Welcome to the Wasteland

Chapter 47: The Memorial Hall

It was getting gradually harder to clean the debris in Zhou Qingfeng’s back. Without the help of a professional doctor or machine, it was impossible to get the smaller debris out. Leila Fox finally gave in and said, “You have to get a doctor to do this.”

“There must be a doctor.” Zhou Qingfeng had no choice but to consume large amounts of food and water to make his wounds heal sooner. Since there were injuries on his back and leg, he had no choice but to take off everything he was wearing.

“You have a decent body.” Leila Fox was extremely interested in Zhou Qingfeng’s muscles; it was unsurprising that a perfect body could always attract attention. “How did you train for it?”

“I didn’t train for it.” Zhou Qingfeng pulled out water and clothes from his bag, cleaned himself hastily, and put his equipment back on his body.

“I don’t buy it. People in the upper class of society always wanted to be in great shape, and for that, they would spend a great ton of time and money.” Leila Fox took a look at Zhou Qingfeng’s face and felt like his face shape seemed rather neutral. It was not threatening, and it made him seem easy to approach.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Do you have problems with socializing?”

“I’m poor, and on top of that, I lack self confidence.”

“You? Lacking self confidence? Hahaha… impossible! You challenged the entire NYPD, but somehow you think that you lack self confidence?”

“I was forced to do so,” Zhou Qingfeng said innocently.

“You’re joking.” Leila Fox wanted to continue chatting, but she found Zhou Qingfeng putting his hand up; it was a signal for her to stop talking. She shut her mouth immediately and looked outside nervously.

A drone was flying over the car the duo had come in. There was a clear NYPD logo on the drone as well; it was the police’s drone.

Zhou Qingfeng was hiding in a lakeside park near the University of Columbia. He landed the helicopter on the park’s tennis court, and forced an unlucky tennis player to give up his car for the duo. Zhou Qingfeng drove the car off the tennis court, but he did not go far.

“Listen, Leila, we must have been exposed, the cops will find us soon. I have to thank you now, if you did not insist on escaping through the helicopter, I might have still been stuck in the drain. I might have been dead by now. I’m thankful enough that I could last till this moment. But I believe that the cops will bring heavy firepower to capture me soon. I can’t take care of you then, so you should stay in the car, you should surrender when you have to.”

Seeing how serious Zhou Qingfeng was, Leila Fox asked in confusion, “Where are you going? I was supposed to go to the Carribean, but I left everything behind to leave with you. Now you’re saying that you’re leaving me behind?”

“Take this as God’s will, I can’t do anything about it. Truth be told, I would love to be friends with a beautiful girl like you as well, but now I have to say… goodbye!” Zhou Qingfeng took a deep breath, made sure that the drone left the area, pushed the car door open, and ran out.

It was the final 30 minutes; his life and death depended on these 30 minutes. Zhou Qingfeng continued moving along the plants in the park to hide from people and drones. However, soon after that, he realized that he had nowhere to hide anymore — he heard a dog bark near him.

It was a goddamn police dog!

Zhou Qingfeng had left behind quite a few clothes and personal belongings while he was escaping. Not only could these items be used as evidence, it was extremely useful for police dogs to trace him. Whatever the human could not see, the dog’s nose could do the work for him. Zhou Qingfeng did deliberate hiding in a car for his final 30 minutes, but it seemed like a good idea that he decided against staying in one place and getting caught that way.

He looked around him; he could already see some uniform-clad officers appearing in the park. Zhou Qingfeng did not want to be circled. He ran quickly towards a building in the park; he needed a cover in his final moments.

The General Grant National Memorial was a stone-made building with over a century’s worth of history. It was nearly 50 meters high and strong. Correction, this was the tomb of the American General and former President Ulysses Simpson Grant.

There was a message from Grant above the main entrance of the memorial hall: Let us enjoy peace. Zhou Qingfeng thought to himself hoping that the police would not attack him too aggressively. Otherwise, if gunfire occurred over this tomb, the famous general of the Civil War might jump out of his coffin in anger.

After rushing through the pillars at the entrance of the memorial hall, Zhou Qingfeng found himself in a dome-shaped hall. The pit that was in the middle of the hall contained the coffin of the Grants. There were quite a few visitors and guards at the scene.

Zhou Qingfeng came in and fired a shot in the sky. He shouted, “It’s a terrorist attack, get out of here now.”

The bullet hit the mural on the top of the dome, causing dusty gravel to fall. A guard was about to draw his gun at the sight of Zhou Qingfeng, but he was killed first. Death and blood were more effective than gunshots; a bunch of tourists began screaming and fled. The police, who were coming in from outside, were temporarily blocked at the door and unable to enter.

However, after making a round in the dome-shaped hall, Zhou Qingfeng shouted, “F*ck! Why did I choose this stupid place?”

This was the only hall in the building. Other than a stone fence in the middle of the pit with the coffin, there was nowhere to hide. The only thing Zhou Qingfeng could do was to squat behind the fence and aim his gun at the entrance of the memorial hall.

NYPD, please, don’t be too aggressive. You need backup, you need companions, you need to report to your superior. Please don’t rush in so quickly and let me survive the last half an hour, okay?

Zhou Qingfeng continued muttering while putting the Benelli M4 shotgun from his backpack in a convenient position. His two USP45s were loaded and placed in front of him. He held the SCAR assault rifle in his hand, got ready, and waited for the police to attack.

Based on Zhou Qingfeng’s idea, even if the police planned to attack, they would first throw in a few smoke bombs or shock bombs. But who would have thought that it was actually a police dog? The police might have loosened the harness on the dog since Zhou Qingfeng was running too fast!

Stupid dog, if it wasn’t for you sniffing around, I wouldn’t have ended up in this memorial hall with these coffins.

Zhou Qingfeng killed the police dog right at the entrance with a near shot. After the dog died, screams could be heard from outside the hall. It was as if some officers were cursing Zhou Qingfeng for killing their precious dog.

Soon after that, Zhou Qingfeng’s wish for the police to either call for backup or report to their superior did not happen. There was a rush of footsteps from the entrance; it was obvious that a large number of people were gathering outside. Zhou Qingfeng’s initial guess was at least 20 or 30 people.

A loud megaphone could be heard. “People inside, listen up, give up resisting, you have no way of escaping. Put down your weapon immediately, raise your hands, and come out to surrender. If there are hostages, let them go, you’re already in enough trouble. Otherwise, we will take further action!”

After hearing the shouting, Zhou Qingfeng was about to sneer before criticizing himself silently. I do not have enough experience as a bad guy! Why didn’t I think of keeping a few hostages? Now, I can’t buy any time even if I wanted to. How stupid of me!