They could not find any clues near the bomb shelter at all. There was no information that could be fished from the villages nearby as well.
Xu Zhenyu was extremely anxious about the stagnating progress of the rescue.
Xu Zhenyu had never felt such an intense fear before. He was suddenly reminded of his first mission.
They had embarked on the rescue mission in groups of five.
Back then, the culprits had bombs tied to their waists and the hostage had already sustained a cut on her neck and wrist.
No one dared to act rashly because of how tense the situation was.
Back then, he had no idea what was eating him and he verbally provoked the criminals without his leader’s instruction. The leader then flew into a rage and berated him harshly over the phone.
The criminal was extremely agitated and threatened to kill the hostage. The leader then said that he would be punishing Xu Zhenyu and giving him a huge demerit.
He fired a shot at the critical moment.
Although he had already practiced shooting countless times before on the training grounds, the deafening sounds of the gunshots rang in his ears and blood oozed out of the man’s chest.
It was his first time realizing that there would be no struggle or agony when killing someone in the name of justice.
He was the one who fired the lethal shot!
He had never been so afraid before.
The sounds began to fade and what was left was nothing but silence. His mind turned blank and his throat became dry. He was then sent to a psychological counseling room in the base camp where he lived quietly for three days like a puppet. He did not speak, eat, cry, or throw a tantrum. After three days… he finally recovered from the trauma.
He thought that that was the most afraid he had ever been.
However, he only knew now that his greatest fear was losing Wen Xinya and failing to rescue her!
“Major, the headquarters have given us a set of documents that include some information and analysis done by the analytics team and the psychological team. The information include the possible places that the abductors could have gone. They have also sent us the 3D simulation sketch of the locations and allocated more manpower to us.”
Greatly taken aback, Xu Zhenyu stopped what he was doing and grabbed the document before perusing it carefully.
The information was extremely detailed and the psychological analysis was reasonable as well. It also highlighted the possible locations that could be the abductors’ hiding spot.
Xu Zhenyu took a deep breath, feeling a little uncertain and shocked that the headquarters had managed to give him such a detailed report within a short period of time. The information had helped him save plenty of time.
Xu Zhenyu said, “We’ll hand the instructions down accordingly.”
Xu Zhenyu then gave a string of orders to his subordinates via the communication device. After arranging them to stage an ambush in the factory and suburbs, he said, “The rest of you, hurry and rush to the village immediately.”
The army of soldiers set off.
It was a forty-minute journey to the village.
They had twenty minutes left!
“Major, bad news. The abductors called the Wen Family and asked for the ransom to be paid earlier. They demanded that the Wen Family transfer the money to their bank account in half an hour’s time.”
Xu Zhenyu instantly slouched in dejection. As a soldier, it was his duty to keep his back straight at all times. However, at this moment, he felt as if there as a heavy rock weighing his spine down, making it extremely intolerable for him.
There was less than half an hour.
They had yet to even locate Wen Xinya. How was he supposed to rescue her in time?
He felt like breaking into hysterics. He questioned, “What is the exact location of the abductors? Did you manage to find out?”
He was hoping that the information given by the military would be accurate. Only then, could he rescue Wen Xinya.
“Due to the fact that the phone call lasted less than 30 seconds, we couldn’t find their exact location even after tracking their reception with the best technological gadgets.”
Xu Zhenyu sprung up from the couch and smashed the document against the subordinate’s face. “What are those people doing? Don’t they know that obtaining the abductors’ mobile signal is the only thing we can use to trace their location? Why didn’t they stall time…”
“Officer Huang said that… the abductors must have been alarmed by the secret rescue team. There’s a threat to the hostage’s life, so…”
Xu Zhenyu interjected. “His brains must be fried! A few seconds is not going to kill the hostage. If we can’t locate them, the hostage will definitely die. They are extreme terrorists, not just ordinary kidnappers. Is he hoping that the ransom will save the hostage? Bullshit.”
Everyone was horrified to see how exasperated Xu Zhenyu was. They hung their heads low, not daring to breathe.
Xu Zhenyu was usually cheery. They had never seen him so angry before.
He knew that Xu Zhenyu was merely worried about Wen Xinya and that he also carried a torch for her. When he slept in the same bunk as Xu Zhenyu in the past, he often saw Xu Zhenyu secretly staring at photos of her.
He then grabbed the photo from beneath Xu Zhenyu’s pillow stealthily to discover that it was Wen Xinya.
Xu Zhenyu hollered. “I made him stay in the Wen Family because I thought that he was rational enough. Yet, he actually made such a grave mistake. If we fail to rescue the hostage this time, I’ll punish him severely!”
Xiao Huang was his partner and his right-hand man. Yet, Xiao Huang ended up causing so much trouble.
At this juncture, Xu Zhenyu knew that there was no point in getting angry. He took a deep breath and said, “When it’s time to hand over the ransom, the abductors will definitely call again. Tell the underlings to be more careful and stay alert. NO ONE is to relax or give up until the very end. I’ll kill anyone who creates trouble or make mistakes.”
“Understood!”
Xu Zhenyu sighed and felt like his heart was scrunching up. It was just a rescue mission and yet, there was so much unnecessary trouble.
“Major, what do we do now?”
Xu Zhenyu answered, “Follow the original plan and inform everyone to rush there at once. They must arrive at the locations within half an hour.”
They were now stuck in a race against time. If the information was accurate, it was necessary for them to reach the locations in less than 30 minutes.
Xu Zhenyu looked out of the window, at the pitch darkness of the night. It had been five hours since Wen Xinya got kidnapped and he wondered if she was still being beaten by the abductors.
His heart began to ache and he bent forward before tearing up uncontrollably.
Who said that men can’t cry?
Men who don’t cry simply haven’t been miserable yet!
