"No way!"
The person by the bed suddenly raised their head.
He Andong and the person locked eyes for a while, his gaze indifferent yet fierce like a tiger's.
The person's Adam's apple bobbed up and down once, saying, "Brother Dong, you've said before, you wouldn't leave Jin behind…"
"You all promised me, once we're out, you'd listen to me."
The person tilted their head back, the veins in their neck bulging.
"Listen to you? Listen to you till we leave our own people behind? We all trusted you with our lives, and this is how you treat your brothers?"
He Andong raised his hand and suddenly pressed the muzzle of the gun against his forehead, his eyes bloodshot.
Gao Cheng stepped forward in shock.
"If I, He Andong, intended to abandon my brothers, I wouldn't have come back. Last warning, leave!"
"Brother Dong, please don't."
"Shoot me then, take my share along with it!"
"Shut the hell up!"
"Now we've lost the money and our lives; what's left, just a few pieces of worthless paper?"
The person screamed hysterically and with a sweeping motion, knocked the suitcase from the table onto the floor, golden Hong Kong dollars scattering everywhere, accompanied by two sheets of paper with embossed golden patterns landing with them.
"I told you to shut up."
Gao Cheng was also enraged.
"Crack."
Amidst the rising growls of anger, this crisp sound seemed so trivial. Yet it sent an involuntary shiver down the spine of the blood-eyed He Andong…
Slender fingers with prominent joints, devoid of any ordinariness, seamlessly picked up the scalpel from the plate and stabbed it into Gao Cheng's neck.
Sudden change!
A jet of blood sprayed out, staining the cracked wall paint.
He Andong turned his head in a daze.
An incredulous expression was on Gao Cheng's face as his remaining warmth rapidly drained with the blood, behind him was the gaunt and pale face of a man.
"Brother… Brother Dong."
In that lightning-fast moment, He Andong felt somewhat bewildered.
Who exactly did I bring back?
Li Yan's left thumb was forcibly dislocated by himself, looking somewhat deformed. His wrist was entangled in a mess of ropes, a scalpel mostly buried in Gao Cheng's neck, the figure hidden behind Gao Cheng's body.
Almost instinctively, He Andong lifted his hand.
The person by the bed quickly drew out the pistol tucked in their waistband, their eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
"Chengzi!"
"If I pull out the knife, he dies immediately."
"If you pull it, you die!"
"Back off!"
Four people in a standoff, blood dripping from Li Yan's wrist onto the floor covered in banknotes, a scene filled with cruel irony.
He Andong made a move as if to rush forward, but Li Yan pulled Gao Cheng's neck backwards, pushing the knife in deeper.
Countless specks of dust were dancing in the dim light, everyone's breathing growing heavier.
"Who are you?"
"Let him go, and I'll let you walk away."
"Bro, are you joking?"
He slowly moved his feet, another person sidestepped closer, the two of them inching in from left and right like predatory beasts closing in on their prey.
"Let Chengzi go!"
"Move again, and I pull out the knife."
"You wouldn't dare pull it!"
"Well then shoot."
The back and forth between the people sped up. He Andong tried several times to raise his hand to fire, but Li Yan would suddenly jerk to a halt, the blade stirring slightly on Gao Cheng's neck.
"Throw your gun away and I'll let him go."
"In your dreams."
"The police are coming; we're dead either way. Might as well go down fighting."
"Do it then!"
"Do it then!"
"Do it then!"
The roar of anger rose one pitch after another. With each step Li Yan took backward, He Andong's gun barrel rose higher, and with each rise of He Andong's gun barrel, the knife in Li Yan's hand was gripped tighter.
The three men paced back and forth on the muddy bloodstained ground scattered with bills, knocking over tables in their tug-of-war; the assortment of small and large surgical tools clanged together noisily.
Jin, lying on the bed, clutched the sheets tightly, his ashen face growing even more unsightly.
He Andong's gaze was incredibly cold, so cold that it was uncertain whether he would turn Li Yan and Gao Cheng into sieves the very next moment. But Li Yan's eyes were exceedingly obscure, as if veiled in a layer of dust or like an unfathomable ancient well.
Like two pythons fighting over food, each wary of the other's troublesome nature and yet unable to relinquish the feast laid before their eyes.
"Buddy, I, He Andong, admit defeat today. I will count to three, we'll both drop our guns, and you release the hostage. How does that sound?"
"Fine."
Li Yan agreed immediately.
"One!"
Li Yan's toes curled like hooks, moving slightly forward.
"Two!"
The man who started sitting at the edge of the bed alternated his gaze between Li Yan and He Andong, his expression somewhat tense.
"Three!"
As soon as He Andong's voice fell, that man clenched his teeth and let go of his Type 54 pistol, and He Andong also threw his Type 54 handgun forward at Li Yan.
Yes, thrown forward…
He Andong crouched and rolled forward, as if he had practiced the move countless times in his mind. Almost simultaneously with the pistol hitting the ground, he had rolled over and picked up the gun like lightning—lifted it—aimed!
In front of him was Gao Cheng, stumbling over from Li Yan's shove, his own gun now pointing at Li Yan, who no longer had a hostage!
Gao Cheng's eyes had already lost their luster, blood spurting from his neck like a gushing fountain!
Li Yan pulled out a scalpel!
"You!" He Andong roared as his finger pulled the trigger.
A streak of silver light pierced his wrist, and with a pain-induced reflex, the gun dropped to the ground!
That was a snapped scalpel blade Li Yan had stealthily stepped on when the four men clashed and knocked over tables.
Li Yan lunged forward like a starving tiger! He sent the gun flying with one kick, followed by a thumping kick to He Andong's throat, flipping him completely over, a mouthful of fresh blood spraying into the air. Then, with a tiger's leap, he charged at another man reaching for the gun!
A vicious roundhouse kick landed on the man's abdomen! As his right leg touched down, he pulled and swept backward, forcing the writhing man to kneel, then his left elbow coiled around the man's head like a python, the scalpel drawing a bloody line across his neck. The blood rushed out eagerly.
"Thud."
Li Yan laid down his limp body with an expressionless face and turned to walk toward He Andong. The scalpel in his hand was drenched in blood!
Suddenly, Li Yan felt something catch at his waist—the Jin on the bed was gripping his waist with both arms.
"Bro, run!"
Everything felt like a nightmare, as the tall and thin man brought back by Dong had seemed to transform into a devouring demon in an instant, turning the cramped clinic into a purgatory.
Without a second thought, Li Yan turned and swung his hand, driving the handle-held scalpel into Jin's temple, blood splattering all over Li Yan's sleeve.
Even though he was already dead, Jin's arms still clung tightly around Li Yan.
He Andong crawled to his feet, not thinking of escape, but reaching for the distant gun!
"Damn!"
Li Yan's eyes reddened, his left hand inconvenience, he stabbed the scalpel repeatedly and fiercely into Jin's head, the blood quickly soaking the stretcher bed.
He Andong, his mouth full of blood, charged at the Type 54 before him like a wild beast, throwing caution to the wind.
No quarter given!
Both men had eyes filled with ferocious killing intent, the world before them stained crimson.
He reached it!
"Ahhhhhh!"
He Andong rolled over to lift his hand, but Li Yan was already right in front of him! The scalpel stabbed down at his face!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
...
"I'll say it again, these Mafia guys are ruthless. If they dare to resist or attempt to flee, shoot immediately, and if necessary, they can be killed on the spot. Do you understand?"
The oppressive riot shields pressed forward, the mobile unit surrounded the entire apartment complex, inching closer, and fifty-six-year-old Li Yaoguang, followed by two police officers from the mobile unit, his mp5k submachine gun in hand, stormed through the door!
Blood and bills covered the floor, and the room laid sprawled with four corpses. A tall and thin man facing Li Yaoguang, his suit and face smeared with blood, was reaching out to close He Andong's wide-open eyes...
"Hands on your head! Stand up slowly!"
Li Yaoguang roared.
Li Yan crouched down and slowly stood up as instructed, the black ripples in front of his eyes gradually calming down.
"This Fleeting Glimpse state has lasted nine minutes and forty-three seconds, failed to discern the target's weaknesses, five Yan Fu points consumed."
"You have disengaged the target lock."
"The target is dead."