Chapter 3 I Don't Want to Die

  Outside, the alarm had long been sounded, but for me, it was of no help. Sitting in a big circle of food packaging boxes, I thought and thought, only one idea - escape, otherwise there is only one dead end. I'm afraid of death, if I die, I'll never see my dear parents again. Now I understand why people always shout "My mom!" when they encounter danger. Because as soon as I think of my mother, I feel a sense of security all over my body, as if no matter what happens, there is always mom to protect me completely.

  "Calm down! Calm down! Damn it, Xing Tian, calm down." I kept telling myself, while twisting my trembling hands that were shaking uncontrollably due to fear, the pain made me feel much better.

  "Think, think, Xi Tian. You have a lot of military knowledge, you can come up with a solution......"

  After a long time, I figured out the situation. Now there are two roads in front of me. Either stay here, where it's a supermarket with food and drink, and no matter how long you stay, nothing will happen. But there is a supply inside, robbers won't bring bread to rob, they must come down often. This place is too unsafe, I need to leave, but how? The elevator going up leads directly to the hall, bandits will definitely be guarding there. The safe passage is locked on the side. There should be another way! I must find another way to leave. And I want to defend myself, I need a weapon, I have to go outside. After making up my mind, I crouched down and slipped out quietly.

  The huge supermarket is now empty, with only the dead shop assistant lying on the ground. Looking at the keys exposed on his waist, I remembered that when I came down, I saw a freight elevator inside the supermarket, which can go directly to all floors, but it's a special elevator, so it's locked. I took out all the keys from the shop assistant and thought of going to try my luck with the freight elevator, and also took some food, as it was almost noon and I hadn't eaten yet. When passing by the roast meat stall, I grabbed a knife for cutting meat, although it was oily, but better than nothing.

  The key worked, opening the door to the freight elevator. I pressed the button for the sixth floor. As the elevator lurched into motion, my heart rose again to my throat. I hoped there were no thugs on the sixth floor, and that none of them had heard me coming. The freight elevator wasn't in the main hall, so it was unlikely anyone had heard me. I made it safely to the sixth floor, clutching my greasy knife. I darted out of the elevator and took a quick look around. The sixth-floor hallway was empty. Looking down from the corridor, I saw over a dozen police cars parked below, two of which had been smashed into sieves. Several dozen police officers were scattered outside, surrounding the area in a thin cordon. Baoshan is a small place, and it didn't have many police resources. Trying to seal off such a large crime scene was clearly beyond their capabilities - they would just have to wait for reinforcements from the armed police.

  The elevator suddenly rang, and I quickly hid in a corner. The elevator didn't stop and went straight up. I let out a sigh of relief, it seemed that the bandits were going to occupy the high ground. I sneaked into the hall, from where I could see the first floor hall directly. The hall was now crowded with people, hundreds of them. The doors were locked, and several corpses lay outside, apparently those who tried to escape had been shot dead. I looked carefully, but didn't see Old Ding's corpse, so I let out a sigh of relief. I glanced at the armed bandits patrolling around the crowd, then looked at the small knife in my hand - what use would this be if I encountered a bandit? Seeing the knife in my hand suddenly reminded me that when I was shopping today, I saw a store on the fourth floor selling mountaineering equipment and military knives. They also seemed to have crossbows for sale. If I were to encounter a bandit, those things would be much more useful than this broken thing.

  I thought I'd do it, and quietly went down to the fourth floor through the safe passage. Following my memory, I headed towards the east district, and just as I was about to arrive at the store selling mountaineering equipment, two low voices suddenly came over, speaking Chinese. I quickly hid under a nearby counter.

  "These knives are really beautiful, much stronger than this one of mine."

  "Don't look anymore, they're all fakes. What's the point of having a gun if you use a knife? Pick two quickly if you like them. If Mr. Yang comes down later and sees we're not in our positions, we'll be in trouble!"

  "Speaking of Mr. Yang, he's quite bold, to come up with a plan like this. I heard the two foreigners who came back with him are even more formidable. I reckon this operation will definitely..."

  "Be quiet, walls have ears, talk too much and you will lose everything, choose quickly and leave."

  "Right away, right away"

  Two people walked past the counter where I was hiding towards the hall. After they had gone far, I quickly slipped into the counter selling mountaineering equipment.

  Throw away the oily knife in your hand, rummage through the box and find it. I remember that when I came to visit this afternoon, he took out several genuine knives. After a while, under the counter, a small box was turned over, all of which were genuine goods. Three of the best knives were selected and put on the body: one American cavalry blade, one tiger tooth MT, and one 56-style three-edged military dagger. Two long and one short, from the side, took out that crossbow, pulled the bow force enough, but there were only three crossbow arrows.

  With the arrow in hand, I'm no longer as panicked as before. Calmly thinking about it, this hijacking incident seems to have been premeditated.

  Look at the weapons in their hands and the way they walk, they must be soldiers. Soldiers rob banks, but after robbing, they don't leave, as if waiting for something. Are they terrorists? But Yunnan has never heard of any powerful armed forces. Moreover, from what they said, it can be heard that their leader is surnamed Yang, and why they hijacked so many people, it seems to have a purpose, I wonder what conspiracy there is.

  Just then, my phone suddenly rang, scaring me so much that I quickly took it out to turn it off, but it was too late. I immediately heard a flurry of footsteps rushing towards me. I got up and ran, and as soon as I left the store, I bumped into two people who had just turned the corner.

  "Stop right there!" The voice was unmistakable, it was the same guy who had just picked up a knife. His voice was unpleasant to listen to, and he looked ugly too, with a flat head and a big nose. Another one of them wasn't very tall but had a long face.

  Only fools stay put, I've seen how you deal with those who surrender.

  "Grab him, he was just at the place where we were talking, he must have heard everything. Can't let him get away." The long-faced guy is quite cunning.

  As soon as I stepped out, there was a turn. I took one step across the turn and the gun behind me fired. The sound of the bullet piercing through the air seemed to come from right behind my neck. The bullet hit the wall and shattered the cement, causing fragments to fly everywhere, hitting my face painfully.

  I ran around the bend, still using what I learned from books and online before. If I run straight, someone will shoot me dead with a gun. I don't know the way either, after running for half a day, I looked up and found myself in a dead end alley. On the right side is an elevator, opposite the elevator is a cowboy shirt counter, definitely heard gunfire below, estimated that someone has come up, taking the elevator down is definitely death. Looking at the crossbow in my hand, gritting my teeth, fighting! I pressed the elevator button and hid behind the counter opposite the elevator, ready to fight.

  Listening to the footsteps getting closer and closer, a strange feeling emerged on my body. I felt as if I was floating, with a tingling sensation spreading from inside out in my chest. My right hand held the crossbow, while my left hand slowly drew out the cavalry blade.

  The US Cavalry Saber is the standard equipment of the US Cavalry, a must-have weapon for cavalrymen. The overall length is 24CM, with the blade and handle forged as a whole, and the guard has an engraved flower-shaped anti-slip wood. The blade design is a chopping type, with the center of gravity in front, making it convenient for cavalrymen to swing and chop. The serrated edge is 8cm long and can cut through wooden boards. The blade has undergone local heat treatment, making it sharp and hard, and can cut through iron without damage.

  I held my breath and listened to my heartbeat, a few seconds felt like years. As soon as the elevator door opened, two guys ran over. I was facing away from the entrance, in front of me was a dressing mirror. From the mirror, I could see them poking their heads out first, then both jumped out together. At this moment, no one entered the elevator and the door closed by itself. The sound immediately attracted the two people to come over. The two people quickly ran to the elevator entrance, the elevator had already gone down. The long-faced thug took out a walkie-talkie from his backpack and shouted: "That guy took the east district's elevator downstairs!"

  The big nose stared intently at the floor indicator lights, wanting to see which floor the elevator had stopped on.

  This is the best chance, I rushed out of the store door and charged towards them. There was only one crossbow bolt, so I had to shoot down one with an arrow and then use a knife to deal with the other. This was the plan I just came up with.

  Maybe I rushed out too quickly and knocked over the potted plants beside me. As soon as I stepped out of the store, the tall, thin thief with the walkie-talkie had already turned around, his hand raised with a gun in it, the black muzzle pointing straight at me.

  Click to view picture link: US Cavalry Saber