Yang Xi prepared a few small dishes and cooked three bowls of noodles. After a simple breakfast, the three of them prepared to go out for fun. Su Qiuyun and Agnes were getting along quite well, walking down the street hand in hand, occasionally buying things and tossing them to Yang Xi, who was walking behind them.
Yang Xi focused entirely on paying and carrying things. He couldn't help but admire women's stamina for shopping; the endurance of these two women left him—a martial arts expert—so exhausted that he wanted to sit down and rest every time he saw a bench. Yet the two women were still in high spirits, and he could only stubbornly keep up.
The trio strolled to the farmers' market, intending to buy some meat and vegetables for a hot pot dinner. Suddenly, screams and sounds of fleeing echoed from behind, followed by bursts of gunfire. Worried sick, Yang Xi could only shield the two women and quickly retreat.
They had retreated less than thirty meters when several bearded men wielding AK-47s drove all the fleeing people back. Police sirens could already be heard outside. Ahead, masked gunmen were blocking the way, occasionally firing shots into the sky with great arrogance, their mouths spewing a constant stream of curses.
Everyone was driven to the center of the two rows of market stalls, an area where loose beef was sold. The owner of the beef stall had long since fled, leaving behind a long saber about a meter in length and three short daggers measuring about fifteen centimeters each. With quick eyes and swift hands, Yang Xi tucked all the small daggers inside his jacket, pushed the two women under the stall table, and gripped the long saber as he pressed against an iron pillar beside the women.
Soon, police surrounded the area, and Yang Xi saw snipers deployed across several distant buildings.
"You pigs, all of you, squat down with your hands on your heads!" a masked man shouted in Bear Country language, firing a few shots into the air with his AK. An old man who was too slow to squat down was shot and knocked to the ground, his life or death unknown.
The police kept shouting through loudspeakers, telling them to lay down their weapons: "Please put down your weapons and surrender, or we will launch an immediate assault." Yang Xi heard this clearly. The terrorists replied, demanding the police withdraw to a certain location and provide a helicopter, otherwise they would kill the two hundred plus hostages here.
The negotiation had barely begun when it became clear the terrorists were fully prepared. They killed people while recording videos; within just three minutes, three people were dead. Filled with anxiety, Yang Xi whispered to the two women, "Dears, we can only save ourselves. At the rate they are killing, they'll reach us soon. Listen to me, both of you lie flat on the ground and don't get up under any circumstances. I have a way to deal with them."
The two women were terrified. Su Qiuyun, in particular, clung tightly to Agnes. Agnes, however, remained very calm. "My dear, don't worry about me. I'll protect myself well. Go do what you have to do," Agnes said resolutely. With that, she pulled Su Qiuyun into her arms and pressed down onto the ground. "Don't be afraid, Su. I'll protect you."
Seeing Agnes like this, Yang Xi felt much more at ease. He observed the situation: there were nine masked men and three unmasked, bearded strong men—a total of twelve people. Given their formation, it would be very difficult for him to handle them head-on.
He needed to wait for the right moment and eliminate the three bearded men first. Just as the masked man in charge of executions walked in Yang Xi's direction, preparing to drag away the next hostage for execution, he happened to block Yang Xi from view. With a rolling motion, Yang Xi sprang to his feet, slashed with his blade, and the masked man's neck was severed before the blood even had time to spray.
Using the dead man as a shield, Yang Xi unleashed three short daggers consecutively with his left hand in a flash of lightning. Two of the daggers accurately struck two of the bearded men, while the third was deflected by a bearded man raising his rifle. Although it missed a vital spot, it still drove deep into his arm, causing excruciating pain. Unable to hold his weapon steady, he fired wildly into the ground in a burst of *pfft-pfft-pfft*.
Yang Xi did not give him a chance to continue firing. Seizing the AK from the masked man whose body was now spurting blood, he unleashed a barrage of gunfire at the bearded man. The opposite bearded man and four other masked men all collapsed.
Turning around and propping himself up on his toes against the bleeding corpse, Yang Xi fired another round of sweeping gunfire at four men to the south, and all four of them were hit and fell to the ground.
Having never touched a gun before in his life, Yang Xi had no idea why his marksmanship was so precise. What he did not know was that not only was his aim accurate, but his reflexes were also several times faster than those of these terrorists.
Having eliminated the terrorists, he hurriedly pushed aside the bleeding body of the man on top of him. By now, Yang Xi was covered in blood from head to toe, and the pungent smell of blood made him gag repeatedly.