138: Chapter 137 The Belated Phone Call

Cao Xiao looked at the empty hospital, feeling a sense of self-reproach. He had played the villain today, but it wasn't by choice; he would do his best to make amends afterward.

"Who is in charge here?" Cao Xiao walked to the main entrance, three black umbrellas already held over him. Carrying umbrellas on a windless, rainless night was certainly bizarre, but the bodyguards dared not be careless. Before arriving, Cao Xiao had explicitly stated his extreme distrust of the Baishui Town police.

"I am Ni Zhen, Director of the Baishui Town Police Station! Who on earth are you people, and why are you disrupting public order with firearms?" A female police officer, roughly the same age as Cao Xiao, stepped out of a police car. Ignoring her subordinates' attempts to stop her, she crossed the cordon and walked to within two meters of Cao Xiao, questioning him with authority.

Cao Xiao was somewhat surprised that the newcomer was a young female director. Despite not knowing their background, she approached him calmly and without flinching in the face of automatic weapons. If it were a man, he would find it normal, but for a young woman to do so—her courage truly earned his admiration. Judging by her powerful stride, she was likely a martial artist. Cao Xiao gained a newfound respect for this director, so he pushed aside the black umbrellas in front of him and said with a smile, "Director Ni, hello. We belong to a classified unit and are currently on a mission. We didn't expect to cause trouble for the local authorities. We were just performing emergency rescue on a target and couldn't be disturbed. Please understand the inconvenience caused to your side."

Ni Zhen arched a brow and re-evaluated Cao Xiao, her face showing doubt. She pointed sternly at Duan Hong and the others. "Those few are soldiers, but you are not. I've served in the military too; you can't fool me. Besides, soldiers don't use guns to threaten doctors. I don't care who you really are—please show your valid identification and relevant documents. If you have none, put down your weapons immediately and come with us to the station to provide a proper explanation."

Cao Xiao knew her suggestion was the best way to handle things, but he was suffering in silence—where was he supposed to get identification? He was also worried; not that he feared his bargaining chips wouldn't be enough to move people, but that the delay would take too long. Moreover, he didn't trust any police in Baishui Town. If they laid down their weapons and went to the station, no one could predict if an accident would occur, and he wouldn't be able to handle it well then. Thus, he said to Ni Zhen in a negotiating tone, "I really can't show you my ID right now, but in a moment, your superiors should have orders passed down. This standoff isn't good for anyone. How about this: both sides lower their weapons, you turn off the sirens, lift the cordon, and clear the road. We both wait in the lobby. What do you think, Director Ni?"

"Director Ni, please evacuate outside the cordon immediately. Orders from superiors."

"Wait here!" Ni Zhen frowned, glanced toward the police car, said a word to Cao Xiao, and retreated from the hospital entrance.

Cao Xiao stood there waiting for Ni Zhen to return. He thought Qi Bin and the others had already communicated with the domestic authorities and were contacting the Baishui Town police. However, after waiting several minutes without seeing Ni Zhen again, he felt something was wrong. Seeing the police disappearing from sight without a trace, he thought to himself that things were looking bad.

"On guard! Back to the lobby!" Cao Xiao shouted to his bodyguards.

Immediately, he was shielded tightly by the black umbrellas again. At that moment, Niu Zhen's hand on the right suddenly jerked, nearly losing his grip on the umbrella handle. Only then did the faint sound of something breaking the air come from the distance, followed by a sudden outburst of gunfire. The police had opened fire on them!

"Brother Li, Brother Cheng, don't attack! Everyone take cover! No one fires without my command!" Although he was furious at the ambush, Cao Xiao hadn't lost his reason. Once they returned fire, things would get out of hand. Not to mention these twenty-plus ordinary officers with handguns outside—even if real special forces came, they might not be able to take this place quickly without casualties. The strength was lopsided; if his side fought back, these police wouldn't last five minutes. Moreover, these officers were just following orders; he didn't want to hurt them.

"Brother Duan, Brother Niu, go protect my sister-in-law and niece. Find Long Tu and Zhang Tianling and have them call to find out what's going on." Having retreated into the lobby, Cao Xiao spoke to Duan Hong and Niu Zhen from behind a pillar.

"Mr. Cao, they're coming in! What do we do?" Li Quanshuo saw the police using their cars as cover to slowly approach the lobby and quickly asked Cao Xiao for instructions.

"Target the tires. You can fire to stop them from approaching, but don't hurt anyone. There's a sniper out there; they shouldn't be with the military or police. I'll go to the roof to deal with him. Don't worry, with the bulletproof vest and the vajra umbrella, no one can hurt me." After speaking, Cao Xiao dashed up the stairs in a flash.

The bodyguards didn't stop him. As long as he was prepared, bullets couldn't harm Cao Xiao. They had no doubt about their boss's marksmanship; even martial artists had died by his gun. An ordinary sniper really wouldn't have the skill to escape Cao Xiao's lock-on.

The weapons brought this time were all replicas of the originals; he had to be even more cautious within the country. He had also brought two sniper rifles: one for Li Quanshuo and one for his own use. There was no need for slow assembly; he pulled a pre-assembled one directly from his space and mounted it on the roof railing. The sniper had long been exposed in his sight, positioned on a small hilltop six hundred meters away. However, Cao Xiao didn't hurry to fire. Instead, he first checked what was happening with Ni Zhen. There were no hostages in the hospital; why would the police launch a sudden attack without warning?

In his field of vision, Ni Zhen was in a police car arguing heatedly with a middle-aged policeman in the driver's seat, anxiously trying to open the locked car door. Seeing this scene, Cao Xiao breathed a sigh of relief; the situation wasn't as bad as he had imagined. He was also curious about who that middle-aged policeman was to dare restrict Ni Zhen's freedom. Checking the man's ID, he discovered that this middle-aged policeman named Hu Chengcai was actually the Deputy Director of the Baishui Town Police Station. Since when could a deputy director place a director under house arrest? It seemed the order to attack just now had been given by this person, and all the officers had followed it, listening to the deputy's orders over the director's. This phenomenon was very strange!

It had been fifteen minutes since the call with South Africa ended. Why was there still no movement? If this continued, he really didn't know how it would end. He was truly out of patience for this entanglement. If Ni Zhen hadn't received orders from superiors, then this Deputy Director Hu Chengcai was problematic. Moreover, Li Dongping had been arrested by the Baishui Town Police Station. He could only associate this man with the mining disaster at Xinyuan Coal Mine. It was very likely that Hu Chengcai was a participant in this complex incident, either directly involved or the mastermind. In short, this man was an enemy!

Having roughly guessed the answer, Cao Xiao stopped worrying about the police and focused back on the sniper. He noticed the sniper's features didn't look Chinese—high bridge of the nose, brown eyes, yellowish skin, and slightly curly hair. He looked like someone from Southeast Asia. African mercenaries, South American drug lords, Southeast Asian assassins... this person should be an assassin. They had arrived in Baishui Town less than an hour ago; how could a Southeast Asian assassin be here to snipe him? Or had this person been in Baishui Town all along? Cao Xiao rubbed his temples to stay alert. Baishui Town was certainly full of strange occurrences; even foreign assassins had appeared. Was it really just triggered by a mining accident? Xinyuan Mining Company definitely held a massive secret!

He wasn't in the mood for wild guesses; he was exhausted. Right now, he just wanted to wrap this up early and get a good night's sleep, then turn Xinyuan Coal Mine upside down tomorrow to see what was causing the trouble.

There was no need to aim; he wasn't a true marksman. His past achievements relied on cheating with his space ability. Since no one was watching him now, he didn't even bother to hide it and fired four shots at random. The bullets exiting the barrel were instantly pulled into his space and then eerily appeared above the assassin's limbs. The heavy 12.7mm rounds, carrying immense kinetic energy, directly shattered the assassin's limbs. The sudden, unheralded agony caused the assassin to faint instantly. Cao Xiao kindly controlled some soil to stop the bleeding; this person still had value alive and couldn't die yet.

With his limbs shattered, even if the assassin woke up, he couldn't escape; he could only lie there helpless. Having dealt with the assassin, Cao Xiao stowed the sniper rifle, sat down on the ground, lit a cigarette, took two puffs, and then pulled out his phone to call Qi Bin.

Unexpectedly, the line was busy. He called Xiahou Anbang, but it was the same. He didn't know how things were progressing. The gunfire downstairs hadn't stopped, and Cao Xiao began to feel inexplicably irritable. It was already ten minutes past the agreed time. Since there was still no news, it meant the domestic side didn't value this matter enough. Better to rely on himself than others; he didn't want to wait anymore!

He threw the half-finished cigarette on the ground, stood up abruptly, and strode downstairs.

"Brother Cao, my dad said for you guys to hold on! The Pan City Public Security Bureau didn't issue an order to storm the place; something went wrong with the Baishui Town Police Station. The Armed Police and the Public Security Bureau's SWAT have already reached five kilometers outside Baishui Town and are rushing here." Seeing Cao Xiao appear, Zhang Tianling, who was hiding in a corner of the stairwell, shouted anxiously.

"Just stay hidden; they won't get in." Cao Xiao paused his steps upon hearing this. He thought to himself: so what if they arrived? Wouldn't they still want to take them in for questioning? He replied and, without looking back, continued downstairs.

"My niece is resting, and they're being too loud! Brother Li, the four of you prepare to attack. Don't use guns; get close and use clubs to knock them all out! Turn off all the sirens. Also... bring back the two people in that last police car." Arriving in the lobby, Cao Xiao gave the order to the four bodyguards.

"Alright!" Since things had reached this point, if it really couldn't be resolved, they weren't afraid of adding another charge—or they could call it excessive self-defense. Li Quanshuo replied somewhat dejectedly.

The four of them put on their hoods, slung their rifles behind their backs, and took the wooden clubs Cao Xiao handed them. They strode out without dodging. Cao Xiao had added a pair of transparent special bulletproof glass to the eye areas of the original hoods. This way, they achieved full-body protection without blind spots, ensuring they wouldn't be harmed by bullets even in a hail of gunfire. With the properties of the HS1 alloy, this could already be called unpowered external armor.

Cao Xiao didn't need to focus on what was happening outside; the outcome of those police officers being knocked out one by one was already certain. He was about to call the bodyguards staying in Huanghe City to have them protect his family during this time. Unexpectedly, his phone rang. He saw the incoming number had only eight digits, no area code; it wasn't a landline, nor did it look like a harassing telemarketing call. He had never seen such a strange number with letters in it.

"Hello?" Cao Xiao thought about it and answered.

"You must be Mr. Cao Xiao?" A deep, middle-aged male voice came from the receiver.

"I am Cao Xiao. And you are?" Cao Xiao asked.

"I am Xu Fanghou, Commander of the Qian Province Military Region. I have been entrusted by my superiors to handle the Xinyuan mining disaster with full authority, while also ensuring your safety. What is the current situation on your end?"

"Commander Xu, hello! On my side..." Cao Xiao felt a surge of joy. This Commander Xu should be the person sent by the high-level authorities to contact him. Being from the military, he wouldn't be influenced by the situation here in Baishui Town. He could finally relax. Thus, he quickly recounted everything that had happened here.

While happy, he also felt a bit frustrated. This call had come a bit late; if it had been a few minutes or ten-odd minutes earlier, there wouldn't be this much trouble now. Not only had they exchanged fire with the police, but he had also just ordered the officers to be knocked out. Even if it turned out fine in the end, he had gained another bad reputation. If word of this got out, regardless of the cause, he might not be welcomed by the police in the country in the future.

"Simply outrageous! A complete mess! You're young, so I'll call you Little Cao! I've already communicated with Pan City and the Armed Police. Your identity issue has been resolved, and they will arrive shortly. I've instructed them to detain the responsible parties; they won't make things difficult for you! It's too late now, so rest well in Baishui Town tonight. Tomorrow morning, I will personally accompany people from the capital to Baishui Town to handle the specific issues. We'll talk more when we meet." Commander Xu was very angry after listening; Cao Xiao could hear the sound of a table being slapped on the other end.

After hanging up the call with Commander Xu, the sirens outside had stopped. Cao Xiao walked out of the lobby and saw Li Quanshuo and Cheng Xiaodao fighting Ni Zhen. Despite being elite special forces, the two were being suppressed by Ni Zhen. They could only manage to parry and couldn't even counterattack, struggling to hold their ground. Meanwhile, the other two bodyguards could only watch from the side, unable to even intervene. One look at Ni Zhen's style revealed it was Eight Extremes Fist, and she had clearly mastered it. Eight Extremes Fist was fiercely powerful; any hit that connected would cause injury, and a careless strike could even be fatal. Worried for his bodyguards' safety, Cao Xiao immediately shouted from a distance, "Brother Li, stop! Director Ni, it's a misunderstanding! Stop quickly!"