CHAPTER 525: CHAPTER 525: HALE RICK IS CAPTURED, AN UNEXPECTED INCIDENT OCCURS, LUO AN ACTS ALONE

"What did you say?"

In an office at the FBI Washington Headquarters, Trick Kennedy held his phone with a furious expression.

Just one minute earlier, Captain Cyrus, who was in charge of the operation to arrest Hale Rick at the villa, called him to report they had apprehended the target, Hale Rick.

Before Trick Kennedy could celebrate, Captain Cyrus continued, stating that they couldn’t get Hale Rick to open his mouth; no matter what, he wouldn’t contact his fifty-some subordinates on the island to stop their assault on Luo An and his team.

Trick Kennedy, cursing colorfully, exclaimed loudly,

"Then use Hale Rick’s phone to call those subordinates!"

"Sorry, sir, we’ve already tried that; it didn’t work."

Captain Cyrus, his expression grim as he watched Hale Rick, who was smiling at him while being held at gunpoint in a chair, said:

"The people who went to that island are Hale Rick’s most loyal subordinates.

Even if Hale Rick is captured, they will not stop the operation but will try to capture Group Leader Luo An and the others on the island and use them as hostages to threaten us to release their boss."

"Damn it!"

Upon hearing this, Trick Kennedy became even angrier, veins throbbing on his neck as he yelled into the phone:

"Leave a few people to guard Hale Rick, and you take the rest of the team to the island to rescue them immediately!"

"Understood, sir."

Despite Trick Kennedy’s fury over the phone, Captain Cyrus’s demeanor remained unchanged. After agreeing to the order, he continued to inquire,

"Who is the primary target for the rescue?"

"What do you mean?"

Trick Kennedy was momentarily taken aback as Captain Cyrus ordered his men to move out swiftly while explaining over the phone that there were two important targets on the island.

One was Group Leader Luo An Greenwood, and the other was the criminal mastermind Jesper.

While Captain Cyrus wanted to save both, anything could happen during the operation, so he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario in advance.

Trick Kennedy understood the subtext in Captain Cyrus’s words. After a moment of silence, Trick Kennedy spoke gravely:

"Save Group Leader Luo An Greenwood! Make his rescue the priority! He must be saved!"

"Understood, sir."

Captain Cyrus nodded, hung up the phone, and along with his team, boarded the speedboat and immediately set off towards the island.

On Trick Kennedy’s end, after disconnecting from Captain Cyrus, he immediately called Luo An.

On the island, hidden behind a rock above the cliff.

Luo An pressed the answer button on his phone and, after listening to Trick Kennedy’s account, remained composed and after a few seconds of contemplation asked:

"How long will it take for Captain Cyrus and his team to reach this island?"

"About fifteen minutes!"

"There’s not enough time."

Luo An narrowed his eyes; Winslow and his team had successfully eliminated over a dozen enemies from their position, but several of their members were also injured.

There were still more than twenty enemies outside their position, and thirteen more below the cliff. Waiting another fifteen minutes, the situation might change drastically.

Having passed Captain Cyrus’s contact information to Luo An, Trick Kennedy took a deep breath and then said:

"Luo An, if the situation turns dire, lead your men to surrender to the enemy!"

Trick Kennedy was prepared for the worst outcome. If necessary, he was willing to have Luo An and his men surrender and be captured, and then negotiate with Captain Cyrus to trade Hale Rick with the enemies and get Luo An and his team back.

"..."

Luo An’s eyelids twitched and immediately dismissed the suggestion.

When a lion has its jaws around your head, you can’t reason with it.

After disconnecting from Trick Kennedy, Luo An made a call to Captain Cyrus.

Captain Cyrus was candid, explicitly stating the order of his rescue priorities. Despite Luo An’s insistence that Winslow, Mona, and the others should be saved first, he had no success, and with no other choice, Luo An falsely claimed he was at the position during the description of the situation on the island.

After hanging up with Captain Cyrus, Luo An was just ready to continue his attack on the enemies at the cliff when he suddenly noticed they were starting to retreat from the area.

Luo An’s brow furrowed. If these thirteen enemies moved to assault their position, Winslow and his team would be under immediate increased pressure. They already had injured personnel, and if the commanding heights were lost and defenses breached, all their previous efforts would be in vain.

Luo An didn’t believe that the enemy would treat Winslow, Mona, Chenier, and Captain John kindly.

On second thought, the 13 enemies under the cliff choosing to retreat at this time could also be an attempt to lure the snake out of the hole, entice Luo An into the trap, and kill him before climbing up the cliff for a sneak attack.

Both possibilities existed. After pondering for a moment, Luo An pressed the communicator, and spoke directly to Winslow about the time needed for Captain Cyrus and others to arrive, and also about the enemies suddenly withdrawing from below the cliff.

Upon learning that Luo An was preparing to go down the cliff to pursue the 13 enemies, to alleviate the pressure on their position, Winslow looked at the increasing number of injured teammates around him, at Chenier and Mona, pinned down by bullets unable to raise their heads, and at the enemies getting closer and closer to their position. His face turned ashen, and he said solemnly, "Understood."

"Mm, don’t tell Mona for now."

"..."

Without waiting for Winslow to respond, Luo An disconnected the communicator and took the device down from his ear and stuffed it into his pocket.

At the position, Winslow, hearing the busy tone in his ear from the communicator, let out a long, murky breath, fury blazing in his eyes. He stood up, aimed at an enemy’s head, and violently pulled the trigger.

Behind a rock at the cliff, Luo An took out [Painkiller Potion], [Swiftness Potion], [Strength Potion], and [Featherfall Potion] and downed them in one go, then threw two smoke bombs towards the cliff. As the smoke filled the air, he leapt straight off the cliff!

In the forest under the cliff, several hidden enemies saw someone jump off without ropes or other equipment and looked at each other in disbelief.

"Is this...suicide?"

"It seems like it."

"So, our plan worked?"

"It should... probably."

The several exchanged glances, seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes.

Their plan was the same as Luo An had previously speculated: pretend to retreat from this place to support the front lines, but actually to lure Luo An into the trap.

Since Luo An was already dead, the few enemies no longer hesitated. They immediately took out their communicators to inform the captains and others hiding in the back that they could start moving now.

"I’m going to die laughing."

While an enemy contacted the captain, the remaining three gathered together with smiles on their faces:

"I really didn’t expect the person on the cliff to jump down directly!"

"Indeed, I didn’t expect it either. I just didn’t see clearly whether the person was a man or woman; if it was a woman..."

"How about it, are you planning on raping her?"

"It’s not like it’s impossible."

"You’re sick!...Remember to count me in."

[What if it were a man?]

"If it’s a man, actually..."

Hearing someone ask about the problem if the gender was male, an enemy subconsciously responded but realized something was wrong mid-sentence because the voice was too unfamiliar!

The three enemies instantly got goosebumps and quickly turned their gun barrels in the direction of the voice.

Sssht—

In the next second, a blinding white light flashed before their eyes, and there was no gunshot. The three collapsed to the ground simultaneously, clutching their necks as blood poured unstoppably.

Seeing the unfamiliar Luo An with a dagger, silently approaching their teammate in charge of contacting the captain, the three enemies’ faces were filled with urgency as their bodies convulsed. They kept making "heh heh" sounds but were powerless until they completely stopped breathing.

"Captain, the plan was a success, the person on the cliff jumped straight off...I don’t know why...OK, I’ll wait for you guys."

After disconnecting the communicator, the enemy smirked, then turned his head towards his teammates behind him:

"Gents, the captain will soon be..."

Sssht—

A blinding light flashed before his eyes, and a surge of pain suddenly emanated from his neck.

Luo An’s face bore a sunny smile, as he took the enemy’s hand to help him cover the wound, gently laying the terrified man on the ground. He softly took the man’s gun and said with a laugh:

"Your captain and his men will be arriving soon. I already heard the news, thank you for your hard work."

Seeing Luo An before him, the communicator enemy’s eyes bulged, his facial expression was like seeing a ghost.

Catching a glimpse of his three teammates who were dead with their eyes wide open, staring at him, the communicator enemy wanted to say something, but with his throat cut and blood pouring back, he could only make "heh...heh..." sounds. In the end, he could only watch Luo An’s sunny smile as he lost his breath in despair.

"13 people, 4 dead, 9 remaining."

Having arranged the four bodies to sit up together, Luo An took out hand grenades and made two booby traps that would explode upon touch. Then he collected his weapons and slowly walked into the nearby woods.