The faint ambient light also indicated that the building wasn't completely buried; at least part of it was exposed to the outside, allowing light to diffuse down to the lower levels.

Hearing him say this, the few people had no choice but to muster the courage to step onto the stairs.

Fortunately, the cement on the lower level was still relatively solid. Even though the fourth floor had been smashed to only half its original size on one side, they managed to pass through safely by holding onto the wall.

Unfortunately, when they reached the fifth floor, the stairs were broken.

Gu Ji could only lead people to the fourth floor to find another way.

Arriving here, Wang Jinkang and Ding Le felt familiar, as both were involved in telefraud activities, and coincidentally, floors two to five of the Jinyuan Building were the telefraud office areas.

Upon exiting the stairwell, there were offices on the left and an open terrace on the right. Looking down, they saw the devastated first-floor lobby, with bodies, chandeliers, and concrete debris mixed together, as if it had been bombed.

The most terrifying sight was the entire glass curtain wall of the original main entrance shattered, leaving only some steel frames deformed and compressed by the exposed soil, emitting a strong musty smell.

This corroborated Gu Ji's earlier observation that the building had indeed sunk deep underground.

He continued to direct everyone to walk as close as possible to the office area.

It's quite awkward to say.

According to SWAT tactics, sticking to the wall is the best choice, but post-earthquake, those prefab cement walls in the office area can become very dangerous, and even a slight tremor could cause a collapse.

So he could only arrange for the team to stay away from the open terrace as much as possible to reduce exposure risk.

Just then, he noticed movement coming from the nearby office room.

Gu Ji instinctively reached back, his palm facing Ding Le and the others. Even without knowing tactical hand signals, they could understand it meant "stop."

"Someone's there."

He turned and used gestures and mouthing to finally make them understand there was a situation inside the room.

Ding Le and Wang Jinkang immediately grew tense.

After observing for a moment, only Yang Dong and the erratic Pan Xinli remained relatively calm. Gu Ji indicated he would go in first, Pan Xinli second, and Yang Dong third.

Although Yang Dong was scared, seeing Gu Ji with a handgun gave him some confidence.

Leaving Ding Le and Wang Jinkang to guard the corridor, the three began to move into the office room stealthily. When Gu Ji saw the messy desks and chairs inside from the corner of his eye, he casually picked up a piece of rubble from the ground and tossed it inside.

"Who's there?"

The moment the voice came, Gu Ji used the sound to locate the source. His left hand quickly flipped on a tactical flashlight, and with his other hand holding the gun, he aimed at the noise source, commanding, "Get down! Hands on your head! Immediately!"

Under the strong light, a middle-aged man wearing a blue suit, glasses, and with sharp features was exposed, accompanied by a female secretary in a flesh-colored uniform and five male employees with head injuries.

Perhaps having been in the dark for too long, they shielded their eyes with their hands, shouting in panic while squatting down.

"Who are you? Police? Finally, rescue's here. Don't shoot! Please don't shoot! We're getting down..."

"Search them!"

Gu Ji never lowered his weapon, instead directing Pan Xinli and Yang Dong to search them.

The two patted them down for a while and finally confirmed they were unarmed before he turned off the flashlight.

"Mr. Yang?"

At this moment, Wang Jinkang and Ding Le, who were guarding outside the corridor, suddenly came in and called out.

The sharp-featured man in the suit among the crowd nearly stood up upon hearing this, but Gu Ji's fierce gaze made him shrink back.

"Wang Jinkang? Ding Le? How did you get up here? Weren't you taken..."

Perhaps recalling why they were taken away, Mr. Yang's eyes widened.

Ding Le and the others hesitated, glancing at Gu Ji, ultimately not telling the truth, but instead vaguely replied, "Hui and the others died, and to save our lives, we followed Mr. Wa up here."

"Dead?"

Mr. Yang raised his voice, but upon looking around at the colleagues crushed to death by the rubble and debris in the office, he understood and turned to Gu Ji, "Is this Mr. Wa a cop?"

"He's not a cop, but..."

Ding Le started to explain, then abruptly stopped as if he realized something.

Beside him, Wang Jinkang and Yang Dong's expressions also kept changing.

The three seemed to realize that Gu Ji's numerous displayed abilities along the way were indeed quite similar to those of a policeman, be it his calmness and decisiveness in crisis or his skills, and most importantly, he could use a gun!

Could he be an undercover cop?

Just as suspicion arose among them, Gu Ji calmly said, "If I really were a cop or undercover, would I flee voluntarily and court death?"

It made sense upon thinking.

His capture in Hui's underground room was for escorting miners who escaped illegally. If he were truly an undercover cop, there was no need to unnecessarily expose himself.

Moreover, in the current situation, whether Gu Ji is a cop is actually inconsequential.

The critical point is whether he can lead everyone to survival.

After a round of flattery from Ding Le and Wang Jinkang, Mr. Yang finally grasped the current situation. Upon learning they were buried underground and that Gu Ji was a miner specializing in geological excavation, he immediately saw him as a lifeline.

"Wa Xueming, I'm Yang Chen, and I still hold some influence in the Jinyuan Group. If you can lead us out, I'll negotiate with the upper management to forgive your illegal escape charges!"

"Really? Mr. Yang, thank you so much!"

"Thank you, Mr. Yang! Thank you, Mr. Yang..."

Ding Le and Wang Jinkang bowed repeatedly in gratitude, likely showing more respect to him than their own ancestors, indicating they were still deeply afraid of the Jinyuan Group.

Gu Ji, on the other hand, didn't care about this at all.

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