Chapter 62: Street shootout between police and thieves

While we were examining the scene, a sudden series of loud bangs echoed from outside—gunshots. I called out to An Mingshan and rushed toward the exit, but Liu Shan and Liu Wei insisted on coming along. I drew my gun to scare them, yet somehow they were completely unfazed. There was no time for explanations, so I had to let them follow, though I could not guarantee whether they would still be alive a few moments later.

We emerged outside to find that three armed thugs were in the midst of robbing an armored cash transport vehicle! One of the criminals had been shot and wounded, and an officer lay dead. I instructed An Mingshan to call an ambulance and the police, while I drew my pistol and prepared to engage the culprits. After making the call, An Mingshan looked at me and asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

"Can't you tell? Going to help!" I replied.

"No, you can't go!" An Mingshan protested. "If anything happens to you, how am I supposed to face your parents?"

"This is my responsibility, say no more! If you really want to help, go grab that fallen officer's weapon and come back to back me up!" With that, I gripped my pistol and charged forward, plunging into a real-life street game of Counter-Strike. I fired a single shot at each of the three men: one took a bullet straight to the right chest, another had both legs pierced, and the last one suffered an even worse fate—he could probably kiss his prospects of fatherhood goodbye forever. Since my magazine was loaded with standard pistol rounds, every hit packed a severe wallop. Just then, tactical response vehicles and ambulances arrived, and the trio was hauled away. That was when the pain finally hit me. I must have been shot, and not just once. I silently congratulated myself; had I not been wearing a bulletproof vest underneath, I would likely have met my end several times over.

Right at that moment, I overheard a piece of news circulating among the crowd that sent a fresh jolt of horror through me: An Mingshan had been taken hostage by a store clerk! The perpetrator had embezzled a massive sum from his company, and upon being exposed, he had panicked and seized the person standing nearest to him—An Mingshan. I melted into the crowd to assess the situation.

An Mingshan stood at the crime scene with a knife held against her neck by the clerk, surrounded by a dense, unyielding wall of onlookers. Five police officers were shouting megaphoned appeals, urging him to remain calm and do nothing foolish. Liu Shan was among them. Their rhetoric felt oddly reminiscent of something from a clichéd script.

After weighing my options for a long moment, I made up my mind, weaving stealthily through the crowd until I positioned myself right behind the fellow. Without hesitation, I fired a round straight into his back.

"Ah!" he shrieked in agony. An Mingshan merely shuddered, and then both of them collapsed to the ground. Seeing that the blade in his hand was about to slice open An Mingshan’s throat, I made a split-second decision and fired a second shot directly at his hand, blasting the knife away. Instantly, several officers swarmed forward, slapped cuffs on him, shoved him into a police cruiser, and confiscated his weapon.

After An Mingshan and I accompanied him to the hospital, underwent medical examinations, and gave our statements to the police, we finally returned to Suiyi Residence.

The next morning, back at Suiyi Residence.

Early as it was, I was startled awake by a headline blazing across the internet: *Store Clerk Takes Hostage; Gun God Emerges as Hero to Save the Beauty*. Even more astonishingly, the article featured photographs taken at the scene. Judging by the angle, Liu Wei was undoubtedly the mastermind behind those snapshots. As I stared at the screen, I failed to notice that An Mingshan was reading it over my shoulder.

I glanced up at her and said smugly, "Look how cool I am! Though, honestly, you were the coolest part of the show."

An Mingshan fumed, "You weren't cool—you were utterly reckless! Do you have any idea how much danger I was in? I almost lost my life, and you used the whole ordeal to grandstand! I honestly still can't believe you were the one who fired that shot!"

"How did it feel back then, Miss Hostage?" I teased.

"Don't change the subject!" she snapped.

"Tell me, what was it really like? Having a knife held to your throat with your life hanging in the thread—weren't you terrified?"

"Terrified? Of course I was!" An Mingshan retorted. "But unlike a certain someone, I didn't feel like crying for help the second trouble struck." With that, she crossed her arms in a huff.

"Alright, alright, let's switch topics!" I conceded. "You say you're sore, but do you think I'm any better? Do you know I counted them afterward? I took five hits, all square on the bulletproof vest, and every single one would have been fatal. One of them missed my heart by a mere millimeter. Tell me, who had it worse?"

"Really?" An Mingshan narrowed her eyes. "You didn't seem to mention any of that when you were getting checked out at the hospital. Let me massage those aches away for you—don't move!"

Remembering how she had nearly pulled me apart limb from limb a few days prior, I blurted out in panic, "Your highness's services won't be necessary, I have business to attend to, gotta go!" I spun around to bolt. But An Mingshan slammed me back down into the chair with a firm grip... followed shortly by my piercing shrieks echoing throughout Suiyi Residence.

***

Reader Q&A Corner.

Q: Mr. Author, what is your favorite fruit?

A: I am quite fond of durians. Known as the "King of Fruits," durians are exceptionally nutritious. Of course, I enjoy other fruits as well—such as mangosteens, pomegranates, pineapples, pomelos, longans, lychees, jackfruit, and cantaloupes—yet my heart still belongs to the durian.