Warlord – Chapter 74
Zero was lying on top of the water tower. He was able to observe Aaron"s camp from there very easily.
The clouds were much thinner in comparison to ordinary days. Even though it was six o"clock in the morning but there was no trace of warm breeze. Actually scorching heat of the sun rays were already s.h.i.+ning down the earth.
Even the most radiation resistant creatures wouldn"t not expose themselves to the sun all day long. Zero was lying on top of the water tower whose steel plates diffused the sun rays. The high temperature which was distributed from the steel plate was enough to cook up and char an ordinary person. However Zero didn"t care about heat. Actually he didn"t sweat even a drop even though he wasn"t even wearing tactical clothes.
Zero"s body automatically adjusted the temperature and distributed the heat.
Zero had decided to observe Aaron"s team for more after his plan was halted because of Karen"s intervention. He decided to make another plan as he looked for an opportunity to save Leah. Zero had evaluated Aaron"s character. It seemed that the man won"t leave the ruins unless he got what he wanted from Zero. Nevertheless, Zero had given him a big slap in the face last night. A man like Aaron would only think of catching Zero and killing him.
Although Aaron had intelligence gathering training but it wasn"t such an easy thing to find Zero. Actually, Zero thought that Aaron wasn"t even qualified to find him. The only person that could trace and track down Zero in Aaron"s team was the tracking expert that followed Aaron. Zero didn"t mind to lead the expert out of the camp and use the environment to kill Aaron"s right hand man.
But, Zero knew that Aaron had a way to find him. It was a way which would make Zero appear on his own. Zero hoped that Aaron wouldn"t use that method because of his own self-declared dignity.
However, it seemed that Zero had overestimated the pride and dignity of Aaron. Zero"s face turned pale when he saw Aaron take out Leah from the camp.
Zero knew that it was the simplest and most effective method. However He was reluctant to see everything to play out this way.
“Zero!”
Aaron"s strong voice echoed around. The penetrative power of the voice was enough to cover a range of one kilometer. Moreover the empty buildings in the ruins echoed the voice and let it pa.s.s farther.
“I know that you are in the neighborhood. I got your woman and my follower is about to slice off her neck. I advise you to come out if you don"t want to see her killed. I will give you 1 minute. Afterwards the only thing that you will get is her corpse."
Aaron looked around as he shouted. Karen was next to him. He had the dagger by Leah"s neck. There was a distance of less than 5 cm between Leah"s artery and the knife. The soldiers were scattered around and there was almost no blind spot.
Everything was reflected in Zero"s golden eye. The dagger was like the scythe of the grim reaper that was about to cut off Leah"s neck. Zero would be easily able to shoot Karen"s head but it was possible for Karen to cut off Leah before his death. Zero didn"t dare to take this risk. Zero had a.n.a.lyzed Aaron and the other side seems to have studied Zero too.
Zero had used Aaron"s pride, dignity and self-esteem to push him into despair. It was natural for the other side to use his love for Leah to trap him too.
It was fair.
Zero stood up. Aaron wasn"t aware of Zero"s location until Zero moved towards him. Aaron was like a beast who turned towards the direction of water tower on reflex and instinct.
Their eyes met on air.
A soldier from the camp fired towards the tower but Zero was fast enough to dodge and jump from the water tower on the rooftop. The water tower turned into hornet"s nest.
“I didn"t say that you can dodge! Do you want her throat to be cut?” Aaron loudly laughed. He felt comfortable as he was getting back the hatred from the last night.
Zero was lying on the rooftop. They couldn"t fire at him because of his position. He looked at sky and shouted: "You can"t kill her! You must take her back alive!"
Cloth was stuffed into Leah"s mouth. She wanted to talk but only the "whining" sounds were issued out.
Aaron replied: “It"s true that she is valuable in terms of research. But we have already taken three tubes of blood from her. Those sample would be more than enough for the research. Moreover, last night I had already sent people to deliver the samples to the headquarters. The only use she has now is to capture you!"
Zero was silent.
“You should go far away now. There is no chance of winning for you.” It felt as if Aaron was playing cat and mouse game: “After all, she is just a woman. How many much more beautiful ones you will get in the future?"
“Or… I can let her go as long as you join my team and become my lap dog!”
There was still no reaction from Zero.
Aaron decided to hurry the process: “Zero, let"s make a gamble… Let"s bet! I am going to count up to ten. I"ll order Karen to kill her if you don"t appear by then."
Aaron began to count as soon as he finished his talk. Zero stood up as soon as Aaron said "one".
A soldier raised his rifle to shoot but Aaron gestured for him to stop. Aaron pointed to the ground: "Get down here. I don"t like when people look at me from top."
Zero was silent as he used the protrusions on surface of walls to get down. It didn"t take long for Zero to reach the ground. He was looking at Leah who had a sad expression on her face. She shook her head. She knew that Zero choose to succ.u.mb to Aaron because of her.
Aaron was also aware of the facts. However he was excited. Zero had made him feel frustrated so Aaron felt every cell in his body tremble in excitement at this moment.
“Are you willing to let go off her if I join your team?” Zero asked in a cold tone.
Aaron nodded.
“Alright, I"m joining it!” There was no hesitation in Zero"s tone.
Leah felt as if her heart was stabbed with a knife.
She remembered Zero tell her that he didn"t want to be anyone else"s lap dog. However, he was ready to sacrifice his freedom and pride without hesitation for her sake.
“Well, Zero.” Aaron narrowed his eyes: “There is this thing between us. You shot me twice yesterday, didn"t you? I"m going to be very fair with you. You will stand still and I"ll shoot you twice. We will be quits."
Leah desperately shook her head to make Zero disagree.
Zero looked at Leah. He gently smiled and nodded towards Aaron.
Aaron stretched out his hand and a soldier handed out him a pistol.
Aaron disabled the lock and pointed the muzzle of the pistol towards Zero. Aaron was very angry at Zero"s calmness. He shot at Zero"s thigh.
Bang~
Blood spewed out of the wound on Zero"s thigh. He knelt down. Aaron felt excited as he saw Zero kneeling in front of him.
Aaron laughed and the soldiers in the team began to laugh too. The waves of laughter echoed around.
Leah closed her eyes. She knew that Zero belonged to the wilderness and shouldn"t be kneeling in front of anyone like a lap dog.
She opened her eyes. There was determination in her eyes as if she had come to a decision.
Zero took a deep breath and slowly stood up.
Aaron stopped laughing the moment Zero stood up. He felt provoked by Zero"s move. Aaron moved the muzzle around and stopped at Zero"s chest. He was considering whether to take the opportunity to kill the man in front of him when…
Aaron heard the sound echoing from the back.
He knew that something wrong had happened so he quickly turned back. However he was unable to stop the situation.
A m.u.f.fled sound echoed as Leah went forward and the sharp blade of the dagger instantly cut off her arteries. The bright red blood sprayed around.
Aaron was perplexed and stunned.
No one would have thought that Leah would go to such a degree and commit a suicide.
Aaron mood turned furious. Leah"s blood sample was good but even an idiot knew that a live specimen was much valuable source for research. His anger was directed at Karen who had to prevent such a stupid thing from happening.
“Lord Aaron, listen to me …” Karen panicked as he saw Leah"s body tumble down at his feet. The red blood flew through the ground.
However, Aaron didn"t have time to scold as he heard creepy howl from behind him.
It was like the howl of an injured wolf. It was full of anger…with a mix of sadness.
Aaron turned to see Zero looking at sky as he roared. The next moment, Zero bent his head. There was a golden flame burning in his right eye!