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墨書 Inktalez
It looked just like the slums I had seen in movies, with rows of peeling buildings revealing bricks and stones beneath. Some were tall, reaching up to three stories, while others were only a single level. The gaps between these bungalows and buildings varied; some were three or four meters apart, while the shortest was barely thirty centimeters wide, just enough for a cat to squeeze through.
In short, this place bore no trace of government planning; it was a chaotic jumble of illegal constructions. The person we were looking for was somewhere within this maze of buildings. There were numerous entrances and the layout was extremely confusing. Zhao Mingkun informed us that unless someone was familiar with the area, they would often find themselves lost in the hallways.
Fortunately, Zhao Mingkun had done a good job preparing beforehand, and with information provided by insiders, locating the room where this person lived wasn't too difficult. We casually entered through one of the entrances and found the narrow hallway cluttered with various items—boxes, jars, discarded furniture, and bicycles—making the already tight corridor even harder to navigate.
Children were playing in the hallway, reminding me not of this romantic country but of my own childhood in the countryside. In reality, there is no place in the world that is perfect without flaws; similarly, there are no places that are entirely devoid of advantages.
We followed the winding hallway until we finally reached our destination—a room on the third floor. Zhao Mingkun gestured for us to be cautious. The two of us slipped our hands into our coats, ready to draw our guns at any moment. Zhao Mingkun stepped forward and gently knocked on the door.
No one responded from inside. He turned his head and signaled to us before kicking the door open. This old building had no security door and was made of wood; it wouldn’t take much for even a child to kick it down.
As Zhao Mingkun kicked the door open, he quickly stepped aside while Yang Yang drew his gun and aimed into the room. It appeared that no one inside had noticed us yet since there was no immediate gunfire. However, Yang Yang suddenly shouted, “There are two bodies on the floor!”
It seemed that the killer had anticipated our approach because these two individuals looked like they had been dead for quite some time. The killer must have known we would investigate the social connections of the deceased before taking action. Now that all four members from the mafia had been killed, it appeared that the killer had eliminated everyone he intended to target. Yet so far, we still had no leads on him.
Indeed, there were no markings on the ground anymore. I turned over one of the bodies and noticed one had an “a” written on its back while the other had an “n.” Just as I was about to examine them closely, Zhao Mingkun suddenly lunged at me, crashing into my side and sending us both tumbling to the ground.
Then I saw a new hole appear in one of the corpses—a bullet exit wound. We quickly took cover behind a table as Zhao Mingkun said, “Another team has found us! If I had been any slower just now, you would have been shot in the head! Remember, I just saved your life; you owe me one!”
Before I could respond, I felt vibrations from bullets hitting the table as wood splintered around us. Zhao Mingkun shouted, “Yang Yang! Three Fingers! Cover us! On three, we’re making a run for it! At this rate, this table won’t hold up much longer—got it?”
I nodded as gunfire erupted around us. From my position, I couldn’t see what was happening with the other team but could see Yang Yang and Poplar outside; they were only exposing their hands to shoot before quickly retreating again as bullets struck the wooden doorframe, sending dust flying.
Zhao Mingkun began counting: “One!”
The cheap wooden table collapsed under fire as we curled up tightly to avoid being shot in the head by our opponents. Yet Zhao Mingkun didn’t rush out immediately; his composure showed his strong character. Although I wasn’t an expert on firearms, I could tell how those across from us were firing.
There were clearly four people on the other side using a 3+1 shooting method—three firing while one reloaded—allowing them to maintain continuous fire without pause.
If we were going to run, we had to wait for the moment when the three of them were reloading their guns.
"Two," Zhao Mingkun held up two fingers.
At that moment, we were all ready to dash outside at any second. Zhao Mingkun was also waiting for the perfect moment. I could clearly feel the wind created by bullets whizzing just a few centimeters above my head. Yang Yang and Poplar fired a few shots and began reloading, while the three opponents across from us started to reload as well.
This was the perfect opportunity!
"Three!" Zhao Mingkun shouted.
With that, I charged out, followed closely by Zhao Mingkun, who was firing backward without even aiming properly. I rolled forward and tumbled directly into the hallway. Just then, Zhao Mingkun also made her escape, but as she was about to get out, a bullet struck her arm.
In an instant, Zhao Mingkun's gun flew from her hand. I quickly pulled her over to me and saw that she had been shot in the arm. I immediately tore off my shirt sleeve and wrapped it around her wound. Yang Yang shouted, "Hurry! They're coming after us! We need to get Queen to a hospital!"
We had to find a hospital for treatment; staying here in this alleyway was clearly not a wise choice. With that thought in mind, I helped Zhao Mingkun up and ran outside. But at that moment, I noticed Italian police arriving on the scene, lining up and entering through several doorways.
"We're surrounded!" Poplar exclaimed. "What do we do?"
I thought for a moment and then kicked open the door of an apartment in the hallway, charging inside. "Anyone who wants to live, get down and don’t move! Watch out for stray bullets!" The residents of the apartment saw our guns and didn’t dare to act recklessly; they quickly hid under the bed.
I shut the door behind us and looked outside. The distance between this building and the one across was more than three meters; I had randomly chosen one of the farthest apartments between two buildings. But if we went out now, we'd be caught between a rock and a hard place and would be shot to pieces. Three stories high wasn't too high but wasn't low either; jumping down carelessly could lead to serious injury.
"Jump!" Yang Yang urged. "You might not die from jumping down, but if you don’t jump, you’ll either be killed by another team or end up in prison, where you’ll still die later."
I quickly scanned my surroundings and said, "A hanger! No one’s using one! We can hang it on the power lines above and slide over!" The buildings here were haphazardly constructed, so the power lines were tangled everywhere. Looking up, my eyes were filled with wires. This seemed like the safest option; we could slide directly into the apartment across.
Time was not on our side; there was no time for hesitation. I spoke to Zhao Mingkun, "Hold on tight to me; don’t use your arm." With that, I hung the hanger on the power line while Zhao Mingkun clung to me like a koala. I pushed off from the windowsill with all my strength and slid forward.
I had never imagined that such a simple action would be so difficult; it seemed like television had lied to me about how easy it looked. Fortunately, it wasn’t far at all; almost in the blink of an eye, we reached the other side. I extended my legs forward and kicked hard, crashing through the glass into an apartment.
The other two were in a similar situation, but at that moment, another team entered the room. They opened fire, and the last member, Yang Yang, was hit multiple times and fell directly from the third floor. However, in that brief moment, it was enough for Poplar to escape.
Yang Yang was certainly in grave danger; it seemed unlikely he would survive. As soon as Poplar landed, he drew his gun and said, "Hurry up! If we get caught, it's all over." After firing a few shots, Poplar ran with us toward the car. I glanced back and saw that the other team in the room didn’t follow our lead of escaping with hangers; instead, they used Li Yang's body as a cushion and jumped straight down from the third floor one by one.
We found the car, with Poplar behind the wheel. Inside, I noticed Zhao Mingkun's face was pale. Although he had been bandaged up, the intense physical exertion had caused him to lose too much blood. If we didn’t get him a transfusion soon, he would surely die from blood loss.
"Don't go to the nearest hospital!" I told Poplar. "They'll definitely be waiting to finish us off. Find one that's farther away. Zhao Mingkun, I hope you can hold on." I spoke lightly on purpose to keep him from panicking; the bullet hadn’t severed any arteries; otherwise, he would have been dead by now.
Zhao Mingkun, though pale, held tightly onto my arm and said to Poplar, "There’s a hospital near where we’re staying. Go there! It’s the safest option. Don’t worry; I won’t die before you do. Remember, once I’m at the hospital, keep an eye on this guy and don’t let him run around, got it?"
Poplar nodded and replied, "Understood."
It seemed that even at such a critical moment, Zhao Mingkun didn’t let his guard down around me. From what he said, it appeared he had already made plans and even knew where to go after getting injured. It looked like even if I hadn’t shown up, the Mafia wouldn’t have gained any advantage over Zhao Mingkun.
I couldn’t help but furrow my brow; there was either a purpose for entering this competition or simply a reason for calling me here, but there was a deeper motive that Zhao Mingkun had yet to reveal.
On my first trip out to sea, I encountered a well-known Bengal Aid Worker. Young and impulsive, but too poor to really make a move until the First Mate told me that a bag of instant noodles could get me through a night with a group of women…
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