Gunshots

The room was filled with cursing words.

Melvin and Bruce continued to stare at the black screen, wondering what was going on.

Yang Ran's first instinct was to grab her phone and make a call to both Vincent and Dahlia. She hoped that everything she saw on the screen was fake.

Perhaps Vincent and Dahlia got bored and tried to trick them like this. However, they both did not pick up their phone.

Her heartbeat accelerated and the bad feeling intensified.

Seeing that Yang Ran was busy dialing some numbers, Bruce decided to follow suit as well. He dialed every number he knew and grew panicked when no one seem to pick up his phone call.

Just as he thought that he was going to give up, someone picked up his phone call.

Bruce glanced at his phone screen before turning on the loudspeaker mode. "Ellie? Is everything – "

"Bruce, I'm scared," the girl's voice sounded like a whisper.

They could hear the continuous sound of shooting in the background. There were screams and shouting.

Everyone in the room turned to look at each other with their face paled.

"Ellie, what is going on?" Yang Ran spoke.

The girl's sobbing could be heard. She sniffled and bit her lips to stop herself from crying. "I don't know," Ellie said. "The men came suddenly and started to shoot everyone. The west part of the building is on fire. There were a lot of dead bodies. I managed to climb out and find this hiding place."

"What about Vincent and Dahlia?" Bruce asked.

"They died. I heard that they were the first to be shot to death."

Yang Ran could feel her body turn colder as she heard Ellie's report.

They were her family who had stayed with her for a long time. Some of them were with her ever since she was a baby. Vincent was her late father's trusted man.

It was shocking to hear that they had died.

What happened? Who was that person who tried to mess up with them?

"Rachel, Bruce, where are you guys? Are you coming back? I'm scared," Ellie continued to speak in a low tone. Her breathing sounded loud as she was in her hiding place.

Just then, everyone in the room could hear the sound of the door creaking. Then, Ellie let out a loud gasp.

"I found you." A man's singsong voice was heard on the other line.

"No! Please, no!" Ellie screamed loudly.

Then, there was a loud gunshot before everything turned silent.

The atmosphere in the room tensed. None of them made their move as everyone was still processing what had happened.

They thought about the scene they had witnessed on the computer screen just now and then, Ellie's pleading voice before she was shot. Their heart grew heavy as they thought of everyone who had died in this tragedy.

"We have to go back." Yang Ran was the first to snap out of her trance. She turned to look at the others with a solemn look on her face.

The scenes made her want to cry and grieve for their loss. However, now was not the time. She could not go down before she figure out what was going on.

"Alice, try to find a way for us to head back to F Country as soon as possible. Hire a private jet. I don't care about the expenses."

Alice wiped the tears on her face and clenched her hand into a fist hard to stay sober. "Alright." She began to tap her fingers on the keyboard again.

Yang Ran turned to Bruce and Melvin. "We have to split up. Let's meet again at the airport. Keep in touch. Go ahead. I'll stay and wait for Aiden."

Bruce and Melvin nodded before they turned around to leave. However, their steps halted the moment they reached the door.

Yang Ran was quick to notice what was going on. She quickly pushed the large table and grabbed Alice to duck.

Soon, the sound of gunshots was heard followed by a loud thud.

Alice's eyes were wide as she figured out what had happened. Her breathing hitched and she was unable to calm down.

From their hiding place, they could see that both Bruce and Melvin were on the ground, lifeless. Blood began to seep out of their body.

Everything happened too fast and they were unable to react.

The shouting came from the next room.

It seemed that some customers heard the gunshot and had run out to leave the restaurant before they could be the next victim.

The men who shot Bruce and Melvin sauntered into the room. They were aware that both Yang Ran and Alice were hiding behind the table and did not rush to end their life. The men seemed confident that the two of them would not be able to run.

"Come out, don't be shy," one of the men spoke. "I promise that I won't kill you if you come out willingly. Ladies. Let's have fun alright? I'm sure that we will be able to get along just well. There are two of you and three of us. We'll take turns to play around, eh?"

The others began to laugh happily. Knowing that their next target was girls made them excited.

Alice turned to Yang Ran with her face full of tears. The girl often stayed behind the computer and guide her team members behind the scene. She was not used to such stressful scenes.

Yang Ran took a deep breath to calm down. Her eyes continued to scan the room to look for a way to escape. She cannot fall now and let Alice suffer as well.

In this world, perhaps, there were only the two of them left.

Aiden has not returned from the restroom for a long time. Perhaps, he was the first to die.

Her gaze finally stopped at the window. Other than this window, Yang Ran could not figure out any other way for them to escape.

But first, she will need to find a way to distract those men.

Her hand reached for the gun strapped to her thigh. Yang Ran held her gun tightly and turned to Alice. Fortunately, Alice seemed to understand her plan to escape through the window.

Yang Ran checked on the situation again. The men continued to taunt them. She gave Alice a signal with her eyes before pointing her gun toward the men.

The sound of gunshot continued.