Chapter 5: The Mysterious Girl

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“Bastard, pervert, what are you trying to do?”

“Miss Qin, there are kidnappers behind us—do you want to run straight into their arms?”

“So you know who I am.” Qin Ling stopped cursing at him, her tone turning puzzled.

Du Bin didn’t answer her question. He steered her quickly into a corridor, and, taking advantage of the little time they had, pulled out a decoder and worked on the lock of one of the rooms. In less than fifteen seconds, the door yielded, and the two slipped inside, locking it behind them.

Qin Ling collapsed onto the sofa, panting heavily. She had barely caught her breath before she continued, “Since you know who I am, I can tell you don’t seem like a regular guest here. If you get me out of this hotel safely, I’ll pay you a commission of a hundred thousand. I give you my word.”

Du Bin searched the room for anything that could serve as a weapon but found nothing useful. He had initially thought well of her—though he had, embarrassingly, once spied on her while she was changing. Now, however, her words rubbed him the wrong way. “Only a hundred thousand? I’m risking my life here. And with my injuries, don’t expect me to protect you; I can barely take care of myself.”

“Fine, two hundred thousand—final offer! Please, I’m begging you, aren’t I a beautiful woman?” Qin Ling had felt lucky to have run into someone who might protect her, but she hadn’t expected him to haggle over the price.

“Even if you offered five hundred thousand, it wouldn’t make a difference.” Du Bin was preoccupied with thoughts for Fang Yilin’s safety and had no interest in meddling further. Silently, he prayed Hu Guozheng would succeed. Unfortunately, his prayers went unanswered.

“You’re really cold-blooded,” Qin Ling muttered, clearly unhappy with his attitude.

Just as their standoff continued, Du Bin motioned for silence. “Damn, I forgot—we were out in the open on camera this morning. Now none of us are getting out.”

“This is all your fault!” Qin Ling stamped her foot in irritation, glaring at him. If he hadn’t wasted time bargaining, she would have already been gone by now.

Du Bin ignored her murderous glare and crept to the door, pressing his ear to it. The sound of dress shoes pounding along the corridor grew louder. His expression tensed.

Team B soon infiltrated the lobby, coordinating with the other officers to take control of the situation. Over two hundred hostages were rescued. Lan Huigang immediately began deploying units to secure the stairwells, floor by floor.

Hu Guozheng had hesitated about making his move, but was surprised to see the SWAT team had already taken charge with lightning speed. Seeing the hostages unharmed, he muttered in frustration, “Always stealing my thunder. How annoying.”

With Wu Jiahao’s comforting presence, Fang Yilin appeared less frightened. But she couldn’t help wondering whether Du Bin had managed to escape the hotel. The thought left her feeling low.

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“Yilin, are you alright?” Hu Guozheng approached them with concern.

“I’m fine. Thank goodness for Jiahao—otherwise, I wouldn’t have known what to do.” After a moment’s hesitation, Fang Yilin asked, “Where’s Du Bin? Did he get out safely?”

“He’s still…” Hu Guozheng was about to answer when Wu Jiahao interjected, “Linlin, you don’t look well. Let me take you home.”

“Alright, thank you.”

Cut off, Hu Guozheng sensed something amiss. His intuition told him that, since Old Du had risked his life to distract the kidnappers and then disappeared, Fang Yilin must believe he had abandoned them out of cowardice. He couldn’t help but feel sorry for Old Du—perhaps he hadn’t made it out after all.

Back in Du Bin’s room, after he pressed his ear to the door, the footsteps drew closer. One of the men outside spoke: “Boss said they turned down this corridor and disappeared—must be hiding in one of these rooms. Search carefully, and don’t hurt the target.”

Du Bin glanced at Qin Ling, unable to believe the commotion these people were causing just to capture her. What sort of identity did she have? “The target,” he thought, “so the girl they’re after is her.” But now was not the time to dwell on it—the top priority was getting out alive. He pulled Qin Ling deeper into the room, pinning his hopes on a hidden closet.

Qin Ling hesitated, but when the sound of someone battering the door reached her, she dove in without another thought. The closet was large enough for them both, but Du Bin was bothered by the overpowering scent of her perfume. He couldn’t understand why women always felt the need to douse themselves in fragrance.

With a loud crash, the door was kicked open. Two kidnappers entered, scanning the room. One went into the bedroom, checking every possible hiding spot.

As one kidnapper passed the closet, he caught a whiff of perfume and grew instantly wary, edging closer. Inside, Du Bin shot Qin Ling a glare—obviously blaming her scent. She looked back at him innocently.

Just as the kidnapper reached for the closet door, Du Bin burst out, catching the man off guard and knocking him onto the bed.

The kidnapper tried to raise his gun, but Du Bin lunged and grappled for it. The man was strong; it was only by using leverage that Du Bin managed to hold him down, though he took several punches in the process, pain making him grimace. Hearing the commotion outside, Du Bin abandoned the struggle, seized the gun with both hands, twisted it free, and fired at the kidnappers entering through the door.

It was the first time he had ever killed anyone, and though it weighed heavily on him, survival left no room for hesitation. Once the threat at the door was neutralized, Du Bin leveled the gun at the kidnapper beside him. “Who are you people?”

“Anyone who opposes us meets a bad end. You’ll soon find out who we are.” The man finished with a chilling laugh, just as Qin Ling suddenly cried out in shock.

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Following the direction of her trembling finger, Du Bin saw, to his horror, that the kidnappers he had just shot were slowly getting back to their feet, blood streaming from their wounds, their expressions disturbingly unnatural.

A chill ran down Du Bin’s spine. Gritting his teeth, he fired at them again, but this time the result stunned him.

“Kill the man,” one of the kidnappers said, shoving Du Bin aside and stepping forward. Several of the more aggressive kidnappers charged at him, their eyes wild.

“Am I really going to die here?” Panic seized Du Bin as he fired desperately at them, but the bullets struck as if against steel—utterly useless. He realized, with a sinking feeling, that his fate was sealed.

At that very moment, on the rooftop of a building opposite the hotel, a girl stood holding a sword, her face expressionless as she fixed her gaze on the building before her. Suddenly, she leapt, soaring across the gap and crashing through the window of a hotel room in a flash of red light.

With a resounding crash, she landed inside, sword drawn, and unleashed a whirlwind of slashes upon the kidnappers. The blade was impossibly sharp, severing limbs and bodies wherever it passed; so swift was her assault that the kidnappers had no time to react before they were hacked to pieces.

Du Bin and Qin Ling stared in stunned disbelief. This girl had just appeared from outside a high-rise window, and, more terrifying still, she had killed without hesitation, slicing her foes into countless pieces.

Within moments, all the kidnappers had been slain. As the figure became clearer, they saw she was a girl with short hair and straight bangs, wearing Ray-Ban sunglasses, a pink T-shirt under a beige down vest, white shorts, white socks, and a pair of Xtep sneakers. Most astonishing of all, her lethal sword bore not a trace of blood.

“Are you alright?” the girl asked coolly.

“We… we’re fine.” Du Bin, still in shock, managed to gather his wits enough to reply.

As for Qin Ling, she was so overwhelmed by the carnage that she bolted for the bathroom and promptly vomited.