Song Heping noticed that the muzzle of the corporal's gun was slightly trembling.
This young man was at most twenty years old, with a fresh scratch on his forehead, obviously frightened by the earlier explosion upstairs.
"BBC?"
The corporal eyed the group suspiciously.
"What are you doing here at a ti like this?"
Song Heping stepped forward slowly, responding in standard English, "We were doing a special report on Sena's economic developnt, and hid here when we heard the explosion."
He deliberately let his voice carry a slight tremor, "Thank God, you're finally here, this place is terrifying."
The corporal visibly relaxed a little, but still didn't lower his gun, "Let's see your IDs."
Song Heping pulled out a forged BBC ID from his vest pocket and handed it over.
The other team mbers also handed over their IDs.
These IDs were provided by MI6, genuine forgeries, they would even pass a verification call to the BBC.
As the corporal was repeatedly examining the IDs, a call suddenly ca through over the radio.
"Report, sir, a corpse has been found in the radio station!"
A soldier reported through the radio.
"There are six corpses in the broadcasting room on the third floor, all executed!"
Clearly, soone had already entered the third floor!
Song Heping was slightly taken aback.
He hadn't expected the radio station guards to have set up the ladder so quickly and climbed to the third floor again...
The corporal's eyes suddenly turned sharp, raising the gun once more, "Did you co down from the third floor?"
Song Heping felt a cold sweat on his back, but outwardly remained calm, "We were hiding in the parking lot the whole ti, we only ca out looking for an exit when the gunfire stopped upstairs."
"You were in the parking lot the whole ti?" The corporal's eyes still filled with doubt.
Song Heping firmly asserted, "That's right, we just arrived intending to conduct interviews, but then we heard the gunfight and explosions upstairs, not even knowing what happened, we could only hide."
The corporal suddenly sniffed and sneered, "Then why do you sll of gunpowder?"
The air instantly froze.
Song Heping's right hand inconspicuously moved closer to the Glock inside his vest.
At that mont, a series of explosions suddenly ca from outside the parking lot, followed by intense gunfire and screams from the crowd.
"What's going on?"
The corporal turned his head to look toward the exit.
The sudden situation left him sowhat at a loss.
Urged dialogue ca through the radio from other soldiers—
"There's a riot in the East District! Thousands are storming the governnt building!"
"There's also a riot in the North District, things are bad!"
Taking advantage of the corporal's distraction, Song Heping quickly stepped forward, "Listen, soldier. This city is about to descend into chaos, are you sure you want to waste ti questioning a few reporters?"
He lowered his voice, "Where does your family live? Are they safe now?"
Exploiting others' psychological weaknesses.
Song Heping was very adept at it.
When a country descends into chaos, anyone would worry about their family.
Moreover, the soldier wearing a ring on his ring finger, judging by his age, likely hasn't been married for long, and probably has dependents both old and young.
Sure enough, the corporal's expression visibly wavered.
Song Heping pressed his advantage, "Let us leave; we don't want to stay in this hellhole any longer, and you can continue to do your duty. Otherwise..."
He looked aningfully at the increasing riot noises outside.
"Get out of here!" The corporal finally waved his hand, "Leave through the west exit, don't let see you again!"
"Thank you!"
Song Heping thanked him repeatedly, leading Jiang Feng and the others past the soldier, quickly heading towards the interview vehicle.
After rounding a corner, Ferrari asked in a low voice, "Boss, how did you know he'd fall for it?"
"Fear and worry." Song Heping answered briefly, "Fear makes people make irrational decisions. He's more concerned whether the riot outside will affect his family's safety, and won't scrutinize us closely."
When they finally erged from the radio station building, crossed the open space and reached the street, the scene before them made everyone stop in their tracks.
Butare was burning.
In the distance, at least three plus of smoke rose straight into the sky, the flickering flas vaguely visible, staining the night sky a sickly orange-red.
On the street, the crowd surged like a tide, so holding hastily made signs, while more wielded sticks, machetes, even homade Molotov cocktails.
A squad of governnt soldiers was attempting to form a defensive line, but were quickly dispersed by the angry crowd.
"Du Er's speech worked."
Abdul's voice carried a note of fervor, "The people have finally risen up!"
Song Heping glanced at the already emotionally charged Abdul, but gave no response.
Chaos is a country's tragedy.
Without exception.
Any coup leads to bloodshed and slaughter.
Especially in a place like Africa.
He could almost foresee this country's state in the near future.
He noticed on the street corner, several young n were dragging a middle-aged man in a suit.
The man's face was already covered in blood, and he kept begging for rcy, but what answered him was a blow from an iron rod.
The sound of a skull shattering could be heard clearly even from dozens of ters away.
The man quickly fell to the ground, and several young n, like hyenas spotting a carcass, pounced on him, rummaging through his belongings, and soon laughed as they walked away.
"That's not an uprising." Jiang Feng looked at Abdul coldly and said, "That's chaos."
"That's a righteous judgnt!" Abdul retorted, "Those are all Noel's lackeys!"
Song Heping interrupted their argunt, "There's no ti to discuss this, we have to get to the safe house imdiately."
"The safe house is to the east, we need to cross at least two blocks." Abdul looked eastward, where flas pierced the sky.
"But now..."
Song Heping quickly assessed the situation.
The original plan was to head to the safe house provided by the opposition, but now the entire city seed to have fallen into anarchy.
Governnt soldiers, mobs, and looting bandits made every street perilous.
"Change route, head north." Song Heping decided, "Leave the city center first, then figure out a way to the safe house."
No one opposed his suggestion.
Because there was no other choice now.
The team moved swiftly along the shadows of the buildings, avoiding main streets. As they rounded a corner, they witnessed a small-scale battle.
About twenty governnt soldiers had established a defense line with two armored vehicles, firing tear gas at the advancing mob.
But the mob was too nurous, soon flanking them.
A soldier was dragged out of the armored vehicle and beaten to death instantly.
"They've run out of bullets." Jiang Feng keenly pointed out, "Only firing tear gas ans they're low on ammunition."
Abdul excitedly took out his phone to film, "This is a historic mont! Noel's rule is crumbling!"
Song Heping snatched the phone away, irritated, "Are you crazy? If anyone finds out we're filming, no matter which side, they'll destroy us to erase the evidence at all costs!"
He deleted the video and threw the phone back to Abdul.
"Rember, we're 'terrified journalists' now, not war photographers."
A sharp whistling suddenly tore through the sky.
Song Heping instinctively dived to the ground, "Mortar! Take cover!"
A shell exploded a hundred ters away, its blast shattering the glass of nearby buildings.
Then ca a second, a third...
The governnt army was evidently beginning to use heavy weapons to suppress the riot.
They no longer cared whether this was an urban area or residential district, directly using mortars here.
Clearly, the urban riot had beco extrely dire, and the situation for the current President Noel was undoubtedly dreadful.
"They're shelling residential areas!" Ferrari stared in disbelief at the impact points, "There are no military targets there!"
Abdul's face turned pale, "That's... that's the neighborhood where my sister lives..."
Song Heping grabbed his shoulder, "This isn't the ti to get distracted!" He pointed to a narrow alley, "Over there! Quickly!"
The squad had just rushed into the alley when the roar of engines sounded behind them.
Two pickup trucks mounted with heavy machine guns sped by, the soldiers aboard wearing the red berets of the Presidential Guard.
They fired rcilessly at any moving target, whether it was mobs or innocent passersby.
Jiang Feng whispered, "This is a massacre."
"Forget about it, let's just make sure we get out alive." Song Heping was the first to sprint towards the other end of the alley.
Now no one knew what was safe and what wasn't, not even soone local like Abdul could be certain of the situation.
The only option was to take it one step at a ti.
To survive in a riotous city, one must be more violent than the rioters.
As they were about to exit the alley, three knife-wielding youths suddenly charged at them, blocking the way.
"Hand over the money and phones!"
The leader shouted, eyes gleaming with madness and greed.
Song Heping raised his hands to signal peace, "We are just journalists, nothing valuable."
"Journalists?" the youth sneered, stepping forward, "That makes you foreign spies!"
He raised a machete, brandishing it in the air.
The sharp blade glimred coldly under the faint moonlight.
"President Noel said there's a hefty reward for capturing spies!"
With that, he swung the machete at Song Heping.
Song Heping sighed and sidestepped at the mont the machete fell, simultaneously drawing the Glock and firing three quick shots.
Bang, bang, bang—
A flawless defensive rapid-fire maneuver completed in just over a second.
The three robbers fell imdiately.
"Now we're murderers." Ferrari examined the bodies with a wry smile, "BBC journalists wouldn't shoot so proficiently."
"Let's keep moving." Song Heping ordered succinctly, his face showing no emotion.
"This godforsaken place is hell now."
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