Chapter 128: Chapter 129: Rescuing The Hostage
“Bait in position, the fish is actively making contact.”
On the floor level with the fast food restaurant, a man wearing a black baseball cap with an unremarkable appearance was using binoculars to observe every move of the police and the bandit, and reporting the scene in real time via earpiece to an unknown place.
He didn’t know what the person on the other end of the earpiece said, but the man suddenly turned his head and discreetly glanced downstairs.
He saw Chang Ning, wearing a bulletproof vest, quickly approaching this building.
After spotting Chang Ning, the man quickly drew the handgun from his waist holster; this gun was one he had bought from the local black market after entering Huaxia, and its craftsmanship was quite crude.
However, even if the gun in his hand was utter trash, the man was confident he could use this trash to take out Chang Ning.
As a killer who had long danced on the edge of death, he had the skill and confidence for it.
The handgun’s trigger was already in a half-cocked state; the man only needed to apply a little pressure to take out Chang Ning.
“Hmph!”
At the critical moment, the man let out a reluctant grunt, holstered his gun, and per the instructions from the employer on the other end of the earpiece, left an iron badge on the windowsill, then lowered his cap brim and calmly retreated via another exit—a building couldn’t possibly have only one exit.
At the same moment, people at several other spots were also retreating; some wore property management uniforms, some cleaning service attire, and others were dressed in sharp suits—nothing about them stood out unless you looked closely.
Donghai City was an international metropolis where the pace of life was insanely fast—who would stop and waste their precious time on a stranger?
Chang Ning still didn’t know that the suspicious personnel in the office building had already calmly retreated.
By now he was almost at the suspicious floor, but the closer he got, the slower his speed became.
He drew his 92-style from the holster on his thigh and slowly approached with both hands on the gun.
Both Chang Ning and the man had chosen the fire escape stairwell; aside from janitorial staff, hardly anyone came here.
This was also why Chang Ning dared to openly draw his gun and prepare for a firefight; otherwise, he would be figuring out how to find the suspicious person while ensuring the safety of the public.
At the iron door, Chang Ning carefully pushed it open a gap five or six centimeters wide and aimed his gun muzzle at the gap, ready to shoot at any moment.
The situation was unclear now—who knew what kind of person was on the other side or what weapons they had? Chang Ning wasn’t about to mess with his own life.
‘How come there’s no one?’
Seeing the corridor empty, disappointment flashed in Chang Ning’s eyes.
‘Maybe I’m just too nervous.’
He didn’t put away the gun in his hand; the muzzle was still pointed outward. The corridor looked empty, but Chang Ning had no intention of holstering it.
On a mission outside, encountering underhanded tactics was normal; he didn’t want to get ambushed due to carelessness—Gao Zhong Dui would laugh at him if he found out.
As the brightest star in 026, Chang Ning wouldn’t allow himself such a black mark on his record.
“Gone? That’s weird.”
Pushing open the iron door, Chang Ning meticulously searched the corridor and finally confirmed that someone had been here before.
This meant he hadn’t been mistaken from downstairs—someone really had been observing the crime scene.
As a true blue Chinese person, who didn’t have a habit of gawking at spectacles? It wasn’t incomprehensible that someone was using binoculars to watch the excitement.
Perhaps due to his cheat-like abilities, that fleeting glimpse from below the building made Chang Ning feel that the man upstairs with the baseball cap was a bit off, so he had come up to check.
“What’s this?”
The ram-shaped iron badge on the windowsill caught Chang Ning’s attention.
“What a ridiculously chuunibyou badge!”
Chang Ning casually pocketed the badge; this badge radiating intense chuunibyou vibes didn’t connect in his mind to the suspicious man.
He just thought it might belong to some playful kid messing around in the corridor who forgot to take it when leaving.
Thus, the ram badge became trash, and as an excellent special forces soldier, Chang Ning felt responsible for taking the trash away—absolutely no thought of keeping it for himself.
“Sha Po Lang, any discoveries on your end?”
Geng Jihui’s voice came through the earpiece; seeing that all the B Group members out on reconnaissance had returned except Chang Ning, he couldn’t help but ask out of concern.
There were people who could threaten Chang Ning given his strength, but not many.
Out of responsibility to his comrade, Geng Jihui decided to check in so he could feel at ease.
Otherwise, his heart just wouldn’t settle.
“Forest Wolf, I do have some discoveries here. I’ll tell everyone when I get back, and we can discuss together.”
What had just happened seemed at first glance like a bored citizen watching the spectacle—nothing strange about it.
But that subconscious glance earlier had allowed Chang Ning and the man to lock eyes across the distance; though it was far and unclear, who could truly explain the emotions involved.
Evidence was insufficient for now; he couldn’t wrongly accuse an innocent person.
This hostage rescue mission, which in the original plot was just the protagonist team’s initial showcase, became different the moment Chang Ning spotted the suspicious man.
‘Hopefully I’m just too nervous.’
Chang Ning reassured himself, though this excuse was pretty lame—he wasn’t some bloodless newbie getting nervous for no reason!
“Good, we’ll wait for you.”
After cutting the call, Geng Jihui didn’t wait for the other B Group members to ask; he simply relayed Chang Ning’s situation to the comrades.
He didn’t say much—just repeated what Chang Ning had said over the earpiece, since there wasn’t any important news.
Chang Ning had been operating solo for so long with no situation reports on B Group’s public radio channel, so everyone was quite worried about him.
Hearing from Geng Jihui that Chang Ning was coming back soon, the tension visibly eased on everyone’s faces.
“I told you that kid couldn’t possibly have trouble—the bandits total just three, all pinned in the fast food restaurant and unable to get out. I don’t get what you all were worrying about.”
Big-tailed Wolf Deng Zhenhua said casually, unaware that moments ago he had been more worried about Chang Ning’s safety than Xiao Zhuang and Lao Pao, his comrades from the same company as Chang Ning.
Hearing Chang Ning was fine, everyone turned a blind eye to Ostrich’s armchair quarterback behavior—this was something Ostrich did all the time.
Bald-tailed Wolf Shi Dafan was also happy knowing Chang Ning was okay and, uncharacteristically, didn’t roast Ostrich.
As the team’s resident bickering duo, he was usually the one who roasted Ostrich the most gleefully.
“Alright, focus up.
Once Chang Ning is in position, we’ll have a quick meeting to finalize the combat plan.
Gao Zhong Dui is waiting—we may be newcomers, but no regulation says newcomers can’t outperform the veterans!
This time, we’re definitely gonna dazzle Wild Wolf and Gray Wolf!”
Seeing everyone relaxed, Geng Jihui feared they might drop the ball and quickly wound up his comrades’ springs—this wasn’t the time to relax.
