Li Zan looked back and saw cars coming and going on the street. Several cars were coming towards him at a normal speed and there was nothing unusual.
"That car!" Song Ran shouted again and ran over.
Li Zan quickly scanned the drivers in all the cars, one after another, and he quickly identified them.
As if he had a natural keen sense of smell, he noticed something strange when he glanced at the driver's seat of the car.
The man in black in the car made eye contact with him, and in a split second, both of them became alert.
Li Zan raised his hand to signal him to stop the car, and his other hand reached for his waist. The man in black stepped on the accelerator, and Li Zan drew his gun, aimed, and pulled the trigger in an instant. "Bang", the right front tire of the car was blown up!
The car suddenly tilted and turned, crashing into the roadside where Li Zan was standing. The man in black released the accelerator, controlled the direction, and stepped on the accelerator again to escape to the main road. The moment the car turned away, Li Zan rushed forward in two or three steps, jumped onto the front cover of the car, and fired a gun with a "bang". The windshield was blown off in half, and Li Zan rolled into the driver's seat. Looking back, he saw a bomb on the back seat.
The attacker drew his gun and aimed at Li Zan, who blocked it and grabbed his wrist to try to remove the gun. But the attacker was no pushover either, with amazing strength, and the two men wrestled and fought.
"boom!"
The remaining half of the windshield exploded, and broken glass flew everywhere, scratching the faces of the two people.
The smell of blood aroused the men's fighting spirit. Their eyes turned red and they fought even harder. They stepped on the accelerator to the bottom and rushed through the street.
The Dongguo soldiers at the temple gate rushed over to stop them, and Li Zan yelled, "Bomb!"
The soldiers didn't dare to shoot at the car and could only shoot at the tires.
The car jolted wildly without slowing down as it rushed into the Grand Bazaar.
Merchants, vendors, and customers fled screaming; cloth, spices, and flatbreads were scattered all over the car body.
The attacker's target was the crowded weekend market. He slammed on the brakes as he rushed into the center of the crowd, and the inertia threw the two struggling people against the console of the car.
The attacker pounced to press the bomb button; Li Zan grabbed his gun-holding hand and punched him in the face. The man in black leaned back, and the remote control in his hand flew onto the control panel. He simply grabbed the gun with both hands and fired the bomb. Li Zan grabbed his hand tightly and twisted it upwards. "Bang!" The bullet broke the roof of the car. Li Zan held his hand and kicked the control panel. The remote control flew out of the broken windshield. He kicked the attacker's knee again, and the latter screamed. Li Zan took the opportunity to step on the accelerator, and the car accelerated again, continuing to rush forward in the Grand Bazar.
Song Ran rushed to the canopy of the market, only to see cars running out of the Grand Bazaar, leaving behind a mess of broken roads. People were huddled together on both sides of the "road", still in shock.
Song Ran ran out, stepping on the shelves, wood, spices and cloth on the ground.
She heard a series of gunshots, each one piercing her heart.
The road was too long, and at the end of the market exit was a white light, which was the bright sunshine outside. She ran as hard as she could, but the moment she rushed into the scorching sun, she heard a loud explosion in the distance.
The street in front of her was safe and sound, and people were looking at the sky in horror.
The car had already driven several blocks away and the explosion site was no longer in sight.
Song Ran's heart sank suddenly and he ran in that direction desperately.
She ran for an unknown distance and arrived out of breath - it was a small shopping street, and the government troops who arrived had set up a cordon. Song Ran wanted to go in and see, but was not allowed. The reporters from various countries who came everywhere reminded her: it was time to start working.
She closed her eyes tightly and calmed herself down.
Like other journalists, she showed her press card, but could only report from the outer circle. The scene inside was too bloody. Except for a few journalists from her own country, no one else was allowed to get close.
Song Ran took a position with no line of sight obstructed among a group of foreign reporters, quickly set up various equipment, and established a satellite connection with the country.
While the signal was connecting, she scanned the surrounding environment.
The streets were bombed to pieces, with burning garbage and clothes flying everywhere. The car had been blown into a burning ruin, and the two shops closest to the bomb were blown into black holes, with flames flying on the doors and walls, and soldiers holding fire extinguishers were trying to put out the fire.
In the middle of the street, several bodies were lying in a mess, some of them had their limbs dismembered, and the smell of blood filled the street. Soldiers and doctors were searching for people who could still be saved among the crowd. The dead had become abandoned, and no one had time to care for them.
This was the first time Song Ran had seen such a scene. She felt angry, disgusted, sad, helpless... Various emotions surged in her chest. Her eyes were red and she almost vomited.
But a signal came from the front in the headset: "Song Ran? Can you hear me? Song Ran?"
She turned back quickly, gritted her teeth and adjusted herself instantly, connected to the camera, and began to speak clearly:
"At 10:32 a.m. local time on September 10, a suicide bombing occurred in Garo City in the south-central part of the country. The exact number of casualties needs to wait for official announcement. It is currently impossible to infer which faction the suicide came from..."
A row of foreign journalists were standing beside her, all communicating with their own radio stations without interfering with each other.
After Song Ran finished his oral broadcast and transmitted the live images, a sound of signal being cut off came from the headphones.
She was about to pack up her equipment when she saw the soldier who was cleaning up the corpses pick up a child and put him on the roadside. The child was so small in the soldier's arms, with his head tilted up and his little hands and feet hanging down, like a rag doll.
The soldier put him on the side of the road, touched his head, and turned to pick up other bodies.
Song Ran took a breath, supported himself with the tripod, and bent down deeply.
She barely managed to stand up, and at this moment, several familiar Chinese soldiers appeared and helped to carry the bodies. The deep fear surged into her heart again.
Song Ran suddenly rushed into the cordon and was immediately stopped by the Dongguo soldiers. She watched the soldiers still putting out the fire on the burning car and was extremely anxious. A Chinese soldier happened to pass by and she grabbed him and asked, "Where is Officer Li? Is he in the car?!"
"who?"
"Lieutenant Li. Li Zan!"
"He was sent to the hospital."
Song Ran was confused and turned around and ran.
In the 38-degree heat, she ran a kilometer with a heavy bag of equipment on her back, all the way to the end and rushed into the hospital.
There was chaos all around, with wounded people everywhere, bloody, torn skin, and broken legs and feet.
The wailing of children and the screams of adults were endless. Doctors and nurses were short-handed and were tearing bandages and shouting for help.
Song Ran's face was covered in tears and sweat. She searched the entire hospital for a Chinese person, even just any Chinese person.
Wherever she looked, the wounds of the victims seemed to be tearing at the corresponding parts of her body. She was almost dying of pain.
She passed by a person covered with a white cloth. She lifted the cloth tremblingly to look, then quickly closed it out of fear.
"sorry!"
There were cries everywhere, and she started crying too. While crying, she pushed through the crowds of people to look for him.
Finally, at the end of the corridor, familiar camouflage uniforms and military boots appeared, with bright red national emblems on the clothes.
The soldier was lying on a mobile bed, twitching all over, and two doctors were pressing on his chest to stop the bleeding.
Song Ran rushed over. It was Jiang Lin. His chest was bloody, but he was still conscious, his face twisted in pain.
Song Ran's heart was torn apart. He didn't dare to look any longer. He covered his mouth and turned away, tears streaming down his face.
As her eyes blurred with tears, she saw Li Zan standing a few meters away with a bag of bandages.
He had several cuts on his face and his clothes were stained with blood, but he looked fine. He looked at her in surprise: "What's wrong?"
Song Ran looked at him, opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word. She turned her head away, and tears started streaming down her face.
Li Zan stood there for two seconds, then walked over, looked at Jiang Lin who was receiving treatment, and then looked at Song Ran who was crying. He was stunned for a while, and then asked again in a low voice: "Why are you crying?"
Song Ran lowered her head without answering, wiped her tears, turned around and ran out.
…
Song Ran sat on the steps at the back door of the hospital, his face stained with dried tears and cigarette dust.
The street behind the door was bustling with people, and everything looked normal.
A man sat astride a motorcycle, chatting with the owner of a roadside spice shop; a woman walked by with her two children, the children singing happily; next to the bus stop, two or three men and women were waiting for the bus with indifferent expressions.
We have been prepared for this day to come sooner or later.
Rebel and terrorist forces have infiltrated the South.
Those who could escape have already escaped, and those who stayed behind cannot leave; without money or power, and with no way out, they can only stand there indifferently, waiting for fate to come.
There were footsteps behind me.
Li Zan walked down the steps, sat next to her, and handed her a small piece of wet bandage.
She gave him a quick look.
"Wipe your face," he said.
Song Ran wiped her eyes which were covered with tears, and wiped her cheeks again. The white bandage was soon covered with dust. She lowered her head and said nothing, looking very sad.
Li Zan looked at her for a while, then looked into the distance and said softly, "Jiang Lin is fine, don't worry."
Song Ran tore the bandage in his hand, his mind was full of mixed feelings, but he had nothing to say.
She was filled with resentment, twisting it into one sentence: "I am crying for everyone who was injured today." She rolled up the wet bandage in her hand, rubbed her dirty fingers vigorously, and said, "Today... is too tragic."
“I’ve never seen it before.”
"No, How about you?"
"I saw him last time when I came to evacuate overseas Chinese. So..."
"What?"
"I wonder if I can do something to end this sooner. But..." He curled his lips slightly, but his smile was not a smile at all, but rather a bit bitter. He did not finish the rest of the sentence, leaving it there.
Song Ran comforted him: "Although there are many injured today, few died. If there was an explosion in the market, the consequences would be disastrous. ... You saved a lot of people."
Li Zan shook his head slightly.
He failed to defuse the bomb. After killing the attacker, he jumped into the back seat to defuse the bomb. But the attacker had an accomplice, who drove up and shot into the car. Li Zan had no choice but to abandon the car and roll out. Eventually, the bullet detonated the bomb.
He was also restless and wanted to say something. But the back door of the hospital was pushed open, and Soldier A poked his head out: "Jiang Lin has been bandaged, he's fine now."
"Okay." Li Zan stood up. Song Ran also stood up. Her legs were a little numb, and she accidentally staggered when she stood up.
Li Zan subconsciously reached out to help her, but she retracted her arms and pretended to avoid him unintentionally.
His hand hung in the air for half a second, then he slowly withdrew it. But she had already walked into the hospital to see Jiang Lin.
At the other end of the corridor, comrades gathered around Jiang Lin to greet him, and Song Ran also comforted him softly.
At the corner, Li Zan leaned against the wall, lowered his head, and wiped the wound on his hand with a cotton ball.
After wiping for a long time, he frowned and raised his head, leaning his head against the wall, staring at the sky silently. As he stared, he let out a deep breath.