The bandit leader's halberd stopped in mid-air, before a dozen silhouettes scurried out of the pine forest.

    "Tetsu."

    "Uncle Pedro." Chetchen heard his Uncle Pedro's voice.

    The leader of the bandits grabbed Chechen by the neck and lifted him up, then put his arms around his neck. The two henchmen followed suit and wiped their short axes on top of Yuri's neck.

    "Don't come over. Come over again and I'll kill them both." The bandit leader said viciously. At this moment, the distance between the two groups was less than ten meters.

    "Let them go," Pedro said to the bandit leader as he waved the still smoldering stun gun in his hand. Obviously, the gunshot just now was fired by Pedro.

    "Let them go" the bandit leader also drew the blocking gun on his waist, he put the muzzle of the gun hard on Chechen's temple, looked at Chechen who showed a pained expression, and then looked at Edero as well as the several guns behind him, and said "Let them go do I still have a life? "

    "I'll agree to any conditions as long as you're willing to release them." Pedro signaled the men behind him to lower their guns, posing as if all terms were negotiable.

    "How are my men doing," the bandit leader asked about his companions without making any conditions.

    "We have seven of them." Pedro said. Apparently he was afraid of angering the bandits and intentionally said less about the deaths and injuries on the other side.

    Hearing this from Pedro, the bandit leader wore a sad expression.

    When Pedro and his men ran out of the pine forest, the leader had a feeling that his men were in a bad way, but when he really heard that so many of his men had died, the bandit leader was still overwhelmed with sadness. His two companions were also sad.

    "I'm going to make these two guys bury my brothers with me." The bandit leader's expression was shaped like a devil as he pulled the trigger of his stun gun.

    "Slow down. If you kill the two of them, your companions won't survive. By the time so many muskets on our side fire at once, you won't be able to survive either. How about we make a deal." Seeing that the bandit leader was about to lose his mind, Pedro hurriedly tried to calm him down.

    "What's the deal?"

    "You have seven on our side, we'll trade those seven for two of ours." Pedro offered the exchange.

    Seven of his own brothers exchanged for two children in his hands, it was obvious that his side had earned it. The bandit leader obviously realized this as well, as he slowly closed the open trigger back, and his arm around Chechen's neck wasn't as tight.

    "Well," Pedro asked again.

    "That's not a good enough offer." The bandit leader said.

    "So what do you want," one of the mercenaries behind Pedro said angrily. He seemed to have forgotten that he didn't even have the so-called seven prisoners on his hands.

    "Besides people, I want money. A lot of money." Obviously, the bandit leader also knew that the initiative was in his hands, and he began to ask for a lot of money.

    "We can give you three hundred Taylors." Pedro made the offer. Three hundred Taylors, just the right amount of loot from this seizure.

    "Three hundred to me that would have been my money." But the bandit leader wasn't stupid, he immediately saw something fishy in there.

    "So how much do you want" was all Pedro had to ask when the bandit didn't take the bait.

    "Two thousand Taylors." The bandit leader made his price.

    "Okay, two thousand is two thousand."

    "I want it now." The bandit leader added.

    "No one can come up with two thousand Taylors at once. I can give you three hundred up front, and then we'll ransom the man when we have enough money." Pedro said.

    Obviously, the bandit leader also felt that it was indeed impractical to ask this group of people to immediately come up with two thousand Taylors. He was silent for a while and said, "Okay, but you must release them first."

    "No way. What if you back out after releasing the person." This time, Pedro didn't even think about it and immediately opened his mouth to refuse. Who are you kidding, he only had two captives in his hands {he still didn't know that those two had already been killed by Malone}.

    "Release them first, or I'll kill them." The bandit leader threatened.

    The negotiation seems to be at an impasse again. The bandit side must want Pedro to release the people first, and the so-called seven hostages were nothing but a lie told by Pedro to stabilize the bandit leader, and unless God manifests himself now and resurrects those corpses to come back to life, Pedro can't do anything about the hostages at all.

    That's when something unexpected happened to the group. Pedro snapped and threw his gun on the snow, red-faced and jumping to his feet, yelling, "Shoot me, shoot me. I'm done talking. I don't want to be threatened by you scum anymore. Go ahead, shoot me, shoot me, big deal, we'll split up as a group. You kill one of us, and that blonde kid is just a bandwagon anyway. I'll kill three more of you to bury him. The big deal is that we'll give a thousand Taylors to his family. It's better than being threatened by you guys, and I, Alvar Pedro will never be threatened by anyone."

    Some people do hysterical things once they are pushed to the brink. The bandit leader didn't know if the guy in front of him didn't know if he had fallen into this state. But he didn't dare to gamble, Chechen and Yuri were the only chips in their hands. He had the intention to lower the price and temporarily give up the demand to get back the prisoners, but he was afraid that he would show weakness by opening his mouth first.

    On Pedro's side, Fidel and the others were also in an awkward situation. Because they also couldn't tell if Pedro meant what he said.

    Both sides just stared at each other wide-eyed.

    At this point, Chetchen, who was a hostage, said something.

    "Mr. Robber, I don't think you should ask our leader to release your companions at this time. Those people must have all been injured in the fight just now and have trouble moving. Even if our headmaster releases them how far will you be able to take them Besides, putting injured people outdoors on such a cold day would not be saving them but harming them."

    As a hostage, Tetsu wasn't trembling in fear like Yuri. Although Chechen usually acted innocently and mischievous, that was the innocence of a child of his age. When it came to the real trouble, little Chechen calmed down instead.

    He could see that Uncle Pedro's hysteria was both true and false, and that perhaps he had no hostages at all; and that he was trying to force the robbers to give in by this forcefulness, in order to buy time. And although the robber who held him hostage had a hard mouth, the arm around his neck was tightened and loosened, so it was clear that he was also conflicted and struggling in his heart. Therefore, Chechen said these words and gave the bandit leader a step. He was going to buy time for himself and Uncle Pedro, either to save himself or to be saved.

    "Are my brothers seriously injured" the bandit leader began to decline, obviously, he also felt that the stalemate was not a solution.

    "Heavy." Federo said.

    "Heavy." Cadeus chimed in.

    "Well then, you will first treat my brothers' wounds. Bring me the people and money tomorrow. I'll send someone to inform you of the location. If a man and a Taylor are missing. I'll kill them."

    Having said this, the bandit leader handed Chechechen over to the wounded companion beside him, and, holding his gun, unlocked a sled and sat on it.

    With that, two of the bandit henchmen escorted Chechen and Yuri to their seats as well.

    "Remember, one man, not one Taylor." The bandit leader emphasized one more time, then with a wave of the horse whip, the sleigh made two scratches in the snow and headed north.