The Guardian's Return (Ethan Rivers) novel Chapter 497

Arnold shook his head hard. He must be imagining things due to his fatigue.

“What’s wrong?” the second team captain noticed something off and asked in concern.

“I’m fine.” Arnold turned to the village chief and said, “We’ll do our best to pass on your message.”

“Thank you. Thank you!” The village chief was overwhelmed with emotion and led the villagers to thank him too.

Seeing them bow, Arnold and the second team leader remained silent.

What kind of power did Ethan have? Why did these villagers trust him so completely to the point of being willing to sacrifice themselves for him?

Just then, a member of the second team reported to the captain, “Captain, all the criminals have been captured.” They had apprehended all the members of Jared’s team except for Jared himself.

Nolan had informed Jared to retreat quickly when he sent out the second team. The hostages were found, and most of them were uninjured. This time, their mission was a success.

However, they paid a hefty price for it—Arnold was the only survivor from his team.

Seeing the bodies of his teammates, Arnold wept uncontrollably. He hated that he failed to capture Jared and avenge them. The second team captain could understand Arnold’s grief and gathered everyone to salute the fallen members of the first team.

After a long time, they finally began to withdraw. The villagers all came out to see them off, walking several hundred meters with them.

The second team turned to look at the villagers in confusion. “Why did they help us? Is it really because of Ethan?”

Arnold snapped back to reality and thought of the hallucination he saw earlier. Ethan had been standing under a streetlight, glowing radiantly.

“Ethan is way too cunning.”

Although that was what Arnold said, he was not entirely convinced. Was it really cunningness?

The villagers might have been fooled by Ethan because they were uneducated, but what about the South Regent and Jared?

Stephen asked, “Were there any casualties?”

The assistant lowered his head. “Yes. The first team was ambushed. Only Captain Arnold Decker survived. All other members were lost.”

Boom!

Stephen felt like he had been struck by lightning. He stood frozen, second-guessing what he heard. The first team was almost wiped out?

“How could that be?”

He thought that the first team had swept through the enemy base and rescued the hostages with ease. Instead, there was only one survivor, and it took the second squad to finish the mission.

Stephen felt his mind go blank. “How did they fall into an ambush?”

The joy that he had felt at the victory instantly vanished.