Bang! Bang! Bang!
After a series of shots—smoke rounds shattering the glass in the building's reception area—the live broadcast scene began to spin.
The police had already begun breaching the door from the side, and flashbang grenades continued to explode.
"Zz... Weapons ready. The suspect may be armed and dangerous. Clear the building carefully; we could run into an ambush along the way."
Daniel Harrelson, the highest-ranking officer in the immediate response team dispatched to the site, reminded his teammates—all of them seasoned officers.
Very soon, the lock on the side door was blasted open by gunfire.
"Quick! Ram the door!"
Under Daniel's command, several officers kicked in the side door, knocking it down flat.
"Block the medical personnel! The rest, follow me!" Some officers ran in alongside the paramedics.
"You're dying like a rat, Malcolm. Was it worth being a predator in life? Ending up the prey feels a lot better, doesn't it?" said Larry, brimming with satisfaction. This level of reward was unmatched.
By that point, everyone watching was begging for Malcolm not to be saved by the police.
Some believed Larry might have a contingency plan, but the truth was that few had hope.
"Zz... Lower levels clear. We found signs of a struggle along the way. Everything suggests the building staff has been kidnapped."
"Zz... For now, medics can treat Malcolm. We'll take care of the rest immediately."
The medical team rushed to Malcolm's side. By then, the smoke deployed by the SWAT team had begun to clear.
Several police officers surrounded them, blocking and protecting Malcolm and the medical personnel at the center. They were on high alert in case the criminal responsible had set up any more traps.
A senior-looking doctor shouted anxiously, "Give me the antidote and the epinephrine! This is a disaster—I can't find his veins!"
"Don't go for an IV. Inject directly." While shouting, the lead doctor kept signaling the nurse beside him.
They had brought several antidotes for the muscle-dissolving agent before leaving. They had also watched the live broadcast during the ride over. Thanks to Malcolm's symptoms, they had already identified what kind of drug had been used.
The nurse quickly pulled two syringes and two vials of medicine from the first aid kit.
She skillfully filled the syringes.
"Come on, Malcolm. We can still play."
"Is that it? How boring..." Larry's voice sounded calm, as if the police and medical intervention didn't concern him in the slightest.
The audience watching all of this live was also extremely nervous at that moment. No one posted anything on social media; instead, everyone waited for the final outcome.
The nurse had just lifted Malcolm's broken left arm and was about to inject him when the doctor stopped her.
"We can't inject like that... Be very careful, the side effects have reached a critical level. I'll do it internally." The doctor quickly explained the reason and grabbed the syringe.
"The game is over." Larry concluded as the final second of the countdown hit zero.
Suddenly, the doctor plunged the needle into Malcolm's left chest.
With a muffled burst, blood erupted from Malcolm's shattered limbs.
Blood sprayed onto the doctors, nurses, and police officers around him.
"What happened?! He was stable a moment ago. Why is he bleeding so suddenly?" Daniel Harrelson, known for his short temper, asked after seeing the scene unfold.
"He's dead!" the doctor declared, stepping away from the corpse.
"How did he die so suddenly?! Do you even consider yourself a doctor? Do you save people or kill them?" Daniel Harrelson, aware of the negative impact this would cause, couldn't help but curse at the outcome.
After hearing this, the doctor held back and explained, "The patient's muscle deterioration was too severe, and his injuries were beyond treatment. His heart couldn't withstand the injection and exploded."
"Damn it! Damn it!" Daniel Harrelson kicked the building's French window with his leather shoes in frustration.
The doctor's explanation calmed his fury to a degree—but viewers of the live broadcast were overjoyed.
"It's not just that. Whoever did this knew perfectly well that Malcolm would die the moment he was poisoned. From the start, there was zero chance of survival."
Hiding in the shadows, Larry smiled slightly. His gaze landed on Daniel Harrelson, who was advancing through the building, clearing the apartments. Around 35 years old, dark-skinned, bald, and muscular, he had the makings of a natural leader.
But he had arrived too late—Larry knew he would.
"We'll meet again. This is only the beginning." With that, he issued a command and stopped interfering with the TV signals. Everything returned to normal.
…
Larry, who was in a completely different building, took the elevator down to the dining area and calmly picked up a tray.
A few minutes later, a young woman sat across from him.
"Was everything a success?"
"I think so. We got what we wanted."
Larry nodded slightly and said, "I hope the mother now understands we meant business. Leak the condemned man's file. And Lisa—next up is the man who killed your father."
"Yes, boss." The girl gave a slight smile and left the restaurant.
To accomplish this, Larry wasn't working alone. He had assembled a team of over fifty members who helped him in everything. Each one of them had lost someone, and they were now working together as an organization to exterminate monsters.
Very soon, the country would know they were out there—hunting—and that anyone could be their prey.
…
Meanwhile, on the other side of the building...
"Chief, what do we do now?" asked a police officer.
Daniel, furious, forced himself to calm down and said, "Secure all exits and lock down the entire building. Once reinforcements arrive, we'll search every corner."
"Yes, sir!"
Soon after, more officers from the department arrived and conducted a thorough search.
"Chief, we found the security guards. They were all drugged and locked in the basement."
The news infuriated Daniel Harrelson so much he wanted to smash the building's bulletproof glass to pieces.
What the police discovered in the next few hours terrified everyone.
It turned out that during the week leading up to the live broadcast, hired actors or criminal group members posed as residents: entering and exiting the building, hailing taxis, greeting staff, handing out tips... doing everything necessary to maintain an appearance of normalcy. Some even pretended apartments were under renovation or decoration, to justify strange noises or movements.
All of this was carefully planned to create an illusion of normalcy—especially for security cameras, external guards, or curious neighbors.
Meanwhile, the real building staff—receptionists, janitors, cooks, security guards, and cleaning crews—were taken down one by one over the course of the week. They weren't killed but locked in areas inaccessible to the public, such as a sub-basement storage room, a sealed industrial kitchen, or even a maintenance zone that had been shut off.
Their cell phones were confiscated and disabled with signal blockers. No one could call for help.
In many cases, their families received forged messages sent from their phones to make it seem like they were fine and still at work.
By the time the live-streamed torture began, the building was completely under control. There were no real staff members—only the criminal group. No real residents—just empty apartments, some with their lights still on, part of the set design.
The stream began in a soundproof, high-tech penthouse apartment, with manipulated signals to hide its exact location.
From the outside, everything looked normal. No one could have imagined that horror was unfolding in the heart of one of the city's most heavily monitored areas.