The air congealed like frozen amber.
Only the metal frame's heart-pounding hum remained, beating against every Hound member's taut nerves like the Grim Reaper's drum.
Miss Hound's face went from deathly pale to a hopeless shade of blue.
The bolded words "avoid escalating the conflict" in her briefing seared themselves into her mind like a red-hot brand.
She looked at Yan Huan, sitting on the "bomb" and giving a little girl a lesson with a terrifyingly gentle smile. Then she looked at her teammates, poised to attack and so tense that one might fire by accident at any moment...
It's over! We're done for!
Escalating the conflict? I've practically turned it into a nuclear reactor with my own hands!
"W-wait! Mr. Yan Huan!"
Miss Hound practically screamed it, her voice cracking with fear and urgency.
She threw up a hand, signaling every team member to stay perfectly still:
"Nobody move! Don't move a muscle! Lower your weapons! Put them away, now!!"
Her words came fast and jumbled, laced with unprecedented panic.
The others had no idea why, but seeing her in such a state, they instinctively obeyed.
The Restraint Net fell limp. The interference rounds' glow quickly faded, and the sniper's barrel dipped slightly, though their finger remained stiff on the trigger.
The helicopter pilot stopped circling aimlessly too, hovering a little farther away and hardly daring to breathe.
"M-Mr. Yan Huan?"
Miss Hound's voice trembled. She forced a fawning smile uglier than a grimace and looked up at Yan Huan:
"A misunderstanding! This is a huge misunderstanding! We... we didn't recognize you! Yes! Our onboarding training was inadequate! We failed at our jobs! We're terribly sorry!"
She babbled, wishing she could bow all the way to the ground.
"A misunderstanding?"
Yan Huan raised an eyebrow. His fingers still rested