Chapter 61

The Xichuan Pharmaceutical Factory is located in the suburbs, not too far away. The eight-story building has clear layers. The top floor is the meeting room, the three floors below are the office, and the fourth floor close to the ground is the factory. For the sake of lighting, the entire building uses large floor-to-ceiling windows.

Kono Seira originally thought that he would have to show his police ID to prove his identity before he was allowed in, but perhaps because his senior had greeted him, he had no problems all the way and came directly to the top floor conference room.

He checked that the document was sealed intact and thought to himself that it should not be left behind casually. A flash of doubt flashed through his mind.

However, it is most important to get the documents back as soon as possible.

He nodded and thanked the manager, and was about to leave, but a lot of people were crowded at the exit, making noisy complaints.

"What happened? Why is the door locked?"

"Does anyone have the key? Call security!"

"The other door is also locked. Could it be someone is playing a prank?"

The manager who was leading the way beside Kono Seiryoshi looked embarrassed. He turned to look at the crowd and was about to frown and say something loudly when - "Bang!"

The sound of the chandelier being shattered made everyone freeze in place.

The white smoke dissipated, and the black muzzle of the gun was aimed at everyone.

The man holding the gun was tall and thin, wearing a white coat that was most common in factories, and a pair of glasses. Although he was holding a weapon in his hand, he looked panicked, as if he was being chased by a monster.

After the first scream from the crowd, he nervously fired another shot at the roof and yelled, "Shut up if you want to live!"

His companions covered their faces and drove all the hostages to the center like driving a flock of sheep, and asked them to hand over their cell phones and wallets one by one.

Kono Seiji silently followed the crowd, moving forward and then stopping. He was wearing casual clothes today and looked like an ordinary student. He lowered his head as if he was frightened, and his eyes swept around secretly.

The manager's legs were shaking and his lips were quivering; everyone else who could see was afraid that any sound they made would anger the robbers, some even covered their mouths tightly with tears in their eyes.

Kono Seiryoshi was not sure if there were any other accomplices in the crowd. His experience in the police academy made him afraid to act rashly. Moreover, he was on leave today and did not even have his gun. He probably could not beat the two people on the opposite side with his bare hands.

"Did you hear the gunshots? I'm not kidding. There are 23 people on this floor. For every 50 million in cash you give me, I will release one person."

The masked robber was much calmer than the man in glasses, and spoke gloomily to the screen in his hand. His back was facing the crowd, and the content on the screen was also blocked.

Is he asking for ransom from the company's top management? A pharmaceutical factory is not a suitable place for kidnapping, and they chose to do it in broad daylight. It doesn't look like they are afraid of being hunted by the police. Could it be a personal grudge?

Kono Seiryoshi lowered his head and thought.

But the next second when the robber turned around, he realized that his guess was too conservative.

The face on the screen was not a senior executive of a conglomerate company, and the background was not a study or a conference room, but the Metropolitan Police Department office that he was very familiar with and saw every day when he went to work.

Inspector Megure from the First Investigation Division next door was still wearing his iconic hat, and his usual amiable face was serious and solemn.

Kono Seiryoshi only took a quick look and quickly lowered his head, but the other party obviously noticed him as well and was stunned for several seconds in astonishment.

Fortunately, the kidnappers interpreted this as the police's shock and fear after seeing the hostages, and sneered with satisfaction: "The location of the ransom has been sent to you. If my people still don't get the money after 20 minutes, you will have to bear the consequences yourself."

"…The ransom is already being prepared, we will do as you request." Megure Jusan said in a deep voice.

After the kidnapper turned around again, Kono Seira quietly winked at the person on the screen, indicating that the hostage was safe. Seeing that Officer Megure's expression eased a little, he also nodded at him imperceptibly.

After the two sides negotiated for a while, the kidnapper seemed to find it a bit troublesome to hold up the screen and talk, so he turned off the video call.

His sinister gaze was like a hook, searching for a suitable exchange target among the huddled hostages who dared not make a sound.

The crowd naturally heard his negotiations with the police, but no one was sure whether the kidnappers would go back on their word, and no one wanted to take the risk.

In the silent room, the man in glasses who had been biting his fingernails in a panic suddenly stood up, gun in hand, and stumbled into the center of the crowd.

The girl next to him screamed, and then lowered her head in fear the next second.

A tall, thin shadow stopped in front of him, his face as gray as a ghost and his eyes were lifeless. Kono Seiryoshi raised his eyes, pretending not to understand.

He noticed that the man in front of him was holding a gun in one hand, but the other hand was firmly in his pocket and had never been taken out, as if he was holding something.

"You want to choose this one?" The masked kidnapper's voice came from behind, and he seemed puzzled. He said reluctantly, "Okay, it doesn't matter which one it is. I just want to get the ransom money."

A small dark square box was thrown out from the kidnapper's hand and landed in front of Gongye Shengliang.

There was a loud sound when it hit the ground. I could only see clearly when it landed in front of me. It had a small square screen on it. It looked like both a smartphone and an intercom. It was a modified communication device.

The right hand of the man in glasses, which had been hidden in his pocket, suddenly grabbed his arm, as if grabbing a piece of floating wood in the water. He used all his strength, and his skinny fingers almost sank into his flesh.

Kono Seiryoshi endured the pain and looked at the man with an expression befitting a hostage.

He saw the man's lips move, but if he had not been close to him, he would have hardly heard what he was saying.

For the first time, the pair of wooden eyes behind the lenses revealed an emotion called fear.

“No one escapes,” he said.

--

The man in glasses and the masked kidnapper do not seem to be accomplices who trust each other. The former is obviously hiding his fear, while the latter only cares about the ransom.

The communicator tied to my wrist with a special mechanism was like a cold, hard and smooth stone, and it took a while to warm it up.

Kono Seiyoshi checked it on the way downstairs and found that the communicator was locked, so he could neither make calls nor send messages. However, the kidnappers said that it was equipped with a positioning device. As long as he dared to disobey orders and run out of the building, they would receive a prompt and then - detonate the explosives inside.

There was no need to prove that none of the hostages, who were extremely panicked, would risk their lives.

What Kono Seiryoshi had to do was to move slowly in the building and not leave the building until the ransom money was received.

He was the only one in the stairwell, and even on every floor he passed from the top floor, there was no one there. It would be fine if he was evacuated... but would it be so smooth?

Thinking of what the man in glasses said to him before he left, he had a bad feeling in his heart.

There was nothing unusual on the eighth, seventh, sixth, and fifth floors. He walked for about ten minutes and when he turned to the stairwell on the fourth floor, his steps paused.

The open suitcase lay quietly in the middle of the emergency passage, with a remote-sensing bomb inside.

Seeing this, Gongye Shengliang calmed down.

The stairwell was empty; the bombs placed there seemed more like a protest than a murderous act.

But why is it only on the fourth floor? What's so special about it?

He continued to walk slowly forward, holding the handle, and through the open door at the fourth floor staircase, he caught a glimpse of another black suitcase that looked exactly the same.

The fourth floor down is the pharmaceutical workshop. Chemical agents, bombs, explosions, any two of these words combined together would create a horrific scene.

Turning downward, he walked around the suitcase and pushed open the door on the fourth floor.

The room was dead silent, and there was a red fluorescent light flashing outside the bomb placed in the middle of the hall. Gong Ye Shengliang wanted to squat down to check, but before he could do anything, the sound of glass breaking suddenly sounded about ten meters behind him without any warning.

There was a buzzing sound in my ears for several seconds before another breaking sound was slowly caught.

The pain was immediately reduced to the lowest level by the system. To be honest, when the bloody mist spread in front of his eyes, he didn't feel anything. He only felt that his body was suddenly out of control.

His consciousness was brought back by the communicator vibrating on his wrist. It was automatically connected three seconds later. When he heard the anxious voice, Kono Seiryoshi was stunned.

"Kunino, tell me your location! The people from Investigation Division 1 and the Explosion Squad have already gone there, and they will rescue the hostages right away!"

"How is the situation over there? Is the robber in a stable mood? Can we negotiate?"

The voice was calling him urgently, but perhaps due to the dizziness from blood loss, Gongye Shengliang could not hear it clearly.

“…Senior.”

The crimson in his vision grew larger and larger, and his voice was so soft that it was almost like a whisper, "Why did you call this number?"

The person on the other side stopped talking as if his throat was strangled, and the silence at this moment drowned his mouth and nose like a suffocating tide.

"I can't help it..." After a while, a trembling voice came, "The Xichuan Group and I have been caught by them. They told me that as long as this matter is over today, the evidence will never be known to anyone else."

...Who are 'they'? The robbers, or the sniper outside? Why did they kill him?

"I don't want to do this, but they are threatening me with my daughter, who is only five years old...! My future can be ruined, but I can't... I can't lose her!"

"Gongye, hold on a little longer. The Metropolitan Police Department's car is very fast—"

Gongye Shengliang's eyelashes trembled slightly and he hung up the phone.

He is a little tired.

"If there are no hostages, snipers normally won't shoot at the target's head. The head is too small and often shakes, making it much harder to aim. So don't always think about shooting someone in the head to look cool. Being a police officer is not like being in a movie!"

On a sleepy afternoon, Instructor Onizuka slapped the blackboard and emphasized loudly. When his eyes caught a spot, his eyebrows raised, "Matsuda, what are you laughing at!"

Matsuda Jinpei, who had just shot the ten-ring in the last shooting class and was showing off, crossed his arms over his chest and snorted in a noncommittal tone.

Instructor Onitsuka was so angry that he wanted to give him a slap on the head, but he swallowed his anger and prepared to ask a good and obedient student to answer the question to make himself feel better: "Konno, tell me, where would you choose to shoot during a sniper operation?"

Kono Seiryoshi, who seemed to be listening attentively in class but was actually scribbling for the instructor on a piece of draft paper, stood up reflexively with a blank expression for two or three seconds.

Zhu Fu Jingguang, who was sitting diagonally in front of him, coughed lightly, and secretly mouthed words to him through the cover of his textbook, then tapped his chest twice with the pen in his right hand.

Kono Seiryoshi smiled gratefully at him, calmed himself down, and replied, "In most cases, they will aim at the chest. The chest is larger and has a smaller range of motion. Once hit, it can quickly make the target lose the ability to move."

The knowledge from the book emerged in his mind bit by bit, and he answered fluently.

"Even if the victim is not fatally shot, it is very easy to hit the lungs and trachea. In addition, the bullet tumbling during long-range shooting will create a permanent cavity. There is basically no chance of survival for the prisoner."

"So, generally speaking, as long as you can hit the chest..."

...If a bullet hits the chest, it will cause massive bleeding in the lungs. The bullet penetrates the lung lobe, and the air inhaled and the air flowing in from the chest cavity will enter the chest cavity; the blood vessels will rupture, and a large amount of blood will seep out and be lost, blocking and filling the lungs.

Without timely medical treatment, the person will suffocate to death within five minutes.

He is about to die.

So don't waste the little time you have left on meaningless phone calls.

The first bomb was placed at the entrance to the fourth-floor safe passage, inviting him to enter the floor.

The second bomb was placed in the center of the hall, in a position that could be seen at a glance. It was bait planted by the sniper.

Neither of these matters mattered. There was no one else on this floor except him, so even if it exploded it wouldn't cause much damage. The real question was whether there were any more bombs somewhere else he couldn't see.

When demolishing a building by explosives, you only need to destroy the key load-bearing structure to make the building unstable, and the entire building will fall to pieces under the action of gravity. *

Kono Seiryoshi covered his mouth but couldn't help coughing. The blood gushed out of his throat, and his clothes, his hand that was blocking the wound, and his face, which was pale from the rapid blood loss, were all stained with blood that could not be wiped off.

Now, the hand with the blood-stained palm prints clenched into a fist and fell bluntly on the wall. He had to get very close to hear the echo, and at the same time avoid exposing his body to the French window, so each step was very slow.

The crisp sound suddenly became muffled after he walked to the sliding door on the other side. He lowered his head and his eyes began to slowly scan the four corners, finally stopping on the classified trash can close to the corner of the wall.

The load-bearing walls, the space behind the dumpster, and—moved away, the flashing red light between the thick tape packages.

Countdown to explosion 07:31.

【“No one can escape.”】

The numb-looking man even included himself when he said this.

The bomb was very crude, with its casing and electrical circuits exposed. It looked as if it had been hastily stuffed in without even having time to install the outer casing. This was a great convenience for Gong Ye Shengliang, who had no tools except a pair of scissors he picked up from his desk.

His performance in bomb disposal class was mediocre, and he was not as good as Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda. If either of them were there, they would have been able to dismantle this bomb in less than five minutes.

[When the health bar drops to 10 points, the automatic blood lock mechanism will be activated. Currently it is 23 points.]

The blood was too much. In just two or three minutes, the health bar dropped by 80 points from full.

Double images appeared before his eyes, and Kono Seiryoshi closed his eyes, trying to drive the last bit of unrealistic illusion out of his mind.

There are still seven minutes before the explosion, and the time he can remain conscious is... less than three minutes.

He forcibly shut down the automatic blood-locking mechanism and called out the system: "You mentioned that the energy converted from negative emotions is used to save the world, right?"

[Yes, but we are outsiders and do not fall into this concept.] The electronic sound of the light ball is a bit heavy, [Do you want to use it here?]

[There is no power beyond common sense in this world, and the effects that can be achieved will also be suppressed. It is very likely that in the end, the energy will be used up and the result of the explosion will not change.]

"Is that so..."

Kono Seiryoshi's eyelashes drooped weakly, and his voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible, "Since I am an outsider, I should be allowed to have some special abilities."

A drop of blood fell into the pure white space of consciousness, and before it had time to spread out, it was quickly covered by the crimson liquid that followed.

In front of him was a bomb, a replica of the one wrapped around the load-bearing wall.

Completely replicate the real scene, but with the opportunity to read the file and start over.

The bomb could explode at any moment due to the shock, and the blood could also flow out in the next second. No matter which of these two things came first, there was only one ending left for Kono Seiryoshi himself.

Because my life was no longer at stake, the pain dropped to zero. Although it didn't hurt, the feeling of being out of breath became more and more obvious. My chest was like a broken old bellows, warning me that it could not bear the heavy load.

He could still feel the cold, and his hands were shaking uncontrollably. Any normal person with common sense would not dismantle such a sophisticated and dangerous weapon in this state, but he had no choice.

The power supply could not be cut off, the □□ could not be pulled out, the mercury lever was damaged, the colorful wires were cut one by one, the countdown returned to zero again and again, the dazzling white light obscured the vision again and again, announcing failure again and again.

The scissors, which could no longer be held, fell to the ground with a "bang".

By the 21st simulation, Seiryo Kono had almost no idea what he was doing.

He lost strength and did not pick up the blunted scissors. He leaned against the wall sleepily. Compared with the twenty explosions he had experienced, it seemed that waiting quietly for suffocation from lack of oxygen was a good way to die.

"——Look, this is how we have to cut in."

On the floor of the tool room at the police academy, there are twelve flat-head and cross-head screwdrivers arranged in order from small to large, as well as pliers, wrenches and scissors of various sizes. On a shelf within easy reach are electric welders and electromagnetic interference devices.

The boy who was speaking had slightly curly black hair and was sitting on the ground with his uniform casually tied around his waist. He held a sharp utility knife in his hand and accurately and quickly cut off the white wire inside the bomb model from among the numerous fuses.

He raised his head, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, but his eyes were still bright.

"It's quite interesting, isn't it?"

The pair of bright black pupils were split into two, reflecting two similar yet different people.

The one in uniform touched his nose sheepishly and said, "Sorry, can you demonstrate it again?"

The one with blood-stained collar and tired look closed his eyes - sorry, I still can't do it.

...If you were here, what would you do?

His drooping fingers twitched unconsciously twice, and he woke up from his dream and stood up with difficulty. The not-so-violent movement caused a sharp cough, and the mottled blood splattered on the shiny and blurry blade, showing the rust of years.

The simulation in the system space was still going on, and Kono Seiryoshi did not continue to count how many times he had experienced it. The numbers became cumulative at this point, and the accumulated failures stared at him silently.

Most of the endings are that the bomb fails to be dismantled and the explosion destroys the entire building; a few endings are that the bomb stops breathing before it is completely dismantled.

Then there was an endless cycle of less than three minutes.

He didn't know how many times he had overlapped, but at the moment of success, he returned to reality.

The bomb countdown stopped at 03:12.

It's over, no matter which one it is.

His dazed and out-of-focus eyes stared at the broken window. A ray of sunlight leaked in through the gap created by the bullet, shining on his face, which was pale and weak due to excessive blood loss.

How long will it take for the Metropolitan Police Department's car to arrive? Are there any more bombs on other floors? What should we do with the two bombs in the emergency passage and the lobby? Will removing this one prevent the building from collapsing?

There are still many questions, but I don’t have time to think about them anymore.

[Sorry... but this is the end.]

A life that seemed like a beautiful dream ended here.

"I see... I thought I had talent to be a police officer."

It's completely different from the Mafia, and if it can continue, it seems to be a good feeling.

He wanted to laugh, but inevitably pulled the perforation wound in his lung. Although it didn't hurt, he still choked up a mouthful of blood.

Kono Seiryoshi covered his mouth, and coughs came out from between his fingers.

...are all impossible.

Even if you want to be a last-ranked police officer, there is no chance.

After about three minutes, the shock wave of the explosion will shatter all obstacles in the room, the entire building will tremble, and a sea of ​​fire will engulf the broken walls.

But that’s all.

The building will not collapse, no one will be killed in the fire, and the police will receive the signal and choose a safer option to arrest the criminal.

The purpose is to give the hostages a scare.

Both the instructor and his superiors had repeatedly stressed that the safety of the hostages must be the top priority when the police take action, but this was all he could do. It seemed that he was not qualified to be a police officer.

It was hard to say which was more painful: death by blood-gas suffocation or death by explosion. The former still gave a few minutes of respite, but in the countless simulated explosions he had experienced, the latter took away everything in an instant.

Kono Seiryoshi closed his eyes, waiting for the passive, uncertain death to come.

…

Flames exploded, the building shook, and the hostages on the top floor burst into screams and cries.

The gun in the glasses man's hand was shaken away, and he suddenly realized something. His lost expression was replaced by fear mixed with hope. He didn't bother to pick up the gun, but frantically took out his cell phone and dialed a number. However, from the time he dialed to the time the call was automatically hung up, the cold female voice kept repeating "The number you dialed is busy."

The sniper in another building whistled, put his gun back in the fishing box, and sent a text message to an encrypted number.

"Mission accomplished, you can proceed to the next step."