bChapter /bb825 /b

    Aria’s team of sevenunched their attack simultaneously, igniting the battle in an instant. Apart from Cathy and Caroline, the others were clearly struggling. This group of enemies fought ruthlessly, focusing solely on offense without any defense.

    After swiftly taking down one enemy, Aria threw a steel needle straight at the throat of the opponent fighting Liz. But the man reacted swiftlyb, /bnarrowly dodging the attack with a sidestep.

    Aria’s eyes narrowed as she moved in personally. “Go help Allison.”

    “Got it.” Liz quickly went to assist the others.

    Flynt’s gaze remained locked on Aria until a sharp re pierced through. He turned his head and met Owen’s icy stare.

    Flynt’s lips curled into a confident smile. He gestured to Julius, saying, “At any cost, kill him.”

    “Ok.” Julius stepped in personally.

    On the other side, seeing things take a turn for the worse, Ned turned and ran for his life. After running a fair distance and realizing no one was following him, he leaned against a tree, panting heavily.

    Just as he straightened up to continue his escape, he collided directly with Clifford’s team. Ned’s eyes widened in fear, and he turned to run in another

    direction.

    “Catch him!” Clifford ordered. Jason quickly dashed after him, tackling Ned to the ground with a flying leap.

    “Where are the others?” Clifford asked, pressing a foot onto Ned’s back.

    Ned gritted his teeth and stayed silent.

    Gerald spoke coldly, “Just kill him.”

    Clifford got the message and picked up a rock. “Alright.”

    Terrified, Ned screamed, “Wait! It’s that way. I can lead you there.”

    When Clifford’s team arrived at the scene of the sh between the two groups, they found Cathy’s six teammates unconscious on the ground, with Aria nowhere to be seen. A droney destroyed nearby.

    Clifford’s team immediately checked on Cathy’s group and was relieved to find they were merely unconscious.

    Clifford swiftly contacted the higher–ups. “Aria is missing, and Cathy’s team is knocked out. What happened?”

    “The surveince was destroyed; we’re not sure,” came the staticky reply through themunicator. “Don’t bother tracking them. Just get Cathy’s team out and continue with thepetition.”

    Clifford wanted to ask more questions, but the line went dead. He thought to himself, ‘Aria is missing, and they didn’t even bat an eye? In such an urgent situation, they still want us to continue thepetition?‘

    Clifford tried reaching Tessa and other contacts, but couldn’t get through to anyone except the person from earlier. Clearly, something was wrong within the State Security Bureau itself. Clifford informed his team of the situation.

    Gerald frowned and quickly opened hisptop to ess all surveince from the restricted zone. They saw no sign of Aria or the others.

    He then reviewed thest footage from the destroyed drone: both sides were shing, followed by a blonde man bfiring /bseveral bshots /bbthat /bbtook /bbdown /bbthe /b

    drone.

    b“/bbCathy/b.” Zoey pinched Cathy’s philtrum until she finally woke up. “Where’s Aria?” Zoey asked urgently.

    Cathy looked dazed but gradually came to her senses, her face suddenly changing. “Aria’s gone? What about the othersb?/b“

    She quickly scanned the area and realized both Aria and Owen were missing.

    Zoey asked, “What happened?”

    Cathy replied, “They used smoke grenades. As soon as we inhaled the smoke, we passed out.”

    Mike sniffed the air. “There’s a chemical smell. It affects your consciousness. We need to get out of here.”

    They hurriedly woke the other team members and helped each other evacuate.

    On the way, Mike asked Cathy, “Is Mr. Shaw here too?”

    Cathy nodded, looking deeply concerned, thinking, ‘That foreign guy clearly knows Aria and Owen. If he’s after the State Security Bureau, why take them?‘

    “Don’t worry,” Mike reassured her. “If I can detect the smell, Aria definitely did too–they’ll be alright.”

    iAD /i