CHAPTER 513: CHAPTER 477: UNLUCKY DEVIL

Investigator Thomas and his three partners dashed madly through the woods on the outskirts of Russian Mission Town, with over a dozen gunmen in hot pursuit behind them.

Thomas had no idea what bad luck had befallen him...

All he did was try to sneak into the target building to look for the hostage’s whereabouts after Little Tom led the troops away. The building turned out to be like a hornet’s nest, swarming with more people the moment it was disturbed.

One of Thomas’s men shouted while sprinting, "Boss, what do we do?"

Thomas was just an investigator. Faced with such a situation, what could he do but run?

But to say he had no plan would make him seem too useless, so Thomas gritted his teeth and sped up, showing his men what to do with his actions...

After running nearly two kilometers through the woods, the group of four fled the edge of the town into the depths of the forest.

"Bang bang bang bang..."

When the pursuers realized they had left the sightlines of the townsfolk, they no longer felt restrained.

A succession of bullets was fired at Thomas and his men. The bullets struck the trees with a crackling explosion, and one grazed Thomas’s thigh, leaving a streak of blood.

"Ugh," Thomas grunted in pain, then decisively slid into a kneeling position, his back to the enemy, and shouted with his hands raised high, "Don’t shoot, I surrender..."

His three men initially wanted to pull him up, but seeing how quickly he surrendered and considering the disparity in numbers and firepower, they too raised their hands and discarded their MP7s, kneeling on the ground...

"We surrender..."

The actions of these four men confused their pursuers, who cautiously circled around, with two men approaching to carefully gather the weapons from Thomas’s group.

Once they confirmed that they indeed had no capacity to resist, the lead Bald Bearded Man took off his hat, wiped his sweaty face, and then nodded to his subordinates...

Then the dozen men swarmed forward, beating and kicking Thomas and his companions.

Thomas dared not resist; he curled up, hugging his head and cringing as the fists and kicks landed on him. When the enemy seemed less vigorous, he then shouted loudly, "It’s all a misunderstanding...

I am an investigator from the International Intermediary Company; I have a Revenge Fund!

I came looking for Richard Franklin and Emma Stone. If they aren’t with you, then this is all a misunderstanding!"

Thomas was clever; he purposely revealed his identity only after the others had tired from beating him, fearing that they might kill him if they learned his identity while still heated.

The ’Revenge Fund’ of the International Intermediary Company was indeed a deterrent, especially the investigator’s Revenge Fund.

This was like insurance provided by the International Intermediary Company for their investigators. If you die while on an investigative mission, a new investigator will step in to find out the cause of death and seek revenge for you.

The International Intermediary Company established their own rules using a modern financial insurance system, and most people, unless desperate or exceedingly confident, rarely defaulted on agreements related to the company or attacked its investigators.

The group beating Thomas clearly knew of the International Intermediary Company and the investigator’s Revenge Fund, so when Thomas shouted it out, they gradually stopped and looked at each other hesitantly...

"Boss, what do we do? Kill them?"

Thomas saw those men look towards the Bald Bearded Man for decisions and instantly confirmed that the two hostages were inside the target building.

He lay on the ground, curled up, and surreptitiously pinched the bottom edge of his garment with his right hand. After a few seconds, he shouted loudly, "It’s all a misunderstanding. Let us go, and I’ll pretend nothing happened."

The Bald Bearded Man frowned in thought, then shook his head and said, "Killing investigators from International Intermediary is troublesome. Take them back, and let the boss deal with them when he returns."

Following the Bald Bearded Man’s orders, a few men walked over to Thomas and his partners, pointed guns at them to stand up, and started walking back, halting with every step.

"Boss, what’s your plan next?"

One of Thomas’s men, with a crooked nose and sighing in frustration, said, "You didn’t tell me when I signed up that being a detective was so dangerous."

Thomas spat out blood-stained saliva, grinned, and said, "You also said you were a soldier from the Royal Canadian Air Force, did I challenge you?"

The man with the crooked nose replied irritably, "I really was..."

Thomas disdainfully said, "Does shining shoes or cleaning guns in the Aircrew make you a soldier?"

"Doesn’t it?"

The crooked-nosed man, annoyed, bumped Thomas with his shoulder and cursed, "FUCK your promise of a salary of 20,000, full insurance, and no danger. I’ve only been with you in Alaska for a few days, and I’ve nearly died twice."

Thomas, irritated, intended to kick back but missed and stumbled to the ground, eliciting a relaxed chuckle from the men escorting them.

Thomas seemed to pass out from rage; he angrily rolled on the ground, scattering handfuls of grass at the crooked-nosed man...

Then, facing attack, he crawled on the ground like a dazed hamster, swiftly changing direction whenever he touched someone’s shoe.

Not until the fourth man did someone grab his collar and yank him up.

Crooked Nose was maniacal as he rushed over with two other fellows to beat up Thomas, but they were immediately restrained by the gunmen.

During the scuffle, there was physical contact, and unbeknownst to the gunmen, their bodies were smeared with a fluorescent paint that could only be seen with specialized observation equipment.

After achieving their goal, Thomas and his companions calmed down after being pistol-whipped a few times.

As the gunmen forced them to move on, eager to return to the town before it got completely dark, a dark shadow flitted by at the rear of their group...

The skinny gunman at the back felt something bump into him, and his whole body flew sideways into the bushes before he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He was then violently shaken by a powerful force and soon lost consciousness...

Such commotion couldn’t possibly go unnoticed!

As the others turned around with their weapons, they could only hear the rustling of the bushes nearby and see nothing else.

The light was very dim all around, and the sudden anomaly made the gunmen somewhat nervous...

By now, they had noticed the disappearance of their skinny companion, and the tense atmosphere got even thicker.

Bald Bearded Man remained composed, loudly ordering two fellows to go in and check...

The two ordered gunmen exchanged looks, switched off their rifles’ safeties, took out their flashlights to illuminate the way, and walked slowly towards the bush where the noise had come from.

After advancing about ten meters or so, they saw the skinny gunman lying on the ground with a twisted neck.

The sudden death made the two gunmen very nervous; one kept watch while the other approached the skinny gunman quickly to see if he was dead.

As their attention was focused on the skinny gunman, two low growls were heard to their side...

Then, two incredibly strong cougars pounced from their right side, their heavy bodies knocking the two gunmen down to the ground.

Both gunmen held their rifles in their right hands and couldn’t turn around in time to shoot because of the right-sided attack.

The cougars, like they had been trained to know how to deal with armed men, slapped their paws onto the gunmens’ right arms before knocking them over with their powerful bodies, then pressed down on them heavily. As the gunmen struggled desperately, the cougars sprang up like raccoons...

The cougars’ strong hind legs pushed off from the gunmen’s bellies and thighs, leaving deep gashes, and with their forelegs as the pivot, they performed a 180-degree switch. Then they clamped onto the gunmen’s faces with their front paws, exposing their throats before biting down hard, shaking vigorously as they dragged the bodies towards the nearby bushes.

At this point, those who had recovered were too scared to shoot at the fighting beasts, for fear of killing their own instead of the cougars.

Bald Bearded Man was the first to react, raising his rifle and firing into the sky...

"Bang bang bang bang"

A series of gunshots rang out, startling the two cougars to stop their attack and dart through the bushes into the depths of the woods.

"FUCK..."

Bald Bearded Man loudly summoned his few companions to rush to the side of the three wounded...

Cougars are not monsters, nor are humans made of tofu, and thus although the three wounded had been attacked, they were not dead.

The first attacked, the skinny gunman, had a dislocated neck with several bloody holes on both sides, which looked severe but wasn’t fatal.

His body rigid but mind clear, he struggled to raise a hand when he saw his companions approaching...

"There’s a monster, save me..."

Bald Bearded Man simply glanced at him and loudly directed his men to split up, half for guard duty, and the other half to gather local materials to make stretchers.

As he approached the other two injured companions, he couldn’t help but curse...

Compared to the skinny gunman, the injuries of these two were very severe; one had his left cheek completely torn open, and the other had a ripped neck though, luckily, no arteries were damaged.

"FUCK, call the town’s doctor..."

And as Bald Bearded Man organized the rescue, two deep growls echoed from deep within the forest...

"Bang bang bang bang"

"FUCK, come on..."

A gunman on guard duty fired repeatedly towards the direction of the growling, then yelled loudly as if to scare them away.

Thomas saw a shadow dart from the forest on the side, nervously huddling his three companions back-to-back in a circle, then shouting at the agitated guards: "Be careful, here they come again..."

And as these men confronted the two cougars, at the edge of a tree on the town’s outskirts, Pigeon set down the night vision goggles and shouldered the VSS sniper rifle...

"Butcher, there are four people inside the target house, move..."

Butcher exchanged looks with Donkey and Sealion at his side and said: "You two take the front door, I’ll take the back door, keep the hostages safe..."

After speaking, Butcher pulled down his mask and merged into the darkness with an AK-105...