Chapter 35 — I'll Be Your Hostage

Gu Mengyao could scarcely believe her eyes as she looked at the man who had pushed her down. He had actually stood up for her, at a moment like this? Was he not afraid to die?

To be sure, Gu Mengyao knew that Wei Zhao had taken a great deal of her father's money, but no amount of money was worth mentioning beside a man's life. No one was indifferent to his own life, and Gu Mengyao was not foolish enough to believe that Wei Zhao had stood up now merely to "take a man's money and spare him his trouble."

For an instant, Wei Zhao no longer seemed quite so detestable to her. At the very least, he was a man of true mettle, one who could stand tall between heaven and earth. Gu Mengyao asked herself whether Zhong Yongliang would have stood up at a time like this. Surely not; perhaps he was even more frightened than she was, ducking his head down low, for all she knew.

Hm? Why was she comparing Wei Zhao with Zhong Yongliang? Gu Mengyao shook off these unrealistic thoughts. This was hardly the moment to be turning over such nonsense.

"Damn it." The bald man had not expected anyone to make trouble at a time like this. Being taken hostage was the sort of thing people dodged if they could, yet the man in front of him was actually charging right in?

"Who the hell are you? Did I call on you?" The bald man knitted his brows and glared viciously at Wei Zhao. "If you don't want to die, go stand over there."

"You need a hostage, don't you? What difference does it make who it is?" Wei Zhao shrugged. "Relax. I'll cooperate with you."

"You son of a bitch!" The bald man flew into a rage. What was with this brat, forever spoiling his plans? A surge of fury rushed up in him, and he raised his gun and fired at Wei Zhao.

At Wei Zhao's present level of cultivation, even at such close range the bald man's shot could not harm him. Ever since he had begun practicing the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, Wei Zhao's reflexes had become extraordinarily keen; the slightest turn of his body was all it took to dodge the bald man's bullet.

Yet in the very instant Wei Zhao turned aside, his heart lurched with alarm — behind him stood a young girl, and the bald man's bullet was tearing down at a slant from above. If Wei Zhao dodged out of the way, the bullet would strike the girl behind him; and if it did, she would be dead, or at the very least gravely wounded.

Wei Zhao gritted his teeth and twisted his body back around, meeting the bullet head-on. It slanted into his thigh. Pain of that intensity could no longer cause him much suffering, yet Wei Zhao still frowned.

Fortunately, he had judged the position well enough: the bullet had buried itself in the flesh without touching the bone.

"Ah!" A cry of alarm rose involuntarily from the crowd, and Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu both clapped their hands over their mouths. Wei Zhao had actually taken a bullet.

But Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had seen it perfectly clearly: Wei Zhao could easily have dodged that shot. It was only because he feared for the girl behind him that he had forced himself to take the bullet.

At that thought, the look Gu Mengyao bent on the girl behind Wei Zhao took on a note of anger.

"Goddamn it, there really are people in this world who don't fear death." The bald man was astonished. Was this brat in front of him insane?

"Boss, there are more and more cops outside..." One of the robbers ran over and said in a low voice to the bald man.

"Damn it." The bald man spat out a curse, then leveled his gun at Wei Zhao's head and snarled, "Fine, since you're so eager to be a hostage, you can come along. Ma Liu, keep an eye on this one."

"You got it." Ma Liu drew his gun and pointed it at Wei Zhao's head. "Kid, who told you to show off at a time like this? Playing the hero isn't so easy."

Wei Zhao said nothing, turning over in his mind whether to make his move here or wait a while longer. Here, for one thing, the robbers were too scattered, which made it hard for him to act; for another, there were simply too many people about, and once any large-scale panic broke out, it would be even harder to make his move.

"You there, girl, on your feet." The bald man had fixed his sights on Gu Mengyao and would not let her go. Once again he swung the muzzle of his gun toward her.

For some reason, Gu Mengyao was suddenly not as frightened as she had been a moment before. She silenced Shen Yushu with a look when the girl would have risen with her, and then resolutely stood up.

Shen Yushu had meant to stand up together with Gu Mengyao, but Gu Mengyao's eyes told her not to — to stay where she was and think of a way to rescue them. So Shen Yushu naturally would not act on impulse.

"Let's go." The bald man pressed the muzzle of his gun against Gu Mengyao's head and said.

Wei Zhao was rather puzzled. Why had the bald man fastened on Gu Mengyao and refused to let her go? Could it be that he had taken a fancy to her looks? That was the only explanation Wei Zhao could come up with, for he could find nothing else about Gu Mengyao that would be worth the bald man's trouble.

In principle, a single hostage was quite enough. When negotiating with the police, what mattered was not how many hostages you held, but whether you held any at all. Even with just one hostage in hand, the police would not dare act rashly.

"Listen up, all you police outside!" The bald man's underling who had gone out earlier to shout at them now planted himself in the bank's doorway and bellowed again: "Pull back a hundred meters, all of you! And once we're in our car, don't send anyone to tail us, or we start killing hostages!"

Outside the bank, Qiu Lingshan frowned at the thug's words. Withdraw a hundred meters? Naturally she was unwilling, but at the thought of the hostages still inside, she had to sigh and say to her men, "Fall back."

In truth, Qiu Lingshan had never been in favor of throwing up such a conspicuous cordon around the bank; it only put psychological pressure on the criminals and pushed them into doing something insane. A quiet, covert encirclement followed by discreet pursuit, and perhaps the robbers would never have chosen to take hostages at all.

But the Bureau Chief had branded her suggestion "personal heroism," which left her thoroughly disgruntled.

The bald man was well pleased with how the police had responded so far. He pressed his gun to Gu Mengyao's head, while Ma Liu on the other side held his to Wei Zhao's head, and together they walked out of the bank.

"Yaoyao!" Qing Bo, standing beside Qiu Lingshan, suddenly caught sight of Gu Mengyao in the criminal's grasp. His heart lurched and he cried out.

"Mr. Li, you know this hostage?" A bad feeling rose faintly in Qiu Lingshan's heart.

"That is Mr. Gu's daughter, Gu Mengyao..." Qing Bo was extremely nervous. Mr. Gu was away on business, and if anything happened to the young lady at a moment like this, the blame would fall squarely on him.

"What..." Qiu Lingshan was stunned, her anxiety mounting. Of all the people in that bank, how had the criminals picked Gu Pengzhan's daughter as their hostage? Whatever she feared most, it seemed, was always what came to pass.

Qiu Lingshan had no choice but to report the situation to the Chief over the radio: "Reporting to the Chief, one of the hostages is Gu Pengzhan's daughter, Gu Mengyao..."

The police chief was in a cold sweat himself. Hearing that the criminals had indeed chosen Gu Mengyao as a hostage, he was badly startled: "Be careful. You must be careful. Whatever you do, do not act rashly."