Chapter 162: Five Minutes of Life and Death

Zhang Wen laughed heartily, staring at me as he roared, "You damned cop, do you think I would believe you? I just love watching you pathetic, helpless expressions." Zhang Wen's attitude remained utterly arrogant. Everyone knew he was deliberately taking risks while knowing the police were present, all to force every single one of us to watch him commit his crime.

No matter how much we despised Ice Love or how intolerable it was, one thing was undeniable: Ice Love would leave an unforgettable mark on every single one of us for the rest of our lives. All the armed police officers tried every tactic, switching between persuasion and threats, but Zhang Wen remained completely unmoved. With knives raised in both hands, he dragged the dining table aside and retreated into our blind spot. All we could see now was the woman's twisting body.

We knew Zhang Wen must be preparing to carve the flesh from the woman's body. He had chosen a position that allowed us to witness the entire process of his mutilation while ensuring our guns could not reach him. Even if we decided to shoot him dead right then and there, we had lost our chance.

"Zhang Wen!" I grew even more anxious. "I swear, the moment you stop and tell me where Wang Yazhuo is, I will let you go!"

I couldn't see Zhang Wen, only hear his voice. He let out a disdainful laugh, saying that if all of us knelt down to beg him and admitted that Ice Love was the most sublime love in this world, he would consider my offer. I clenched my fists. Zhang Wen didn't seem to be joking; given his defiant mindset, seeing all the police officers kneeling before him was undoubtedly what he desired most.

Hearing this, many of the officers flew into a rage. Before they could open their mouths, I shouted toward the window, "Give us a few minutes. Let us think about it."

Zhang Wen seemed unimpressed. His frantic laughter echoed in our ears once more: "Think about it? Time waits for no one. Kneel down immediately, and then I'll consider it."

I steadied myself. "Zhang Wen, you should know that not every cop is as easy to talk to as I am. Give me a few minutes, and I can persuade all the police outside to do as you say. You have a hostage; waiting a few minutes does you no harm."

Zhang Wen still believed I was a police officer. Having figured out his psychology, my words seemed to work. He hesitated for a moment and then granted us five minutes, declaring that the Ice Love feast would begin immediately afterward. Those five minutes served as a countdown to the woman's life. Yet, lying on the dining table with the lower half of her body exposed, she was still twisting and writhing, as if she couldn't wait for it to begin.

I turned around and whispered to the officers, asking where Fat Lu was. Everyone wore gloomy expressions, completely at a loss. Someone called out to Fat Lu over the walkie-talkie, but there was still no response. I tried calling his phone, but he didn't pick up. The officers cursed him angrily, saying that as the deputy detachment leader and operation commander, vanishing at a time like this was utterly irresponsible.

However, this was no longer the time to track down Fat Lu. A criminal investigator asked me if I seriously expected everyone to kneel before Zhang Wen. Until then, everyone had assumed I was simply stalling Zhang Wen, and my repeated interjections had indeed bought us time, which was why they hadn't objected to a civilian speaking on behalf of the police.

In their minds, I was merely Fat Lu's special auxiliary.

I shook my head, stating that the police could never kneel. Doing so would utterly ruin the department's reputation and strip away its dignity, thereby fulfilling Zhang Wen's objective of defying judicial authority. Yet, some officers argued that if it meant saving a life, kneeling—though a loss of dignity—was a price worth paying, as a police officer's primary duty must always be the life of the hostage.

"The problem is, do you really think Zhang Wen will stop just because we kneel?" I retorted to the officer who was ready to compromise.

Given Zhang Wen's personality, he would never let it go at that. It was true that he wanted to see the police stripped of their authority, but he revered Ice Love even more. Once Ice Love began, it would not end. I knew Zhang Wen was simply deceiving us. Moreover, his phrasing had been ambiguous; he only said he would *consider* stopping Ice Love if everyone knelt, not that he definitely would.

Trying to negotiate integrity with a criminal did not seem like a wise choice.

In the blink of an eye, one of the five minutes had already passed, yet no consensus had been reached. Without a doubt, the moment the five minutes were up, Zhang Wen would take action without room for redemption. Stalling had its drawbacks too; once the time expired and we failed to kneel as he expected, his actions would only become more frantic and depraved.

Some suggested faking a kneel to lure Zhang Wen into exposing his body and shooting him dead in that exact instant. Others proposed charging directly through the door to take him down. From where we stood, we could only see the lower half of the woman lying on the dining table; Zhang Wen's figure was entirely hidden in our blind spot.

If Zhang Wen wanted to see us kneel, he would inevitably have to stick his head or body out. Many officers agreed that we should shoot him the moment he did. In the panic and urgency, no one remembered Wang Yazhuo anymore. Finally, as everyone was whispering and debating heatedly, one officer voiced an objection.

Someone finally remembered Wang Yazhuo. This officer pointed out that putting aside whether the victim—who was so eager to experience Ice Love with Zhang Wen—could be saved, they couldn't risk shooting if there was any chance Wang Yazhuo wouldn't make it back alive. To see us kneel, Zhang Wen would most likely stick his head out, and the head was the most vulnerable part of the human body. Once shot and struck, Zhang Wen would certainly not survive.

If that happened, extracting the location of Wang Yazhuo's whereabouts would be utterly impossible.

There was only one chance, and if we missed it in that split second, it would drive Zhang Wen into a desperate, murderous frenzy.

Hearing the officer's analysis, everyone grew even more panicked. More than half of the five minutes had already slipped away without a resolution. I frowned, took a deep breath, extended my hand, and whispered to the group, "Give me a gun. I will hit Zhang Wen."

Everyone froze. Naturally, the police could not hand over their service weapons to me so easily, and they demanded to know my plan.

They all thought of me as nothing more than a special auxiliary. With only one chance, no one wanted to waste it on me. I quickly laid out my plan to them, leaving everyone dumbfounded. Right at that moment, the walkie-talkie crackle came to life—it was Fat Lu.

Fat Lu ordered the officers to hand a gun over to me, stating that he would take full responsibility for everything.

At that point, no one bothered to ask where Fat Lu had just been. With the five minutes almost up, Fat Lu's authorization enabled me to secure a gun smoothly. I turned around and rushed into the adjacent room. This was the apartment next to the victim's; we had been hiding here before the victim left her room to meet Zhang Wen downstairs.

A few criminal investigators followed me in, still baffled by what I intended to do, until I ran over to the window and prepared to climb out. That was when they realized what was happening and grabbed me immediately. Looking down, it was a seven-story drop; falling from here meant certain death or, at best, lifelong disability.

Outside the windows of every apartment, there was a concrete ledge about half a meter wide and a meter long. I quickly calculated the layout of the building: if I could jump onto the ledge outside the victim's room, I should be able to get a clear shot at Zhang Wen. Barring any accidents, my line of sight would not be blocked from there.

Life-or-death minutes were ticking away, and time was critically short. Because the police hadn't anticipated Zhang Wen's tactics, their meticulous preparations had overlooked the exterior ledges, leaving us without any safety ropes. Yu City's climate was perpetually humid; even though winter hadn't fully passed yet, the concrete ledges were covered in slick moss.

Surfaces covered in moss were extremely prone to slipping, and the gap between each household's concrete ledge was a terrifying three meters. Attempting to leap across at such a height was already a monumental challenge.

Such a maneuver was overwhelmingly dangerous, and the officers strongly opposed it.

"There's no time," I told them. I invoked Fat Lu's name, wasting a precious dozen seconds. Seeing that they couldn't talk me out of it, they finally gave up trying.

I swung myself over and stood on the exterior concrete ledge. Before I even took a step, I could feel how slippery the surface was.