Chapter 148: 148. Resolve gracefully
The entire district was under traffic control, and the taxi carrying Lu Yao could no longer proceed.
Fortunately, this city had a long history and a chaotic layout with many shortcuts available to take.
Lu Yao advanced by climbing over walls along alleys, and sometimes he crossed over rooftops.
As he passed by a souvenir stall with a serious expression, something caught his eye, and he retreated back to it.
He saw that the small stall was selling something familiar—the mask of the President of the Star Alliance!
"This guy's popularity is actually so explosive that it's even here..."
Lu Yao spoke with the stall owner in Star Alliance Language and bought the mask.
~~~~~~~~
Putting on the mask in an alley, Lu Yao ran onto the rooftop terraces like a gecko, leaping between buildings, and soon arrived near Saint Sophia Cathedral.
By then, videos of armed terrorists executing hostages had already appeared on the internet.
And what was more worrying was the incompetence of the Yukolun authorities.
A journalist obtained a leak from a government insider—the departments were still passing the buck!
The police claimed that the armed terrorists inside were rebels with heavy weaponry, and they dared not approach;
The armed forces declared they could not guarantee the safety of the hostages, actually unwilling to take responsibility.
Seeing the execution method of Dudayev using 155MM cannonballs through live broadcast, not a single department dared to make a move.
~~~~~~~~~
Lu Yao arrived to find the police had already sealed off the area around Saint Sophia Cathedral, strictly forbidding entry.
But they also didn't dare approach the cathedral, all hiding behind cover, not even as close as some bold media reporters.
The hostage-takers were not ordinary terrorists, but elite professional soldiers; the Chechen People were known for producing snipers.
There were snipers lying in ambush on the church's roof, and some had already suffered losses because of it.
Lu Yao quietly arrived at the park next to the cathedral and directly initiated the Eave Dragon Stake.
Under the cover of darkness, he rapidly approached, lying flat in the bushes until he reached the edge of the green space. Beyond that was the square in front of the cathedral, with no more plant cover.
He took a deep breath, his organs churning like engines, pumping more nutrients throughout his body.
His muscles and bones rejoiced, and with a burst of power, he catapulted his body over 60 meters across the ground like a bolt from a crossbow, hiding in the shadow of the "Khmelnitsky" equestrian statue.
After another burst of strength, Lu Yao silently pressed against the cathedral's foundation, then powered up the walls like a giant gecko, quickly ascending to the dome.
The cathedral was exquisitely decorated, with its dome not only gilded but also adorned with stained-glass windows.
Lu Yao moved beneath a sniper hidden in a corner, leaped up, twisted the person's neck sharply, and then quietly laid him down without making a noise.
The sniper's personal weapon was a compact AKS74U, which Lu Yao unhesitatingly took, then moved onto the next location and duplicated the process, killing all the snipers on the roof.
By then, he didn't have much time left, as those snipers would communicate with each other via radio every few minutes.
Peering through the stained glass down below, he saw the hostages gathered inside the main hall, numerous fully armed men standing all around, with that 155 howitzer shell conspicuously looming overhead.
A man wearing a green beret seemed quite agitated, scolding in a language Lu Yao didn't understand, then several subordinates dragged out hostages to be executed amidst cries of panic and screams.
And among the hostages about to be executed was Li Jin!
Lu Yao hesitated no longer, setting both of the AK74Us in his hands to single-shot mode, took a deep breath, and forcefully broke through the stained glass, leaping down!
Everything around him slowed down to 0.3 times its normal speed.
The shattered stained glass tumbled down, its reflection of the light beautiful and splendid; the angry shouts of the armed militants and the helpless cries of the hostages were all out of tune.
Lu Yao initiated the "Spiritual Cat Stance" mid-air; this time, not to move through space but to spin his body in the air.
At the same time, he raised his hands and precisely controlled the gun barrels, pulling the trigger on each enemy.
Flames erupted from the gun muzzles, and his muscles perfectly countered the recoil, allowing the bullets to pass through the enemies' foreheads, carrying with them a spray of blood mist.
One after another, the shell casings were ejected as the enemies fell to the ground in various motions, dead. Even the religious murals and stained glass by his side were sprayed with the sticky red of blood.
Dudayev slowly lifted his head to look up at Lu Yao in the sky, a bullet piercing through his left eye and exiting the back of his head.
His remaining eye was filled with intense disbelief as his body fell to the ground, lying next to his wife.
The steel cable in his hand had been pulled, and the cannonballs began to fall!
~~~~~~~
Lu Yao spun a full circle in the air, taking out all 20 enemies with headshots.
At this moment, the broken stained glass from the ceiling had only just started to crash to the ground.
Lu Yao quickly adjusted his posture to land. He stretched out his left hand and, after waiting for a second, caught the falling 155MM howitzer grenade!
All the hostages stared at him, dumbfounded, unable to utter a word of surprise!
It was a long while before someone exhaled a big sigh of relief, and others began to cry, causing a noisy scene.
Lu Yao waved his hand towards the main entrance, and it was only then that the hostages seemed to suddenly come to their senses and ran for their lives, dodging the bodies of the armed personnel.
Li Jin and Zhao Ya had already confirmed the person was Lu Yao, but they did not dare to show any difference, pretending to know nothing as they followed the crowd and left.
After they were gone, Lu Yao looked at the cannonball that had been fitted with a trigger fuse and shrugged helplessly. It was too dangerous.
He tossed the cannonball into the sky, his legs forcefully shattering the floor tiles as he flew backward out of the window.
Several seconds later, the cannonball exploded upon impact, and in a huge roar, the entire cathedral was demolished, the dome collapsing and the once magnificent building destroyed in an instant.
~~~~~~~~~
Li Jin and his family were unharmed and went to record their statements.
Embassy staff from Xia Country accompanied them throughout, blocking countless media reporters armed with long and short camera lenses, reducing much hassle.
This family refused to stay abroad any longer, buying tickets to return home at the first opportunity.
The next day, they met Lu Yao at the airport.
Zhao Ya kept thanking him, "Thank you, Lu Yao, for arriving just in time! We've caused you so much trouble..."
Lu Yao hugged each of them in turn and said, "I don't know whether to say you were lucky or unlucky. I happened to be coming to Yukolun too, and I'm glad I made it."
Li Jin, still scared, said with a quivering voice, "I'll never go abroad again! What a rotten place this is, such a thing can happen even in the central area of the capital!"
At that moment, he suddenly lowered his voice and said, "When giving our statements, most people said—someone rushed in and killed all the thugs to save everyone. But since you were wearing a mask, no one knows it was you!"
Lu Yao replied with a smile, "Yeah, it's fine. You guys should get ready to board the plane. Let's get together again back home."
"Let's get together again back home."
"I'll make sure to have your Battle Armor ready as soon as possible!"