Courtyard House: Erguotou (a type of Chinese liquor) Traded for an Aircraft Carrier, the Whole Count

In the stillness of the night, the commotion here was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake.

Bang Geng's piercing scream and Old Li's hysterical roar instantly pierced through the thin brick wall and echoed throughout the entire courtyard.

The Jia family was the first to react.

Qin Huairu hadn't been sleeping well, her mind preoccupied with the fact that her family was running out of food. Hearing that familiar sound outside, she woke up with a start, rushing out without even putting on her shoes, her hair disheveled.

"A stick pheasant? Is it a stick pheasant?"

She stumbled and rushed to the front yard, and by the moonlight, she immediately saw the terrifying scene at the entrance of the alley.

Old Li, the usually honest and unassuming fitter, was now like a demon, strangling her son, a dark gun pressed against Banggeng's head. Banggeng was suspended in mid-air, his face turning blue, his crotch soaked, his eyes rolling back as he struggled desperately.

"My son!"

Qin Huairu felt as if her skull was about to explode. She let out a heart-wrenching scream, her legs went weak, and she collapsed onto the snow.

That shout completely woke up the entire courtyard.

Yi Zhonghai, wearing a cotton-padded coat, Liu Haizhong, carrying a stick, and Yan Bugui, carrying a chamber pot, all crawled out of the house. Even Xu Damao, who lived in the backyard (although he was still in the drainage ditch, his wife Lou Xiao'e had come out) and Sha Zhu, who had just returned, rushed to the front yard.

However, when these old men, who usually acted like tyrants in the courtyard and spouted righteousness, saw the situation clearly, their previous enthusiasm for watching the spectacle vanished instantly.

Those are real guns! And real spies!

Yi Zhonghai's hypocritical old face turned deathly pale instantly. He had originally intended to step forward and put on airs like an old man, but his feet seemed rooted to the spot, and he even instinctively shrank back behind the door frame. Liu Haizhong's stick clattered to the ground, and his whole body of fat trembled. Where was the slightest bit of his official air?

Yan Bugui was even more direct. He pushed up his glasses and quietly retreated to the back of the crowd, afraid that the gun might accidentally discharge and hit his old bones.

They usually act all high and mighty, always talking about the collective and the neighbors, but when it comes to life and death, they're all cowards and weaklings.

"Don't come any closer! I'll kill anyone who does!"

Seeing the surging crowd, Old Li became even more out of control. He dragged Banggeng backward step by step, leaning against the ivy-covered courtyard wall, waving the gun in his hand wildly at Banggeng's head, which frightened the surrounding neighbors into screaming and taking several steps back in unison.

Only Qin Huairu's maternal instincts overcame her fear. She crawled forward a few steps on her hands and feet, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Old Li! Master Li! What are you doing! Banggeng is still a child! If you have a grudge, settle it; if you have an injustice, settle it. Arrest me! Please, let him go!"

"Shut up, you bitch!" Old Li roared, his eyes bloodshot. "If you wail again, I'll shoot you first!"

"Waaaaah... Mom... Uncle Jiang, save me..." Bang Geng was completely terrified at this moment, his face covered in snot and tears. Looking at Jiang Chen, who was holding a gun and confronting him not far away, he seemed to have seen the last straw.

Jiang Chen remained in the same gun-holding posture, his body motionless, but his mind was racing.

The current situation is very bad.

The narrow terrain of the courtyard house, coupled with so many onlookers lacking any military awareness, made it a natural chaos machine. Old Li was now extremely nervous; any external stimulus could cause him to pull the trigger.

"Shut up, all of you!"

Jiang Chen suddenly roared, his voice not loud, but it carried a murderous aura that seemed to have emerged from a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, instantly drowning out Qin Huairu's cries and the neighbors' whispers.

The scene fell into a deathly silence.

Jiang Chen coldly swept his gaze over the timid neighbors around him, finally fixing his look on Old Li, his tone becoming unusually calm:

"Old Li, your only bargaining chip right now is this child. If you kill him, you won't live a second longer. Tell me, what do you want?"

Old Li, panting heavily, stared at the excessively young security chief before him. His composure, his unwavering calm even in the face of imminent danger, instilled a deep fear in him. He knew that if he revealed the slightest weakness, the other man would not hesitate to fire.

"A car! Get me a car! Fill up the gas tank!" Old Li roared. "And money! I need five hundred yuan! And a receipt! Five minutes! If I don't see the car and the money in five minutes, I'm taking this little brat with me!"

"Okay." Jiang Chen answered crisply and decisively, without even a moment's hesitation. "The car is right at the factory gate. I'll have the finance department collect the money. But you need time, and I need time to prepare as well."

As he spoke, Jiang Chen slowly lowered his gun holster, raised his hands with palms facing outward, and took a step back.

"I'll step back, I won't shoot. Don't get agitated, keep your hand steady."

Despite his apparent compromise, Jiang Chen's deep eyes were like the most sophisticated radar, frantically scanning all the data around him.

Wind speed: Northwest wind, level 3.

Distance: 12 meters.

Light: Dim, moonlight is blocked by clouds, visibility is extremely low.

Target state: Extreme excitement, stiff muscles, most of the body is covered by the rod, only half of the forehead and one eye are exposed.

At this distance, with this kind of cover, even with Jiang Chen's current marksmanship, the success rate of killing someone with a single shot without harming the hostage using an ordinary pistol would not exceed 40%.

In such a life-or-death situation, 40% of the time it's suicide.

"Hurry up! Don't try anything funny!" Old Li saw that Jiang Chen had put away his gun, and his tense nerves relaxed a little. However, the force in his hand increased due to his trembling hand, and the gun barrel grazed a bloody mark on Bang Geng's scalp.

"It hurts! Mom! I can't take it anymore..." Bang Geng cried even harder.

"Jiang Chen! Hurry! Go find him a car!" Seeing this, Qin Huairu rushed over like a madwoman and hugged Jiang Chen's leg, kowtowing desperately, her forehead banging against the frozen ground. "Please! As long as you save Bang Geng, I'll give you anything you want! I'll even take my life! I know you're capable, you can definitely save him!"

At this moment, everyone in the hospital was focused on Jiang Chen.

Yi Zhonghai hid behind the door, his eyes filled with complex emotions. He both hoped Jiang Chen could save the person and secretly hoped Jiang Chen would fail, so as to damage the young man's prestige. Liu Haizhong, on the other hand, was completely terrified, his mind blank.

In this suffocating atmosphere of despair, Jiang Chen was like a solitary peak, bearing all the pressure and storms alone.

He glanced down at Qin Huairu, who was in a disheveled state at his feet, but his eyes remained completely unmoved.

He doesn't need anyone to kneel down, nor does he need anyone's promises.

All he needs is that one decisive moment.

"system."

Jiang Chen called out coldly in his mind, his voice like ice from the deepest hell.

"Open the shop and purchase the [One-Time Skill Card: Sharpshooter's Blessing]."

[Ding! Host confirms purchase of consumable "Sharpshooter Possession Card"? Price: 1000 Emotion Points.]

"confirm."

There is no better time to demonstrate power than this. Since all these beasts in the yard are watching, let them see what true despair is, and what a true miracle is.

[Ding! Purchase successful. Skill card loaded.]

[Valid duration: 60 seconds.]

[Death God's perspective activated.]

The next second, a strange and bewitching blue light flashed deep within Jiang Chen's pupils. The entire world instantly changed in his eyes.