Welcome to the Wasteland - Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Charge

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

From beyond the second floor of the underground basement, two kidnappers drove a car inside and blocked the entrance, using the car as a barricade. One other kidnapper stayed behind the obstacle. As his comrades drove in, he hissed, “Idiots! Don’t use these old *ss petrol cars. You want us to burn to death when the fight breaks out? Get some electric cars instead.”

The two kidnappers drove the petrol cars away hurriedly and brought over some electric-powered cars of the newest models.

After the barricade was fully in place, the thugs siphoned the petrol out from the petrol-powered cars and poured it down the ramp. As the heavy odor of gasoline filled the underground space, the three kidnappers laughed raucously.

This method was rather crude, but effective nevertheless. As long as there was a fire, the oxygen in the third floor would be depleted within minutes. No one could survive that.

The thug in the lead pressed the call button on the walkie-talkie and said, “Boss Locke, we have already blocked the entrance to the third floor. We only need to wait until the cop gets barbecued.”

Big-head Locke replied viciously through the walkie-talkie, “Bark, you better be careful. I don’t want any more bad news. Is the cop still moving around inside?”

“He is,” the kidnapper called Bark answered somewhat uncertainly. “The cop seems to be crashing on the third floor’s walls with a car. I didn’t go down so I can’t be sure about the details.”

“He’s crashing on the walls with a car?” Big-head Locke asked, bemused. “Has he gone crazy?”

“I don’t know what he’s doing either.” Bark had no idea either. “No need to fear, though. We will be able to pour enough petrol into the third floor. We will need about half an hour.”

Bark turned back and growled at his two colleagues, “Faster, you idiots! Is sucking out petrol that hard a task?”

The underground basement was not a petrol station. The only way to get their hands on some petrol was to suck it out of the fuel tanks. It was a rather difficult task. One wrong move and the kidnappers would get a nasty mouthful of petrol.

In the monitoring room, the gang leader Locke was still somewhat flustered. With his walkie-talkie, he contacted his subordinates who went down the fire escape. “Shawn, how’s everything on your side? What is that cop doing there on the third floor?”

Shawn also had two subordinates with him. They went down the stairs one by one carefully. When they saw their three fallen comrades in the fire escape tunnel, their legs turned into jelly.

The fire escape stairwell was a confined space to start with. It was dimly lit, and the sharp scent of blood hung in the air. As they looked at the three differently dead bodies on the floor, Shawn and the other two men felt their stomachs churn. 

The most horrifying thing was, their comrade who had his chin shattered was still alive. The poor bastard was still coughing every now and then, spurting out blood that had trickled into his lungs.

Looking at his comrade’s miserable situation, Shawn promptly ended his suffering with a bullet to the head. When he heard Locke’s question, he answered, “We didn’t find the policeman, but there’s the sound of a car operating on the third floor. Oh… Sh*t!”

“What?” Locke asked hurriedly.

Shawn had just walked to the fire escape door that would lead into the third floor. The door had been blocked tight. He shouted in response to Locke, “Boss, the policeman blocked the fire escape door with some cars!”

This was the “crashing the walls with a car” that the other team had heard. Zhou Qingfeng knew that there were only two ways for him to escape. He decided against using the narrow fire escape stairwell that was difficult to cover, but the parking ramp that could allow him to escape with a car.

In order to avoid being caught in a pincer attack, he barricaded the fire escape door with cars. He crashed two or three cars against the door, blocking it tightly.

Shawn could only peep into the third floor through the crack of the door. He saw fire and light, and three bullets came flying toward him.

“Oh, damn it,” Shawn recoiled with a cry of pain. The bullets flew in past the crack and left holes on the door. Bullet shards sprayed and grazed his brow. “Boss, we can’t get in, the damn cop is just behind the door.”

When he got word that Zhou Qingfeng was still on the third floor, Locke finally calmed down. “Not a problem, you just wait behind that door. Wait for a while, and he’ll be crying and screaming for a way to escape.”

Hahaha… Thinking of Zhou Qingfeng’s impending death by fire, the kidnappers laughed gleefully. That did not last for long, though, as Zhou Qingfeng, desperate and at his wit’s end, started his counterattack.

Bark, who was in charge of guarding the second floor, was squatting behind the obstacles. He was 20 meters away from the path leading to the third floor. The distance was a safe one. If Zhou Qingfeng came out, the rifle in his hands would punch holes through the cop.

“Come out, come out, let me blow up your brain,” Bark muttered non-stop. His gun was aimed toward the general area where Zhou Qingfeng would probably come out from; he was just waiting to pull the trigger. Next to him, more and more petrol was being poured into the third floor.

At this moment, Zhou Qingfeng was getting inside an electric-powered car. After revving up the engine, he drove the car toward the path. He tried to speed up when he arrived at the third floor’s exit. Just as the car was nearing the exit, he jumped out from the driver’s seat.

He rolled on the ground a few times, covering himself with dirty ash. He did not stop, though. He immediately went to drive another electric-powered car that he had prepared.

The previous car surged into the path with a bang. There was no driver, so the car bumped into the walls by the path immediately. With its great speed, the car did not stop after crashing against the wall. The momentum continued to push the car upward, traveling up the wall.

Bark fired immediately when he saw a car zooming out. He assumed that Zhou Qingfeng would definitely escape by using the cars as a shield. All he needed to do was to aim at the driver’s seat and open fire.

To his surprise, the car traveled no more than a few meters forward before it upturned completely and fell heavily onto the path.

After Bark fired his gun, the other two thugs in charge of sucking out the petrol rushed to him as well. Three rifles fired at the driver’s seat simultaneously. After their magazines were depleted, the ricocheting bullets ignited up the petrol on the floor. There was a great bang, and a wave of heat surged toward them.

“Is he dead?” Bark stuck his head out to look at the floor. Everything looked twisted due to the high heat, but he did not see any sign of blood. “Is he not in the car?”

As Bark tried to think through his confusion, another car charged out from the third floor and collided with the wall again. It also upturned midair and crashed into the fire.

“F*ck, that damn cop is using these cars as distractions so that he can charge out,” Bark exclaimed to his subordinates. “Get some more petrol, quick. We can’t let him succeed!”