Chapter 254: Chapter 254: Surprise Attack
The onlookers were stunned by the old lady’s sudden move, each fearful of getting involved with a death and quickly made way for the old lady and her group.
"Police, don’t move." The police who arrived just in time saw the situation and hurriedly pulled out their guns from their waists, pointing at the old lady.
"Put down the hostage and surrender immediately." The policeman standing at the forefront facing the old lady shouted.
"Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, don’t harm the baby, please make sure to bring my child back, don’t harm him." The woman whose face was swollen from slapping cried out to the people on both sides, her eyes already swollen from crying like walnuts, but she still kept all her focus on her child.
"I want a van and a hundred thousand in cash, let us go, or I’ll strangle this child now. I would rather die than go to jail, anyway." The old lady’s hand tightened, and the child’s cheeks visibly turned redder.
The mother, blocked by the police, watching her child being treated like this, almost went mad, punching the nearest policeman’s body with strength, crying and shouting with a hoarse voice, "Let them leave, agree to them, or my child will die, he’s so young his life hasn’t even begun, I beg you to let her go, just give them everything she asks for, if you can’t come up with a hundred thousand, I’ll provide it, okay?"
"Ma’am, please calm down." The policeman being beaten almost couldn’t hold his gun properly, and could only persuade the woman hitting him with a helpless face.
"How can you ask me to calm down, when she has my child, how can I calm down." The woman cried louder, her hands hitting stopped slowly, and the sobbing turned louder.
"How can I calm down, I only have this one child, he’s my life, my life." The woman slowly slumped to the ground on her knees, fists pounding her chest, making a thumping sound.
The policeman who asked her to calm down didn’t expect things to develop like this, feeling at a loss but not knowing how to comfort her, he could only forcefully turn his attention back to the old lady, aiming his gun once more at her group.
"We can give you what you want, but you must hand over the child first." Amidst the background of the woman’s wailing, the lead policeman looked at the old lady and said.
"Do you think I’m a fool? If I give you the child, can I still leave? You give me the things first, and when I reach a safe place, I’ll naturally hand over the child." The old lady narrowed her wrinkled eyes and shouted loudly.
"A person who takes a child as a hostage is someone we cannot trust. We are the police, we keep our word. As long as you give us the child, we will give you the van and cash you want." The policeman glanced subtly behind the old lady, unyieldingly saying.
He didn’t know who that handsome man in casual attire was, or how he mingled into the scene, but he understood the gesture the man made - a sign for a surprise capture. Because of this gesture, he was willing to cooperate and delay as much as possible.
There were not few who saw this scene among the crowd, but those who did quickly closed their mouths tightly, swallowing nervously, watching this tense scene unfold with both apprehension and tension, silently cheering the man on deep inside, hoping he could subdue these heinous human traffickers.
The old lady holding the hostage was focused on confronting the police in front of her, completely oblivious to the situation behind her. Hearing the police’s demands, her wrinkled old face twisted into a bizarre and vicious smile. "You have no right to negotiate with me. If you don’t comply with my demands, I will kill this child right now; but if you do what I say, there is still a sliver of hope for this child. His life is entirely in your hands now, make your choice." The old lady tightened her grip, speaking harshly.
"No!" This was a mother’s desperate plea.
"Stop!" This was a policeman’s tense shout.
The old lady’s face showed a smug smile.
"We agreed to your demands, but the things you requested need a moment to prepare, please stay calm and don’t harm the child." The lead policeman looked at the child in her hands, licking his lips as he spoke.
"Put away your guns, having guns pointed at me makes me nervous, and when I get nervous, I feel like gripping something tightly." The old lady said, glancing at the child in her arms whose face was already streaked with tears.
"Alright, we’ll put the guns away." The police couldn’t help but glance behind her again, raising a hand to gesture for the surrounding officers to put away their guns.
Though they diverted their guns away from the human traffickers, the guns were not returned to their holsters.
The old lady noticed their actions but didn’t mind, certain of her victorious escape this time.
"You’d better hurry with the things; my patience is limited. If I don’t see what I want in half an hour, I’ll break the child’s arm, and every ten-minute delay, I’ll break a part of his body." The old lady showed her yellowed teeth and smiled as she spoke.
"If you make any move to harm the hostage, there’ll be no question of us giving you anything you just asked for." The police retaliated without fear of weakness.
"Hmph, then I’ll drag this little guy to burial with me, after all, this old lady is already half-buried in the ground, and taking a young child with me in death would be a gain." The old lady was entirely unmoved by the police threats, thinking how could this old woman, who had lived to this age, be intimidated by this bunch of greenhorns?
Feeling smug inside, the old lady couldn’t help but display a smug smile that made others grit their teeth; however, her smugness didn’t last long as the smile on her face hadn’t faded completely before she heard screams from behind. Reflexively, she turned her head to look and saw the two men standing guard behind her already lying on the ground, and right in front of her stood the man who had previously claimed to be the child’s uncle.
Before the old lady could react, Xu Ke reached his hand out toward her.