There was no time for Leo to think about these things right now. The leader of the terrorist group was standing opposite him, waiting for his reply.
Returning to his senses, Leo raised his green eyes and said flatly, "There are a total of 147 hostages in there. You release 27 first to show your sincerity and then I will consider your request."
Hearing Leo's words, the terrorist leader immediately laughed. Standing in front of Leo was a holographic projection. The real leader himself was hiding who knows where but the projection didn't stop him from showing ridicule.
"Mr. Chairman, did you forget to bring along your brain when you left your house? What right do you have to negotiate terms with me? My words are still the same. Every minute you delay releasing them, I will kill a hostage. Our reputation is already down in the pits now so a few more lives wouldn't matter."
A soldier behind Leo couldn't help but clench his fists in anger. This man was so arrogant. He really treated human lives like they were worth nothing!
Leo was still calm, "I will return your words right back to you. If you kill a hostage, I will also kill a hostage. You have more than a hundred people in your place, but I only have twelve here. Once they're all killed, I will put both yours and their ashes together for you to be reunited."
Leader: "...…"
Extremists are often arrested but this was the first time for them to create such a big commotion after someone was arrested. With them doing this, it could be certain that there must be someone they cannot give up on among those twelve young leaders. Leo had said it because he was certain of this but to the others, they only felt that Leo was crazy enough to arrogantly decide on the fate of more than a hundred people.
What if he angered the terrorists and they really killed all the hostages?
The terrorist leader's face was scarily dark. As one of the hostages inside, Chi Zhao couldn't hear the negotiation happening outside. His arms holding Joey was starting to grow numb and the black wolf opposite him still wasn't leaving. It continued to stare at the two of them intently, not moving an inch like a stone sculpture.
After about half a minute, the man guarding them suddenly came over, randomly selected a few people and told them the scram. Chi Zhao raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
It seemed that the negotiations were going well.
"I have released twenty-seven hostages as you have requested. Now, it is up to you to fulfil your promise."
From the looks of the terrorist leader's expression, if there weren't so many soldiers around, he would most definitely jump out and fight Leo to death. Leo glanced at the hostages who had collapsed to the ground after being received by the soldiers and nodded.
"One hostage in exchange for ten. I also have another request. Release the children and pregnant women first."
The leader on the other side snorted contemptuously but he didn't refuse.
There were many children held hostage and most were children who didn't reach past an adult's waist. The terrorists waved their weapons around like butchers in a slaughterhouse. Whoever they pointed to; the target would instinctively start to tremble. When it was the third batch, someone approached Chi Zhao and pointed at Joey in his arms, "Let him down. Hurry up!"
It could be seen from how they were leaving in batches; they were exchanging hostages. The second batch was all children and the third batch consisted of children and a pregnant woman. The wheels in Chi Zhao's mind turned. He placed Joey down, nudged him and motioned for him to leave with the other children.
At the same time, he held Joey's hand and stuffed a shrunken version of Little Red into his hand.
Joey blinked a few times and obediently went out.
Almost at the same time, the two erect ears of the black wolf moved very quickly.
It however didn't follow Joey and continued to quietly remain sitting opposite Chi Zhao.
It was really hard pretending not to see something so large right in front of him. Chi Zhao forced himself to stare a Joey and was relieved to see him walk out safely with the other children.
Please read this from kk translates
Alright, now that the child is gone, even if anything were to happen next, he wouldn't need to hold back.
This was something both Leo and Chi Zhao agreed with.
Whether it was Leo or the leader of the terrorists, they both had no intentions to release all the hostages. As long as the leader managed to retrieve the person he was ordered to save, they would immediately kill the remaining hostages and flee with the rescued people. As for those who weren't rescued, just consider them unlucky.
Leo had been dealing with extremists like them for many years so he knew very well how perverse they can get. As such, his plan was to release a few hostages first to exchange for those who have no fighting capabilities, relax the terrorist's vigilance and then finally, capture them all in one fell swoop.
In fact, this was a big gamble because Leo also didn't know whether the hostages who were released were the ones the terrorists cared about the most about. He could only judge by instinct.
When it was the fifth batch, the opposing leader's eyebrows moved slightly. This change was so subtle, Leo would probably have missed it if he was just an ordinary sentinel.
But unfortunately, he was a dark sentinel with keen senses.
The black wolf suddenly stood up, scaring Chi Zhao in the process. Soon afterwards, he saw the black wolf turn around and begin to release a faint black mist from its body. That mist spread very quickly. Before long, it had invaded the minds of the terrorists guarding them but none of them noticed anything unusual.
All except for the man who threatened Chi Zhao at the beginning. Sensing that something wasn't right, he furrowed his brows.
Standing in the crowd, Chi Zhao seemed to have guessed something. He stepped back and stood a little further away from the guards.
Little Red was in Joey's hands and Joey was also very sensible and didn't let go the entire time, holding tightly onto Little Red. Chi Zhao could only see pitch darkness. He could only ask the system inside, "How is Joey? Where is he?"
[Joey and the other children were sent away. I can't locate them, but it should be somewhere safe.]
The terrorist leader in charge of this attack was also a dark sentinel and was very powerful. Apart from Leo, no one else would be able to go up against him but even so, he couldn't see Leo's spiritual body.
But he didn't care about this. He could see the spiritual bodies of the other sentinels so they certainly wouldn't dare rashly barge in. Even if Leo's spiritual body entered, what could it do? It was only one spiritual body and they have many brave sentinels here that can go against it.
This was why people shouldn't speak too soon. This time, they lost because of this single spiritual body.
A battle was about to break out. Almost instantaneously, all the sentinels guarding the hostages let out terrible cries. Others couldn't see but Chi Zhao saw it clearly. The spiritual minds of those sentinels had become polluted and the pollutant seemed like it was alive; it constantly wandered around and wherever it went, the place would start breaking down.
The spiritual mind was made up of several elements. Now that those core elements were destroyed, those sentinels also fell.
From the beginning to the end, Chi Zhao didn't have the chance to make a move. That was also good, he didn't want to make a move anyway. And so, he just stood quietly at the back, carefully observing the black mist.
Watching the seemingly endless black mist, Chi Zhao suddenly thought of a highly poisonous substance which existed in the bodies of some special creatures. As soon as another creature came into contact with it, they would die because that poison would spread through the body in less than a minute. As soon as blood cells encountered it, they would be stimulated and explode, cutting off the creature's ability to sustain their life. Moreover, this kind of damage was irreversible and there was no cure for it.
The black wolf's weapon was similar to that.
Some sentinels have the chance to obtain special mutated abilities but the chance of it was very low and the abilities acquired may not all be useful. Just like ordinary people, some are born with good noses, some while others are born with thick and beautiful hair. All sorts of characteristics were possible, and it meant that any kind of mutation was also possible.
A dark sentinel was originally very rare so a mutant dark sentinel would be even rarer. Leo's mutated ability just happened to have such terrible offensive power...
This person was simply a natural killing machine.
Chi Zhao felt a little complicated. He couldn't help but lower his head.
When everything settled, Chi Zhao walked out with the other hostages. He wanted to find Joey but, in the end, he didn't need to look for him. Joey was standing outside waiting for him.
Together with him was an unsmiling Mr. Chairman.
Chi Zhao: "...."
Please read this from kk translates
Chi Zhao took a quick look at the two of them and saw that they had no physical contact. Joey's eyes were also fixated on him the entire time and didn't seem to feel anything strange about the chairman he had met for the first time. Only after seeing this, Chi Zhao calmed down and slowly walked over.
"Chairman, long time no see. Thank you for saving us."
Noah originally knew Leo, so it was understandable to say this. After confirming that his son was okay, Chi Zhao took Little Red back. Right now, he was convinced. There were no flaws in him. Leo would never think that he was the waiter from before.
Chi Zhao was very confident. Leo on the other hand was silent.
After a few seconds, his eyes turned to Joey and his voice was a little strange, "What kind of person is this child to you?"
In fact, he had heard Chi Zhao claiming to be his father earlier but right now, he wanted to hear him say it in person.
Chi Zhao replied naturally, "My son."
Leo's mind was blank. He couldn't connect that person with Noah's face, but the other soldiers had checked the situation out earlier and there were no other high level guides amongst the rest of the hostages. If you didn't look at the face and only look at his figure, Noah was indeed very similar to that person. Most importantly, he couldn't ignore the fact that this child looked so much like his mother!
"…..Your child?"
For a moment, Leo even suspected that Noah had stolen the child.
Chi Zhao looked at him strangely. He once again replied naturally, "Yes, a child between my husband and I. Chairman, it has been many years since then. Isn't it about time for me to start a family?"
There are many people in this world so it was inevitable that there would be some who share similar looks. Some people who are not related by blood look like twins. If this was just a coincidence, it seemed reasonable but for some reason Leo felt that this matter wasn't that simple.
Once he started to feel doubtful, Leo noticed that the Noah in front of him seemed very different from before.
"Noah."
Chi Zhao put his arm around the child, "What is it?"
Leo smiled faintly, "Wait here for a while. I will get someone to send you back. Your family must be very worried, especially your older sister. I heard that she was pregnant a few months ago, I wonder if she has given birth yet?"
Chi Zhao immediately narrowed his eyes. Leo wouldn't talk so familiarly with him about his family matters. This must be a trap!
Chi Zhao pursed his lips and answered coldly, "I don't know. I haven't contacted my family in a long time."
In an instant, Leo's eyes changed.
There were people secretly watching them from the side. They didn't know who Chi Zhao was and thought he was also one of the nobles. For Leo to talk to him for such a long time, it meant that this person's status wasn't low. Chi Zhao didn't like being watched so he wanted to leave. He took Joey's hand but before he could turn around, he saw Leo step forward, revealing an even more gentlemanly smile.
"Wait, I will send you back."
Chi Zhao: "...….."
Didn't you say that you're getting someone to send us back?