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The tall instructor and his team entered the interrogation room. After a brief preparation, they began today's session.

The setup was the same as yesterday—four training assistants working in tandem.

One team held their position at the stairwell entrance for support, while the other descended into the dungeon cells, heading straight for Cell No. 8, where **Long Zhan** was supposed to be detained.

"Oh my god, what the hell is this?"

The two assistants who reached the dungeon cell stopped in their tracks, dumbfounded at the sight of a face pressed against the barred hatch. They looked at each other, completely stunned.

The guy inside the cell, however, was quite frantic—screaming for the two assistants to get him out.

Unfortunately, his mouth was stuffed with a wad of cloth, secured tightly with a strip tied from his mouth around the back of his head. He couldn't push it out with his tongue no matter how hard he tried.

His hands were also tied to the outside of the bars, making it impossible to remove the gag himself.

His desperate cries for help had been reduced to pitiful "Mmmph! Mmmph!"

"Looks like that crazy bastard really did it. He broke Green Team's decades-old SERE training record. I have to admit, the kid's a genius—even if I really don't want to."

"Yeah, I don't know how he pulled it off, but he clearly did. The guy's a freak—I can't even pretend not to be impressed."

"Sigh. Let's get these poor bastards out of there. Getting taken out by a rookie like this is embarrassing enough."

The two assistants, now aware of what had happened, started freeing the poor guy locked in the dungeon cell, all the while muttering in awe about the freak anomaly that had appeared in this year's Green Team selection.

**One minute later—**

The two assistants carried someone out. It wasn't any of the current trainees, but rather **Charlie**, who had been assigned to duty there the previous night.

**Charlie**, stripped down to just his underwear!

"What the fuck, Charlie? What the hell happened to you? Did you come down here to relive your childhood or something?"

The tall instructor looked at Charlie in disbelief, mocking him with a cold joke.

He still hadn't realized the gravity of the situation.

"Wait, no. This doesn't make sense. Charlie already went off duty and left, didn't he?"

Old unlucky **Cooper** wore an expression so vivid that not even his balaclava could hide it. His wide, bulging eyes perfectly conveyed his utter shock.

"Charlie already left? Then…"

Now the tall instructor realized something was wrong. His tone sharpened as he shouted, "Can someone tell me what the hell is going on here?!"

"That crazy kid—he's gone!" said the assistant on the left, throwing up his hands with a helpless shrug, exuding frustration and disbelief.

**"What?"**

Charlie furrowed his brow in confusion, stunned. "What did you just say? I didn't understand a word of that."

"**Long Zhan** has vanished. The dungeon cell where he was supposed to be—now it's holding you, the new unlucky bastard. Don't ask me how he disappeared. I don't know. Maybe the kid really knows magic." The assistant on the left repeated himself, still sounding equal parts exasperated and deeply curious.

**How the hell did Long Zhan pull this off?**

"Vanished? That's impossible! No one has ever escaped from the dungeon before. This is insane. I can't believe what I'm hearing."

The tall instructor was more confused by the second and turned his gaze to the only person who might have some answers.

"Charlie, you better start explaining—or are you gonna tell me Long Zhan is actually from the Harry Potter universe?"

As a Tier-One operator with over 15 years in **DEVGRU**, Charlie couldn't even find words for what he was feeling right now.

All he could think was—

If the ground would just open up and swallow him whole, he'd crawl into the hole without a second thought.

It was humiliation on a level he couldn't even begin to explain. The only thing left for him to do was figure out how the hell this happened.

But before he could get to that, he needed a chair to sit down and rest.

After all, he was well into his thirties—a so-called "old guy"—and couldn't compare to the young bloods going through selection. After eight hours locked in that dungeon, he was so weak his legs were shaking just from standing.

He sat down, drank some water, and after catching his breath, he finally began to explain:

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what happened.

I just remember that it was around midnight when I heard a strange noise coming from the dungeon.

I thought one of the rookies might be breaking down, and I didn't want any incidents on my watch. So I went down alone to check it out.

But the moment I descended the stairs, someone ambushed me from behind.

He used a move similar to a Jiu-Jitsu armbar, slammed me to the ground, and locked me in tight. I gave it everything I had to fight back, but his physical strength was unreal.

Those arms of his were like steel machines—he had endless power. I couldn't break free.

Within ten seconds, he had me completely choked out.

When I came to—choking on water—I found myself locked inside the cell. My mouth was stuffed and tied so I couldn't yell for help.

And standing in front of me, already dressed in my uniform, was **Long Zhan**.

Before leaving, he even said 'hello' to me, then went back upstairs. I don't know what happened after that."

When Charlie mentioned **Long Zhan** saying "hello," his breathing grew sharp from sheer indignation.

The tall instructor gave Charlie a once-over and let out a disbelieving laugh, "You're a 200-pound brute and he just took you out like that?"

It was the plain truth. Charlie had no comeback. He simply lowered his head in silence.

"Charlie, you useless idiot. A rookie played you like a damn fiddle."

The tall instructor, having gotten nothing useful out of him, let loose a curse and stormed off toward the basement exit to vent his anger.

He *had* to figure out what kind of magic trick **Long Zhan** used to pull this off.

And since there was no one left who could give him answers, there was only one place left to look: the 24/7 surveillance footage from the dungeon.

As long as he pulled up the footage from around midnight, he'd be able to uncover exactly what happened.

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