Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 238 - 225: Laying a Solid Foundation

Chapter 238: Chapter 225: Laying a Solid Foundation

Gao Yi rolled over and returned to the police station lobby, his trousers already shredded, with both calves oozing blood on the side facing the blast wave—just the superficial skin was damaged. It hurt, but not particularly badly.

There was a small hole in his left shoulder that kept bleeding, and his arm had been injured by shrapnel, but he could still lift it, indicating it had not hit bone or tendon—it should be like that.

But Lin Xianghua’s condition was very bad.

Wearing a Bullet-Proof Vest, Lin Xianghua’s torso, though sporting two bullet holes, was safe; the reason he couldn’t get up off the ground was due to his legs, arms, face—every part not covered by the vest was bloody, and it was unclear where the injury was.

"Ah Gui, Ah Gui! Speak to me, are you dead?"

Gao Yi didn’t know what was going on in his head, or rather, he didn’t know what he should be thinking, but after seeing Lin Xianghua’s terrible state, some words just spilled out without passing through his brain.

Lin Xianghua’s mouth opened and closed. Gao Yi couldn’t help but say, "Louder, I can’t hear you, you can still talk, you’re not dead, that’s great..."

At that moment, Gao Yi suddenly found he could hear sounds again.

It was that very sharp, high-frequency background noise, mixed with some static that sounded like people talking.

Gao Yi leaned closer to Lin Xianghua, who weakly but forcefully shouted, "I’m not dead, it’s you who’s gone deaf, can you hear me? Temporary deafness..."

"I hear you."

Gao Yi’s voice was terrifyingly loud; every sentence he uttered was like a shout.

If the eardrums hadn’t ruptured from being deafened by the blast, then after a while, he should be able to hear again, only accompanied by tinnitus.

Intense tinnitus.

Gao Yi bent down, grabbed Lin Xianghua, and dragged him hard, pulling him from the lobby of the police station to the rest room.

Then, Gao Yi went to check on Feng Biao.

Feng Biao had collapsed right here, falling on top of Gao Yi. Gao Yi turned Feng Biao over and found no obvious wounds on him, but he seemed to be spitting blood from his mouth.

Lin Xianghua shouted, "Concussion injury, knocked out, did you hear that?"

It wasn’t a concussion injury, because Gao Yi had seen Feng Biao throw four hand grenades before passing out. If it were just concussion, he would have recovered quickly.

Gao Yi turned Feng Biao over and indeed, there was a bullet hole in Feng Biao’s leg, bleeding profusely.

Feng Biao was also wearing a Bullet-Proof Vest, bullets to the torso wouldn’t penetrate, but a shot in the leg followed by a faint meant likely excessive blood loss.

Excessive blood loss could lead to a faster death, and if a major artery had been hit, it could even be quicker than a torso shot.

Gao Yi clamped his hands on Feng Biao’s thigh, a reflex action, but he quickly realized it was useless, so he hastily pulled off Feng Biao’s belt and tightened it as much as possible to slow the bleeding.

"Berserker, Berserker! Xianyu!"

"I’m here!"

Li Jie cried out in pain and said to Gao Yi, "Stop shouting, I’ve been calling you for ages."

Li Jie tried to stand but swayed and sat down again.

This time Gao Yi finally faintly heard a voice, and he ran over.

"You’re not..."

"I’m not dead! Stop yelling, Berserker’s at the back, the back!"

Li Jie’s face was pale from blood loss; he was wearing a police helmet, now skewed and half-hanging off his head, and there was a bullet hole in the helmet, with the blood coming from Li Jie’s head.

Gao Yi couldn’t help but show a face full of fear and shock, afraid that Li Jie’s skull had been blown open.

"I was hit by a hand grenade; my head’s fine; go check on Berserker, Berserker..."

Li Jie pointed backward with his hand. Gao Yi followed his direction and then he finally thought of where Lucy might be.

Lucy was initially in the hallway leading to the back rooms of the lobby, but she disappeared after the fight broke out.

The police station was simply laid out, not very big, but even if small, it still had about a dozen rooms.

There was a back door to the police station, and since the enemy had attacked from the main entrance of the lobby, naturally, they wouldn’t overlook the back.

Remembering, Feng Biao should have first encountered the enemy at the back door, then turned to the lobby, and at the last critical moment, threw four hand grenades.

Gao Yi moved forward, passed the detention room, and then saw three police officers huddled on the ground in the not-so-large detention room, scared to death.

The keys were just in front of the bars, and the people inside could reach out, grab the keys, and open up the steel cage that took up half of the detention room.

But no one went to open the cell door.

Gao Yi took another two steps forward and saw the six corpses stretching along the corridor from the back door.

The enemy had attacked from the back door, and Lucy had stopped them, but where was Lucy?

At that moment, Gao Yi finally saw Lucy, lying on the ground, with Luca beside her, both covered in dust and dirt, Lucy’s hair even blown apart by the blast wave.

Luca was a middleman, also a financier, not a combatant, but now he had to join the battle, and he was with Lucy—it was unclear if they were dead or knocked out.

They were motionless and truly appeared dead. Gao Yi held his breath, squatted down, and checked Lucy’s neck.

There was a pulse, there was breathing, she wasn’t dead.

After turning Lucy over for a check, there were no bullet holes.

Looking at the ground, there were two marks left by the explosion of hand grenades, no bullet holes from shrapnel, offensive hand grenades, plus a Shock Bomb. The room they used as cover was too small, so the stun wasn’t likely caused by the offensive hand grenades, but the effects of the Shock Bomb.

They should not be dead, unless the Shock Bomb had caused severe internal injuries.

Gao Yi didn’t harm Lucy and Luca. Instead, he turned back, grabbed Li Jie by the clothes, and dragged him into the resting room.

The resting room wasn’t much safer, but if someone tossed a hand grenade in there, it would still be safer than staying in the hall.

"Change the ammo! Change the ammo!"

Li Jie kept shouting at Gao Yi, pointing at the gun in his left hand.

Only then did Gao Yi remember that he’d forgotten to swap the magazine.

It showed he wasn’t a professional; not relying on guns for a living, he’d actually forgotten to change the ammo.

His right hand pulled out a magazine, and Li Jie said anxiously, "Everyone is a protected target, use armor-piercing rounds, use armor-piercing rounds."

Gao Yi put the magazine back in his pocket and felt for an extended magazine.

The extended magazine held twenty rounds—all armor-piercing, high-caliber—and using such rounds meant the enemy was heavily protected. A round, or two, might not kill, so it was best to use the largest magazine right away.

With the magazine changed, Gao Yi looked around, hesitating about what to do next, like whether to defend the hall or the back, when suddenly there was another loud boom from behind.

Smoke and dust spread once more, surging directly into the resting room.

"Pfft, phew, Feng Biao is injured? We can’t keep tying his leg like this; it’ll go necrotic. You go and hold the hall, I’ll be the last line of defense. The enemy should be attacking again soon."

Li Jie also knew he was stating the obvious. What mattered now was to slow the blood loss as much as possible to keep Feng Biao alive. The question of potential amputation could be considered later, assuming he survived.

But he still wanted to remind Gao Yi, just in case he didn’t know.

Gao Yi looked around, indeed a bit bewildered.

But first, he had to withstand this round of attack.

Gao Yi raised his gun with his right hand, watching the main entryway, but after a long wait, a full minute, there was still no movement.

Having thrown a hand grenade or used a rocket launcher, the assault team should’ve stormed in by now. If a long time passed after the blast without an attack, it meant the attack was not coming.

Gao Yi suddenly turned around, abandoning the defense of the hall, and ran, stumbling, towards the detention room.

Three policemen were still lying on the floor in the detention room, faces stricken with terror, seemingly petrified by fear.

Gao Yi picked up keys from the ground, inserted them into the lock, twisted, and then flung open the door to the iron cage of the detention room.

"Run for it, or you’ll all die here."

Gao Yi waved his gun and then continued, "But before you leave, call for backup. Tell them there’s been a terror attack and to send reinforcements quickly, with ambulances, hurry!"

Being caught by French police was definitely better than being killed by the Andic Group.

If the French caught them, there was a chance of rescue, but if they were killed, there would, of course, be no chance.

The three exchanged glances and then slowly stood up, terror still apparent. Aliza, full of doubt, said, "You’re not going to kill us, are you?"

"Call for help quickly, then get out of here!"

Gao Yi could hear them, but not clearly. He urged them, "Send reinforcements, send doctors, bring a helicopter, fast, make the situation sound serious."

"Isn’t it serious enough already? This is almost like World War III..."

One of the station’s policemen muttered in French as he walked out of the detention room, and just as he decided to leave first, he finally saw the bodies littered across the hall.

Not exaggerating, bodies everywhere, blood and gore, blood all over, all the glass shattered, the doors wide open.

To get out, they’d have to step over at least ten corpses.

The three policemen instantly regained their composure. "Oh, God, what on earth happened..." Aliza exclaimed in shock.

George shook his head and then looked at Gao Yi, saying very calmly, "There aren’t people still outside waiting to attack, are there?"

Gao Yi nodded. "Yes, so you’d better move quickly. Call for help now! Then get out of here."

"No, no, I can’t go out. We can’t just leave!"

George firmly refused to leave, then said to Gao Yi, "Going out now is suicide. If you truly don’t want to harm us, then don’t let us leave."

"Not leave? Okay, then you call for help. Oh, and there’s one more thing."

Gao Yi suddenly changed his tone, speaking earnestly, "You’ve seen the situation here. I just want to ask, if your country’s been attacked by terrorists and in the report, it says the three of you police officers, with the help of a concerned citizen, fought bravely and repelled the terrorists, killing several, what should it say? Should you start preparing it from the moment you make the call for help? Because there’ll be recordings, after all."

George responded immediately, "That... indeed."

Aliza murmured, "What? Impossible. The Ministry of Internal Affairs bunch of bastards would never approve."

Gao Yi looked at Aliza, very seriously, "But what if the Ministry of Internal Affairs does recognize it as a terrorist attack? And they’re willing to acknowledge you three brave officers repelled the terrorists’ attack. What then? Whether or not the Ministry recognizes it is a matter for later, but now, shouldn’t we prepare as if they will?"

"Call for help, and don’t use the radio. Make a phone call; there’ll be a recording. Say we’re under attack by terrorists, establish a good foundation from the start!"

George caught on fast.

But the veteran officer of this police station suddenly said, "But there’s just the three of us; it’s too exaggerated, no one will believe it, it’s too much even for the public to believe. It needs to seem more realistic."

Gao Yi responded indifferently, "You could have off-duty colleagues come back. Three isn’t enough, but ten should do. See who’d like to take the credit and if you’re willing to share that credit."

The three looked at each other again, and then Aliza suddenly said, "Done properly, and we’re national heroes!"

Aliza was young; if there was a promising future, he might make something of it.

George was about to retire, so he was calmer.

"Never mind about playing the hero for now; deal with the current situation. I’ll call for help, you two help the injured, get the first aid kit, move it, hurry up!"