Chapter 1 Transmigrating into a Book: The Robbery Before Transmigrating
In November 2025, autumn was in full swing in Wuhan.
The afternoon sun at five o'clock was orange and warm, shining through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows of the upscale restaurant at the Jade Palace and casting its light into the magnificent hall.
What should have been a cozy dinner time filled with melodious piano music and quiet conversation was now shrouded in chaos and fear.
The crystal chandelier sparkled and shone, illuminating Zhang Ya's distorted and desperate face.
"Back off! All of you back off! Or I'll kill her!" Zhang Ya's voice was shrill, filled with heavy sobs and a kind of madness on the verge of collapse.
Zhang Ya is 36 years old, but looks like she's in her forties. Her face is distorted by tears of anger and pain. Her left hand is tightly wrapped around the neck of a young girl, while her right hand holds a sharp Western-style knife, the blade pressed firmly against the girl's slender carotid artery, leaving a glaring line of blood.
Centered around them, tables and chairs were roughly overturned, and exquisite tableware and food were scattered all over the floor, like a shattered, glamorous dream.
Outside the hotel, police car lights flashed, dark bulletproof shields formed a defensive line, snipers were in position, and Lei Yijun, the captain of the criminal investigation team in charge of command, was contacting the municipal bureau through the microphone: "Violent armed robbery, perpetrator Zhang Ya, female, requesting assistance from negotiation experts."
The scene was cordoned off, and media reporters arrived after hearing the news. They set up camera equipment outside the cordon, and several reporters on the scene explained the sudden situation to the cameras.
"Viewers, this is XX TV station. We are at the crime scene..."
Chu Yanxi arrived in a hurry at this moment.
Reporters and onlookers completely blocked the intersection. As soon as she got out of the car, she heard a familiar voice arguing with someone.
"You simply don't understand her current state of mind! What she needs is empathy, empathy! Do you understand?"
Chu Yanxi showed his identification and, together with his colleagues, walked around the police car. They saw a tall, thin man in an orange jacket gesturing excitedly to the police officers at the scene.
Upon seeing this person, Chu Yanxi frowned almost imperceptibly. It was Lu Zhe, the divorce lawyer who constantly championed women's freedom on his Douyin account, criticized the police for being too cold-blooded in handling marital issues, and called the police "law enforcement robots."
As for the word "empathy" that Lu Zhe kept repeating, it reminded Chu Yanxi of what her master Qin Feng had told her.
"Negotiation is not just a contest of skills, but also a battle of hearts. And the key to opening hearts is often not logic, but empathy. Yanxi, your logical reasoning, language organization, and on-the-spot adaptability are all top-notch, but sometimes you stand too high, like a calm bystander, especially when dealing with female clients. You lack a kind of... down-to-earth understanding."
Chu Yanxi's mentor, Qin Feng, is the head of the Crisis Intervention and Negotiation Team of the Jiangcheng City Public Security Bureau. He is Chu Yanxi's career guide and a close friend of her father. Since Chu's father's sacrifice, he has taken on the responsibilities of Chu Yanxi's father, showing her both love and strictness.
Chu Yanxi respected her master, but she was not convinced of his abilities. She believed that empathy would affect judgment and cause negotiations to get out of control.
She is 28 years old this year. After graduating with a master's degree, she joined the police force and inherited her father's police number. Last year, she entered the negotiation team after passing through layers of screening and assessment.
At the prime of his youth, Chu Yanxi viewed the world in black and white, and everything was governed by the law.
Ask her to truly empathize with criminals? She can't.
Her father was too kind, and as a result, he was stabbed in the waist by a criminal's mistress and collapsed on the way to his arrest. Chu Yanxi would never allow herself to repeat the same mistake.
Just as Chu Yanxi was deep in thought, Lu Zhe saw her, his eyes lit up, and he waved his hands to attract her attention, shouting, "Officer Chu, I'm Zhang Ya's divorce lawyer! The hostage-taker inside is my client!"
Chu Yanxi ignored Lu Zhe and quickly inquired about the situation at the scene.
"The other party was alone, carrying a knife, and had no other weapons?"
"Yes, Zhang Ya lost control of her emotions because her husband Wang Peng cheated on her, and kidnapped Li Li, demanding to see her husband."
Have my master and the others arrived yet?
"Team Leader Qin will be here soon. However, Zhang Ya doesn't trust any men and only agrees to speak with female negotiation experts."
Chu Yanxi nodded. No wonder she was assigned this negotiation task.
Perhaps out of care, or perhaps because she felt Chu Yanxi still needed more experience, her master never let her act alone on these kinds of negotiation missions. However, the entire negotiation team consisted of only three women; the other two senior sisters were away on exchange these past two days, leaving only Chu Yanxi on duty. Therefore, she was notified to go on duty.
Having been in the negotiation team for almost a year, Chu Yanxi finally had the opportunity to take charge on her own, and her heart was racing.
She took off her black suit jacket, skillfully put on the bulletproof vest handed to her by a colleague, and then layered on a drab gray corduroy plaid shirt, instantly diminishing her originally calm and serious elite image. She then ruffled her neat short hair, letting it become loose and disheveled.
When dealing with female hostages, especially married women whose emotions are about to spiral out of control, a negotiator's overly beautiful and sophisticated attire can create distance between the two parties and hinder communication.
After finishing all this, Chu Yanxi glanced at Lu Zhe, who was still waving his hands at her, and said, "Let him in."
Lu Zhe was allowed to proceed to the scene. He quickly crawled through the cordon and walked to Chu Yanxi's side: "Officer Chu, the lady inside is named Zhang Ya. I am her divorce lawyer. Her husband started transferring assets three months ago and officially filed for divorce last week. Today, she discovered that her husband planned to bring his mistress to this restaurant for their wedding anniversary."
He handed his phone to Chu Yanxi, on which was a text message: "Look, this is a message she sent me an hour ago: 'They're at that restaurant, I'm going to make them pay!' I rushed over immediately, but it was too late."
Chu Yanxi nodded: "Okay, I understand." Then she began to instruct the on-site commander, "I will go over and talk to her. Do not use loudspeakers, do not shout, turn off the police lights, evacuate the crowd, and avoid making noise."
The officers on the scene immediately lowered their voices and gave instructions.
Lei was a little uneasy and asked in a low voice, "Close-range negotiation?"
Chu Yanxi nodded: "She only has one knife, she'll be fine." Close-range negotiation and face-to-face communication can transform a serious hostage situation into a general dispute, making it more suitable for handling these kinds of emotional issues.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Lu Zhe became a little anxious and raised his voice: "Officer Chu, she is also a victim. She needs to be understood. Don't treat her like a criminal!"
Chu Yanxi took the earphones and put them in her ears, her tone calm: "Attorney Lu, what is your area of expertise?"
Lu Zhe: "What about the Marriage and Family Law?"
Chu Yanxi's gaze was cold: "My area of expertise is crisis negotiation. Please respect my judgment."
After saying that, Chu Yanxi slowly walked into the hotel entrance. When she was about eight meters away from Zhang Ya, she raised her hand and spun around to indicate that she was not carrying any weapons. Then she stopped about three meters away and put on a gentle smile on her originally cold and stern face: "Hello Zhang Ya, my name is Chu Yanxi. I'm here to help you solve your problem."
Zhang Ya did not lower her guard because of Chu Yanxi's smile; her emotions remained intense: "I want to see him! Make him come to see me!"
Chu Yanxi tried to reassure her: "Okay, no problem. We've already contacted your husband, Wang Peng, and he's on his way."
"Liars! You're all liars!" Zhang Ya screamed, pressing the knife deeper by another millimeter. The hostage let out a short whimper. "He won't come! He'll just hide! He's lying to me with this bastard! Fourteen years! I've suffered with him for fourteen years! Now that he has money, he wants to kick me aside!"
Her accusations were fragmented and chaotic, yet they revealed the most raw and painful wounds of a betrayed woman.
"Officer Chu!" Chu Yanxi heard Lu Zhe's voice coming through her earpiece, "She's crying, can you see? This is a way for her to release her emotions, can you comfort her?"
Chu Yanxi's eyebrows furrowed instantly.
Diners were evacuated, police were on high alert, and snipers were pointed at Zhang Ya. This divorce lawyer not only refused to leave, but also interfered with the command center's communication channels. It was simply absurd!
Chu Yanxi looked at Zhang Ya, spread her hands, and said gently, "I understand how you feel. Being deceived by a man is indeed a very infuriating thing. You must be very tired lately because of relationship issues, right? Why don't you release the hostage and we sit down and talk, okay?"
One of the principles for peacefully resolving a hostage crisis is care and understanding.
"Your husband Wang Peng's behavior is indeed disappointing." Chu Yanxi's voice was calm, trying not to let emotions get in the way, but simply stating a fact. "Believe me, the law will give you justice. Please put down the knife, okay?"
She was trying to establish a rational framework and bring the other party back to a logical level, which is the standard procedure in negotiation.
"The law? Ha! Can the law make him spit out the money he swallowed? Can the law make him admit how he cheated me?" Zhang Ya laughed wildly, but her tears flowed even more fiercely. "I don't want money! I want him to be disgraced! I want him to kneel here and admit his mistakes! I want everyone to see his true colors!"
The atmosphere at the scene became even more tense.
Zhang Ya's husband finally arrived, but refused to enter the restaurant to speak with her face to face. This news made Zhang Ya even more agitated.
"Let him in! Make him explain himself in front of everyone! Make him kneel down and apologize to me!" Her voice was hoarse and desperate.
Chu Yanxi softened her tone: "Sister Zhang, don't rush, let Mr. Wang speak to you through the microphone."
The life-first principle of anti-hijacking negotiations includes not only the lives of hostages, negotiators, and hijackers, but also ensuring the safety of all people on site.
Zhang Ya's emotions flared up instantly: "That's just how he is! He'd rather die than talk to me face to face, he only sends me messages on WeChat. He treats me like I'm invisible, even when I begged him like crazy to say something nice, he was still so cold to me! Tell him that Li Li is in my hands, and if he doesn't come out, I'll kill her!"
Zhang Ya increased the pressure with her right hand, and a deep bloodstain appeared on the hostage Li Li's neck, with blood slowly flowing down her neck.
Li Li felt a sharp pain in her neck, and panicked. She screamed, "No! Don't kill me! He's the one who wants a divorce, what does it have to do with me? Let him come here, call him out—"
Seeing that the hostage was also beginning to break down, Chu Yanxi had no choice but to temporarily stop the conversation: "Okay, I'll have my colleague talk to him. Shall we sit down and rest for a bit?"
The delaying tactic worked, Zhang Yasong underwent surgery, and a glimmer of hope flashed in Li Li's eyes.
However, seeing that his wife had gone mad, Wang Peng resolutely refused to face her, and the negotiations reached a stalemate.
Zhang Ya began to speak incoherently, sometimes crying and sometimes laughing.
Chu Yanxi maintained her stance, her voice as steady as ever, but fine beads of sweat began to appear on her forehead. She noticed that Li Li was losing strength and slumping forward, and Zhang Ya's hand holding the knife was becoming increasingly unsteady—a dangerous sign.
The voice of Master Qin Feng came through the earpiece: "Yanxi, calm down. Zhang Ya is very emotional right now. Try talking to her about her daughter. Her phone screen saver is a picture of her daughter."
Her master finally arrived, which brought Chu Yanxi a sigh of relief. She nodded slightly, trying to soften her tone: "Sister Zhang, your daughter is in elementary school, right? She should be getting out of school soon, right?"
Zhang Ya tightened her grip on the knife, a hint of confusion in her eyes.
Chu Yanxi seized the opportunity and asked softly, "Zhang Ya, is it worth ruining your life for a man who betrayed you? Is it worth letting your daughter lose her mother?"
The moment she asked that question, for some reason, Lu Zhe's words echoed in Chu Yanxi's ears: What she needs is empathy.
Zhang Ya's lips curled into a mocking smile, and she sighed softly, almost inaudibly: "It's not worth it...it's not worth it at all..."
Then came a deathly, chilling silence.
Chu Yanxi's pupils suddenly contracted.
This is bad. This isn't giving up, this is... giving up everything.
Zhang Ya suddenly ripped open her clothes, revealing a ring of homemade detonators tied around her waist!
Everything started to get out of control.
The police's shouts to stop them, the crowd's gasps—everything erupted in an instant.
"Go to hell, all of you go to hell!" Zhang Ya didn't give anyone a chance to react and pulled the fuse directly.
"boom!"
A deafening roar.
Chu Yanxi saw Zhang Ya's final expression. It wasn't anger, nor madness, but a complete, desperate calm.
A wave of heat hit her, and Chu Yanxi felt a tremendous force throw her away. The world spun around her, and all she could hear was a deafening roar. Instinctively, she protected her head, but the impact caused excruciating pain all over her body.
Amidst the excruciating pain, countless thoughts flashed through Chu Yanxi's mind.
Master, I'm sorry, I failed my mission.
—Am I going to die? Dad, you must be very disappointed in me, right?
Why? I followed the negotiation process exactly, listened carefully to Zhang Ya's feelings, and tried my best to soothe her emotions, so why did it fail? Where exactly did I go wrong?
A note from the author:
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This time, the female protagonist is not perfect. She is young and impetuous, lacks understanding of human nature, and has little negotiation experience, which leads to her mission failure. However, she will experience different lives in subsequent time travels, discover the tragic roots of female crime, and then grow and transform into a qualified and excellent negotiation expert.
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