Princesa Mercenaria - Capítulo 17
That's right, their own image appeared in the satellite TV broadcast, right in this room!
The camera was shot from a particular angle, showing the entire room at an angle. Sun Zichu was lying on the large bed in the center, with Lin Junru and Xiaozhi beside him, while Ye Xiao, Dingding, and Elena were standing in front of the television.
Upon seeing himself on the television screen, Ye Xiao stood up in surprise and took a few steps back, and the person on the screen reacted in the same way.
What was going on? His heart suddenly raced, and he clenched his fists as he walked toward the television. In the video, he saw himself walking toward the television at the same time.
This is practically a live broadcast, a satellite broadcast to the whole world!
Seeing their own actions at that moment, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment and fled in panic to various corners of the room to avoid being captured on camera.
"Damn it, someone's watching us! There's a camera in this room!"
Ye Xiao roared angrily, ignoring his wounds, and looked up at the ceiling of the room, slowly and carefully surveying the surroundings.
At the same time, he glanced at the television out of the corner of his eye until he realized he was facing the camera.
The camera is right in front of you!
21:40
It rained heavily.
The stadium remained shrouded in the sound of rain, and the lights pierced through the rain curtain, shining on his face like stage lights.
But he is not the male lead.
Nobody.
Just as Tong Jianguo was about to turn around, something hard pressed against his lower back.
He knew that the thing was called a "gun".
Therefore, he cannot move around recklessly.
He could also guess who was pointing a gun at his lower back.
He guessed correctly; it was the man in black—×.
"You're amazing! I thought you were still in the morgue, turned into a zombie."
The man in black spoke softly behind him, his pistol pressed firmly against him.
"I'm really old. If I were ten years younger, I would never let you within five meters of me."
"Yes, your hearing and sense of smell have both decreased, and the sound of the heavy rain masked my movements, plus you were already injured."
Fifty-seven-year-old Tong Jianguo looked at his left arm in a sling and gave a wry smile: "Your assessment is fairly fair."
How's your arm?
"Thanks to you, I've already removed the bullet."
"Did you do it yourself? I don't remember there being a doctor here."
Tong Jianguo calmly replied, "Yes, but who told you to lock me in the morgue? That's inside the hospital, with lots of surgical equipment."
In a corner of the stadium stands, the wind and rain kept blowing on them. The two men faced each other, one in front of the other, but the former's life was in the latter's gun.
"You know what? I really can't bear to kill you."
“And I have no intention of killing you.” Tong Jianguo uttered coldly, his right hand still frozen in place, the X-shaped bullet poised to fire at any moment. “Can I ask you some questions?”
"Okay, although I can't answer that for you."
"I don't want to know who you are, because it's pointless, but I do want to know who you serve?"
X shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, you know I can't say."
"Okay, but I've already guessed who he is!"
Tong Jianguo nodded confidently, his gaze sweeping across the blurry rain and landing on the distant stands opposite.
"Really?"
"Why should I lie to you now? I also want to know how many people are here besides you."
"I'm sorry, I still can't say."
"Yes, you are very dedicated, and you are indeed a skilled worker." He paused for a few seconds, took a deep breath, and said, "Just like I was twenty years ago."
X smiled slightly: "I know. You used to do this too."
Why aren't you making a move yet?
Are you pressuring me?
He retorted sarcastically, "Are you showing mutual respect for heroes?"
"I don't understand."
"Hurry up and do it!"
Finally, X's gun trembled slightly, not because he was about to pull the trigger, but because he was somewhat afraid.
Fear is a fatal flaw, and x immediately received his just deserts.
When Tong Jianguo felt the gun barrel tremble, he instinctively lay down on the seat in front of him. Sure enough, no shot was fired, and Tong Jianguo was already prone on the steps. Just as the man in black was about to point the gun downwards, Tong Jianguo rolled over and delivered a flying kick to his lower back.
The gun fell silent once more, for it had been removed from its owner's finger.
The gun's owner had already been kicked to the ground. He had just struggled to his feet when Tong Jianguo delivered another powerful punch with his still-powerful right hand. He lost his balance and fell against the railing behind him. Then, he was kicked in the chest, causing him to tumble off the stands and fall into the shadows several meters deep.
Once again, only one person remained in the vast stands—Tong Jianguo, with bandages in his sling.
He was getting on in years; he leaned back in his seat, catching his breath, before looking down at the railing. It was pitch black, and he couldn't see anything. Whether the man in black was dead or alive, since X hadn't shot him, why go so far as to exterminate him?
The intense fight had made his injured left arm ache again, but he felt much better, which showed that his skills from back then hadn't been wasted.
Actually, Tong Jianguo originally had no chance, but because X felt compassion for him for the first time and saw that he had a sling arm, he underestimated the senior.
He even felt a little fondness for X after that conversation; it was indeed just like his own back then!
Without thinking any further, Tong Jianguo endured the pain in his arm and walked halfway around the stands. Suddenly, he noticed a light shining from a small door.
He slowly pushed open the door and went inside. A staircase led down to him. This time, he carefully placed his hand under his armpit, ready to draw his gun at any moment, and silently descended the stairs. Another world awaited him. Still—simultaneously, at the same minute, at the same second. Let's move the camera back to our headquarters.
Everyone was in the bedroom on the second floor, and the television was showing their current situation, with the camera right in front of Ye Xiao!
But he didn't see the camera; it was the angle between the ceiling and the corner of the wall, where only white paint was visible.
"Don't you find it strange? There's a lot of dust and cobwebs in several corners, but this one corner is very clean."
Dingding suddenly reminded everyone. Ye Xiao moved a cabinet over, climbed onto it, and touched the corner of the wall, feeling that something was indeed strange.
He pulled hard on the corner of the wall again and pulled off a large piece of paint—actually, it wasn't paint at all, but a special film that looked white from the outside in, but was completely transparent from the inside out, like a clean piece of cellophane.
Hidden inside this thin film is a professional camera lens!
An all-powerful eye.
Everyone saw this eye, which stared straight at them, transmitting their expressions to the global satellite television broadcast.
An amazing discovery!
Ye Xiao brought his face close to the camera lens, leaving only his face visible on the television screen. Due to the close proximity to the lens, his face appeared somewhat distorted in the image, emitting two sharp glares.
As a police officer, installing surveillance cameras is a common investigative technique. But this camera is far more advanced than a simple surveillance device. Its lens has automatic focus adjustment and infrared night vision, allowing it to record even in dark environments. It's equipped with a sound capture system and has a complex wiring system, enabling remote control of the recording process, just like a professional cameraman operating the equipment on-site. The footage produced is comparable to that of a top-of-the-line camera, perfectly suitable for use in television dramas.
The television screen continuously displayed Ye Xiao's face, even showing his hand fiddling with the camera lens. He opened the recess behind the camera, wanting to examine the wiring inside more closely.
Suddenly, the television screen disappeared and switched to a news studio—clearly, the television station didn't want to broadcast the footage of Ye Xiao checking the camera anymore.
Everyone turned their attention back to the television. Ye Xiao climbed down from the cabinet. The female anchor looked a little flustered, but she quickly regained her composure and calmly addressed the camera in English—
"Why did Officer Ye check the camera? Perhaps he felt he shouldn't be able to see these images. But he was undoubtedly aware of his situation and wanted to interact with our audience. I feel that beneath his indifferent expression lies a humorous heart."
Elena understood everything, but was even more confused: "What's going on? Are you fully aware of your situation?"
"Are you doubting me?" Ye Xiao himself was confused, and then he became furious. "No, I don't have a sense of humor at all! I'm not joking with anyone, and there's no audience for me!"
The TV screen switched to an NBA game, with Kobe Bryant wearing Nike shoes and starting to dunk. It turned out to be commercial break time.
Taking advantage of this lull, Dingding shouted loudly, "You all need to calm down!"
"What kind of TV station is this?"
“Cosmic Dragon Satellite TV – abbreviated as ‘Dragon TV’ in Chinese.” Elena sat down and answered. She often watched the news programs of this satellite TV station in the United States. “It is headquartered in Los Angeles and mainly targets the Asia-Pacific region. It has developed very rapidly in recent years and broadcasts in more than a dozen languages worldwide.”
“Dragon TV?” Lin Junru, who was by the bedside, also remembered. “We can still receive this channel in Taipei. No wonder they interviewed my parents.”
The advertisement continued. Ye Xiao lowered his head and pondered for a few seconds, then suddenly said coldly, "I bet there's more than one camera in this house!"
After saying that, he immediately rushed out and ran to the study next door. He carefully checked the ceiling and corners again, but found nothing unusual. Then he focused on the tall bookshelf, turning over all the books on it. He found the camera on the top shelf—incredibly cleverly hidden between the books, and sealed with a thin film that looked like the spine of a book but was transparent on the inside. Even if you saw it from the front, you wouldn't suspect anything. It was hidden perfectly!
It is also a professional camera with automatic focus and infrared shooting capability in the absence of light. The complex circuitry is installed at the back of the bookcase and connected to the room's original wiring system.
Dingding and Elena followed behind him, and they went to the room on the third floor—Xiaozhi's original boudoir. The three pairs of eyes searched together, and after a lot of effort, they finally found an even more hidden camera behind the curtains. It was also covered with a camouflage film, and even if all the curtains were removed, they might not be able to find it.
Ye Xiao cursed heavily, as if he had already been stripped naked and displayed to television viewers around the world in front of these cameras.
The group then split up to search—Ding Xiang found a camera in the attic, Elena found one in the downstairs kitchen, and Ye Xiao found a low-angle camera above the entryway in the living room. But he wasn't satisfied; he also found a low-angle camera hidden inside the large TV cabinet in the living room—surprisingly, inside the DVD player! They hadn't noticed the camera when they used the DVD player last night, demonstrating just how cleverly it was concealed.
The person who designed these surveillance cameras must be a genius in either investigation or crime!
What angered them most was that Ye Xiao discovered a camera in the bathroom mirror. It turned out that this was a special mirror; the back was completely transparent, and the camera was installed behind it, allowing it to record the entire bathroom without restraint.
After discovering this secret, the girls felt utterly humiliated and ashamed. They picked up glasses, bottles, and other objects, smashing the bathroom mirror and camera to pieces. For Elena, an American, this was an utterly despicable crime, a serious invasion of her bodily privacy.
The villa, which was supposed to be sleeping, was not sleeping at all.
The entire house was covered in cameras, like a giant film studio, and they had all unknowingly become actors! These astonishing discoveries brought them to the brink of collapse, and the torrential rain outside seemed poised to bury them completely.
Back in the second-floor bedroom, Lin Junru pointed at Xiaozhi's nose and said, "Why are you the only one who doesn't say anything? Because you know everything, right? This is your home, you know it's full of cameras, so you deliberately lured everyone here!"
Faced with this serious accusation, Xiaozhi left the room without comment.
However, Ye Xiao wouldn't let her off this time. He stopped her at the top of the stairs, his face darkening as he said, "Tell me, what's going on?"
"I--"
She was forced to open her mouth, but hesitated to speak. "Speak!" Ye Xiao slammed his fist against the wall, shaking dust off the roof and making the bruises on his arm hurt even more. "This is your home, but it's also a trap you set, exposing us all to the cameras, isn't it?"
"No, I didn't do these things!"
Although she tried to defend herself, she didn't deny that she was unaware of the situation. The wolfhound "Heavenly God" cautiously ran over, scaring Lin Junru back to her room on the second floor.
But Ye Xiao was not afraid of the "gods" and continued to ask, "Who did it?"