From outside the building, a police officer spoke through a megaphone. The man's face was anxious, sweat dripping despite the cold weather. "I understand! But this location has been taken over by the military!"
The man had just arrived on the scene, having no time for lengthy negotiations before the emergency order transferred control to armed forces. Now, even speaking felt like walking on thin ice.
"If you don't meet our demands, one hostage dies every hour!" John Darius growled, hanging up the phone before the officer could respond further.
The atmosphere inside the hotel was tense. The hostages were shivering. In the midst of the crowd, Dr. Redrick—a middle-aged man with a pale face—stood with his head down, not wanting to draw attention.
Unfortunately, John Darius's gaze was fixed on Dr. Redrick.
"This is the guy who was so cocky earlier, right?" Darius muttered, the corners of John Darius's mouth curling into a cruel grin. "Perfect."
Roughly, John Darius grabbed the collar of Dr. Redrick's suit and dragged him out of the crowd, towards the emergency stairs.
"One body for the first hour."
However, to be the head of a military base, Dr. Redrick was not just a frail old scientist. As he was pushed forward by two criminals, Dr. Redrick suddenly moved swiftly—stepping back behind one of them, seizing the light machine gun from the criminal's hands, and then Dr. Redrick fired it at the other enemy.
The closest gangster fell lifeless, while the other two tumbled over from the sudden gunfire.
But Dr. Redrick only had three seconds to act before the situation turned.
As Dr. Redrick prepared to face the next threat, John Darius lunged from the other side like a hungry tiger. John Darius kicked the gun from Dr. Redrick's hands, then struck the old scientist's head three times in quick succession with his fists.
Blood flowed freely from Dr. Redrick's face. His body swayed, his knees buckled to the floor, and the barrels of the weapons were soon aimed at Dr. Redrick's head.
John Darius wiped the blood from his hands and roared in fury, "Kill this man! Throw his body off the roof!"
However, before John Darius's words were finished, a mysterious figure darted quickly like a flash of shadow. The figure moved with the agility of a leopard, exuding a sharp and ferocious killing aura. In an instant, the person's fist struck one of the criminals hard, accompanied by a deafening crack of bones.
Almost simultaneously, the glass of the large conference room shattered into pieces. Fully armed military troops descended from the air, raining precision gunfire on the armed criminals.
In a matter of seconds, chaos turned into silence—bodies lay scattered, and the wounded groaned.
...
...
...
Fortunately, if Dr. Redrick and Nancy had not attacked in a coordinated manner and drawn the attention of most of the criminals, at least half of the hostages at the scene would have already been killed in the previous brutal and reckless fight.
"Team A, enter the location! Secure the perimeter!"
"Team B, enter the scene! Prioritize the evacuation of hostages!"
"The hostages have been evacuated! Repeat, all hostages have been safely evacuated!"
The command voice rang out clearly amidst the chaos. A large group of heavily armed soldiers infiltrated the devastated hotel area, escorting trembling, dust-covered hostages out of the location. Some of them were sobbing, while others stared blankly, too shocked to comprehend that they were still alive.
However, Dr. Redrick remained in his place. Where Dr. Redrick sat silently on the wreckage of a broken chair, his head bowed, both hands gripping his hair tightly as if trying to suppress the sharp, deafening ringing in his ears.
Blood dripped from Dr. Redrick's temple, forming a thin red line on the old man's face. Dr. Redrick was indeed no longer young, and although his forehead had been struck hard several times, he was still conscious and sitting upright—a sign that Dr. Redrick still possessed the resilience of a man who had spent decades in the dark world of military research.
Nancy had not moved either. Where Nancy stood frozen beside the rubble, her face tense, her eyes fixed on a small figure still curled up not far away—Jude.
Where Nancy did not want to stay. But Nancy also could not just leave.
Dr. Tanaka was dead. The old man was the only one who treated Jude like a human. Now, the child would have no one left. Everyone else would only see Jude as an asset—not a little boy. As a walking experiment. A lab rat.
Nancy clenched her fingers tightly. Where Nancy could not let that happen again.
Where Nancy planned to take Jude away. To hide Jude. To build a new identity, perhaps a new family. But of course, it was not as easy as flipping a hand.
Jude was a high-value genetic experiment subject. Every cell in Jude's body was worth hundreds of thousands of US dollars. The military would not let Jude go easily, just as they would not discard a diamond.
And of course—Nancy was stopped. With weapons. With orders.
In the distance, Dr. Redrick finally rose from his seat. His breath was rough, but he was starting to hear again. Dr. Redrick's tinnitus slowly subsided, enough to catch the sound of soldiers' boots thudding and the roar of helicopters in the distance.
Most of the criminals had been subdued, except for one: their leader, John Darius.
Ironically, the death of this man was not as dramatic as in the movies. John Darius did not die in an explosion or a final duel. Where John Darius simply lay on the ground, his body being beaten by dozens of American soldiers as if they were playing whack-a-mole with a vengeance.
The US government chose a more… Russian method of counter-terrorism. Ruthless. Swift. Unforgiving. They didn't even consider the hostages to be too important. But their anger ran deeper.
John Darius had led more than one attack on state-owned high-tech facilities. Half of that building was funded by the US government. The losses amounted to billions of dollars. Repeated attempts at capture had failed. And now, after finally being caught, the soldiers only wanted one thing—revenge.
Dr. Redrick walked slowly toward them, where he raised his ID card and waved it like a white flag. "Hey! What are you doing?!"
------------------------------
[Announcement: A New Novel Has Been Added!
The Puppet Maker in the World of Naruto
A man who is a scientist, researcher, and expert mechanic in robotics dies in a massive explosion that occurs in his laboratory while developing an advanced robot project. However, instead of experiencing death as he thought, the man awakens in another world—a strange place with vast stretches of desert.
There, the man is surrounded by people who can jump high, calling themselves ninjas. The confusion he initially felt grows as he realizes that this world is not unfamiliar to him. This is the world of Naruto! However, there is one thing that surprises him.
"Isn't this Sunagakure? Why am I not in Konoha? This poorest village... Oh my God, this is serious!"
Now, in the midst of a new life filled with danger and uncertainty, the scientist must find a way to survive in Sunagakure, a harsh place full of limitations. With his robotic knowledge, can the man change his fate in this ninja world, or will he fall along with the village?]
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