Outside the Heavenly Heart Shopping Plaza, a man on an electric bike, visibly enraged and brandishing a knife, was weaving through traffic. A traffic police officer spotted him and pulled him over. As soon as the man dismounted, without a word, he swung the knife, slashed at the officer repeatedly. Crimson blood gushed from the wounds, and the officer collapsed, severely injured.
The whole incident happened in a flash. Onlookers were too stunned to react. The man, still gripping the blood-stained knife, quickly grabbed another man nearby and took him hostage.
“Ahhh! Help me!” the burly man screamed in terror.
Who would have thought that a simple trip out for a pack of cigarettes would turn into a life or-death situation? He wondered if it was too late to just throw the cigarettes in his pocket away.
Passersby finally realized what was happening, and panicked screams filled the air as the scene descended into chaos.
Some called for an ambulance and the police, but no one dared approach the man who was waving his knife, telling everyone to back off. They could only pray for the police and paramedics to arrive quickly.
When the ambulance finally came, people worked together to get the officer onto the stretcher. The police arrived shortly after and surrounded the man, but they hesitated to close in due to his weapon and the hostage.
This was the standoff Kendall arrived to see. A pool of bright red blood lay on the ground, and as she saw the man, his motive for the crime flashed in her mind.
The man, Robin, had been domestically abusing his wife for years. When she finally mustered the courage to file for a divorce, he didn’t feel remorse, but flew into a rage, convinced she was cheating on him.
After a so called friend sent him a photo of his wife laughing with another man, Robin grabbed a knife and aimlessly rode his electric bike until the traffic police officer stopped him. He then vented his fury on the officer, leaving him critically injured.
Kendall’s anger flared. “What a scumbag!”
If he didn’t have a hostage, she would have driven a car right into the trashy guy.
She started walking toward the man, and asked the system in her mind, “If I die trying to capture this scumbag, will it count as a work-related injury?”
The system, in its gentlest voice, delivered the most heartless words.
> [It will count toward the host’s death probability.]
Hearing that, Kendall now wanted to run over two people with a car.
Taking a deep breath, she suppressed her emotions.
While everyone else was retreating, Kendall was the only walking forward. Her unusual movement quickly drew the attention of both the police and Robin. He stared at her warily. “What are you doing? Take one more step, and I’ll slice up his face!”
As he spoke, he pressed the knife, which was at the man’s neck, directly against his face. The 160-plus-pound man trembled in fear. “B-brother, calm down. I have no grudge against you. I have old parents and young children to support. My whole family will fall apart if something happens to me! Please, let me go.”
A police officer immediately stepped up and grabbed Kendall. “This is dangerous. Uninvolved people, please step back quickly.”
Kendall stood still obediently and said to Robin, “Don’t be scared, brother. I’m not here to stop you from killing. I want to join you.”
Silence. The entire crowd was dumbfounded. Was that a human thing to say?
Some passersby even looked at Kendall with anger and contempt. Could this be criminal no. 2?
Someone held up their phone, the camera trained on her. Even Robin, holding the knife, was momentarily stunned. His mind froze as he stared at the girl ten meters away. “What did you say?”
“I said, I’m here to join you,” Kendall said, raising a hand to wipe a nonexistent tear from her eye. She looked frail and easy to subdue.
“I just got discharged from the hospital. I have late-stage cancer, and I don’t want to live anymore. I was just wondering where I could go to die. Why don’t you take me hostage instead?”
“I’ve never had a family since I was a child. Everyone in my family record is dead. Now that I have this illness, I don’t plan on living. Do you want to escape? Look, that other guy won’t cooperate with you, but I’m willing.”
“I’ll help you escape. Once you’re safe, you can kill me to celebrate, okay?” Kendall said the most ruthless things about herself in the softest of tone.
Her appearance was deceptive. She was still in a hospital gown, looking gaunt and frail from being in a coma for over a month and surviving on IV drips. The loose striped clothing hung on her small frame, lending a certain credibility to her words.
Not only the police officer standing next to her but also the crowd behind her, their gazes shifted from anger to sympathy and pity.
The system: “…”
Just a moment ago, Kendall was mindlessly attacking the Hansen family in the villa. It had no idea that its host had two completely different faces!
Robin frowned. “Are you serious?” “Of course. Who would joke about their family?” Kendall nodded decisively, her tone serious. “If I’m lying to you, if any of my family is still alive, may they be struck by lightning, hit by a car, choked to death while eating, or die from holding their breath using the toilet. In short, may they all die a terrible death! Do you believe me now?”
The system: “…”
It sensed the host’s malice toward the Hansen family.
The current hostage was someone Robin grabbed on the spot after injuring the officer. Who knew his luck would be so bad that the only person nearby was a big, fat man? He had been holding him captive for so long that his hand was already weak and numb. It was even more impossible to expect this man to cooperate with his escape.
If he replaced the hostage with the girl in front of him, it would be much easier to escape. More importantly, she was willing to help him escape! With so many police officers watching, he didn’t know if he could get away. But, what if he could?
Robin barely hesitated. “Okay, come here.”
The hostage’s face lit up, and he looked at Kendall as if she were a saviour from heaven.
In contrast, the onlookers and police behind her urged Kendall not to go, warning her it was too dangerous. Kendall lowered her eyes, appearing to have lost all hope in the world. Her voice was weak and soft. “Thank you all, but the doctor said I only have three months to live at most. If I can save a life in my limited time, it’s worth dying for.”
The police officer raised his hand to stop her. Even if Kendall was willing, they couldn’t just stand by and watch a citizen put themselves in danger. But before his hand could even touch her, Kendall moved, seemingly with a flash, and nimbly dodged him.
The officer was stunned. When he tried to grab her again, she was already a few steps away. Watching Kendall’s wobbly, slow steps toward the suspect, one of the passersby who had just been cursing her slapped himself. ‘Look at you! She’s such a kind girl, and you were just insulting her!’
Robin hadn’t initially let his guard down, but seeing her frail appearance, he was convinced she could collapse unconscious at any moment.
His vigilance slightly lowered. When Kendall was close, he moved the knife away from the hostage’s neck and reached out to grab her. But he didn’t know that this was the opportunity Kendall was waiting for!
The frail look on her face vanished in an instant, her gaze piercing with fierceness. Kendall pulled the man who was being held hostage toward herself and, simultaneously raised her leg and, with incredible momentum, kicked the criminal three inches below his abdomen. She looked thin and weak, but her kicks were swift and powerful.
Robin didn’t even have time to react before a sharp pain shot through his lower body. He couldn’t help but let out a yell and stumbled back, his hands covering his groin. The knife fell to the ground, striking his foot, and the already trembling Robin instantly put on a face of pure agony.
Kendall’s move was so unexpected that not only Robin but all the other men present shuddered, their expressions tinged with unspoken agony, as if they felt his pain.
Kendall stepped forward, kicked the knife away, and grabbed Robin’s collar, forcing him to lower his head. She then slapped him across the face repeatedly.
“Assaulting a police officer in the street and taking an innocent person hostage. How do you, a domestic abuser, have so much nerve?!”
“You really thought I’d let you kill me? Do you know how hard I had to work to stay alive?!”
The loud slaps echoed through the air. Kendall no longer had to suppress her rage. If she didn’t vent her anger in time, she would get a terminal illness!
After she was done hitting him, she looked at him with disgust. “You bitch! I’ll kill you!” Robin raised his hands to grab her. Kendall pursed her lips, clenched her fist, and landed a heavy kick to his side, sending him flying three meters away.
The entire event unfolded in mere seconds. Not only the distant crowd and police officers, but even the hostage standing nearby was too stunned to react. After Robin was sent flying, the police officers quickly rushed forward, pinned him down, and awarded him a pair of shiny silver handcuffs.
Someone in the crowd finally let out a yell, and everyone else began to clap in unison. ‘This girl… she’s so ferocious… but also so likeable!’
Today was truly an eye-opener!
> [Host mission complete. Reward: +3 days of life value and +3 karma.]
The system’s voice rang out, and Kendall saw that her life countdown screen had changed from 1 hour and 39 minutes to 3 days, 1 hour, and 39 minutes.
She understood the life value, but what was karma?
Just as Kendall was about to ask, a police officer approached her, asking with concern, “Are you okay? Is your body alright?”
Kendall raised the right hand she had used to slap Robin. “It feels a bit sore, but it’s fine. A little rest will fix it.”
The officer said hesitantly, “…Well, thank you for your hard work.”
The girl in front of him looked to be about five-foot-four tall, giving the impression of being thin, soft, and harmless. Yet, with that deft kick had just sent the assailant flying. The criminal was a man in his 40s, over five-foot-nine and at least 150 pounds. Even they, the ‘professionals’, would struggle to kick him so far, yet this young girl had pulled it off. If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, who would believe it? The huge contrast was disorienting.
The officer said, “It’s all thanks to you that this criminal was apprehended. We may need to trouble you to come to the station to make a statement.”
Kendall had just completed a mission and received three days of life, so she was in the best mood. She nodded. “Sure, no problem.”
The hostage Kendall had just rescued also came to his senses and rushed forward to thank her. He was also curious about how she had so much strength to kick someone away.
The onlookers also seemed to want to surround them.
Seeing this, Kendall, who had social anxiety, quickly followed the police into their car.
(End of Chapter)
