Gunshots
"What luck, huh." Zhou Bingcheng flicked his cigarette ash, and Li Pengcheng, sitting next to him, quickly and tactfully handed him an ashtray.
Wen Tao didn't dare to respond, standing beside the sofa with his head down and remaining silent.
Zhou Bingcheng glanced at Wen Tao, then stubbed out his cigarette, while Li Pengcheng held up the ashtray.
"Pengcheng, let your son do it—but don't make a scene."
Li Pengcheng's expression immediately brightened. He carefully placed the ashtray down and stood up abruptly: "Don't worry."
With Zhou Bingcheng's words, the humiliation he suffered earlier wasn't for nothing.
Li Pengcheng took out his phone, preparing to go out to make a call, but paused as he passed Wen Tao:
"Don't worry, I'll honor my bet and not begrudge the money. But Tao Chu really can't stay, so don't be too upset—after all, you watched him grow up."
In the middle of the screen, Tao Chu was smiling at Wen Yunsheng across from him, her smile filled with surprise and genuine joy at surviving the ordeal.
Wen Tao didn't dare look at her face for long, and turned to Li Pengcheng, saying, "The child is ignorant, but can't we, at our age, distinguish between what's important and what's not?"
Seeing that he was impeccable, Li Pengcheng deliberately poked at his weak spot: "Then you should persuade Yunsheng more—he came to gamble with Tao Chu while injured. If he were to die in front of him, he might not be able to accept it."
"Try to avoid him," Wen Tao advised.
Li Pengcheng smiled faintly, walked out of the room and called Li Yue. He heard a commotion coming from the other end, probably about the bet.
"Find an opportunity to take action, but don't escalate the situation."
Upon hearing this, Li Yue, who was seething with anger, immediately calmed down, said "I understand," and hung up the phone.
He told Wen Yunsheng and Tao Chu, "My dad called. I won't renege on my debt—I'll come to you to exchange the keys after I've exchanged the chips."
Tao Chu was somewhat surprised by his sudden agreeable response, but hearing that he meant to let them leave the casino, he quickly gave Wen Yunsheng and Shen Yingchang a meaningful look.
Li Yue didn't bother with them anymore. He hurriedly left the room and said to the bodyguard at the door, "Keep an eye on them. The rest of you come with me to get the guns."
On the way back, Tao Chu had calmed down and handed the bunch of keys to Wen Yunsheng: "I have no interest in Li Yue's money. I'm afraid I won't live to spend it even if I take it. You can handle it."
Wen Yunsheng looked into her eyes, and it seemed that her bright and vibrant eyes, which had been just moments before, were now completely shrouded in gloom.
He silently took the keys, but refused to go down when the elevator reached the VIP suite floor, saying he was going to room 1609 to pick up some luggage.
He followed Tao Chu and Shen Yingchang out of the elevator and watched them enter room 1608.
Wen Yunsheng returned to 1609, lay on the sofa and stared at the ceiling. Not long after, he heard a knock on the door next door, probably Li Yue coming to deliver chips.
He got up, picked up the keys from the coffee table, and prepared to deal with Tao Chu's situation. Just as he reached the door, he suddenly felt the wall being violently slammed by the door.
He realized something was wrong and rushed out of the room to see several bodyguards standing at Tao Chu's door—holding guns.
Wen Yunsheng's mind went blank, and he recklessly lunged at them, forcing the bodyguards, who were originally planning to find an opportunity to squeeze in, to be distracted and stop him.
Li Yue, who had just rushed in with one man, hadn't even raised his gun when Shen Yingchang, who had reacted quickly, kicked him—the sound Wen Yunsheng had just heard was Li Yue crashing into the wall, door and all.
Tao Chu caught a glimpse of someone outside the door, elbowed the bodyguard following closely behind Li Yue, and immediately closed the door.
Before she could lock the door, she was strangled, and a dark gun was pointed at her heart.
She reached out to block it, and the bodyguard's shot went astray, hitting the wall instead.
Even with a silencer, the mechanical noise was still quite loud at such close range. Shen Yingchang, standing behind her, thought she had been shot and shouted, "Tao Chu—"
Wen Yunsheng, who was outside the door, felt a chill run down his spine when he heard the gunshots and shouts.
The bodyguards outside were unwilling to fight Wen Yunsheng. Two of them held him off while the other shouted for backup and then started kicking down the door.
Tao Chu had no time to respond to Shen Yingchang. After dodging the first shot, she immediately stomped on the head, sat back, and landed on the bodyguard. Then, she lifted her heel and kicked him hard in the groin.
Taking advantage of his pained, bent-over posture, Tao Chu used all his strength to raise his elbow and smash it into his right arm, then rolled over and pressed down on him, forcing him to release the gun.
After Tao Chu grabbed the gun and got up, he discovered that Shen Yingchang had also subdued Li Yue.
Before Li Yue could even fire a shot, Shen Yingchang pointed a gun at the back of his neck.
Tao Chu gripped the gun with both hands and said to the bodyguard who was slowly getting up, "Squat down with your hands on your head, don't get up."
The bodyguard glanced at Li Yue, but facing the gun, he had no choice but to obey.
"You good-for-nothing, you can't even beat a woman..." Li Yue cursed.
The bodyguard dared not explain, and watched as Tao Chuchao moved closer to Shen Yingchang.
Seeing that she hadn't been shot and was even handing over her gun, Shen Yingchang actually laughed: "Not bad—come on, do me a favor and tie his hands."
Tao Chu reached out with one hand to untie Li Yue's tie. Li Yue glared at her, as if he wanted to bite her, but Shen Yingchang held a gun to his throat and said, "Behave yourself."
The people outside were banging on the door, making a loud "bang" sound.
Tao Chu kept his gun pointed at the bodyguard with his other hand, afraid that he might find an opportunity to open the door.
She untied her tie, walked behind Li Yue, and together with Shen Yingchang, each grabbed one end of the tie and quickly tied Li Yue's hands together.
But it's far from time to let up. It's uncertain how long this door can hold. Shen Yingchang glanced at the balcony—a cruise ship at sea has this advantage: there's no fear of snipers outside the window.
"Go to the balcony." With that, he grabbed Li Yue by the collar and dragged him there.
Tao Chu responded and first forced the bodyguard to go to the restroom with his gun: "Go in and lock the door."
In this way, she only needed to stand guard over Li Yue, the hostage, with Shen Yingchang on the balcony, one gun pointed at Li Yue's head and the other aimed at the door.
As soon as they reached the balcony, Wen Yunsheng, unable to break through head-on, retreated back to room 1609 and also rushed onto the balcony.
As soon as he saw Tao Chu, he asked, "Chu Chu, are you injured?!"
Tao Chu shook her head, not having time to look at him, her eyes fixed on the doorway.
Li Yue's mouth started spewing profanities, and Shen Yingchang ripped off his tie with one hand and shoved it into Li Yue's mouth.
Upon seeing Wen Yunsheng, Shen Yingchang suddenly realized that the adjacent balcony might also be dangerous, and turned to Tao Chu, saying, "Let's go to the living room."
Tao Chu gestured for him to take Li Yue inside first, then turned to Wen Yunsheng and whispered, "Do you dare to turn him over?"
Wen Yunsheng had originally planned to climb over to save Tao Chu, but upon hearing her question, he immediately began to climb over the railing without saying a word.
Tao Chu asked again, "Do you have your phone with you?"
Wen Yunsheng nodded, and Tao Chu gestured for him to come over.
The distance wasn't particularly difficult to cross, but it was still more than ten stories high, and below was an endless sea, which inevitably made people feel terrified.
"Don't look down, find a good spot and stand firm—look at me." Tao Chu switched the gun to his left hand and extended his right hand for him to use as leverage.
Knowing that time was of the essence and the situation could change in an instant, Wen Yunsheng gripped her hand tightly, jumped over the railing, and quickly climbed onto her balcony.
"Take out your phone and hide in this corner to record a video. I'll make sure Li Yue's face is visible to you. Whoever comes in later, there will most likely be a negotiation process. You can record several clips, and send each clip to this email address after you've finished recording it."
Tao Chu gave out an email address: "Please include a message: 'Post it online at 8 PM tonight.'"
Wen Yunsheng repeated the number, and Tao Chu nodded, turning to look at him: "Whether I can get off the ship alive depends on you."
Wen Yunsheng nodded silently, watching her walk into the living room with the gun, and then pulled the curtains aside to give him a better angle.
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