After some questioning, Huo Sining and Gu Xu finally figured it out: this man called Tranleva was the biggest drug lord in Mexico City and the boss of all the underground forces in the whole of Mexico.

Anyone who could become a cartel boss had to be ruthless and vicious; she hadn’t expected Ouyang Jun to provoke a hardcore figure like that, and Huo Sining also felt a chill in her heart.

On the other side, Gu Xu frowned, because from that underling’s mouth just now, he had heard something else: Ouyang Jun had indeed been taken by that gang of punks, but he wasn’t the only one they’d grabbed.

"Do you know what’s going on with the others who were taken?" Gu Xu pressed him.

The underling pulled a long face and looked at Gu Xu. "Sir, I’m only a low-level errand boy, all I know is what I heard from others. As for the specifics, I really don’t know anything."

Gu Xu glanced at Huo Sining, thought for a moment, and decided not to keep asking. He just clamped his hand on the back of the underling’s neck and said:

"Your people took my friend. You’re going to take us to where they’re holding him. As long as we can get my friend out, we’ll naturally let you go!"

The underling panicked as soon as he heard that. "Don’t, I really don’t know anything. You’d better give up—Adrian’s place is crawling with bodyguards, if you go there you’re walking right into a trap. Thinking you can rescue your friend is nothing but a pipe dream!"

Gu Xu and Huo Sining exchanged a look, and the corners of their mouths both lifted in a faint smile. "Whether it’s walking into a trap or not isn’t up to you," they said. "Cut the crap and just take us there. How we get him out is not your problem to worry about."

The underling was clearly a rookie. After being caught by Gu Xu and Huo Sining, he’d already lost his nerve, and then Gu Xu’s thunderbolt methods scared him even more. Seeing that the two of them were set on going to rescue someone, he was both shocked and terrified, but couldn’t openly defy them. He could only hope that once they got to Adrian’s place, the bodyguards there might save him. So after his mind spun a few times, he finally nodded obediently and led the two of them toward District 11.

Huo Sining hid her pistol up her sleeve, pressing it against the thug’s back. The three of them hailed a cab at a nearby intersection, not bothering with the other thug who’d been knocked out cold, and just like that they headed openly to Adrian’s stronghold in District 11.

The cab driver’s face changed the instant he heard the address they gave. He stomped on the gas and sped toward the destination, and once they arrived he didn’t even take the fare, just dumped the three of them out and floored it, roaring away with a sharp turn.

Seeing the driver’s reaction, Huo Sining instantly understood what was going on. It seemed this place was notorious; ordinary people knew what kind of spot it was and didn’t dare get anywhere near it.

It was an old factory building; you couldn’t tell what it had been used for before, but now it was clearly Adrian’s base. Several bodyguards were stationed at the entrance. Huo Sining and Gu Xu exchanged a glance, knowing they had the right address. They immediately knocked the underling out and smoothly stuffed him into Space.

The two of them hid outside the perimeter wall watching for a while. Just as they were trying to figure out how to get in, a car suddenly drove up from the other side, screeching to a stop right at the factory entrance. The door opened and four or five men jumped out of the vehicle.

At a glance, Huo Sining immediately recognized them—they were the same brutes who had suddenly stormed the motel and launched the earlier ambush.

The bodyguards at the factory gate saw those brutes and instantly bent at the waist, hurrying over to greet them, then obediently opened the factory doors.

Taking advantage of that gap, Huo Sining and Gu Xu carefully edged closer and slipped into the factory behind those brutes.

The lead brute strode quickly toward a certain room inside the factory. At the door, he hesitated slightly before knocking.

"&...%...#￥"

He was speaking in Mexican Spanish; Huo Sining and Gu Xu couldn’t understand a word.

But as soon as he finished, there was a loud bang from behind the door, followed by the sound of something shattering, and then a rough, icy male voice started cursing from inside the room in rapid-fire Spanish. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

The brute blanched with fright, babbling quickly as if explaining or begging for mercy. The man inside said a few more things, the brute received his orders and immediately nodded and bowed, answering deferentially, then turned and headed to the other side.

Huo Sining was completely in the dark, but beside her Gu Xu had a faint guess, his eyes lighting up. Seeing the brute call over two subordinates and head toward one of the factory units, he immediately lowered his voice and said to Huo Sining:

"Come on, follow him."

The brute’s face was gloomy, fury radiating off him as he strode toward the workshop. At the entrance he grabbed the handle and yanked it hard, ripping the padlock right off the door.

As soon as the factory door opened, Huo Sining was the first to spot the person lying inside. The figure was sprawled on the ground, eyes covered with gauze, hands and feet tied behind their back, their body soaked in blood, with more blood pooled on the floor.

The sight startled not only Huo Sining; even Gu Xu’s heart lurched. He suddenly gripped Huo Sining’s arm, and the two of them held their breath, afraid to make the slightest sound and alert those brutes.

Afraid of being noticed, Huo Sining and Gu Xu didn’t dare get too close, but even from that distance they could see clearly. The bound figure’s head was hanging, a curtain of long hair hiding the face. The clothes were torn and filthy, making it impossible to tell if it was a man or a woman.

But judging from that long hair, the person bound there definitely wasn’t Ouyang Jun.

Ouyang Jun always kept his hair cropped short and neat; he had never worn it long. So seeing this, both Huo Sining and Gu Xu let out a quiet sigh of relief—only to feel a shared disappointment a heartbeat later.

They had thought that by tailing this brute they’d find Ouyang Jun, but it turned out the person locked in this workshop wasn’t their target at all, which left both Gu Xu and Huo Sining frustrated and annoyed.

"It’s a woman."

Gu Xu had a recon soldier’s background and was naturally more experienced. From the way the bound figure lay on the floor, he immediately judged from her build that it was a woman.

Huo Sining froze when she heard that, her brows knitting instinctively.

They had come to find Ouyang Jun. Why hadn’t they seen him, but instead run into a woman? Could it be that Ouyang Jun wasn’t here?