"boom!!!"
Suddenly, there was a faint sound like frying beans in front of them. Without exception, the pedestrians on the street shook for a moment, looked over there, and then continued walking as if nothing had happened.
But they may not be able to act as if nothing happened, because they can recognize it: it is gunshot!
"quick!"
Hitzfeld urged.
As she ran, she began to secretly hate herself for not wearing convenient clothes like Xia Yibing.
But it's not a problem for the other person.
Xia Yibing - amid Dorey and Daryl's stares, amid some passers-by's exclamations, and amid Ms. Yusilian's "Oooohs", she quickly stepped forward and picked up the girl sideways before she could react.
Without giving her a chance to scream or struggle, he just held her and ran towards the direction where the noise came from.
Chapter 36 Chaos
When they approached the bookstore, they found it in chaos.
There were armed police officers everywhere. Some of them were busy standing on the roadside to disperse the crowd, while others were busy rushing into the store. For a moment, the narrow entrance of the bookstore was so crowded that they couldn't rush in at all and didn't know what was happening.
Now that's bad - Hitzfeld's heart tightened - it might not have caused any panic, but with the way they operated, even a fool would know that something big had happened.
The sound of gunfire in the downtown area is quite rare in Wayne, but considering the current security environment, it is nothing to be surprised about.
And to say the least, the whole street is very noisy during the day when people start working.
The sound of cars whirring, the friction of tires, the hawkers' calls, the clanging and banging sounds coming from roadside hardware stores, pot-repair shops, and car repair shops, all mixed in with the sound of gunfire, can be said to be inconspicuous.
For those who are not familiar with this, the first thing they would think when they hear gunshots is that something exploded or fell from a building. This has happened many times and has been proven to be just a false alarm many times.
That's why she dared to go upstairs to test the gun when she first got the White Whale... She knew that it wouldn't be enough to cause any alarm even on Iris Street, especially since it was a crossroads, and crossroads were always noisier.
"Where's Lori?" Xia Yibing was annoyed by this scene, so she simply found a figure wearing a familiar uniform and kicked him hard on the butt, knocking over everyone in their row.
"Where is Lori Radice?" She looked down at these people, her tone ferocious enough to be frightening. "Can anyone tell me what happened?"
She was indeed very fierce. If she had not been hugging a beautiful girl in an ambiguous manner at this moment, they would definitely be shocked and frightened by her current appearance.
But the meaning of this picture seemed to be more surprising than her tone... So soon someone came to their senses and pointed inside the store: "Someone... I saw someone approach Ms. Gretzer while everyone was trying to squeeze in and ask what happened, and then, and then..."
"And then what!??"
"Then there was that noise!" The man shrank his neck. "It should be, gunshots? I'm not sure... They've been shouting that someone's dead... As for the agent Radice you're looking for, he probably chased out through the broken glass."
"Chase him out? The one who fired the shot?"
"should be."
"Which direction did they run?"
"Over there." The man pointed to the opposite side. Everyone turned their heads to look in that direction and saw the dark corner tower.
The corner tower had not changed since the first sight, it was still so eerie and dark. But now the streets were full of pedestrians fleeing in panic - they might not know what was happening, but since everyone else was running, it would be a good idea to follow them.
This panic atmosphere can be materialized. Fear is spreading and condensing into a thin veil. Hitzfeld seemed to see an invisible hand picking up the veil and draping it lightly on the corner tower.
And Lori, he actually chased in there without any help?
She struggled to jump down and ran to the bookstore immediately.
With these ten seconds as a buffer, the place was not so crowded anymore. She stood on tiptoe and saw a woman lying in a pool of blood. It was Riley Gretzer who had talked to her not long ago.
A group of people worked together, some dismantled the bookshelf - they planned to use it to make a simple stretcher. Some people took the rain sheet - the stretcher needed a strong cloth to bear the weight.
"She's bleeding!"
"Her bleeding won't stop at all!"
"That bastard put a hole in her stomach!"
"Is there a doctor here? There's no way she can make it to the hospital like this!"
"Step aside!"
The cold voice, though crisp but extremely firm, easily overwhelmed all arguments, forcing people to turn around or look up, and see a figure walking towards them through the crowd.
The person who came was naturally Hitzfeld, and she had several more vials in her hands. Relying on the title of "Count", she dispersed several black-clad policemen, half-knelt down, and began to examine the gunshot wound on Ms. Gretzer's body.
"Don't you know where to start to silence someone?" Ms. Yusilian was still muttering in her ear, "These people are too unprofessional! Let's talk about how fast your heartbeat was when you were carried away just now."
Hitzfeld ignored her, but everyone saw that she blushed.
This was normal - no one thought there was anything wrong. This was a critical moment to save lives, and they were busy for a long time, and their faces were red and their bodies were sweating. No one would question her for this.
I can't think about those messes...
Hitzfeld took a deep breath and put his personal feelings aside.
She quickly checked the victim's condition and found that the bullet had entered her from below her ribs, exited from her back, and left a bloody hole in her lower back.
This is the damage that a real pistol bullet can cause at close range.
It's not as simple as described in the movies on Earth. It's not just a small wound... The truth is that the bullet will roll and explode from the other side. This terrible wound and the amount of bleeding are enough to explain everything.
If I wasn't here, she would be dead.
With a sigh of relief, Hitzfeld knew that this was a sure thing.
It was certain that Gretzer's organs were damaged, but fortunately, damage to organs in this position would not be fatal immediately. As long as there was a way to make the wound heal, Gretzer could at least insist on being sent to the hospital and receiving the most professional medical care.
She immediately opened the bottles and poured a bottle of meat-like substance onto the blood hole. She watched it wriggle little by little and then drill into the wound to block it.
She did the same thing on the other side. She waited for nearly half a minute and poured some yellow powder and a transparent solution on the wound.
The meat paste began to twitch, and many onlookers were terrified.
My goddess, that thing can’t be alive, right?
"Why don't you send someone to find a doctor?" the girl shouted. "What are you waiting for?"
Oh!
Only then did they wake up from their dream and realize that the terrible wound had been blocked anyway.
With a loud bang, there was a sound of a vehicle hitting an obstacle outside.
When Hitzfeld was helped out by Xia Yibing, she happened to see two cars collide with each other while trying to avoid fleeing pedestrians. She saw that panic was still spreading. If it continued like this, there would be no time to wait for the Changning District to be blocked off, and the people here would spread out.
"We have to change our plans," she said softly.
"I know." Xia Yibing nodded, then called Agent Duo Lei over and told her, "Go and tell them to switch from active blockade mode to passive prevention and control."
Agent Dorey opened her mouth, then shuddered when she realized what she meant.
She had learned this in class. If the active blockade mode was a plan that was executed at the estimated cost of sacrificing all lives in the blockade area, then the passive prevention and control mode was... only a part of the area was cordoned off for blockade, and all lives outside the blockade area could be sacrificed.
Is the situation already so serious?
She doesn’t understand…it shouldn’t be that serious, right?
The Golem Curse was indeed proven to be unsolvable a few years ago, but didn’t we make a breakthrough in Poltergeist?
Many people are talking about how some old curses can be easily broken today, and it seems that the Golem Curse is among them?
"I say—you do it!"
The cold voice pierced her heart, and Duo Lei then remembered how many "bad things" this charming sheriff in front of her had done since she took office.
She and Villefort were not on the same page, and in extreme cases, she even shot and killed an agent on the spot.
Although those who knew the inside story knew that those people were asking for their own death, this did not prevent this woman from spreading the notoriety as quickly as possible, leaving a mark in everyone's mind in her very personal style.
Duolei fled away like the wind.
To carry out the tasks assigned by the Iron-Blooded Director.
Hitzfeld looked at Daryl.
"Are you still willing to go on an adventure with me?"
She only asked Daryl because there was no need to ask the other person.
Without asking, she knew that she would definitely choose to accompany her.
"That's what I'm here to do, Your Highness."
Daryl patted her chest hard, and a dull sound was faintly heard.
...It's like hitting steel through cloth.
"Let's go."
The girl pressed her thigh through her skirt, felt the outline of the white whale on the outside, and was the first to cross the road and walk towards the corner tower.
Xia Yibing quickly instructed an agent to get support as soon as possible, then hurried over and grabbed the girl's raised hand.
"I can't let you walk in front of me." She leaned over and whispered in her ear.
"Then you protect me well."
Contrary to his usual behavior, Hitzfeld did not shy away and instead gave her a bright smile in return.
But the good times didn't last long, and she soon began to sigh.
"This is an arbitrary decision at best."
"I mean... it better not be premeditated..."
Chapter 37: Corner Tower Two-in-One
The perspective switched to the other side, where Agent Lori had already chased the murderer to the second floor of the corner building.
He did not regret this impulsive behavior, simply because he also loved this job very much. He would envy those talented and gifted people who solved cases. He always hoped that he could contribute in similar situations.
But his brows were never relaxed throughout the chase.
Just as Hitzfeld had expected, the environment of the corner building was quite bad. It was actually an abandoned and unrenovated building, with many floors and walls made of exposed cement. When walking through these areas, even the most basic lighting was not guaranteed. Just like standing across the street and looking at it, these shadows seemed to contain endless evil.
Compared to the empty first floor, the situation on the second floor is much more complicated.
This was because the first floor was originally rented out as a storefront, and many non-load-bearing walls were knocked down and opened up, leaving a huge space. But starting from the second floor, there was no such benefit, with all kinds of stairs, corridors, and narrow obstacles... Lori had to slow down and hold his gun tightly to prevent the person he was chasing from suddenly jumping out from a corner and shooting him hard.
The smell here is also very bad.
While groping forward cautiously, Lori fanned his nose from time to time.
It was a stench that was difficult to describe in words, like something rotten and left there for years to ferment. He could only guess that it was the refugees' garbage and the feces they produced after occupying this place and not following the rules.
If we think about it further, it can only be rotten meat and body parts.
Lori turned a corner, turned suddenly, and aimed his gun at a figure huddled in the darkness.
He waited for a while and found that the other party did not move. He walked over to take a closer look at his condition and found that it was actually a corpse.
Moreover, it was a corpse that had been dead for a long time, and the flesh and blood inside had almost been eaten by maggots. It seemed to be one of the sources of a certain stench.
Male corpse...
While distractedly keeping an eye on his surroundings and collecting information about the corpse, Lori swallowed nervously.
Probably around forty years old...his cheeks were sunken, almost like a skeleton...
He had been dead for at least a week. The weather was not enough to freeze him to death at night, but he was not wearing any clothes...
Or it could be said that after confirming his death, the other refugees stripped him of his clothes.
He must have starved to death.
Lori was not a detective who was good at analyzing cases, but he had eyes. He saw the wall plaster next to the body and found a lot of wear marks on the teeth of the body.
This person should have nothing to do with the case he was busy with now. Lori stepped over him and continued walking forward, and soon saw a sneaky figure.
The man was as short as a monkey. After seeing him, he was stunned for a moment, then turned around and ran away.
"Stop!" Lori yelled. "Police!"
It seemed that the latter word had an effect. The dwarf monkey suddenly stopped, raised his hand with a bitter face, and turned around.
"Isn't it too early to explore this month...?" He complained, "We have been staying here peacefully. Any violence in this area has nothing to do with us."
"Really? Then what about the body I saw just now?"
