Nate Norris’s living room.

Now that the FBI has come knocking, it means that Petduo Osan’s case has caught their attention. Nate Norris, though quick-tempered, is no fool and does not want to oppose the FBI.

Hearing Chenier’s question, Nate Norris tilted his head and thought for a moment before saying:

“The other car was driving too fast, I couldn’t make out the license plate.

However, the van was gray and white, seemed to be a Ford, and had a Federation flag and several cartoon character stickers on it. There were about four to five people inside.”

“Federation flag? Cartoon character stickers?”

Luo An frowned upon hearing this, and Chenier pressed the call button, relaying this information to Mona.

It wasn’t long before they heard Mona’s response from the other end of the phone:

“I found that van using the surveillance camera at a corner four streets away from that bar.”

“Good.”

Luo An took Chenier’s phone and asked:

“Who’s the owner of the car? Can you see what the driver looks like?”

“Based on the license plate number…”

Mona typed on her keyboard as she responded:

“The van belongs to a shop owner in North Los Angeles, but according to their bank account, the family recently took a flight out of the Federation to send their daughter to university in the United Kingdom.

As for the driver, the camera caught the car from an angle below, so I couldn’t see the driver’s face.”

“OK, that means the van was stolen.”

Luo An’s expression remained unchanged as he continued:

“So, besides these two pieces of bad news, do you have any good news for me?”

“Of course.”

Mona chuckled on the phone:

“After entering the information of the van into the LAPD database, I found that a patrol officer’s dashboard camera captured this van last night.

I monitored the location where that officer was and discovered that the van went into a lumber factory in North Los Angeles and never came out.”

“Nicely done!”

Luo An loudly praised Mona, handing the phone back to Chenier, and said:

“Contact the SWAT team; we’re going to the lumber factory to catch them.”

“No problem.”

Chenier started contacting the SWAT as Luo An walked with her towards the SUV parked outside the community. While walking, Luo An took out his phone and called Reesi:

“It’s me, Luo An, how are things on your side?”

“We haven’t found any clues related to Petduo Osan’s disappearance, but have come across a slight issue.”

From the other end, Reesi indicated that Winslow was negotiating with the naval base, and she was now in Petduo Osan’s former office and whispered:

“At the very bottom of the documents on Petduo Osan’s desk, I found a notebook.

It doesn’t have many English letters in it, but several neatly arranged rows of numbers–I checked carefully, these numbers are not Morse code or anything else, but an accumulation of funds in an account.”

Luo An furrowed his brows:

“Are you saying that Petduo Osan had control over a set of funds that we can’t trace?”

“It’s very likely.”

Considering Nate Norris’s earlier statement that the people who kidnapped Petduo Osan were not ordinary, Luo An was silent for a few seconds before saying:

“Be extra careful during your next investigation, and make sure you and Winslow do not split up.

If something feels off, stop the investigation and retrace your steps immediately; if all else fails, remember to call for backup immediately.”

“Understood.”

Reesi understood the subtext in Luo An’s words and nodded seriously in agreement.

Luo An hung up the phone and lowered his head in thought. Chenier raised her mobile phone to indicate that the SWAT team had already departed for North Los Angeles. Seeing this, Luo An pulled open the car door, sat in the driver’s seat of the SUV, and as soon as Chenier buckled up, he immediately started the SUV and sped into the road.

Half an hour later, at a lumber factory in North Los Angeles.

The SWAT armored vehicle and the Special Investigation Team’s SUV arrived at the designated location. Luo An and Chenier organized their weapons, turned on the communicator, and said:

“The aim of this operation is to locate Petduo Osan. His photo has been distributed to everyone.

If you encounter an armed enemy returning fire, you are authorized to shoot to kill, repeat, authorized to shoot to kill!”

“Understood!”

A resounding agreement came from the SWAT team members. Luo An synchronized the time with everyone and then loudly proclaimed:

“Begin the operation!”

Boom–

As soon as he finished speaking, the ready SWAT team members immediately rushed out from the transport vehicle, splitting into two groups to storm through the front and back doors of the factory.

Fully armed, Luo An and Chenier closely followed the SWAT team, slowly entering through the factory’s front door.

Before they even fully entered the factory, Luo An and Chenier discovered the Ford van on the open space outside the factory. They exchanged glances without a word, planning to call the forensic science department back to inspect perhaps there might be some clues inside that van.

The lumber factory was large, but it seemed to have been out of operation for a long time. The SWAT team quickly searched forward but did not find anyone.

Knowing that Chenier was skilled, Luo An quickly advanced through the factory after entering, checking each room on both sides with the SWAT team.

“Target located!”

Suddenly, a shout came from a SWAT team member’s communicator on Luo An’s chest:

“At position D1, target located!”

Luo An and Chenier were not far from position D1. Hearing the voice from the communicator, Chenier immediately ran with her gun raised, and there they found Petduo Osan, bound to a chair.

The chair, a common household wooden chair seen around the lumber factory, and the rope used to tie him, also commonly seen around the factory. At this moment, Petduo Osan’s head was lowered, and he had already stopped breathing.

Simultaneously, his face, chest, arms, and other places were covered with bruises and wounds, with two deep cuts visible to the bone on both thighs, and a large pool of dark red blood had pooled on the ground beneath the chair.

“Fu-k!”

Seeing the obviously tortured-to-death condition of Petduo Osan, Chenier cursed quietly with a grim expression.

The SWAT team members had ended their operation without discovering any enemies in the factory. Hearing this, Chenier instinctively turned to ask Luo An what to do next.

However, when Chenier turned around, she found Luo An was not by her side but squatting on the ground not far away, carefully picking something up.

Chenier quickly walked over to Luo An to take a closer look and realized that Luo An was handling a toothpick.

“This is most likely left by the group that kidnapped Petduo Osan.”

Luo An pulled out a white evidence bag, placed the toothpick inside, and explained with a smile:

“This factory has been out of operation for a long time, but this toothpick is clearly new. We’ll send it to the forensic science department later; maybe we can get some useful clues.”

Chenier nodded her head, and together with Luo An, walked over to the chair binding Petduo Osan. She pointed out the cuts on his legs and said:

“The wounds look like they were made with a military dagger.”

“It’s not just similar, they are indeed made with a military dagger.”

Luo An took another look at the wounds, confirming Chenier’s guess, then squatted down, looked up at Petduo Osan’s hanging head, and said with a frown:

“Clearly, these kidnappers are a group with a military background. They kidnapped Petduo Osan to extract some information from him.

It seems like they have most likely succeeded.”