As a general rule, snipers never acted alone. They were always accompanied by a spotter.
Guan Hui immediately said: “I’ll be your spotter!”
Yin Shixiong patted him on the shoulder. “I’m counting on you.”
Even as they talked, the rain outside had gotten heavier.
There was now only the sound of the pouring rain around the entrance to Mingyue Court. The gangsters had not kept up the gunfire; it was clear that they, too, did not want to waste their bullets.
But as soon as there was movement beyond the courtyard gate, the Minigun at the window roared to life again with a rat-a-tat-a-tat.
The gunfire lashed out like a long, fiery tongue in the rainy night, riddling the grass lawn before Mingyue Court with unsightly holes.
Yin Shixiong and Guan Hui stealthily crept into position as a policeman out front deliberately created a distraction, luring the attentions of the gangsters away. They found a spot facing the front window of the main building in Mingyue Court and got down, sniper rifle at the ready.
This was not the sniper rifle Yin Shixiong was used to, but it did not matter to him. He was an ace sniper: he always got results, even when he had to use someone else’s sniper rifle.
He laid himself out on the ground, and tested the weight and feel of the sniper rifle in his hands. Yin Shixiong even went so far as to take the scope off the sniper rifle, so as to not give his position away to the gangster manning the Minigun.
He had to do this because his sniper rifle was one of the common, mid-range models, which meant that the scope was nothing more than an optical mirror. In the dark of the night, the optical mirror reflected every sliver of light, exposing the sniper’s position.
Yin Shixiong had excellent vision. He was confident he would be able to hit his target without a scope at this distance.
Guan Hui had never seen Yin Shixiong in action, and therefore did not know how good he was with a sniper rifle. He stared at Yin Shixiong, dumbfounded, when he removed the scope from the sniper rifle.
“Don’t worry about me – just concentrate on your job.” Yin Shixiong patted Guan Hui on the shoulder. “Get down.”
Guan Hui laid himself out on a patch of higher ground, above Yin Shixiong. He held the telescope that came with the sniper rifle in his hand, and began to report his observations.
“Distance of 20 meters, dead ahead, 11 o’clock, wind velocity: 10 meters per second, heavy rain, rain velocity: steady. Report over.”
Yin Shixiong began to calibrate the reticle on his sniper rifle according to the numbers Guan Hui had given.
Because there was no scope, he had to calibrate the reticle by sight and feel alone.
He only had one chance.
He had to take out the Minigun and the gangster manning it with a single shot. Otherwise, the gangsters would most likely be provoked and go berserk. That usually ended with the gangsters killing the hostages before committing suicide themselves.
If he failed, it would be but a small misstep for Yin Shixiong, personally. He could live with that. It would be disastrous and embarrassing for the 6th Military Region as a whole, however, and that was something he would not stand for.
He lay on the ground, motionless, for a full ten minutes. He was so still that even Warrior No. 2, over in Mingyue Court, caught a whiff of the abnormal tension in the air.
Warrior No. 2 turned to Yang Dawei. “Boss, what’re the cops and soldiers up to? It’s so quiet…”
Yang Dawei hugged his assault rifle close to him as he sneered, “Who cares? If they don’t give us what we want in the next 35 minutes, we’ll blow this place and swim away!”
This was it, the moment Yin Shixiong had been waiting for: the gangster had turned his head!
He quietly pulled the trigger. The high-explosive bullet, unique to sniper rifles, shot out from the silenced sniper rifle barrel. The bullet seemed to have eyes of its own; it cleaved through the heavy rain like a high-speed missile, and flew straight into the barrel of the Minigun!
The high-explosive bullet struck the ammunition inside the barrel of the Minigun. The effect was comparable to shooting a small grenade – the Minigun ammunition exploded with a violent bang!
The barrel of the Minigun was not built to withstand such a powerful explosion; it immediately blew apart. The exploding gunpowder ripped through Warrior No. 2’s chest.
Warrior No. 2 did not even have time to react; his head was still turned towards Yang Dawei when he collapsed onto the exploding barrel of the Minigun.
Yang Dawei could only watch helplessly as the Minigun exploded, blowing his second-in-command into smithereens. He saw red.
“…Brotheeeeeer!” He gave a long shout, and was about to rush over when suddenly, he heard cheers coming from outside!
“Motherf*ckers! I’m still alive! You haven’t won yet!” Yang Dawei could no longer control his anger. He unloaded his clip on the managing director of Dufeng Mountain Resort Villa, killing him, then used the body as a shield as he made his way towards the window. He shouted at the men outside who were making plans to storm the building. “Take one step inside, come on, I dare you! I’ll kill all the hostages in this house, just like this!” As he said that, he tossed the managing director’s body out the window before activating the count-down for the time bomb. He quickly returned to the back wall and hid himself behind a group of unconscious college students.
…
Yin Shixiong had destroyed the Minigun and killed the gangster manning it with a single shot. With that, he had effectively removed the biggest obstacle for the garrison troops and the police.
Guan Hui felt as though a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He pulled Yin Shixiong up and said, with complete sincerity, “Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for your assistance! When we get back, I’ll be sure to submit a report to the higher-ups detailing everything you’ve done for us today!”
“No, that’s all right.” Yin Shixiong immediately shook his head. “Thanks, but that really won’t be necessary. Just remember you owe me one. We can’t take credit for this, we’d be stepping over the line.”
Guan Hui realized what he was saying.
The 6th Military Region was not supposed to interfere in domestic affairs.
But Guan Hui had not been competent enough to deal with this mess on his own, so his fellow soldiers had been forced to step in and clean up for him, even though they wouldn’t be able to take credit for it. He was so embarrassed by this he could not stop babbling: “No, no, this won’t do, this won’t do at all, I…”
“Enough chit-chat, it’s time to take out the last gangster. The last remaining thug is usually the most violent. Stay on guard.” Yin Shixiong reminded Guan Hui.
Guan Hui quickly said, “I know. I care about my soldiers. I will not send them on a suicide mission.”
“You got that right.” Yin Shixiong returned the sniper rifle to him. “Go see what’s going on over there.”
While they were talking, Deputy Commissioner Liu had ordered his men to storm Mingyue Court.
“Deputy Commissioner Liu! The gangster inside just killed a hostage!”
“Deputy Commissioner Liu! It looks like a trap!”
They had barely finished their report when a deafening blast sounded from the entrance to Mingyue Court. Several of the policemen who had just reached the grass lawn before the gate were blown sky-high before falling back to the ground.
“Who’s f*cking things up?” Guan Hui was furious. He turned around, and glared at Deputy Commissioner Liu. “You! Why are you here?!”
Fan Jian had previously shoved Deputy Commissioner Liu to the back, and ordered him to shut up.
Huo Shaoheng and his men had restrained themselves from doing anything beyond that; he was still the deputy commissioner of C City Police Headquarters, no matter what his shortcomings.
But they had underestimated Deputy Commissioner Liu’s ambitions. He was paranoid about the garrison taking all the credit, and had thoughtlessly disobeyed his orders by sending his policemen into the courtyard to save the hostages.
The yard gate and half the walls surrounding Mingyue Court had been blown to pieces. There was now debris everywhere, complicating the situation.
Yang Dawei, hiding inside the main building of Mingyue Court, laughed heartily.
Prior to this, he and his men had already moved the bed and other large furniture over to the door to barricade it. Only the window facing the courtyard gate had been left open; they had set up a machine gun there to defend the building.
The Minigun had been a powerful weapon – and it had been blown apart with a single shot!
Yang Dawei was by no means a coward; nevertheless, he had witnessed the military’s formidable strength first-hand, and it sent a chill down his spine.
But he had run out of options. It was do or die, now.
“Listen up! You only have 20 minutes left! If I don’t get my plane and money in the next 20 minutes, I’m going to kill every last one of these hostages and set them all on fire!” Inside the room, Yang Dawei briefly lit his lighter with a click, before extinguishing it.
Yin Shixiong stared at what was left of the front yard of Mingyue Court. His eyes were wide with disbelief as he muttered, “…They buried mines, too? Go to hell already!”