58: Chapter 58 has grenades!!!

20:00.

Twenty-four Swarovski crystal chandeliers went out simultaneously.

Darkness crashed down overhead.

Screams were choked in the throats of hundreds of people, unable to make a sound.

Swish. Swish. Swish.

Beams from a dozen high-intensity flashlights tore through the pitch-black field of vision.

The Royal Guard bodyguards reacted extremely quickly.

A group of men in black suits swarmed forward, surrounding those Middle Eastern tycoons at the main table like an airtight iron barrel.

Fahd was supported by two burly men by his arms, his feet almost off the ground, heading straight for the side door.

Li Li turned his wrist.

He had already stood up.

At the next table, Jiang Rumu followed suit.

Her wine-red dress hem swayed, casting a shadow under the flashlight beams.

She took half a step.

Li Li raised his right hand, palm down, and pressed down heavily twice.

"Don't move."

"Don't follow me."

"Find a table to hide under."

Jiang Rumu understood.

She forcibly turned her toes.

She retreated back to the table with Shen Jue and Cen Ye.

Shen Jue had already crawled under the table, clutching a handful of unfinished gummy candy tightly.

Cen Ye crouched behind a chair, holding a thick-bottomed glass water cup upside down in his hand.

Yin Ruoying had lost one of her high heels and was lying on the ground, trembling.

Gu Zeyan huddled behind the dining cart, covering his head with both hands.

Jiang Rumu hunched over and followed, hiding in the shadows.

Li Li retracted his gaze.

He turned around.

He strode out, sticking close to Fahd's bodyguard team, and plunged into the side door corridor.

Twisting and turning.

The thick carpet absorbed most of the footsteps.

Heavy breathing echoed repeatedly in the narrow corridor.

The emergency indicator lights on the wall emitted a ghostly green glow.

While running, Li Li reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his phone.

The screen lit up.

The livestream wasn't completely dark; the barrage was lagging like a PPT presentation.

The screen was densely packed with exclamation marks and question marks.

"F***, f***, f***! Did something actually happen?!"

"Why are the lights out?! Where is Brother Li?! Say something!"

"I heard screaming! Is this a terrorist attack?!"

"I've already called the police! Although I don't know if calling the police across borders is useful!"

"Run! This is the Middle East! This is real guns and ammo!"

"Are Eastern University passports useful?! Raise your passport, Brother Li!"

Li Li clicked on the backend.

He found the chat box for the super moderator.

His fingers tapped rapidly on the screen.

"Encountered an emergency situation."

"Immediately enable delayed broadcast mode, delay by one hour. Hurry."

He clicked send.

A system prompt popped up at the top of the screen: [The livestream has entered delayed broadcast mode. Current feed has stopped.]

The surveillance of eighty million pairs of eyes was completely cut off.

He wasn't sure if there were any spies from Israel in the corridor.

Running through a danger zone with a livestream camera was equivalent to giving snipers a full-map wallhack.

Li Li tucked his phone back into his pocket.

His right hand touched his inner pocket through the suit fabric.

The hard metal outline.

glock 17.

A little more peace of mind.

At the same time, back in the country.

Inside the Production Team's livestream room.

The assistant director stared at one of the screens that had gone black; it was Li Li's livestream.

"Where's the signal?!"

The technician was sweating profusely while furiously typing on the keyboard.

"It's not a signal loss! The streamer cut the feed himself! He enabled delayed mode!"

The assistant director slapped the console.

"Contact the embassy! Immediately!"

He grabbed his phone and shouted in the WeChat group.

"Everyone on the team, listen up, hide yourselves, no one is allowed to run around!"

Deep in the corridor.

A silver-gray blast door blocked the end.

It was thirty centimeters thick, made of pure steel, and didn't even have a door handle.

The lead bodyguard took out a magnetic card and swiped it in the sensor area.

Beep.

The green light turned on.

A heavy mechanical clicking sound came.

The blast door slid open to both sides.

The President went in.

The Deputy Prime Minister went in.

Fahd stepped in with one foot.

Li Li was just about to follow.

Click.

Two black submachine gun barrels crossed in front of his chest.

The security captain's face was as dark as water.

A thick beard covered most of his face.

He spoke Arabic rapidly.

"Royal safe room, no outsiders allowed. Mr. Li, please wait outside; we will leave someone to protect you."

Fahd got anxious.

He shoved the gun barrels blocking his way aside.

"Bullshit! He saved the submarine! Let him in!"

The security captain remained unmoved.

He lowered the muzzle, sticking strictly to the rules.

The Royal Guard only recognized lineage, not personal favors.

Li Li reached out.

He pressed down on Fahd's shoulder.

"That's enough."

Li Li took a step back.

He pointed inside the door.

"You go in. Don't be a living target here."

Fahd still wanted to speak, but was dragged inside by the bodyguard behind him.

Bang.

The heavy blast door locked tight.

Only Li Li and four heavily armed Royal Guard security personnel remained in the corridor.

The four men stood at the four corners.

Gun stocks against their shoulders, muzzles pointed outward.

Bang!

An extremely muffled gunshot exploded from the other end of the corridor.

Immediately followed by a series of automatic rifle fire.

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

Mixed with the screams of a woman and the crisp sound of shattering porcelain.

The four security guards changed formation in unison.

Two crouched, two stood.

Muzzles aimed directly at the corner ten meters away in the corridor.

Li Li stood straight against the wall.

His left hand hung naturally, his right hand hooked inside his suit jacket.

At the corner.

Two people stumbled out.

Gray uniforms.

Work badges hanging on their chests.

Covered in blood.

The short, fat one ran in front, the skinny one followed behind.

"Help—"

The short, fat one had just shouted when—

Pfft.

A bullet flew from behind.

It precisely penetrated the skinny man's back.

Blood sprayed out, smearing the gray uniform.

The skinny man collapsed to the ground.

He twitched twice.

Then went completely still.

Dark red liquid spread rapidly along the patterns of the carpet.

The short, fat man's legs went weak.

He knelt directly on the carpet.

He scrambled toward the blast door.

A security guard stepped forward.

He grabbed the man by the back of his collar.

He dragged him back five meters.

Dragged him to Li Li's feet.

The security guard let go, raised his submachine gun again, and stared at the corner.

The short, fat man sat slumped on the ground.

His gray uniform was stained with his companion's blood.

He began to tremble.

From his fingertips all the way to his shoulders.

He was muttering something.

The voice was extremely low.

Indistinct.

The security guard couldn't hear it, and had no time to care.

Li Li leaned against the wall.

He heard it clearly.

Arabic.

Extremely authentic local dialect.

"My mother, wife, and children can live on."

Repeating.

"My mother, wife, and children can live on."

Repeating again.

"My mother..."

Li Li's nerves jumped violently.

These weren't the words of someone running for their life.

These were the last words of a suicide bomber.

Israel spy?

No.

This was a local scapegoat forced into a dead end.

The real spy had shot and killed the skinny man and forced this fat man, who was rigged with explosives, to the blast door where security was densest.

Killing two birds with one stone.

Li Li was just about to open his mouth to warn the security guards.

The short, fat man on the ground raised his head.

His face was covered in tears and snot.

Fear, despair, unwillingness.

All smeared on that fat face.

He looked at Li Li.

Regardless of whether Li Li understood him or not.

He spat out three words in Arabic.

"I'm sorry."

He pulled his hands out from his abdomen.

Spread them open.

In his palms lay two military fragmentation grenades.

The safety pins had already been pulled.

The safety levers had already popped off.

The fuses were burning.

Making a faint "hissing" sound.

"Holy sh*t!"

Li Li cursed the most authentic national swear word of his life.

His brain had no time to think.

Muscle memory took over his body.

His left hand shot out.

He grabbed the two grenades.

The touch was icy cold.

With a forceful swing.

The two iron lumps flew out of his hand.

Heading straight for the corner at the end of the corridor.

At the same time.

Li Li exerted force with his right leg.

His whole body pressed down.

He tackled the still-dazed fat man to the ground.

He used his elbows to protect his head and neck tightly.

The bulletproof suit on his back stretched to its limit.

BOOM!!!

Fire engulfed his vision.

The scorching heat wave scraped past his scalp.

The entire corridor shook violently.