Give Me Another Smile

Chapter 23: Life and Death

Night fell, and a layer of frost covered the weeds growing by the roadside. A bitter-cold wind soughed, causing the trees to sway in the darkness.

Several people clad in black looked around cautiously as they slowly approached a small house.

A source of light briefly flickered in and out of existence along with the opening and closing of the house's door. As soon as the door closed, the wind disappeared, and the night fell silent.

"Alpha, this is Charlie. The ambushers have been captured. I repeat, the ambushers have been captured."

Tang Zhengyang listened to the report coming through his headset with bated breath, his eyes firmly locked on the small house, not daring to look away for even a moment for fear of missing anything crucial. His clothes were also soaked wet with dew and clung to his body, bringing him a chilly discomfort.

The monitoring team was listening in on the secret conversations inside a distant house to judge the progress of the talks and got ready to give out subsequent instructions at any moment.

The letter was spot on. The outlaws had indeed prepared an ambush for them to create chaos and confusion.

However, to avoid alerting the outlaws, their department still decided to send teams to both the fake and real venues.

Thus far, Team C had already successfully apprehended the criminals lying in ambush at the fake deal's venue. This had essentially severed one of the outlaws' countermeasures. Moreover, the criminals conducting the real deal still weren't aware that the hammer of law was gradually closing in on them.

"Attention Bravo. Attention Bravo. Block off all routes. Alpha, get ready for action."

The house's surroundings appeared calm and peaceful at first glance. In reality, however, there was a dangerous undercurrent hidden within this peace as numerous pairs of eyes focused on the house's front door, watching for even the slightest of movements.

The door...opened!

"Move in!"

Gunshots rang out in the dark, causing the scene to instantly turn chaotic. The exchange of gunfire extended well into the night, disturbing the peace of the dark and deserted suburbs.

The tip of the pencil suddenly broke, causing her originally smooth handwriting to become crooked. Tang Yu grabbed her eraser to erase the crooked writing before switching to a different pencil.

At this time, the sound of high heels clattering urgently down the hallway flowed into the classroom. A moment later, a female teacher appeared at the classroom's entrance while gasping for air. Then, after greeting the teacher in the classroom, the female teacher shouted at the classroom, "Tang Yu! Come out for a moment!"

...

Yu Wanrou's hair was in a mess, and dark circles were under her eyes that had become bloodshot from staying up late. The instant she saw Tang Yu walking out of the school building, her legs went a little limp, and she very nearly fell.

A wincing pain assaulted Tang Yu's heart when she saw this, her constricting heart giving her a hard time breathing. The scene from her previous life has...appeared yet again...

Weren't things supposed to change already?

Wasn't there supposed to be a new plan?

Didn't he say he would come back alive?

Yu Wanrou took Tang Yu's hand and walked up to a black SUV without saying a word.

The people in the car were dressed in black and wore helmets covered in dirt and dried blood. Despite the apparent exhaustion on their faces, their eyes remained sharp as they kept a constant watch of their surroundings.

Tang Yu's urge to cry grew when she saw this scene.

...

Unexpectedly, after the car stopped in front of the hospital, the people in the car got off and took an elevator to the seventh floor.

Tang Yu recalled that they had gone straight to the morgue in her previous life, but the morgue was on the first floor...

Tang Yu released the breath she had been holding onto all this time as a sense of relief filled her heart. Her legs grew a little limp, and she held onto the railings in the elevator as tears rolled down her eyes. However, they weren't tears of sadness, but joy and relief instead. Right now, she even had the urge to smile.

Everything was fine so long as her father was alive...

...

Many people were gathered outside a certain operation room on the hospital's seventh floor. These people were all soldiers who had just experienced a fierce battle. Currently, some of these soldiers were anxiously pacing outside the operation room, while some were standing still and quietly staring at the red light above the room's doors.

When Yu Wanrou walked up to the operation room with the help of a soldier, her eyes no longer shed tears as they had already run dry of tears.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. It was our mistake," a young male soldier apologized guiltily to Yu Wanrou, light tear marks covering his face that was covered in face paint.

Yu Wanrou gently shook her head in response. Then, in a hoarse voice, she uttered her first words in a long while, "Thank you for your hard work..."

As the only child here, Tang Yu was settled into a seat near the operating room. Then, the hallway outside the operating room fell silent as everyone waited for the operation to end.

Meanwhile, although Tang Yu was still feeling a little nervous, she also felt a little glad over being brought to an operating room. At the very least, this was much better than getting led straight to the morgue...

Nobody knew how much time had passed. The moment the operation room's light went off, everyone swarmed up to the doctor, who came out of the operating room, with eyes full of hope and anxiety.

The doctor wasn't surprised by this scene. After removing his mask, he let out a long breath, his behavior leaving everyone's hearts hanging. Then, a second later, the doctor said in a relaxed voice, "The patient's life is no longer under threat. He can be moved to the general ward after a night of observation."

Yu Wanrou took a few steps back, leaned against the wall, and crouched down. Then, with tears in her eyes, she softly muttered, "Everything's alright... Everything's alright..."

The soldiers gathered outside the operation room also sighed in relief. At this time, the captain of the soldiers, who had remained silent all this time, hesitated for a bit before crouching to meet Yu Wanrou and said in a lowered voice, "Ma'am, I have something I need to tell you. Can you follow me for a moment?"

Hearing this, Yu Wanrou's first reaction was to look around first. When the captain noticed this, he said, "Your daughter went to the restroom."

Feeling a little more at ease, Yu Wanrou followed the captain to the seventh floor's balcony. It was a little windy on the balcony, the wind causing her messy hair to become even messier.

After stepping onto the balcony, the captain immediately went into the topic and said, "During the mission, we originally could have apprehended all of the criminals in one fell swoop. However, we didn't think that someone would be hiding in one of the criminals' cars. It was Old Tang who found that person."

Yu Wanrou quietly listened without interrupting.

"That person fled with a gun, but Old Tang shot him in the knee. Afterward, that person said he would stop running and put his gun down." Speaking up to this point, the captain suddenly clenched his fist, visible anger appearing on his face. Then, he continued, "A newcomer followed Old Tang at the time. He thought the danger was over and dropped his guard. But the moment he lowered his gun, that person suddenly fired a bullet straight at his chest...which Old Tang took for him.

"That person ended up jumping off a cliff. We haven't found his corpse yet, so we still do not know if he is dead or alive."