After doing all this, just over six minutes had passed.
Jian Jing glanced at the female doctor standing dumbfounded by the door and prompted: "(English) You can pretend to faint."
The female doctor didn't hesitate and immediately lay down, acting very realistically. She only sincerely said to Jian Jing: "Be careful."
Jian Jing smiled and nimbly slipped out.
If the bathroom was on the second floor, her actions would be much more convenient, but unfortunately the villains wouldn't allow them to go too far away. To move around on the first floor, she could only take the risk.
Being gone for too long would attract other people's attention, so she had to hurry.
Tiptoeing over, she quickly observed and outlined a route in her mind.
Then, using the state of a white cat again, with unmatched agility she darted through the various store doors—the villains had locked the mall doors but didn't have time to lock all the passageways between the stores.
In the luxury goods stores, cabinets and shelves full of jewelry and leather goods were natural barriers.
No one noticed this nimble shadow.
Jumping, leaping, running, landing—the floor tiles were so smooth yet she didn't make a single mistake. Her body was light and agile, hiding astonishing strength beneath the harmless exterior.
Wasn't this just a cat?
This was a little kitty.
They're cute and adorable, fluffy and well-behaved, but once they become hunters, not only can they catch fleeing mice, even birds in flight can be easily captured.
In the past, Jian Jing could only imagine the heroic grace of the heroine flying through the air in her writings, but now personally experiencing it herself, she realized her imagination had still been too lacking.
In just 1 minute, she had crossed a large hall and snuck near the electrical room.
The door wasn't closed.
She didn't hold back at all, slipped inside, grabbed a bottle of mineral water from a storage cabinet, and splashed it towards what looked like the most complex area.
Then she haphazardly cut some wires, unplugged outlets, flipped breakers, and took out the circuits for the whole mall.
The lights went out one after another, plunging the mall into pitch darkness.
In the central atrium, the villains immediately noticed something wrong and started shouting loudly. The leader commanded two underlings to go check the electrical room while turning on emergency lighting and threatening the hostages not to move.
Just then, someone yelled, "Those two guys ran away!"
Yes, the soldiers and retirees who had been tied up together had disappeared without knowing when.
The leader unceremoniously let out a "F***!" and ordered his men to immediately go out and search.
Amidst the chaos, no one noticed Zong Ye was missing, and some other people were missing too.
As for the root of disaster, she had sabotaged everything and then slipped up to the second floor.
She wasn't too worried about Kang Mu Cheng left in the atrium. Since the luggage was there, as long as the villains weren't out of their minds, they probably wouldn't dare open fire in the dark, otherwise stray bullets hitting the luggage would send them all to meet their maker.
On the contrary, the few patrolling villains had to be taken care of quickly before they fired blindly.
Jian Jing hid behind a counter in a jewelry store and observed the patrols' locations through her night vision goggles. To tell the truth, she had a bit of untimely hesitation at this moment.
Although she had taken a gun, she still wasn't prepared to shoot someone.
This wasn't a haunted house game where shooting NPCs was no pressure. That was a living, breathing human. Even if they were extremely wicked robbers, was she really ready to kill someone?
Once she pulled the trigger, no one could guarantee only injuring and not killing them.
A safer approach would be hand-to-hand combat, using the □□ she had on her to take them out, but that was too dangerous,
Not only was it dangerous for herself, it also increased the danger for others.
Jian Jing struggled for a moment, until in the green field of view, a villain on patrol approached.
At the precipice of life and death, there was no room for the slightest hesitation.
She lightly gritted her teeth, aimed at the target, and slowly pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With night vision goggles, darkness was nothing!
Although her aim was quite mediocre, after several consecutive shots, she still managed to incapacitate her opponent.
The villain fell with a groan.
The other villain was alerted over and cautiously looked around, sporadically firing several bullets.
Jian Jing changed positions and pulled the trigger again.
Blood flowers bloomed as the viscous liquid spattered out, dropping to the floor with sticky "drip" sounds.
Jian Jing swallowed twice. She was glad that right now all was pitch black, and the scenes under the night vision goggles weren't bloody. Her stomach only churned slightly with no real discomfort.
She didn't dare look more, just grabbed a new magazine and slipped away.
Hearing gunshots below, the villains swept beams of light, searching for her trail.
The two villains directly rushed up the escalator to provide backup. They didn't have the patience to search bit by bit, directly firing buckshot, expensive bags and jewelry struck by bullets and crashing down like shattering boulders, clattering noisily.
The scent of gunpowder drifted through the air as bullets whizzed past her body with a "swoosh" "swoosh" sound.
Jian Jing felt herself split into two parts. Outwardly, her body sank into icy waters, even her fingers unable to move. But inwardly, her chest leaped with bright flames, igniting a fire in her heart.
After a sweep of gunfire ended,
she held her breath and laid low, nimbly circling around obstacles to slip into the shop next door. This one had lots of bags and clothes, so hiding behind movable clothing racks, she stealthily poked out the muzzle of her gun.
Turning on the night vision goggles, turning on the thermal imaging.
Bullets poured forth again like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
Warm blood sprayed out, appearing fiery red in the thermal imaging.
Then swiftly cooling, extinguished.
Jian Jing moved on without hesitation, shifting position again.
She was finally starting to understand the power of black tech a little. Turns out getting out of an enclosed space was child's play. In this situation where others' vision was obstructed, her one-sided advantage with these gadgets meant she could easily take down the others.
—Or could she?
The villains weren't stupid. They had just been caught off guard and assumed it was a hostage who had escaped. Becoming alert, they immediately reported to the boss.
Two villains immediately put on night vision goggles and masks with murderous momentum, rushing up to the second floor. But before they could take action, a ghostly shadow dropped down from the ceiling, decisively strangling one's neck.
Snap, broken.
His companion met the same fate, clutching his neck as blood seeped through his fingers. His trachea made "wheezing" sounds and soon he breathed his last.
The assailants were two people.
They each took the villains' equipment and put it on lightly and swiftly.
Jian Jing heard a voice come over the radio: "(French) Abnormal situation on second floor, suspect intruder."
Leader: "(French) How many people?"
"Unable to judge... Ah!" The communication was abruptly cut off.
The leader was silent a moment before suddenly standing up and commanding: "(French) Leave four people watching them, the rest come with me."
How could he become boss without a few tricks up his sleeve?
The leader personally led the team, fully stocked with ammo and gear. Upon arriving they immediately discovered the retiree hiding in a first floor shop.
Another rain of bullets.
And just as they were about to move in for the kill, gunfire suddenly sounded from the second floor.
Shooting down from upstairs, sweeping up from downstairs, the glass railings unable to withstand the barrage and shattering in droves, raining down on the first floor like a downpour, clinking noisily.
The hostages in the atrium couldn't control their fear, cowering about in panic.
Some began running away.
The villains on guard certainly didn't show mercy, as long as they didn't aim at the luggage, they fired without hesitation. In the blink of an eye, several more bodies lay on the ground.
More people unconsciously huddled together, hugging their knees and burying their heads, not looking more than necessary.
Kang Mu Cheng pushed the women and children near him behind pillars to avoid stray bullets. He was also hesitating on whether or not to go check the bathroom—Jian Jing had been gone so long after going in, yet still hadn't come back.
Was she injured?
What if something happened?
The terrible speculation tormented his nerves. Several times he almost set off.
Before leaving, Jian Jing had whispered in his ear, "Trust me."
She had actively asked to use the restroom, perhaps she had another plan, but... No matter how Kang Mu Cheng tried persuading himself, he still couldn't rest easy waiting.
If there was even a shred of possibility she was already lying in a pool of blood, anxiety consumed him.
Kang Mu Cheng took a deep breath, kept as low as possible, watched for a chance when the villains went upstairs, then swiftly darted into the hallway leading to the restrooms.
The bathroom was pitch black.
He lit up a lighter for light and upon entering saw a figure lying on the ground.
His heart jerked up, then dropped down.
It wasn't Jian Jing.
He pushed open the doors one by one, and then, saw the girl wearing a duckbill cap. She was softly collapsed on the toilet, her head tilted to the side, not moving at all.
The blood froze in an instant, the vocal cords seemed to be broken, not even the slightest call could be made.
After a long time, he finally softly called out: "Jingjing?"
No response.
Kang Mu Cheng anxiously took a step forward, grasped her shoulders: "Jingjing?"
The duckbill cap fell off, revealing a Caucasian face.
He was startled, and his limbs suddenly warmed up again.
It wasn't her.
The female doctor pretending to faint whispered, "(English) What's going on outside?"
Kang Mu Cheng sighed, clenched the hand on his chest into a fist, and only after half a day did he let go: "(English) Do you know where she went?"
The female doctor said: "(English) She took a gun and left, telling me to pretend to faint here."
A gun? What was she getting involved in this kind of situation for. Kang Mu Cheng was both shocked and afraid, and a bit angry too, but knowing she was alright, he couldn't stay angry.
The female doctor: "(English) If you don't mind, we can hide together for a while."
Kang Mu Cheng had already escaped, so naturally he didn't plan on going back either. Thinking about it, he asked: "(English) Do you have a SIM card? Maybe we can contact the outside."
The female doctor nodded. She was very clever, when the villains demanded they hand over their phones, she had sneakily pried out her SIM card, after all it would be very troublesome to replace.
He: "(English) Give it to me."
The female doctor asked: "(English) Do you have a phone?"
Kang Mu Cheng took out another phone. He originally had two phones, one for work and one for personal calls. When going abroad he had to switch the SIM card, so he simply bought another one - the backups of the wealthy were just that simple and practical.
However, this phone used a domestic SIM card, and couldn't be used in France. He had to borrow someone else's.
The female doctor no longer doubted him, and handed over the card.
The two were able to contact the outside this way.
The police said they would immediately arrange people to raid and rescue them, telling them to hide carefully.
However, at that moment, another round of gunshots rang out from outside.
The leader's group had run into a three person team in the narrow passage.
This three person team was very interesting. The largest in body size was Zong Ye disguised as a fat man, the man in the center had a sturdy and upright figure, he was the soldier who had pretended to faint and escaped earlier, and the one on the right no one had expected.
She was the female white-collar worker who had been kicked earlier for speaking up for the child.
These three people had a professional demeanor, using hand signals to communicate, covering for each other while remaining independent. Although there were only half as many people as the other side, they fought evenly.
But that was only temporary.
The two sides' ammunition and equipment were not on the same level.
Jian Jing clearly saw that one sinister villain did not engage head on, but sneakily went to the side shop, wanting to catch them unprepared from behind.