015 Zookeeper Hug (Part 1)

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"..." A faint sound arose from a corner not too far away.

Gu Xiaoxi immediately turned her head, her eyes landing on the corner where two dilapidated cardboard boxes were shaking incessantly.

She strode forward, lifted the cardboard boxes, revealing two little girls around four or five years old hiding inside. Their eyes, wide with fear, huddled together.

"Are there others with you?" Gu Xiaoxi pulled the two children out of the boxes and asked anxiously.

"Two bad people took everyone away. Sister, please, you have to save them quickly." One of the little girls burst into tears with a wail.

Anger flared up in Gu Xiaoxi - who would do such a thing? To not even spare children with disabilities.

She took out her cell phone to dial the emergency number.

Meanwhile, in another abandoned incomplete building, Mu Yong led four subordinates and locked a group of disabled children in a room used for storing materials. Song Jingyi, who had been injured under Gu Xiaoxi's watch, was now tied up and couldn't move.

The group of children, in fright, huddled together, looking as though they wanted to cry but dared not to.

"Brother Yong, do you think Gu Xiaoxi can find this place?" a man with a sneaky look asked.

"Didn't you leave an address?" Mu Yong questioned.

"I thought you left her a clue…"

"Fuck! What the hell are you good for!" Mu Yong exploded in anger. This bunch of idiots, always so unreliable.

…

The police arrived in no time.

As for Gu Xiaoxi, she went to the small shop across from the orphanage and searched through the footage of the orphanage's front gate. It was a van with the license plate H52541 that had taken the children away.

Once she found the van, things would be easier.

Gu Xiaoxi borrowed the use of the internet café in the small shop from the owner and, utilizing her hacking skills, began to hack into the surrounding surveillance systems, tracking the van, until she finally found the location…

"Miss Gu, are you sure the kidnappers went that way?" Police officer Zhang Lin asked uncertainly. After all, he had just arrived, and Gu Xiaoxi had located the target so quickly.

Gu Xiaoxi nodded, then turned to mount her Iron Horse 999 without waiting for him to speak, and with a twist of the throttle, she shot out.

Half an hour later, the police surrounded the unfinished building.

Gun in hand, Mu Yong's eyes were cold; he hadn't expected Gu Xiaoxi to find him so quickly and to have alerted the police too.

Now there was no time to think too much - his gang, the Gunsmoke Gate, had always been at odds with the police. If they had come, they would deal with them all the same.

"Let Gu Xiaoxi come over by herself. If anyone else dares to take a step forward, I will kill a hostage," Mu Yong, cunning and ruthless, dragged out Song Jingyi as the first hostage.

An injured person, heartlessly stepped on by Mu Yong, with a gun pointed at their head.

Zhang Lin looked at Gu Xiaoxi and said worriedly, "You can't go, it seems they intend to target you. Now that the hostages are in their hands, you can't be impulsive."

Gu Xiaoxi, hands in her pockets, glanced up at the six-story unfinished building and smirked devilishly, "Hand me your megaphone."

Zhang Lin didn't know what she was up to, turned around, and handed it to her. Although young, her serious and arrogant demeanor was not to be underestimated.

Gripping the megaphone tightly, Gu Xiaoxi coldly addressed Mu Yong, "I don't care who you are, but if you dare harm those inside, I will make you regret being born."

After speaking, Gu Xiaoxi tossed the megaphone back to Zhang Lin and walked towards the unfinished building.

Zhang Lin grabbed her hastily and said angrily, "Gu Xiaoxi, right? Do you realize that everyone inside is a criminal? Going in like this, not only can you not save anyone, but you will also be putting yourself in danger! Get back here."

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Gu Xiaoxi turned and sized him up with a glance before finally fixing her gaze steadily on his eyes, speaking in a calm tone, yet with an authority that could not be ignored, "I'm not going. What are you going to do about it, wait until they're all dead before you go? Are those all handicapped children?"

Zhang Lin's body stiffened as he dully stared into Gu Xiaoxi's eyes, very dark, shiny black. He thought they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. Every word she said was a key point.

Right! Mu Yong had specifically named Gu Xiaoxi to come, and if she didn't go, the consequences would indeed be severe.

And if he rashly stepped forward, he might also enrage Mu Yong, putting the hostages in danger.

"Let go!" Gu Xiaoxi spat out the two words coldly and turned to stride toward the place Mu Yong had designated.

Zhang Lin felt his palm go empty; the girl had already walked far away. Her figure was slender but stood as straight as a pine. The setting sun illuminated her like a luminous body, almost making her too dazzling to look at directly.

Gu Xiaoxi stood on a deserted plain, facing the upstairs Mu Yong with her hands spread open and squinting with a smile, "I'm here. Can you release all of them now?"

"Hmph! It's not that simple, I know how cunning you are." Mu Yong sneered coldly, stomped hard on Song Jingyi's head, and looked at Gu Xiaoxi, "I'll cripple you first, then release them. In the meantime, if you dare resist at all, I'll kill one, starting with this injured woman here."

Mu Yong pressed the gun harshly against Song Jingyi's head.

A sharp, cold light flashed through Gu Xiaoxi's eyes, fleeting, yet the faint smile on her face remained.

She shrugged indifferently, "I have nothing on me; do as you please."

Mu Yong gestured with his eyes for several subordinates to rush at Gu Xiaoxi.

Two subordinates pinned down Gu Xiaoxi's body while another started to punch and kick her. Furthermore, Mu Yong used the lives of the hostages as a threat, preventing Gu Xiaoxi from fighting back and not allowing the police to make a move.

Instantly, the scene took a decidedly one-sided turn.

Military Region Hospital

Lin Mi reported to Quan Shaoqing with a pained expression, "Miss Gu is in trouble; someone's taken the orphanage children hostage to threaten her. She's in the midst of a fight with them right now!"

"Whose men are they?" Quan Shaoqing didn't even wait to change his clothes before he headed out of the hospital room.

"They should be Gunsmoke Gate's people. Zhang San is dead, and Dong Xiaorui has suffered heavy losses; this is them sending their underlings for revenge," Lin Mi explained.

"Why is this only being reported now!" Quan Shaoqing wished he could fly to Gu Xiaoxi's side immediately; he had not expected the enemy to move so quickly, and Gu Xiaoxi had foolishly fallen into their trap.

"...!" With a pained expression, Lin Mi cried out injustice; he had taken a group of doctors to vent Quan Shaoqing's anger, and he'd been punished to do a thousand push-ups. It wasn't until he was finished that he received the call, naturally, it was late...

*

Zhang Lin watched as Gu Xiaoxi got beaten until her nose was blue and her face swollen, and eventually, she passed out. Anxiously wanting to negotiate with Mu Yong, he found that the other party was impervious and grimly held onto the hostages, leaving him too scared to act rashly.

A ratty-looking man saw Gu Xiaoxi faint and ordered two subordinates to carry her upstairs, throwing her down in front of Mu Yong.

Mu Yong pressed down hard on the trigger, a sinister smile on his face, "Gu Xiaoxi, Gu Lirou's daughter, I never thought you would die by my hand. Compared to your mother, you're far inferior. If you hadn't meddled in affairs that weren't your business, you wouldn't have invited this deadly disaster upon yourself. And your poor mother, she died without ever knowing who wanted to kill her!"

"Boss, kill her quickly, and we'll have completed our mission," Mu Yong's four subordinates surrounded Gu Xiaoxi and laughed raucously, as if they were traitors reveling in victory.

At that moment, Gu Xiaoxi's tightly closed eyes suddenly snapped open, filled with killing intent and a cold harshness as sharp as a blade's edge just as Mu Yong hadn't yet managed to pull the trigger.

The girl on the ground, with a bruised face and full of injuries, leapt to her feet in a sweeping leg motion, kicking all four men flying away.

By the time Mu Yong's subordinates realized it, the gun that had been in their boss's hands was somehow now in Gu Xiaoxi's possession.

Gu Xiaoxi stood with one foot on Mu Yong's back and the other on his hand, pinning him to the ground like a cockroach, unable to move.

"Do you know how my mother actually died?" Gu Xiaoxi moved the gun to the top of Mu Yong's head, her voice brimming with murderous intent.