Reincarnated as an Energy with a System - Chapter 1861: Hostages

Chapter 1861: Hostages

Ning reacted immediately, spinning around the horns like a matador would, dodging the minotaur at the last second. The minotaur skidded to a halt, turned around and charged right back toward him.

“What are you doing?” Ning asked with a confused look. “Just because I stopped you from killing yourself doesn’t mean you should try and kill me instead.”

The minotaur came right toward him this time and Ning simply blocked him. He softened the block a little by moving backward, but the minotaur still cried out like he had struck a wall at full speed.

Ning looked at the man writhing in pain and frowned a little. He looked the man over, guessing at something.

“You’re a participant, aren’t you?” Ning asked. “I didn’t guess you would be disruptive in this way.”

The minotaur slowly raised his head, looking at Ning with a hateful expression.

Ning shrugged. “Well, just in case, let me get you off the building.”

He carried the minotaur, despite its clear refusal, and brought him over to the stairway, only to find out that it was locked.

“Let go of me!” the minotaur kept on shouting, but Ning ignored him all the same.

Ning looked around the place, trying to see if there was some other way to open the lock to the door. “How did you get up here?” he asked, unable to see another way up. “Did you fly? Can you fly?”

The minotaur didn’t answer at all. Ning could’ve ripped the door off its hinges, but property damage was something to consider when helping people too, and if you could keep it to a minimum, you should.

It hardly mattered if you did something good if it was followed by hundreds of thousands of Jorans of damages every time. Having no other means to open the door and no time to waste, Ning decided to go down the other way.

As he approached the ledge, the minotaur began to panic. He had been very careful not to step too close to the ledge, but now Ning was standing a step away from freefall.

“Stop! Stop! My friend is on the other side. He’s holding the door d—”

Before the minotaur could finish his words, Ning fell.

The minotaur screamed for the first half, and then promptly fell unconscious for the second half. Ning transformed into a bat halfway through, slowing their descent. As he reached the ground, he gently placed the man on the ground and flew back up into the sky, searching for more people to save.

It wasn’t just people he needed to save that Ning could see, but also the various other heroes. There were many that wore colorful outfits to stand out, helping those in need.

Ning saw a dragonborn with some sort of magnetic power, helping the victims of a car crash. He saw a Tabaxi man controlling ropes that tied two robbers to a light pole. Another man crawled up the side of a building, heading toward the roof.

Everyone was hard at work, helping as many people as they could. Ning needed to do that as well. He went around, searching for people to help and then helping them.

Staying away from the ground helped him not get caught off-guard by any more conflict makers.

As he traveled, he suddenly saw many police cars gathering at a location. He flew down to see what was going on. The roads were blocked off and the cops formed a barricade around a single building.

Ning looked toward the building, realizing it was a bank.

“You are surrounded. Come out with your hands behind your back,” one of the cops spoke into a loud microphone.

Ning looked inside the bank through the windows and saw a hostage situation. Many individuals were on the ground with their hands on their heads, while 4 people walked around with big guns.

Ning could only see 4, but there was a chance there were many more robbers inside.

’A bank robbery, huh? A perfect situation that needs a hero,’ Ning thought, considering how he was going to help them. He glanced around at the others that had gathered, heroes that were ready to help too. None dared to jump into the thick of things, however.

Ning looked at the bank and tried to see if he could go down through the roof. He couldn’t see anything from here, so he would have to check from there. Even though he thought that, he didn’t immediately move. He needed to wait and understand the situation first.

Jumping into the thick of things while being overconfident about his ability was one good way to lose his chance at his hero license. He had to wait.

“How can I help?” one of the heroes, a male wood elf, walked up to the cops and asked. Seeing the elf take initiative, the other heroes stepped forward as well, trying to get direct info from the cops.

Ning walked ahead as well.

“Are you heroes?” the cop asked, looking at them. “There is a robbery in progress. Nearly 30 people are hostages inside that bank right now. There are 7 masked men inside, but more could be the case as we haven’t gotten a clear understanding of what is going on inside.”

“I can help you with that,” a Tabaxi woman said. “Give me a moment.”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened them. Her eyes seemed to turn gray as she stared at the bank. She mumbled some things under her breath that most couldn’t hear. Ning could tell though that she was counting.

“35 hostages in the main area. 4 more behind the clerk counter,” she said. “6 people in the main hall, 2 of them are standing right behind the wall. 2 more are with the clerks. I can’t see beyond that.”

The woman closed her eyes and her body sagged as if a lot had been drained out of her. She opened her eyes again, looking around.

“I could only see the main hall. There may be more in the rooms beyond. We have to be careful.”