Light Chu turned his head.
There, he saw a strong man standing at the door. His left arm tightly locked around Nighten's neck and bound hands, while his right hand held a pistol, the barrel pressed against Nighten's temple.
However, just as he uttered the words "release her," two guns quickly aimed at him.
Seeing this, that strong man instinctively moved behind Nighten, shouting anxiously, "Don't move! Your teamate is in my hands! I know you're strong, but can you dodge bullets?"
Light Chu, holding the gun, paused, his lips curling unnaturally.
I am strong?
Well, how embarrassing.
After surviving in the wasteland for over five months, it was the first time someone had praised him for being strong.
"Chen Yang? You're not dead?!" Summer Salt widened her eyes, looking at the person at the door.
The strong man's expression was visibly awkward, but he managed to force a smile on his face.
"Heh heh, it's not that easy for me to give up here. Just wait, I'll get you out first!"
A renewed hope sparked in Summer's eyes.
If possible, she certainly didn't want to fall into the hands of these "primitive" people. With her remaining five toes, she could imagine the kind of treatment she would receive as a captive.
Occasionally, captured mercenaries would be rescued by their teammates or people from insurance companies, if they happened to be sold to Boulder City.
But even if they were still alive, they wouldn't be much different from the dead.
Both mentally and physically.
Finally finding a gap under the strong man's arm, Nighten almost suffocated and gasped for air.
He struggled desperately while shouting.
"Shoot! Fire at me!! What are you waiting for!"
"Damn... This idiot also has body odor. It's suffocating me!"
If they knew what he was shouting, that strong man might not be able to resist shooting him in frustration.
But unfortunately.
He couldn't understand and only thought Nighten was being noisy.
He forcefully smashed the butt of his gun against the back of Nighten's head, sternly reprimanding him.
"Behave yourself!"
As if Nighten would behave.
He couldn't even feel the pain from exceeding his pain threshold. Instead, because of being hit, he shouted even louder.
"Open fire! My Governor, please don't worry, I won't die!"
Nonsense.
Of course, I know you won't die.
Who do you think is buying back for you!
Light Chu rolled his eyes inwardly, but his face showed no sign of it. He calmly looked at Chen Yang, the strong man at the door, and casually said.
"I don't like being threatened. It's best for you to put down your gun, raise your hands above your head, and lean against the wall. I can spare your life."
Chen Yang said excitedly.
"I'm not joking with you! I will really shoot!"
"Same here," Light Chu looked at him calmly, "Do you want to try? Let's start when we count to three."
Summer Salt, leaning against the bar, couldn't bear to watch anymore. She didn't want her teammate, who had just escaped from death, to be left behind because of her.
"That's enough, Chen Yang. You can go alone... Don't mind me."
Light Chu ignored her and quietly said the first number.
"3."
Seeing Light Chu counting down, a cold sweat dripped down Chen Yang's forehead.
This lunatic!
Does he really not care about the life and death of his comrade!
And the hostage in his hand, with a face full of willing sacrifice, didn't look like a hostage at all.
"2."
They've all gone crazy.
"Just a moment, stop! I'm not trying to threaten you! You can have everyone, I just want one thing!"
Chen Yang admitted that he was scared.
After hastily glancing at Summer Salt sitting on the ground, he continued speaking rapidly, "Give me the key on her, and as soon as I have the key, I'll let her go!"
Light Chu raised an eyebrow, somewhat curious.
"A key?"
"A magnetic card! She knows what I'm talking about!"
Light Chu looked at Summer Salt, who lay on the ground, but she didn't look at him. She just stared blankly at her former teammate.
"So, it's for a key..."
"Believe what you want. Instead of dying here for no reason, let me complete a part of the mission."
Teammate?
This is the wasteland.
Originally, he planned to wait until the crawlers left and then search the bodies of his teammates. Otherwise, he wouldn't have played dead and watched from the sidelines until now, helping her only at this moment.
Chen Yang disregarded the disappointed look from his former teammate and slowly stepped back, pressing the gun against the hostage's temple. He stared intently at the expression on Light Chu's face.
"What do you say? Just one woman and your companion, I only want a card from her. It's useless for you anyway," Chen Yang said, nodding his head.
"Makes sense," Light Chu replied.
So, I actually made a profit?
But...
It's not necessary.
Light Chu looked at Summer.
"Give it to him."
Seeing that the Governor didn't shoot for a while and instead started negotiating with the kidnapper, Nighten struggled even harder, fearing that this NPC would compromise with the kidnapper for her sake.
"Don't mind me! Tomorrow, are you out of your brain? Shoot!" he shouted.
I'm a fucking gamer.
What's there to be afraid of?
Even if I die here, it'll be a heroic sacrifice, and my favorability will skyrocket!
"I the fuck... don't move, let me aim," Tomorrow nervously muttered.
How could he dare to move?
It's not that he couldn't do it, he had false revived his teammates in games like PUBG before, but this game wasn't PUBG. The Governor didn't take action, so how could he dare to move?
What if he missed a crucial plot point?
Silently, Summer Salt took out the bloodstained card from her pocket. It was the one the captain had given her before he died.
In theory, Chen Yang shouldn't know that the card was on her.
Unless he had already searched the captain's body.
In an instant, everything became clear.
Without any expression on her face, Summer Salt looked at her former teammate. Instead of sadness or fear, there was numbness in her heart.
Perhaps her future fate would be miserable.
Thrown in a corner like a dirty rag, waiting to rot, or sold by these savages to other slave traders until she couldn't work anymore.
But suddenly, she felt that none of it mattered.
"Take it."
With two fingers, she threw the card away.
As Chen Yang watched the card fall at his feet, a momentary frenzy and undeniable greed flashed in his eyes. He stretched out his foot to step on it, intending to kick it outside the door.
However, at that moment, something unexpected happened.
Almost at the same time he extended his right foot, the struggling hostage in his arms suddenly went limp and slipped from his elbow, dropping to his knees on the ground.
Before Chen Yang could comprehend what was happening, two gunshots rang out, one of them directly penetrating his forehead.
A spray of blood mist erupted from his forehead.
With wide-open eyes, Chen Yang fell backward, not understanding what had happened in that split second.
"Damn! It hit!"
A headshot!
Moving the gun away from his hand, Tomorrow excitedly shouted.
"That was my shot. Your bullets were all hitting the streetlights... You should practice more." Light Chu looked speechless as he calmly reloaded his rifle.
He no longer had any expectations for these gamers' marksmanship.
Speaking of which, this was his first time using the GM's authority to forcefully disconnect a gamer from the game.
Unexpectedly, this function worked really well.
Of course, if gamers were to ask about it, he wouldn't admit it. At most, he would explain it from a game design perspective and blame it on network fluctuations.
"You, kill him..."
Summer Salt stared at Light Chu with a blank expression, clearly not expecting him to suddenly shoot.
Light Chu said impatiently, "I told you, I hate being threatened, especially when he had a gun pointed at me."
As they were talking, Nighten, who was kneeling on the floor, suddenly twitched and woke up in a daze.
"Why did I just disconnect?"
His gaze wandered and landed on the dead body behind him, and he jumped up reflexively.
"What the hell, how did this guy die?"
Another plot twist?!
Tomorrow walked over and patted his shoulder. "Maybe it was a network glitch. It's good that you managed to log back in... One shot, headshot, haha, bro, that was awesome!"
"Totally awesome, freaking awesome!"
Alright.
It seemed like he could skip explaining this step as well.
Taking his eyes off the two gamers, Light Chu felt that he had recovered enough and got up from the chair in the restaurant. He walked over to Chen Yang's body and reached down to pick up the blood-soaked card and the dropped handgun.
He didn't need the former for now, but the latter was a good find.
Light Chu played with the handgun for a while. It seemed to be semi-automatic, and he didn't know its power yet, but it should be considerable.
"I'm planning to leave. Good luck on your own."
When Summer Salt heard Light Chu talking to her, she looked up in confusion. "Aren't you taking me with you?"
Light Chu retorted, "Did I say I would take you?"
Summer Salt was stunned.
This was completely different from what she had expected and completely caught her off guard.
But there was no time for her to think now.
Seeing that the man named Light Chu was serious and leaving with his two loyal subordinates, she started to panic at the thought of being left alone.
"You... are you really not raiders?"
Light Chu stopped in his tracks and looked at her teasingly. "Are you disappointed?"
"Well," Summer Salt opened her mouth, felt embarrassed for a while, coughed lightly, and continued, "What I mean is, are you survivors from nearby? Can you take me to your settlement?"
After all, she had nowhere else to go.
It was absurd to think that she could make it back to Boulder City with just one leg, let alone the fact that she couldn't return anymore.
Since this group of people in front of her wasn't raiders or slave traders, it wouldn't hurt to go with them.
However, Light Chu didn't want to bring along this burden.
The current medical conditions in the sanctuary wouldn't be able to provide her with a mechanical prosthetic, at most, the carpenter could make her a crutch.
Without a leg, she wouldn't be able to do heavy work, and having an extra mouth to feed when there was limited food, it would be better to recruit another gamer.
But at that moment, he overheard the low conversation between the two gamers.
"Is this woman a new NPC?"
"Possibly, but it's hard to say... It seems like the governor doesn't intend to bring her along."
"But I think she can still be saved."
"Indeed, she seems to be some kind of mercenary. Even if she loses a leg, she should still be able to make guns and weapons, right?"
Hmm...
That does make some sense.
After a brief thought, Light Chu looked at Summer Salt.
"Let me be frank. right now, you're a burden. Even if I take you to a nearby survivor settlement, your fate won't be much better than death."
Summer Salt bit her lip and lowered her head.
That was the truth.
She could imagine what her fate would be without even needing to be told.
Looking at the silent woman, Light Chu continued, "Of course, if you have a special skill, I might consider taking you with us..."
"As long as you're willing to work for me."