Chapter 5
However, within moments, Lucas caught sight of Laura's frustrated and hurt expression from the corner of his eye. He instinctively moved forward to comfort her, and her expression gradually softened.
She sweetly shook Lucas's hand, saying, "Lucas, you're still the best to me."
Her tone was playful and sweet, melting his heart.
Lucas couldn't help but smile, raising his hand to embrace Laura.
Though Emily was undeniably more beautiful than Laura, she was now tainted by scandal. No matter how he looked at it, Emily couldn't compare to Laura anymore.
Meanwhile, the car bumped along a rough dirt road lined with weeds nearly as tall as a person for about half an hour before finally stopping in front of an abandoned factory.
"This is a factory on the city outskirts. Ever since we rescued you from that underground chamber, our team has been working around the clock to investigate the site."
Charles's expression was stern, his voice serious.
"That underground chamber has hidden passages leading directly to this factory."
After hearing this, Emily's eyes widened in shock.
She hadn't lost her memory. That underground chamber wasn't very far from downtown. If there were underground tunnels extending from the chamber all the way to this suburban factory, the distance would be enormous.
And to dig it out without attracting attention...
What kind of massive operation would that require?
She exchanged a meaningful look with Charles, lost in thought.
The criminal organization was probably much larger and more powerful than she had imagined.
But now wasn't the time to worry about such things.
Emily wiped her face, tying back her slightly disheveled hair. Without bothering about the dirt on her clothes, she stepped into the factory.
The factory was predictably deserted.
Emily crouched on the ground, calmly and carefully observing her surroundings.
The interior structure of this factory was peculiar—there wasn't a single window, leaving the inside pitch black. A faint musty smell mixed with the metallic scent of blood lingered in the air.
Smelling that familiar odor again, Emily rubbed some dust between her fingertips; her suspicions were confirmed.
"This place was probably also used by that organization to hold people. The smell of blood hasn't completely dissipated yet, which means they only recently transferred everyone from here."
After the underground chamber was exposed, this place obviously couldn't remain hidden either.
"Now that this whole thing has blown up publicly, they definitely wouldn't dare brazenly transport prisoners back into the city."
Emily closed her eyes, desperately searching her mind for any useful information.
A few seconds later, she stared intently at a dark bloodstain on the ground, suddenly noticing some ants crawling out of the dry soil nearby.
Following the ants with her gaze, her mind suddenly blazed with inspiration.
'That's right, ants!'
Emily's heart raced as she quickly brushed off her pants and stood up, running toward Charles, who was searching for clues on the other side.
"I've got it!"
Her throat was tight, her voice barely containing her excitement.
"To lay low, they'd definitely find a place suitable for long-term hiding—somewhere with adequate food and water supplies."
Emily didn't dare pause. "I was once taken to a place where there were lots of ants in the corners. Where there are swarms of ants, there's definitely something sweet."
A large space with sweet food.
Given the criminal organization's pattern of locations, it had to be a factory.
Charles's brow relaxed as understanding dawned on him.
At the same time, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out.
It was a message from the investigation team.
[Our team found a lead, too.]
They had already begun focusing their investigation on factories that could hide people in remote locations, and now, combined with Emily's clue.
Charles scanned the message, his gaze settling on one particular line.
It was a sugar processing plant that had originally operated downtown but moved to the city's edge ten years ago due to financial problems.
Although this location was not in the suburbs, it was obviously much more remote, likely a hideout for criminal organizations.
After confirming the location, neither of them dared waste a single second. They immediately ran back to the car.
Less than an hour later, the GPS announced their arrival. Charles checked his service weapon.
As soon as they got out, police cars began pulling up behind them one after another. Charles nodded briefly to his colleagues as they emerged from their vehicles, then led the way toward the factory.
Knowing she could not defend herself, Emily stayed a couple of steps behind Charles, walking while alertly observing their surroundings.
This factory looked no different from any ordinary factory.
The exterior had an outdated design, with a rusted metal sign where you could barely make out the words "sugar" and "processing."
Charles carefully led his team inside, his service weapon drawn and held in a standard firing position pointed forward.
The factory interior was dimly lit and appeared empty.
Two rows of massive shelves held dust-covered bags of sugar, some packages torn open with slightly yellowed sugar spilling onto the floor.
Charles's boots clicked against the wooden floor. He paused mid-step, looking down thoughtfully at the boards beneath his feet.
"This sound isn't right." He muttered to himself.
One of the officers behind Emily caught this and stepped forward, using a knife to pry along the seams of the floorboards.
After a dull creaking sound, the boards came up, revealing empty space below.
This unremarkable factory also had an underground chamber.
Charles lifted the boards and used his flashlight to illuminate the stairs as he headed down. Emily followed.
The underground chamber was full of dust. Charles walked deeper inside with his light when his peripheral vision caught sight of something protruding from the ground.
He raised his flashlight to illuminate it, and after seeing what was on the ground, Charles's breathing stopped, his pupils contracting sharply.
Emily looked in the same direction, her eyes tightening.
Her hands at her sides suddenly clenched into fists as she bit down hard on her jaw, unable to suppress the fury in her eyes.
The ground was covered with densely packed people!
Most of them were barely breathing, the majority having lost the ability to move. At first glance, it was impossible to tell how many were still alive.
"Those animals! They're worse than beasts!"
Her nails dug into her palms, causing pain that Emily didn't even notice.
"Quick, save them!"
Charles struggled to compose himself and roared the command as he rushed forward.
Seeing this, the officers behind them sprang into action.
However, in an unnoticed corner, a red light pulsed slowly.
It was a countdown to death.
"Wait, there are explosives!"
Emily couldn't believe her eyes. She instinctively shouted this warning, staring unblinkingly at the corner.
Her voice was dry and hoarse as she immediately raised her hand to point at a motionless figure lying on the ground in the corner.
Behind that person was a bomb strapped to their back!
At the same time, Charles quickly reacted. His movement froze, his hand already placed on one victim's arm.
In an instant, he reached out and swiftly flipped the person over, unsurprisingly seeing the explosives tightly bound behind them.
Every single person here had bombs strapped to their backs.
The electronic display on the explosives emitted an extremely faint countdown sound.
"Five—four—three..."