PDLP Chapter 32 The Leap of Faith
Chapter 32 The Leap of Faith
Titus put down the phone, his heart churning with emotion.
Crawford believed that Starling's life was less important than capturing the cannibal Lecter.
After all, capturing the famous Lecter would be enough to propel him to new heights, completely rid him of all negative reputations, and might even allow him to take another step forward and be transferred back to FBI headquarters. This would be a truly remarkable achievement!
As for Starling... we did everything we could to rescue her, but unfortunately, Agent Starling heroically sacrificed her life. Nevertheless, she is still a true warrior! We will provide her with double compensation and additional honorary titles!
On the other hand, Titus also understood the pressure Crawford was under.
Since Lecter's death sentence was commuted to mandatory imprisonment, major newspapers have relentlessly attacked the Chicago FBI and Crawford.
Even though Tytus and Starling captured the sensational Buffalo Bill a while ago, the public opinion has not stopped, and Hannibal's damned barb is still stuck in Crawford's flesh.
Titus understands Crawford; their perspectives are different, so their approaches to problems are naturally different, and Crawford's orders may even be based on factors that Titus might not have considered.
But just because Titus understands doesn't mean he'll do what Crawford says.
Crawford had his considerations, but Titus also had his own ideas.
He stubbornly believed that even if Lecter's escape might result in the loss of more lives, was there really a difference between saving one life and saving many lives?
If so, whose life should be sacrificed to save more lives?
Or to put it more bluntly, are you willing to sacrifice for a greater good?
Given the current situation, Titus is determined to save Starling. He seeks a clear conscience and a sound mind; if he believes it is right, he will do it.
Even if the price is disobeying orders...
When Titus snapped out of his mental turmoil, he happened to see Inspector Mike, who had just finished a phone call as well.
Their eyes met, and they instantly realized that the other had also received the message.
After a moment, Inspector Mike nodded to him.
Titus understood what he meant: Do what you want to do.
Then, Inspector Mike shouted:
"Agent Gallagher has received a covert operation, and I am now in full charge of the arrest!"
"I have received reliable information confirming Hannibal Lecter's exact location. Everyone prepare to proceed with the arrest!"
He used the walkie-talkie to order: "All personnel in the old city are on high alert, the area is sealed off, and passage is prohibited!"
After doing all this, everyone took a break, and Mike walked up to Titus:
"Same as always, but you're not the main target. I'll only assign you a five-person counter-terrorism team at most."
Titus shook his head and said:
"I'm happy enough going alone."
Mike glanced at him in surprise, suddenly regretting his earlier suggestion of giving him the idea of an anti-terrorism team.
He patted Titus on the shoulder, left a car key, and then turned and left without hesitation.
Titus called out to Mike:
"Grab that bastard Hannibal Lecter, don't let him mess with you."
Inspector Mike paused, nodded without turning around, and quickly walked out of Titus's sight.
Meanwhile, Titus took the car keys and went downstairs on the other side. To his surprise, he found that the car Mike had given him was a Maybach 62S, which must have been his ride.
He started the engine, floored the accelerator, and the 612 horsepower of the beast was instantly unleashed, pushing him back into the seat. The Maybach 62S roared like a wild beast, making people tremble!
It was already late at night, and thunder roared in the sky as billions of tons of rain poured down. Titus drove his Maybach like a dark knight, breaking through the heavy rain curtain!
Because of Hannibal Lecter's arrest warrant and the police blockade, he encountered virtually no traffic jams, flooring the accelerator as his all-black Maybach cruised across the overpasses in the rainy night.
He suddenly thought that in North America, where interests reign supreme, such a romantic hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress drama would actually take place. He figured that his deeds would surely be remembered in this city in the future: "The Dark Knight of the Rainstorm", "The Rampage of Fate", "The Rebel of Maya Moment".
If so, did the city make his story, or did he make Florence?
Florence remained silent, only unleashing a grand storm to welcome her warriors!
Titus casually turned on the music in the car, and it turned out to be the cyberpunk song "I Really Want to Stay at Your House." The fatalistic music swept him away like a wave.
In an instant, Titus remembered what Crawford had said: if he wanted him to arrest Hannibal, why did he specifically tell him where Starling was?
Before long, the beast-like power of the Titans propelled it into the abandoned factory in the outer area G, a veritable "dead city".
The rows of black buildings stood coldly in the pitch-black night, enduring the baptism of torrential rain time and time again.
They were like a pack of crouching, pure black beasts, a prehistoric primeval forest fraught with danger, waiting for Titus to conquer them.
Titus drove to the back of the abandoned G factory, stopped two blocks away, and slowly approached. The darkness and the downpour were his best disguise.
Thanks to its abandonment, most of the buildings here are in disrepair, with many windows broken, and he noticed that there were signs of explosions in several buildings, which provided him with a great view.
The main building of Factory G is a four-story folding structure. At the back, a giant hot blast furnace covered in rust is welded through an iron corridor. At the front is a small workshop. Several pipes connect the three parts into a small steel forest.
The front workshop is a single-story building of about 200 square meters. Looking through the window, it is empty and deserted; they are not stationed here.
On the first floor of the central building, through a broken window, one can see four guards armed with submachine guns, two guarding the front and back entrances, and eight guards patrolling back and forth from left to right around the corner.
The second floor has a large interior space with about seven rooms. There are no doors, only rough cement pillars. In the very center is a circular hole leading to the first floor, where eight guards patrol in circles.
The third floor was the most heavily sealed off, with several wooden windows covered by thick wooden boards, making it difficult to see the whole thing.
The fourth floor is the most spacious, with no hole punched through it. You can see from left to right to the corner, but it is difficult to see beyond the corner, as there seem to be no guards protecting it.
But intuition told Titus that the safest place was actually the most dangerous.
There are four iron corridors running from bottom to top between the multi-story building and the rear hot blast stove, guarded by a total of six people. The circular climbing corridor around the hot blast stove is unguarded, but there is a sniper at the highest point.
After observing from multiple angles, Titus deduced that Starling was most likely hanging from the ceiling on the third floor of the complex.
Because the hole between the second and first floors of the multi-story building connects to a huge pit underground, and that huge pit is the damned wild boar pen in the video!
A rough estimate suggests there are at least 26 guards, and one person carrying a sniper rifle.
Titus planned to seize the high ground first, eliminate the sniper quickly, and then sneak in.
Just then, there was a broken iron frame on the top of the eight-story abandoned building where he was, more than ten meters away from the hot air furnace, with a wide street separating the two.
They probably never imagined that a madman would jump from the eighth floor, spanning more than ten meters horizontally and more than fifteen meters vertically, landing on their high vantage point.
Having decided on the battle plan, Titus slowly retreated, preparing to charge!
The raging wind and rain whipped his black uniform around him, and he felt his blood surging within him. His two hearts pounded like drums, and his bones, hard as alloy, slowly stretched. The surrounding rainwater instantly liquefied, slowly rising into white steam.
He looked down upon the ants on the ground like a god, and in the darkness, he seemed to hear that most primal call:
Fight! Slaughter! Carnage everything in your path!
Titus suddenly exerted all his strength and leaped off the tall building!