Chapter 109: Psychological Tactics
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“Boss, what’s going on?”
Inside the abandoned residential building, the criminals began to grow uneasy.
“Didn’t you say that as long as we had these hostages, the military wouldn’t dare fire at us?”
The criminal who had spoken was their leader, yet he had no idea what was happening either.
Everything had gone beyond their expectations.
It had happened too suddenly.
But Shen Chaoxi’s shot had been a warning.
The hostages were still in the criminals’ hands.
By all rights, she could not have fired.
Otherwise, she would only provoke them.
But under the circumstances, even if she did not fire, they would continue killing people.
To stop them from slaughtering more innocent civilians and win an opportunity to speak, she had no choice but to do it.
There was no point in negotiating with them honestly and reasonably.
They had already lost all semblance of sanity.
Otherwise, they would never have executed the hostages one after another right in front of the military.
They were taking revenge on the military.
At the same time, they wanted to teach the military a lesson.
Hadn’t the military been locked in a standoff with them for so long, refusing to agree to their demands?
Fine, then.
They would kill the hostages one by one. They simply refused to believe that the military could remain unmoved.
Besides, they had never intended to keep their word.
They were doing it deliberately.
No matter what the military said, they would continue killing people.
And they took pleasure in it.
But that sudden gunshot had completely disrupted the criminals’ psychological tactics.
The fact that the military had opened fire on them was something they had never anticipated.
The bullet had pierced through the man’s wrist, leaving a bloody hole from which blood seeped.
The criminal hurriedly tore off a strip of gauze with his teeth and wrapped it around his wrist.
At the same time, his vicious eyes, burning with fury, glared at the military personnel opposite him.
The abandoned residential building was dark and silent. The atmosphere, however, was utterly oppressive, without the slightest sound.
“Damn it! How dare you shoot at me?!”
His tone was foul. A bone-deep pain radiated from the wound, as though a sharp knife had been driven into the bones of his wrist, crushing his nerves.
He was practically grinding his teeth. Their game of killing the hostages in succession had only reached its halfway point when someone had interrupted it.
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He was deeply displeased.
Pain, sharp as countless needles, spread through his body and tugged at every nerve. In sudden fury, he shouted, “Do you believe I’ll kill every last one of them right now?”
“Go ahead and kill them.”
Just as the pain in his wrist became unbearable and his temper flared, a cool, clear voice rang out.
In the darkness of the rainy night, it sounded exceedingly commanding.
Shen Chaoxi stood there.
The rainy night was bleak and sinister. She lifted her eyes, their dark depths seeming to conceal a trace of keen intelligence, and gazed calmly in his direction.
“Go ahead. Kill every one of them.”
As she spoke, she pressed her lips together. Her cool eyes grew dark and heavy, and an invisible pressure suddenly spilled from her.
It was enough to make anyone struggle for breath.
“But if you kill them, you’ll die too.”
“So tell me—will that really be worth it for you?”
She stared coldly at the abandoned residential building. Her voice was deep and frigid, carrying an unmistakable authority, while the emotions in her eyes remained impossible to read.
No one knew what she was thinking.
Perhaps, until ten minutes ago, countless rescue plans had still been racing through her mind.
She had been considering how to capture the criminals and rescue the hostages as quickly as possible while ensuring the hostages’ safety.
But the criminals did not keep their word. They had even turned the confrontation into a game with the military.
They had said they would kill people before dawn.
Yet they had never intended to honor that promise.
There was no time left for her to think.
Even if the military agreed to their demands, they would continue killing.
And with the hostages in their hands, the military could never fire at them, no matter when or where.
Much less could they turn their weapons on their own comrades.
This had all been deliberate on the criminals’ part.
They had been toying with the military from the beginning.
They had never intended to release the hostages.
She had been wrong.
She had believed that, no matter the circumstances, she could rely on her own intelligence to rescue the hostages safely.
That even in the most dangerous situation, she would still be able to devise a complete rescue plan.
But this time, she could not.
The criminals were armed, and they had taken a large number of villagers hostage. The abandoned residential building they had chosen was surrounded by open ground. Even if the military approached under cover of the sinister rainy night, silently and unseen, they would still be discovered.
Although the military personnel were all elite soldiers—special forces from the First Military Region—it was practically impossible to rescue the hostages unharmed in such an exposed area under the enemy’s watchful eyes.
Moreover, the criminals had placed something on the young girl that could endanger everyone’s lives. At the thought, Shen Chaoxi’s gaze grew even darker.
Her brows drew together.
When Shen Chaoxi finished speaking, the viciousness in the man’s eyes intensified. He let out a disbelieving laugh, clearly provoked.
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“Do you really think I don’t dare?”
As he spoke, his expression twisted with fury. He took a gun from one of the men beside him and once again pressed it against the girl’s head.
Blood seeped through the gauze haphazardly wrapped around his wrist. The sight of his blood-soaked hand caused a murderous intent to flare within him.
How dare she threaten him?
In an instant, he shoved forward the girl whose mouth had first been sealed with black tape, the one whose face was streaked with tears. He used her as a shield and said sinisterly, “Do you know what this is?”
“This is explosives.”
He tilted his head and smiled in a chilling manner, as if everything were under his control. Then he pulled open the girl’s clothing.
It turned out that explosives had been strapped to her body, concealed beneath her clothes.
The military did not dare act rashly.
“I strapped explosives to her. If any of you from the military dare make a move, I’ll blow everyone here to pieces!”
He let out a vicious laugh.
His laughter was utterly despicable.
Shen Chaoxi’s brows furrowed slightly.
She had known for some time.
It was just that her shot, together with what she had said, had enraged the criminal, prompting him to reveal the girl ahead of schedule.
Their original plan had been to leave themselves a way out regardless of whether the military agreed to their demands or how things turned out.
That way was to die together with the military—and all the hostages.
Once the explosives detonated, everyone inside the entire residential building would be killed.
If the military surrounded and attacked them, they would wait until the soldiers had entered the abandoned building, then quietly ignite the explosives.
With a single blast, they would make sure the military died alongside them.
That was why criminals were said to be utterly deranged.
They were all desperate men with nothing left to lose.
But when the military saw the explosives strapped to the girl, shock deepened in their eyes.
“Explosives?” they asked anxiously.
The situation before them had clearly reached an impasse.
[Lone Wolf, Lone Wolf, the hostage in their hands has explosives strapped to her body.]
[Received.]
The military personnel stood with their guns raised inside the dark residential building, maintaining the same position for nearly an entire night.
By then, it was four-thirty in the morning. There was only half an hour left before dawn.
Shen Chaoxi glanced at the abandoned residential building and asked the person behind her, “What time is it?”
“Reporting, Commander. Four-thirty.”
Shen Chaoxi’s gaze darkened.
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