The hall was eerily quiet, save for the deliberately muffled footsteps of the SWAT team officers and their slightly hurried breathing, which they had tried to keep low.

It was as if Zhao Jiayang’s men lying in ambush had vanished into thin air.

Guan Hui consciously took a deep breath, loosening his overly tense chest.

Moments later, he caught a glimpse of a rippling, distorted line in the corner of his eye. He immediately fired a burst of bullets in that direction.

A series of bullet holes suddenly appeared in the air. The scattered SWAT team officers converged as Guan Hui quickly changed magazines and gave orders. Zhao Jiayang’s ghostly alphas were finally forced out of hiding.

The SWAT team had been notified before the operation that that day’s mission would be tough. Those selected for this operation were the best of the best. Armed with superior weapons and outnumbering the enemy, victory was slowly tipping in favor of the police as time passed.

Unlike the SWAT team, who aimed to suppress and eliminate the suspects with firepower, Sui Yuesheng wasn’t wielding a submachine gun and showed no desire to fight.

From the moment the firefight began, Sui Yuesheng had been steadily moving toward Tao Fengche’s position while shooting.

Amid the chaos, his actions should have gone unnoticed. Unfortunately, his hair color was too eye-catching, and it didn’t take long for both the enemy and the police to notice his intentions.

Zhao Jiayang’s men tried to shoot to stop him. Sui Yuesheng rolled to the ground, dodging nimbly, and used the opportunity to counterattack. Meanwhile, two SWAT team officers sent by Guan Hui to cover him flanked him on both sides, intensifying their firepower.

Minutes later, victory was finally within sight—Sui Yuesheng was less than ten steps away from Tao Fengche.

At that moment, several of Zhao Jiayang’s men stationed at different positions suddenly pulled out egg-shaped devices from their tactical pants. They twisted the caps, hooked their little fingers onto the pull rings, and yanked swiftly before throwing the devices forward.

Guan Hui’s pupils dilated as he yelled, “Grenade! Get down!”

The next moment, a deafening explosion rang out, but the expected shockwave and flying debris didn’t arrive.

Instead, thick, rolling smoke formed a smoke wall, enveloping the entire area.

—It was a smoke grenade.

The SWAT team was caught completely off guard. In a sealed environment, the smoke couldn’t dissipate effectively, leaving the air thick with smoke and punctuated by muffled coughing.

The choking gas from the smoke grenade made it hard to breathe and severely reduced visibility, but in such conditions, hearing became more acute.

Suddenly, Sui Yuesheng heard a chaotic series of footsteps approaching rapidly.

In a flash, he understood their plan: the smoke bomb was just a cover. They were trying to take Tao Fengche!

Sui Yuesheng could hear their movements but couldn’t see them. If he shot now, he might accidentally hit Tao Fengche. In a split-second decision, he took a few quick steps toward where he thought Tao Fengche was, then lunged forward—

But instead of feeling a human body, he touched a still-warm chair and the hemp rope scattered on its surface.

He was a step too late.

Tao Fengche had once again fallen into Zhao Jiayang’s hands.

Sui Yuesheng paused visibly, then reached out, waving his hand in the air as if trying to dispel the thick smoke before his eyes or perhaps grasp at the fleeting Tao Fengche who had just slipped away.

An indescribable sense of failure and dejection washed over him. At that moment, Tao Fengche had vanished from his side once again.

···

The smoke bombs they had used didn’t last as long as military-grade ones. Once the SWAT team realized it wasn’t a grenade attack, they quickly got back on their feet and resumed their combat formations.

Throughout their careers, the SWAT team had encountered all sorts of unexpected situations and undergone extensive training. Though their vision was impaired, they soon regained their composure. Regrouping, they fired wildly into the smoke, quickly emptying several magazines.

After changing magazines again, Guan Hui keenly noticed that the smoke was beginning to thin. As the haze cleared, Sui Yuesheng’s lone, kneeling figure stood out starkly in the middle of the field—a perfect target.

One of Zhao Jiayang’s men immediately turned his gun toward him, but Guan Hui reacted swiftly, firing a shot at his hand. The man’s wrist jerked in pain, and the bullet hit the ground next to Sui Yuesheng, kicking up a cloud of dust.

In the heat of the moment, Guan Hui could no longer afford to consider Sui Yuesheng’s status. Grabbing his radio, he yelled, “Sui Yuesheng! What the hell are you spacing out for?!”

“They took the hostage,” Sui Yuesheng acknowledged his mistake without arguing and quickly retreated behind the chair. His eyes scanned the field like X-rays, and soon he spotted a group of fast-moving figures not far away.

“Southeast direction. I’ve found them. I’ll leave the rest to you. Hold them off, I’m going after Tao Fengche.”

Without waiting for Guan Hui’s response, Sui Yuesheng sprinted off.

Through the hail of bullets, his tall, lean figure stood out.

Guan Hui had no chance to stop him. He could only watch as Sui Yuesheng disappeared, cursing under his breath.

“Damn it, he’s acting recklessly again. Not only is he ignoring commands, but now he’s chasing armed suspects on his own?!”

Absolutely no sense of discipline! Once this is over, I’ll make him write a 3,000-word handwritten apology and read it aloud in front of the whole team!

The next moment, Guan Hui suddenly remembered that Sui Yuesheng had forcefully inserted himself into the action. He wasn’t part of the official police unit that would follow orders. Cursing again, Guan Hui finally gave a nod to the two officers who had been covering Sui Yuesheng: “What are you waiting for? Go after him!”

···

From the moment Gray Bear approached, Tao Fengche had realized his intentions.

His hands were cuffed behind the chair, rendering him immobile. His mouth was gagged, so he couldn’t alert the rescuing police officers. He could only watch helplessly as Gray Bear untied the ropes binding him.

But Tao Fengche didn’t sit idle.

As soon as he regained freedom, he struck Gray Bear’s forehead with his wrist and hooked his leg around Gray Bear’s knee, trying to trip him.

Gray Bear quickly ducked to avoid the first strike but couldn’t dodge the second. However, he weighed nearly 200 pounds—far too heavy for the still-hungry teenage alpha to take down. Gray Bear barely staggered before regaining his balance.

Tao Fengche tried to attack again, but the Gray Bear grabbed his arm and twisted it backward. The pain made his vision go dark, and for a moment, it felt like his consciousness left his body. By the time he regained his senses, Tao Fengche hadn’t even had a chance to struggle before freezing in place.

—A pair of fan-sized hands locked around his throat.

He struggled to turn his head and caught a glimpse of the mute’s expressionless face out of the corner of his eye.

Tao Fengche dared not move anymore. The mute forcibly pulled him into his embrace, one hand still tightly gripping his throat, forcing him to follow along with his steps. Meanwhile, Gray Bear stood by Zhao Jiayang’s side, escorting him out.

Though Tao Fengche’s movements were restricted, his line of sight was not. He observed his surroundings carefully and soon concluded that their destination was the same small room from before.

…Were the SWAT team who came to rescue him still trapped in the smoke? Did they know he’d already been taken away?

A thought suddenly flashed through Tao Fengche’s mind, followed by the sound of footsteps behind him and bullets whizzing past the mute man’s side.

Tao Fengche’s heart instantly lifted with hope, but the mute man, hit by a bullet in the waist, seemed completely unfazed. His grip on Tao Fengche remained just as tight until they finally dragged him back into the small room, where he loosened his hold slightly.

Tao Fengche seized the opportunity to glance back hurriedly, and his pupils constricted sharply—the person chasing after them was Sui Yuesheng.

Covered in dust, Sui Yuesheng’s usually neat hair had become disheveled from intense movement. His face was pale, sweat rolling down his forehead, and his chest was heaving heavily. He looked utterly disheveled.

Tao Fengche had never seen Sui Yuesheng like this before. He knew how much he valued cleanliness. A surge of bitterness rose in his chest, but at the same time, a sudden pang of affection hit him at the most inappropriate moment.

Zhao Jiayang had already led his people into the small room. Gray Bear turned his gun on Sui Yuesheng, trying to force him back, while Sui Yuesheng simultaneously pointed his Desert Eagle at Zhao Jiayang.

“Pointing the gun at him is useless,” Zhao Jiayang suddenly said, his tone even carrying a hint of amusement. “This Young Master Sui isn’t afraid of that.”

In the next moment, the mute man quickly released his grip on Tao Fengche’s throat and, with lightning speed, pressed his gun to Tao Fengche’s temple.

The cold, hard metal pressed sharply against his skin, and all the fleeting emotions and the urge to cry in Tao Fengche’s mind instantly vanished. He felt a chill throughout his body, as if someone had dumped a bucket of icy water over him in subzero weather. He was frozen in place, unable to move a single finger.

Sui Yuesheng had already steeled himself, prepared to take a bullet if necessary and take out Zhao Jiayang. The safety of his Desert Eagle had long been released, and his finger was on the trigger, ready to pull it. But when he saw this, he froze in place.

Sui Yuesheng clenched his teeth, his lips pressed tightly together.

He hated this feeling of being at someone’s mercy, but Zhao Jiayang had truly grasped his weakness.

Sui Yuesheng’s finger twitched on the trigger for a few moments but ultimately didn’t pull it. He couldn’t afford to lower his gun, though—at least with the gun, there was a chance to intimidate them. If he lowered it, what if Zhao Jiayang just shot Tao Fengche right then?

The group was locked in a standoff.