### Chapter 2: Shifting Worldlines (5)
The sight of three military helicopters hovering over the hospital left the crowd of onlookers utterly bewildered.
Just as they were craning their necks to take pictures, the helicopters simultaneously opened their cargo doors and dropped down ropes.
Before anyone had a chance to process what was happening,
three rows of soldiers clad in camouflage gear and fully armed slid down the ropes at once.
With gasps echoing through the crowd, in less than ten seconds, thirty soldiers completed their descent, and the helicopters ascended high into the air to avoid creating a windstorm that could disturb the citizens below.
“Holy cr*p! Holy cr*p! Holy cr*p! How cool is that?!”
“Oh my god, never in a million years did I think I’d witness such an epic scene!”
“Wow! Majestic and inspiring! Our military is just awesome!”
Meanwhile, the police officers preparing to escort Lin Nan and Nie Zhengchu to the patrol car were equally startled by the sudden parachute drop of soldiers.
These scenes were ones they usually only saw on television, and witnessing it in real life was a shock that left them momentarily speechless.
In an instant, almost everyone at the scene was frozen in place.
Seeing the regular army’s arrival, the security guards, who normally only dared to shout at the average Joes, didn’t have the guts to step forward. No one knew why these soldiers were here.
With the soldiers heavily armed, rifles with dark, ominous barrels dangling at their sides, and magazines and grenades strapped to their waists, who would dare to say a word? What would happen if they bumped into the wrong end of a g*n?
Ma Yongxin captured the scene and sent it to the group chat with his classmates.
The classmates, who had thought Lin Nan would be swiftly taken away by the police, never expected to stumble upon a military operation.
They excitedly shouted for Ma Yongxin to zoom in a little closer, eager to see what these imposing soldiers were planning.
“Are they having a drill at the hospital?”
“Probably some anti-terrorism exercise, like if there were bad guys holding patients and doctors hostage. These Special Forces must be here to scout the terrain first.”
“That makes sense.”
Classmate B: “Haha, finally the show’s about to start! I’m on site at the office building, bringing you this anti-terror extravaganza from different angles!”
Ma Yongxin muttered under his breath, “d*mn!”
This little punk just couldn’t stand seeing Ma take the spotlight in the group chat and had to hog some of it for himself.
Well, whatever. At least he was already getting some attention for his high school crush, Lin Nan. No loss there.
The soldiers lined up neatly at the entrance to the office building. No matter how many people surrounded them, they showed not a trace of relaxation, standing even more erect, like a row of statues frozen in time.
Leading them was a young lieutenant colonel, who kept scanning the area as if searching for someone.
At the same time, Lin Nan and Nie Zhengchu had ducked their heads and gotten into the van, with two police officers sitting beside them while another officer drove.
Just as the van started moving, Lin Nan’s phone suddenly rang.
“Ding ding ding… ding ding ding…”
Lin Nan asked, “Can I answer it?”
The officer next to her replied, “You can’t contact anyone outside, hand me the phone.”
Nie Zhengchu panicked, “What if it’s something urgent? Can you afford to delay?”
The officer scoffed, “What urgent matter could you two fake ID sellers possibly have? Isn’t it just a customer showing up?
Cut the chatter and hand over the phone.”
The ringtone was already pretty quiet, and with the crowd’s commotion outside, even with the van’s window half-open, it would probably be drowned out in a few steps.
But when Lin Nan pulled her phone out of her bag and handed it to the officer, the ringtone had a brief upward spike before abruptly cutting off when the officer hung up.
At that moment, none of the three officers realized what was about to happen.
According to procedure, they would take these two back to the station for interrogation, especially needing to determine the condition of the fainted Security Team Leader to assess the woman’s level of responsibility.
And just then, something astonishing occurred that stunned everyone present.
The originally neatly lined-up thirty soldiers suddenly spread out, leveling their rifles with rapid precision, all aimed squarely at the van that had just exited the office building.
The driver slammed on the brakes, coming to a screeching halt.
A tense silence fell over the area, and a second later, the crowd erupted like a shaken soda bottle, eyes glued to the scene while they buzzed with excitement.
“What… what’s going on? Are those police officers fake?”
“Totally possible! Isn’t this just like something out of a movie?
Bad guys disguising themselves as cops to haul off hostages—who would’ve thought we’d get to see it in real life?”
“Right? Those soldiers have got to be the real deal. Armed helicopters, heavy weaponry, and top-notch insertion training! Even if the bad guys wanted to pretend, they couldn’t pull it off!”
Ma Yongxin was frantically typing in the group chat. He wasn’t doubting the police’s authenticity,
after all, he was the one who’d called them and led their car to the office building, thus the only logical explanation was…
“Ha! I bet Lin Nan somehow stirred up trouble with the military again. After all, that woman’s a bit off her rocker and with that bald guy next to her, who’s also a fake ID dealer!”
Classmate A: “Quit the chit-chat and start the live stream already!”
Classmate C: “The military wouldn’t mobilize so many troops just to capture a girl, right? This doesn’t seem likely.”
Classmate B: “Check out the video I posted! That lieutenant colonel is signaling for everyone in the vehicle to get out!”
……
“Uh… Lieutenant Colonel, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. We’re police officers from the xx station and received an emergency call from the hospital.”
The police officer leading the group, terrified in front of the armed soldiers, jumped out of the car, speaking politely to the lieutenant colonel.
The lieutenant colonel bluntly shot back, “I think you’ve got some guts, daring to arrest even Bureau Director Lin?
If I let you take her back, who knows, by tomorrow morning, your police uniforms might end up getting stripped off! Understand?”
The lead police officer was momentarily stunned, “Bureau Director? Which Bureau Director? You must be mistaken! We were just apprehending a woman for disturbing the peace at the hospital, and a fake ID dealer.”
The lieutenant colonel pushed him aside and forcefully yanked open the van door.
Lin Nan was calmly leaning back in her seat, not even glancing at the lieutenant colonel, while Nie Zhengchu called out in surprise, “You’re… Lieutenant Colonel Li Cheng?”
Li Cheng looked over at Nie Zhengchu, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise. “You know me?”
Nie Zhengchu hurriedly replied, “Of course! I’m the vice assistant to Bureau Director Lin, Nie Zhengchu. I’ve seen your name in the department files!”
Li Cheng’s face suddenly turned serious. “Oh? You’re doing a fine job as an assistant, huh? Bureau Director’s about to be in custody, and here you are lounging around?”
Nie Zhengchu, “……”
The police officers, “……”
The crowd, “……”
Ma Yongxin, “What… what the heck is going on? Am I hallucinating?”
