Puzzle Madness

Chapter 30 Rolling
"Seven"

Richard bent down, with the muzzle of the gun still raised, pointing it towards the door; with his other hand, he grabbed the knot on his shoe and tightened the laces.

Whether the Special Package Handling Section had provided assistance in this assassination was no longer a concern at this point: only after the current crisis could be safely overcome could one be qualified to mention anything else.

So--
Regarding this "invisible man's" partner, he certainly didn't tell the truth:
Even if the partner does not directly participate in the frontal fire and annihilation.
Since the "invisible man" has such obvious flaws, his partner must act as an observer when a conflict breaks out - for example, by transmitting messages through a vibration device, positioning and guiding the target; at the very least, he must assist in the secondary positioning of the target in this stalemate situation.

Richard now turned his head and could see the scorching sunlight coming into the house from the window: a better option would be to let the "invisible man" drive himself to an exposed position without any shelter, and his partner would directly deliver the fatal blow from the sniper position.

But this also did not happen; because Richard was still alive and could continue to think.

Then the invisible man's partner must not be here: according to the rules of the Special Package Handling Department, there is only one possibility - that is, this group of field staff is on vacation.

"six"

This wasn't urgent overtime, but rather a personal order for him to use his vacation time to do this; that's why his partner wasn't around.

The only person Richard knew who could issue such a personal order was the head of the Special Package Handling Section.
-
[This is all later. There's no time to worry about this now. Let's get out of the safe house alive first.]

But another question still lingers in Richard's mind -
The "invisible man" was right, he didn't just plant the explosives to kill himself: that would have been the safest and most secure approach.

The other party must have a very strong sense of self-preservation, even including a lack of a sense of security; only then would they have this obsession with disappearing from others' sight. All the complicated foreshadowing before was to kill Richard while trying to protect his own life.

But what he did was to simplify a problem that could be solved with just an explosive.

Richard had a possible explanation in his mind: the reason he didn't use the bomb was to make sure he was really dead - and confirming Richard's death was a very high priority and there was no room for error.

"Is the information about my death so important? So important that they'd prioritize ensuring my death, even at the risk of assassination failure?"

Richard reached out and pushed the wooden edge of the window pane on the wall with the base of his palm: it didn't move at all, it was fixed very firmly - the "invisible man" had made arrangements; but he could definitely kick it open with a strong kick.

The question is, can the "invisible man" feel the vibration at this distance? Perhaps his sensitivity to vibration is not that strong:
The untouched dust in the room was probably because the "invisible man's" ecstasy included [levitation movement] or other similar ecstatic manifestations.

Richard built a vague psychological model in his mind: the other party seemed to be a person who rejected the outside world and lacked a sense of security; so it was understandable that he could levitate in addition to being invisible - but levitation also made it difficult to perceive through the vibrations transmitted from the soles of his feet.

Or it could be a more complex and unpredictable madness.
[You'll never know until you try it: If you ask me, maybe it was deliberately meant for me to kick it open - who could possibly hold something like this?]

"Fives"

In the living room, the countdown continues.

Richard adjusted his posture, bent his right leg—and then suddenly straightened it:

Boom!
The gray-brown window panes and dusty glass were blown away by this kick, revealing a hole of more than one meter square; the scorching hot wind outside poured into the room.
-
"Four--"

The countdown continued; but in that instant, Richard could hear the subtle distortions in the words and the changes in the decibels of the sounds. Richard's hearing was well trained -
A black pistol and five fingers holding it appeared at the edge of the door: a non-standard cover shooting action - the "invisible man" shed his trance and captured Richard's position with his naked eyes; there were too many positions that could break the window, and even if he remembered the layout of the room, he could not shoot blindly.

The angle of the "invisible man" was well chosen, with most of his body hidden behind the wall.

[So you're still waiting for me to escape through the window, huh?]

Even when he was forcibly opening the window pane, Richard always maintained a "high-readiness" shooting posture; he pulled the trigger without hesitation.

boom!
flutter.

Both pistols fired simultaneously—but neither hit.

The door frame exploded into a cloud of sawdust, and a hole with a bullet embedded in it appeared on the mottled wall behind Richard; the bullet casings fell to the ground with a clinking sound: the caution of both sides made this round of mutual suppression and exchange of fire become like the environmental props in a movie or TV drama.

The pistol retracted again, and Richard quickly left his original position and climbed up the empty window pane lightly - now, he could escape from this safe house at any time.

The two returned to the confrontation situation a moment ago; the difference was that now they had the opportunity to see each other with their naked eyes.

"You saw my flaws? You're such an excellent student. No wonder you did so well in orientation training."

The "invisible man's" voice changed, and so did his self-reference—the words "[buddy]" were gone. His previously slow, drawn-out tone seemed sped up, becoming rapid and cold. The strange, swollen feeling from the sound source moments before had vanished as well; Richard could now finally pinpoint the "invisible man's" approximate location:

"But your team is the only one in the department working in the field right now, and you haven't been back to headquarters to report for a long time. I told you the truth before, so don't blame me. It was an order from above."

Richard squatted on the window pane that had been kicked open, holding the cement top with one hand; sweat slid from his scalp into his eyes, but he didn't blink. The gunman's elbow rested on his knee, and he never relaxed his aim at the door:
"What do you mean now? Are you going to fight me to the death? You're going to interrupt your vacation to work overtime, and then die in this small city?"

"If we keep dragging this out, you should have heard it just now. My gun doesn't have a silencer. Local law enforcement officers could arrive at any moment. Are we going to keep pushing this far? If the police break in, the first person they'll shoot is you, who's closer to the gate."

"Or - should we change venues and start over again?"

After a brief silence, the cold voice still lacked any emotion:
"No, never mind. I won't fight you now. I can't stop you: you win."

"If you want to talk to Corey, leave the code in the channel yourself."

Just as Richard had imagined—using a special package to handle Co's situation in Mong Cai City wouldn't necessarily mean he had enough resources to spare. So, after the "Invisible Man's" madness was exposed, would Co invest even more resources to kill himself?

[Yes, absolutely. If they don't want to kill me, they'll tell me to run away and never have anything to do with Southeast Asia or the company again.]

[They even asked me to talk to Corey. That's kind of funny.]

Richard pushed his glasses up with his knuckles and made up his mind:

"I hate it when people hide in my safe house. Next time I see you, I'm going to blow your head off."

Although he spoke harsh words like a movie villain's farewell, Richard did not escape from the window pane - instead, he took a deep breath until his entire chest was expanded.

The cold voice from the other side of the room finally took on a hint of anger and impatience:
".Stop talking nonsense and get out of here if you can save your life. I have to deal with the section chief: you know her methods."

Richard shifted his weight to his toes, leaning forward, his hands hooking onto the cement outside the window pane; his thighs tensed, as if ready to launch at any moment.

This was a dangerous move—the gunman was also placed outside the window; if the "invisible man" rushed into the house at this time, Richard would have no room to fight back with his gun:

"Section Chief—Section Chief, is she here in Mong Cai?"

Richard had no intention of getting an answer from the other party - as soon as he asked the question to attract the other party's attention, he started to act.

He loosened his hands from clinging to the window pane, and his feet straightened out. His body leaped out like a diver, slanting towards the wooden floor.
His left palm and five fingers pressed against the ground first, his elbow bent to cushion the fall, and his back rolled across the dusty ground; Richard flipped into the living room -
flutter.

The muffled sound of a gunshot, weakened by the silencer, rang out. The muzzle flash made Richard's glasses shine, and the glass window of the living room behind him suddenly shattered.

The shot that met his target did not hit him - just as Richard had expected, the "invisible man" who had been deprived of vision and hearing for too long and was accustomed to perceiving through touch did not react fast enough.

Moreover, facing a target rolling in, the "Invisible Man" still raised the pre-aiming shooting direction too high.

Puff: Another shot.

But the silencer extending from the barrel of the "Invisible Man"'s gun had been grasped by Richard in his left palm just right, and then pushed up: the bullet drilled into the ceiling diagonally upwards, leaving a white hole.

Richard raised his right hand and stretched out his arm, put the muzzle of the gun against the chin of the "invisible man" who was no longer transparent, and pulled the trigger:
boom!
The bullet penetrated the invisible man's mouth, twisting and crushing his tongue, knocking out a cavity in his brain, and finally flew out through his occipital bone.
Some pink tofu-like brain tissue and blood spurted out from the hole, splashing the wall with scarlet patterns like lightning.

boom!
Richard grabbed the "invisible man" by the hair, pressed the hot muzzle of his gun to his forehead, and fired again. He let go, letting the freshly born body and the bullet casing roll on the ground.

call.
Richard stood up straight, exhaled a long breath, and kicked the "invisible man"'s body, which lay limp on the wooden floor, with the tip of his shoe. Dark blood slowly spread from under his lifeless head.

"You son of a bitch, what do you mean you know I'm an excellent student with high scores? Not just high scores, I was number one in many subjects that year. You're not running away, and you want me to get out? Who the hell are you?"

"Is my psychological analysis report so bad? Do they think I'm a coward? I don't even dare to fight? Is it because I wear glasses or because I talk too much? Rubbish induction training, rubbish special package handling department, rubbish Asia-Europe postal service. Fuck, all of you go to hell."

The barrage of chatter came to an end, and the brief emotional outburst was over: Richard took off his glasses, wiped them with his wet shirt, and wiped away the anger and fear brought about by walking on the edge of life and death.

Even though Richard was alone at the moment, he still felt that he had lost his composure.

(End of this chapter)