The boarding announcement sounded in the broadcast.
The flight a was on was about to take off.
The entourage suddenly became busy, the pathfinders made way, the bodyguards protected, and the nannies held the children. Then, the door of the suite opened, and the dignitary and Madam walked out one after the other.
Jian Jing noticed that when the dignitary came out, he glanced in Lai Lai's direction before nonchalantly striding forward.
Madam held the hands of the two children.
The little boy was a bit tired. After taking two steps, he stretched out his arms for the nanny to hold him. Madam didn't stop him, while Lai Lai searched for Jian Jing's figure in the crowd.
Unfortunately, before she looked over, Jian Jing had already taken out her phone to play games.
Lai Lai deftly retracted her gaze, though her heart sank slightly.
She was very careful. Those who could live to this day all had a trace of ominous premonition honed at the edge of life and death. At that moment, she already felt the chill of the Grim Reaper's scythe sweeping past her neck.
However, everything around her was normal, as if she was just being paranoid and neurotic.
The boarding gate was crammed with waiting passengers.
The dignitary's group directly went through the VIP passage, bypassing the noisy crowd and smoothly entering the jet bridge.
The plane was right in front, and once it took off, she would be safe.
Lai Lai's palms were sweaty. She didn't dare relax her vigilance, looking left and right, afraid someone would suddenly stop them for whatever reason and prevent the plane from taking off.
Her heartbeat gradually quickened. The cartoon sunglasses slid down to the bridge of her nose, and her overly worldly-wise eyes scanned alertly.
The jet bridge wasn't long or short, L-shaped, so they had to turn a corner.
When they reached the stretch that ran parallel to the airport, Lai Lai saw a figure standing in front of the airport's floor-to-ceiling glass.
That female writer.
Lai Lai was extremely conflicted.
When interrogating her earlier, she had glanced at Jian Jing's backpack, which contained a plane ticket from a few days ago, tickets to a ladyboy show, and duty-free spray—how could an imposter be so meticulous? She must be here for tourism.
Her rationality and experience didn't detect anything out of the ordinary. Her showing up here today was just a coincidence.
However, her intuition clamored loudly, her hackles rose, and an abnormal, ominous premonition still shrouded her heart.
As she hesitated, a small accident occurred in the group.
"Put me down!" The dignitary's young son seemed to find the jet bridge interesting. He didn't want the nanny to carry him anymore and insisted on getting down to run around.
The nanny could only put him down in a panic.
Madam let go of Lai Lai and turned to grab her son's hand, scolding him softly, "Don't run around. We're about to get on the plane."
The boy pouted sullenly and twisted his body, unwilling.
Just as Madam was about to say something, she suddenly noticed the bodyguards tensing up. She grabbed her son and looked around blankly and helplessly.
Not far away, on the round roof, a black figure stood at the edge of the white exterior wall.
In the dim daylight, a red laser dot flickered in and out of view.
Lai Lai knew it was bad. She immediately ducked down, planted her toes toward the cabin, tensed her body like a drawn bow, and lunged forward several meters in one stride. At the same time, the bodyguards also reacted, surrounding the dignitary and his wife and pushing them toward the cabin first.
This choice was undoubtedly wise, but the obstruction also dashed Lai Lai's chance at life.
The jet bridge was narrow—she couldn't get through.
"Crack!" The crisp sound of shattering glass.
The bullet pierced through the glass of the jet bridge and accurately shot into her chest.
Blood splattered.
Her face twisted in agony as her body fell uncontrollably, and blood quickly soaked the floor.
The cartoon sunglasses dropped to the ground, revealing a pair of twisted, furious eyes.
"Ah!" She stretched out her arms, struggling to crawl forward, the blood under her body leaving a long bloody streak.
Footsteps scrambled by without anyone stopping to help her.
Whether they were guards or bodyguards, they all knew very clearly who they were supposed to protect.
On the roof, Zong Ye didn't linger. He put away the sniper rifle swiftly and nimbly disassembled the firearm, rapidly stuffing the parts into a prepared gym bag.
At the same time, he ripped off the face mask he was wearing, took off the highly recognizable black jacket, revealing a fashionable branded t-shirt underneath. With a flick of his wrist, he put on a stylish sports watch for young people and donned sunglasses. In just a few seconds, his disguise was complete.
But the danger hadn't passed. More important than the costume change was getting rid of the incriminating evidence in his hands.
At the same time, the dignitary was surrounded into the cabin, temporarily safe. Without pausing to catch his breath, he yelled, "Damn it! Catch that guy for me! We absolutely can't let him get away!"
"Yes, sir!" Two guards and two bodyguards stayed behind while the other six people rushed out of the jet bridge into the boarding hall to pursue the unidentified sniper.
Fury churned inside the dignitary. To dare kill someone right in front of him—would they try to assassinate him next?
"Give me the phone!" He held out his hand.
The guard handed him a cellphone. He dialed a number and yelled angrily, "Seal off the airport! Don't let anyone leave until you've found the shooter! Giving me trouble? Do you know someone just tried to assassinate me? This concerns the diplomacy between our two countries. I need an explanation!"
He roared without listening to the other side's excuses at all, then violently smashed the phone on the ground when he was done.
The screen cracked.
The flight attendants exchanged looks, carefully backing away.
Madam didn't dare speak up to try and soothe him either, just hugging her son tightly.
The cabin was deathly silent.
A hundred meters away, the boarding gate had already descended into chaos.
The passengers were already irritable and upset because of the delays. Just as boarding was finally restarting, they suddenly saw several uniformed men rush out with guns, charging around recklessly looking for someone.
Everyone was angry and afraid, pointing and whispering to each other.
One guard accidentally bumped into a muscular man who was making a phone call.
The latter turned and spewed a stream of profanities at him.
This guard already had a bad temper to begin with, plus he knew his commander's temper—if he didn't catch the perpetrator, he was sure to face dire consequences. Understandably anxious, he wanted to apprehend the criminal as quickly as possible to atone for his mistakes.
Yet this muscular fellow was cursing him out, and his anger flared up. He whipped out his gun and fired at the ceiling.
Bang!
This wasn't Zong Ye's silenced sniper rifle, and there was no glass barrier either. The deafening bang echoed clearly indoors.
Nearby passengers froze in place.
When faced with danger, remaining motionless was instinctual.
But passengers who were farther away and didn't hear it clearly still retained their mobility.
They whispered to each other, discussing spiritedly.
"What's going on?"
"Was that a gunshot just now?"
Those with wild imaginations or a strong sense of crisis immediately blurted out the most fearful speculations.
"My god, I think someone's been shot!"
"When can we take off and get out of here?"
"Help!"
Panic and chaos spread with frightening speed like a plague.
Some stood frozen in place, some turned to flee, while others deliberately caused a disturbance: "Help, murder! Run for your lives!"
It was madness, utter chaos.
The surging crowds unleashed terrible destructive power. Those who didn't react in time were ruthlessly trampled underfoot.
Jian Jing cursed them out in her head.
Opening fire here? Are they crazy, shooting guns in an airport?
She had no time to ponder. Her first reaction was to return to the lounge.
People bumped shoulders as they scrambled by. Some fell, some screamed, some ran. A tour group ran straight toward her.
Jian Jing slammed on the brakes and snatched the tour guide's bullhorn.
She turned the volume to max, then flipped the charisma card to max as well.
"Don't move! Stay where you are!" she yelled loudly in Chinese, English, and French on loop. "It's just filming! Everyone please don't panic, just stay put! There are no dead, no shots fired! Please don't be alarmed! Remain where you are and don't move!"
As she spoke, she jumped onto the high chair back and shouted with all her might.
"Nothing is happening! It's just a film crew shooting!"
"Please stay where you are and don't move!"
"Look after elderly and child companions."
"Everything is okay!"
"Stop running!"
"No shoot!"
Amidst the chaos, clear, definite information was most crucial. Along with the charisma card boost, the swarm of passengers finally stopped in their tracks, scrutinizing dubiously.
At this timely moment, an announcement sounded over the intercom.
"Dear passengers, the noise just now was due to an equipment malfunction. Please do not panic and remain where you are.
Please refrain from moving about randomly. The plane will be taking off shortly.
Passengers who feel unwell may proceed to the medical office."
The calm, robotic announcement had an even better pacifying effect, allaying the doubts of the passengers.
Jian Jing let out a breath, hurriedly returning to the lounge.
Halfway there, she saw a figure approaching her, a coat draped over his arm concealing some disassembled props underneath.
He signaled to her with his eyes.
Jian Jing walked at the same speed, but changed hands to carry her backpack, leaving the zipper half open.
The two passed each other.
The bag in her hand suddenly became heavier.
Jian Jing went around the corner, skillfully zipped up her backpack, and moved it back to her left hand.
The lounge was within sight.
"Are you guys okay?" she asked casually.
Kang Mu Cheng breathed a sigh of relief, looking up and down repeatedly: "Where did you go? What just happened?"
"It's almost time to board, I went to buy something to eat," she put on her backpack, "Then I met a psycho who inexplicably fired a shot at the ceiling - he thought he was filming a movie! There's something wrong with his brain."
The CEO Kang shook his head and lamented, "These places are chaotic enough."
"That's right," she agreed profoundly, and complained again, "It finally stopped raining, then this happened, don't even know if we can fly."
Everyone looked unlucky, but soon, the waiter came to tell them that they could board now.
Jian Jing became suspicious: "The chaos just now..."
"It was a misunderstanding," the waiter said, "We will ensure your plane takes off as soon as possible."
Since the airport had said so, of course no one would decline, and followed the staff to check in.
Ahead was a security checkpoint.
Jian Jing: Hmm.
"Sorry, for everyone's safety, we have to do another security check," the staff explained, "The plane can take off if there are no issues."
By now, the delay had exceeded 5 hours, even the biggest celebrities could not refuse security checks and delay their own flights.
No one objected.
The security check began.
A tall woman stood by the security checkpoint, her sharp eyes scanning the passengers one by one. She was the female bodyguard Zong Ye had strongly suspected before, and now it seemed his judgment was very accurate.
This woman was not simple.
She realized at first that the attacker was probably in the VIP lounge, one of the passengers. So, taking off on time would both avoid offending VIP guests and quickly identify the suspect.
In just ten minutes, the perpetrator would not have time to dispose of the murder weapon. If he thought he could get on the plane first and slip away, now, he might be carrying the fatal evidence.
Impressive.
Jian Jing thought, and smiled at her slightly.
The policewoman noticed and stared at her oppressively.
Jian Jing suddenly made her move: "May I ask why this lady is here? She doesn't seem to be a security guard, is she qualified to search our luggage?"
Hearing this, others also looked over.
The policewoman's eyes flashed sharply as she pressed on aggressively: "Hand over your bag!"
"Are you a public official of this country?" Jian Jing still asked that question, questioning the security inspector, "Why is your country's security check being conducted by people from other countries?"
The security inspector stammered.
What could he know? It was all the leaders' orders.
The policewoman ignored him and pushed the man aside, reaching out to snatch Jian Jing's bag.
Jian Jing grabbed her wrist.
As soon as the two clashed, they immediately knew each other's strength.
Thinking she had caught the culprit, the policewoman's adrenaline surged, and her other hand immediately went for her gun, intending to control Jian Jing first.
Jian Jing took out her passport and slowly tucked it into the front pocket of her pencil skirt.
The pitch-black muzzle was aimed at the corner of the red passport.
"Are you going to shoot?" she asked calmly, "Go ahead and try."
The policewoman's finger was on the trigger, but she didn't dare pull it for a moment.
The writer has something to say: the plan B, of course, is to get rid of her directly and be done with it~
Jian Jing and Zong Ye's cooperation has been great so far, this round was very exciting.
