Chapter 123: Emergence

As the time struck twelve, the crowd in the front streets and back alleys halted their slow pace, fixing their gazes on the entrance of the police station.

Those hidden in the shadows held their breath, their eyes unable to tear themselves away from the building for even a second. The area surrounding the station seemed to have frozen, creating an eerie stillness.

After a few seconds of silence, the crowd began to stir. People on the street, belonging to various intelligence agencies, started whispering to one another.

"Did we guess wrong? Is it not this Malone?"
"No, no, it must be him. A commoner, a lone wolf—there would be no reason for him to strike otherwise."
"Why hasn't he appeared? Is it possible that high noon in China doesn't mean twelve o'clock?"
"It is twelve, but it is strange. Why hasn't he shown up?"

...

On the third floor of a hostel, by a window, Si Faren turned to Chen Wenqi and asked, "Based on your understanding of him, why hasn't he appeared?"

"He will appear. High noon in China does not specifically mean exactly twelve o'clock; it means around twelve," Chen Wenqi said with certainty.

"Are you that sure..."

*BOOM!*

A deafening blast interrupted Si Faren, who instantly turned his head toward the sound. Then, another massive explosion followed!

After the two artillery strikes, a giant hole appeared on the left wall of the fourth floor of the police station.

Si Faren stood agape for a moment before muttering, "Madman!"

The others nearby also marveled internally: "Madman!"

After the shock, everyone immediately looked toward the left. Several hundred meters away, on the edge of a high-rise rooftop, stood a figure in a raincoat, face covered by a mask. The man stood on the precipice, raising a sniper rifle.

People in the streets and alleys scrambled for cover, but there were simply too many of them and not enough shelter to go around. As those who couldn't find cover began to run toward nearby buildings, *BANG!* A shot rang out.

Those people couldn't help but stop in their tracks, looking in the direction of the bullet.

Most of those hidden in the shadows had turned their gazes the moment the shot was fired. The bullet had come from the very hostel where Si Faren and Chen Wenqi were hiding. The third and fourth floors of this hostel were packed with intelligence agents from various factions.

Before the shot was even fired, when they saw Li Wencheng aim his rifle toward them, those standing at the window had immediately dived behind the walls.

But Chen Wenqi remained calm, standing by the window. As the bullet whistled toward them, she even continued to crack melon seeds in her hand.

*BANG!* After one shot, another followed.

Chen Wenqi stopped cracking seeds and picked up the binoculars on the windowsill. She saw that on the rooftop of a five-story building behind and to the left of the police station, a prone sniper had been killed instantly.

*BANG!* Before the previous gunshot had faded, another rang out.

It was the same building behind the police station, but the target was no longer the rooftop; it was a foreigner at a fifth-floor window holding a sniper rifle.

"How did he know where the snipers were hiding?" Si Faren, who had walked over with a pair of binoculars from a nearby table, took a look, lowered the glasses, and asked Chen Wenqi.

Chen Wenqi did not answer; she only thought to herself, "Intuition."

On the edge of the rooftop, Li Wencheng relied on the acute sense of danger triggered by his intuition. Every time a hidden sniper aimed at him, he instinctively turned his rifle and fired. These snipers belonged to different agencies and were scattered so widely that they could not coordinate their fire, allowing Li Wencheng to pick them off one by one, guided by his sharp sense of peril.

After firing five shots and feeling no further sense of danger, Li Wencheng slung his AWM sniper rifle over his shoulder and picked up the grappling hook from the ground.

He secured the hook to the wall, threw the rope down, and leaped. As he landed, his leather-gloved right hand immediately gripped the rope.

"OMG!"
"Four stories plus the roof—that’s about thirteen meters. To dare to descend like that, his physical fitness must be incredible."
"He’s not human. Just jumping off like that to catch the rope... wasn't he afraid he’d miss?"
"Descending with one hand? Just how strong is he?"

Watching Li Wencheng’s method of descent, everyone was struck with disbelief.

As Li Wencheng’s descending figure was blocked by the buildings in front, Si Faren turned to Chen Wenqi. "Section Chief Chen, given his skills, the fact that he was once caught by you makes me suspicious of your relationship."

Chen Wenqi put down her binoculars and said expressionlessly, "Then report it."

Si Faren’s face darkened. He had reported her several times over the past month. It was precisely because of his reports that Minister Xiang had investigated Chen Wenqi, leading to the discovery of Li Wencheng.

Yet, there had been no disciplinary action against Chen Wenqi. Even when she had gone missing for a week, the higher-ups had issued no orders for her punishment; instead, they had ordered him to cooperate with her.

Looking at Si Faren with disdain, Chen Wenqi began cracking melon seeds again and walked toward the door. Si Faren initially thought she was just moving aside because she didn't want to talk to him. But when he saw her actually walk to the door, his eyes widened, and he shouted angrily, "Section Chief Chen, what do you think you’re doing?"

Chen Wenqi ignored him, opened the door, and walked out.

Si Faren stood stunned for a second, then barked, "Ming Yi, take two men and follow Section Chief Chen."

There were six others in the room besides Si Faren. One of them, a bald man, nodded, gestured to the two men closest to him, and walked out of the room.

Just then, after Chen Wenqi left, the man who had been watching from the window shouted, "Director!"

Si Faren turned around immediately. On the rooftop of a building three blocks to the left of the police station, Li Wencheng’s sniper rifle was gone. With a pistol in one hand and a long bamboo pole in the other, he was sprinting across the roof.

In the blink of an eye, Li Wencheng reached the edge of the roof, leaped onto the rooftop of the building in front, and continued running.

Si Faren suddenly understood how Li Wencheng intended to enter the police station. He realized it, and so did all the other intelligence agents.

"Shit, those two shots were just to make an opening."
"A genius idea, but this method is one only he could use. No one else has his physical capabilities."
"Brother Wang, he’s already inside. How are we supposed to provide support?"
"Support his escape. Kidnapping is not the same as killing. When he comes out carrying someone, he won't be nearly as agile."

At a window on the second floor of a Western-style hotel, Lin Nansheng frowned and said, "Station Chief, why does this man's figure look so familiar to me?"

Hu Daoyi paused, his face full of disbelief. "You must be mistaken. Why would he look familiar to you?"

Chen Moqun’s expression remained unchanged. "It’s normal for him to look familiar. His silhouette has no distinct characteristics. If you went out to the street and found ten people, five of them would have a figure somewhat like his."

Lin Nansheng found Chen Moqun’s reasoning sound and concluded that he was just being too sensitive and had seen wrong.