0087 A Fury That Brought Down the Crown for the Sake of a Beauty

The bartender glanced at the computer and answered the inquiry at once. “Please wait a moment while I check. Mr. Zhou, your reserved slot ends in five minutes. After that, the warehouse area will be taken by Mr. Yang Wei.”

“Thank you.”

With a charming smile, Zhou Xing turned and beckoned to Little Bei. The latter trotted over at once, and after the two whispered a few words, Little Bei slipped into the crowd of spectators.

Five minutes later, the loudspeakers on the roof of Shooting Gallery Six crackled to life. “This round in the warehouse simulation zone is about to end. Participants in the game area, please prepare to leave. The next round will include the Little Bei and Lisa team, the Hou Rui and Jin Shanshan team, and the Bawang and Kuai Chui team. All listed participants are asked to make your preparations. The match will begin in five minutes.”

“So fast. With so many people here, I thought we’d have to wait in line for a while,” Jin Shanshan said brightly. The little policewoman still had not sensed anything amiss.

“They’re rich kids, so of course they’ve got some pull. Enough, go change quickly. Remember to bring extra magazines into the field. Once the firefight starts, ammo goes down fast,” Hou Rui hurriedly reminded her. Then Jin Shanshan followed a staff member to the women’s changing room.

Two minutes later, Hou Rui, already changed into a black training suit, saw Jin Shanshan come out. She now wore a broad tactical belt around her waist, with spare magazines hanging front and back, and in her hands she carried a full-face helmet. She looked, in her own way, rather dashing.

“I’m ready. What about you, Monkey?” Jin Shanshan shouted as soon as she saw him.

“I’m ready too.”

“Then let’s go wipe them all out!” she declared, still fearless in her innocence.

At that moment the loudspeakers blared again: “Admission to this round in the warehouse simulation zone is now open. The match will begin in thirty seconds. Victory conditions are as follows: First, eliminate all opponents within thirty minutes. Second, seize the dossier on the box in the center of the game area and protect it until the round ends. Third, the team with the highest total score from valid hits after tallying will win.”

The veterans of the game zone already knew the rules by heart, so the moment they entered, they surged forward at once, each seizing advantageous positions. Among the crowd, only Jin Shanshan, the greenhorn, was listening intently to the broadcast, apparently trying to memorize the rules. That put Hou Rui in a difficult position. In the end, he could only helplessly tug her toward a nearer entrance. After the two of them received a 92-style pistol and a police revolver from the security staff at the gate, they stepped directly into the arena.

With a hum, the electronic door behind them shut, and the one ahead slid open. A vast, three-story warehouse of more than ten thousand square feet came into view before Jin Shanshan and Hou Rui. In that huge, spacious interior, crates more than a yard high were piled everywhere: some stood alone, while others were stacked high upon one another like towers.

Near the walls around the warehouse, several sloping ramps led up to a second-level landing and the offices on the third floor. But every route to the high ground was exposed to sight from below. It was clearly a complex terrain deliberately designed for close-quarters chaos.

Under the warehouse’s dim lighting, at least a dozen entry points were scattered throughout the building, leaving Hou Rui unable to rely on experience to set an ambush in advance. He could only proceed with extreme caution and adapt on the fly.

At last, Jin Shanshan too felt the seriousness of the atmosphere. She strained to memorize the warehouse’s layout and routes, so that she would not get lost or have someone circle behind her once the fighting started. Unfortunately, this was her first time taking part in such a near-combat simulation game. After two minutes, she had only managed to sort out a few of the main, most obvious routes. As for truly understanding the whole field and mastering the details, that was impossible before this match was over.

From behind the wooden crates and iron boxes in the distance, and from the slanted walkways, came the faint sound of footsteps. Hou Rui knew they could no longer remain where they were. In this kind of chaotic game, constant movement was the best way to stay alive.

“Ready?” Hou Rui asked, close to Jin Shanshan’s ear.

“Mm, more or less. Where are we going?” At a critical moment, Jin Shanshan still could not help relying on his judgment.

“Do you see that box?” Hou Rui pointed ahead with the police revolver in his hand. Jin Shanshan immediately spotted a white metal crate in the very center of the warehouse, singled out by a beam of strong light.

“I see it. Are we going there?”

“I’m telling you never, ever go there. There’s a folder on top of that box, and everyone in the game will be watching it. If you get close, you become the target of everyone’s fire. You’d be asking for death.”

“Oh.” Jin Shanshan answered a little aggrieved.

“All right, we’ll head left first. There’s a row of boxes there for cover. If things go smoothly, we’ll work our way up to the second level. The view from there is much wider. If anyone comes near us later, don’t hesitate, and don’t worry about whether you can hit or not. Just fire. Aim for the largest mass of their body.”

With that, Hou Rui was about to lead the way forward, only for Jin Shanshan to suddenly dash off without a word, as though she meant to take the lead and charge.

“Hey! What are you rushing for? You don’t know the route!” Hou Rui had no choice but to hurry after her, shielding the little lady from behind as best he could, expending ten times the effort to use a small revolver against attacks that might appear at any moment.

A dozen seconds later, Jin Shanshan had reached the end of the row of boxes on the left. Then, just as she was preparing to break forward, cross a stretch of open ground of more than ten yards with bold courage, and slip behind another row of boxes, Hou Rui, who had caught up to her, suddenly grabbed her by the arm.

“What are you pulling me for?”

“You’ve been in the match this long and not a single shot has been fired. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“Yes, yes, I was just wondering about that!”

“That means everyone’s lying in wait. Whoever shows their face first—”

“Gets killed first!” Jin Shanshan finally saw the light and blurted out the answer. Then she looked confused again. “So what do we do next? Are we going to stay here forever? That would be so boring!”

“Of course not. We’re not taking the usual path. Come on, let’s climb up.”

As he spoke, Hou Rui fixed his eyes on a stack of large crates nearby.

It took only a little time for Hou Rui and Jin Shanshan to slip quietly onto the warehouse’s second floor. Along the metal-railed corridor, they moved silently and slowly toward the staircase leading to the third level.

“Shh!” As they advanced, Hou Rui suddenly pressed a hand to Jin Shanshan’s shoulder. Then, meeting her puzzled gaze, he pointed downward.

Looking below from their high vantage point, Jin Shanshan actually spotted a man crouching in ambush behind a crate.

At a glance, he was the patient, tenacious sort of lurker. He held a Skorpion in his hands, and only one eye showed from behind the crate as he cautiously watched the empty center of the warehouse, searching for a target.

“Hahaha, die!” Jin Shanshan, seeing an enemy for the first time, was far too excited. She cried out and raised the 92-style, firing downward at the man before Hou Rui could stop her.

Bang bang bang bang.

At a distance of forty-five yards, Jin Shanshan fired four shots in rapid succession. Only one hit the vital area of the man’s back, another grazed his shoulder, and the remaining two, incredibly, missed entirely. That really did make Jin Shanshan feel a little embarrassed.

Seeing the ink stain on the ambusher’s back, Jin Shanshan felt an indescribable pride. She stood up, lowered her pistol, turned to Hou Rui, and stuck out her tongue mischievously. “What are you looking at? My aim isn’t that bad, is it—”

A burst of sudden gunfire mercilessly cut her off.

Within twelve seconds, four people had rushed out from behind nearby crates. Two 9-millimeter pistols, a 5.5, and a 74 all opened fire together, sending a hail of rounds into Jin Shanshan’s small frame. In an instant, red, blue, and green ink pellets burst across her body, painting the little police flower in camouflage colors.

Even worse, when the force of the bullets pushed her around so that she turned, involuntarily, with her back to them, the guns in their hands still did not stop. In the blink of an eye, her back was also reduced to a shambles. Though these were only ink rounds with no real killing power, each impact was still like a fist smashing into the body. A few dozen such hits amounted to a brutal beating for the girl.

At last, Jin Shanshan collapsed to her knees on the corridor. Tears filled her eyes, but the stubborn girl forced herself to endure in silence and did not cry out.

Hou Rui, seeing this, trembled all over with rage. It was obvious from the ambush that Zhou Xing had sunk to the lowest depths of shamelessness. He had actually bought off all three of the other teams in the game, outside of Hou Rui and Jin Shanshan. This so-called partner melee had been twisted into a filthy six-against-two trap, and Hou Rui’s momentary carelessness had allowed Jin Shanshan to be lured into it, humiliated, and battered.

“Monkey, they’re cheating.” Jin Shanshan sat weakly on the steel walkway, nearly collapsing as she protested through her injuries.

“Be good. Sit here for a moment. I’ll avenge you,” Hou Rui said, taking the 92-style from her hands.

Outside the game area, in the spectator section, five hundred and sixty viewers cursed and denounced the shameless boredom of the match. Meanwhile, from the moment Jin Shanshan fired her first shot, Hou Rui had remained hidden on the metal walkway, and now he began his fierce counterattack. The very first thing he did upon standing was drive a vicious kick into a tall stack of crates.