Hans''s eyes widened in horror, a thickyer of sweat breaking out on his forehead as he roared.


    "Thaddeus! Look out!"


    He wanted to rush over and intercept him, but the distance was too great. He wasn''t going to make it.


    Watching the gleaming, deadly de inch closer to his chest by the second, Thaddeus''s heart hammered wildly. He was torn.


    He had a gun in his hand with three bullets left.


    At this point-nk range, it was more than enough to putn down for good.


    But if he did that, he would be a killer. Was he really going to get blood on his hands? Was taking a life the only way to end all this evil?


    In that fleeting moment, the image of Evadne''s radiant, breathtaking smile shed across Thaddeus''s mind. She was so beautiful it made his heart tremble. Like a brilliant ray of sunlight piercing through his cold existence, warmth bloomed from the deepest corners of his heart and rushed through his veins.


    He didn''t want blood on his hands.


    He wanted to stand before Evadne one day with a clear conscience, just like he used to.


    Suddenly, a spark of inspiration hit him.


    Thaddeus''s eyes narrowed sharply. Whenn was just three steps away, he aimed his gun downward and fired three rapid shots.


    The floor, fashioned from welded wire mesh, warped drastically as three thick bolts were blown out of ce.


    The momentn''s foot came down, he pitched violently forward, the color draining from his contorted face.


    "No... no!"


    The next second, he stepped into thin air.


    Just one step away from Thaddeus, he plunged into a terrifying, hopeless abyss, free-falling from a height of over a hundred feet.


    At the exact same time, Elvis leaped up from below, caught the remote, and mmed his thumb onto the button with blistering speed.


    The ear-piercing shriek of the grinding chains came to a screeching halt.


    Suspended barely six feet off the ground, Chasel dangled mid-air. Sweat poured down his deathly pate face like ram, trailing heavily along


    his tense jawline.


    "Damn... we did it." Every muscle in Elvis''s body gave out as he copsed to his knees in utter exhaustion.


    As a top-tier operative, he had taken


    on countless highly dangerous missions across the globe. He had brushed shoulders with death more


    times than he could count,


    somehow always managing to turn. the tide.


    But all those near-death experiences


    the heart-stopping tector of


    single moment.


    Yet, before anyone could celebrate their survival, a sickening, heavy thud echoed through the air.


    His eyes bulged wide open, his chest convulsing as thick streams of blood bubbled from his mouth.


    "Why... why... me..."


    Why me.


    Why wasn''t it Cassius who died? Why wasn''t it Chasel? Why was it...


    But the only thing spilling from his throat was blood, drowning out his final words.


    The air fell into a dead silence.


    Ian died with his eyes wide open.


    His despicable, wicked, and utterly pathetic life had finallye to an end.


    Thaddeus let out a long, heavy breath. He slowly lifted hisshes and met Hans''s gaze.


    Hans looked deeply into Thaddeus''s bloodshot eyes, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth as he raised his hand.


    It was an invitation for an air high-five.


    Thaddeus caught his breath and dly obliged, raising his own calloused palm to meet his.