After booking the dress, Jian Jing's mission for this trip to Paris was completed.
However, since she was already here, she couldn't just book a dress and leave. Even Kang Mu Cheng didn't say he was going back and had reserved two days for rest.
The next day, Ms. Kang Lei sent instructions complaining that there were no bags she wanted at the domestic counter, so she asked her son to buy one directly from the flagship store and bring it back.
The itinerary for the third day naturally changed to shopping.
Si Yingjie also did not escape from his sisters' clutches, and got a pile of shopping lists. He complained endlessly, "Are you kidding me? A flight ticket costs just a few bucks, can't you come and buy it yourself? You just have to make me help."
Jian Jing said, "Long flights are tiring."
"They are frequent fliers, traveling all over the world, and they lack this bit?" Si Yingjie reluctantly said, "They just want to mess with me."
He really didn't want to go through the trouble and slipped away after accompanying them for half an hour.
Jian Jing's scalp tingled.
This was her first time shopping with Kang Mu Cheng, it wouldn't be... Well, it was completely boring.
He spent ten minutes going into the store, explaining what he wanted to the clerk, paid with his card, and left.
Over.
Was this shopping? No, this was buying things.
"What do you want to buy?" Kang Mu Cheng asked.
At that moment, Jian Jing felt the nervousness of being called on by the teacher in class. "I... don't have anything I want to buy."
Kang Mu Cheng let out an imperceptible sigh and said, "Then let's just take a look around."
Jian Jing nodded and decided to pick out something similar and then slip away.
However, today they were browsing a luxury department store in Paris, with many branches and complete styles, so it was difficult to leave without any interest.
As Jian Jing browsed, her shopping enthusiasm awakened, plus Kang Mu Cheng was very patient despite not being a good companion, and he waited without complaint.
Before she knew it, two hours had passed.
She was debating whether or not to splurge and buy both of the bags she was looking at, when suddenly there was a loud "Bang!" like firecrackers exploding.
Then came the clattering sound of shattering glass, falling tiles hitting the floor, crisp yet frightening.
Jian Jing was stunned for a moment. Her first reaction was "what accident happened," but half a second later, her second thought emerged - could it be a shooting?
That's right, but the situation was a hundred times worse.
[New mission released]
[Mission name: Mall hijacking incident]
[Content description: A group of heavily armed gangsters suddenly broke into the bustling luxury mall. They took hostages for unknown reasons, and everyone was in great danger! Please ensure your own safety and try to ensure the survival of others as much as possible]
[Mission reward and punishment: To be determined according to the completion of the mission]
Jian Jing gasped. With the help of her conditioned composure, her blank mind calmed down slightly. She didn't look at what was happening, only recalled the floor plan of the mall in her first moment.
This was the advantage brought by the [Survival Card]. No matter when and where, she would always pay attention to the emergency exits first.
She put down her handbag and grabbed Kang Mu Cheng, whispering, "Gunshot! Run!"
Don't blame her for being ruthless. At this time, she couldn't remind others. There were too many shoppers that if she called out, it would not only block the exits due to the panic, but also cause a stampede.
And now this one or two seconds was the most critical.
Kang Mu Cheng was dragged by her to run a few steps before reacting, but after running a few steps, there was another round of "rat-tat-tat" shooting ahead, accompanied by one or two muffled bangs from time to time.
Jian Jing suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.
This department store had a total of seven floors, three atriums, and seven doors, roughly as follows:
Rear Rear
West East
Side Left Atrium Big Atrium Right Atrium Side
Door Door
Small Door Big Door Small Door
The first loudest shot was fired in the big atrium. Jian Jing and Kang Mu Cheng were on the second floor of the left atrium, so her first choice was to go downstairs and escape from the back door as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, the gangsters also knew that there were other exits here.
Next, gunshots rang out from the side door. The gangsters sealed off the other doors and frantically reaped lives with a torrent of bullets.
It really was like harvesting wheat, cutting down person after person with each slash, the scene was silent except for the gunshots and muffled thuds of people falling down.
Yes, it was only at this moment that people would realize that under extreme fear and pressure, one cannot scream. They can only stand still blankly, unable to act or think.
Amidst the hail of bullets, this was equal to seeking death.
Jian Jing saw the gangsters rushing in with guns in the distance. She knew they definitely could not escape, so she immediately turned around to look for reliable shelter.
At the same time, her mind raced.
There were two types of shootings, one was retaliatory indiscriminate killing, shooting whoever they caught, just to drag more people down to hell together. The other was purposeful, the opening massacre only to deter the scene and herd people to designated locations for hostage-taking.
She closed her eyes and listened. Gunshots came from at least three directions, which meant the gangsters were large in number and familiar with the layout of the mall.
This was not a spur of the moment act, they had deliberately chosen this place to commit the crime.
"Rat-tat-tat." The sheltering foliage wall was shredded, and the previously bright and beautiful customers fled in embarrassment, with many bodies lying motionless on the ground.
Jian Jing had seen many corpses, but this was her first time facing such reckless slaughter head-on.
She was frightened, not daring to hesitate at all. Before the gangsters approached, she quickly pulled Kang Mu Cheng to retreat and look for the next shelter.
Of course, she didn't forget to try and save some others along the way.
As they fled, if she saw people crouching with their heads in their hands, she would drag them behind cover. If someone could still follow instructions, she would gesture for them to come over.
After about twenty seconds, the gunfire shifted to another direction.
The customers on the north side of the left atrium escaped the first swing of the scythe of death. As long as they survived the opening massacre, the subsequent death rate would drop sharply.
A masked man in black came over with a gun in each hand, directing them: "desdre"
French.
Someone stammered, "Exce?"
"Godownstairs," the gangster switched to English.
Now most people understood. Everyone raised their hands high, like a group of newly hatched chicks, and fearfully took the escalator downstairs.
Below the escalator there was also a thug with a raised gun, aiming at them.
If anyone made abnormal moves, they absolutely could not escape a sweep of bullets.
Jian Jing naturally did not dare to physically challenge the bullets. She obediently followed directions, and immediately used her Acting Card, putting on an expression as if scared to death. She clung tightly to Kang Mu Cheng's arm, eyes brimming with tears, face deathly pale, acting like a frightened little girl.
Her acting was one hundred percent impossible to see through. The gangster only glanced at her and didn't pay more attention.
The group was driven in extreme fear to the grand atrium on the first floor. The front doors had already lowered the iron gates, tightly sealed off. Three gangsters each took up a position, guarding the hostages being herded in.
Jian Jing quickly counted, at least over ten gangsters had appeared, plus others in different locations, there were probably several dozen in total.
This was not a situation that a small number of people could turn around.
Wait and see.
She snuggled next to Kang Mu Cheng, weeping lightly from time to time to maintain the frightened persona, imperceptibly observing everyone's actions.
Kang Mu Cheng was also very quiet, holding her arm, trying his best to remain silent.
They were right to do so.
Among the hostages there was a mentally broken young man who wanted to make a run for it regardless, and was shot in the head.
There was also a burly man who slowly approached the guarding gangster, seemingly wanting to wrest the gun for a counterattack. As a result, not only did he lose his life on the spot from the gangster's repeated sweeps, the nearby girl was also caught in the crossfire, blood gushing out.
Jian Jing moved, instinctively wanting to go over to assist, but held back.
Because a fat man was a bit quicker, pulling out a handkerchief to press on the girl's wound.
The gangster warned, "Ne fais pas de choses superfes (Don't do unnecessary things)!"
"She's jtakid, please!" the fat man pleaded anxiously.
Another gangster said "forget it" in French, tacitly approving his actions.
Jian Jing remembered this person. Although each gangster wore a hood, from the other's behavior, it should be a woman.
Over the next twenty minutes, people hiding all over the mall were found and driven together.
Everyone was forced to hand over their phones, tablets and other communication devices, and herded into the atrium, like pigs in a pen waiting to be slaughtered.
Jian Jing estimated that there were about a hundred people.
What did they want to do by taking so many hostages at once?
The answer was quickly revealed.
The thugs found the mall manager and used his phone to call the police, making several demands and asking for some people to be released.
Jian Jing didn't know the details, but just listening, it didn't sound like an easy thing.
And if the negotiations reached an impasse, it was very likely that the killing would start again.
They couldn't rely on the foreign government, so how could they save themselves?
One person with one gun absolutely could not turn the situation around, even if James Bond was here.
Be patient, and see how it goes.
After negotiating for more than ten minutes, the other party agreed to the first condition of the thugs, which was to have a certain Mr. So-and-So personally come forward for further talks with the thugs.
Jian Jing guessed that Mr. So-and-So was probably a well-known figure, perhaps of great political significance, but it wasn't important, they would just call him Big Boss.
After agreeing to the first demand of the thugs, the local police immediately put forward their own exchange conditions, wanting to send in medical personnel to rescue the injured.
Of course the thugs would not agree, who knows if the people sent in would actually be police.
The police haggled, and finally managed to send in a batch of medicines.
The fat man who had helped rescue people earlier stepped forward, saying he was a nurse at the hospital, and hoped he could bandage the wounds of the injured.
"Let's take care of this, and you can also have more bargaining chips," the fat man's French was mediocre, but his attitude was sincere and generous, even for enemies, it was very difficult to feel malicious towards him.
The leader of the thugs had already taken off his mask, a middle-aged man with a full beard. His eyes were vicious as he stared grimly at the fat man.
The fat man shrank back a little, his tone weakened, but still pleaded: "Women, children, is it okay?"
The big boss didn't speak, it seemed like the guy who looked like the second in command said: "Don't make the negotiations rigid from the start."
Only then did the big boss turn his head away and ignore them.
The fat man led the way, and more hostages gradually stood up to ask for help.
But the thugs were very cautious, they did not allow the two men who claimed to be doctors to move around, only allowing two women to come out and help.
But the injured were far from the only trouble among the hundreds of hostages.
Among them were more than a dozen mothers and more than twenty children, including six infants.
However naughty children can at least endure without crying, but what else can babies do when they are hungry, cold and uncomfortable except cry? Several mothers were almost in tears from anxiety.
"Shit! Make this little bastard stop crying!" The irritable guy next to him cursed, "What if they start shooting at us?!"
The mother held back her tears and kept apologizing, desperately patting the baby in her arms.
But the baby was terribly hungry, and still wailed loudly, gasping for breath.
"He's hungry, you need to breastfeed," said a female white-collar professional next to her. She took off her suit jacket and lightly draped it over the mother, wanting to give her a place to feed the baby.
However, this move touched the thugs' line of vigilance, and one of them shouted angrily: "What are you doing? Hands off!"
While speaking, he rushed over, grabbed the white collar woman's hair, and dragged her aside, kicking her twice.
The people around were instantly silent.
