"Group Leader Luo An, how are you?"
As the words were spoken, the surroundings of the communication device became eerily quiet, Winslow and the other injured team members subconsciously held their breath.
A harsh electronic noise passed, and a few seconds later, a familiar voice came through the communicator:
"I'm alright, how are you guys?"
At the moment Luo An's voice was heard, the faces of the injured team members lit up with excitement; they couldn't help but slap each other in their exhilaration, ignoring their wounds.
Winslow suppressed his excitement:
"The battle on our side has ended..."
After asking Luo An's location, Winslow quickly grabbed the communication device, running outside the stronghold to join Chenier and Mona to search for Luo An.
Chenier breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Luo An was still alive, Mona didn't speak a word; she just wiped away the tears below her reddened eyes and quickened her pace.
In a distant forest, Luo An, to examine his injuries, had stripped off his gear and shirt, and discovered that his upper body was only bruised and scratched, no serious harm.
But focusing on his lower body, Luo An's situation was less than ideal, as his left leg had been shot and his left foot had somehow been fractured.
While treating the wound, Luo An tore his left trouser leg into pieces, grabbed a dagger and slowly inserted it into his left leg to pry out the bullet.
When Winslow, Chenier, and Mona arrived running, what they saw was Luo An, his upper body bare and marked with scratches and bruises, and his lower body in a pair of trousers with only one leg intact.
He was sitting back against a slanted tree near a corpse, biting on a dagger in his mouth, his face a mask of pain, as he clumsily handled the fierce wound on his left leg with a shred of torn clothing.
"Group Leader Luo An!"
Seeing this scene, Winslow and Chenier felt their hearts wrenching, they hurriedly shouted, while Mona ran straight towards Luo An.
Hearing the calls, Luo An looked up, saw the familiar faces, and removed the dagger from his mouth with a smile, reaching out his arms as if to embrace Mona.
Then Mona stopped in her tracks, slapped Luo An's arm twice, glaring fiercely at him without a word, and hurriedly dug out emergency medical supplies from her pocket to treat Luo An's wounds.
Luo An grinned, reaching to wipe the dust from Mona's face, but his arm was swatted away by Mona, focused on treating the wound.
Chenier rushed to Mona's side, assisted her, while meticulously checking Luo An's injuries, relieved that they weren't serious, finally allowing her to release the heavy stone in her heart.
Winslow also wanted to help with Luo An's injuries, but was kicked away again by Chenier and had to leave reluctantly; he then pulled out a dagger to chop some wood nearby, preparing to make a makeshift stretcher.
While chopping wood, Winslow also checked the bodies around just to be cautious.
Despite being mentally prepared for Luo An's capabilities, seeing the state of a dozen enemies, all killed by Luo An alone, left Winslow utterly shocked and amazed.
It wasn't long before Captain John and others arrived from the cliff area.
Seeing Luo An alive and his injuries not too severe, Captain Cyrus's tense state immediately relaxed.
His team members looked at Luo An with admiration; not only had they seen the bodies along the way, but from the battle traces on the ground, they could tell how Luo An by himself, successfully killed many more enemies than himself.
They were all frontline personnel who had just fought those enemies and were well aware of the difficulty of such a feat, deep down they were astonished and held great respect for Luo An, the Group Leader of the Special Investigation Team who sounded like he would be sitting behind a desk.
Captain John by his side, now totally convinced by Luo An, helped carry him onto the makeshift stretcher prepared by Winslow, but he had one puzzling question:
"Group Leader Luo An, how did you move from the top of the cliff to the bottom?"
Hearing this, Captain Cyrus and his team turned their gazes as well.
Before, when they ran from the stronghold to the cliff, they thought they would find a rope or some other item that Luo An had used to descend.
However, they found nothing at the cliff, and even after laboriously descending to the bottom of the cliff with a rope, they found nothing and couldn't understand how Luo An had managed to get to the bottom.
Jump off the cliff directly?
This answer wasn't spoken, as Captain Cyrus and his teammates denied it right away, saying it was entirely impossible…
"Came straight down."
On the stretcher, Luo An attempted to grab Mona's hand, but she smacked it away, laughing and responding:
Hearing Luo An's answer, everyone's initial thought was "impossible," but they indeed couldn't find any objects at the scene; no matter how impossible, that still had to be the only answer.
Watching Mona lightly hit Luo An a few times on the stretcher, and Luo An resigned to lying still, Captain Cyrus, his team members, and Captain John were left speechless and feeling goosebumps, Mona bit her lips tightly and Chenier breathed heavily. After a few seconds of silence, she once again fiercely slapped Winslow.
Over two hours later, Captain Cyrus and his men dealt with the bodies, rounded up Hamidun, Jesper, and other prisoners, and ensured Luo An and others left the island.
Upon reaching the seaside villa, Luo An and the others finally met Hale Rick.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Hale Rick."
Sitting in a wheelchair, Luo An was gently pushed forward by Mona, and seeing Hale Rick guarded by several rifles, Luo An displayed a genuinely sunny smile:
"Bet you didn't expect this; your men's mission failed, and we accidentally made it off that island alive."
Sitting on the sofa, Hale Rick breathed heavily, and after a moment of silence, he asked:
"I recognize your voice; aren't you that cousin of the snakehead?"
Luo An smiled and nodded. Hale Rick gave a cold smirk, about to say something when suddenly the room's door burst open and two men charged in:
"Hale Rick! You bastard son of a bitch!"
The two men were Hamidun and Jesper, who cursed as they swung their fists and smashed them into Hale Rick's face.
Caught off-guard, Hale Rick's face bruised up immediately, and as he tried to retaliate, the two men forced him down with combined strength.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Pull them apart!"
Luo An quickly pressed down, shouting loudly at Winslow and Chenier, who were guarding the two, and motioned for everyone to separate them urgently.
Winslow and Chenier immediately entered the room to apologetically start pulling people apart and trying to break up the fight.
However, due to some confusion on the scene, they accidentally hit Hale Rick's face a few times and inadvertently kicked his body.
With a slightly raised eyebrow, Mona pushed Luo An quietly out of the room, Luo An pondered for a few seconds, then took out his phone from his pocket and dialed a contact.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the hallway, Captain Cyrus chose to ignore the noise from Luo An's side; he was on the phone talking to Trick Kennedy.
FBI Washington Headquarters, an office.
A middle-aged Caucasian man with gold-rimmed glasses, black pupils, slight balding, and a plump body, shouted loudly holding a document:
"Trick! What exactly have you been doing recently? Do you realize you have broken several rules?"
The middle-aged man waved the document with spittle flying, but Trick Kennedy, sitting in the chair, simply coldly laughed and didn't answer.
Suddenly, Trick Kennedy's phone rang, the middle-aged man temporarily stopped talking, picked up his coffee intending to drink before continuing.
Suddenly, Trick Kennedy, answering the call, slammed the table standing up, accidentally flipping the coffee cup in the middle-aged man's hand, and exclaimed: