0133 The Terrifying Insulin

The corridor was approximately thirty meters long, offering a completely unobstructed view. No matter how fast Hou Rui moved or from what angle he approached, he could not conceal his figure. Aside from a T-shaped nurse’s station in the center, there were only rows of locked patient rooms.

The tricky problem facing Hou Rui now was how to divert the guards' attention and slip into Lieutenant Colonel Timo’s room without being discovered, avoiding any gunfire or commotion.

After thinking it over briefly, Hou Rui decided he needed a quick resolution. Standing on the second-floor staircase like this was risky; if someone came up from the first floor, he would have nowhere to run.

Hou Rui gently drew his .29-caliber revolver, then slowly leaned down to pick up a small stone. Aiming carefully, he flicked his wrist and threw the stone toward the nurse’s station in the middle of the corridor.

"Clack!" The stone struck a wall and ricocheted into the nurse’s station, landing in the blind spot of the two armed guards. Hearing the sound, the guards were indeed distracted. They unslung their rifles and walked toward the station, one behind the other.

As the guards cautiously approached the station to investigate, Hou Rui moved. Pushing off with his toes, he sprinted halfway down the corridor. Seeing the two guards, still with their backs to him, searching the ground for the source of the noise, he pushed forward with all his might. He crossed the nurse’s station in two strides and headed straight for Lieutenant Colonel Timo’s room.

From a distance, Hou Rui looked like a massive kangaroo. With every stride, he covered over a meter, and before his foot even fully landed, he would spring off his toes again, alternating feet to propel his body forward in total silence. He covered the remaining fifteen meters in a flash. However, just as he reached out to turn the doorknob to Timo’s room, the door suddenly cracked open.

Oh no, someone was coming out.

Hide or kill?

In that split second, Hou Rui reacted on pure instinct. He pressed the .29 against his chest, spun his body in a tight circle, and flattened himself against the wall to the right of the door. Whether he would need to fire depended entirely on whether the person exiting saw him.

In such a dangerous and tense moment, Hou Rui’s heart grew strangely calm. Having spent so much time in the Liberator Alliance, he wasn't sure if he had been tainted by the madness and bloodlust of the Alliance officers. Regardless, he had prepared for the worst: if the person emerging saw him, he would eliminate the guards, Lieutenant Colonel Timo, and anyone else who had seen him at the hospital that night.

"Creak." The door to Timo’s room was pulled wide open. A female nurse wearing a headscarf stepped out. Fortunately, the headscarf partially obstructed her vision, preventing her from seeing Hou Rui, who was mere centimeters away.

Moving with lightning speed, Hou Rui reached out to catch the door before it could latch shut. Like a shadow, he slipped through the narrow gap.

"Click." The moment the door closed, Hou Rui, now pressed against the inside of the door, heard the nurse and the guards talking in the hall. Their meeting in the corridor provided perfect cover for his infiltration; no one would suspect a fourth person was now inside Lieutenant Colonel Timo’s room.

He stood still for several seconds to ensure no one outside was suspicious, then turned his head toward the hospital bed near the window, where Lieutenant Colonel Timo lay in a deep sleep.

The last time they had met was when Timo was being carried into the hospital. After many days, Hou Rui noticed that Timo had lost a significant amount of weight. Seeing him with an oxygen tube in his nose and EKG electrodes on his chest, it was impossible to connect this frail man to the high-ranking Alliance official who took lives without a second thought.

Hou Rui approached the bed slowly. Keeping his eyes on Timo’s face, he reached into his crotch and pulled out the two "markers." He removed the caps to reveal the short needles; they were, in fact, insulin needle-free injectors.

Hou Rui carefully inserted the first one into the IV line and quickly injected all 50 units of insulin into the fluid. To be safe, he injected the remaining 40-plus units from the second injector as well.

Putting the markers away, he watched as the IV drip fell drop by drop. After seeing the overdose of insulin enter Timo’s body, Hou Rui stepped back and waited quietly for the drug to take effect.

Two minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Timo’s face turned deathly pale.

Two and a half minutes later, Timo’s limbs began to tremble uncontrollably, and his lips started to twitch.

Three minutes later, Timo’s head and face were covered in dense beads of sweat, his breathing became rapid, and the steady EKG began to spike violently.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep." The heart rate monitor finally began to alarm. Hou Rui was just about to hide when Lieutenant Colonel Timo suddenly opened his eyes, staring fixedly at Hou Rui by the bedside.

Hou Rui’s first reaction was to aim his .29 at Timo’s head, but the moment before he pulled the trigger, he saw not anger or panic in Timo’s eyes, but a soul-deep helplessness. He then noticed that Timo’s lips were trembling so violently, and his teeth were chattering so hard, that he couldn't speak a word.

Relieved, Hou Rui quickly crouched down and agilely slid under the bed.

"Bang!" The moment Hou Rui tucked his last foot under the bed, the door was kicked open. Several medical staff rushed in, desperate to save the Lieutenant Colonel.

It was all in vain. Once the insulin entered his system, it rapidly lowered his blood sugar, depriving his organs of nutrients and energy, leading to multi-organ failure. In reality, before Timo stopped breathing, his brain had already suffered brain death due to lack of energy.

After thirty minutes of failed resuscitation, the exhausted doctor finally stopped. Looking at the guard beside him, he said with difficulty, "Lieutenant, Lieutenant Colonel Timo has passed away from respiratory failure."

The guard, equally stunned, stared at the doctor. He went to check the pulse himself in disbelief. Finally, the guard turned and rushed out of the room. Not long after, the entire military camp, starting from the hospital courtyard, erupted into chaos. Countless officers who heard the news were plunged into turmoil.

Soon, the medical staff fled, and Hou Rui, who had been hiding under the bed, walked out of the room with ease. Before the Alliance officers could arrive to confirm the death, he quietly returned to his room on the first floor, resuming his drunken guise until daybreak.

The next morning, the chaos in the camp spread further, engulfing the entire city. Amidst the gunfire and the looting, Hou Rui left the hospital with a group of Alliance officers and returned to his cabin. With Timo dead, all that remained was to wait patiently.

Three days later, Lieutenant Colonel Gordon, who was closest to Timo’s territory, arrived. His first order was to forbid any soldiers from leaving the camp, which finally managed to stabilize the situation in Kismayo.

Five days later, Lieutenant Colonel Dillon’s tank column arrived in Kismayo.

Six days later, the last of the four Lieutenant Colonels, Marcus—who also served as the spokesperson for the Liberator Alliance—arrived with his troops. The core power of the Alliance was now finally gathered before Hou Rui.

As the three Lieutenant Colonels began to nakedly carve up the remainder of Timo’s troops and assets, Hou Rui stood quietly by his window, watching the main road. He was still waiting—waiting for General Garcia’s arrival.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed since Timo died. During this time, many things happened in Kismayo: Hou Rui, Alakran, and the "Hail" were reassigned to Lieutenant Colonel Marcus’s command; Dillon and Gordon had a skirmish outside the city over the spoils; the medical staff and guards responsible for Timo were all executed; and a quarter of the residents had fled. Yet, aside from these trivial matters, Hou Rui still had no word on General Garcia.

One morning, as Hou Rui was performing routine maintenance on the "Hail" with several technicians under Marcus’s orders, a corporal lit a cigarette and started a conversation.

"Did you hear?"

"Hear what? That Dillon managed to grab Timo’s prized attack helicopter?"

"No, that’s old news. The latest is that Lieutenant Colonel Timo’s funeral will be held the day after tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Hou Rui’s hand, gripping the wrench, froze. He had waited so long, and finally, the day had come. He just didn't know exactly when General Garcia would appear.