In the darkness, Wang Yue held his breath, his mind extraordinarily focused.
He pressed his ear against the wall. In the quiet environment, the friction sound of moving stones was piercing.
After about a minute, the sound stopped.
Then Wang Yue heard a slight noise, presumably the fugitive emerging from the water tank.
"Crack."
Despite the fugitive's caution, he, like Wang Yue, stepped on and cracked a section of the old, dilapidated floor tiles.
"Damn."
Wang Yue heard a low curse.
Then Wang Yue heard no more sounds. The darkness was terrifyingly silent.
Wang Yue even worried if he had been exposed.
After a while, Wang Yue finally heard footsteps.
Though light, they were still quite noticeable in the quiet surroundings.
Soon, Wang Yue felt the footsteps were only a wall away, meaning the fugitive was approaching the stairwell door.
Wang Yue felt his heart pounding faster, and the steel pipe in his hand began to sweat profusely.
Finally, a dark silhouette appeared at the doorway, blocking out the moonlight.
Wang Yue widened his eyes, ready to swing the steel pipe.
But the silhouette did not step forward for a long time, as if aware of the danger ahead.
"Am I exposed?"
Wang Yue couldn't help but doubt himself.
Yet, something felt wrong. If he had been exposed, the silhouette wouldn't have lingered there for so long.
Finally, the silhouette moved.
A man walked into the stairwell. Wang Yue was less than two meters away from him!
The man did not notice Wang Yue hidden in the darkness. Instead, he took two steps forward, crouched on the stairs, and looked down, as if assessing whether it was safe to escape.
"Good opportunity!"
Wang Yue's eyes lit up, and the steel pipe instantly swung out!
However, Wang Yue did not aim for the man's head, which might have directly caved it in.
That would have been murder.
The strike was incredibly fast. The man had no time to react before Wang Yue's steel pipe hit his shoulder.
"Crack."
The man's arm instantly fractured. He let out a pained groan and quickly retreated back to the rooftop.
Wang Yue was also anxious. Holding the steel pipe, he chased after him.
The man wasn't running fast. Wang Yue caught up in two steps and struck his leg again.
"Crack!"
Wang Yue's strength was immense. The man was instantly smashed to the ground with a loud thud.
Although the man seemed to have lost all resistance, Wang Yue did not let down his guard. He knew from TV shows that this was the most dangerous moment for a reversal.
So, Wang Yue mercilessly smashed the man's other leg and hand.
"Ah!"
The man could no longer hold back, letting out a roar into the night.
Only when he was sure the man had completely lost the ability to resist did Wang Yue finally sigh in relief.
He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, took out his phone, turned it on, and called the police in one smooth motion.
The man lay on the ground, groaning continuously, unable to even stand.
Wang Yue returned to the stairwell. He found a discarded electrical wire there, picked it up, and went back to the rooftop. He bound the man's hands and feet with the wire before finally feeling at ease.
"Who... who are you?"
In immense pain, the fugitive weakly asked.
"I'm your grandfather."
Wang Yue cursed, then climbed back into the water tank. He hadn't forgotten about the hostage inside.
Jumping into the water tank, Wang Yue couldn't see clearly in the darkness, so he turned on his phone's flashlight.
Then, he immediately saw a woman tied up tightly, leaning against the wall.
Next to the woman was a gleaming broadsword.
"Wuwuwu..."
Seeing Wang Yue, the woman struggled excitedly. She had heard the commotion outside and knew she was likely to be rescued!
"Don't get excited."
Wang Yue quickly walked over and pulled the cloth out of the woman's mouth.
"Wuwuwu... are you here to save me?"
The woman cried with tears streaming down her face.
"Stop crying. You're not in danger anymore. I'll get you out first."
Wang Yue picked up the broadsword and, with a few swift strokes, cut through the ropes binding the woman. Then he asked, "Can you walk?"
"Yes... yes."
The woman quickly responded, her voice a little weak.
After Wang Yue led the woman out of the water tank, he realized she was a stunning beauty.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that no woman in the entire Second High School was more beautiful than her.
"Thank you for saving me. My name is Ding Junyao."
Seeing the man tied up on the ground, Ding Junyao finally breathed a sigh of relief, and tears welled up again.
"You're welcome. Here's a tissue."
Wang Yue took out a few crumpled tissues from his pocket and handed them over. "The police should be here soon."
Ding Junyao didn't mind. She then took a good look at Wang Yue, surprised. "Are you the bodyguard my dad hired? You're so young."
"Bodyguard?"
Wang Yue was stunned for a moment, then shook his head. "I'm not a bodyguard. I'm just a five-star good citizen who acted on righteous indignation."
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Wow."
"Why 'wow'?"
"You're three years younger than me."
"..."
After a brief chat with Ding Junyao, they exchanged names.
Ding Junyao also noted down Wang Yue's phone number and QQ account.
The police arrived quickly, within about ten minutes. Hearing the sirens downstairs, both Ding Junyao and Wang Yue breathed a sigh of relief.
The arrival of the police also attracted many residents from the floors above, who gathered on the rooftop.
Two police officers arrived on the rooftop. The leader was a middle-aged man with an imposing presence.
He saw Wang Yue and Ding Junyao, then glanced at the man on the ground before saying, "Xiao Song, get the person on the ground up."
The one called Xiao Song was a young police officer. He stepped forward and helped the fugitive up.
"Captain, it's the A-level wanted criminal Yuan Yong!"
The young officer exclaimed in surprise.
The older officer was also surprised. He looked at Wang Yue and Ding Junyao. "You two, please come with me to the station to give a statement."
"Yes, Officer."
Wang Yue nodded obediently.
"Isn't that the son of Old Wang? Is he in trouble?"
"Doesn't look like it. That wobbly man on the ground looks like he's in trouble."
"And he's with a young lady. Tsk tsk, could it be that they..."
Wang Yue felt relieved not to see his parents in the crowd.
Soon, they arrived at the police station. On the way, Ding Junyao borrowed Wang Yue's phone to make a call.
Through identity verification, the man's identity was quickly confirmed.
Just as the young officer had said, he was an A-level wanted criminal named Yuan Yong.
He was responsible for four murders, a truly heinous individual.
Wang Yue's act of courage in capturing the fugitive and rescuing a hostage was a great deed.
"Young man, have you trained before? You beat Yuan Yong so badly he's almost crippled."
Zhang Yunfei asked with a smile.
Zhang Yunfei was the older police officer.
"Heh heh, I was afraid he'd chop me, so I had no choice but to do it,"
Wang Yue said with a sheepish grin, scratching his head.
"Good skills. You have the potential to be a police officer. Why not consider applying to the police academy in the future?"
Zhang Yunfei continued.
Wang Yue quickly declined, stating his ambitions lay elsewhere.
"Officer, when will my bounty be processed?"
Wang Yue asked with a hopeful grin.
"Don't worry, you'll get what's yours. We'll apply for it, and it should be processed soon."