NOVEL NEXT Chapter 255: The Substitute, Level Up_3
The gun barrel lowered, aiming at Cheston En's privates. "Of course, you can also choose to become an incomplete man and then die in agony."
Cheston En shuddered, just about to speak.
Suddenly, police sirens blared outside the building.
Through the dog-faced woman's communicator, a man's deep, angry curses sounded: "FK, we've been exposed! Hound, haven't you finished yet? The two of us have to detonate this place and evacuate!"
"FK!"
The dog-faced woman couldn't continue torturing Cheston En. She raised her gun, intending to shoot. But in her moment of distraction, Chester Dean seized the opportunity. He spat a mouthful of bloody saliva into her eyes and, with his mouth wide open, lunged at her gun hand, biting down hard.
A scream rang out.
In pain, the woman used her other hand to frantically elbow Cheston En's head.
But Cheston En knew that if he let go, he would most certainly die. His head felt as if it were about to explode, and his consciousness began to blur. Yet, his teeth clung to the woman's palm as if imprinted there, not relaxing in the slightest.
The man in charge of surveillance realized something was wrong.
He pressed the timer's activation switch, grabbed a submachine gun, and rushed towards the office floor where Hound was.
Just as the man rushed out, a large hand extended, ghost-like, from the just-opened doorway. It precisely grabbed the burly man by the neck and, with a fierce twist, snapped it.
A sickening CRACK resounded.
The burly man's eyes bulged beneath his mask. Blood gushed unwillingly from his mouth as he abruptly gave up the ghost.
Dean dropped the burly man's body.
He had used the arriving police sirens to create a diversion. Avoiding the cameras from the side, he infiltrated the building. He had planned to secure the surveillance room first, but as he approached, he overheard the man's last sentence.
If it's just two of them, I can pick up some easy Experience Points this time.
Dean's gaze swept into the surveillance room, his expression changing slightly. "Shit!"
Inside the surveillance room, a recording device was set up, aimed at a countdown timer. Next to it was an inverted cross, the symbol of the Heaven's Kingdom Sect he had seen before.
This was a classic terrorist tactic!
First, they would set off a major explosion. Then, they would release a video claiming responsibility, thereby damaging the reputation of the United States government while simultaneously bolstering their own international influence.
No matter how he thought about it, Dean couldn't understand why merely solving a case always seemed to drag him into such over-the-top situations!
There were still just over nine minutes on the countdown.
If this were a movie, with so much time, they could defuse not just several timed bombs, but even a timed nuclear bomb, probably dozens of times over.
But reality is not a movie.
In reality, 'controlled detonation' was a more apt description for most bomb disposals.
Even the most experienced bomb disposal experts only had a fifty percent success rate!
Every attempt at defusal was a gamble with life itself!
Dean didn't know how to defuse bombs.
He wasn't about to risk his life just to save the U.S. government some money.
After confirming there were just over nine minutes left until detonation, he used the room's surveillance monitors to locate the remaining infiltrators. Identifying them on the fifth floor, he quickly headed upstairs.
There was only one infiltrator left.
Dean couldn't let this bundle of Experience Points slip away.
「Upstairs.」
The dog-faced woman had beaten Cheston En until his eyes rolled back, but she still hadn't managed to pry his mouth from her right hand.
As the wail of police sirens and loudspeaker warnings from downstairs grew louder, she finally panicked, shouting desperately into her communicator, "Grizzly, get over here and help me!"
No sooner had her words faded than THUD! The door was kicked open.
A surge of joy welled in the dog-faced woman's heart.
The next moment—BANG! A tremendous force slammed into her forehead. Her head snapped back, and everything plunged into darkness.
At the same time, two pieces of information flashed across Dean's mind:
[Killed FBI mole, solved a disguised terrorist attack case, Experience Points +1,000, Level: 19 (3,200/3,600)]
[Killed Elder of the Lucifer Game Organization—Twin Hounds, prematurely foiled the California 'Desperate Hunger Games', Experience Points +3,000, Level 20 (2,600/3,800), Attribute Points +1, Skill Points +1]
Dean: ???