Chapter 726 The Sounds of Despair

Inside the botanical garden, Fei Zizheng, wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a gun, scanned the surroundings with three police officers.

The six-story main building was only about one hundred and fifty meters from the main entrance of the courtyard. In front of it were employee and public parking lots. It was nighttime, and most of the visitors had already left, so the parking lots looked very empty.

Behind the main building, on both the left and right sides, were many open spaces and planting areas that continued the construction style of the entire botanical garden, along with several plant walls representing the garden's image.

In other words, the main building was isolated. Its surroundings were open and unobstructed, making it impossible for special forces to infiltrate or forcefully storm the building without being observed from within.

Fei Zizheng felt a bit棘手 (jí shǒu, thorny) and immediately withdrew from the main entrance of the courtyard, beginning to communicate with the SWAT team of the police department.

On the street, members of the anti-terrorism team had disembarked and were infiltrating the courtyard in groups.

One of Fei Zizheng's police chiefs, seeing that the anti-terrorism team was not consulting with him at all, immediately stepped forward to stop them.

"You can't go in. This is a criminal case, and it's not your place to intervene," the police chief said, blocking the side of the wall with his men.

"Get out of the way!" the anti-terrorism team members said, showing no respect for the other party.

"What you're doing is creating...!"

"Bang, bang!"

Three anti-terrorism team members raised their gun butts and directly smashed the police chief, causing him to stagger back several steps.

Immediately afterward, seven or eight people raised their guns, opened the safety catches, and shouted, "Get out of the way!"

"I'll say it again, I received orders from above, and I'm not giving face to anyone right now," the anti-terrorism team's squad leader pointed at the other party and shouted, "If you obstruct us again and create friction, I'll open fire directly!"

There were too few police officers on the scene, and they couldn't compete with the anti-terrorism team at all, so they could only curse as they were cleared out.

The anti-terrorism team members scaled the wall at the main entrance of the botanical garden and quickly spread out, taking control of advantageous positions.

On the other end, Fei Zizheng said into the phone, "The anti-terrorism team has arrived. They're seizing the scene, and we don't have enough people to get in."

"Alright, I understand. You don't need to worry about it for now."

"Okay, I'll await support," Fei Zizheng replied.

About five minutes later, after the anti-terrorism team had taken control of the area around the main building, Jin Maohui, who was in charge of the scene, immediately used the loudspeaker on the armored vehicle to shout, "We are the Dragon City Anti-Terrorism Team. You have hostages, so you must have demands. We can talk."

After shouting several times, a buzzing sound suddenly came from the loudspeaker outside the six-story main building.

"...I want reporters! I want to speak to the public! I'm giving you fifteen minutes to prepare. In fifteen minutes, I want to see live coverage of this event on all major media platforms," Uncle Jiu's son's deep voice echoed. "Just fifteen minutes. Don't try to negotiate with me. That's it!"

With that, the loudspeaker went silent.

This demand was something that Jin Maohui, Su Tianyu, and the others knew in advance. The shouting just now was merely a symbolic negotiation, so as soon as Uncle Jiu's son finished speaking, Su Tianyu immediately entered Jin Maohui's command vehicle.

"Are the media people willing to go in?" Su Tianyu asked.

Inside the command vehicle, the female reporter who had previously interviewed the police chief in the Victory District said, her face pale, "Are you sure...he...he won't do anything drastic?"

Su Tianyu saw her worry and immediately added, "How about this? I'll disguise myself as a cameraman and go in with you."

"Okay, okay, that works for me!" the female reporter immediately nodded.

"Here's the thing. Your reality news station needs to connect with the media that you've already negotiated with. Not only do we need to raise the level of attention here in Dragon City, but we also need to cause a stir in the First District," Su Tianyu instructed her. "When you go in, your lines can't be too biased. You need to be calm and objective. That's the only way to be convincing."

"Okay, okay!" The female reporter took off her personal coat, revealing her snow-white skin, and put on a bulletproof vest and helmet.

...

Headquarters of the Regulatory Commission.

Lier slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Who said that Fei Zizheng, that idiot, could completely control the pace of this case?! From the beginning until now, he hasn't made any contribution to solving the case, and he even allowed the anti-terrorism team to arrive at the scene first!"

Everyone looked at Lier, who was going crazy, and no one dared to say a word.

"Remove him! Remove him!" Lier roared hysterically.

"Chairman, Fei Zizheng has made some contributions. Without him, it would have been difficult for us to locate the bandits so quickly. Furthermore, if Fei Zizheng hadn't discovered that they were in the botanical garden, and our people had gone to Hongmao Building instead, the bandits would have been completely in control of the situation," someone next to him softly advised. "Taking him down now would be quite demoralizing for the people in the police department..."

Lier put his hands on his hips and paced around the meeting room, his brain working.

"Tap, tap!"

Just then, a young man walked in and said quickly, "The bandits have made a demand. They want to talk directly to the media and do a live broadcast."

Lier suddenly turned around. "How many people are in that building?"

"About thirty or so employees who hadn't left work, and a dozen leaders from the District Education Bureau. They were there to discuss activities with the botanical garden," the young man replied.

Lier pondered for a long time and then waved his hand and ordered, "We can't worry about that anymore. We can't give terrorists the opportunity to smear the government, and we can't give the Democratic Party any chance to make an issue of this! Notify the special forces to take action and snipe the bandits from the air!"

...

About six or seven minutes later.

Su Tianyu and the female reporter, who were preparing to enter the main building at the scene, suddenly looked up at the sky.

Three black helicopters were passing over the botanical garden, slowly approaching the rooftop platform.

Fei Zizheng also clearly saw this scene. After a moment of astonishment, he immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and roared, "What are the special forces doing?! You can't attack now! The surroundings are too open, and there are still hostages inside. You can't anger the bandits!"

"Don't worry about it," Chief Lin's response sounded.

At the same time, Jin Maohui in the command vehicle immediately picked up the walkie-talkie and shouted, "Prepare to stop them from entering! They're trying to shut the workers up!"

On the roof of the building, several members of the special forces were preparing to rappel down.

Inside the main building.

Uncle Jiu's son bent down and looked at the person to Yang Decheng's left. "What is your position?"

"I...I'm a supervisor from the mining company's project department...Mining Area One."

"Hmm." Uncle Jiu's son nodded slowly, took off the hat on his head, revealing a head full of sores and ulcers.

The room was dark, and the other party was so frightened by his appearance that he almost lost control of his bowels.

Uncle Jiu's son stared at him, his voice hoarse. "...Mr. Supervisor, do you know what kind of sound a person makes when they're in despair?"

The other party was stunned.

Half a minute later.

"Bang!"

A window on the fifth floor was suddenly kicked open, and a middle-aged man flew out headfirst.

"Ah!!!"

A terrifying scream echoed through the night. The middle-aged man's body landed on the ground with a thud, splattering bits of blood.

"Listen, that's the sound, that's the sound of a person in despair! The sound of helplessness!" After saying this to Yang Decheng, Uncle Jiu's son directly pressed the down button on the remote control.

"Bang!"

"Boom!!!"

A violent explosion echoed in front of the main building. The supervisor, who was not completely dead, was directly blown into a cloud of blood and fragments.

The buzzing sound from the loudspeaker sounded again.

"I said, don't take me for a fool, and don't test my patience again! I'm here, but the explosives aren't necessarily all here." Uncle Jiu's son said in a hoarse voice, "The Regulatory Commission, the Parliament, the schools...they could all explode! You dogs upstairs, get out of here now! Do you hear me? Five minutes left!"