At the same time, the Big Circle Boy inside Mingyue Court, Warrior No. 2 hollered again, “See our firepower?! Don’t even think about getting backup! I told you, you only had an hour! Only 45 minutes left now! If we don’t see the plane and cash in 45 minutes, we’re gonna blow this place up! The Managing Director and 20 something university students here will be buried with us, it ain’t our loss!” This sentence was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Neither the garrison troops nor the police had time to deploy a large team over.
“Everyone! Get in formation, port arms, get ready to take them down full force!” The garrison troops’ commanding officer promptly turned around and issued the order to his troops. A soldier’s duty was to protect the nation and be willing to sacrifice their lives for civilians at any time. The commanding officer held back his tears, he was ready to go in battle with his troops. He was completely opposite of Deputy Commissioner Liu–this young commanding officer defied the meaning of “you make the sacrifice, I take the glory.” The garrison troops began to assemble and prepared to charge.
“You all retreat, the army will take it from here. They will protect everyone’s safety.” Deputy Commissioner Liu was secretly elated and quickly directed his men to retreat.
…
Huo Shaoheng sat in the Humvee and silently listened to the conversation between the Deputy Commissioner Liu and the garrison troop’s commanding officer over the PA. He couldn’t take it anymore.
“Who is in charge of the garrison troops?”
“Reporting to Chief, it’s Guan Hui, Company Commander.” Zhao Liangze had no problem digging up Deputy Commissioner Liu, so an officer in the military was a piece of cake.
Huo Shaoheng nodded and commanded Zhao Liangze, “Seize Liu and have Guan Hui come here, I have something to ask him.”
“Roger!” Zhao Liangze promptly put on his bulletproof helmet and opened the car door to get out.
…
Deputy Commissioner had barely walked a few steps with his men before a tall and handsome man stood behind them. His unyielding attitude almost made them forget his age, “Liu Qiangyuan, you’ve become stripped of your command, await disciplinary action by your superiors. –Wait on the side!” Zhao Liangze waved his hand to signal and Fan Jian immediately stormed up to seize Deputy Commissioner Liu.
Deputy Commissioner Liu’s face was white with fear, his eyes bulged at Zhao Liangze as he stuttered, “Who… Who… Who are you?! You have some gall, why don’t you go arrest the criminals?! Why are you giving me trouble! –You… You… You dare attack a police officer?! This is a serious offence!”
“You are not a court martial, you have no right to convict me.” Zhao Liangze coldly stated and tilted his head, “Take him away.”
Deputy Commissioner Liu’s confidantes backed away, too afraid to stand up against a soldier. Any policeman with a conscience had long been resentful of Deputy Commander Liu, they also wouldn’t stand up against a soldier. The two of them, Fan Jian and Zhao Liangze were enough to take care of Deputy Commissioner Liu. It could be said that every one of Huo Shaoheng’s men were brave and intelligent warriors, but Huo Shaoheng’s dominating aura blotted out everyone else. But as soon as he wasn’t in the picture, every single one of them were brilliant beyond imagine!
“Guan Hui, you come with me.” Zhao Liangze’s gaze shifted to the young commanding officer. Guan Hui looked at Zhao Liangze cautiously and did not move until he displayed his military ID. Guan Hui was shocked. He looked at Zhao Liangze, who was younger than him, “You’re a Lieutenant Colonel?! And a member of the 6th Military Region?!”
Zhao Liangze smiled warmly, he had a good impression of Guan Hui. He checked his CV earlier and knew this young commanding officer was a newlywed of one year, and his wife just gave birth to their daughter–but he had made the decision to join his troops in the same fate.
“The Chief wants to see you, come with me.”
“Chief?! Then you…?” Guan Hui was dumbfounded, in his eyes, Zhao Liangze was already worthy of being addressed as “Chief.”
“I’m his subordinate.” Zhao Liangze said as he turned and walked away.
Guan Hui immediately jogged after him to Huo Shaoheng’s Humvee and and stood at attention, “Hello Chief!”
Huo Shaoheng sat in the car and didn’t reveal his face, His deep and rich voice traveled from the dark vehicle interior, “Do you know what kind of firearms the criminals are using?”
Guan Hui quickly said, “Reporting to Chief! I believe it’s a mini rotary machine gun!”
Huo Shaoheng nodded, “Not bad, if that’s the case, why are the soldiers charging? You should know that having them charge under these circumstances make them lambs to slaughter.”
“Yes, but we are soldiers! Sacrificing ourselves to save the elite university students, it’s worth it! Their lives are more important than ours!”
Huo Shaoheng’s eyes flashed in the darkness, he glanced at Guan Hui and his gaze traveled through the tinted glass to the opposite bank of Little Mirror Lake behind Mingyue Court. His voice seemed to carry the same dimness as the lake water, “You can sacrifice your own and the soldiers’ lives to save others, but don’t see yourself as a lower class.”
“In my eyes, your lives are as precious as the others’.”
“Chief!” Guan Hui choked, “I… Please don’t worry, I’ll lead the soldiers to charge!”
“No need. The lives of every one of our soldiers are precious, they are not meant to feed the criminals’ bullets.” Huo Shaoheng shook his head and ordered Zhao Liangze, who was standing outside the car in military stance, “Have Big Xiong come here.”
Zhao Liangze immediately called Yin Shixiong through his Bluetooth headset. Yin Shixiong was at the opposite side of Little Mirror Lake, guarding the straw hut Gu Nianzhi and her classmates were in.
After listening to Zhao Liangze relay Huo Shaoheng’s words, he quickly said, “I’ll come over right now.” Then he added, “What about Nianzhi?”
Zhao Liangze looked at Huo Shaoheng in the car, “Chief, Big Xiong is asking about the other side?”
Huo Shaoheng understood what he meant, he sat in the darkness and his voice remained deep and rich, carrying a raspy magnetism that tugged at heartstrings, “That side is only safe when the battle on this side ends.” He finished speaking and the image Big Xiong just sent over flashed in his mind. In the photo, Gu Nianzhi’s gaze was watery and he was the only one who could sense the terror and anxiety of a small animal in her eyes… Huo Shaoheng closed his eyes and it seemed like only then that he didn’t have to see Gu Nianzhi’s silent stare.
Zhao Liangze waited momentarily and saw that Huo Shaoheng didn’t speak again, then relayed his words to Yin Shixiong.
15 minutes later, Yin Shixiong quickly ran over and asked, “Chief, Yin Shixiong reporting!”
Huo Shaoheng remained inside and sat in the dark military vehicle, and commanded Yin Shixiong through his Bluetooth headset, “Go with Guan Hui, eliminate the criminals’ American Minigun. Can you do it?”
“No problem!” Yin Shixiong’s eyes lit up, his expression a mirror of Fan Jian’s earlier. Fan Jian’s specialty was showering enemies with bullets using assault rifles, while Yin Shixiong excelled at sniping. His sniping skills were nearly perfect and he had already placed as the ace sniper of the entireImperial Army three times in a row. As long as Huo Shaoheng didn’t participate, Yin Shixiong was always in first place.
Guan Yi gaped as he scratched the back of his head and asked dubiously, “…How would you shoot? They’re hiding in the room and there are many hostages, they can easily be injured.” He couldn’t expect to live up to the joke and holler at Mingyue Court, “We’ve killed all the hostages inside, we can take down the criminals now!” This would disgrace the military and he wouldn’t be able to answer to the consequences, he might as well perish in battle…
“No way?! –Young man, it’s your lucky day, we’ll have you witness the methods of the 6th Military Region!” Yin Shixiong left with Guan Hui and casually picked out a sniper the garrison’s Special Taskforce had brought.