My chat group members are all legendary criminals.

Chapter 27 Jumping off a building

When Marcus and Lu Yiming arrived at the municipal government building with the crime squad, it was already completely surrounded.

Reporters holding microphones, online influencers livestreaming, and onlookers excitedly shouting "Jump! Jump!"

On the edge of the rooftop, Malik's stitched-up body swayed in the wind, his screams coming in fits and starts:

"Mayor! Give us our money back! Give us back our lives!"

"Get to the top floor!" Marcus roared, leading the way by pushing through the crowd.

The group rushed into the lobby, but all the elevators were locked, and the building was dark.

"Damn it! The power's out!"

"The stairs! Quickly!"

A dozen or so people frantically rushed up the fire escape stairs.

Upon reaching the top floor exit, an iron gate blocked the way, with a brand-new heavy padlock hanging on the doorknob.

"Back off!" Mia drew her gun and aimed.

boom! boom! boom!

Sparks flew everywhere, but the lock remained firmly in place.

"Bulletproof?" Mia gritted her teeth.

As time passed, the commotion downstairs grew louder and louder.

It was as if they were urging Malik to die quickly.

Lu Yiming stared at the lock, his fingers rapidly tapping on the phone screen to open the red envelope records in the [Legendary Criminals Chat Group].

Select Che Guevara's exclusive ability, "Nighttime Theft," and click to use it.

Countless unlocking methods are awakened in muscle memory.

His gaze swept over the police badge on Mia's chest, and he reached out and grabbed it.

"What are you doing?!" Mia exclaimed, clutching her chest.

Lu Yiming ignored it, pinching the pin under the police badge and pressing the tip into the keyhole.

The fingers trembled slightly.

Click, click, click...

three seconds.

"Click." The latch popped open.

[Sloth +0.3, Greed +0.3]

The red lettering flashed before his eyes. Lu Yiming tossed aside his police badge and kicked the door open.

"Walk!"

A strong wind rushed in from outside, stinging my cheeks.

Everyone's gaze towards Lu Yiming changed. "Good lad, I didn't know you were a thief?"

But there's no time to delve into it now.

"Scatter! Encircle them!" Marcus hurriedly gave the order.

The Black woman, Uma, hasn't woken up yet. If we capture Malik, we can follow the trail and catch the mastermind behind it all.

The group crouched low and rushed out of the stairwell against the strong wind, approaching the swaying figure at the edge of the rooftop.

"Don't come any closer!" Malik, who was lying on the edge, suddenly turned around, his spliced ​​body twisting and turning.

"If you come any closer, I'll jump!"

"OK! OK! Calm down!" Marcus immediately raised his hand, and everyone stopped ten meters away.

Lu Yiming stepped forward and shouted into the wind, "Malik! Listen up! You've achieved your goal!"

"Mayor's finished! Your video has gone viral across the entire internet!"

"If you jump now, it won't change anything except adding another corpse!"

His voice suddenly rose, "But if you live, you can see that bastard step down! Only if you live can you see the change you've achieved with your lives!"

Malik lay on the edge, half his body dangling in the air, and burst into laughter:

"Hahaha...Young man, you don't understand..."

"The five of us, from the moment we decided to do this, never thought about living."

"We died long ago. We died the day the complaint letter was thrown back at us, the day we were so hungry we could only afford a bowl of soup..."

"Here he lies now."

He turned to look at his body, which was pieced together from different skin colors and limbs, his eyes filled with fervor.

"It's our work. It's an artwork we left to the world with the lives of five pieces of trash."

"It must be completed." He stared intently at Lu Yiming.

His body moved a few inches further out, and gravel fell down in a flurry.

"No!" Mia cried out.

Marcus was sweating profusely, but dared not move again.

Damn it, I forgot this guy is also a perverted cultist.

Lu Yiming's mind raced.

I couldn't persuade them otherwise.

This man was determined to die; no reason to live was of any use to him.

Then I won't encourage you to have children.

He took a deep breath, then suddenly changed his tone, his expression becoming defiant:

"Malik, your wish to convict the mayor with your death may be in vain..."

Malik paused, turning his head to look at him in disbelief.

Lu Yiming slowly stepped forward, took out his phone, and waved it.

"The mayor and his team released a new video saying you are a mentally ill cult."

"This is all a farce orchestrated by your mutual aid association. They say you harmed yourselves and each other in order to extort money, and even staged a suicide attempt."

Malik's face contorted with rage: "Impossible! You're lying!"

Lu Yiming didn't take it seriously and even continued to provoke him:

"You think I'm lying to you? Jump. Let's see what happens."

"Tomorrow an expert will produce your mental illness records, and the day after tomorrow an insider will reveal that you are extorting money."

Malik's face showed intense struggle.

"Impossible! You're lying! Those people promised us that as long as we did it, we could definitely bring down the mayor!"

Lu Yiming raised an eyebrow; sure enough, they had someone helping them behind the scenes.

He said that on purpose to deal with someone who had no will to live.

No matter how I tried to persuade him, it was no use. The only thing I could do was to bring out what he cared about most, so that he would feel resentment and dependence on this world.

What he cares about most is that everything they've done is to prevent the mayor from falling from power.

In this way, the five of them died in vain.

The other officers looked at Lu Yiming with horror. Could this really work?

Won't this push people too far?

"The video is right here. Come and see it if you dare," Lu Yiming continued to coax.

"The exposure that you five risked your lives for will be blurred and forgotten in the midst of arguments."

In the end, nobody will remember your names; they'll only remember that a lunatic jumped off the roof of the city hall.

Malik looked thoughtful, his determination to fulfill his wish making him lean closer to the edge of the building.

"Do you think I'm stupid? You just want me to get through, so you're taking this opportunity to stop me."

The officers sighed; it still didn't work.

But Lu Yiming still didn't give up.

"If you don't believe me, just listen to the shouts from below."

Malik turned his head, and all he could hear was a barrage of insults.

"Trash, jump already! Why aren't you jumping yet?!"

"What are you dawdling for, you nigger?! You're such a fake!"

Lu Yiming shrugged. "See, I was right. Everyone thought you were just acting."

"If you jump now, you and everyone else will die in vain! You'll waste their lives!"

"Impossible!" Malik gritted his teeth.

"You want to ruin his reputation, you want him to go to jail, right?"

Lu Yiming stopped three meters away, not approaching any further. "Then live."

"To appear in court alive to testify."

Malik, who was lying on the ground, moved his Adam's apple, as if he was really wavering.

The wind howled on the rooftop.

Downstairs, the noise of the crowd, the wailing of police sirens, and the shouts of reporters created chaos.

Malik stared at Lu Yiming, his chest heaving violently, blood seeping from his stitched wound with each heavy breath.

ten seconds.

Twenty seconds.

He suddenly grinned.

"I..." His body began to slowly move back.

"You want me to watch that video! Come here."

"No problem, I'm coming."

Lu Yiming approached him step by step, pretending to extend his phone.

Whenever he got close, he would grab Malik and drag him back.

If a person without limbs can't even move themselves, then they are truly useless.

Just when he was only a step away from Malik—

boom!

A gunshot rang out, tearing through the air!

The bullet struck Malik squarely in the body.

He leaned back and plummeted straight off the tall building...