*** Third person's POV ***

Chief Hector's back was full of sweat now. He thought, "What did he do wrong? Why the seemingly overwhelming advantage situation has turned into a crushing disadvantage state." He didn't know how these two young masters could untie themselves so quickly and hid the weapons. Perhaps, the guys who searched them made a mistake. If that is the case, when he got out of this situation, those guys should be dead!

It was very unfortunate to those misunderstood and pitiful underlings. The bandits' chief probably could have never guessed the real explanation why Murong and Dawei performed the escaping task so smoothly. It definitely wasn't that those bandits were careless. Who would have thought that Murong would have a magical ring that could make things appear and disappear at will? Both of them also had been checked, and no weapons were found in their bodies.

"It may seem that you get more advantage. But, you are still in our lair. Do you think you can escape?" Laura still didn't yield. She retorted Murong back.

"Who says we will escape?" Murong asked with a smirk.

"Won't you?" Laura asked back.

"Second Lieutenant Wuya? Can you hear me? Are you guys in positions?" Murong asked through his walkie-talkie.

"...." No one immediately responded to Murong. Only silence and static noise could be heard.

"Umm," Laura sneered. "What are you playing? Do you think we will believe .."

Laura didn't get a chance to complete the sentence. The sound from the walkie-talkie interrupted.

"Young master. We are in a position. We are ready to strike at them anytime now." A plain voice from a person on another side of the walkie-talkie responded.

Both Hector and Laura showed astonished faces when they heard the conversation. When Murong saw their expressions, he felt really gratified.

"Let me tell you. We actually let you capture us. But we have a transmitter hidden in our bodies. Our family soldiers can trace us anytime. And they were following us overnight back to your camp." Murong boasted.

"If we give them a signal to attack the village, and together with us from within, do you think we won't succeed in escaping?" Murong continued to brag and smirked.

When both Hector and Luara heard that, their faces went as white as a sheet. They didn't want to imagine how many casualties they would get from this Murong's escaping plan.

"Ok. Tell your men not to attack. We can negotiate." Chief Hector finally gave up and signed.

"Dad!" Laura exclaimed.

"Quiet, dear. Admit it. We lose this round." Old Hector ordered. He was the chief of the village. He wouldn't use his emotion to make a decision like his daughter. After weighing up the pros and cons, he decided that negotiation was the best way to get out of this dire situation right now.

"Wise decision," Murong insincerely praised with a wide grin. "So, let's talk about our terms then."

"What do you want?" Chief Hector asked in a wariness manner.

"Don't have to be vigilant, chief. In fact, it is quite simple. You come to work for us. In exchange, we will pay you as I previously proposed." Muyong replied.

Chief Hector heard Murong's proposal. He couldn't endure raising his eyebrows. He had never thought this young master would still like to recruit them.

"Are you sure?" Chief Hector couldn't help asking to confirm. Who in the right mind would openly recruit a minute-ago enemy into their ranks? Kidnappers, no less.

"Yes, I am sure. However, there is no guarantee that the minute we let both of you go, you won't betray us. So, I need hostages until we are able to trust you." Murong attested.

"What hostages?" Old Hector looked at Murong with his squint eyes, full of distrust.

"Your daughter, of course... And a few people in the village." Murong plainly replied as he was turning his face to ridicule Laura.

"No way!" Laura suddenly retorted.

"Do you expect us to trust you? Just a minute ago, you kidnaped, threatened, and mocked us. What more do you hope for? At least, you will live comfortably in the capital until we have confidence in your village." Murong argued back to Laura.

Laura didn't know how to respond to those comments. She could only keep quiet, but she couldn't help express her dissatisfactory face, while chief Hector still remained in his calm. After a short while, he finally said.

"Ok. I agree. Call your men in."

"Dad!"

Murong ignored the protest from Laura and began ordering his soldier through the walkie-talkie.

"Second Lieutenant Wuya. The bandits agreed to negotiate with us. Actually, they have already agreed to our terms. You could send someone down here to pick up hostages..Umm..our guests."

"Affirmative, young master. A few of our men and I will go there real quick." Wuya replied.

...

Fifteen minutes later, second Lieutenant Wuya and five other people were walking into the bandit camp. At first, all the bandits were dumbfounded. Why were those people coming here? Had they just let them go two days ago? But why they came back? In this world, are there stupid pigs that ran away from the butchers and came back to their slaughterhouse?

"Stop! Give up your guns!" one of the bandits shouted.

"You might as well like to check with your superior," Wuya laughed. The bandits looked at each other, confused. Then, one of them ran to find their chief.

It didn't take long until that person came back with a face like a wet weekend because of the chief's bad news. Soon, all the bandits knew what was going on, and they were in an uproar. However, they respected their chief's decision and let these soldiers come inside their camp to the chief's cottage.

Second lieutenant Wuya together with a few soldiers, entered the cottage and reported to Dawei and Murong.

"Young master." The soldiers saluted to Murong's duo.

"You guys can be at ease," Murong told his subordinates and continued to order his men. "Second Lieutenant Tianlong, you can take this young lady with a few other people back to the capital and get them settled down in our Chen family house."

"Yes, sir." Second lieutenant Tianlong promptly replied.

"But, you have to be careful. She is very smart. Don't let her escape your sight or surveillance when she is in the capital." Murong told Tianlong and winked at Laura.

She saw Murong was teasing her. She felt frustrated and stormed out of the room with second lieutenant Tianlong.

In fact, there was another reason that Murong chose this woman to be a hostage. It was not just she was a chief's daughter. After interactions for quite a while, he suddenly recalled one of the famous female leaders in the Borderlands region in his past life, the Illusionist Rose Queen. Pretty, intelligent, but full of thorns that could harm you. Even though Murong had never met this woman himself before, but from the description, Murong thought it must be this girl. She must obtain her skill in the dungeon around here.

If she was that good in her past life, he couldn't allow her to change job so fast. Keeping her as a hostage would keep her from knowing what we are doing and had a proper time to tame her.

Murong then instructed his remaining men to disarmed the bandits and secured the area. After that, they left the cottage to do what Murong ordered.

Once other people except Murong and Dawei were gone, Murong turned his serious face and spoke to chief Hector.

"Now, let's talk about our remaining business, shall we?"

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Author's note

Another chapter is done! Right now, my target release schedule is 1 chapter/week on Saturday. I will try to release extra chapters if I have more time on the weekdays. As always, don't forget to vote and leave your comment! :) --- Thank you! :)

Single Hamster