Chapter 305: An Indescribable Sense of Panic

Chapter 305: Chapter 305: An Indescribable Sense of Panic

"Understood!"

Everyone in the office responded in unison, committing the matter to memory.

For the next few days, whenever anyone from the office left the police station, they subconsciously wanted to glance in the direction of the observer.

But they all remembered the order from a few days ago not to alert the target, so they had to suppress the urge to look and pretend they hadn’t noticed anything.

The man hid behind the curtains, staring at the group of people leaving the police station entrance.

After making sure no one else was coming out, he took out his phone and made a call.

"Boss, I’ve been watching this place for a week. Do I have to keep going?" The man’s tone was laced with dissatisfaction.

The job wasn’t dangerous, but by the same token, it didn’t pay!

He was a big spender with no savings to begin with. Now that he’d been assigned to watch the station with no income, he was about to go broke!

’No way. No matter what, I’m getting my money today!’

The boss on the other end of the line didn’t seem to notice his dissatisfaction. "Keep watching," he said. "This mission is important. I trust you, which is why I gave you this surveillance job.

Don’t let me down."

The man wasn’t falling for the empty promises. As soon as his boss finished, he immediately cut in, "I want to keep watching, but as you know, Boss, I’m a bit of a big spender..."

He didn’t finish the sentence, but the meaning was crystal clear.

He!

Wanted money!

The boss on the other end was silent for a few seconds before finally saying, "Fine, I get it. I’ll wire you the money in a bit. Remember, keep a close watch!"

With that, before the man could reply, his boss hung up.

Less than three minutes later, a sum of money was deposited into the man’s account.

A smile flashed in the man’s eyes as he looked at the bank deposit notification.

’As long as there’s money, this is the best job in the world!’

After expertly ordering some takeout, the man sat back down in his spot and resumed his surveillance of the police station across the street.

What the man didn’t know, however, was that his phone call demanding money had just given the police, who were secretly watching him, the breakthrough they needed.

Starting with the bank account used for the transfer, Evan Keller and his team followed the trail and managed to dig up some information.

However, wanting to catch them all in one fell swoop, they simply added the account owner to their surveillance list.

Meanwhile, in the office, Zoe Sawyer was at her desk, looking through various case files that Heath Hale had specifically selected for her.

Suddenly, her heart skipped a beat. She snapped her head up and looked toward the door on the other side of the room.

Heath Hale had been sitting next to Zoe Sawyer, flipping through the case files he’d brought out. Her sudden movement naturally caught his attention.

Following her gaze, Heath Hale saw she was looking at the door. Understanding, he asked, "Should we go take a look?"

"Yeah!"

Zoe Sawyer nodded emphatically, stood up, and strode quickly toward it.

At first, it was just a faint feeling, but now, alarm bells were blaring in her mind.

’Something big is about to happen!’

’Something terrible!’

Zoe Sawyer stood there, one hand on the doorknob and the other pressed against her chest. She took several deep breaths, trying to calm the heart that felt like it was about to leap out from sheer tension.

Heath Hale’s expression was also grave. He rarely saw Zoe Sawyer look so serious.

’Just how serious is this case that’s about to happen, or maybe has already happened, to make her this tense?’

Zoe Sawyer slowly pushed the door open. The sight that greeted her was a vast, brightly lit factory floor.

The factory was deserted, but it was filled with row upon row of neatly stacked boxes, packed so densely they filled the entire space.

They were even stacked all the way to the ceiling, and a faint, acrid smell hung in the air.

There were so many that Zoe Sawyer couldn’t possibly estimate how many tons of hazardous chemicals were inside.

Zoe Sawyer’s eyes scanned the area, and she was quickly drawn to a clock and a name on the far wall.

The clock on the wall showed the time there was just after ten o’clock at night.

Below the clock was a banner with words like "Safety First in Production."

At the bottom was the name of a company.

Besides these, there were also hazard signs posted around the factory floor. It was clearly a warehouse for storing hazardous chemicals.

But at a glance, nothing seemed to be wrong.

Just as Zoe Sawyer was feeling puzzled, a wisp of smoke suddenly rose from a corner of the factory.

Slowly, the wisp grew into a plume.

Zoe Sawyer frowned. ’Is that smoke from a fire? Or is someone smoking in here?’

But the factory floor was too quiet. Zoe Sawyer couldn’t hear the flick of a lighter or smell any tobacco, so it couldn’t be someone smoking!

That left only one possibility: the hazardous materials warehouse was on fire!

’So what are the consequences? Contaminated air in the surrounding area? A massive financial loss for the owner?’

Gradually, the fire grew, spreading with terrifying speed to ignite all the chemicals in the factory.

Watching the increasingly horrific scene unfold, Zoe Sawyer’s heart raced with anxiety.

’Where’s the person in charge of this factory?’

’Can’t they see it’s on fire? Why aren’t they organizing people to put it out?!’

Soon, the sound of fire engines echoed from outside. Zoe Sawyer felt a surge of relief. ’The firefighters are here!’

’The fire can be extinguished now.’

But in the next second, an indescribable sense of panic washed over Zoe Sawyer once again.

’No, get out! Get away from here, now!’

Before Zoe Sawyer could even comprehend this feeling, a blinding white light flashed, forcing her to shut her eyes and raise a hand to shield them from the glare.

A second later, a deafening explosion and a massive shockwave sent Zoe Sawyer flying backward.

If Heath Hale, Barry Quinn, and Monkey hadn’t been prepared, standing right behind Zoe Sawyer to catch her, she would have been thrown who knows how far!

"What’s wrong?" Heath Hale helped Zoe Sawyer steady herself. But as soon as the question left his lips, she broke free from his grasp, her face deathly pale, and rushed back to the doorway to keep watching.

Heath Hale and the others couldn’t see these premonitions, but seeing Zoe Sawyer’s expression, combined with the way she’d just been thrown back, they guessed that something terrible had happened.

Nearby, Sean Hughes stopped Vivian Dunn, who was about to ask a question, and shook his head at her.

’Don’t disturb Zoe Sawyer right now!’

Meanwhile, Zoe Sawyer’s vision had expanded from the factory floor to the surrounding area.

What she saw was a scene of utter devastation. A nearby auto mall and a residential complex not far away were all within the blast radius.

Zoe Sawyer gripped the doorframe, listening to the wails of the victims and the terrified cries of children inside her vision. The sorrow in her heart reached a breaking point.

But the next second.

A second explosion erupted.