Chapter 63: A Deadly Standoff
by xennovel“You should know by now that you can’t run.”
Xiao Yu suppressed the mocking smile on his face. “Surrender – at least you’ll live a few more days.”
“Do you dare make a move against me?”
Owen grinned viciously. “If you act, not only will I die, but they will too!”
“They?”
The child and the woman in Owen’s arms!
“A bomb?”
Xiao Yu fixed his gaze on a sparkling red glow at the child’s neck.
“Is that little box in your hand a detonator?”
“Hmph.” Owen spat coldly.
Both fell silent, staring each other down.
A thought flashed through Xiao Yu’s mind: “Damn it, I should run. With a bomb in play, fleeing seems less risky than staying.”
“Are you scared?” Owen taunted with a sneer.
Scared?
Xiao Yu blinked.
He now felt a terror akin to being controlled by an overbearing neighbor.
After a moment, Owen broke the silence: “Either you kill me right now, or get a boat ready—I’m heading to international waters!”
International waters?
Xiao Yu squinted. “That’ll take time… And you still haven’t answered my question.”
“I’m not a soldier, not a mercenary, and definitely not a terrorist.”
Owen gave a twisted smile. “Guess what I used to do for a living?”
“Nonviolent resistance?”
Irritated, Xiao Yu retorted, “Not worried about snipers? How can you even have time to trigger a bomb?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
Owen scoffed, raising the little box and waving it in front of Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu’s pupils contracted sharply.
There was a small button on the box – one that Owen had already pressed.
“The moment I lift my finger, that button will pop out.”
Owen let out a maniacal laugh. “Boom! You’re all doomed!”
“So that’s how it is…” Xiao Yu smirked.
“This way, you don’t even have to fear the snipers. Even if you die, you can let go—and still threaten them?”
“It’s as absurd as a pig in a bra – completely over the top!”
“Xiao Yu, come back. It’s too dangerous,” came Wang Dong’s voice through the wireless earpiece.
Through the hidden earpiece, Wang Dong’s words reached him.
A smirk crept onto Xiao Yu’s face.
“Old Silver Coin may be detested by many, but as allies, they bring a sense of security.”
Wang Dong is a good guy!
But it’s time to move.
Xiao Yu stepped forward… advancing straight towards Owen!
Owen: “???”
Wang Dong outside the service area: “???”
Two snipers watching the scene: “???”
Did Xiao Yu lose his mind?
No!
Ten meters isn’t much – not too long, not too short.
Just as Owen came to his senses, his expression darkened abruptly.
Yet Xiao Yu was already standing right before him.
Noticing the shift in Owen’s expression, panic flashed in his eyes.
Xiao Yu’s racing heartbeat settled back into his chest.
Truly, only the scheming can understand another schemer!
In a flash, Xiao Yu reached out with both hands, snatching Owen’s wrists.
With a swift twist and grip.
Crack! Crack!
Owen’s wrists slumped.
Not broken,
but dislocated.
“Joint technique!”
“Ah!”
A cry of agony erupted from Owen’s lips.
The child in his arms, suddenly let go, began to fall – but Xiao Yu caught him.
With one arm cradling the child and the other gripping the… detonator?
Damn that detonator!
Xiao Yu swung his leg like a battle-axe.
Bang!
Owen, struck by a vicious kick to the head, collapsed like a log.
Everyone was stunned.
But… the bomb hadn’t detonated!
“Why?”
“The device hidden in the child’s clothing was a fake bomb!”
Lifting the sobbing child’s shirt revealed a suspicious, tape-wrapped object flashing like a bomb – a red, blinking eye.
Its appearance was even more convincing than a real bomb!
He removed the fake bomb from the child.
Then handed the child over to the weeping woman by his side.
Xiao Yu strode over to a gradually regaining consciousness Owen.
Bang! Crunch!
Xiao Yu’s foot smashed onto Owen’s chest.
It may have broken a few ribs, but it forced Owen back to the ground.
“Why? You couldn’t possibly know it was fake!”
In his pained state, Owen glared at Xiao Yu, his eyes filled with defiant resentment.
“It’s so easy to make a bomb?”
Xiao Yu looked down at Owen and snorted, “Mixing gunpowder, an ignition device, and a trigger switch… I don’t know how to make one, but I do know that building a bomb on the fly is impossible – let alone a counter-detonation setup.”
“The most ridiculous part is that you deliberately let us see this bomb, complete with a blinking light. Who in their right mind designs a bomb with a blinking light? Is it for aesthetics, to boost its ‘cool factor’ like a movie prop?”
Glancing at Owen’s pale, hopeless face, Xiao Yu sneered inwardly, “My Wangdie’s Nose didn’t catch any trace of gunpowder, sulfur, or glycerin!”
“Were you trying to scare your old man?”
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for cracking the corpse theft case. Reward…]