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A hacker had infiltrated the Green Team's surveillance center network, pausing the live feed in the area where Long Zhan was being held. The footage had changed from dynamic to static.

If someone hadn't been staring closely at the screen, they would have never noticed any tampering.

And midnight was the surveillance center's shift change time. The personnel on duty needed a few minutes to hand over the daily log. It was impossible for anyone to keep their eyes glued to the monitor of the water cell the entire time.

Not to mention the center managed over a hundred surveillance screens—focusing on just one feed was completely out of the question.

No one imagined that Long Zhan might still have allies. The manipulation of the surveillance went entirely unnoticed, and naturally, no one had any idea who the hacker was.

But now, things were different.

In order to find out who Long Zhan's "accomplice" was, Malcolm immediately issued an order, sending technical personnel to begin a counter-tracking operation without delay.

While the surveillance center scrambled to identify the network intruder, a remarkable performance was already underway in the prison cell.

The shift change usually took about three to five minutes. During that window, the footage was frozen, and inside the water cell, Long Zhan sprang into action.

Malcolm, upon learning that the surveillance subnet had been hacked, understood the reason for the three-minute gap in footage—but a new question immediately surfaced in his mind.

"How did he time it so precisely?"

Long Zhan didn't have a watch. Even if he had arranged in advance with the hacker to act at midnight, without a timepiece it would have been meaningless.

"Unless… No, no, that's impossible."

Malcolm thought of a possibility but quickly dismissed it. The method that occurred to him was simply too outrageous.

"But if not that… then how?"

The question went unanswered, only to be replaced by yet another enigma.

While Malcolm was obsessed with details, Instructor Adam and the others had their eyes fixed entirely on the water barrel where Long Zhan was.

Under everyone's watchful gaze, Long Zhan first took off his training pants and tore them into strips. Then, with his hands, he wove those strips into a rope roughly the thickness of a forefinger.

The rope wasn't long—just about a meter in total.

"Tearing his pants to make a rope? What for?"

Everyone was still baffled. No one could figure out how this rope could possibly help him deal with the steel-barred lid, with bars as thick as fingers.

All they could do was be patient and keep watching.

They saw Long Zhan thread the rope through the U-shaped latch of the padlock, tying the two ends into a loop.

The loop was now about 30 centimeters long.

He then raised his nose above the water to take a deep breath, fully submerged himself, and reached his right foot through the bars of the lid from underneath.

With help from his hands, he slipped the rope loop onto his foot.

It formed a linkage between his foot and the padlock fixed on the grating above. One end of the loop was hooked into the latch of the padlock; the other end was wrapped around his right foot.

Before delivering the decisive kick, Long Zhan even made sure to extend his right leg straight.

The rope loop stretched taut between the lock and his foot, forming a tension system. With just a powerful thrust of his leg, the force could be transmitted directly to the latch.

"Can he really break the lock like this?"

By now, Adam and the others had understood what Long Zhan was about to attempt.

But in all their years instructing the Green Team, they had never seen such an unorthodox method of breaking a lock. While full of skepticism, they were also fascinated.

The doubt, however, lasted less than ten seconds—quickly replaced by stunned disbelief.

It was time to witness a miracle.

They watched as Long Zhan, upside down in the barrel with his foot pointing upward, bent his extended leg slightly to gather strength, then suddenly unleashed a fierce kick.

Astonishingly, the miracle occurred.

CLANG~

The padlock—seemingly impervious to brute force and made of stainless steel and brass—snapped open with that single kick as the latch flew off.

"WOW!"

"Oh my god, that actually worked?"

"Unbelievable. It's insane. Beyond imagination."

The sparring partners and instructors nearby were all dumbfounded by this spectacle. A few even clapped in excitement at Long Zhan's ingenious move.

Adam, more direct than the rest, walked up to one of the water cells with a mix of disbelief and amazement.

He grabbed a piece of rope from the wall, mimicked Long Zhan's method by looping it through a padlock, and wrapped the other end around his foot.

Unlike Long Zhan, who had kicked upwards while upside down, Adam stood upright and stomped downward. The posture was different, but the mechanics were identical.

As Adam stomped down hard, the miracle happened again.

Adam knew he hadn't used much strength. The lock, which couldn't even be budged by hand and normally required a crowbar to break, had popped open under his foot.

"Incredible. How did he think of this?"

Adam wasn't a physicist. He couldn't explain the principle behind it.

But based on personal experience, he was certain that Long Zhan's unconventional method of opening padlocks was surprisingly effective—at least on this kind of lock.

Everyone around was still abuzz, marveling at this strange yet effective lock-breaking method.

Meanwhile, Long Zhan, who had spent over a decade as a mercenary skilled in shady tricks and street smarts, was already onto the next phase.

He deliberately lifted the lid of the water cell high—high enough to be clearly visible to anyone descending the stairs.

Then he created some noise, just loud enough to attract the attention of the interrogators or sparring partners nearby.

Finally, clutching the now-useless padlock, he carefully crept into the blind corner at the base of the stairs.

As Charlie's footsteps echoed down the stairs, Long Zhan hurled the padlock toward another water cell.

CLANG!

The metal lock clanged loudly against the iron barrel, a piercing metallic noise.

Descending the stairs, Charlie instinctively looked toward the source of the sound—just like the night before—his gaze locked on the open water cell.

He never noticed the threat behind him.

Long Zhan ambushed him from the rear.

A textbook knee-hug takedown to the waist flipped the equally burly Charlie onto the ground. Then Long Zhan quickly mounted him and locked in a textbook jiu-jitsu arm triangle choke.

Using both arms to constrict Charlie's neck, he cut off the blood flow through the arteries on either side.

Since this was just a reenactment, Long Zhan didn't actually choke Charlie unconscious. As soon as the technique was executed correctly, he let go.

He then stripped Charlie down to his underwear, tied up his mouth, and stuffed him into the water barrel.

Lastly, he donned Charlie's clothes and walked out of the basement.

Just as Long Zhan stepped out, the surveillance footage resumed.

Everything looked perfectly normal.

No one would have suspected that one of the water cells now held a different man. It was as if Long Zhan's entire escape had never happened.

P.S.:

With this, the Green Team arc has basically come to an end. Up next is the official start of Long Zhan's DEVGRU journey.

The first story arc is absolutely explosive, inspired by a legendary, combat-based film. You won't be disappointed.

From today until the 31st, the monthly ticket event is in full swing—double the votes! Brothers, I hope you'll cast your tickets.

With your votes and support, this humble writer will be even more fired up to bring you thrilling, high-stakes, action-packed stories.