Chapter 351: Chapter 332: Why Bother with All This?
After knocking him over, he immediately lunged, pulling the young man who had been caught off guard and knocked to the ground into his arms. One arm wrapped tightly around the man’s neck from behind, while in his other hand, a sharp dagger appeared from nowhere, its tip pressed directly against the young man’s throat.
The sudden turn of events instantly caused a commotion in the crowd. All the crew members began to stir, ready to riot!
Fortunately, Qi Xiaotian saw the situation was deteriorating and immediately pulled the trigger, firing his M16 into the sky at an angle over the sea. The rifle let out a series of crisp shots.
It wasn’t just Qi Xiaotian. He instantly gave the order to his one hundred team members to fire warning shots. For a moment, gunfire erupted like a string of firecrackers.
Hearing the sound of no less than a dozen assault rifles mixed in with the gunfire, the rioting crowd finally halted in their tracks. This wasn’t like pistols; with so many people rushing forward, a few getting hit wouldn’t have been a big deal.
But assault rifles could mow down a whole group of them. Unarmed as they were, they had absolutely no chance of breaking through a blockade of assault rifles.
The crowd on this side was quickly suppressed by Qi Xiaotian, but the situation over there was still at a stalemate.
The burly Black man tightened his grip on the young man, who only came up to his shoulder, and shouted in Fang Chenyi’s direction:
"I want a speedboat with a full tank of gas! And put all that money next to you on it! Hurry up! Or I’ll kill him!"
As he spoke, he pressed the dagger down harder. Instantly, a thin line of blood appeared on the young man’s throat, and fresh blood began to drip from the blade.
Zhao Pengyuan couldn’t be more frustrated right now. ’I was a top fighter, third place in the entire regional competition, for crying out loud. I can’t believe I just retired, showed up in front of my new boss for the first time, and got taken hostage. If word of this gets back, how could I ever show my face again?’
Fang Chenyi hadn’t expected this either. ’To think someone would pull a stunt like this under the watch of so many guns and so many people... that’s certainly a surprise.’
He stood up, looking at the man, and walked toward him step by step. As he walked, he spoke:
"I can agree to your demands, but if that dagger of yours harms my man even a little bit more, I’ll make you disappear from this world instantly!"
Fang Chenyi’s tone was incredibly cold, so cold that the burly Black man couldn’t help but shiver.
Watching Fang Chenyi approach step by step, the man immediately began backing away toward the railing, shouting for no one to come any closer.
Seeing the man’s reaction, Fang Chenyi slowly came to a halt. A cold smirk appeared on his face as he said,
"Take a good look. You’ve only captured one of my subordinates. What kind of bargaining chip do you think he is against me? I’ll give you a chance right now. I’ll walk over there, alone and unarmed. You release the man you’re holding, and I’ll take his place as your hostage. How about it?"
The moment he said this, his subordinates immediately protested. The three team leaders and Liu Yishou all rushed to block Fang Chenyi’s path.
Zhao Pengyuan, for his part, was shocked. ’The new boss is actually willing to trade places with me.’ Whether he meant it or not, just hearing those words was enough.
’To be honest, I was just caught off guard. Now that I’ve collected myself, I’m really not that worried about this big guy. Even with a dagger at my neck, I’m not afraid of him at all.’
’Just give me an opening. If his blade moves even a millimeter away from my neck, I have at least three different ways to turn the tables and subdue him!’
This was no empty boast. His third-place finish in the regional competition wasn’t just for show; it was earned through real combat.
Just as Zhao Pengyuan was waiting for an opportunity and Liu Yishou and the others were blocking Fang Chenyi, a single BANG echoed.
Everyone present froze for a moment.
Who fired? What was hit?
For a moment, this question flashed through everyone’s mind. The crew members were already under control, so there shouldn’t have been any reason for a gunshot right then.
However, while everyone was still stunned, a figure standing at the edge of the crowd curled his lip in disdain and slowly lowered the SVD sniper rifle in his hands, its barrel still smoking.
At the same time, he muttered cockily to himself:
"’A one-shot job. Why waste so many words?’"
This person was none other than Qi Xiaotian, the team leader responsible for crowd control. During the earlier search, he had happened to find an SVD sniper rifle. Qi Xiaotian had been exceptionally excited when he saw it. Although the rifle was cheaply made, its close-range sniping performance was undeniably excellent.
At this moment, everyone finally reacted. Seeing the burly Black man fall backward with a THUD after the gunshot, two different thoughts emerged among the people present.
The first came from the crew members. They were all completely stunned, thinking only that they had better just obediently do as they were told. Compared to their belongings, their own lives were far more important.
The other came from Fang Chenyi’s own men. Their gazes, now fixed on Qi Xiaotian, were filled with pure admiration.
The shot hadn’t been from a great distance; it wasn’t even beyond the effective range of a standard assault rifle.
But one mustn’t forget, this was on a ship. No matter how stable a cruise ship might be, it was by no means stationary.
Furthermore, the target wasn’t a paper cutout, but a living person.
After all, Zhao Pengyuan was currently clutching the railing, vomiting violently.
Initially, when they heard their new boss put Qi Xiaotian and Liu Yishou in charge, these men had been unconvinced. But now, that feeling had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed in the first place.
Moreover, they could now see it clearly. His every move was just like those elite operatives they had seen before—the ones who came from *those* kinds of places.
Although the Black man was now a gruesome sight, Fang Chenyi was already used to it. He had just dealt with six people in the same state back in the captain’s cabin, to the point that he was now numb to it.
He quickly ordered someone to take Zhao Pengyuan to have his wound treated. At the same time, with a wave of his hand, he had the Black man’s body thrown into the sea in front of everyone. Soon, looking down from the high deck, they could see fins slicing through the water’s surface...
It seemed the scene had thoroughly intimidated the crowd. The subsequent security check and disembarkation went very smoothly. In just a short while, a large pile of assorted bags had accumulated next to Fang Chenyi.
Some contained expensive liquor, others valuable decorations. In short, without exception, none of it belonged to these people.
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