“Who fired the shot?” asked Sun Tiger.

“It was Wang Yuanchao!”

The killing of the negotiating expert meant that Li Wenjia refused to negotiate. Sun Tiger immediately grabbed the walkie-talkie and shouted, “Xiaowang, don’t look into her eyes! Get out of there now!”

He had to repeat the message several times before we heard the answer, “Roger!”

I had an ominous hunch about this. A few minutes later, a police officer walked out of the paper mill. He looked slightly off, though. There was a gun in his hand. Sun Tiger was about to approach him to ask about the situation inside, but I quickly stopped him.

“Wait! He could be hypnotized. Tell everyone to step away from him!”

Everyone was startled and began to spread out. Most pointed their guns and rifles at Xiaowang. 

“Put the gun down, Xiaowang!” shouted one of the...