Minutes earlier, when the explosion finally revealed the ship’s location, Dominion didn’t waste another second.

However, even while speeding toward it, they quickly realized the cargo ship was moving abnormally fast — almost impossibly fast.

Luckily for them, the vessel somehow slowed down after a while, allowing Dominion to finally close the distance.

Inside one of the aircraft, Lucian — fully equipped in tactical gear — held a pair of binoculars while surveying the cargo ship below.

The first thing he saw was chaos.

People were running everywhere. Some were dragging injured men, likely victims of the explosion, while others scrambled in panic across the deck.

"Turn," he ordered coldly. "I don’t see her."

Without hesitation, the pilot adjusted their angle.

Because they were flying in complete darkness, the aircraft maintained a higher altitude to avoid alerting the enemy while Dominion’s forces caught up.

"Stop."

Lucian leaned securely near the open side door.

Through the binoculars, he spotted several men near the boat deck. Large men stood on both sides while one figure remained trapped in the middle.

Rus.

According to Gin, Ashley’s original abductors had mentioned that one of their own had gone to assist her. Since Dominion already possessed the abductors’ profiles, Lucian immediately recognized the man.

"I have visual on them," Lucian said while pressing against his earpiece, calmly relaying directions for his men to target and approach.

But midway through speaking, his eyes narrowed.

Slowly, he lifted the binoculars again.

Then, his breathing stopped.

The voices in his earpiece faded away entirely as he finally caught sight of a familiar figure standing atop the stacked containers.

"I found her," he whispered.

His eyes widened as his heartbeat slammed violently against his chest.

The moment he said those words, the aircraft immediately shifted course and moved directly toward the ship.

Lucian studied her carefully.

Her messy hair, the crumpled tissue she had ripped from her nose, the way she talked wildly and covered her ears like a complete maniac, pretending to panic.

And then, more and more armed men began surrounding her: men on the containers, men in the aisles.

Men were flooding in from every direction.

Ashley stood there completely trapped, surrounded.

Yet she wasn’t crying. She wasn’t begging. She wasn’t even panicking.

She simply stood there while her eyes darted around, and knowing her, Lucian understood immediately.

She was calculating, thinking of a way out.

"You..." Lucian breathed out quietly as a lump formed in his throat.

It wasn’t merely her dangerous situation that stirred something painful inside him.

Sure, seeing her cornered was one thing.

But what truly made his chest tighten was that look on her face.

That look of someone expecting absolutely nothing from anyone.

No hope.

No trust.

Only calculation.

The look of someone who had already accepted she had to survive alone.

Slowly, Lucian lowered the binoculars. Then he turned toward the men inside the helicopter and extended one hand.

One of them immediately nodded and handed him the heavy handheld launcher.

Lucian leaned his back securely against the aircraft doorway, steadying his footing against the violent wind.

He rested the bazooka over his shoulder before carefully aiming toward the cargo deck. Far enough from Ashley not to hurt her, but close enough to tell her something important.

She didn’t have to figure everything out alone.

Not this time.

She had already trusted her abductors enough to place a tracker on herself. So she could trust that they would come.

That he would come.

No matter what.

The moment Lucian prepared to fire, the men inside the helicopter shifted away from the blast radius. Then, a sharp yet distant sound sliced through the night sky.

BOOM!

The fire already raging on one side of the cargo vessel exploded even further as another section erupted from an outside strike.

Men near the impact zone were blown away instantly. Others didn’t even realize they had been caught in the explosion until the flames consumed them.

Meanwhile, the people surrounding Ashley ducked instinctively from the blast.

Though the fire was far from them, the deafening shockwave still thundered through their ears while scorching heat rode the violent wind.

The moment they recovered and looked toward the new explosion, they heard rotor blades roaring in the sky.

Everyone looked upward, only to spot a helicopter descending over the cargo ship.

And standing beside the open aircraft door was a man.

The flames engulfing the vessel reflected within his dark eyes.

Those eyes widened even further the moment they landed on Ashley sitting there like a dramatic damsel in distress.

For one brief second, everything went still.

Some men stared in stunned silence. Others parted their lips in disbelief.

No one expected Dominion’s Black Dragon himself to appear.

Carrot Man and Mole Guy instantly recognized him as well, their expressions darkening.

"It’s... it’s the Black Dragon!"

Suddenly, one of the men shouted loudly enough for everyone to hear. But even that wasn’t enough to fully snap everyone out of their shock.

What finally did was the sound of metal clanging violently from every direction.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Everyone whipped their heads around. Hooks had slammed into the railings across the cargo ship.

"Dominion is here!" another man shouted in panic. "The cargo’s compromised!"

But before he could finish, his voice suddenly went quiet.

Phew.

A quiet sound echoed through the air as he collapsed. A hole pierced one side of his temple while blood exploded from the other. Flesh splattered against the wall as his lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

The men nearby looked upward in horror.

More helicopters were emerging from the darkness.

"Fall back!" Mole Guy roared while turning sharply toward the ship’s edge.

He spotted someone climbing over the railing. Immediately, he raised his gun and fired.

The bullets missed as the intruder dropped back down along the side of the vessel.

Mole Guy jogged toward the railing and aimed downward to prevent anyone else from boarding. Rus, on the other hand, was completely forgotten behind him.

Rus himself leaned forward while watching the armed men retreat.

"Shit," he blurted out, panic finally surfacing in his voice. "What... what now?"

*

*

*

Mole Guy hurried back, fully aware they needed to retreat immediately.

They were stranded in the middle of the ocean. Abandoning the cargo ship was now their only option.

But just as he ran, he abruptly stopped.

THUD!

He and the men behind him instinctively stepped backward when a figure suddenly dropped from above and landed directly in front of them.

The ropes dangling from the helicopter still swayed several meters behind him.

"Hey, hey, hey..."

Red slowly rose to his feet, the veins along his neck bulging while irritation twisted across his face. He cracked his neck before glaring directly at them.

"Where do you think you’re going?"

The man with the mole narrowed his eyes instantly.

Standing before him was one of Dominion’s most infamous members. A man known for his wild red hair styled like a stallion’s mane.

Red.

"Don’t lower your guard," Mole Guy muttered under his breath while keeping his eyes locked on Red. "And don’t ever take your eyes off him."

A dangerous glint flickered across his eyes.

This wasn’t anything like fighting Rus.

*****

Meanwhile...

"What?! What?!" Rum yelled the moment he boarded the cargo ship, only to land directly in the middle of over a dozen armed enemies.

"Wait—the hell?!"

The men around him burst into laughter.

"Boys, get him," one of them snickered.

Two men immediately raised their guns toward Rum.

BANG! BANG!

But instead of Rum collapsing, all they saw was Rum standing there holding two pistols with smoke curling from their muzzles.

A wicked grin spread across his face.

"Heh," he laughed. "Just kidding."

The moment those words left his mouth, the men around him began collapsing one after another.

None of them even understood what was happening.

They could only watch helplessly as bodies dropped around them, each with a clean hole drilled through their skull.

"Wha—what’s going on—"

One man attempted to flee. But after only a few steps, a bullet tore through the back of his head.

"Darn that little... can’t even welcome me aboard," Rum clicked his tongue, dropping his pistol aimed at the man, before looking up toward one of the helicopters and giving it a thumbs-up.

Inside the helicopter, Tank pulled his eye away from the sniper scope and shook his head at Rum’s dramatic entrance.

Then he returned to the scope once more.

This time, he searched for Lucian, who had finally boarded the cargo ship.

And then, Ashley, who was still sitting there quietly, staring at Lucian.

"Is she hurt?" Tank muttered quietly while continuing to provide cover fire.

Because right now, Dominion only had one priority.

Lucian and Ashley had to make it back safely.