It was Zhou Qingfeng who took the initiative to end the phone call between him and Tony Parker. He felt fury rise inside him while listening to that greasy voice. This anger gave a considerable amount of courage, though. It enabled him to detach himself from his thoughts of being the enemy of David Lawrence.
'F*ck you, David Lawrence. I didn't sleep with your wife or touch your daughter. Why are you threatening me and all that sh*t? If this world ends according to the Hellish Ending, you've got a few months to live at most. Wait till winter comes and the nuclear bombs massacre the earth; your life won't end better than everyone else's.
'On the other hand, it is I who knows about the world's future. It is I who knows how to prepare for the deadly catastrophe. It is I who knows who to carve a bloody path that leads to survival. Now I've only killed a robber. In the future, I will kill many more. I will be the one who wins in the end!'
Cursing, Zhou Qingfeng slowly encouraged himself. At the same time, he checked the weapons and ammunition he had. He had snatched two guns and eight bullet magazines in total from the two policemen. Now he had equipped one gun and used up five magazines. He did not have much ammunition left.
Zhou Qingfeng had escaped down to the negative third floor from the parking lot. He did not know much about what was going on in the two floors above, but he felt that staying in the negative third floor would result in him encountering a dead end and that the only way was to exit the place. As such, he chose to head up through the fire escape stairs.
When Zhou Qingfeng quietly pushed open the fireproof door leading into the stairwell, he heard a voice come out from the broadcasting system in the parking lot. "Officer Hugo, how are you? I'll introduce myself here. I'm Locke, the mastermind behind this heist.
"Now I have captured my target, Miss Leila Fox. I have asked the Fox Conglomerate for ten billion dollars in exchange for her. The conglomerate and the police are considering my proposal.
"To be honest, I've underestimated you. I thought you were a novice policeman freshly graduated from the police academy, but then I heard that you injured one of my men and killed another. I certainly acknowledge your talent.
"As a policeman and a robber, the disagreement between us cannot be repaired. The training that you've undergone in the past has taught you how to catch baddies, I believe. So let's play a game of villains-catching-the-cops now. Shall we? Consider this as entertainment before I obtain my ransom money.
"In order to make this game more interesting, I will murder one hostage every ten minutes until your surrender or die. Or until you've killed all of us. Oh, by the way, I've given special permission for CNN's reporters to enter the hospital. Our game will be spread to the whole world by the media.
"Now, the game has started. I hope you'll have a good time playing!"
Zhou Qingfeng heard maniacal laughter and desperate cries from the broadcasting system. It seemed like the evil leader of the gang of kidnappers was treating a big group of hostages rather violently. Zhou Qingfeng took out his phone and searched the Internet using keywords like "Hospital Robbery", and he discovered that CNN was indeed broadcasting the scene live.
Zhou Qingfeng saw dozens of hostages abducted from the hospital and a couple of kidnappers. The guy named Locke had a really big head that was rather conspicuous. It bounced up and down merrily.
"F*ck! They're in the monitoring room." Zhou Qingfeng saw several projection screens on the wall. On them were small rectangles displaying footage of every corner inside the hospital. He observed his surroundings carefully, and he found a camera in a corner. "The enemy can see my every move!"
Quickly, Zhou Qingfeng found several fire extinguishers in the parking lot and used them to destroy the camera. An image of him wearing the police uniform was taken, though. The CNN reporter in the monitoring room uploaded the image to the Internet through his camcorder, so everyone in New York saw his face.
"Isn't he that murderer?"
"How did he become a policeman?"
"God, I don't know what's happening. Why are both parties villains? Where are the real policemen?"
As comments from all places flooded the Internet, coming from all sorts of strange places, the one party losing their mind at this development was the NYPD.
The Commissioner was furious at Zhou Qingfeng's sudden appearance. He growled at his subordinates, "Why is that murder suspect that embarrassed the entire NYPD in that hospital? And he's now the main force fighting against the kidnappers, too."
The policemen in the room could only blink dumbly in response to the question. 'We don't know either! We've tracked the guy the entire afternoon. How are we supposed to know that he had stuck his feet in an even more serious emergency?'
The villains were in battle while the police watched. This shocked the world. Billions of people followed the happenings of the event through all forms of media. Everyone was curious. Who would win this battle between villains?
"I don't think this guy faking a policeman can win. Although he's a pro killer, he's only one man. The odds are stacked against him."
"As a seasoned policeman, judging by the situation on the scene, I think that this Chinese young man will only manage to hold his ground for less than half an hour under the kidnappers' relentless attacks."
"They don't need half an hour. Didn't you notice that the Chinese guy only has a small pistol? Look at the kidnappers—they have assault rifles. He's more disadvantaged in terms of firepower rather than manpower. He's definitely gonna die!"
Regarding this outlandish case, everyone turned into critics. Bored people all over the world started discussing how Zhou Qingfeng's impending death would turn out.
Zhou Qingfeng was completely unaware of the chaos on the internet. The deserted parking lot was the only thing in his world, plus the ferocious kidnappers heading toward him. Just as he was thinking about how he could escape, a feeble voice came from a corner in the parking lot. "Mr. Policeman, will you save my mother?"
Who?
Zhou Qingfeng whipped his head around. He saw a little boy, no older than eight or nine, crawl out from a dark corner. The boy had dust and grime all over him, blackening his face. It was a truly piteous sight that would move the stoniest of hearts.
"Kid, why are you here?" Zhou Qingfeng wrinkled his brow and responded to the boy, an odd feeling in his chest.
"I'm Ronnie. I came here with my mother because she has to visit a doctor. When those bad guys charged into the hospital, Mother was kidnapped when she protected me. I escaped to the parking lot alone. I saw you and those baddies fire at each other on the second floor, so I went and hid on the third floor.
"Now those baddies said they are going to kill one hostage every ten minutes. They might kill my mother. Can you save her? Please?" Little Ronnie sobbed soundlessly as he spoke. His teary eyes made him look more pitiable.
'I'm f*cking not a policeman! Missions like saving the world should be given to heroes like David Lawrence. I'm a criminal! A criminal who is sought after by the Savior, at that!'
Zhou Qingfeng's frustration and exasperation had reached an all-time high!