The crisp sound of shattering glass rang out clearly, and at the same time, a hole appeared in the floor where Long Xinyu had just been standing. There was no gunshot, meaning the gun was equipped with a silencer, Rao Xian quickly deduced.
“Ah—”
Startled by the sudden shattering of glass, the restaurant’s customers screamed.
“Thud,” “Thud,” “Thud,” the sounds of bullets hitting the ground rang out in succession, each shot aimed at Long Xinyu. Rao Xian protected Long Xinyu and rolled on the spot, getting behind a decorative partition in the restaurant.
At this point, the customers in the restaurant also realized that someone was shooting, and chaos instantly erupted.
“Everyone, get down!”
Rao Xian, pressing Long Xinyu down behind the partition, shouted loudly—there were many customers dining in the restaurant, and if they ran around randomly, they could easily be caught in the crossfire.
However, when the shooting occurred, the people in the restaurant were unable to react rationally. Some were screaming, some were still sitting blankly in their seats looking around, unaware of what was happening, and some had already gotten up and fled.
“Thud—thud—” Two more bullets hit the partition where Rao Xian and Long Xinyu were hiding, causing the wood to splinter, and the diners screamed even more shrilly in fright.
“Everyone, get down!” Forced by the bullets, Rao Xian couldn’t get out and could only hide in front of the partition, shouting.
At this time, most of the diners had reacted and quickly lay down or hid under the tables.
“Thud-thud—thud-thud—” A barely audible sound rang out again, but this time it was not aimed at the partition where Rao Xian and Long Xinyu were hiding, but rather a seemingly aimless spray of bullets. The bullets hit under the table, on the plates, on the decorative flower pots, and fragments of plates and shards of vases flew everywhere.
Hiding behind the partition, Rao Xian cautiously poked his head out and shouted to the customers hiding under the tables by the window, “Pull down the curtains!”
At this moment, pulling down the curtains would block the gunman’s line of sight, and everyone would be relatively safe. However, the customers by the window were either too frightened or too timid, and in any case, they were huddled under the chairs with their heads in their hands, completely unresponsive.
Helpless, Rao Xian gritted his teeth, leaned out, and looked out through the window that had no glass. On the roof of the building across the street, a person was aiming with a sniper rifle. He was about to rush over to pull the curtains down, but—
“Damn it, not watching the child at this time!” Just as Rao Xian was about to get up, he heard Long Xinyu curse loudly.
He turned his head and, following Long Xinyu’s gaze, saw a four- or five-year-old girl standing in the aisle, looking blankly at the adults who were lying down, fleeing, and screaming. And that deadly red dot had already climbed onto the child’s chest.
Long Xinyu was obviously talking about this little girl. Rao Xian didn’t have time to stop him, and saw Long Xinyu curse as he bent over and rushed from the other side, grabbing the child to bring her back in front of the partition. But at this moment, the red dot climbed onto Long Xinyu’s chest.
“Long Xinyu—” Rao Xian caught up with Long Xinyu and tackled him and the child to the ground.
“Thud—” Long Xinyu heard a barely audible sound of a bullet hitting something. As he was tackled again by Rao Xian, Long Xinyu protected the child, but he himself fell hard.
Rao Xian couldn’t care less at the moment whether Long Xinyu and the child were injured. He quickly half-stood up, looked up, and through the window without glass, saw that on the roof of the building across the street, that person was still aiming—from there to here, it was estimated to be less than 70 meters, within the range of a handgun…
Rao Xian gritted his teeth, drew his gun, and aimed. With a “Bang,” the bullet shot out, and roughly a few seconds later, a person fell from the roof of the building across the street, followed by a chorus of screams from the street below.
Long Xinyu, who had just been holding the little girl, fell down with a grimace, but the little girl thought he was playing a game. She even pried his hands open and ran back to the side of a couple who were frozen on the ground. The couple seemed to finally react and hugged the child tightly, looking at Long Xinyu and Rao Xian with lingering fear.
Seeing that the child was fine, Long Xinyu breathed a sigh of relief.
The gunshots had stopped. He seemed to see Rao Xian shoot the gunman across the street out of the corner of his eye. Long Xinyu was about to get up and praise Rao Xian when he realized that something was wrong—he was maintaining the shooting posture without moving, and there were bloodstains on his back and pants. Rao Xian was injured. Long Xinyu realized this at once. He immediately went to help Rao Xian, but Rao Xian collapsed into his arms the moment Long Xinyu’s hand touched his body.
“I was shot?” Long Xinyu asked anxiously.
Rao Xian didn’t answer. His hand holding the gun grabbed Long Xinyu’s arm. The veins on his forehead were bulging, and his whole body was shaking mechanically. Long Xinyu felt a warmth in his hand. He looked down and saw blood flowing out from between his fingers.
Long Xinyu panicked and wanted to help Rao Xian stop the bleeding, but he didn’t know how. Rao Xian was gripping his hand very tightly, seemingly struggling to get up, his eyes fixed on a direction. Long Xinyu followed his gaze and realized that the young man in the black dress who had been sitting with Rao Xian was lying half-reclined under the seat, a bloody hole in his chest. The blood had stained the dress red, and was flowing down the young man’s arm, onto the chair, onto the floor, drop by drop, gathering into a large pool on the floor…
Long Xinyu stood at the entrance of the operating room, covered in blood, staring blankly at the “Operating” light above the door.
Not far from him, a young woman was talking quietly to a woman in her thirties with an air of cold nobility.
The cold woman was Long Xinyu’s older brother, Long Xiuyu. Reporting to him was Long Xinyu’s assistant, Xiang Ze.
Long Xinyu and Xiang Ze had been waiting for their meal when the shooting occurred. Xiang Ze had gone to the restroom, and Xiang Ze had just come out of the restroom when Long Xinyu saw Rao Xian and went over to say hello.
During the gunman’s indiscriminate shooting, Xiang Ze couldn’t get out and witnessed the entire shooting process at the door: Rao Xian and Ye Yuning were shot, the diners were frightened, and some were cut by flying debris. The restaurant was in chaos.
Although Rao Xian had hit the gunman, the gunman fell from the building. It was a commercial area, and someone falling from the building also caused chaos on the street. Ambulances and police arrived very quickly.
The police were busy cordoning off the scene, handling the bodies, investigating the situation, and calming the public.
Long Xinyu had followed the ambulance to the hospital.
By the time Xiang Ze finished giving his statement to the police and arrived, he learned that Ye Yuning had stopped breathing on the way to the hospital, and Rao Xian’s life was also hanging by a thread. It was unknown whether he would survive the surgery.
Worried about Rao Xian, Long Xinyu asked Xiang Ze to handle the following matters. Xiang Ze immediately contacted Long Xiuyu.
Long Xiuyu’s expression was grave: “The gunman’s target was Xinyu?”
Xiang Ze nodded. He had clearly seen that the gunman’s first few shots were aimed at Long Xinyu. If Rao Xian hadn’t pushed Long Xinyu away at the time, Long Xinyu would have certainly died. The later shots seemed random, possibly to disrupt the investigation. Ye Yuning might have been accidentally injured.
Long Xiuyu expressionlessly turned the tail ring on his little finger, pondered for a moment, and asked, “Xiang Ze, besides the Min Jun incident, has Xinyu offended anyone recently?”
Xiang Ze shook his head. Long Xinyu was not someone who stirred up trouble.
Long Xiuyu looked at Long Xinyu over there. A few days ago, he had thought that the Min Jun incident was just an accident his brother had encountered, but now that Long Xinyu had been shot, the matter might not be as simple as he had imagined!
Long Xiuyu thought for a moment before saying, “Lu Ye.”
A man in black casual wear behind him responded in a low voice.
“Go investigate who is so blatantly trying to kill Xinyu.” Long Xiuyu’s expression was grim.
“Yes!” Lu Ye responded and left.
Xiang Ze, standing on the side, shuddered inwardly—he was too familiar with the Long brothers’ temperaments. Unlike the easygoing, roguish Long Xinyu, Long Xiuyu was deep and calculating, and didn’t show his emotions. Lu Ye had always been his capable assistant. This person’s background was mysterious, but his abilities were extremely strong, with some gray connections. Sending out Lu Ye meant that Long Xiuyu was furious—family was Long Xiuyu’s bottom line. He might not be able to determine which force was behind this, but judging from Long Xiuyu’s appearance, he didn’t intend to let it go easily.
Shao Hui, Sha Rou, and Duan Yisong had just fallen asleep in the lounge when they were called and told that Rao Xian had been shot. They rushed to the hospital and saw two police officers standing on one side of the operating room door and a woman with a strong presence standing on the other. There were several people in white suits behind her. The two sides were clearly divided, and Long Xinyu was standing in the middle, looking at the light in the operating room, as if it were the river dividing Chu and Han.
Shao Hui cleared his throat and walked over, glancing at Long Xiuyu, and called over the guard to ask, “How is our captain?”
The officer said he had been shot twice and was currently in surgery.
Shao Hui, Sha Rou, and Duan Yisong exchanged glances and asked about the situation at the time. The officer explained the known details in detail.
After the three of them heard the account of the incident, Shao Hui asked, “Is the gunman alive? Has his identity been confirmed?”
The officer nodded. “He was shot by Captain Rao, fell from the building, and was a bit deformed from the fall, but we can still tell that he is the wanted hotel waiter, Xu Ming.”
Shao Hui, Sha Rou, and Duan Yisong were surprised: Xu Ming, whom they had been looking for, had actually appeared and shot Long Xinyu?
Shao Hui pondered for a moment and walked towards Long Xinyu. “Mr. Long Xinyu.”
Long Xinyu’s attention was focused on the light in the operating room. His body and hands were covered in Rao Xian’s blood, the smell of blood filled his nostrils, and the scene that had just happened replayed in his mind. He still couldn’t understand how going out for lunch had turned into this.
Shao Hui called him, but he didn’t seem to hear and didn’t react at all.
Seeing this, Long Xiuyu walked over and called Long Xinyu: “Xinyu, the police officer is asking you something.”
“Big brother, are you calling me?” Long Xinyu seemed to finally come back to his senses and looked at Long Xiuyu.
Long Xiuyu raised his head: “It’s not me, it’s this police officer who’s calling you.”
Long Xinyu seemed to react now and turned to Shao Hui.
Shao Hui could understand Long Xinyu’s reaction. He said patiently, “Mr. Long, do you remember me? We met at the police station last time. My name is Shao Hui, Captain Rao’s deputy.”
Long Xinyu remembered: “Officer Shao?”
Shao Hui nodded: “I want to ask you a few questions.”
Long Xinyu glanced at the operating room light before saying, “Ask away.”
Shao Hui said, “Do you know Xu Ming?”
Long Xinyu shook his head: “You asked me a few days ago. You said he was a suspect in the murders of Min Jun and Luo Pingping, but I don’t know this person. There were many waiters at the party that night, and I didn’t pay attention to whether I had seen him.”
Shao Hui nodded and then stated plainly: “The person who shot at you today was Xu Ming.”
Long Xinyu was stunned, then reacted: “Are you saying that the person who killed Min Jun and Luo Pingping came to kill me again?”
Shao Hui nodded while observing Long Xinyu’s expression. He only saw shock on Long Xinyu’s face. Shao Hui felt very puzzled—because Min Jun and Luo Pingping’s valuable items were missing, they suspected that the motive for the crime was robbery. However, Xu Ming shooting at Long Xinyu in broad daylight was definitely not as simple as robbery. But Long Xinyu himself didn’t understand why he was attacked. His reaction didn’t seem genuine. Then why did Xu Ming want to kill Long Xinyu?
Long Xinyu didn’t know what Shao Hui was thinking. He raised his own question: “Officer Shao, I don’t know this Xu Ming, but I keep replaying the attack in my mind. After Officer Rao fired his gun, that gunman, the one you call Xu Ming, fell from the building. But, Officer Rao shot him head-on, so he should have fallen backward. Why did he fall forward and fall off the building?”
This question stunned Shao Hui. Sha Rou and Duan Yisong behind him were also surprised: Had Long Xinyu been thinking about this question all along?
Long Xinyu turned his head and speculated, “Is it possible that there was more than one person present at the time? Did someone push him down?” Then, Long Xinyu lowered his eyes: “I thought it was a coincidence that Min Jun’s body was thrown into my car. Now it seems that it wasn’t at all. But I can’t figure out what these murders and shootings have to do with me!”
Long Xinyu’s tone was a little heavy—the gunman wanted to kill him, and he fired a gun in a public place, causing Ye Yuning’s death, Rao Xian’s serious injury, and also the diners in the restaurant, and that little girl—who wanted his life so badly that they were willing to kill innocent people indiscriminately?
Seeing Long Xinyu’s dejected look, Long Xiuyu patted his brother gently: “We’ll find out!” As he said this, he looked at Long Xinyu’s blood-stained clothes and said to Shao Hui, “Officer Shao, let my brother change his clothes first, and you can come back and question him later.”
Seeing Long Xinyu’s bloodstains, Shao Hui agreed and had two officers follow him to change his clothes. The clothes had to be taken as evidence.
A glint flashed in Long Xiuyu’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything.
Long Xinyu looked at his brother and went to change his clothes.
When he came out, Shao Hui brought the officers over to take his statement. Long Xinyu described the events of the incident while paying attention to the operating room light, and then signed the statement.
At this moment, the operating room light went out, and the doctor came out. Long Xinyu put the pen into the officer’s hand and walked quickly towards the doctor.
Shao Hui, Sha Rou, and the others also surrounded him.
The doctor took off his mask, his expression not good. “Both bullets have been removed, and the patient is temporarily out of danger, but the bullet in his leg injured the bone and nerves, which may affect his future ability to move.”
“What do you mean? Are you saying he’ll be disabled?” Long Xinyu asked with a solemn expression.
The doctor nodded.
Everyone: “…”