Chapter 167: Stop Your Men
Jingwei opened the connection while Hanchuan watched the soldiers carrying equipment toward the collapse.
The stretcher bothered him more than their rifles did.
Someone had already decided where Zhiyi would lie, who would carry her, and which vehicle would take her away. They had made room for her unconscious body without asking whether she wanted to go in the first place.
"Captain Du, stop your men," Hanchuan instructed, leaning toward the microphone. "Anyone attempting to force entry into this shelter will be treated as an armed intruder."
On the screen, Captain Du lifted his head. Behind him, the medical officer stood beside the open transport, one hand braced against its door.
"Are you threatening military personnel, Mr. Pei?" the captain demanded. He stepped closer to the camera, his face tightening.
"I’m telling you what will happen if they continue," Hanchuan replied. His hand rested against the desk, close to Jingwei’s controls. "You have somewhere else to be. I suggest you turn around and go back."
Captain Du glanced toward the western entrance before answering.
"We’re here under government authority," the captain insisted, wiping his forehead with his sleeve. "Refusing a medical assessment doesn’t give you the right to threaten my men."
Hanchuan looked at the stretcher again.
He had carried Zhiyi out of danger once already, and he could still remember how carefully he had tried to hold her while being terrified that careful wasn’t enough.
Nobody outside that gate had earned the right to touch her.
"My wife isn’t leaving," Hanchuan told the captain. "If you want to keep your men alive, stop sending them toward her. I promise you, I won’t hesitate to end them."
He stepped away from the microphone. Jingwei closed the outgoing connection, although the hum of engines continued filling the room.
For several seconds, none of his friends spoke.
Zeyu stood beside the desk with his eyes fixed on Hanchuan. Shichen had folded his arms, trapping one hand beneath the other as though that could keep him from reaching for the controls.
Hanchuan knew that look. His friends were waiting for the explanation that would make his words easier to accept.
"They heard you," Jingwei finally said, his voice low. He glanced toward the western feed. "Whether they believe you is another question."
"They don’t need to believe me to leave," Hanchuan replied. He shifted his rifle and looked toward Shichen. "Show me the door they’re trying to reach."
Shichen hesitated before retrieving his tablet.
"I’ll take you," Shichen offered, moving around the desk. "Jingwei needs to keep watching the other approach."
Hanchuan nodded and followed him into the corridor. Behind them, Zeyu pulled a chair toward the controls, the scrape of its legs briefly drowning out the engines.
The farther they walked, the quieter the shelter became.
Light fell evenly across the floor, illuminating the faint scuffs left by their shoes. Hanchuan could hear his own breathing and the soft movement of Shichen’s clothing ahead of him.
He wanted to turn toward the medical room. Instead, he followed Shichen past it.
Through the partly open door, he saw Qinghe seated beside the bed. The doctor looked up immediately, his gaze dropping to the rifle before returning to Hanchuan’s face.
"Has something happened?" Qinghe asked, starting to rise.
"Stay with her," Hanchuan replied, stopping in the doorway. "They’re still outside."
Zhiyi lay beneath the blanket with her face turned slightly toward the empty chair.
Hanchuan hated seeing that chair unoccupied. He had left her to deal with a phone call, returned, and been pulled away again because the people calling hadn’t liked his answer.
Qinghe followed his gaze and sat back down.
"I’ll call if anything changes," Qinghe promised. He rested his hand beside Zhiyi’s, close enough for Hanchuan to see she wouldn’t be left alone.
Hanchuan nodded. He made himself step away before wanting to stay became stronger than his willingness to leave.
Shichen waited further down the corridor, his tablet held against his chest. He didn’t comment when Hanchuan joined him.
They passed into the western section, where the clean brightness of the residential rooms gave way to bare walls and a closed metal door.
Dust had collected along the edges of the floor. Hanchuan recognized the smell before he could name it, and his stomach tightened.
He had hoped never to smell broken concrete again.
"This is the remaining barrier," Shichen explained, stopping several steps from the door.
He pointed toward the tablet, which showed the soldiers working outside. "The collapse is beyond it. They still have to get through the debris before they can touch this."
Hanchuan studied the door. Its solid surface gave him nothing to look through, although that didn’t prevent him from imagining boots picking their way closer on the other side.
"Can they open it from outside?" Hanchuan asked, turning toward Shichen.
"Not with an access code," Shichen replied. He looked offended by the possibility, which Hanchuan found unexpectedly reassuring. "They’ll have to damage it, and that won’t be quick."
A faint scraping noise reached them through the barrier. Shichen fell silent, listening as it stopped and began again.
Hanchuan looked at the tablet. One soldier had disappeared beneath the supported opening while another remained outside, passing equipment after him. They were still coming.
Shichen’s phone vibrated, and he accepted Jingwei’s call.
"They’re working through the rubble," Jingwei reported over the speaker. "The captain has moved closer. I can’t hear what he’s telling them."
"We can hear them from here," Shichen replied, watching the door. His voice sounded different in the narrow passage.
Hanchuan held out his hand for the phone. Shichen gave it to him without argument.
"Keep watching the main entrance," Hanchuan instructed Jingwei. "Tell Zeyu to stay with you."
A dull impact sounded beyond the door. Hanchuan felt Shichen turn toward him, but he kept his eyes on the barrier.
Someone knocked three times.
"Mr. Pei, this is Sergeant Luo," a man called through the metal. His voice was muffled but unmistakably close. "Step back from the door and put down any weapons."
Hanchuan lowered the phone. Beside him, Shichen stopped breathing for a moment.
Then another voice crackled through the speaker.
"Hanchuan," Jingwei warned, "the captain just handed one of them the cutting equipment."