. The bullet shattered the window glass, producing a piercing shriek. Unaware yet that his ear was gone, Fang Xiong collapsed onto the floor, howling at the top of his lungs, "Brother Hai, I beg you to spare my life! Take whatever money you want..."

"Shut up! Stand up and open the curtains!"

Hai's ruthless voice rang out once more, carrying an unquestionable authority that forced Fang Xiong to crawl back up using the wall for support and timidly pull the curtains wide open.

After a brief observation, Hai fired two decisive shots into Fang Xiong's lower legs. Fang Xiong crashed back to the floor, shrieking to the heavens. Without pausing for a single second, Hai agilely retreated down the stairs, raised his weapon as he passed the open-plan kitchen, and fired a single shot directly into the gas cylinder.

With a deafening explosion, the gas cylinder ruptured by the bullet generated a massive shock wave that blew out every single window on the ground floor of the villa. Towering flames roared instantly into the air, terrifying the surrounding police officers into either diving flat onto the ground or scattering in all directions. The new police chief's megaphone, along with his cap, tumbled to the ground from the blast.

The experienced Hai had already slipped back to the second-floor balcony. Amidst the raging inferno and billows of smoke, he remained coolly concealed among the balcony planters and fired a string of ten rounds at seven police officers positioned ahead and to his left. Immediately leaping off the balcony amidst the chaos of screams and panic, he bounded past the flowerbeds and sprinted wildly toward the perimeter wall.

Just five meters away from the wall, a sudden wave of dizziness caused Hai's steps to stumble. Gritting his teeth, he gathered every ounce of his remaining strength and lunged upward, but his body had barely cleared the top of the wall when two bullets—one fired from inside the courtyard and the other from outside—struck him simultaneously. The bullet from the courtyard pierced his lumbar spine, while the one from outside tore through his neck. Clinging stubbornly to the wall top in his final, dying breaths, Hai struggled desperately to hold his body up. After unleashing a tremendous, defiant roar, he fell backward off the wall, tumbling into the community's courtyard.

More than two hundred police officers swarmed both sides of the perimeter wall. The shrill sirens of fire engines wailed closer from afar, and crowds of panicked citizens filled the streets within a hundred meters of the villa. Running back and forth, police officers shouted hoarsely at the top of their lungs, issuing various commands and urging arriving residents to return to their homes immediately.

Dressed in full tactical gear, Du Jianwu rushed to the base of the wall with two assistants. Pointing his weapon down at Hai, who lay flat on his back, Du Jianwu noticed the bullet hole through the man's neck and knelt to inspect it closely, a look of growing puzzlement clouding his features.

"Xiaoliang, how far are the Second and Third Squads responsible for the outer perimeter blockade from this wall?"

Xiaoliang replied promptly, "All four ambush points are positioned approximately sixty-five meters away from this spot."

Du Jianwu stood up and gave a decisive order: "Inform them: all personnel are to form a single line and sweep toward the wall. And note—if you encounter the suspect, capture him alive!"

"Understood!"

Du Jianwu strode briskly back toward the front of the villa, casting a deeply worried glance around him. The heavily wounded Fang Xiong and the unconscious female servant had already been rescued by the SWAT team and were being bundled into ambulances in a flurry of chaos. Zheng Yi, having narrowly escaped danger, was located by officers conducting a grid search. Meanwhile, firefighters from four engines battled fiercely to contain the blaze, sending long streams of water to envelop the burning villa in a curtain of spray.

Du Jianwu walked over to Zheng Yi, who was being supported by two female officers. Stopping a meter away from her, he offered a gentle, reassuring smile and asked kindly, "Are you alright?"

Seeing Zheng Yi nod silently without replying, Du Jianwu spoke in a soothing tone, "You'll need to come back with us for a while. In any case, you won't be able to live in this building for the time being. Once we finish questioning you, I'll have someone take you to your mother's place. You can visit Fang Xiong tomorrow, alright?"

"Thank you," Zheng Yi murmured before heading toward a police car with the two female officers.

Du Jianwu shook his head, drew his walkie-talkie, and called out, "O2, O2, what are the search results?"

"Reporting to O1, nothing found. I repeat, nothing found."

"O2, O3, coordinate and expand the search radius! O2, O3, expand the search radius together!"

"O2 copy... O3 copy!"

Stowing his walkie-talkie away, Du Jianwu strolled casually toward the temporary command vehicle where the bureau leadership was stationed. Halfway there, a fire truck that had finished its task rolled slowly past him, just three meters away.

Subconsciously glancing at the departing fire vehicle, Du Jianwu suddenly froze in his tracks, his jaw dropping as he watched it drive away.

Illuminated by the blinding red and blue police strobes, standing on the rear footboard of the fire truck was a fire rescue worker in a neat uniform, his face thoroughly blackened with soot. Clinging tightly to the iron railing with his left hand, he was waving cheerfully at Du Jianwu with his right, flashing a row of dazzling white teeth as he grinned like an old friend at the utterly stunned officer.

As the fire truck rumbled into the distance, a bewildered and exasperated Du Jianwu let out an angry curse under his breath. He turned to his assistant Xiaoliang, who was trailing close behind, and snapped, "Go tell the officers who just searched the community to sweep it one more time. Focus on the dense flowerbeds and the small bamboo grove, especially the dark corners near the fire hydrants the crew just used. Check if anyone slipped through the net!"

"Understood!"

As Xiaoliang hurried off, Du Jianwu rubbed his temples in helpless frustration, looked in the direction of the community gates, and muttered a low curse under his breath: "Damn it..."