Chapter 256 - 252: Martial Arts Master and Spider-Man
Chapter 256: Chapter 252: Martial Arts Master and Spider-Man
Chapter 252: The Martial Arts Master and Spider-Man
"WEE-OOO!" "WEE-OOO WEE-OOO!"
"WEE-OOO WEE-OOO!"
The wail of police sirens echoed through the night sky in New York’s Forest Park. Officers clad in bulletproof vests and holding guns rushed toward the woods.
The criminals had a hostage, which made the situation extremely tricky. The criminals could open fire at will, but the police had to be exceedingly cautious, held back by the fear of harming the hostage. One wrong move could lead to the hostage getting hurt.
The night was still, with heavy black clouds hanging in the sky, obscuring the stars and moon and plunging the woods into darkness. The officers held their guns in one hand and flashlights in the other. Beams of white light shot out, weaving together to illuminate the dim forest until it was bright and clear.
"WOOF!" "WOOF WOOF WOOF!"
"WOOF WOOF WOOF!"
The sound of barking echoed through the woods. Several police dogs twitched their noses, their keen sense of smell sniffing out the scents in the forest. They quickly located the target’s direction and, barking, took off on all fours into the depths of the woods. The throng of officers hurried to keep up.
Led by the police dogs, the officers finally reached the grove. However, the scene that greeted them left them completely stunned.
Lying in the small grove were three people: one criminal and two hostages. The criminal was bleeding from all seven orifices, lying motionless on the ground. His gun lay nearby. Judging by the scattered shell casings on the ground and the lingering scent of gunpowder in the air, he had clearly opened fire before he died—a frantic spray of bullets, at that. As for the other two, the hostages, they were also lying limply on the ground, but thankfully, they were not dead.
The hostages were safe. That was wonderful news—a true stroke of luck in a terrible situation. At least they would have something to report to the public.
The officers breathed a collective sigh of relief. But along with their surprise and joy came immense confusion. From their perspective, a criminal holding two hostages was an incredibly delicate matter. One mistake could cost the hostages their lives, and the resulting pressure from the international community would be immense.
The criminal was vicious and had killed many; by law, he was deserving of the death penalty. But he had hostages, forcing the police to be hesitant and preventing them from acting rashly. Rescuing the hostages from his grasp should have been an almost impossible task.
The officers had treated the situation as if they were facing a great enemy, carefully planning for every contingency. Just as they were about to move in, they discovered that this incredibly difficult and headache-inducing problem had suddenly been solved. One of the two criminals was dead, the other was missing, and both hostages were unharmed. Aside from their legs being too weak to stand, their lives were not in any danger.
Clearly, something had happened here while the police were on their way.
"There was a gunfight here! Someone killed the criminal!"
"Huh, that’s weird. This guy wasn’t shot. There are no bullet wounds on his body."
"From the looks of it, it’s like he was killed by some kind of shockwave?"
"Stop guessing. We have eyewitnesses right here. Let’s just ask them what happened!"
An officer immediately helped the two hostages up, gave them some water, and quickly asked, "Can you please tell us what happened here? Who killed this criminal, and where did the other one go?"
The two hostages’ eyes were filled with excitement. After regaining a little strength, one of them, practically bursting with excitement, blurted out, "It was a Martial Arts Master! A Young Hero who knows Martial Arts killed the criminal and then captured the other one!"
"What? A Martial Arts Master?"
The American officers looked at each other, speechless, then stared at the Chinese hostage. ’Has this guy been scared out of his mind?’ they wondered. ’There’s no such thing as a Martial Arts Master in this world.’ Besides, the criminal had a gun. Even a Grandmaster of the Generation from the movies, like Huo Yuanjia or Chen Zhen, would probably be taken down with a single shot.
The officers wanted to ask more questions, but just then, another voice spoke up from the side.
"Nonsense! It was obviously Spider-Man! He was scaling walls, dodging bullets... he was so fast, it had to be Spider-Man!" the other hostage shouted, his expression as fervent as if he had just seen his greatest idol.
"You’re the one talking nonsense! That Young Hero was using Wave Riding Light Steps! I even saw afterimages!" the Chinese hostage retorted, his face flushed with excitement.
Watching the two hostages—one a Spider-Man fan, the other a wuxia fanatic—argue endlessly, the officers felt a massive headache coming on.
"Captain, look at this... this... Do you think maybe after being captured, the shock was too much for them—"
"It’s not just shock. What they’re saying might not be entirely right, but it might be half-true!" The police captain’s eyes glinted as he spoke with a grave and serious expression. "The chief called me earlier. The autopsy reports for the dead criminals from the New York international airport are in. Do you know how those guys died?"
"Uh, how did they die? How else? They were shot!" one of the officers said after a moment’s thought. "They were all hit between the eyes. Must have been a sniper. If it was a handgun, you’d need a real sharpshooter!" the officers concluded, relying on scientific reasoning.
"They weren’t shot," the police captain said, shaking his head.
"What? Not shot?" The officers stared at each other, stunned. "If they weren’t shot, don’t tell me they were hacked to death with a knife!" one said doubtfully. "To cut them down one by one, or stab them with a sword, all in just a few minutes? How is that possible?"
"Not knives, either." The captain’s gaze held a strange, astonished light. "It was Chinese coins. The autopsy found a Chinese coin inside each of the dead criminals’ heads. There was one in every wound. It’s very likely the criminals at the airport were shot and killed... with Chinese coins."
"Chinese coins?"
"Oh, my God, how can you kill someone with a coin?"
The officers were completely dumbfounded. "Could they have used some kind of trick?"
After all, you couldn’t rule out the possibility that the coins were fired from some special device. The idea was absurd, but to them, it was less absurd than believing in Spider-Man or a Martial Arts Master—things that only existed on TV. Still, killing people by shooting them with coins was something they had never heard of before.
"A trick? It’s possible." The captain’s eyes glinted. "If this were an isolated incident, a trick might be the explanation. But now that we have two related incidents, this is becoming something unusual. Perhaps—" He paused, then said in a low voice, "Take the two hostages back to the station. We’ll question them in detail there."