“Does our family lack that bit of salary? Whatever they deduct, I’ll pay you double. After picking up Dexter, we still need to go for a reunion dinner to celebrate your second brother’s release and give him a proper welcome,” Mrs. Hogan said, pulling Olivia along as she laid out her plans. “I already had the butler book a private room at Cloud Restaurant.”
Olivia felt like she was about to break down. She absolutely did not want to be in the same space with Dexter and Bryce. But why couldn’t Mrs. Hogan understand that? Feeling awkward and visibly unhappy, she had no choice but to get into the family car with Mrs. Hogan and Luca to head to the detention center.
The entrance to the detention center was tightly shut. Sitting in the car, Olivia could only see the high walls and barbed wire. This place was definitely not somewhere pleasant. She lowered the car window and glanced outside. The cold wind was biting, and the north wind howled. The street was desolate, with bare poplar trees standing pitifully on both sides of the road.
Mrs. Hogan was already impatient. “Why isn’t he out yet?” Just as she finished speaking, there was a loud clang, and the heavy iron gate was pushed open from the inside. Dexter, wearing a faded blue uniform, was escorted out by a prison guard.
Seeing Dexter’s tall figure, Mrs. Hogan quickly opened the car door and rushed towards her son. “Dexter, you’re finally out.” She immediately took a bag from Luca’s hands. “Hurry up and put on this coat; it’s too cold.”
In prison, they wore thin, worn-out uniforms that were also considered unlucky. “Take off those clothes and throw them away; don’t bring that bad luck home,” Luca said disdainfully, looking at Dexter’s attire. “Go change in your brother’s car.”
Dexter didn’t say a word, just glanced at the two cars with a somewhat dejected expression. “Mom, Dad, didn’t my sister come?”
“She did, she’s in the car! It’s cold outside, and she’s not strong, so I didn’t let her get out,” Mrs. Hogan said, giving him a push. “Go change in your brother’s car.”
Dexter had no choice but to take the new clothes his parents had prepared and head to Bryce’s car. As he opened the door, Bryce gave him a cold look. “When you see your sister later, don’t overdo it. She doesn’t remember anything now…”
Dexter’s hands froze while changing clothes. “Really?”
“Would I lie to you?” Bryce sighed. “You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”
Dexter quickly changed his clothes and got out of the car, heading towards Olivia’s car. Olivia lowered the window and glanced at him. “Dexter, there’s no room in this car; you should go back to Bryce’s car.”
Dexter looked at Olivia’s indifferent face in shock. “Olivia… we haven’t seen each other in so long. Why don’t we let Dad go to Bryce’s car? I want to sit with you.”
“Dexter, Mom and Dad gave you life. Shouldn’t you want to be closer to them rather than me? Isn’t that a bit strange?” Olivia said dismissively.
Her words left Dexter speechless. He returned to Bryce’s car in disbelief, unable to recover from the shock for a long time.
“Bryce… is this really Olivia?”
“It’s her. She’s just changed a lot,” Bryce said helplessly about the current Olivia. “Let’s go; we’re heading to Cloud Restaurant.”
The car left the detention center and headed towards the city.
In the dense forest of southern Aettosa, unlike the capital city, the air was humid and stifling. Especially at noon, the sun scorched the earth, and combined with insects, it was an unbearable experience. At night, it became bone-chillingly cold.
At this moment, nearing noon, Jaden and his team were huddled in a cave. Despite the sheer drop outside, the cave’s lack of ventilation made it unbearably hot.
“Let’s wait a bit longer and listen for any movement above. If it’s clear, we’ll move out,” Jaden said, wiping sweat from his forehead.
After another ten minutes or so, at noon exactly, Peter swiftly climbed up the cliff using vines. It wasn’t far to the top, and he quickly reached it. After ensuring no one was around, he whistled.
The group climbed up one by one and began rushing through the dense forest. The forest was vast, and they had no idea where the assassins had gone.
Following their path back towards where their helicopter was hidden, Peter’s excellent memory guided them through the vast forest.
Just as they were about to reach the helicopter…
“Bang bang bang!” Gunfire erupted suddenly, followed by intense shooting.
“Damn!” Jaden shouted. “Get down!”
Clearly, the assassins anticipated their return for the helicopter and laid an ambush nearby.
“Get on the helicopter! Go!” Jaden observed the numerous armed assassins surrounding them from all sides.
The team pulled out their pistols to return fire but were vastly outgunned. Some were hit and fell immediately, but Jaden could only watch helplessly as they bled out.
“Danny!”
Danny shook his head at Jaden as blood poured from his mouth and nose. “Go!”
“Go!”
Using his body as bait, Danny stood up despite his unbearable pain.
“Bang bang bang bang!”
Bullets riddled Danny’s body instantly.
“No!” Tears streamed down Jaden’s face as Peter dragged him onto the helicopter.
As the assassins closed in, the helicopter took off!
The rotor blades whipped up a fierce wind as it ascended into the sky.
The assassins fired several shots at the helicopter but it climbed higher until it was out of reach…
Night had fallen deeply; winter nights were particularly quiet.
A black car sped through the night and arrived at the dock half an hour later.
The sea wind whipped up huge waves that crashed against the shore.
Sylvia stepped out of the car, her hair blowing in the wind like a queen of the night as she approached the weary helicopter.
The helicopter bore bullet scars like a battle-worn veteran returning home.
With a loud bang, the helicopter door opened.
Jaden stumbled out, dragging a man behind him. “Quick! Quick!”
Sylvia paused for a moment. “Are there many injured?”
Jaden’s voice cracked as he replied, “Boss, there are three!”
Sylvia immediately ran back to her car for a medical kit and hurried to the helicopter.
The three injured men were already being helped off the helicopter. She knelt beside the most seriously injured one. “His leg and arm are both hit by bullets; he’s lost too much blood. I’ll extract the bullets first.”
She began preparing anesthesia while instructing others to move him to the car due to the strong wind outside.
Fortunately, the other two only had minor injuries. Jaden applied some hemostatic medicine and bandaged their wounds before assisting Sylvia as her aide.
After contacting Sylvia upon boarding the helicopter and informing her of their situation, she had stayed awake waiting for their return with an emergency kit ready.
Their group often dealt with injuries themselves due to frequent skirmishes.
Sylvia quickly extracted the bullets and sutured the wounds despite blood staining the car seats.
After stitching up, she administered an anti-inflammatory injection. “To prevent infection, monitor his temperature closely for two days-morning and evening. If he develops a fever, notify me immediately.”
Meanwhile, other uninjured members moved books and notes retrieved from their mission into Sylvia’s car.
“Boss, these are what we brought back; we can’t understand them-some are in foreign languages,” Jaden reported before leading his team away for rest.
Sylvia nodded appreciatively. “Thank you all for your hard work today-make sure Danny’s funeral is properly handled.”
“I’ll change his dressings tomorrow morning,” she added before watching them depart in their helicopter towards their local base for recovery.
Once their helicopter safely ascended into sky again did Sylvia finally get back into her own vehicle after cleaning up bloodstains on rear seats-knowing how much risk Jaden’s team took retrieving those materials made her determined not let sacrifices go wasteful-thinking about heavily armed assassins filled her with rage-eyes narrowing while stepping hard on gas pedal-she vowed revenge!
Returning home around 3 AM without any sleepiness left inside-quietly sneaking materials into room without disturbing anyone-examining old dusty books emitting musty smell-realizing some written German others English even French-all related poison-making human evolution cloning research-flipping through pages learning new knowledge silently acknowledging original owner must have been expert possessing advanced information years ago…