Captives

A figure dashed swiftly towards them.

It was Nora.

Standing beside Reno, she looked up at the sky, watching the ship with its huge trail of flames flying towards space, and said leisurely, "You've gone soft, haven't you?"

Reno holstered his gun and turned away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I have a list of visitors from the Santiago family here. I found a familiar name, a familiar face, but I didn't find her among the hostages," Nora replied.

Reno paused for a moment, then finally said, "There are a lot of bullets here... I did my best."

Nora took a few steps forward and picked up a bullet, examining it closely.

Her expression turned grave. "These bullets... were they deformed by impact?"

She turned back to Reno, incredulous.

Reno nodded. "They're similar to Hawkeye, capable of capturing dynamic objects and reacting quickly, but they also consume a lot of energy."

"If she didn't use them to shoot down bullets..." Nora muttered, "she showed mercy to your men."

Reno shrugged and said nothing.

Antonia showed mercy to his men, and he did the same. In this matter, nobody owed anyone anything.

"But we lost the IntelliServ," Nora sighed.

"Don't worry, we'll get it back," Reno said.

Nora hesitated. "You mean..."

"We're going to Condor," Reno replied. "The Santiago family is a large clan, difficult to deal with, but that also makes them easy to find."

Condor, the Santiago family's headquarters, was practically owned entirely by the Santiago family. Since the IntelliServ was taken, it wouldn't have gone anywhere else.

"The Santiagos are not easy to deal with; they're a formidable force," Nora remarked.

"They're not harder to deal with than the New Federal Government," Reno replied.

After a moment's thought, Reno said, "But before that, let's use them to distract another trouble."

He opened the terminal and said, "Hey, Stephanie."

"What's up?" Batgirl's voice came from the other end of the terminal, somewhat frantic. "If you're here to mock me, you've succeeded, but I won't let go!"

"I just wanted to tell you that what we wanted has been taken away," Reno replied.

"What?" Stephanie was stunned, her eyes brightening as she realized, "The ship that just flew away?"

"While it's not far, you still have a chance to catch up," Reno replied leisurely.

"Why should I believe you? Maybe you're deliberately deceiving me?" Stephanie retorted.

"Ike, send the battle data I just had to Ms. Stephanie," Reno ordered, then closed the terminal.

He didn't say anything more, and there was no point in saying anything more. He believed that the battle data would make the vampire queen understand.

Of course, because Reno deliberately delayed, the Bioforms would definitely not be able to catch up with Antonia. That was exactly what Reno needed; he only needed the Bioforms to leave, but he didn't want them to get hold of the IntelliServ. He had nowhere to find them.

Soon, the airships in the sky began to turn towards Antonia's ship, chasing after her.

"It's like a pack of dogs; wherever you throw the bone, they'll go," Nora scoffed.

"Don't be like that, Nora. They're just a group of pitiful people," Reno sighed, walking towards the research institute.

The battle was over, but there was still a lot of cleanup work to be done—large amounts of advanced equipment in the institute needed to be moved, prisoners needed to be dealt with, and data needed to be collected.

All the captives were gathered in a spacious hall.

Fernando and Daniel were there too.

When Reno arrived at the hall, these people looked bleak, their faces full of worry about their future.

They didn't know how Reno would treat them.

Would he let them go? Or kill them? Or something else?

Some even sobbed softly.

At this moment, Reno walked over, standing on the platform, looking down at everyone, but not saying a word.

Until the sobbing gradually stopped, and everyone looked at Reno, the previously noisy atmosphere gradually became dead silent, and Reno finally spoke.

He said:

"You are all my captives, and I will decide your fate."

"I will not kill you, but I will not let you go easily either."

"Before announcing how I will deal with you, I want to let you know who we are."

With a wave of his hand, the big screen showed photos of soldiers being treated unfairly in the hospital and a detailed explanation of the Free Heart incident.

As they looked at the photos and read the shocking words, learning about the experiences of Reno and the others, the captives whispered to each other, feeling some sympathy for this group of people.

Reno continued, "As you can see, we are a group of people abandoned by the country. We fought bravely but ended up being treated like lambs! We cannot accept such a fate, so we declare war on this government! We want them to know that brave soldiers should never receive such treatment! They must pay for their actions!"

"But what does this have to do with us?" a captive asked.

"Of course it matters," Reno replied. "We want to let the public know about everything we've experienced. But every time we put this information online, it quickly disappears. They try to cover everything up and label us as traitors to the country! So we have to fight back!"

He looked at everyone, took a few steps, and then said, "The Tianhe Four Research Institute is the most important research institute of the New Federal Government. Those who can appear here are the elites of human society. They are either genius scientists or successful businessmen. I believe that your capture will definitely bring pressure to the federal government."

Someone finally understood Reno's meaning and said with a pale face, "You want to use us to force the government to admit what they've done?"

"Yes," Reno replied.

"They will never agree!" someone shouted. These people understood too well how much damage such a scandal would cause to the government once it got out. Even if the captives here were important, they wouldn't agree.

Reno replied coldly, "Then I'll just capture more people until they agree."

Everyone was desperate at the same time.

Didn't this mean they would never be able to leave?

"Of course, one thing you can rest assured of is that as long as you don't cause trouble, you will all be treated well here. I mean, I won't mistreat prisoners," Reno added with a smile.

Then he waved his hand, letting everyone be taken away.

Next was to wait for the Abradix to take care of the Tianhe Fleet. Once that was done, these people would belong to them.

"I don't understand, boss," Tychus walked over and asked, "Are you really planning to use this method to force the federal government to surrender?"

Reno gave him a strange look. "That's impossible, Tychus. I never expected that."

"Then why are you doing it?" Tychus was completely confused.

Reno said softly, "Because we need people, especially talented ones. Here at the Tianhe Four Research Institute, even the most ordinary researchers are famous scientists outside. They are a huge wealth. We can't just focus on equipment; people are more valuable assets!"

Tychus suddenly realized, "So you're just looking for an excuse!"

"Yes, just an excuse, an excuse to detain them," Reno replied. "We need an excuse to keep these people, saying directly that we want them to serve us definitely won't work. They will slack off, protest, or even resist. We need a reasonable excuse to keep them here, while also giving them hope. When that hope is shattered, we can still blame the federal government."

"So that's it." Not only did Tychus nod repeatedly, but even the virus Modicamela on the terminal was impressed.

"But they are just captives, how can we make them serve us?" the virus asked.

"Because they are captives, they will strive to find opportunities to serve us," Reno replied. "Improving living conditions through labor, isn't that what a captive should strive for?"

Everyone understood.

Wang Yile murmured, "So, we can't treat them too well next."

"That's right. We have to let them understand that as captives, they can't expect good treatment. But as social elites, they can change everything through their own efforts. As long as they have an unwavering heart, they can create miracles!" Reno said leisurely.

"And what we need to do is give them enough opportunities to create miracles."