C98 Tang Bing Held His Gun and Shot Fiercely as the Hostage Was Captured and Locked in a Standoff.(2

Though the words stung, Zhao Dagang and Qin Mengli were left speechless and without a comeback; Sun Meng had included herself in the scolding, after all.

The bearded man relaxed as he watched the four youths successfully enter the building, knowing that Zhao Dagang upstairs still hadn't mustered the courage to fire a shot. His luck seemed extraordinary today. Not only had he acquired a precious handgun, but he had also stumbled upon four delicate beauties. The icing on the cake was their collection of a whole car's worth of food, water, and supplies, sparing him the effort. It was indeed a windfall!

Lost in his thoughts, he was jolted back to reality when the young man holding Liang Hui suddenly groaned and collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

The bearded man was startled by this unexpected turn of events.

He wasn't alone in his shock; the others nearby froze, their eyes all turning to the young man who had inexplicably fallen.

"Liang Zi, what happened?" The bearded man demanded, seeing the young man motionless on the ground, suspecting some sudden illness, "Get up, now!"

"Liang Zi!" Another middle-aged man approached to lift the young man, only to discover, to his horror, that he was no longer breathing and lay in a pool of blood. A gruesome bullet hole marred his forehead.

"Ah!" The middle-aged man cried out in terror, "Liang Zi, Liang Zi's dead!"

"What?!" The bearded man was taken aback, "How could he just die out of the blue? Don't mess with me!"

"See for yourself..." The middle-aged man turned away, retching, his stomach clearly in distress.

With someone dead so suddenly and inexplicably, panic seized the remaining survivors.

Liang Hui, somehow freed without realizing how, instinctively bolted for the door.

"I thought I heard something, a muffled sound!" the young man controlling Lin Leyan blurted out, "Could there be another survivor with a gun?"

"A gun that fires without any noise?" The bearded man scowled.

"Silenced!" the young man suggested.

"Even with a silencer, it wouldn't be this quiet!" the bearded man retorted, his voice grave as he scanned their surroundings.

Chaos erupted suddenly, and those on the upper floor took notice.

"Bing!" Sun Meng spotted Tang Bing crouched outside the factory entrance and exclaimed with surprise.

At the mention of Tang Bing's name, Zhao Dagang's spirits lifted. Peering out the window, he witnessed the young man who had been holding Liang Hui fall into a bloody heap, freeing her to run outside.

His greatest fear dissipated in a moment, filling him with wild joy.

"Brother Zhao!" Qin Mengli's voice pierced the air as she caught sight of four young men at the stairwell, their gleaming knives draining the color from her face.

Zhao Dagang whirled around, locking eyes with the quartet. Bolstered by Liang Hui's escape and Tang Bing's return, he found the courage to fire his gun decisively at the entrance.

"Bang!" The shot echoed, striking the lead youth in the left leg. He collapsed, screaming in agony, writhing on the ground.

The unexpected gunfire sent the other three into a panic; they spun on their heels and fled, abandoning their fallen comrade.

The shot startled the bearded man awake. He also caught sight of Liang Hui's frantic dash for the door and bellowed, "Stop, girl! Run again, and I'll stab this woman dead!"

"No!" Liang Hui was on the cusp of escape but halted at his words, turning back to her mother with desperate eyes. "Please, don't kill my mom!"

"Huihui, forget about me! Just run!" Lin Leyan inwardly cursed her daughter's foolishness. She should have kept running!

"Mom..." Liang Hui shook her head vigorously, unable to leave her mother behind.

"Get back here!" the bearded man roared at Liang Hui, "Or she dies!"

Terrified of the dagger at her mother's throat, Liang Hui tearfully complied and returned.

Once Liang Hui was by his side, the bearded man turned to another middle-aged man and commanded coldly, "Grab her!"

The middle-aged man quickly pulled Liang Hui over to Lin Leyan, forcing the mother and daughter back together once more.

The three young men, panicked from their companion's gunshot wound, scrambled outside. No sooner had they emerged than the bearded man commanded them to move Lin Leyan and her mother behind the bus.

It turns out, the young man had been fatally shot in secret, alerting them to someone lurking outside the gate. They used the bus to obstruct the view.

Zhao Dagang had wounded one of them and, with a shaking Qin Mengli and Sun Meng in tow, confiscated his machete. They dragged the bleeding young man, who was howling in pain, back to the window.

Glancing down, Zhao Dagang's heart sank as he saw Liang Hui captured once again, leaving him utterly bewildered.

"You think you can ambush me? Who else is out there? Call him in now and drop your weapons!" the bearded man bellowed, "Or I'll kill this mother and daughter!"

"No!!" Zhao Dagang and Qin Mengli cried out in unison.

"If you don't want them dead, hand over the guns!" the bearded man demanded. "And have that person outside come in and give me the guns! I'm counting to three, and if you don't comply, they're dead! One..."

"Don't kill them!!" Zhao Dagang yelled desperately, "I've got hostages too! If you touch them, I'll take him out!"

"Go ahead and kill! One for two, I'm coming out ahead!" the bearded man taunted, "Do it! Let's go! Two! One more count!"

The bearded man's dominance left Zhao Dagang and Qin Mengli in disarray, with Sun Meng powerless to intervene.

As the bearded man was about to count to three, Zhao Dagang, unable to contain himself any longer, yelled towards the door, "Bing!!"

"Why are you yelling?!" Sun Meng panicked. What was he thinking?

Tang Bing had taken out one of their adversaries, expecting Zhao Dagang to capitalize on the moment and join forces for a pincer attack. But to his dismay, Zhao Dagang had only fired once, failing to kill his target, allowing the other three young men to escape and regroup with the rest.

Liang Hui was foolish. Had she fled outside, she could have rendezvoused with him. With her safety assured, Zhao Dagang wouldn't have had so many reservations. All he needed to do was rescue Lin Leyan, and the tables would be turned! But who could have predicted that neither of them would be on the same page, only succeeding in holding him back?

At that moment, he truly regretted bringing this team along. It would have been easier to survive on his own!

But retreat wasn't an option now, so he steeled himself, stepped out from the shadow of the wall, boldly entered the factory, and shut and locked the iron door behind him.

"Bing!" Upon seeing Tang Bing, the three people upstairs couldn't hide their elation.

Tang Bing shot them a stern look and continued his cautious approach to the other side of the bus.

"Freeze!" The bearded man, alerted by the sound of the iron door, stealthily scoped out the scene from behind the bus. Discovering Tang Bing had come in from outside and locked the door, gun in hand, he panicked, "Don't come any closer! Or these two women are dead! Drop the gun and surrender peacefully!"

"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Tang Bing remained unfazed, sidestepping to gain a better position. Now face-to-face with the adversary, he aimed his gun at the bearded man, "Release them, and I might let you live!"

"You've got it backwards," the bearded man retorted, emboldened by the sight of another young man, "Your people are in my grasp. If you want to save their lives, you'll follow orders! Toss the gun over! Or else..."

"Or else you'll kill them, right?" Tang Bing scoffed, "Go ahead! I assure you, no one's getting out of here."

"Bing!" Zhao Dagang's voice was laced with urgency, "No! This isn't the way!"

The bearded man chuckled at Zhao Dagang's outcry, "Hear that? Do you truly not care whether they live or die? You're all in this together, aren't you? Just do as I say, and no one gets hurt! But if you don't throw down your gun, their deaths are guaranteed!"

"I can't trust you! And frankly, I couldn't care less about their fate!" Tang Bing declared, as he firmly raised his gun and squeezed the trigger.

"Pop! Pop!" Two bullets in quick succession tore through the bearded man and another young man standing beside him.