Jing Shu hadn’t reached the door when she smelled a pungent odor. Then, she saw thick smoke rapidly spreading inside, engulfing the already dim courtyard in an instant! Thick smoke was everywhere; nothing could be seen!
It was a Smoke Bomb! This content belongs to nοvelfire.net
As Jing Shu ran, she pulled a gas mask out of her pocket and put it on. For her own survival, it didn’t matter if the smoke was toxic or not; putting on the mask was the right thing to do. The thick smoke soon spread throughout the entire courtyard, causing people inside to scream incessantly.
Everyone knew that something serious was likely about to happen.
Jing Shu sped up toward the courtyard entrance. The more critical the moment, the calmer she became, although her heartbeat accelerated and her blood vessels expanded, as if adrenaline had been injected!
Underneath the thick smoke, Jing Shu couldn’t see anything. She was navigating from memory. Mrs. Jing, Mr. Jing, Mr. Jing, and Qiao Lian’s several brothers were all present. Mr. Jing had a gun. Normally, she wouldn’t be afraid of a few people committing a crime.
But the problem now was that the others had a Smoke Bomb! Her vision was severely obstructed, and she didn’t know how many people there were.
Just as Jing Shu was trying to find her family, she heard a voice booming from a loudspeaker,
"Listen up, people inside, we only want all the food and goods. If you’re smart, just stay where you are without moving, let our men take what they want, and then we’ll leave. Otherwise... heh, what would we desperados be scared of?"
"Don’t even think about moving, just stay in your seats and don’t move. Under this smoke, we can see every move you make. If you resist, don’t blame us for being ruthless! If anyone dares to make a move, don’t blame us for killing without hesitation."
No sooner had these words been spoken than another wave of screams and panic ensued.
"Don’t think about calling the police; it’ll take at least ten minutes for the cops from Wu County to get here. In those ten minutes... you’d already be dead without a place to be buried. If we discover anyone trying to make a call, heh, there will be no mercy! We’ve got plenty of weapons here!"
No one expected that, after half a year without law and rampant killings, bandits would still be so brazen. This was supposed to be an era of peace, a world where big data made hiding impossible!
As the host, Uncle immediately shouted, "You can take whatever you want, just please don’t hurt anyone. We won’t move, we absolutely won’t move!"
Uncle’s words put everyone’s safety first, allowing everyone to breathe a sigh of relief. Everyone feared Uncle might stubbornly shout, "We have more people, charge, attack them!" In this situation where no one could see anything, what could they possibly do?
Unluckily, there happened to be an old police officer who shouted, "Nobody move, our lives are precious; don’t do anything foolish," while he texted his station for help.
Jing Shu frowned. The smoke was so thick that visibility was less than a meter. If the other side truly had the ability to see clearly through the smoke, it wouldn’t be good for her to act rashly. She didn’t know if they had guns. They had Smoke Bombs, so why wouldn’t they have guns?
Then again, she knew of a device called thermal imaging that could see through Smoke Bombs. Its principle was to convert thermal readings into an image. Although it couldn’t provide details, at least it provided a field of vision, and indeed, as the robbers said, it could detect any movement.
This thermal imager can detect several different types of gases and is commonly used for airport security checks or elsewhere. There was once a viral video on the internet: a person passing through security let out a fart, and the thermal imager captured and recorded the event clearly, even sharing it online. The trajectory of the fart erupting from the body made it crystal clear to everyone how a fart is produced, the extent of its spread, and how it is smelled by those nearby.
Most importantly, everyone also learned a lesson: never fart during a security check, or you might end up being mocked by the whole internet if it gets captured and shared online.
Jing Shu quietly clapped her hands. I forgot about the Bees in the Magic Cube Space!
Remembering this, Jing Shu found a backlit spot, released the Bees, adjusted the pinhole camera, and sent them out to scout. She also released the Poison Bees. Since the opposition had a line of sight, she couldn’t charge in; she could only deploy these little creatures.
"I hope when the Magic Cube Space upgrades, it will have a shared vision feature," Jing Shu prayed. She desperately needed this scouting vision ability.
The Bees buzzed out, going unnoticed in the noise. Shaky, unstable images were transmitted to her phone. Only when the Bees were close could anything be seen clearly due to the low visibility. Jing Shu controlled six Bees to provide vision, each taking separate routes, as she still needed to locate her parents and ensure their safety.
She was extremely anxious to know how her parents were after the gunfire and what the situation was now.
Just then, suddenly, a dozen flaming bottles flew into the yard! Even with Jing Shu’s reflexes, there was no time to block them, as they came from different trajectories.
Having a large yard wasn’t advantageous either; the square-shaped yard provided no cover. A hard throw from the entrance could send an oil bottle flying far, with massive destructive power!
So much for not harming the innocent, she thought. The people outside were probably just trying to placate us at first, only to strike unexpectedly and catch us off-guard. This must be to ensure we have no power to resist—an extra precaution! What if the people inside fought back?
Immediately, there were continuous screams in the yard as people crowded together were burned by the fire, which spread rapidly.
Outside, people yelled and rushed in excitedly, revealing themselves to the surveillance.
"Brothers, charge! First, find food, then anything else. A wedding catering to this many people must have a good stockpile of food!"
This group must be the fugitives who are still alive, Jing Shu knew. These people wanted to use the chaos inside to buy themselves time. Humanity had long ceased to exist in their view.
Calmly, Jing Shu issued her orders, instructing the trained Poison Bees to sting, disregarding any consequences, aiming to immobilize all eight people within seconds.
The scene immediately became even more chaotic. Amidst the obscuring Smoke Bombs and the cries of those burned by oil, people desperately sought to flee. The yard was turned upside down in an instant. Although the fires from the oil bottles were not extensive, they continued to spread! Some people were rushing towards the door, coincidentally encountering these frenzied attackers who did not hesitate to start hacking at them with clubs and knives...