The long ten minutes felt like a century, so long that every breath was unforgettable.


    Whether it was Anderson inside the activity center or Joyce and Luther outside, they felt every second was agonizing.


    By now, the sky had turnedpletely dark, with only a few sporadic street lights emitting dim light. The rest of the ce was almost pitch ck, making it difficult to see anything. The immense darkness resembled a ck hole, devouring all fear.


    Zhaomanded the lighting equipment to be set up, illuminating the surroundings with bright light.


    As soon as the time came, the doors of the activity center opened. Several hostages appeared, and the ck-d individuals were highly professional, hiding behind the hostages and keeping their fatal parts concealed.


    At this moment, Zhao shouted through a megaphone, “Begin!”


    It was the predetermined signal.


    The ck-d individuals started moving forward, pushing the hostages along.


    As the hostages were gradually released, Anderson heard themotion outside and recognized the signal.


    He said to Fair, “Let’s make our move.”


    Fair nodded.


    Inside the hall, everyone’s attention was focused on the release of the hostages, and no one would pay attention to the restroom. They quietly opened the door of the utility cab and crawled out from inside.


    The entrance to the venttion duct was conveniently located above the utility cab.


    Anderson was agile and quickly climbed to the top of the cab.


    Compared to him, Fair had some difficulty climbing up. She was wearing an elegantdy’s skirt, so she couldn’t spread her legs too wide. After a few attempts, she almost slipped down. Fortunately, Anderson caught her in time.


    With his help, Fair finally managed to climb to the top of the utility cab.


    Anderson then opened the cover of the venttion duct, gently cing it aside.


    “You go in first,” Anderson said.


    “No, you go first. I… I’m afraid of the dark,” Fair said intentionally, though she wasn’t really afraid. The one who entered first would be safer, and they both wanted to ensure each other’s safety.


    Anderson didn’t say anything more; he went in first.


    After entering, Fair grabbed the edge of the venttion duct and struggled to climb up. She finally made it up.


    The two of them entered the venttion duct in the darkness.


    Before leaving, Fair made sure to partially close the cover of the venttion duct to prevent it from being discovered.


    The narrow and winding duct was dark and terrifying.


    Fair was genuinely scared, and she whispered, “Anderson, is your phone charged? Can you turn on the shlight?”


    “No, we can’t. Haven’t you seen the grid under the venttion duct? If there’s light, it will leak out, and we’ll be discovered,” Anderson replied, turning back and reaching out his hand to Fair. “You give me the direction, and I’ll crawl forward while you follow behind me.”


    “Alright, 15 degrees south-west, 6 meters,” Fair recited silently. “Don’t worry, even in the darkness, I can still determine the direction. Even with my eyes closed, I can visualize the orientation. Now, with each step, we’re covering about 25 centimeters.”Exclusive ? content by N(?)ve/l/Drama.Org.


    As they crawled for a while, Fair suddenly said, “Stop, 7 meters east.”


    Anderson continued forward based on the direction indicated by Fair.


    They slowly moved, gradually positioning themselves directly above the hall of the activity center.


    Below them were the trapped hostages and the gunmen holding guns.


    They could faintly hear the conversation below.


    “Go 15 meters north. Anderson, you go ahead. I need to catch my breath and rest for a while. I’ll join youter,” Fair stopped and said, genuinely feeling tired.


    “Got it. Don’t take too long. I’ll go ahead and check the situation. I’ll wait for you there,” Anderson said, then continued moving forward.


    As Fair caught her breath, she could clearly hear a phone ringing below.


    The person answering the call had put it on speakerphone.


    The voice of the caller sounded familiar to Fair, and she was startled. She recognized the voice-it was Cloud. She had spent some time with Athena and naturally had seen Cloud before.


    Cloud asked, “Among the hostages you’ve kidnapped, is there a child named Fair?”


    Fair was stunned, could it be referring to herself?


    At this moment, another ck-d individual approached the trembling hostages with a gun.


    “Who is Fair? Step forward,” the ck-d individual demanded.


    The hostages turned pale with fear and shook their heads.


    “Tell the truth quickly, don’t try to hide,” the ck-d individual sternly warned.


    However, after questioning several hostages, no one knew anyone named Fair.


    On the other end of the phone, Cloud sneered, “No need to ask. They lied to me. Either there’s no such person or there are others hiding in the activity center. You fools failed to discover them.”


    The ghostly voice sentshivers down the spines of the ck-d individuals.


    “Sorry, we’ll go look for them right away,” the leader of the ck-d individuals said.


    Cloud continued, “I had a feeling something was off. If you can’t find Fair, it means there’s someone else. They misled me and almost fooled me. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a four-year-old boy hiding here. Search every corner until you find him.”


    “Yes,” the leader of the ck-d individuals responded promptly.


    At that moment, several other ck-d individuals rushed towards different corners, searching everywhere.


    One of them shouted, “Search the two restrooms carefully as well. We might have missed something earlier. Kids can hide in many ces. Everyone, search carefully.”


    Meanwhile, the leader of the ck-d individuals asked, “Boss, we have already released half of the hostages. What should we do next?”


    Cloud smirked, “Even if you don’t have all the hostages, finding that little boy is enough. Stop wasting time and go find him. You know the consequences if you fail.”


    With that, Cloud hung up the phone.


    In the venttion duct directly above the hall of the activity center, Fair heard their conversation clearly.


    Oh god, they’re going to capture Anderson again.


    The Fair mentioned by Cloud must be herself. A thought shed through Fair’s mind. They believed Anderson was in the activity center because they couldn’t find her. It meant they didn’t know before. They couldn’t be sure if Anderson was in the activity center.


    So, as long as they found Fair, which was herself, they wouldn’t continue searching for Anderson.


    In that case, Anderson would be safe.


    At that moment, she made a decision.


    No matter what, she would save Anderson. She absolutely couldn’t let Anderson fall into Cloud’s hands. Last time, Athena almost killed Anderson. She couldn’t stand by and watch Anderson in danger.


    Even if it meant sacrificing herself, she would save Anderson.