Chapter 51: Intense Confrontation
Song Lin held the severed head in his arms as he slowly approached the door.
“Officer Song, if you don’t want to die, be a good boy,” Axi threatened with a sinister smile.
Song Lin stopped in his tracks and looked at Axi.
“Can you tell me about yourself?” he asked with a calm smile.
“Tell you what?” Axi was taken aback.
“Your past.”
“There’s nothing to say. Move!” Axi’s expression darkened as he barked the order.
“Come on, I’m curious,” Song Lin persisted, raising an eyebrow.
“Officer Song, don’t push your luck!” Axi lifted the gun and pointed it at him.
“Hahaha…”
“Go ahead, shoot me!” Song Lin shrugged, his face indifferent.
“You think I won’t?” Axi glared at him.
“Doesn’t matter. Shoot if you want.”
Hearing this, Axi raised an eyebrow and chuckled.
“You want to disrupt my game? Find a way out of my trap?” he asked, grinning widely.
“No. I just want to bring you in.”
Before his words had even settled, Song Lin hurled the severed head at Axi with all his strength and dashed toward the staircase.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots rang out from the bedroom.
The wooden stair railing beside Song Lin shattered under the bullets.
Axi stepped out of the bedroom, but Song Lin was already gone.
He glanced at the floor and chuckled.
A trail of blood led down the stairs.
Axi smirked, following the crimson path. His gun scraped against the wooden handrail, producing a haunting, rhythmic sound.
“Officer Song, I installed a grenade on the security door downstairs. You might want to rethink escaping,” Axi said as he casually strolled down.
Behind the kitchen door, Song Lin clutched his bleeding arm, his face pale. Sweat dripped from his forehead and splashed onto the floor.
He retrieved his gun, unlocked the safety, and set it on the ground. Using his teeth to help, he tore his shirt into strips, tying a tourniquet around his injured arm.
“Damn it… His aim is too damn good,” he muttered.
With his arm secured, he did the same for his thigh to slow the bleeding.
Axi had fired three times—two bullets had hit him. His combat effectiveness was halved.
Breathing heavily, Song Lin leaned against the wall. The pain gnawed at his nerves, and blood loss made his vision blur.
He glanced at the blood trail leading to his hiding spot and sighed bitterly.
There was no need for Axi to search. His location was already exposed.
“Officer Song, I’m coming for you,” Axi’s voice echoed from the living room.
Song Lin’s body tensed as he stared at the kitchen entrance.
Footsteps approached.
He lowered his gun slightly.
“Heh… Almost forgot—he’s short,” Song Lin murmured.
A shadow flickered across the frosted glass of the kitchen door.
Song Lin adjusted his aim, now targeting the kitchen window.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunfire erupted.
Thirty seconds later, silence fell.
At the village entrance…
Hearing the gunshots, Wang Qiang’s expression changed drastically.
He pulled out his pistol, chambered a round, and released the safety.
“Captain, that’s gunfire!” said Shiguang, the driver, his face tense.
“I know! Step on it!” Wang Qiang ordered.
Shiguang slammed his foot on the gas.
Three minutes later, their car screeched to a stop behind Song Lin’s vehicle.
Wang Qiang kicked open the door, rolling onto the ground and taking cover behind Song Lin’s car. He crouched, peering inside—empty.
“Not in the car…” he muttered, eyes locking onto the two-story house across the street.
“Shiguang, cover me!” Wang Qiang shouted before sprinting toward the house.
Shiguang quickly exited the vehicle, using the door as a shield while aiming at the second-floor lit bedroom.
The house’s windows were all covered with curtains.
Only the second-floor bedroom and the first-floor living room were illuminated.
If the shooter was inside that bedroom, entering through the front gate would be suicide.
Wang Qiang exchanged a hand signal with Shiguang before vaulting over the low courtyard wall and rolling into a blind spot.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
More gunshots erupted.
Shiguang zeroed in on the muzzle flashes from a first-floor room.
“The shooter is on the first floor!” he whispered after leaping over the courtyard wall to join Wang Qiang.
Wang Qiang quickly analyzed the situation.
The front door was a reinforced security gate. The windows had protective bars.
“We go in from the second floor,” he decided.
“Cover me!” Shiguang shouted before Wang Qiang could stop him.
“Damn it!” Wang Qiang cursed, pivoting to aim at the second-floor windows.
A breach team was always in the most danger, and he had intended to take the lead himself. But Shiguang had acted first.
Shiguang holstered his pistol and started scaling the wall using the bricks as footholds.
Seeing this, Wang Qiang shifted his aim to the second floor, knowing that was the real threat.
His eyes locked onto the windows, ready to shoot at the first sign of movement.
Shiguang was agile. Within moments, he reached the small balcony and climbed inside.
Wang Qiang exhaled in relief.
But he failed to notice—
A window curtain on the first floor quietly parted, revealing the barrel of a gun aimed at him.
Bang! Bang!
Two shots rang out.
Wang Qiang collapsed backward.
A splash of blood painted the window.
Five minutes later…
The first-floor security door creaks open.
Shiguang emerged, supporting Song Lin, who was drenched in blood, his steps faltering.
A trail of crimson footprints followed behind them.
“Quit faking it, you bastard,” Song Lin weakly called out.
Wang Qiang, who was lying motionless on the ground, suddenly sprang up, gasping in relief.
“Damn, that scared the hell out of me,” he muttered, staring at the bullet holes near where he had fallen.
“Master, are you okay?” Wang Qiang’s tone shifted as he saw Song Lin’s blood-soaked form.
“Heh… Not dead yet,” Song Lin chuckled weakly.
“But if you don’t call an ambulance soon, I might be.”
(End of Chapter 51)
