13: Chapter 13 The Vanished Bandit, Darkness Under the Lamp

The command center was deathly silent.

It was as if someone had pressed the pause button; the fingers of over a dozen technical officers hovered over their keyboards, their eyes wide as copper bells, staring fixedly at the dozens of split-screen feeds.

In the footage, aside from the flour-strewn mess and a group of hostages sobbing and trembling in fear, the figure in the clown mask had evaporated into thin air.

"Where is he?"

Zhao Shanhe's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, terrifyingly low.

The technical section chief was drenched in cold sweat, frantically hitting the Enter key to pull up the thermal imaging replay: "Chief... Chief, the moment the flour exploded, the heat source signals were too chaotic, full of noise. By the time the smoke cleared... the target was... was gone."

"Gone? Are you trying to tell me he can turn invisible? Or that he can fly?"

Zhao Shanhe violently grabbed the teacup on the table, intending to smash it, only to realize it had already been shattered ten minutes ago. He could only slam his fist onto the desk, shaking the screens.

"Get me the surveillance footage from all exits! The sewers! The ventilation ducts! Even the mouse holes! Don't let a single fly escape!"

"Report! Sewer entrance checked, no signs of opening! Ventilation duct openings covered in dust, no one passed through!"

"Then where could he have gone? Did he melt into the air?!" Zhao Shanhe roared, his blood pressure spiking, his eyes bloodshot.

This was a sealed room.

Hundreds of SWAT officers had it surrounded so tightly that even a mosquito couldn't fly out without having its DNA tested.

Just then, the psychological profiler Yun Zhiqiu suddenly stared at a corner of the screen and muttered: "The most dangerous place is the safest place..."

First floor of the bank, the smoke had yet to disperse.

The air was filled with a choking, burnt smell and the cloying sweetness of flour.

"Cough! Quickly! Get the hostages out! Check their identities!"

"Team 2, alert! Team 3, search the second floor!"

In the chaos, a tall "SWAT officer" wearing black tactical gear, a bomb-proof helmet, and a tightly fastened mask was striding out, escorting a female hostage.

His stride was rapid, his movements professional and efficient, even more like a real SWAT officer than the actual ones around him.

As he walked, he shouted into his headset (which wasn't actually turned on) in a low, raspy voice: "Make way! We have a wounded person here! Respiratory distress, needs emergency care!"

The person he was escorting was none other than Su Tang.

At this moment, Su Tang was hanging entirely on this "SWAT officer," her little face buried in his chest, her shoulders heaving.

To outsiders, this looked like she was sobbing from extreme terror.

But in reality.

"Pfft... cough..."

Su Tang pressed her face hard against that somewhat rough tactical vest, pinching her own thigh hard to keep from laughing out loud.

Just one minute ago.

When the white mist was at its thickest.

She had witnessed this man, like an elegant black panther, instantly take down a lone SWAT officer. His movements were ridiculously fast; with a single hand chop, the SWAT officer went limp without even a groan.

Then came the dazzling costume change.

Three seconds to strip, five seconds to dress.

When the smoke cleared slightly, standing before her was no longer the outlaw in the windbreaker, but a fully armed "counter-terrorism elite."

"Don't laugh."

Qin Feng spoke through his mask, his voice so low that only the two of them could hear it, tinged with a hint of helplessness: "Be serious, we're escaping."

His left hand seemed to be gripping Su Tang's shoulder roughly, but in reality, he was avoiding all her joints and vital points, just resting it there to put on a show.

His right hand was pressed against the Glock 17 holster at his waist—which he had swiped from that unlucky SWAT officer. It was full of rubber training rounds, but he had casually swapped them for his own prop bullets earlier.

After all, real guns are prone to accidental discharge, and it wouldn't be good to accidentally hurt any innocent bystanders.

"Wuwuwu... I'm so scared..." Su Tang cooperated by emitting a trembling "cry," but the little hand gripping Qin Feng's arm was secretly feeling the contours of the abdominal muscles under his bulletproof vest.

Hard.

Really hard.

This wasn't escaping? For Su Tang, this was simply an elopement that made her heart race.

Qin Feng rolled his eyes, though no one could see it through the blast-proof mask.

[System Prompt: Perfect Disguise skill in effect. Current compatibility: 99%.]

[Due to the host's god-level acting skills, in everyone's eyes, you are a heroic SWAT officer who has just experienced a fierce battle and is anxious to save a hostage.]

This was hiding in plain sight.

This was a psychological blind spot.

Everyone's attention was on searching for the outlaw in the clown mask; who would suspect "one of their own" who was working desperately?

"Make way! Everyone, make way!"

Qin Feng shouted in a gruff voice, an aura of natural authority radiating from him.

The young officers nearby instinctively cleared a path, even looking at his retreating back with admiration.

"Which team is this brother from? So fierce, he already saved the hostage?"

"Look at that build, he must be an elite from Assault Team 1, right?"

Qin Feng looked straight ahead, his steps steady and powerful.

One step.

Five steps.

Ten steps.

The cordon was right in front of him.

That yellow and black striped warning tape was like the boundary of freedom. As long as he crossed it and blended into the crowd outside, that five-thousand-yuan announcement fee would be in the bag.

"Hoo..."

Qin Feng's breathing under the mask slowed slightly, his muscles still tense, maintaining a state ready to explode at any moment.

Close.

Even closer.

Just as his right foot lifted, the moment he was about to cross the cordon.

"Stop."

A cold, sharp voice filled with deep suspicion exploded behind him.

It was like a loaded gun pointed at the back of Qin Feng's head.

Qin Feng's steps halted abruptly.

He didn't turn around.

But he could feel a gaze like a physical weight stuck to his back, like a hunter scrutinizing its prey.

It was... the SWAT detachment captain, Xiahou Dun.

Xiahou Dun was currently standing inside the cordon, holding a Type 95 assault rifle, his brows knitted into a "chuan" (river) character.

As the provincial martial arts champion, he possessed an almost beast-like intuition.

Just now, when this "SWAT officer" passed by him.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

This person's pace was too steady. It wasn't the marching step trained in the force, but rather something... similar to the elegance of a feline. Even while carrying a person, his upper body barely moved at all.

And, his back...

That broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted proportion, that upright posture that couldn't be hidden even by the bulky blast-proof gear.

"Which unit?"

Xiahou Dun narrowed his eyes, the muzzle of his gun dropping slightly, but his finger rested outside the trigger guard.

The air froze instantly.

The police officers nearby also sensed that something was off with the atmosphere and stopped what they were doing, looking over in confusion.

Su Tang felt her heart about to jump out of her throat, her fingers gripping Qin Feng's arm tightening suddenly.

It's over!

Have we been discovered?

Qin Feng's expression under the mask remained unusually calm.

He even had the leisure to complain to himself: "This captain has sharp eyes, should I hunch my back a bit?"

He didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he turned around slowly.

His movements were neither fast nor slow, carrying an impatience as if he had been offended.

Through the black blast-proof mask, he locked eyes with Xiahou Dun.

"Assault Team 1, codename Falcon." Qin Feng lowered his voice, imitating the codename he had heard on the radio earlier. "The hostage is in shock and needs urgent medical attention. Do you have a problem?"

His voice was very steady.

Without any flaws.

Xiahou Dun stared at the mask, trying to see the eyes inside through that layer of black glass.

But he only saw his own reflection.

"Falcon?" Xiahou Dun sneered. "I know everyone in Assault Team 1, why haven't I seen you before?"

"New guy." Qin Feng was concise.

"Is that so?"

Xiahou Dun stepped forward, his presence overwhelming: "Since you're new, you should know the rules even better."

He took a deep breath and suddenly roared:

"Password!"

This was a military rule. Before every operation, a temporary password would be set to prevent confusion and infiltration.

This touched on Qin Feng's knowledge blind spot.

He had been busy inside scattering flour, dismantling guns, and coaxing the girl; when would he have had time to eavesdrop on the police's operational password?

If he blurted out a random "Heavenly King covers the Earthly Tiger," he'd probably be shot into a sieve on the spot.

Time seemed to stretch in this second.

The livestream comments were already going crazy.

"Holy crap! It's over, it's over! He's going to be exposed!"

"This question is out of the syllabus! How could the outlaw brother know the password?"

"Captain Xiahou's IQ is online! This limit-pushing standoff is too exciting!"

"It's over, he's really going to get caught this time, my five-thousand-yuan bet!"

Facing Xiahou Dun's aggressive gaze, Qin Feng didn't panic.

Instead, he let go of the hand supporting Su Tang, as if he intended to stand at attention and salute.

His right hand slowly lifted, moving toward his temple.

This was a standard salute starting position.

Xiahou Dun's vigilance relaxed slightly.

The moment that slight relaxation appeared.

Qin Feng's eyes changed.

If they were a stagnant pool just a moment ago, now, it was a volcanic eruption.

His right hand didn't salute.

Instead, the moment it reached his chest, he reached into his waist with lightning speed, drew his gun, chambered a round, and raised it.

This entire sequence was so fast it left only a blur on the retina.

"Bang!"

A crisp gunshot.

It wasn't the deafening roar of live ammunition, but the somewhat muffled sound of a prop gun.

But in such a highly tense atmosphere, who could tell the difference between real and fake?

"Take cover!"

Xiahou Dun's body reacted faster than his brain, instinctively diving sideways and rolling toward the police car cover nearby.

The surrounding police officers were like cats whose tails had been stepped on, instantly descending into chaos, scrambling to find cover.

Now!

"Run!"

Qin Feng yanked the blast-proof helmet off his head and smashed it toward the direction where Xiahou Dun had rolled.

"Clang!"

The helmet landed, and in this gap, Qin Feng revealed his delicate yet mischievously smiling face.

No mask.

Only those spirited eyes.

He grabbed Su Tang, who hadn't yet reacted, and his long legs erupted with astonishing power.

"Goodbye, officer!"

Qin Feng's voice echoed in the night sky, carrying a youth's flamboyance and arrogance.

He ripped off the heavy bulletproof vest on his body like shedding a layer of restraint, revealing the black windbreaker underneath.

The bulletproof vest was thrown into the air like a kite with a broken string.

Two figures, one big and one small, hand in hand, rushed out of the cordon under the gaze of hundreds of eyes, plunging into the crowd of onlookers and the vast night.

Only then.

Xiahou Dun climbed up from the ground, looking at the ground where there were no bullet holes, and then looked at the plastic prop gun Qin Feng had thrown on the ground.

His face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

"Blank... blank rounds? No, it's a prop gun?!"

Xiahou Dun felt his IQ had been rubbed on the ground a hundred times.

He, a dignified SWAT detachment captain, the provincial fighting champion.

Was actually scared into a tactical retreat by a nine-yuan-ninety-cent plastic gun from Pinduoduo?!

"Qin Feng—!!"

Xiahou Dun's roar resounded through the sky, startling a flock of unknown birds.

"Chase him for me!!"

Inside the command vehicle.

Zhao Shanhe looked at the stylishly departing back on the screen, and Xiahou Dun's furious appearance.

He fell silent.

After a long while, he took out the bottle of quick-acting heart pills he hadn't finished from his pocket, glanced at it, and silently put it back.

"It's useless."

Zhao Shanhe leaned back in his chair, as if he had aged ten years in an instant, but his eyes revealed a complex light.

"This kid... he calculated all of our psychology."

"Hiding in plain sight, psychological blind spots, instinctive reactions."

"This wasn't an exercise."

"This was a... massacre of intelligence."

Inside the livestream, the comments lagged for three seconds, and then completely exploded.

"????"

"This works too?!!"

"My mom asked me why I ate my phone! This is too cool!"

"Xiahou Dun: I was terrified at the time. Qin Feng: Just messing with you."

"Is this the composure of a top-tier outlaw? He even had to show off a move before leaving!"

"Su Tang's gaze... amazing! This isn't being kidnapped, this is clearly eloping with her idol!"

"God-tier! This wave of operations is directly god-tier! If Qin Feng doesn't become famous, I'll livestream doing a handstand while eating poop!"

In the night.

Police sirens blared crazily again, countless red and blue lights chasing the figure that had disappeared into the sea of people.

But everyone knew.

Tonight, belonged to Qin Feng.

Belonged to this... god-level actor who had made the entire city's police lose face, yet they couldn't help but admire him to the point of prostration.