Chapter 78: The Villa Basement

There were no wounds on Ryder's body, indicating that the cause of his unconsciousness was the white powder on his face. Roan pried open Ryder's eyelids, finding his complexion purple, breathing labored, and both pupils sharply contracted to pinpoints. At once, Roan’s brow furrowed deeply.

Judging by the small amount of powder on Ryder's face, neither rock sugar nor conch could have rendered him unconscious so swiftly. The only substance capable of knocking someone out this quickly was fentanyl, which had come up in conversation earlier.

Fentanyl is eighty times more potent than conch. If nothing was done and Ryder was simply taken to the hospital after the operation, it would be too late.

"Damn it."

Without hesitation, Roan immediately retrieved the [Antidote] from the system interface. To avoid poisoning himself, he didn’t touch the white substance on Ryder’s face with his hands. Instead, he used the muzzle of his gun to force Ryder’s mouth open before pouring the antidote in.

"Get Ryder out of the villa immediately! Call an ambulance, now!"

At this moment, Agent Norton and the two SWAT officers came running down the stairs. Roan swiftly handed Ryder over to them, his expression grave as he instructed:

"Ryder’s suffering from opioid poisoning. You must tell the paramedics in the ambulance!"

"OK!"

The two SWAT officers didn’t hesitate. Each took an arm, lifted Ryder, and hurried him back up the stairs, sprinting out of the villa.

"Sorry, Roan."

Watching the trio leave, Norton moved into a tactical stance in front of Roan, his expression serious. He was about to say more, but Roan waved him off and pointed to a room at the far end of the basement.

"Focus on capturing the enemy first!"

"OK!"

Norton wasted no time. He moved down the corridor, weapon raised, to join the two SWAT officers covering one of the rooms.

Roan paused briefly, retrieved the [Strength Serum] and [Agility Serum] from the system, downed both, and then followed Norton to the SWAT’s position.

"What’s the situation now?"

Hearing Norton’s question, the two SWAT officers pointed grimly toward a tightly closed door across the hall.

"There are three enemies in there—the Hyenas’ boss and his two trusted men."

The three enemies were trapped in the room across the hall, all armed with rifles. There had just been an exchange of gunfire. Any attempt to forcibly breach the door would leave the SWAT team vulnerable to rifle fire.

Their standard shields couldn’t stop rifle rounds, and their flashbangs had already been used. So, they had refrained from acting rashly and instead called for the reinforced ballistic shield from outside, waiting to storm the room when it arrived.

The two SWAT officers then inquired about Ryder’s status and apologized to Roan—Ryder had been ambushed by a man with a scar on his right eyebrow while protecting them.

"Wait, have you considered something?"

When Roan heard them mention a man with a scar on his right eyebrow, his brow arched, but he didn’t pursue the topic. Instead, his expression turned grave.

"Why did the three of them, after we attacked, choose to run into this room?"

Norton was quickest to react. He turned to Roan, his face tense.

"You mean, there’s a way out of the villa from that room? A secret passage?"

Roan nodded. "It’s highly likely."

"Fu—"

Norton cursed under his breath, growing anxious. His informant knew about the elevator in the villa but nothing about any secret passages. Norton was about to ask the SWAT officers how much longer the reinforced shield would take to arrive—nearly ten seconds had passed since the enemies had barricaded themselves in the room.

Just then, the door across the hall cracked open.

Two cylindrical smoke grenades clattered to the floor, thick smoke rapidly filling the corridor.

Whoosh—

"Damn it!"

"Son of a—!"

As the smoke grenades landed at their feet, Norton and the two SWAT officers cursed under their breath.

Before the curses could even echo through the room, Roan moved with unnatural speed. With a flicker of his eyelids, he pulled a stun grenade from his pocket and hurled it through the partially open door.

Bang!

"Aah—!"

As the stun grenade exploded, a scream rang out from within. Without waiting for Norton and the SWAT officers to react, Roan dashed forward, kicked the door wide open, and threw in two more stun grenades.

Bang!

Bang!

Now Norton and the SWAT officers finally snapped back to action, raising their weapons as they charged into the room across the hall.

Inside, they found a large wooden crate in the corner, filled with weapons. Behind the crate, a half-open metal door was set into the floor.

The effect of the stun grenades detonating in the enclosed space was devastating. The gang leader, Sean, and the other henchman were all sprawled unconscious on the floor. The skinny henchman who had opened the door to throw the smoke grenades lay by the entrance, blood trickling from his ears.

Norton and the two SWAT officers stared, stunned, inhaling sharply before turning their astonished gazes on Roan.

"Holy hell!"

"Unbelievable!"

"Roan, how were you so fast?"

"Now’s not the time for questions."

Waving away the smoke around him, Roan didn’t waste words. He turned and strode out of the basement, leaving only a dashing silhouette behind.

"The smoke’s getting thicker. Get out now."

—

Outside the villa, Ryder had already been taken away in an ambulance. Roan returned to his Chevrolet, beginning to remove his gear.

"Mission accomplished, sir."

Exiting the villa, Norton’s gaze toward Roan was complex, but he contacted his superior to report:

"The Hyenas’ leader and his men have all been apprehended. Some gang members resisted and were shot dead on the spot."

"What about our casualties?" came Dillon’s urgent voice over the line.

"When the DEA raided the Hyenas’ 'drug lab,' there was fierce fighting—many were wounded and killed. Agent Marlon, for example, took a bullet to the chest and has been sent to the hospital."

The Organized Crime Division and the DEA had different responsibilities and handled different locations—villas and bars fell under Organized Crime, while the factories, warehouses, and other places used for manufacturing, transporting, and storing the powder were the DEA’s domain.

"We only had one injury—Agent Ryder of Investigation Team Five. He was accidentally poisoned while protecting the SWAT officers and fell unconscious."

After a brief recap, Norton suddenly remembered something and asked urgently:

"Sir, what about the Hyenas’ bar? Were there any bombs?"

"There were indeed four fully assembled remote-detonated bombs. Thanks to our advance warning, the signal jammers we set up worked, and the bombs didn’t go off."

Dillon gave a quick rundown of events. Once he was sure the villa operation was a complete success, he hung up, as he had a mountain of work waiting for him.

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(End of chapter)