“Alright, agent, you’ve confirmed Sabina’s safety!”

While Luo An was carefully examining the small balcony outside the second floor of the villa, contemplating how to climb up, Frederick shouted loudly from the bedroom:

“Now, I make my demand! I want my dog! Do you understand? I want you to bring it here now, immediately! I want to go to hell with it!

Otherwise, I’ll kill Sabina and go to hell with her, got it?”

“???”

Hearing Frederick’s demand, Luo An’s head was filled with question marks.

He really didn’t understand the thought process of a serial killer, but it wasn’t convenient to ask why at the moment, so Luo An shouted:

“Okay Frederick, no problem! But you need to tell me where your dog is right now. I’ll contact my colleague and have them bring it to you immediately, OK?”

“My dog is at home, in the New York Queens District.”

Mentioning his dog, Frederick became inexplicably agitated again:

“I’ll give you half an hour. If I don’t see my dog after half an hour, then we’ll all go to hell together!”

“Hey! Hey! Hey! Don’t be anxious!”

Luo An took out his phone, entered the address Frederick provided into it, and sent it to Mona, instructing them to immediately send someone to find Frederick’s dog. At the same time, he asked Mona to hurry up and send over Frederick’s related files to him, and then reassured Frederick:

“I’ve informed my colleague of your request. They will find your dog as quickly as possible and then bring it here. Don’t worry, okay?”

Hearing the words coming from the bedroom that Frederick had agreed, Luo An slowly breathed a sigh of relief.

—-

Unit 5 Investigative Team’s office area.

After receiving the message from Luo An, Mona immediately handed it over to Augustus and then started to pull up Frederick’s related files as quickly as possible.

“Leyd, go to the ** area in Queens District to find the dog Frederick mentioned, and then rush to the forest villa at top speed.”

“No problem, Chief.”

The hulking Leyd, upon hearing Augustus’s command, turned and left the office area immediately. Augustus then turned to Mona and asked:

“How’s it going, did you find Frederick’s file?”

“I’ve found it!”

Mona’s fingers danced quickly across the keyboard, and as soon as she heard Augustus’s question, she immediately pressed the space bar and pointed to the text on the computer screen:

“Andre Fraser, 35 years old, never attended high school, has no family, frequently moves. He rented the house in Queens District two years ago.

A year ago, Frederick went to the hospital for surgery due to injury to his genitals. The doctors wanted to sew it back to its original state, but Frederick said he had lost his genitals, so the doctors had to sew up the wound.

Later, when questioned by the police, Frederick claimed he accidentally got injured while cooking, but the doctor noted in the record that the wounds on the genitals showed large animal bite marks, suspecting that Frederick’s genitals were bitten off by his dog.”

Reenith: “…”

Augustus: “…”

Outside the villa, seeing the information Mona sent, Luo An was speechless and didn’t know what to say.

But soon, Luo An also figured out why Frederick wanted his dog to come over and to die with it:

Just like the eunuchs of ancient Orient, he wanted to be made whole in death.

“It’s been so long, that thing might have been excreted by the dog somewhere.”

Luo An shook his head repeatedly, put his phone into his chest, and continued chatting with Frederick to soothe him, while observing the surroundings, preparing for a chance to climb up to the second-floor balcony.

He couldn’t keep dragging things out with Frederick any longer, the more time passed, the more tense the killer would become, the higher the chance of Sabina getting injured, and the slimmer the chance of Luo An getting his hands on the one million dollars in reward money he longed for.

—-

Seeing Luo An talking while beginning to take action on TV, Broson’s eyes gradually narrowed at the party.

Councilman Matai, standing beside him, raised his glass to clink with Broson’s, chuckling and asking:

“Based on your experience, do you think the agent on TV can save the hostage?”

“It’s impossible, Councilman.”

Broson’s smile was deep as he replied:

“There’s no way to climb up the outside of the villa, the perpetrator has not only forbid agents from going upstairs, but also poured gasoline all over the bedroom on the second floor. That’s the first problem: how the agent could even confront the perpetrator upstairs.

Second, even if they did confront the perpetrator, the agent couldn’t shoot because of the safety of the hostages, but the perpetrator still has a gun… It’s simply impossible to successfully rescue the hostages with just one agent in the video.”

As he spoke, Broson was actually hoping that Luo An would act quickly and was considering what role he would take to help Vireness clean up the mess after Luo An’s plan failed and the hostages were killed by the perpetrator.

“Chief.”

After hanging up the phone, Matthews walked up to Broson, who glanced at him and said nothing.

Matthews felt a chill in his heart.

In the office area of Team Five, everyone saw that Luo An had started making moves. Augustus’s brows were deeply furrowed, Mona clenched her fists tightly, filled with tension, and Vireness asked with a serious expression and a tilt of her head:

“Augustus, how much longer until the SWAT team arrives?”

Augustus looked up at the clock, his expression grim:

“At least twenty-five minutes. Should we notify Luo An…”

“No.”

Vireness raised her hand to interrupt Augustus’s words, crossed her legs, and turned in a different direction, her gaze fixed on Luo An in the television, speaking with a serious tone:

“Trust in Luo An Greenwood.”

“…Alright.”

For a moment, the viewers outside the TV had various thoughts, but the one thing in common was that they were all glued to the screen, watching intently.

Luo An didn’t know the thoughts of the people outside; at this time, he was negotiating with Frederick to leave the outside of the villa and enter the second floor.

“Frederick, I just received a message from my colleague, your dog is already on its way.”

Luo An glanced at the system’s pale blue screen, took a deep breath to shut it down, then shouted loudly:

“I’ve been authorized to make a deal with you, but I must enter the villa first to make sure there are no other hostages, and also to ensure there are no other ‘surprises’ hidden within this house, okay?”

“FU-K YOU!”

Hearing Luo An’s words, Frederick in the bedroom immediately shouted loudly:

“No way! Don’t try to trick me! I have to see my dog first before you can come in!”

“Frederick, I need to come in first.”

Luo An’s tone was very gentle as he softly negotiated:

“Only when I’m sure the room is safe can I bring your dog inside the house, okay?”

“Bullshit!”

Frederick still refused to agree with Luo An, continuing to loudly question:

“How do I know you’re not lying to me? What if you come in and shoot straight away?”

“How about this?”

Looking through the glass on the first floor of the villa, Luo An saw a few pens in the living room and said with a smile:

“I’ll leave all my equipment outside, and bring nothing with me, okay?”

“…You sure?”

“Of course!”

Hearing Luo An’s definite response, Frederick laughed:

“OK, then take off your gear now and come on in!”

“No problem!”

Luo An laughed as well.