At 7:00 in the evening, Chen Shi followed the police to the address given by the suspects: Phase III of Wangcheng New Housing Community.

Looking at the large array of gray building silhouettes that appeared in front of him, Chen Shi wondered why they chose this place. There were no shops around the back and it wasn’t connected to the village in the front. Once the road was blocked by the SWAT team, they wouldn’t be able to escape.

Surrounded by the police, Zhou Xiao had only two options: to die with the hostages or to surrender.

Unless Zhou Xiao was crazy, there was no reason to turn a cat-and-mouse game with a winning ticket into a life and death struggle with a hostage-taking event.

Or was Xiaodong just a decoy and traps had been set up in those gloomy buildings? Bombs could be planted, machine guns could be set up, and they were just waiting for the police to commit a massacre... This possibility was very low. So low that it could be ignored. This wasn’t the United States. Guns are extremely difficult to obtain.

Repeated lessons told Chen Shi that Zhou Xiao wasn’t a foolish and reckless man. He must have a plan, and there had to be a reason for choosing this place!

So, he called Sun Zhen, "Check the third phase of Wangcheng New Community!"

"Huh? What am I checking?"

After pondering for a moment, Chen Shi said, "Zhou Xiao has taken hostages here. I want to know if there are other entrances and exits here. Hurry up!"

"Roger that."

The car in front was parked horizontally, and two police cars rear-ended each other. Fortunately, Chen Shi reacted quickly and slammed on the brakes. Lin Dongxue in the passenger seat nearly hit the roof of the car. Fortunately, she had fastened her seat belt. She quickly undid it and went down to check the situation.

"Old Zhang, it's Xiaodong's mother." Lin Dongxue took a look and shouted outside a window.

Chen Shi got out of the car immediately. It turned out that there was a person laying in the middle of the road a few hundred meters away from phase three of Wangcheng New Community. As there were no street lights on both sides, the road was dark. The police car in front only found out when they drove closer. They almost ran her over, so the driver was so scared that his heart almost jumped out.

"Auntie, wake up." Lin Dongxue lifted up Xiaodong’s mom and shook her. She noticed that there was a blood spot on the back of her neck, which was left by a syringe. Xiaodong’s mom's breathing was steady and her pulse was normal. Lin Dongxue opened her eyelids and her pupils had a weak perception of light.

"She was given an anaesthetic. Call an ambulance."

"Don’t call an ambulance. Just send a car over to the hospital. Dongxue, you and Chen Shi should go." Lin Qiupu said.

"I can't leave now!" Lin Dongxue refused.

Lin Qiupu was afraid that it would be too dangerous here. Chen Shi said, "We’ve been worried about Xiaodong all afternoon. Are you going to make us leave now?"

Lin Qiupu shook his head and sent Old Zhang and another policeman to take her.

Everyone parked their cars here and the accompanying SWAT team drove the car around to begin deploying everyone. Lin Qiupu asked everyone to check their guns and radios, divided them into groups to take care of each other, and then walked towards the building with flashlights.

On the way, Lin Dongxue whispered, "Old Chen, what you said is correct. They really let Xiaodong’s mom go and caught Xiaodong."

"What’s upset me most is why Xiaodong’s mom was thrown in the middle of the road and injected with anaesthetics. She’s a seventy-year-old lady. There’s completely no need to do this to her. It seems that some changes have just happened here."

"How can there be any changes? Xiaodong?"

"The only variable is him!"

"He’s braver than anyone else. To put it bluntly, he likes to be a hero. Maybe he had a conflict with Zhou Xiao here... I hope he’s all right!" Lin Dongxue's heart tightened again.

Chen Shi nodded silently. They could only know what happened when they saw them. He hoped that Xiaodong would be safe and sound when they met.

When they walked into the community, they saw a large building with only two floors. It was an unused shopping mall. The building was surrounded by frosted glass doors and there was a light inside. There was a truck parked outside the building with blinking lights and the engine was still on.

"Check it out!" Lin Qiupu pointed to the truck.

The two accompanying explosive experts got into the car and found no dangerous objects, but found that the car recorder was connected to a mobile phone and turned into a remote surveillance tool. They unplugged the mobile phone.

At this moment, a figure walked by behind the frosted glass door. They could vaguely make her out to be a woman. A young policeman shifted his gun over. Lin Qiupu noticed that the youngster had actually clasped his finger on the trigger and shouted, "Don't shoot. Release your finger slowly!"

The figure dressed in black was clearly Ling Shuang. She walked around leisurely, as if she was confirming the number of people outside. Even Chen Shi admired her courage. There were dozens of guns facing her outside!

There was a harsh noise coming from the mall's radio, and Ling Shuang's voice immediately came through. "Put your guns down on the stone steps in front of the door and separate the magazine from the gun. You’re limited to five minutes."

Lin Qiupu had prepared a megaphone prior to this and shouted inside, "Before we negotiate terms, we must confirm the safety of the hostage!"

"Not unless you meet our requirements first."

"We can't do that. Let us know the current situation of the hostage!"

Ling Shuang's gloomy laughter came over the radio. "I'm going to cut off one of his hands right now to let you confirm it slowly!"

Lin Qiupu threatened, "If you really dare to do this, it’s tantamount to cutting off your own escape route. The hostage is a policeman. The day he became the people's policeman, he already accepted his potential sacrifice. Don't play this game with us!"

"Cutting off my own escape..." Ling Shuang imitated these words with disdain.

Chen Shi whispered, "Do as she says. This woman will really do it. At that time, we’ll be in a very passive situation."

Lin Qiupu couldn’t accept this. "If we put down our guns, we’d also be in a passive situation."

"If you plan to abandon Xiaodong, then don't let him suffer and just get the SWAT team to go in directly. Aren’t we here now for that ray of hope, hoping that Xiaodong can be safe and sound?" Chen Shi grilled him.

These words struck Lin Qiupu's heart. He looked around the faces around him and remembered the combat meeting with several leaders in the bureau that afternoon. The SWAT team had a tough attitude, saying that such gangsters must be subdued at all costs. The implication was Xiaodong’s sacrifice was acceptable. Most leaders also supported this position, saying a lot of detached, "noble" viewpoints.

At first, Lin Qiupu fought desperately for Xiaodong. Whether it was for selfish or humanitarian reasons, in short, he didn't want to have anything happen to Xiaodong. However, under the pressure from the leaders, he could only say tactfully that he would play it by ear.

"The few of you stay. The others should scatter around and keep an eye on every entrance and exit!" Lin Qiupu ordered.

The ones left behind were the backbones of the second team. Lin Qiupu said, "The higher-ups opinion doesn’t put Xiaodong’s safety as a priority, but I want him to survive because Little Li’s father is dead and Old Zhang’s wife is dead. Miss Gu... her whereabouts are unknown. They’ve never failed and we couldn’t save anyone. Not a single one! If Xiaodong and Xiaodong’s mom can’t survive, we’ll really lose this battle. Even if the criminals are arrested smoothly, we still would have lost!"

"You’re right. Humanity is above everything else. We must save Xiaodong!" Lin Dongxue nodded. Pairs of glowing eyes in the darkness also agreed with Lin Qiupu's words.

Everyone got to the door and prepared to put down their guns. Little Li said, "Captain Lin, what if they take our guns?"

"You’re right. Take the guns apart and mix the parts together."

Everyone was trained in this aspect at the police academy. They dismantled their pistols and scattered them together so that even if they were taken away, they couldn’t be used.

At this time, Chen Shi noticed that there was a gun hidden behind Lin Dongxue's waist. It was the one that Xiaodong had dropped previously.