Chapter 12、Gunfight Erupts in the Dead of Night! A Dire Crisis Looms over the Shelter!

As soon as Lin Yue's warning reached Yi Bai, the thugs outside had already gathered in the hallway.

Yi Bai barely had any time to react. He could already hear the men outside, apparently starting a thorough search of the floor. Faint voices drifted from the neighboring apartment.

"Hmm? The signs I left here yesterday are gone…"

"Someone's been through here? Looks like something's missing."

"It's gotta be the people in that unit. I knew someone was hiding in there!"

"Damn it, go find them! How dare they hide from us!"

Yi Bai narrowed his eyes and glanced at Lin Yue. She silently gestured for him and Li Ya to move into the far corner of the room.

Yi Bai nodded and carefully pressed himself against the wall, while Li Ya positioned herself diagonally from him. Lin Yue crouched behind the freezer, all three of them armed and holding their breath, waiting for the enemy to make their move.

Moments later, a loud crashing sound echoed from outside.

"BANG! BANG BANG!"

"Come out, you bastards! If you're hiding in there, we'll kill you!"

"Damn it, I knocked on the door the first day, and now you're not saying a word!"

"Smash down the door! Bring the hammer!"

"BANG! CRASH!"

Amid the thugs' shouting, the sound of wood shattering rang out. The old wooden door was no match for their force, and as it splintered apart, beams of flashlight light pierced through the gaps of the steel bars and flooded into the room.

The light shifted, allowing Yi Bai to catch glimpses of moving figures through the reflection in the mirror.

By rough estimation, there were at least twenty or more people outside.

The thugs had grown in numbers, and the odds were against them. Yi Bai didn't dare to risk firing and exposing their position.

But Lin Yue was fearless. As soon as the flashlight illuminated the room, she immediately fired.

"TATATAT!"

A burst of bullets erupted from her gun. Almost immediately, a scream echoed from outside.

"Ah! They've got guns! The people inside have guns!"

"Damn it, I've been hit! Li Ge, I've been shot! I'm gonna die!"

"Hide! Hide! Get the guns out, what are you waiting for?"

The outside erupted into chaos and panic as Lin Yue's surprise attack shattered their bravado.

"Nice shot!" Yi Bai's eyes lit up as he glanced at Lin Yue crouching behind the freezer.

He knew just how complex Li Ya had made the iron door. Despite the gaps between the bars, they were small, and if Yi Bai had tried to shoot, his bullets would likely have ricocheted and hit one of his own people.

But Lin Yue's shooting skills were impressive—she was able to handle a submachine gun with such precision that her shots barely missed.

Yet the thugs weren't fools either. Soon, Yi Bai saw black muzzles pressed against the gaps in the steel door.

"BANG! BANG BANG!"

The sharp sound of gunfire erupted in the darkness, and sparks flew from the walls of the room as bullets ricocheted, shattering objects inside.

The thugs had guns too—likely purchased from the online trading platform.

"Kill them! Open fire!"

"We're out of ammo, damn it! Did anyone hit them?"

"There's no movement inside. Smash the damn door open! Finish them off!"

The thugs shouted, emptying an entire magazine.

As they continued hammering at the door, Yi Bai saw Lin Yue signal to Li Ya.

Li Ya nodded and, half emerging from behind the wall, aimed her gun at the door where the flashlight was positioned, firing three controlled shots.

"BANG! BANG! BANG!"

One bullet missed, ricocheting off the door, but the other two clearly hit their mark.

"Ah! Damn! There are still survivors inside!"

"My brother's been shot! He's been hit!"

"Li Ge, what do we do now?"

"Shoot! Keep shooting!"

The thugs were in disarray, and after reloading, they resumed firing.

But Li Ya had already ducked back into her position.

The thugs' bullets ricocheted wildly within the room, but they couldn't harm Yi Bai or his team.

Lin Yue had anticipated the threat from stray bullets and had positioned them carefully. In the tight space, they were shielded from the ricochets, and none of the thugs' bullets managed to hit.

As soon as the thugs emptied another magazine, and the gunfire stopped, Lin Yue almost instantly revealed herself and unleashed two bursts of fire at the door.

"TATATAT! TATATAT!"

The sound of bullets hitting flesh echoed from outside, followed by the thugs' screams.

"We can't stay here and be sitting ducks!"

"There's a sharpshooter inside, we can't win this! Li Ge, we need to retreat to the upper floor!"

"Damn it, it's too dangerous. Let's go, now!"

The thugs lacked the discipline of real soldiers, and after a few exchanges, many of them were injured and began to panic, fearing they'd be the next to get shot.

After some shouting and more agonizing screams, the sounds of the retreating thugs grew fainter.

"Did they leave?"

Yi Bai whispered, but Lin Yue stayed perfectly still, breathing shallowly.

Suddenly, Lin Yue's arm shot out, and she fired another burst at the right side of the door.

"TATATAT!"

A scream rang out from outside.

"Damn it! They've figured us out!"

"Go! Get out of here! Damn it!"

The sound of more scrambling and retreating footsteps filled the hallway.

Yi Bai wiped the sweat from his forehead. These thugs were tricky. Even in the midst of an attack, they still tried to lay an ambush, waiting for the moment when the pressure inside would cause them to slip up before launching another assault.

Fortunately, Lin Yue was sharp enough to catch on to their trap.

"They're gone."

Lin Yue quickly walked over to Yi Bai, concern in her eyes. "Are you alright? You weren't injured, were you?"

"I'm fine." Yi Bai shook his head. He hadn't fired a shot, and he'd hidden well enough that he hadn't taken any damage.

Yi Bai wasn't a coward, but the poor visibility at night and his lack of experience with firearms made him hesitant to shoot. He didn't want to risk injuring one of his team.

His decision turned out to be the right one. The thugs, with all their numbers, couldn't even handle Lin Yue, let alone the three of them working together.

"Boss, I think we'll be up all night." Lin Yue lowered her voice, analyzing the situation.

"They took heavy losses. I'm guessing at least five of them were shot. They're most likely going to come back in the middle of the night and try again."

"The iron door should hold them off, but if they have any breaching tools, it might not be enough."

Lin Yue's expression was grim, and the scent of blood from outside further confirmed her analysis.

Having suffered such heavy losses, the thugs weren't about to let it go. Yi Bai had to brace himself for another round of brutal attacks.

"They'll be back. Let's counterattack!" Li Ya's voice was low but resolute.

"Lin Yue, you're strong enough to lead an assault. Let's hit them hard and break their morale. We can go on the offensive and force them to retreat!"

Lin Yue looked at Li Ya with a bitter smile. "I wish it were that easy. But right now, they're most likely lying in wait in the hallway, just waiting for us to come out."

"We still don't know how many guns they have. And the boss mentioned that they might have combat skills that make them even more dangerous."

"I'm not afraid to die, but I'm worried that if I go out there and fail to take them all down, some of them might slip through and come back to get you. That's what I'm really worried about."

Lin Yue furrowed her brow. Currently, she was the only trained fighter among them. While Li Ya could shoot, her combat experience wasn't on Lin Yue's level, and Yi Bai was, well, Yi Bai. He wasn't a soldier.

"So it looks like we're stuck playing the waiting game," Li Ya said, glancing at Yi Bai.

"Boss, we need to keep Lin Yue off the front lines for now. Let's bide our time and wait for the right moment to strike, maybe once they've worn themselves down a bit."

"We don't have much time left," Yi Bai's expression darkened as he opened the city region's chat channel. A new post caught his eye:

"High price paid for grenades! Flamethrowers! Molotov cocktails and other heavy weapons! Good materials offered in exchange! If you've got them, put them up for sale now!"

The post was from someone named Li Daqiang's Shelter, which Yi Bai quickly deduced was the group of thugs outside.

They were looking for powerful tools to force their way in.

Yi Bai's stomach sank. These thugs were serious, and they were about to escalate their tactics. It was clear—they weren't backing down anytime soon.