Chapter 24 - Deadlock

The night in the zoo was over.

Before the dawn, Shen Congfei used his hunter's skills, stealthily dealt with the imperial soldiers ambushed in the zoo, and on his way, completed the task of looking for the whereabouts of Tang Ke's parents.

Fortunately, he did not find the bodies of the couple in the zoo.

Which indicated that they might still be alive.

Thinking of this, Shen Congfei dragged away the bodies of the imperial soldiers, hid their weapons and ammunition in a specific place.

By the time he was done with this, it was dawn.

While pondering the whereabouts of Tang Ke's parents, he heard a broadcast from outside.

It was a message broadcasted in the Neutral United Front's common language.

The general idea was that the imperial army had an announcement relating to the urban rebels and it urged the city's residents to gather in front of the city hall to listen.

Upon hearing this, Shen Congfei immediately thought of Tang Ke's parents.

So, after hiding his weapons and pulling his hood over his head to prevent being recognized and caused unnecessary trouble, he quietly left the zoo and merged with the crowd.

He made his way to the city hall which was located in the city center.

At that time, the entire white city hall building was decorated with an empire flag on each side.

On the square in front of the city hall, a red stage had been set up, surrounded by armed imperial soldiers.

On the stage was a wooden lectern for the speaker, with large speakers placed on both sides.

After a while, a few people stepped onto the red stage.

Upon seeing one of the individuals, Shen Congfei instinctively pulled his hat down.

The old acquaintance was the very imperial officer who had shot a male teacher at school.

Now he knew the officer's identity.

He was a colonel in the empire.

And he was also the highest-ranking commander of the imperial army in this region.

Unfortunately, earlier, in order to probe into the whereabouts of Tang Ke's parents, Shen Congfei had discarded all his weapons before being searched by the soldiers.

If he had known that there was such a big fish, he would have somehow managed to carry a gun.

But then again, breaking the siege would have been a major issue.

Shen Congfei sighed regretfully under his hood.

Looking up slightly, he looked towards the stage through the brim of his hood.

At this moment, a middle-aged man dressed in a suit and tie walked in front of the lectern, next to the colonel, picked up the microphone, and prepared to speak.

Shen Congfei learned from the conversation of other listeners around him that this middle-aged man was the mayor of this city.

"Fellow citizens, we are holding this lecture today for the purpose of announcing one thing."

"About the rebels who destroyed the business street, the colonel has uncovered who has been secretly supplying intel to them."

"So, in order to maintain peace in our city and to firmly crack down on the rebels, the colonel has decided to execute two accomplices who have passed on the messages to the rebels tomorrow at noon."

"We wish everyone to take this as a warning and have no dealings with the rebels…"

In the crowd, Shen Congfei clenched his fists upon hearing this.

This move was indeed ruthless.

Kill one to warn a hundred.

Moreover, they chose to announce this by broadcasting it and even specified the time and place.

Clearly broadcasting an invitation for rescuers to attempt a breakout.

This is definitely a trap.

If he and his group were to show up tomorrow at the execution site, they would likely be met with a barrage of fire leading to their deaths.

Rather, if they chose not to save them.

In the future, no one in this city would dare to assist them.

It's a blatant conspiracy.

Shen Congfei, hidden in the crowd, understood the situation immediately.

This is checkmate.

No matter what they do, they are faced with undesirable choices.

The rescuers will die.

If they don't rescue, is it possible?

That was their teammate's parents, and without a rescue, the team would likely dissolve too.

…

After the speech ended in front of the city hall, there was heated discussion among the people walking on the road.

By this time, Shen Congfei had already returned to the zoo, climbing over the wall and leaving with his crossbow and rope.

When he returned to the cabin by the lakeside, the others were still training, especially the new cat and mouse duo.

Xue Yangping and Tang Ke were giving them combat training.

Meanwhile, Xia Wei was chatting with the medical teacher Chen Yuanjia by the lakeside.

Seeing Shen Congfei return, everyone got up to walk over, wanting to hear about the situation in the city.

However, seeing the expression on his face was not very good, they also realized that something must have happened.

"Tang Ke, after hearing what I have to say, don't get agitated first."

Shen Congfei looked at the "black diamond," speaking frankly.

He told the six people present about what he saw and includes his judgment and analysis based on it.

Having gone through so much, the others held quite a bit of trust in Shen Congfei's judgment.

Notably Tang Ke's mood was a bit unstable, the news of his parents being executed was hitting him hard.

"So in this case, what should we do?"

"No offense, but in this situation, if we went to save them, I'm afraid…"

The cat and mouse duo, thin cat Tom and fat mouse Jerry, were a bit awkward.

They joined the resistance, not just to go to their deaths pointlessly.

"So what do you suggest we do? Don't rescue them? What if it was your parents?"

At this time, "bald-headed brother" Xue Yangping stepped forward to speak without hesitation.

Shen Congfei knew that Xue was empathizing with his own parents' misfortunes, so he nodded in agreement:

"Alright, let's not fight amongst ourselves first."

"We definitely have to save them, but the problem is we need to figure out how to save them."

"If we die, who will save them?"

At that, Shen Congfei looked up at the sky:

"There is some time before tomorrow, before then, we must come up with a reasonable plan."

Everyone then quieted down, all thinking hard about what should be done.

After the group returned to the cabin, Xia Wei took out the map that was used to survey the defensive situation of the border city.

Shen Congfei circled the city hall on the map.

"This is the location of the city hall and the location of the execution tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, it is estimated that a large part of the city's forces will gather here."

"It will be a den of tigers and dragons."

Saying this, he withdrew his hand and paused:

"On the way back, I also thought of a rough plan, but everyone needs to cooperate in order to make it work."

"But even so, the operation is very dangerous, if anyone wishes to quit, please say so now to avoid regrets later."

Following these words, Shen Congfei's gaze swept over the crowd.

His eyes focused on the two new members in the group.

As for the other team members, he was certain without a doubt that they would participate.

However, the result was unexpectedly favorable, not a single person chose to quit, including the cat and mouse duo who had previously expressed doubts about the rescue.

This pleased Shen Congfei, and he nodded his head before continuing with his suggestions.