Miss Assassin is heavily addicted

Chapter 30, Section 9: The Royal City Express is Ready to Launch
—Rose Street, Central Garden—

Let's rewind to the present.

At this moment, more and more onlookers have gathered in the Central Garden. The kidnapping is not over yet, and the police and the kidnappers have been deadlocked for a full half hour. People are wondering if things will end peacefully. Oh, and hopefully the hostages are alright.

Meanwhile, the police officers who came to provide backup were also extending the cordon.

Under the blazing sun, the police cordon had been set up for fifty or sixty meters or even further, and citizens could only see through the gaps in the trees that the robbers had not yet left.

Reporters from the Wangcheng Express, each with a camera and an assistant holding a notebook, walked through the crowd, investigating the cause and details of the incident, until they uncovered the truth and excitedly slapped their thighs.

This is hot news! — It's just as good as the headline about the mysterious man who broke his egg a week or two ago!
"How long has it been since the kidnapping?" a reporter from Wangcheng Express asked intently, while his assistant stood beside him, notebook and pen in hand, ready to pounce.

Citizen A scratched his head, organizing his thoughts as he spoke:

"Ah, it's been about half an hour already. This is terrible. I hope those hostages are alright. Oh, speaking of hostages, there's one young man who's really brave..."

Meanwhile, a police car with a griffin emblem was parked on the side of the street, with the head of the Greenley City National Security Bureau's policing division sitting inside.

After the police car came to a stop, the sergeant in the driver's seat quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and prepared to open the back door—but the other person pushed the door open and got out first, leaving his hand, which was holding the door handle, awkwardly hanging in mid-air.

Silver-gray hair swept past his eyes.

Isabel got out of the car and looked at the surrounding citizens, realizing that the incident had attracted enough attention. She pulled up the police tape and crouched down to enter. The police officers who saw her immediately stood at attention and saluted.

"Hello, sir!"

"Where is Darren?" Isabel asked.

"Report, he's thinking of a solution." The officer saluted and looked at the group of people sitting on the lawn to the left. "He's discussing it with several captains."

Seeing this, Isabel walked over helplessly.

Soon the footsteps approached, and the team leaders who were discussing saw their leader arrive. They all had different expressions and stood up straight.

Among them, the most difficult to manage was the adjutant Darren.

"Report!...Good afternoon."

Darren remained silent for a long time before saluting, feeling guilty.

“Not good,” Isabel said bluntly, her eyes calm. “Give me a brief account of what happened. Were there any casualties?”

"Well, luckily not. The situation is still under control. McKinney's criminal gang has captured one person, and there are still four people holding hostages and refusing to surrender—"

Darren took a deep breath, paused, and continued:

"They demanded that we prepare four safe, unlicensed cars to take them away, and that we not follow them, or they would let the hostages die in the cars."

Darren fell silent at this point, seemingly having nothing more to add, having finished his report.

But actually——

“Uh…and we need to have 10,000 crowns in cash in the car,” the playful female captain whispered. “They just added that condition a few minutes ago.”

"Oh yes, there is this." Darren touched his nose and lowered his head awkwardly.

After a long silence, Isabel decided to approach the scene, and the surrounding police officers, including several captains, immediately followed.

The vicious villain with a white cloth stuffed in his mouth under the shade of the tree, the criminal who had been bound, was not being tortured—he was the guy who was holding a baguette and was preparing to escape by diving into the river, but unfortunately he was handcuffed after only a few steps and is now waiting to go to jail with tears in his eyes.

We arrived near the wedding venue, which was in complete disarray.

From a distance of about 20 meters, Isabel saw four bad guys holding four unlucky guys hostage, and they were talking in hushed tones until Isabel's arrival drew their attention away from them.

"So you're the officer who can speak?" McKinney looked at him coldly.

“Yes.” Isabel nodded.

A moment of silence.

“Where is what we want?” McKinney asked again.

“Preparing,” Isabel said. In reality, it was the snipers who were preparing, searching for sniping positions. They were climbing the rooftops of tall buildings, carrying large-caliber precision sniper rifles.

Upon hearing this, someone from the bandits' side made a threat.

"Ten minutes left! If you haven't prepared what we need in ten minutes, we'll kill him!"

The mohawk-clad man had a grim face as he brandished a knife at the neck of the hostage in his arms, while the scholarly-looking, dark-haired youth in his arms cried out, clearly terrified.

"Please save me! I don't want to die!"

His grief-stricken voice was unbearable to watch.

Lieutenant Darren paused for a moment and then said softly:

“He’s a good man. We have to save him, otherwise the next day the public outcry will be huge, and the police station will probably be plastered with banners condemning him.”

"..." Isabel turned her head slightly, not quite understanding why he would say that.

But it doesn't matter. We can find out the details of this later. For her, the four hostages present must be rescued if possible; it's her duty as indicated on her badge.

"Don't try to stall for time, you cunning cops! If I don't see him in ten minutes, I'll kill him! If I still don't see him in another ten minutes, this old bastard will be next!"

The mohawk-clad man spoke fiercely again, and immediately afterward, his companion, villain A, brandished a knife at the old monk in his captivity.

"Oh God, save me!" the middle-aged cult leader cried.

"..." Seeing this, Isabel sighed and turned around to instruct, "I'll go and mediate. You guys calm the bandits down and don't let them act impulsively. For now, meet their demands and ensure the safety of the hostages."

"Yes!"

……

As the silver-haired young woman disappeared from sight, the remaining police officers reluctantly agreed, nodding through gritted teeth even to the absurd demands—ultimately, they retreated amidst the thugs' shouts.

"That's enough! Come see us again after you're done!"

Until the police officers disappeared again, all that could be heard were the noise of the surrounding citizens and the clicking of camera shutters.

The four robbers breathed a slight sigh of relief, along with the three hostages.

"You're a teacher, right? Hey, all of you students are so smart. I'm starting to regret not having that old man send me to school for a few days..."

The mohawk-clad man licked his lips, his tone wistful. He looked at the dark-haired youth in his arms, feeling a sense of utter admiration.

Here's what happened: About twenty minutes ago, this dark-haired youth swapped himself with the little boy, becoming a hostage, and then offered many constructive suggestions—

For example, instead of waiting to die in a stalemate, he suggested that he should take the opportunity to run away, and proposed to the police that they send four cars. He even said that he would risk his life to make the police speed up their actions. He was clearly a grasshopper in the same camp, and his crying voice in the performance was also perfect.

To be honest, his idea was very constructive, making the Mohican villain realize that he wasn't doomed.

Even if the plan itself could fail, for example, the police could position snipers on both sides of the street and suddenly shoot them while they are driving—but surely one or two out of the four people will escape?

Why can't it be myself?

"Thank you, I just don't want to die either."

He Ye pretended to breathe a sigh of relief.

Being a hostage didn't frighten him because the other party posed no threat to his life, and it would only take less than a second to break his wrist holding the knife.

But the current situation is not very good.

There were three other hostages nearby, and the sheriffs were clearly not very good at handling the situation. When He Ye arrived, he noticed the tense atmosphere, so he chose to comfort the bandits.

Give them hope to live.

Thus, the current situation has emerged: four bandits are holding hostages in a stalemate, but all is relatively safe—if it weren't for He Ye's reassuring 'suggestions,' the police might have already been clearing the battlefield and carrying away the bodies on stretchers just over ten minutes ago. And since they're already here, He Ye, now in the thick of it, decides to rescue all the hostages present.

After all, we have come.

Looking at the glass of the surrounding high-rise buildings, it was nearing noon, and the sun was becoming increasingly bright, which meant the glass would be dazzling, giving him some ideas.

During this time, he patiently discussed things in hushed tones with the kidnappers, which allowed him to gain a negligible sense of trust and relax his vigilance.

Although He Ye may not be able to gain genuine trust, at least he doesn't seem to arouse the villains' suspicion, which creates an opportunity for them to take advantage.

Robber: "%☆＃%"

“Mr. Leon…you…”

While the four robbers were nervously discussing their next move, the hostages they were holding were not quiet either.

For example, Miss Elsa would whisper and bite her lip to make a sound.

The white wedding dress clung to her body, its intricate skirt falling to the ground, stained with gray. Her expression was one of pain and complex emotions.

"Why are you helping these wicked people?" she asked.

He Ye saw despair in her eyes.

This is normal. She first experienced the rapid breakdown of her marriage, and now her fiancé still has a knife to her neck.

Next, he pretends to be a good guy and replaces the hostage, now helping the bad guys devise strategies.

She is already very strong for not shedding tears.

After a moment of silence, He Ye simply looked at her, his lips moving slightly without making a sound.

Don't be afraid.

Elsa deciphered those three words from his silent speech, and her previously desperate gaze froze, but there was no further fluctuation.

He Ye didn't communicate with her any further.

Next came another hostage, Quinn, who failed to notice He Ye's barely perceptible movement. The freckled young man with dark hair already felt he was doomed; he hung his head dejectedly, yet still couldn't bear to part with a certain young lady.

"I...I'll figure something out, Aisha."

"..." Miss Elsa glanced at him with dim eyes, shook her head. This cowardly guy standing up at the wedding was surprising enough to her, and she was unwilling to believe that he would do anything more.

The middle-aged bishop was still praying in his heart.

"God..."

Harold and his cronies had finished their discussion.

“I go east, you go south, he goes north, and Moses goes west.”

Harold decided on the escape route and made arrangements with his three henchmen, his expression serious.

"Speaking of which, has Nemo already escaped?" Mohican scoundrel Moses clicked his tongue in annoyance. "That faithless traitor!"

"Ignore that guy!" Brother A spat.

He Ye, who overheard the four people talking, decided to join in, because he was already thinking about escaping.

"Um, after you've finished your discussion, I need to remind you that there might be snipers lying in ambush on both sides of the street, in a room on some high point, or in the clock tower, or on the roof—you should know that it's not safe."

He Ye's words immediately grabbed the attention of the four people, and they looked at him, waiting for him to say more.

"Actually, the sun is very bright right now, isn't it? Sometimes I do lens experiments with the kids at school. A sniper scope is a lens in a way—uh, I mean, I can roughly spot where there are snipers, but I don't know if you'd believe it."

He Ye looked worried, but it was this very look that piqued their curiosity.

"You can spot the sniper's position?" Harold frowned. "You're just a teacher at an orphanage!"

He Ye thought for a moment and calmly said:
"Yes, but I graduated from the Royal Astronomical College of Dorandau. Before teaching these kids simple single-digit arithmetic, I used to look at the world beyond the sky with a telescope. It's just that with the current wave of unemployment, most people are compromising with the past."

"I understand, I understand!" Brother B exclaimed. "Everyone reading the newsstands near my house is a college student!"

"..." His words left everyone speechless for a moment.

"Believe it or not, it's up to you," He Ye sighed, bringing the topic back on track.

No one in the group continued the conversation after that sentence, but the bandits all remembered what He Ye had said—this guy might be able to pinpoint the sniper's location—which was exactly the effect they wanted.

And what remains is...

"The car is ready, as are the other items. Can we release the hostage now?"

A figure emerged from under the shade of the tree at some unknown time. Adjutant Darren stepped forward and said coldly.

"Are you kidding me? Didn't you hear what we said before? How can you guarantee that we won't explode as soon as we get in the car after releasing the hostages!—And where is the car?"

Mohican villain Moses is aggressive.

“Outside,” Darren said.

Silence fell after the words were spoken, because it was clear that the four men were about to move forward with the hostages in tow.

“Can’t you drive right up to us?” Harold frowned.

“Sure, but this park only has one entrance and exit. If you drive in, you’ll even have to queue to get out. Why don’t you just walk a few dozen meters to the street? It’ll be easier for you to escape then, right? After all, the streets are interconnected.”

Darren said expressionlessly, pointing outside.

A few vehicles could be vaguely seen through the gaps in the tree trunks. The crowds outside had been dispersed to a greater distance and were nowhere to be seen. Only the intense sunlight shone through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled light spots on the ground.

Harold could only exchange glances with his three underlings, and then slowly moved forward in this tortoise-like formation.

It's inevitably a bit loose.

The four players' formation spread out from 'o' to 'O', no longer so close together.

It doesn't matter, as long as I can hide behind the hostages, no one's life is more important than my own.

Lieutenant Darren also coldly stepped back a distance and stood to the side watching, surrounded by equally silent police officers who were also watching him go.

There were about twenty police officers present, and there were no civilians left. Even near the street, no one could be seen. The cleared area seemed to be part of some conspiracy.

"I have a feeling there's a conspiracy."

Mohican villain Moses licked his lips, speaking with trepidation and his eyes darting around, already hiding his head behind He Ye's shoulder.

Indeed, this atmosphere suggests something sinister going on.

No, from the perspective of justice, it should be about countermeasures.

The four-man gang continued to move, using the four hostages as shields. Their formation changed from an 'O' to a 'mouth' shape. They moved closer and closer to the street until they emerged from the shade of the trees in the garden.

Then—

In that instant, the room on the fourth floor of the building in front of them flickered slightly, the light spot both dazzling and captivating.

He Ye, who was at the forefront, knew that this was an opportunity he couldn't miss. The hint that had been buried in his heart all along should be revealed at this moment! The bandits behind him also saw that blinding light!
"It's a sniper! Crouch down!"

……

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(End of this chapter)