Jimmy briskly walked to the entrance of the building, and Heart Eye had already activated ahead of time. There was one person in the lobby on the left side of the first floor, holding a pistol while standing next to the stairs and staring at the entrance. The stairs were at a roughly 45-degree angle, leading directly to the second floor, unlike the typical two-segment stairs found in most buildings. The others were on the second floor, two a bit farther apart, and four grouped together, among them one enclosed in the middle, squatting while being beaten up.

Jimmy took his cellphone out with his left hand and brought it to his ear, "I'm at the entrance, there's just one person on the first floor, Jack (the captured surveillance officer) must be upstairs, and I can faintly hear someone inside hitting him. I'm going up."

"Be careful."

Ruiz didn't stop him, which was a permission by default. Having got the tacit approval, Jimmy put the phone into his pocket. He reholstered the Glock and took out a revolver. Previously, not knowing how many people were inside, he had taken out the Glock in case there wasn't enough firepower. Now, seeing that there were only a few, it no longer mattered.

Raising his gun, Jimmy aimed at the person next to the stairs and shouted, "FBI, drop your weapon."

This was the procedure, especially since there were others monitoring the situation. Jimmy couldn't just go in shooting without saying a word—that would have been highly improper and the repercussions could be problematic.

The person next to the stairs suddenly saw someone aiming a gun at him while shouting "FBI" and immediately turned around and rushed up the stairs, running to the second floor. "FBI's here, be careful."

After glancing left and right once more, Jimmy confirmed there was no one else on the first floor. He approached the bottom of the stairs, his gun pointing upstairs. The group that had been beating Jack had dispersed and were now surrounding the stairs, guns aimed at the staircase entrance.

Jimmy stood next to the stairs, distancing himself from the gunmen above, and shouted, "FBI, you bastards, release the hostage now."

"They have guns." Jack, upstairs, heard Jimmy's voice and loudly warned, before getting kicked and curling up to lie on his side on the floor.

Jimmy, holding his phone by his ear, said, "They've blocked the stairs, but Jack can still talk, he should be okay. I'm going up."

Not carrying a Bluetooth headset was the biggest mistake; he had to put his phone in his pocket, making it impossible to communicate promptly with the team behind him.

Jimmy looked around and noticed a piece of wood nearby. He went over, took the wood, and hung his suit on it. Noting the positions of the three men above, he calculated their firing lines and angles of view, then stretched along the staircase. Several shots "pop-pop-pop" rang out, and Jimmy quickly retracted his suit back, but it was slightly too late; there were already two holes in it.

Since they had fired first, he wouldn't hold back anymore. All procedural requirements were now met. Grasping the stair railing to stabilize his body, Jimmy raised his hand and aimed at the closest person; two shots and he immediately retreated from the stairs.

He was certain that at least one of the two shots had hit its mark, evident by a silhouette collapsing to the floor. The other two men guarding the stairs began moving toward the stairway entrance on the second floor. Jimmy aimed at one about to peek out. Not wanting to appear too brutal, Jimmy avoided aiming at the head and targeted the chest instead. He had become very cautious lately; having joined the FBI recently and started killing, he was genuinely worried about his career being short-lived.

As the people upstairs moved to the stairway entrance, Jimmy fired, still aiming at the chest. One shot hit the gunman's right arm, and the other hit his right chest. "Ah~~~," after being shot, the gunman tilted to the right side and slid directly down the stairs, not stopping even as he hit the ground, sliding forward about 2 meters. His gun also fell onto the stairs and rolled down.

Jimmy saw his gun drop from his hand and shifted his focus to the next person moving towards the staircase, because the first one had been shot and fell, causing a brief pause before the second man continued towards the stairs, firing two preemptive shots while moving. This guy was cautious.

Seizing the moment, Jimmy had returned to the stairs and directly aimed at the second man at the entrance of the staircase, targeting the armed hand and chest. Taking advantage of his movement, Jimmy moved up two steps and shot him down.

Jimmy now changed his shooting target, as for whether they could hold on until the ambulance arrived, that was truly up to God.

Aside from the first person who was killed instantly, the remaining two were still alive, wailing in pain. As long as the guns were dropped from their hands and there was no danger, Jimmy temporarily decided not to shoot again.

After clearing the three people at the staircase, the fourth man guarding Jack upstairs panicked. He quickly ran towards the two beside him. As for the pair nearby, judging from their silhouettes, both were likely pointing guns at the staircase position because their arms were raised.

"Drop your guns and kneel to surrender," Jimmy took six bullets from his holster, replenished the revolver's cylinder, and shouted while reloading, demanding their surrender.

Jimmy didn't directly show his face from the stairs to the second floor, as killing them would be easy, but now he wanted to change his image, so it was better to proceed with the normal arrest process.

"Jimmy, what's the situation?" Jimmy turned his head to see that Ruiz had already come to the door with his gun but was shouting while checking the entrance.

"Why did you come over? Has backup arrived?" Jimmy glanced up to make sure no one from upstairs was at the staircase, aiming at the staircase while stepping back a few steps.

"Backup is on its way, how's it upstairs?" Ruiz came beside Jimmy, who didn't look at Ruiz again. His face was towards the stairwell, but his gaze was always angled up at the figures above.

"The people guarding the stairs have been taken down; there should still be some upstairs," Jimmy said briefly.

"Three people, they're trying to escape," Jack suddenly shouted from upstairs. Jimmy had already noticed the figures moving to the back wall; they had jumped out through the damaged window. Although jumping from the second floor might be painful for the legs, it usually wasn't fatal. However, Jimmy couldn't just go up and shoot without any indication; it was too unconventional, especially since he was still talking to Ruiz.

Upon hearing Jack's words, Jimmy and Ruiz rushed up to the second floor, peeking out a bit at the stairwell before going up. On the way, Jimmy kicked away the gun next to the person on the floor, then looked around, while Ruiz ran to Jack's side.

Ruiz checked Jack and asked, "Jack, are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Jack: "Got beat up, but should be okay."

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