CHAPTER 52: CHAPTER 52: NEGOTIATION

Two minutes later, the officer returned to Sun Hang and nodded, "You can go in, but you can’t bring any weapons. Throughout the negotiation process, the commander’s personal safety must be ensured... In addition, Ye Xuan must be kept alive."

"So the higher-ups’ meaning is... we can get physical?" Sun Hang’s lips curled into a playful smile, "As long as the commander and Ye Xuan aren’t dead, right? Missing an arm or a leg shouldn’t be a problem, huh?"

The officer didn’t speak, just gave him a warning look.

"Alright, it’s time for the negotiation expert to step up." Sun Hang adjusted his collar, took the recorder handed to him by another officer on the side, and casually slipped it into his pocket, "Let’s go."

...

The command room door was controlled by an engine, but the control mechanism had long been destroyed by the captors, completely locking the door.

The soldier leading the way pressed the door button several times, but the door didn’t budge an inch. Helplessly, he shook his head at Sun Hang and the others.

"We’ll need a cutter or laser to break the door open... but we’re worried doing so might provoke an extreme reaction from the captors..."

Before the soldier finished speaking, Wang Xiyi strode forward, her fingers turned into sharp claws in an instant, and she jammed them into the door gap.

In two seconds, the locked door was forcibly pried open by her brute strength.

What followed was a crisp gunshot.

The shot hit the ground less than half a meter from the door, the bullet striking the metallic floor, sending sparks flying, a clear warning.

But Wang Xiyi completely ignored the gunshot, striding straight into the command room.

"Stop!" a man in black shouted a warning, "Get any closer, and I’ll shoot!"

Wang Xiyi still didn’t stop, ignoring the warning completely.

The man in black obviously didn’t expect this strangely dressed woman to be so headstrong. After a brief hesitation, he shifted his aim from a fatal point to her calf, then pulled the trigger—

"Bang—clang!!"

Along with the gunshot, there was the distinctive clink of metal hitting metal,

revealing black scales with a metallic texture covering Wang Xiyi’s calf. The bullet had struck right on the scales—bouncing off without leaving so much as a scratch on them.

"What?!" The man in black’s pupils narrowed slightly, just about to speak when Ye Xuan, sitting on a chair, stood up and turned around.

"Hunter from Celestial City?" Ye Xuan spoke.

She used a neutral false voice, seemingly to match her male disguise, though the slightly raised arc on her chest betrayed her true gender.

"Pretty smart, quick to respond." Sun Hang stepped out from behind Wang Xiyi.

"You guys aren’t here to negotiate with me, are you?" Ye Xuan’s gaze moved back and forth between Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi, "As far as I know, the temporal anomalies were first discovered by the Hunters from Celestial City... It’s you guys, isn’t it?"

"Yes." Sun Hang readily admitted.

"The representative’s special plane will land at this base soon, and I’ve done everything I can." Ye Xuan looked directly into Sun Hang’s eyes, "Next..."

"Next, please put forth another condition, ask the Celestial City Management Committee to gather all the missing persons from the Cemetery Incident in the south of the city here." Sun Hang showed a slightly helpless smile, "Anyway, you’ve done so much already, one more request and two don’t make a difference."

"Tsk... I thought you guys could handle this." Ye Xuan’s mouth twitched, "I know there’s a lot of idiots in the Celestial City Management Committee, but I didn’t think there could be so many."

"If it seems absurd, it’s a good thing. I’m at wit’s end, that’s why I came up with this expedient." Sun Hang shrugged.

"I’ll have them bring the people here, but please tell me the time." Ye Xuan said solemnly.

"What time?" Sun Hang feigned ignorance.

"The time of the next temporal anomaly."

"How can you be sure I know when that is?"

"If you were to ask me, it’s just intuition."

"With just intuition, you led these ten or so people, stormed the Longquan Air Force Base, and took the base commander hostage?" Sun Hang was a bit startled, "You must be crazy."

"My intuition has always been accurate." Ye Xuan repeated, "Tell me, the time."

"Three days later, May 19th, I don’t know the exact time." Sun Hang put away his smile and said seriously, "During the second resonance with that thing, what I saw was a gloomy sky, unable to determine whether it was morning or afternoon, but it should be during the day."

"Three days... okay, I understand." Ye Xuan nodded, "You may go. You know better than I what needs to be done."

"You’re not planning on holding out for three days, are you?" Sun Hang couldn’t help but ask.

"As long as your theory is proven correct, these three days will be worth it." Ye Xuan nodded, "I just hope you don’t waste my efforts."

"I’m a bit curious, why are you doing this?" Sun Hang asked.

"Ever since I can remember, I’ve been determined to eliminate all anomalies, though I know this ideal is unreachable, I’ve never given up." Ye Xuan said, "As a Hunter, that’s what you should think too, right?"

Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi exchanged a look, the latter shook her head, "I became a Hunter just because the pay is high enough... Plus, as an infected person, living a normal life without being a Hunter is difficult, I had no choice."

...

The entire negotiation process took only five minutes, and Sun Hang and Wang Xiyi withdrew from the command room.

The Celestial City Management Committee also received Ye Xuan’s new request—though reluctantly, they still gathered the missing persons together and transported them to Longquan Air Force Base using several buses.

"What exactly do you plan to do?" The officer who earlier called to consult his superiors once again found Sun Hang, questioning him.

"Didn’t you hear the content of the negotiation? Just wait three days, if nothing happens in three days, they’ll naturally release the commander." Sun Hang said, "By the way, please clear out an enclosed camp in the base, gather those brought here, along with the council representatives inside this camp, and prohibit anyone from entering or exiting for three days."

"And what happens after three days?" The officer asked further.

"That depends on what happens on the third day."