Chapter 146: The Trap Finally Closes
Chapter 146: The Trap Finally Closes
Victor had already reached the SUV.
The moment he pulled the door shut, the engine roared to life.
Vroom!
He gripped the steering wheel tightly and stepped on the accelerator once, then again, the engine growling louder each time as if the vehicle itself was impatient to escape.
A few meters away, the host didn’t waste a second.
He sprinted toward the control panel mounted beside the garage entrance.
His palm slammed heavily against the large green button.
Click!
A deep mechanical hum echoed through the garage.
The massive steel garage door began rising inch by inch.
Victor never looked back.
His eyes remained fixed on the narrow opening ahead.
He had already made up his mind.
The moment there was enough space...
He would force the SUV through.
Lucas saw everything.
His face instantly darkened.
His eyes locked onto the host.
"If I can’t stop Victor..."
"...I’ll stop the one opening the door."
Without another thought, Lucas exploded forward.
His shoes scraped violently across the concrete floor as he charged.
The host had just turned around after pressing the button.
Seeing Lucas rushing toward him, his confident smile immediately disappeared.
His expression filled with panic.
Almost instinctively, he reached beneath his jacket.
His fingers found the grip of his pistol.
But...
Lucas was simply faster.
His body left the ground.
Like a predator pouncing on its prey, he flew straight toward the host.
Boom!
His fist crashed directly into the side of the man’s face.
The impact was terrifying.
The host’s entire body spun through the air before crashing heavily onto the concrete floor several meters away.
His pistol slipped from his hand and slid across the ground with a metallic clatter.
Lucas didn’t even bother looking at him.
His attention had already returned to Victor.
The garage door was still rising.
Only halfway open.
There was still time.
Lucas immediately sprinted toward the SUV.
Then~
Something suddenly wrapped around his ankle.
Lucas almost lost his balance.
He looked down.
The bastard host.
Blood streamed from the corner of his mouth.
One of his eyes had already begun swelling shut.
Yet somehow...
He had crawled across the floor and grabbed Lucas’s leg with both hands.
His fingers locked together like iron chains.
He looked toward Victor’s SUV and screamed with every ounce of strength left inside him.
"GO!"
Lucas’s expression twisted with fury.
"You bastard!"
He violently shook his leg, trying to throw the man away.
Nothing happened.
The host refused to let go.
Even after taking such a brutal punch...
He held on with everything he had.
Lucas finally lost his patience.
He turned around.
His fist rose again.
Then~
Bang!
This punch landed even harder than the first.
It smashed directly into the host’s face.
A sickening crack echoed through the garage.
Blood sprayed across the floor.
The man’s head slammed sideways against the concrete.
For a brief second...
His grip loosened.
Lucas immediately kicked his leg free.
"...Stay down!"
He didn’t waste another moment.
Turning around, he charged toward the SUV again.
But...
It was already too late.
Inside the driver’s seat, Victor glanced at the rising garage door.
There still wasn’t enough space.
A normal driver would’ve waited another few seconds.
Victor didn’t.
His foot slammed all the way down.
VROOOOOOM!
The SUV shot forward like a wild beast breaking free from its cage.
Crash!
The roof slammed violently against the bottom edge of the rising garage door.
The entire vehicle shook.
Metal screamed.
Glass exploded.
The windshield shattered into countless pieces.
The roof scraped violently against the steel door, sending bright orange sparks flying in every direction.
The horrible grinding sound echoed throughout the entire garage.
Any ordinary person would’ve stopped immediately.
Victor never even touched the brakes.
He only pressed the accelerator harder.
The SUV forced itself through the narrow opening, dragging twisted sheets of metal behind it before bursting out into the night.
"No!"
Lucas threw himself forward.
He reached out with everything he had.
His fingers stretched toward the back of the fleeing vehicle.
Just...
A little...
More...
His fingertips brushed nothing but empty air.
The SUV disappeared outside.
Lucas refused to stop.
He kept running.
His footsteps thundered across the garage floor as he chased after the escaping vehicle.
His lungs burned.
His breathing became rough.
Sweat rolled down his forehead.
Still...
He didn’t slow down, he burst out of the garage~
Then froze for half a second.
The entire road ahead flashed with blue and red lights.
Police vehicles blocked almost every direction.
Sirens echoed across the road.
Lucas’s eyes widened.
"...Chloe."
----
The moment he entered the club hours earlier, Chloe hadn’t simply waited outside.
The instant she lost contact with him, she requested police assistance.
Finding this place, however, had been far more difficult than anyone expected.
The club had been built deep inside a remote rural district that had been privately developed by the organization.
Hidden behind miles of farmland and newly constructed roads, it was deliberately designed to stay off the radar.
The only road leading here twisted through abandoned country roads and dense forest.
Even satellite navigation constantly lost signal.
Several patrol units spent hours driving in circles after taking wrong turns.
Some reached dead ends.
Others followed roads that no longer existed.
Nearly three hours passed before Chloe, the SWAT team, and dozens of police officers finally located the compound.
Once they confirmed this place was being used for human trafficking...
The entire operation changed.
Nobody rushed inside recklessly.
Instead, they quietly surrounded the property.
Police vehicles sealed the main entrance.
SWAT officers spread throughout the surrounding forest.
Snipers occupied elevated positions overlooking the compound.
Chloe’s own security team blocked every possible escape route around the building.
Within minutes...
The entire club had been surrounded.
Except...
The front entrance.
It wasn’t because they had forgotten about it.
It was intentional.
Chloe had ordered every unit to stay hidden around the sides and rear of the property while leaving the front seemingly untouched.
In her eyes, anyone walking out through the main entrance wasn’t escaping.
They were walking straight into an arrest.
There was no reason to expose the police’s position too early and alert the people inside.
As long as someone came out through the front...
They would be taken into custody immediately.
Several unmarked police SUVs quietly waited near the front road, pretending to be ordinary civilian vehicles.
The officers inside remained completely hidden.
Their plan was simple.
Anyone trying to escape would unknowingly drive straight into the trap.
Everything had been prepared.
Everything...
Except Victor.
Just then~
CRAAASH!
The sound of twisting metal exploded from beneath the building.
Every officer instinctively turned toward the underground garage.
"The target’s moving!"
"He broke through!"
The next second~
Victor’s battered SUV burst out of the underground garage like a missile.
It smashed through the rising security gate, pieces of metal and broken glass flying behind it, before charging straight toward the road at terrifying speed.
The trap...
Had finally begun.