Nie Zhao was the eldest son and youngest child of the billionaire Nie Rong. He was twenty-seven years old at the time and held a master's degree in economics and trade from Princeton University.
Ever since graduating with his master's degree, he had been managing the Nie Family's hotels, auction houses, and jewelry businesses in Europe.
Before her transmigration, when Chen Rou had seen him, his legs were already crippled, his sideburns were gray, and he was thin and gaunt. Only a pair of bright, intelligent eyes betrayed the demeanor of a billionaire. Because he had been so thin back then, she had imagined he would be thin now as well.
In reality, however, he was not.
He had been stripped down to a single pair of underwear, and his entire body was covered in bloody whip marks.
Yet he possessed a tall, muscular build—a vigorous, lean, and sturdy adult male.
Normally, upon seeing such an athletic male physique, Chen Rou would have at least let out a whistle.
In the current situation, however, his build was somewhat inconvenient.
She was here to rescue hostages, accompanied only by an eighteen-year-old, naive, and reckless little assistant. Naturally, the lighter and more compact the hostage, the better; otherwise, it would only slow down their rescue and escape.
He was suspended in the middle of the room, hanging in mid-air with his hands and collarbones bound.
Chen Rou patted his cheek. "Mr. Nie, can you hear me?"
Blood was gushing furiously from Nie Zhao's collarbones. He lifted his head with difficulty, looking at her in surprise, and struggled to respond.
However, the moment he raised his head, he hit the iron chains on his collarbones. The chains still carried a heavy iron lock, and even a slight bump caused blood to pour out like a torrent, the pain turning his complexion sallow and making him tremble violently.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from outside, and the entire water dungeon shook violently, followed by gunshots—a rapid, relentless burst of machine-gun fire.
It seemed the first wave of mercenary reinforcements had arrived.
Chen Rou had no time to look for keys to unlock Nie Zhao; she had to resort to the most brutal method.
Circling behind the water dungeon, she first blasted the chain on his collarbone with a single shot to free his neck, and then blasted the chains on both arms with one shot each. Three shots for the three anchor points; the recoil of the bullets pushed his entire body forward into a sprawl.
On the ground, a guard who had been shot in the head happened to break his fall, preventing him from hitting the floor too hard.
Even so, the impact caused Nie Zhao excruciating pain, and he let out a piercing, miserable scream from deep within his throat.
Still, he was tough. Despite the pain, he struggled to crawl forward.
Just at that moment, the cell door was abruptly pushed open, slamming against Nie Zhao's head with a loud clank, and Chen Rou raised her gun to aim.
Fortunately, it was a false alarm. The person who arrived was Nie Han.
She said, "Sister A-Rou, I've already set the fire, but my uncle... is this my uncle?"
As she spoke, she pulled the door again. Well, Nie Zhao, who had just managed to raise his head with difficulty, was struck by the door once more and completely passed out this time.
Chen Rou had instructed Nie Han to do one thing earlier: start a fire with tree branches next to the pile of oil drums outside.
Although it was just a small task, it was also the key to their smooth escape today.
The building shook violently, and gunfire crackled. There was no time for idle chatter; signaling Nie Han to help support the man, Chen Rou strode out the door with her gun in hand.
Outside, the area was filled with hostages emerging from the water dungeon, every single one of them wearing only a tattered rag around their waist and covered in rotting sores.
An off-road vehicle carrying mercenaries had arrived, using the vehicle as a stronghold to hurl grenades at the hostages and fire wildly with a machine gun.
The quick-witted hostages had already fled toward the coastline, but those who reacted too slowly were struck by gunfire and collapsed while wailing.
Other hostages had managed to get their hold on the guns left behind by Chen Rou and were returning fire against the mercenaries from behind cover.
Because there was only one entrance, the mercenaries had not yet managed to break through.
The fire Nie Han had set near the oil drums was burning fiercely.
Amidst the chaos, Chen Rou raised her gun and aimed at the oil drum in the flames—one shot, then another.
With a deafening roar, the struck oil drum flew toward the mercenaries' off-road vehicle.
It exploded like a fireball right next to the off-road vehicle, which instantly burst into blazing flames. Several mercenaries scrambled out of the vehicle, but after running only a few steps, the off-road vehicle exploded violently with a loud bang, blowing them into pieces as well.
The flames made the scene as bright as day, illuminating the blood-soaked ground and severed limbs.
However, there was still another off-road vehicle. With the destruction of the first one, the mercenaries in the remaining vehicle intensified their frantic gunfire. Many people were mowed down the moment they came out of the water dungeon, and the crocodiles in the pond, drawn by the smell of blood, crawled out to drag corpses into the water.
Chen Rou found a concealed spot, preparing to take out that vehicle of mercenaries.
The moment she took aim, however, with a sharp whistle, the machine gunner on the off-road vehicle was instantly headshot. Another whistle followed, and the driver was headshot as well. Another mercenary, who was about to throw a grenade, was hit just as he thrust his hand out the window.
The grenade detonated in the mercenary's hand, sending the off-road vehicle flying into the air before it crashed heavily back to the ground, disintegrating on the spot.
Chen Rou was not surprised that someone was helping her.
Before releasing the hostages, she had gathered all the guards' weapons and placed them outside the cells.
Although most of the hostages were ordinary people, there were always one or two who knew how to handle a gun, which served as a boost for her.
During the exchange of gunfire earlier, several armed hostages had been mercilessly gunned down by the mercenaries.
However, one person on the rooftop had survived, and he was an expert marksman with first-class precision.
To her surprise, the man shouted in Mandarin, "Sister, you're from the Mainland too, right? Me too!"
Chen Rou glanced up in a brief moment of respite and saw the man on the rooftop poking his head out and waving at her.
It was him. He had blown up a vehicle with three shots. Using his rifle scope to scan the distance, he shouted loudly, "Sister, two more armored vehicles are coming, and a tank is on the way too! I'll provide cover, you run quickly!"
Chen Rou called out loudly, "Comrade, what's your name?"
A burst of enemy fire came whistling across, and the man dropped prone to return fire, roaring back, "My name is Song Yuanchao, sister, what's yours?"
Chen Rou couldn't shake the feeling that this Song Yuanchao, much like herself, probably had a military background.
Yet it seemed rather implausible for a former soldier to be captured and tied up as a hostage, so she didn't answer his question. Instead, she shouted, "Comrade Yuanchao, thank you for pinning down their fire! Also, your marksmanship is fantastic!"
Two armored vehicles arrived at the intersection, but because Song Yuanchao was providing sniper cover from above, they were temporarily unable to break through.
Chen Rou needed to take a moment to arrange the evacuation. She turned her head and shouted, "A-Han!"
Nie Han was right behind her. "Sister A-Rou, I'm here!"
Seeing that Nie Han had actually stood up, Chen Rou hurriedly said, "Stay down while you talk."
Nie Han was obedient enough, dropping flat onto the ground with a thud.
At that moment, two mercenaries on foot quietly sneaked behind the oil drums, poking their heads out and raising their rifles.
Song Yuanchao yelled, "Sister, 13 o'clock direction!"
Chen Rou had already spotted them. Dropping prone, she squeezed the trigger—two shots, and the tops of the two mercenaries' skulls were blown right off on the spot.