Sniper Feng Wen locked onto the target and started the countdown: “Three, two, one—”

As his voice fell, a powerful gust of wind rose behind him, carrying the bullet forward.

Rushing out together with the bullet was Luo Lin himself.

“Thirty, twenty-nine.”

The fierce sound of the wind and Feng Wen’s mechanical countdown echoed through the Bluetooth earpiece.

Luo Lin leaped from the rooftop of the seven-story building.

At the same time the bullet struck the suspect, Luo Lin landed on the bus.

“Twenty-eight.”

He pulled out the dagger from his waist and tore open the vines wrapped around the front windshield, and grabbed onto a severed vine. Using its toughness and his enhanced physical strength, he kicked open the front windshield.

This spot was farthest from most of the hostages and had the fewest vines wrapped around it, creating the best possible escape route.

Luo Lin quickly directed people to escape through the opening while he rushed toward the suspect.

“Twenty-four.”

Chu Chen was the closest to the suspect. The moment he heard “three, two, one,” he immediately grabbed the gun pointed at him. With no tools to cut through the vines wrapped around it, he could only remove the magazine and stuff the bullets into his pocket.

As Luo Lin broke through the window, Chu Chen secured the bullets and moved to take the baby from the woman’s arms.

Their eyes met for a fleeting moment before they split—Luo Lin heading to the front of the bus, while Chu Chen focused on calming the child.

The other hostages, now reacting to the situation, scrambled to distance themselves from the suspect, frantically pulling at the vines to find a way to escape.

“Twenty-two.”

Police reinforcements arrived, taking the baby from Chu Chen and immediately handing the infant over to the medical team.

Luo Lin confirmed that the suspect had been neutralized and was unconscious due to the gunshot. He plunged his dagger into the vines, attempting to rip them apart to reach the heart directly, but instead, his blade struck a plastic box.

Gripping three or four vines around the chest, he slashed them open along with the suspect’s clothes—only to find, instead of a heart, a bomb strapped to the chest.

“There’s a bomb! Twenty seconds left!”

Luo Lin alerted his team. The moment the other hostages heard the word “bomb,” they collapsed in fear, screaming as they rushed to escape through the opening.

“Luo Lin, what do we do?”

“Keep evacuating.”

The timer on the bomb was in perfect sync with Feng Wen’s countdown. Luo Lin immediately deduced that the bomb had been triggered the moment the gunshot paralyzed the suspect’s limbs.

They had actually planned for this.

They had to get everyone out.

“Twenty.”

Luo Lin checked for a way to disable the bomb.

The woman who had been holding the baby was too weak to move on her own. Chu Chen struggled to push her out, and the medical staff quickly caught her at the opening.

“Fifteen.”

Just then, the vines—previously paralyzed—suddenly began twisting and tightening around the bus.

“Escape through here!”

The injured boyfriend of the couple jumped out of the front window and was caught by medical staff. His girlfriend followed right after.

“Thirteen.”

But at that moment, the vines began constricting again, tightening around the bus.

This wasn’t right—they should have had thirty full seconds.

“Eight.”

The driver had just climbed out.

Everyone was out, except Luo Lin and Chu Chen.

“Eight seconds left! Everyone back away!!”

Hearing Luo Lin’s command, the medical staff hurriedly retreated with the driver.

Chu Chen had just climbed onto the escape route. He stepped onto the front windshield, ready to jump down—then suddenly stopped.

If there were only eight seconds left, how was Luo Lin planning to escape?

He hesitated.

Then, he turned to look back at Luo Lin one last time.

In that moment, those deep blue eyes seemed to flicker with an eerie shade of red.

Before Chu Chen could get a clearer look, a violent gust of wind engulfed him. His vision blurred as he was yanked by the wrist and pulled into an embrace.

The next second, he was launched out of the bus.

They tumbled several times before landing—Chu Chen, shielded firmly in Luo Lin’s arms.

Then came the deafening explosion, followed by the pungent scent of burning.

Yet strangely, the sound and the blast wave seemed to be pushed away by some mysterious force.

Chu Chen opened his eyes.

Reflected in his sapphire blue irises was a familiar figure.

Luo Lin.

Behind him, the bus was engulfed in flames and thick smoke. Luo Lin’s over-enhanced body had protected Chu Chen from even the slightest trace of dust or gunpowder.

And just moments ago, at the instant of the explosion, Luo Lin had stretched out his hand—summoning a fierce gust of wind that blasted the entire bus fifteen meters away, ensuring that neither of them were caught in the blast.

“Senior—”

“What the hell were you doing dawdling in there? I told you to evacuate!! Why the hell did you come back from abroad without a word? And you dared to send us messages right in front of the suspect—do you not respect the Special Investigation Bureau, or do you just think you’re that capable?”

Chu Chen’s beautiful eyes instantly dimmed.

Of course. He had been unprepared, and because of this sudden crisis, he ended up meeting Luo Lin in such a disheveled state—hair a mess, clothes covered in dirt, and worse, getting himself kidnapped.

Luo Lin was definitely angry, thinking he was just a burden.

“Xiao Mutou, what should I do?” Chu Chen asked his AI companion through a neural link. “Senior seems really angry.”

【If you act like a helpless victim, he’ll feel sorry for you. But right now, you’re standing there perfectly fine, so of course, he’s going to scold you.】

“Got it.”

And so, Chu Chen shut his eyes and fainted.

【I didn’t tell you to play dead!!】

“Too late now.”

“…The hell?”

“Wake up?”

Luo Lin reached out and shook Chu Chen’s shoulders.

Wasn’t this guy just up and moving a second ago?

How did he suddenly pass out?

Was I too harsh?

No way, right?

So—delicate?

Ah, he just thought Chu Chen was being foolish.

Why didn’t he just run? Running back and forth, first saving the child, then discarding the gun—how many lives did he think he had? And staying until the very last moment? What if something had happened to him and Luo Lin wasn’t there?

Luo Lin crouched down and hoisted him up. His body was several times stronger than that of an ordinary person, and his strength was as well.

“Where’s the ambulance? There’s an injured person here!”

The medical staff rushed over and loaded Chu Chen onto a stretcher.