Chapter 1829: Sacrificing Herself

Chapter 1829: Sacrificing Herself

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 turned completely dark, with only a few sporadic

street lights emitting dim light. The rest of the place was almost pitch

black, making it difficult to see anything. The immense darkness

resembled a black hole, devouring all fear.

Zhao commanded 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 black-clad 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 black-clad individuals started moving forward, pushing the

hostages along.

As the hostages were gradually released, Anderson heard the

commotion 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 cabinet and crawled out from inside.

The entrance to the ventilation duct was conveniently located above the

utility cabinet.

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

Compared to him, Fair had some difficulty climbing up. She was

wearing an elegant lady'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

cabinet.

Anderson then opened the cover of the ventilation duct, gently placing 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 ventilation duct and

struggled to climb up. She finally made it up.

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

Before leaving, Fair made sure to partially close the cover of the

ventilation 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 flashlight?"

"No, we can't. Haven't you seen the grid under the ventilation 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."

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 you later," 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 black-clad individual approached the trembling

hostages with a gun.

"Who is Fair? Step forward," the black-clad individual demanded.

The hostages turned pale with fear and shook their heads.

"Tell the truth quickly, don't try to hide," the black-clad 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 black-clad

individuals.

"Sorry, we'll go look for them right away," the leader of the black-clad

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 black-clad individuals responded promptly.

At that moment, several other black-clad 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 places.

Everyone, search carefully.”

Meanwhile, the leader of the black-clad 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 ventilation 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 flashed

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.