"What are you doing?!" The Queen, both shocked and enraged, was momentarily unclear about his intentions, but the undeniable fact remained—she was pinned beneath him.
"Shut up if you don't want to die!" Xiang Ri pressed down firmly on her.
"Your Majesty!" From a distant table, a group of foreign women cried out in alarm and rushed toward them.
"Don't come over! There's a sniper!" Xiang Ri shouted angrily at the foolish women.
Having worked with him before, the women immediately halted in their tracks, swiftly seeking cover and drawing their weapons, preparing for the worst.
The surrounding crowd, oblivious to the women's dramatic movements, was entirely fixated on the ambiguous scene unfolding between Xiang Ri and the blonde beauty. Envy mixed with awe filled the hearts of many, as they admired the young man's audacity—bold enough to engage in such a public display of intimacy! How unfortunate, they thought, that such a stunning woman had ended up with a bespectacled, crippled man—truly a beautiful flower wasted on a pile of pig dung.
But Xiang Ri had neither the time nor the inclination to consider the opinions of others. While keeping the blonde foreign woman pinned, he muttered a brief explanation.
Upon seeing the hole in the floor, the Queen understood instantly. Her body relaxed, ceasing to struggle. However, her eyes, now filled with a mix of shame and fury, shot daggers at the man atop her.
Xiang Ri, still focused on scanning for safe points and plotting possible escape routes, failed to notice that, in the heat of the moment, his hand had slipped to an inappropriate position on her firm chest, still pressing down there with no intent to move.
"Good job, little brother. Truly a glory for the nation!" A rotund, middle-aged man with a balding head chuckled lecherously from a nearby table.
Xiang Ri, prepared with several contingency plans, shot back with a fierce curse: "Glory your ass! Can't you see someone's shooting at us?"
"Shooting? What shooting? Little brother, that excuse..." "Crash!" A glass cup shattered into countless pieces right in front of him, leaving the man speechless. After a brief moment of stunned silence, he let out a horrified scream that could rival a dying pig's: "Gunshot! They're shooting, someone's dead...!" His body, defying its portly nature, dropped to the ground at an alarming speed, leaving everyone wondering if he had once been an athlete.
At the sound of the shrill scream, the crowd snapped into action, scattering in every direction like rats fleeing a bomb. The frightened and indecisive bolted for the exits, while those with a bit more presence of mind scrambled beneath tables or crouched low to the ground. A few others, more composed, dialed for help.
Amidst the chaos, Xiang Ri seized the moment to drag the Queen to a safer corner, hiding behind a thick wall. The sniper might not have a direct line of sight to them, but their location under the table was likely inferred from the previous shot.
Fortunately, when Xiang Ri had tackled the Queen, they had rolled several times, or else the bullet might have claimed both of their lives.
The thick wall offered some sense of security and, with it, more time to think. Charging out was clearly irrational; aside from becoming a target, there would be no benefit. But staying here for too long was hardly safe either. Given the sniper's evident intent to kill, there would undoubtedly be other killers lying in wait, possibly even close by, ready to strike.
Xiang Ri quickly realized there were two options. The first was to rely on the police, hoping they would arrive in time. With a large force of officers, the snipers would be too afraid to continue firing from the rooftop and would likely flee. But this method was risky and unreliable. They had no idea when the police would arrive, and in the meantime, the enemy would undoubtedly find them and could finish them off with ease.
The second method was to track down all the assassins and eliminate them. But with no weapons and no knowledge of their exact hiding places, this plan would be incredibly difficult to execute.
"Your Majesty, are you alright?" A black female bodyguard, worried for her charge, quietly approached.
"I'm fine, Susan. You all be careful," the Queen replied, her voice calm after a brief period of rest. Yet, beneath her composed exterior, there was a simmering anger at the man who had taken advantage of her earlier. After speaking, she shot a scathing glance at the man beside her.
Susan, oblivious to her mistress's subtle hostility, was deeply moved by the Queen's concern. "Yes, Your Majesty," she replied.
"By the way, how are Medali and Anna? Are they safe?" the Queen asked, her concern shifting to others.
"They're safe, Your Majesty. They're in a secure location," Susan responded.
"Please, enough with the chatter!" Xiang Ri suddenly interrupted, his frustration evident.
The Queen's gaze became even more seething with anger. "Mr. Xiang, I believe you are mistaken in thinking you can suppress our freedom of speech."
"Okay, my mistake," Xiang Ri responded dismissively, his frustration mounting. To him, tackling her without prior warning was merely a means of saving her life. Yet she acted as though he had wronged her deeply, as if he were the murderer of her father.
Since earlier, Xiang Ri had noticed that the Queen's eyes had taken on an unusual, almost hostile gleam. But this was neither the time nor the place for unnecessary conflict—life and death were at stake.
At that moment, he still couldn't figure out whether the assassins were targeting him or the blonde woman beside him, though his earlier sense of unease made him suspect they intended to eliminate both of them. Otherwise, the intense feeling of dread he had experienced earlier would not have occurred.
With this theory in mind, a cold, calculating look appeared in Xiang Ri's eyes as he turned to the black female bodyguard and asked, "Do you have a gun? Give me one."
The bodyguard, who had witnessed Xiang Ri's deadly efficiency before, did not hesitate. She drew a black pistol from behind her back and handed it to him without a second thought.
Xiang Ri's heart lifted with relief as he accepted the weapon. His initial fear that it might be a small, weak pistol like hers was quickly dispelled when he realized it was a Desert Eagle, chambered in .44 Magnum. Though it wasn't as powerful as the .50 caliber Desert Eagle he kept at home, it was still a beast of a handgun. The recoil was manageable, and its precision was excellent—perfect for a woman like her, though deadly enough to leave a fist-sized hole in a person if hit.
Now armed, Xiang Ri felt his anxiety ebbing away.
The next step was clear—he needed to locate the other assassins hiding nearby. The sniper on the opposite building was no longer a concern. They were hidden well enough that no matter where the sniper moved, he wouldn't be able to hit them. And even if he could, Xiang Ri doubted he'd be able to get a clean shot from that distance.
For now, the only thing they could do was wait—wait for the enemy's frustration to boil over. The killers hiding in the crowd would eventually lose patience. That would be his moment to strike.
Sure enough, the patience of the assassins in hiding was wearing thin. Perhaps they were worried that the arrival of the police would make their task even more difficult, and so, they revealed themselves earlier than expected.
Four men, dressed in completely different outfits, rose from four corners of the room simultaneously. Their movements were synchronized, as if they were communicating with some kind of radio. Without hesitation, they raised their weapons and began shooting at the female bodyguards hiding behind cover.
"Damn it!" Susan cursed fiercely. She shouted into her earpiece, "Spread out! Don't stay in one spot!"
Xiang Ri, closest to her, overheard the sounds of grunting and pain from the earpiece, realizing that some of the bodyguards had been hit.
Given his knowledge of these well-trained bodyguards, he knew that whoever had managed to injure them was no ordinary foe. After all, when terrorists had attacked them before, none of them had died, though a few had been wounded. That alone spoke volumes about their skill and toughness.
More and more cries of agony echoed throughout the room, and those who had managed to maintain their composure were now losing control. Panic set in, and people began rushing around, desperately searching for a safer place. But this only made things worse.
The four assassins were in a frenzy now, and the panicking crowd became the perfect target. Even if the killers had no intention of killing the innocent bystanders, stray bullets inevitably found their mark. One by one, more and more people fell, their blood staining the floor.
Suddenly, Xiang Ri's eyes narrowed. Without hesitation, he dashed forward.
Just a few meters ahead of him, a mother crouched protectively over her young child, no more than four or five years old. Her shoulder was soaked in blood, the crimson staining her clothes as she clutched her child desperately to her chest.