Chapter 21: Giving In

It was not until then that everyone heard the screams. Looking around, they saw Rod gripping the collar of the man who had spoken earlier with one hand, while the other hand pressed a dark dragon-shaped blade against his throat, staring at him coldly.
The man had lost all his earlier arrogance and dignity. His glasses had been hit by a punch, and in just a moment, he could clearly feel them swelling. He looked utterly disheveled, with his long hair messy and covering his face—completely defeated.
“Damn it, are you tired of living? Trying to rebel now? Release Brother Karl right now, or you won’t get out of this barracks alive today, understand?” Realizing what was happening, those who had followed Karl immediately surrounded Rod and the two people behind him at the entrance of Barracks No. 11. With a sharp sound, their weapons were drawn, and one of them snarled at Rod.
“You better behave, or I can’t guarantee my hand will stay under control!” Rod tightened his grip and glanced down at the man named Karl, pulling him forward, then sneered.
He then looked up at the men across from him. “Not bad! You’re quite bold. I wonder if I can get out of here today.” With a cold smile, Rod appeared indifferent, clearly determined to fight to the end. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a problem if they hadn’t threatened him, but now it was clearly not going to be easy to resolve.
“You…” Pointing at Rod, the man shouted angrily. Their group had always acted tyrannically and had never encountered someone like him. They felt wronged and upset, but they dared not do anything due to the hostage in his hands—the gleaming black sword was terrifying.
“Stop pointing at me, or you’ll be next. Stop talking nonsense and release them now. We can end this here, or else…” With a cold gaze, Rod suddenly snapped. More and more people gathered around. He didn’t like being stared at like that! Besides, he really didn’t have time to waste on these guys—it was better to resolve this quickly.
With so many people around, they could even faintly hear conversations. Clearly, his identity had been exposed—many people recognized him. It wasn’t surprising, as he had become quite famous leading the Death Scythe Squad lately.

“Impossible! Release them first—this isn’t over between us!” Ignoring Rod’s words, the man spoke in a deep voice, his vicious gaze making people feel uneasy. Looking at this man, Rod frowned slightly. Clearly, Karl in his hands was the leader of this group, while this man must be the second-in-command! It seemed he really intended to push things further.

Turning to look at the two people beside him, they were both armed and on guard, ready to act at any moment. Glancing at the crowd surrounding him—over a dozen people—Rod took a deep breath. In the distance, he still saw no sign of Curly and the others. He cursed inwardly; these damned guys were moving far too slowly! With just the three of them, they couldn’t do much right now. Observing further, he saw that on the opposing side there was one Imperial-level warrior and three Gold-level warriors, with the rest being Silver-level warriors. The Imperial-level warrior was none other than Karl in his hands. As long as he controlled Karl, he couldn’t act. As for the others, they weren’t something the two people he brought with him could handle. Fighting wouldn’t yield any advantage.

“Oh… I wonder who’s here? Hehe, so it’s Brado in person? What, here to claim someone?” As Rod was pondering, a voice suddenly came through, forcing him to look up!

At that moment, four or five people were walking out of the camp. Leading them was a middle-aged man around thirty-five or thirty-six, tall and robust-looking. Two people stood on each side of him—two Imperial-level warriors and two Gold-level warriors. It turned out this group was quite strong.

Followed by six or seven more warriors, they were pushing Jim and the others toward this side! Seeing this, Rod couldn’t care about anything else anymore. He quickly looked up and saw that Jim and the others were in a miserable state—their clothes tattered, their wounds clearly visible, their faces swollen and bruised, obviously having been beaten severely by the enemy.

Seeing this, Rod’s expression instantly turned cold. If not for his self-control, he would have exploded by now. Even so, he couldn’t help but tense every muscle in his body, his lips trembling slightly—a clear sign of extreme anger. An accidental force from his hand caused the Dark Dragon to move forward slightly, prompting a scream from Karl, who was under his control. Looking down, he saw that the Dark Dragon had already cut his throat, and a strange stream of blood flowed from the wound, staining the dragon’s sword.

“Stop… Brother, stop! Don’t hurt him, it’ll kill him!” Karl panicked, sensing Rod’s anger as he watched him. Fearing he might do something reckless, Karl urgently cried out.

“Brado, let’s stay out of each other’s business. What does it mean for you to grab my men? Trying to take advantage? Your Death Scythe Squad might be strong, but isn’t this going too far?” Seeing Karl’s condition, the man who had just stepped forward also grew anxious. He stepped up and glared at Rod, speaking in a stern tone.

It was clear this man was the leader of the group. With his appearance, the others who had been eyeing them warily became subdued, especially that rude guy, who stepped behind the man and stopped talking.

“Stay out of each other’s business? What about those people behind you? Do you think our Death Scythe Squad is easy to bully? Oh, right—you don’t seem to take us seriously either. Heh, I don’t care! Do whatever you want. Just release my man now, stop wasting time! I have no patience for your nonsense!” With a cold laugh, Rod pulled Karl, who was struggling, closer and shouted loudly.

“Hmph, do you really think we’re easy targets? Three of you for one of us? You’re planning well! Those three came to cause trouble here, and I’m just helping you teach them a lesson. Not killing them is already showing respect to you and your Death Scythe Squad. And now you come here to make trouble? Do you really think we’re afraid of you?” Rod’s arrogant words made the newly arrived man’s expression darken. His smile vanished, and he stepped forward, staring fiercely at Rod, his weapon appearing in his hand at some point.

Over here, in the entire Area C, it’s a lawless place. Only a few officers from the Black Teeth Legion are in charge here. The battles are fierce right now, so they have no time to worry about this. They can’t keep an eye on everything 24/7. That’s exactly why the situation has gotten so bad yet no one has shown up!

Looking around, Rod smiled indifferently. “Same old words—release them. If you release those three, I’ll release this guy! Otherwise, prepare to collect corpses! No… actually, you’ll all be waiting for someone else to collect your corpses today!” For some reason, Rod’s mood suddenly calmed down. He smiled coldly, a smile that seemed eerie. Glancing at Karl in his hand, he spoke casually, but his tone was terrifying. No one doubted he was joking.

“I’ll count to three. Release them!” Without waiting for the big man to continue speaking, Rod started counting.

“Three!” As the word faded, he looked up calmly at the people across from him. He was gambling, knowing that the person in his hands held a high status. The people across wouldn’t dare act rashly and give up this guy for Jim and the others. Nor would they suspect he wouldn’t dare act. So right now, Rod was betting that the other side would back down!

“You… Brado, I’m telling you, don’t go too far. It won’t benefit anyone if we ruin our relationship! I admit your Death Scythe Squad has many members and strong strength, but can you really kill us all? I can tell you clearly—as long as one of us survives, this will go on endlessly.” Seeing that Rod was really determined, the man was slightly stunned and began to get nervous.

“Two!” Ignoring the other man’s words, Rod raised his finger to make a two gesture, with a faint smile on his face.

“You…” This time, the man was furious. He had never seen someone like this before!

The people around also watched the situation nervously. No one expected it to escalate to this extent. Everyone thought it would be resolved peacefully without serious consequences. But now they realized they had underestimated Brado from the Death Scythe Squad, the man who brought glory to the squad.

“Boss, no! Jim and the others are still injured on the other side!” Even the two who followed Rod started to worry. They hurriedly spoke to Rod, trying to persuade him to stop.

“Three! Well, it seems you don’t intend to trade after all. Then bring him here!” Counting the third number loudly, Rod suddenly flashed a bright smile and spoke calmly. Then he raised his hand slightly before swinging it down with force.
“No, stop, Brado, please… Brother, save me! I don’t want to die!” It was Karl who was most panicked first; he collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted, crying out in despair as death loomed right before him.
“Stop, Brado! We can negotiate! I’ll let them go!” At the same time, the man over there also had his pupils widen dramatically as he hurriedly shouted.