Chapter 228: Gas Attack
The sudden appearance of the children caused an uproar throughout the venue.
Jasper, who had rushed ahead, opened his mouth as if to say something urgent, but Charles silenced him with a single glance. The little boy immediately shut his mouth and stood there looking dejected.
Ethan was waving a broken metal piece, trying to show it to someone, when a nearby security guard pressed him down. "Don't cause trouble."
Emma, the most thoughtful of the three, tugged at Emily's sleeve, her big eyes full of anxiety. "Mommy, Grandfather, he..."
Charles shook his head gently, and Emma could only swallow her words, her expression growing tense.
Emily looked shocked. "What's going on with you three? And shouldn't you be in school? What are you doing here..."
Before she could finish, all the lights in the training facility suddenly went out, leaving only a few eerie green emergency lights glowing. A group of black-clad figures wearing grotesque masks emerged from nowhere, blocking all the exits.
"Nobody move! Mr. Ollie Windsor has been so good to you, and now Charles, this traitor, has brought him down. Is this how you repay his kindness?" The lead masked figure spoke with a robotic voice that made it impossible to identify the speaker.
The trainees looked around uncertainly—some backing away, others clenching their fists.
The masked figure continued, "Now we're giving you a choice. Side with Ollie, or continue following Charles? Choose wisely! Let me be clear—those who choose Charles can go ahead and die right now. Those who choose Mr. Ollie Windsor will have everything they could ever want!"
This declaration immediately sparked murmuring throughout the training facility.
"Why should we? Mr. Charles Windsor is the righteous one!" one trainee couldn't help but shout.
"Exactly! Ollie did those despicable things—we won't become his accomplices!"
Sean was the first to step forward, walking directly to Charles's side. "I choose Mr. Charles Windsor! A person can't abandon their conscience!"
Alice followed immediately. "Where Emily goes, I go. I trust your character!"
Gradually, over a dozen more trainees joined Charles's side. Though their faces were pale, their eyes showed determination.
Kaida sneered and led several trainees who were close to her toward the masked figures. "The wise adapt to circumstances. Mr. Ollie Windsor has been good to us—of course, we stand with him!"
Some other trainees hesitated, caught in the middle. The masked figure impatiently shouted, "Stop wasting time! If you don't choose, you'll be treated as Charles's people!"
The fence-sitters immediately rushed to Ollie's camp, terrified of being too late to save themselves.
After everyone had chosen sides, the masked figure suddenly burst into laughter and removed his mask—it was Ollie himself!
Charles asked in surprise, "Great-uncle? Weren't you taken away?"
Ollie looked smug. "You think those incompetents could hold me? My people rescued me long ago!"
His gaze swept coldly over the trainees who had chosen Charles. "Since you've chosen to die, don't blame me for being ruthless! Attack!"
Just then, two black-clad figures suddenly rushed toward Ethan, Emma, and Jasper, trying to grab them. Emily's heart tightened as she was about to rush over to protect the children, but she saw Jasper calmly make a hand signal. The three children, like well-trained little agents, instantly scattered.
"You can't catch us!" Ethan performed an agile roll to evade his pursuer's grasp.
Though Emma was a girl, she ran the fastest, darting behind some equipment while shouting to Emily, "Mommy, don't worry! We can take care of ourselves!"
Jasper was even more clever, deliberately running into the crowd, making it impossible for the black-clad figures to pursue him without creating chaos. The three children worked in perfect coordination, quickly disappearing into the complex environment of the training facility.
Emily watched the children escape safely and breathed a sigh of relief. She knew her three treasures too well—Jasper was smart and calm, Ethan was agile, and Emma was quick and careful. They could absolutely handle this kind of situation. In fact, in such a bizarre scenario, the children were safer away from the action.
But the adults who remained weren't so fortunate.
The black-clad figures immediately raised their weapons and opened fire, gunshots echoing throughout the training facility. The trainees who had chosen Charles scattered in panic, but where could they run?
Trainees fell to the ground after being shot, "blood" appearing on their bodies before they were quickly dragged away by the black-clad figures.
"Charles! Watch out!" Emily saw Charles fall after being shot and desperately tried to rush to him, but Kaida blocked her path. Thinking Charles had actually been killed, Kaida became excited, picking up a knife from the ground and approaching Emily with a sinister grin. "Now it's your turn! If it weren't for you, Mr. Ollie Windsor wouldn't have ended up like this!"
Emily calmly assumed a defensive stance. "Kaida, calm down. Things might not be what you think."
"Shut up! Die!" Kaida swung the knife at her.
The two immediately began fighting. Kaida's attacks were vicious, clearly going for the kill, while Emily dodged nimbly, only counterattacking occasionally to subdue her opponent.
After several exchanges, Kaida began losing ground. She shouted in frustration, "What are you all standing around for? Attack together!"
But the other trainees who had chosen Ollie's side remained motionless, watching the fight with complex expressions.
Emily seized the opportunity, executed a beautiful disarming technique to take the knife, and pinned Kaida to the ground. "Enough! Stop being so stubborn!"
Kaida struggled to lift her head and suddenly spotted a handgun on the ground nearby. She broke free from Emily's grip, lunged for the weapon, and fired directly at Emily!
"Bang—"
Emily fell to the ground but quickly realized something was wrong. The spot where she'd been shot didn't hurt at all—there was only a slight impact sensation. Looking down, she saw only some red powder on her clothes.
"Blanks?" Emily looked up in surprise.
Kaida also stared at Emily in shock. She'd been shot—why was she fine?!
Before she could react, the facility's ventilation system suddenly made strange noises, followed by green smoke pouring out of the vents!
"Poison gas!" a trainee screamed.
The scene immediately descended into chaos. Trainees panicked, with some trying to rush to the exits only to find them locked.
Emily surveyed everything around her, feeling increasingly that something was wrong. From the children's sudden appearance to Charles being captured, and now this poison gas crisis—everything seemed suspicious.
First, Ollie's appearance was too sudden. He'd just been taken away by law enforcement officers, yet here he was leading black-clad attackers back so quickly. The efficiency seemed impossible.
Second, there was the gunfight. Emily noticed that while the gunshots were deafening, when the shot trainees were dragged away, the handling was too gentle—nothing like how real enemies would be treated.
And then there was Kaida's shot.
Blanks? In this kind of life-or-death confrontation, why would they use blank ammunition?