The Hostage Decided to Save Himself_1

"Sentry One is ready."

"Sentry Two is ready."

"…"

Uniformed soldiers spread around the Black Hall, surrounding with loaded guns. Their expressions were cast in steel, like precision machines.

They were the Black City Sheriff's Department's Special Operations team. Their target today was some illegal organization that had recently sprung up. A bunch of lunatics who had been bewitched by some Dark Summoner.

A Dark Summoner, guys like that were always the focus of attention.

This was also the reason why Captain Shao Changsheng had yet to give the order to break in.

They'd learned the whereabouts of the outlaws a day ago and had pried into the fact that the lunatics also appeared to be holding a tour group from out of town hostage. The lunatics seemed to be planning to use the hostages as an offering for some nefarious ritual.

Just now, they had managed to lock onto the stronghold of these thugs and complete the encirclement. However, there was news that the leader of this organization was very difficult to deal with. It was very difficult for ordinary bronze-level Summoners to be his match.

Black City was a small place. Most of the Summoners in this city were only Bronze-rank, including Captain Shao Changsheng himself. He was not confident that he could take down this Dark Summoner.

So to ensure that they could take down the leader and keep the hostages safe, they planned to wait for backup before taking action.

Until a powerful energy suddenly erupted from the church. With a clang, it blasted through the dome and into the sky, as if it wanted to split the night sky!

Such a commotion immediately alerted the team. Captain Shao Changsheng was also shocked.

Could this be… the spell spirit of the organization's leader?

Although the information said that this leader was a little difficult to deal with, wasn't this… a little too exaggerated?

The experts in the hall analyzed that after the leader fell into the darkness, his strength might indeed increase greatly. But no matter what, he was still a Bronze-rank Summoner.

No matter how strong he was, at most—according to fantasy novels—he was only half a step into Silver, right?

…Well, of course there was no such thing, but that was probably what it meant.

However, in Shao Changsheng's impression, at least he had never seen a spell spiritual energy controlled by a bronze sorcerer erupt with such energy.

Shao Changsheng hesitated for a moment and quickly turned his head. "Little Li."

"Present," a young Summoner answered, stepping forward.

"Use your 'Demonic Bat,'" Shao said. "Find out what's going on inside."

The Demonic Bat was Little Li's spell spirit. It was not strong in combat but had the ability to fly.

More importantly, the Demonic Bat had a special skill, "Sound Wave Vision." It could feedback a real-time map to its summoner through sound waves, achieving an effect similar to "Vision Sharing."

Coupled with the fact that the Demonic Bat was pitch-black and had a strong concealment ability in the night, it was a spell spirit with pretty good reconnaissance ability.

Little Li hesitated for a moment. "But didn't they just say that Dark Sorcerers are very sensitive to the energy fluctuations of spell spirits? Letting the Demonic Bats out to investigate might alert them…"

"The situation has changed," Shao interrupted. "We need to know what just happened in the church."

"Yes."

Little Li didn't ask any more questions.

He waved his hand gently, and a card appeared in a ripple of pale gold. Small black bats appeared out of thin air upon summoned. At the will of their master, they flapped their wings and flew toward the ruptured dome of the church.

"So, what do you see?" Shao Changsheng asked.

He was already prepared to lead a team and force their way in if the situation was urgent.

However, after receiving the feedback from the spell spirit's image, Little Li's expression was a little strange… or rather, a little dumbfounded.

"What do you see?" Shao asked again, raising his voice. "Are the criminals still in there? Are the hostages still there?"

"… Present, Sir."

Little Li looked like he found what he was seeing a little hard to describe.

He did see the thugs—just as the Intelligence had described. They were all wearing hooded robes that were as black as crows and embroidered with highly recognizable patterns. The lunatics must have run away.

The group of people at the side were of various ages. Their clothes were disheveled and their faces were haggard. It was also very obvious that they were the hostages they needed to rescue on this trip… or rather, the hostages that they should have rescued.

So the question now was—

—Can someone tell me why the hell the gangster is in a cage?

When Little Li reported what he had seen, Shao Changsheng was stunned.

"You're telling me the crooks were put in cages like good rabbits one by one," he said. "And then the hostages were all out there?"

Little Li nodded, "Seems that way."

"What about their leader?"

"Their leader… their leader… is hanging from a pillar."

Shao Changsheng: "?"

…

Although he had already received the information from Little Li's reconnaissance, Shao Changsheng was still a little stunned when the Ops team broke into the scene and saw the scene in the hall in front of him with his own eyes—

—The outlaw was in the cage, the hostage was outside. Then the outlaw's Dark Summoner leader, the heinous menace, was now hanging from a post like a harmless sheep, his body swaying from side to side. It was impossible to tell if he was dead or alive.

He even happened to see a young man locking one of the cages as he entered.

In the cage that could only accommodate one person, there were two burly gangsters. However, the thugs cooperated and shrank into the cage.

The young man muttered impatiently, "You two are too fat. Squeeze in or the cage won't lock."

However, not only did the two criminals not resist, but they even tried their best to shrink in while apologizing repeatedly…

Shao Changsheng: "?"

'Did I open it the wrong way?'

Which of you is the hostage and which of you is the criminal?

Captain Shao Changsheng had faced countless criminals in his life and faced the eyes of countless villains.

In the past, he had seen cursed hatred, indignant anger, and despair in the eyes of villains…

But today, these supposedly extremely dangerous strong thugs in the cage looked at him with eyes that seemed more like… asking for help?

They looked like they were saying, "Comrade Sheriff, you're finally here!"

If we don't get here soon, the hostages are going to kill us!

In any case, the Ops team quickly took over the scene. The entire process was easier and smoother than any of the team members had expected. It was even a little eerie.

Shao Changsheng couldn't help but ask, "Can anyone explain what exactly is going on?"

Therefore, You Chu stood up and explained in a relaxed tone, "Oh, it's like this. Because you came a little late, we took the initiative to save ourselves first…"

Shao Changsheng was speechless.