As soon as Leonard opened it, a thick, foul, stench came out. "Ughh." Leonard was caught off guard by the smell. He stepped inside and began to take a look around. He could tell that there were captives here, but it was too dark to see properly, especially near the back. 'I need a flashlight…' Leonard took a quick look around the building, yet didn't find a flashlight. Suddenly, he remembered. 'I can buy it from the system!'
It was expensive, but he was short on time. Additionally, he would have a flashlight in his system inventory for future use, now that he would buy one.
[Shop]
[Medium-Quality Flashlight: $200]
Bought!
With that purchase, he checked his money.
[Money: 2011]+
…
He took the flashlight and sprayed it inside the shipping container.
"Ah!" A weak startle was heard from inside.
"Ahh!"
After the first startle, the rest of the people started getting agitated as they yelled and screamed. "Why? Don't you have a family! How can you monsters have the heart to do this!"
Leonard instantly understood the situation.
Inside, he counted seven girls and three boys. They were all malnourished, and there was junk scattered all across such as dirty newspapers and empty food containers. Leonard figured those containers were presumably filled with human excrement.
"Disgusting." Leonard found the entire scene untasteful.
He began to inspect everyone closely.
By the corner of his eye, he noticed someone that he thought looked familiar. He quickly turned his head right, 'It's Yukki! I've finally found her!'
"Hahaha…" Leonard began to laugh in joy. His eyes crinkled up as his face contorted in immense joy, "HAHAHA!" He was glad, he was very glad. He had thought this all through, there were so many things that could have gone wrong. 'What if this building had its captives transferred away already by the time I arrived? What if Yukki wasn't among the captives?'
Now that that wasn't an issue, he just needed to get Yukki out and get out of here. He'd been through so much just for her… she was a massive burden.
But, it was a burden he would gladly accept. Her very existence made him so happy, it was indescribable. It was as if she was the other half of himself.
He wanted to save her, so he did. That brought him happiness, and she will continue to provide him happiness forever.
Leonard looked at Yukki with an intense and crazed gaze, before his attention was brought to the chains. How would he get her out? He would need to get some bolt cutters.
Leonard gazed at the rest of the captives, which had gone silent, staring at him. He realized he had a problem. What should he do with the rest of the captives…?
Save them? 'What for! I don't have space on the speedboat for them! I can't leave on land, either.
Leave them? 'Suspicious behavior! If it's discovered that only one girl is missing among the nine other captives, everyone could guess the event was related to her!'
'Kill them…?' Leonard slowly took out his gun, before shaking his head. 'No! What's gotten into me, killing them won't provide any benefits! It's the same scenario as saving them, but worse! It's not like I can hide the bodies, either!' Leonard shook, he must have killed too many people recently, it was hard to adjust.
'Benefits! Without benefits, killing only brings trouble!'
Leonard resolved not to become a crazed murderer. He would continue using the system to trade lives for money, but not killing for no reason. There was no point in mindless murder.
Leonard stared at the captives.
…
Leonard suddenly came up with an idea. He was sure it certainly wasn't the best idea but he didn't pretend to be a genius, either. He just knew a saying.
"It is better to have a bad plan than no plan." He agreed, stalling any longer would risk him getting captured.
It's not like he thought his plan was bad, either. His goal was just disassociating this event from Yukki while taking the least amount of time possible.
Leaving the shipping container, he quickly bought a bolt cutter and took it out. He didn't want to showcase his supernatural powers in front of others, of course.
This caused his money to go down by $100, down to $1911. It didn't matter. He stepped back in, he was disguised, now he would begin to act. He would pretend to be some sort of rival gang member. He had to make a scene for when a captive inevitably gets interrogated by the Silver Nights. It didn't matter if they believed his acting or not, only that it wouldn't implicate him later.
"Ahahaha!!!" He laughed malevolently, then spoke in a chilly, gratey voice. "The Silver Nights really think they can get away with stealing our gangs' business!? Insolent! They've got what was coming to them, death."
Yukki stared up at Leonard. She was sprawled on the ground, too weak to even want to move, but she had a thought, 'He… he looks and sounds familiar…'
She stared harder, as her vision blurred, 'Leonard?' She thought inwardly, 'No, it can't be!'
...
He focused his gaze on the captives, they were too scared to even move. "Looks like they had a nice catch!" He held his bolt cutters in front of a boy, "Hold still boy, I'll get you out!"
As soon as he said that, the rest of the captives looked at him with hopeful gazes, "You're freeing us?" One of them questioned.
*Clank
One of the two chains binding the boy was cut, and Leonard went for the other.
*Clank
"Thank you! Thank you!" The boy yelled out and praised the mysterious cloaked man. The rest of the captives also followed through and thanked him.
Leonard kept silent, it wasn't time for him to act yet. He grabbed towards Yukki and pulled up her chains as he started to break them.
*Clank
Breaking these chains was a tiresome process, it took quite a while. This was exactly why he wouldn't free them all.
*Clank
The thanks and praises Leonard was receiving were endless.
Leonard dropped the bolt cutters and stepped on them as he reached out, and grabbed out his hands, holding the small boy, and the bigger Yukki in his hands.
"hahaha... " Leonard gave a cold grin as he grinned. "You idiots think I am a good person? Who said I'm saving you?"
"WHAT!?" Cries of shock ran out. The boy he held in his left arm tried to remove himself from Leonard's grip, but he was too small, tired, and malnourished to succeed! Yukki on the other hand…
Leonard was surprised by the lack of reaction from Yukki. He turned his head around, only to come in contact with Yukki's unconscious face. "???" Leonard was shocked! She was alive, right?
He quickly dispelled this notion. She had body heat, after all.
He continued acting, "I'm only taking these two since they'll fetch the highest price! The rich men who buy slaves don't care about the seller, only the goods! Hahaha!"
"If I had more space in my car, I'd take more than just these two!" Leonard yelled out. With that, he began to drag the two out.
"Waah, Haaah" The boy kept making attempts to release himself from Leonard's grip. He frowned. What if he tried reaching for Leonard's weapons? This wouldn't do, but he couldn't simply kill the boy! At least, not yet.
"Stop struggling!" Leonard took out his gun and shoved it onto the boy's forehead! "I'll kill you and get a more obedient kid! I only have two seats after all..."
The boy's face instantly paled. "No! No no no! I'll listen, I'll listen!" He immediately stopped struggling as he submitted. "I'll do anything! I'll be obedient! Don't kill me, I'll follow your orders!" Leonard showed an exaggerated scowl, "Just follow orders!" Leonard grabbed the boy from the neck, "Follow orders and stay silent! Cause trouble for me and I won't hesitate to end you!"
"Yes…" He struggled to breathe under the pressure on his neck. "Yess…"
He faced forwards and saw a wheel of duct tape. 'Perfect!' Leonard thought as he took it and taped the boy's mouth shut. He proceeded to bind his arms so that there was no way he could possibly reach for a weapon.
This is when Leonard realized a problem. His blood was at the scene. Now, it was very doubtful it would actually be tested. However, Leonard didn't want to leave yet ANOTHER thing up to luck. He quickly went back to the shipping container holding the captives and closed the door just enough so they wouldn't see outside, yet they would still escape later.
'I heard bleach destroys DNA...' Leonard bought a bottle of bleach and emptied the entire gallon liberally over his blood, and anywhere else it might have dripped.
The boy was shocked! He had just scene a gallon materialize out of midair! Yet, he could barely move as he was bound. Leonard knew he saw, too, yet it was fine. He could always finish the boy off later. Actually, he was going to do just that, anyways. He held them both, one on each arm, and left the warehouse, heading straight towards his escape speedboat. He glanced back, seeing if there was anyone coming, but he couldn't see anything.
'Won't wait to find out!'
Back at the warehouse, he had purposely dropped his bolt cutter. The captives could escape on their own now, that way since all of them escaped, there would be less suspicion on the two he had taken.
And, if they didn't manage to escape in time, and instead reinforcements arrived and recaptured them…
'Well, that's why I didn't rescue them, right?'
For now, though, it was time to escape.
Leonard threw the boy into the speedboat and held Yukki carefully as he descended onto the speedboat with her. It wasn't exactly the biggest speedboat. He placed her gently in a seat, then grabbed the boy and readjusted his position to the foot space below him. What need was there to make sure he was comfortable? Leonard didn't do this for him, he was just a liability now! He only took him so that there could be no eyewitnesses or evidence that he had come and only took Yukki.
He grabbed the controls. It was time to leave.