The belief was further strengthened as Zach acted completely baffled by his vanished enemy. Zach looked around like a bewildered fool further inviting the leader to attack him.

The leader circled around him intending to flank him with a beautifully engraved dagger in his hand. 𝐞𝗼𝘃𝐞𝐥．𝗰𝐨𝗺

Zach spun around in a circle and finally stealthily took out his pistol and firmly grasped it in his hand with his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice.

As soon as the leader took action, Zach turned towards him with the pistol in his hand and shot him straight in the chest without blinking an eye.

“I told you, I didn’t want to kill you but you just wouldn’t listen.” Zach let out a sigh as he looked down at the smoking gun in his hands.

The leader gurgled blood as his lungs filled with blood. The excessive bleeding made him feel anemic and the ruptured lung caused him to choke on his own blood.

Zach didn’t let him suffer for long and shot once more to end his suffering. This time, he aimed for the head and gave him a swift death.

The body of their leader lay motionless in front of them before the subordinates could even notice how the kid had managed to take down their leader.

All they heard was a loud explosive sound and their leader fell to the ground drowning in his blood, convulsing. Another loud sound and the convulsions stopped altogether.

Some of the subordinates panicked and ran, afraid for their lives. The smoking tube in the hands of the kid brought the subordinates immense fear. The lanky one that enjoyed flattering the boss was among those runners.

“I guess the loyal dog wasn’t so loyal after all. Turned tail and ran the moment the boss died.” Zach muttered to himself as he made a mental note to himself to avoid such honey tongued serpents in the future.

But some of the more foolish yet loyal ones stayed to fight Zach.

Zach didn’t care either way. Those who attacked him were shot to death in a heartbeat.

Zach targeted their vitals in a swift but decisive manner. Even though he hadn’t wanted to kill people, that didn’t mean that he would show mercy to those who came at him with the intention to kill him. He wasn’t foolish enough to do that.

Zach stared at his work and then at the remaining ones who had witnessed the whole thing and were too scared or shocked to flee or fight.

He let them make their decision as he locked his eyes with them hoping that they would take the hint.

It wasn’t long before they did. They ran as if being chased by a demon from hell, with eyes full of panic and their bowels loose from the stress of being glared at by those cold demonic eyes.

Zach watched them leave for some time before letting his guard down and taking a look at the woman who was still sprawled all over the floor unable to get up.

Zach took a close look at her for the first time. Earlier he had only been able to look at her from the back and after that he had been too busy keeping an eye on the enemy leader.

The girl was definitely breathtaking. Her figure alone was enough to register her amongst the greatest beauties that he had ever had the fortune of laying his eyes on. Her perfectly oval face and thin nose gave an impression of charming innocence. While her watery eyes only added a seductive charm to her countenance.

Zach gave her a reassuring smile and tried to approach her in order to help her up.

But the girl was too out of her mind to tell if he was a friend or an enemy. She crawled backwards with her hands while dragging her legs with each push. Her eyes betrayed the terror hidden behind her charming appearance.

Zach looked into those fear stricken eyes and was baffled to find that she was afraid of him. The way the girl was desperately trying to get away from him, hurt in him in ways that he couldn’t even fathom. It was as if he was some kind of monster trying to devour her whole.

Zach put on the kindest expression he could have mustered and tried to approach her again, only to receive the same treatment from her as earlier.

“That’s some incredible trust issues she’s got.” Zach mumbled under his breath not wanting her to hear him grumbling.

He couldn’t understand why she was so scared of him. He had saved her from the slavers and hadn’t shown any intention of harming her. He had even gone out of his away to appear kind and generous. Yet the girl didn’t find him trustworthy at all.

“She must still be in shock. There can be no other reason.” Zach finally pushed all the responsibility on to the slavers and tried to approach her once again.

The girl tried to back away once again but the effort that she had put in to move caused her to pass out, finally allowing Zach to reach her.

Zach didn’t delay and took out his first aid equipment as he began treating her wounds. She only had some shallow wounds on her body since the slavers would have had trouble selling injured merchandise.

Zach began to treat her wounds as efficiently and speedily as possible. He didn’t want to be anywhere near her when she regained her consciousness. Zach was worried that she might get startled and burn him to a crisp without even giving him a chance to explain himself.

The reason she had fainted wasn’t because she had been injured but because she had been too tired to stay awake.

Zach deduced that she must have been pursued by those bastards for quite a while before she was cornered.

Zach didn’t touch her too much fearing that he might get blamed for something improper later on. He decided to treat the wounds that were visible to him and were of grave nature. The ones on the sensitive areas remained untouched.

“There would be time for this later on once she starts to trust me or she can treat it herself. None of them seem to be very serious anyway.” Zach thought before moving his eyes away from her chest that was undulating heavily with every breath.

When the girl woke up, her throbbing injuries had already begun to heal. Some of them had already scabbed while the rest were in the process of the same. Even the bruises and the swelling around the bruised areas had gone down.

She was pleasantly surprised at first but then her eyes fell on Zach who was lounging around nearby while keeping an eye on her and her expression turned sour in an instant.

She was unwilling to believe that Zach had any good intentions towards her. She had seen too many humans like him to believe anything good about him. She had already seen their penchant for treachery and the daggers hidden behind their cunning words.

“Don’t pretend to be a good one. I hate hypocrites like you the most. I would actually prefer if you actually showed your real face no matter how evil it is, instead of the kind and benevolent fa?ade you keep up in front of me. If you have the guts to do evil, why bother pretending to be a saint?” The girl had looked like a sweet angel while she had been asleep but as soon as she opened her mouth, she spat poison straight on Zach’s face. She didn’t even try to hold herself back as if Zach wasn’t worth even that much.

Zach had already expected such an outburst but even he couldn’t have comprehended the extent of it. Not delaying any further, Zach looked at her and spoke out in a cool and calm voice that was devoid of any aggression or anger. It was as if her earlier words hadn’t affected him at all.

“Since you look like you have healed already, you are free to leave. No one’s stopping you since you seem to hate it here so much.”

“Ha…I knew you wouldn’t let me go…wait WHAT?” The girl couldn’t believe her ears as she heard Zach’s words.

<quillbot-extension-portal></quillbot-extension-portal>