A swift and decisive victory in the early stages, a post-apocalyptic survival story in America!

The basement has only one entrance, and ventilation relies entirely on a fresh air system, which is why the air conditioning was on when the two arrived.

Who are they? How did they find this place? Do they know about this hidden entrance?

Li Qi pulled out the Beretta M92F pistol from his waist, pondering how to deal with the current predicament.

Lola was in the basement, guarding the only entrance herself; her safety was not a concern.

There are no other exits from the attic, but it's not too difficult to leave if you want to.

A single layer of wooden planks and a suspended ceiling; just jump onto any of them, and you'll break through the ceiling and fall to the ground.

The most important thing right now is to find out how many people came, what their motives are, whether it's a regular burglary, or if they're after Nick's secret like we are.

The Dodge was parked right outside the door. When the two came in, they didn't even think about hiding their presence. On the contrary, since Nick Grant always drove this pickup truck here, Richie deliberately had Lola park the pickup truck in a conspicuous place.

Now that I've disguised myself as Nick, I don't attract any attention.

But who could have imagined that they would be caught in a trap?

As he was thinking, Lola appeared at the end of the steps and waved to Li Qi.

Li Qi carefully went downstairs. When he got there, Lola picked up her laptop and turned the screen towards Li Qi.

On the screen, four sets of monitoring feeds clearly showed the situation upstairs.

Backyard, back door, front door, living room, high-resolution images, dynamic tracking.

Li Qi cheered, took the laptop, and began to examine it carefully.

Four people arrived; two went into the backyard, one stayed at the front door, and one climbed into the living room through a side window.

The crisp sound I heard came from the person in the living room.

A soft "beep" sounded from the basement, indicating that the UPS power supply had started.

Li Qi looked at Lola: "They've cut the power! Go get a gun from the weapons cabinet, I'll go hold them off!"

Lola nodded solemnly, and Li Qi, carrying his laptop, went up the steps to the entrance of the living room.

The two people who entered through the back door went into the room. After confirming that each room was safe, the first person to enter the living room went to the basement entrance, and skillfully pulled the curtain cord to lower the ladder.

Almost simultaneously, a bright light came from the retracted escalator entrance. The setting sun shone obliquely, and Li Qi's vision suddenly became bright.

Upon glancing at his left wristwatch, Li Qi realized his heart rate had reached 140.

Putting down his laptop, Li Qi looked at the positions of the four people on the monitor and prepared for an ambush.

The escalator slowly descended to the ground, and the person in the lead stood to the side, waving at the escalator.

Then a somewhat thin man, holding a miniature submachine gun, walked up the escalator.

Behind him, two companions approached, ready to follow him upstairs.

Li Qi took a deep breath.

My only chance was to go out to buy food because I was hungry, and I happened to hear that crisp sound at the exit.

Otherwise, if these four people had the upper hand and caught Lola off guard, they would have been ambushed in the basement and had no chance to fight back.

The sense of destiny in his heart was even stronger now, because due to coincidence and accidents, he was now able to take advantage of the situation, even though he was being prepared...

It's now!

Li Qi, holding the gun with both hands, suddenly leaned to the left, and without aiming, began to fire.

The Beretta M92F fired, the bullet passing through the silencer and flying out rapidly, hitting the chest of the first person to climb the escalator.

The second bullet struck the man in the face.

With the enemy in the open and himself in the dark, Li Qi did not use the last remaining combat capsule unless he was in dire straits. In a flash, Li Qi once again felt the wonderful effects of adrenaline. Although it was not as exaggerated as the combat capsule, the feeling of time slowing down still appeared.

With a series of rapid trigger pulls, the Beretta M92F roared wildly, unleashing fifteen bullets that struck the second man in the shoulder after taking him down.

The second person was clearly no novice. Almost immediately after his companion was injured, he made a tactical maneuver to dodge to the left aisle. He was agile and quick, and his survival instincts were pushed to the limit.

But Li Qi's gun was too fast and his marksmanship was too good. One bullet hit the second person in the shoulder, knocking him down on the spot.

The third person had more time to react, so although not as quick and agile as the second person, he was unharmed and successfully dodged Li Qi's follow-up shots.

Without hesitation, Li Qi rolled and dodged into the steps leading to the basement, while simultaneously changing to a spare magazine.

Behind him, a row of bullet holes suddenly appeared; the first person to enter downstairs had fired a shot.

At the top of the steps, Lola charged out, carrying a yellow-green MP5 submachine gun.

Li Qi continued downwards, a volley of bullets piercing through the wall and landing on the other side, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"What should we do?" Although Lola looked pale, she was clearly much better than before when she was so frightened by the gunshots that she couldn't stand up.

"Go get a gun with a silencer." Li Qi glanced at the submachine gun in Lola's hand and shook his head.

The four men were armed with UZI submachine guns and pistols equipped with silencers, clearly indicating that they shared the same goal: to obtain Nick's secret resources without alerting any third party.

Unless he was facing certain death, Li Qi didn't want to alert the police, as this conflicted with his and Lola's goals.

After all that commotion, I managed to kill one of them. The other one is probably half-crippled, but not completely powerless.

There were footsteps outside, and then Laura came to Ridge's side carrying an HK-416 assault rifle fitted with a silencer.

Upon seeing the camouflage assault rifle, Li Qi's eyes lit up, and he had a plan.

"Sweetie, come here and stand here. Shoot a few shots at the wall, then go back to your hiding spot. Just disrupt the enemy by shooting through the wall, don't worry about killing them. Your priority is to stay safe, understand?"

Seeing Li Qi's concerned expression, Lola nodded firmly. Although her face was still pale, there was a new determination in the beautiful detective's eyes.

Having endured numerous trials and tribulations, this young woman, who started out working in an office, is growing and progressing at an astonishing pace.

Li Qi was very satisfied with Lola's transformation. He gave her a kiss on the forehead and then rushed up the steps to the exit.

Lola followed closely behind, stopping and turning around when she reached near the horizon, firing her assault rifle in a horizontal sweep.

The thin brick wall was pierced by powerful rifle bullets, allowing countless rays of light to penetrate, while dust swirled and transformed into beams of light.

This firing clearly provoked the enemy's wrath. As Lola crouched down and crawled back underground, two more rows of bullet holes suddenly appeared on the walls on either side of her.

Li Qi saw all of this, rolled on the ceiling, and rushed directly to the ceiling of the master bedroom, which was separated from the living room by a secret passage.

He knelt on a plank of ceiling, hugging his knees with both hands, and collapsed the ceiling with his own weight.

Amidst the swirling dust, Li Qi took a deep breath. While still in mid-air, he spotted the figure of the bandit hiding beside the bed in the master bedroom and pulled the trigger.

The bandit had just emptied his magazine and was reloading when he looked up and saw someone falling from the sky, which startled him.

This man was clearly a master; his instincts were still intact. Despite his panic, he remained calm, loaded the magazine of his mini Uzi submachine gun, raised the muzzle, and prepared to fire.

But in the end, it was just a step too late...

"Thud! Thud!" Two muffled thuds followed, and the bandits fell to the ground, hit by bullets.

Almost simultaneously, Lola burst out of the horizon again, firing wildly as before.

The assault rifle bullet pierced the wall and fell in front of Li Qi.

"Murdering her husband?" Li Qi was terrified.