Thursday, 6:30 PM, a three-story villa in Northwest Washington D.C. In the living room, upon hearing these words, Luo An's mouth twitched, almost thinking he had wandered into the world of The Flash. Suppressing his chaotic thoughts, Luo An asked: Mona changed into her slippers and pulled Luo An to the center of the living room. Pressing down on his shoulders, she pushed him to sit on the sofa, then stood in front of him with her arms crossed over her chest, looking down at him with a serious face, and said: "Let's talk about the issue of my task assignments. Why am I always in the back recently?" Mona pointed out that recently, she had mostly been organizing and transmitting information, hardly ever going to the front lines. Hearing Mona talk about work, Luo An's expression also turned very serious, and he said with a stern face: "Mona, in a team, not everyone can be assaulters; there must be support and logistics. Winslow's capabilities are second only to mine. Whenever there's an arrest operation, I have him lead another action team. Chenier isn't just excellent in combat; her interrogation skills are also among the top in our Special Investigation Team, so she spends most of her time interrogating suspects with me. Reesi's abilities in disguise and field intelligence gathering go without saying; she always gets information through various unusual channels. Then there's Michelle, whose greatest strength isn't on the front lines, but in back-office duties like paperwork, procedural tasks, and assistance in all aspects. She goes on field assignments even less than you." In terms of task allocation, Winslow, Chenier, and Reesi have never been dissatisfied. Luo An's plan maximizes each member's capabilities, and the rewards later on are fairly distributed without favoritism. Michelle may seem like she doesn't have much work on the surface, but those who have worked in the back-office understand how complex logistics support can be. The cooks from a certain Eastern country are absolute elites; Michelle, who manages the back-office of the Special Investigation Team in an orderly manner, is more like a housekeeper. It's not an exaggeration to say that if Reesi were to handle Michelle's duties, the logistics support of the Special Investigation Team would collapse immediately. Michelle's work might be invisible major contributions, but it's indispensable. Mona's expertise lies mainly in computing; she handles over sixty percent of the information sources for most cases. Staying at the headquarters to coordinate information and being the brain for everyone is the role she should play. If Luo An let her go out to fight suspects with blood on her face, that would be a sheer waste of talent. In the past, when Luo An took Mona on field assignments, it was because the No. 5 Investigation Team in New York and the Special Investigation Team in Los Angeles were short-staffed. Back then, Luo An had no choice but to use women as men, and men as beasts of burden. After listening to Luo An's thought process for work arrangements, Mona's arms that had been crossed relaxed, her serious facial expression disappeared, replaced by a hint of embarrassment, and she murmured with pouting lips: "I just feel that sitting in the office recently, my physical condition and the combat skills and marksmanship I trained as an agent, have all begun to decline." "Combat skills and marksmanship, if they've declined, you can find time to train." Luo An chuckled, stood up, and embraced Mona, whispering in her ear: "As for your physical condition, trust me, I know you better than yourself, it definitely hasn't declined." Mona glared and furrowed her brows, pushed Luo An away, and walked towards the stairs to change clothes, scoffing: "After dinner, we'll go to the gym for a match. I really need to train my combat skills, and you can't hold back!" Luo An smiled and selectively ignored the last part of Mona's statement, followed her upstairs to change clothes, and then started making dinner. There weren't many ingredients left in the villa, and it wasn't suitable to eat too much for dinner, so Luo An simply made steaks, lamb chops, fried chicken, roasted bread, roasted sausages, pan-fried pancakes, fried eggs, waffles, and pasta. Looking at the heap of food on the table, Mona's mouth twitched: "Luo An, what are you doing?" "Didn't you just say, after dinner, we'll practice combat?" Luo An poured Mona a glass of milk, smiling: "If we don't eat more, where will we get the energy to train?" Mona gave Luo An a suspicious glance, slowly took a seat, feeling that what Luo An said made sense, but also feeling that something was amiss. However, Mona was certain Luo An didn't poison the dinner, so the two of them chatted idly while enjoying the meal. Since Luo An cooked, the task of washing the dishes after the meal fell to Mona. Once everything was finished, the two of them took their usual walk around the villa's lawn. After properly digesting, at 8 PM, Luo An and Mona changed into sportswear and entered the gym at the corner of the first floor of the villa. "I'll throw all this stuff away sooner or later." Mona grumbled, eyeing the dusty grand piano and drum set in the corner of the room, and then looked up at Luo An, hopping on the spot twice: At this moment, Mona was clad in a tight grey workout outfit, her curves drawing attention, her knees and elbows strapped with protective gear, and her hands donned in a pair of red boxing gloves, her face brimming with eagerness. Luo An, like a fitness gym sparring partner, was decked out in protective gear around his head, wrists, thighs, and sides. He bumped his boxing gloves together and chuckled: With a loud shout, Mona quickly moved in front of Luo An and delivered a powerful whip kick. A muffled thump echoed through the room, and Luo An… didn't budge from his spot. Mona was instantly stunned: "What's the matter with you?" "It's not me, it's you." Luo An smiled, shaking his gloves into a defensive posture, and said: "Your strength is waning. You really do need to work out." Mona lightly bit her silver teeth, her once refreshing and joy-bringing face now irritating her. She threw a punch at Luo An's… stomach. She didn't aim for the face, not because she couldn't bear to hit it, but rather to avoid Luo An crying, which would not look good. Luo An dodged to the side, and Mona's punch again landed on the protective gear. Seeing this, Mona grew even angrier and lunged forward again, fists flying. For the next half hour, continuous muffled sounds filled the gym. After a few initial punches of anger, Mona began to constantly use fighting techniques she learned at the training academy during agent assessments - no fancy moves, just practical combat, each strike aimed to take Luo An down. While Luo An's reaction speed and strength were substantially greater than Mona's, plus the required protective gear he wore, even though he was always on defense and never attacking, in the end Mona was left panting and exhausted while he remained unscathed and calm. Mona, face covered in sweat and her sportswear soaked, propped her hands on her knees and checked the time, then waved her hands: "That's enough for today. Let's stop here." Luo An, hardly sweating a drop, smiled and turned to start removing his protective gear. Mona's eyes lit up, and with a leap, she grabbed Luo An's arm, twisting around his body like a nimble snake, her legs swiftly wrapping around his head. Mona didn't intend to do anything to Luo An; after being knocked down several times herself while he remained standing, she truly wasn't pleased and wanted to see him fall too. This leg wrap around the head was a variation of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, similar to a move Black Widow performs in comics. The next step was to follow through with the momentum to forcefully swing back, throwing Luo An down while she dropped to one knee. The moment Mona successfully clamped her legs around Luo An's head, her mouth curled into a smile, her body leaning back and twisting her slender waist into quite an exaggerated arc... and then she froze there. Luo An took a step back with his right foot to stabilize himself. His head was trapped but protected by the padding, and he looked at Mona expressionlessly, while Mona flashed an awkward smile: "Just kidding." Follow current novᴇls on NoveI-Fire.ɴet Luo An didn't say a word, but just like that carried Mona out of the room. Mona's face was filled with panic: "Luo An, what are you doing?" A baffled Luo An reached out to grab Mona's arm to prevent her escape, laughing as he walked toward the bedroom: "Just now, it was all you hitting me, not showing any martial virtues and attacking by surprise. Now it's my turn to hit you!"