Chapter 283

After observing the state of middle-aged Joshua’s soul and confirming he wasn’t lying, Leon couldn’t help but frown slightly, realizing that Joshua must have seen something in the future.

Most likely, there was some oversight on his part, or perhaps there was an issue with the ship, leading to the outbreak of war in the future. Desperate to prevent this, middle-aged Joshua risked being caught again to infiltrate the boarding tower and stop Leon from retreating, demanding that the entire airship be destroyed.

So… this time, he’s half an ally?…

“Don’t trust him! He’s probably up to no good!”

As Leon pondered whether to take the advice, the burned man, Tiger, squinted and said:

“If we really blow up the airship, that bastard will just open a door and run away. What about us? Not to mention, there are five, six, seven, or eight patrol checkpoints below, with at least two to three thousand soldiers. Even if I burn myself out, I might not be able to break through.”

“Tiger’s right.”

On the other side, the portly Oliver sighed and added with a worried expression: “When we came, I noticed that the area below the tower was cleared very thoroughly, without even a pile of rocks to hide behind. They don’t need to get close; just two rounds of covering fire would pin us back in the tower.

And what’s worse, just 500 meters outside the patrol zone is a mechanical unit stationed there. The military’s power armor is too thick, with outer and inner armor plus insulation layers, totaling over ten centimeters thick. Even small-caliber shells can’t penetrate it. If it comes to that, we’re really just waiting to die.”

Indeed, this problem is even more critical.

After hearing their words, Leon’s frown deepened.

Originally, the rebels might have agreed to raid the boarding tower or even blow up the airship because they could rely on middle-aged Joshua’s [Gate of the Other Side] to retreat at any time. But now that he’s been expelled from the rebels, there’s no way he’ll help.

So even if middle-aged Joshua is telling the truth, if we blow up the airship and attract the attention of that mechanical unit, aside from myself, the rest of the rebels will likely be wiped out…

“Want to cooperate once?”

After weighing the consequences in his heart, Leon couldn’t help but take a deep breath and chose to trust middle-aged Joshua, extending an olive branch with a sincere expression:

“We’ll handle blowing up the airship, and you’ll safely evacuate everyone on the airship and us. How about it?”

Although middle-aged Joshua and I don’t see eye to eye, and he’s been cozying up to the Aquarius Director, since his obsession with saving the kingdom is strong enough to create an anomaly like the [Gate of the Other Side], he probably wouldn’t lie about this.

On one side are the rebels who have entrusted their lives to me and are willing to take risks with me, and on the other is a potential war that could last over a decade with countless casualties. If we can achieve both, cooperating with him once isn’t out of the question.

Seeing Leon “back down,” middle-aged Joshua, a hundred meters away, slowly grinned, letting out a satisfied chuckle before suddenly wiping the smile off his face.

“Not happening!”

??!

Under the astonished gazes of the rebels, middle-aged Joshua, who had risked coming to warn them, leaned against the steel frame of the boarding tower, crossed his arms, and sneered: “Back in the valley, didn’t you look down on my decisions and disapprove of my methods of sacrificing lives? Well, now it’s your turn to make a choice.

In any case, don’t even think about cooperation. I absolutely won’t open a door for you. Right now, you either sacrifice them to get the job done or slink away like a dog with your tail between your legs, watching this airship return to Korok.

Choose! I want to see how much better you are than me, since you look down on me!”

“…”

…

“Damn it!”

“Nathan! Don’t go too far!”

“I’ll kill you!”

After hearing middle-aged Joshua’s taunts, the rebels’ anger was thoroughly ignited. The most reckless of them, the burned man Tiger, erupted in flames, ready to charge over and attack.

But at that moment, the holy spirit pendant on Leon’s chest flickered, and Tiger, who had already charged seven or eight meters, was forcibly stopped in his tracks.

After pulling the burned man back, Leon frowned and said:

“Preventing the message from getting back is one of your most important goals. You wouldn’t want to let the airship return to Korok over such a trivial reason, would you?”

“True, I don’t want that to happen.”

After openly admitting Leon’s judgment, middle-aged Joshua stared into his eyes, full of malice, and said: “But I also don’t want you to live!”

As Leon’s frown deepened, middle-aged Joshua said with hatred:

“Before coming here, I saw… I know what you’re planning! You and the kingdom absolutely cannot coexist! If you really leave this tower, I’ll still lose everything in the future! And while cooperating with you might temporarily avoid war, it would still destroy my kingdom!”

“…”

“They might not know, but you should be able to tell whether I’m telling the truth or lying, right?”

It’s all true. He really is prepared to let the airship leave.

Seeing middle-aged Joshua, who had revealed a bit of the future to “convince” him, with a large streak of white hair at his temples, Leon couldn’t help but fall into silence before asking:

“Aside from seeing the distant future, you must have also seen what happens today, right? In the ‘today’ you saw, what choice did I make?”

Joshua fell silent for a moment, then turned his head and vaguely replied: “You already know.”

Indeed… I already know what choice to make.

Glancing at Joshua, who was hiding at a safe distance, and the maintenance door behind him that remained slightly ajar, Leon couldn’t help but sigh and calmly said:

“Open the door for the others. I’ll stay and blow up the airship.”

“Leader?!”

Hearing Leon’s words, the rebels were deeply moved, their eyes filled with emotion, but they also gritted their teeth and tried to stop him:

“Maybe… I should stay instead?”

“No! Don’t agree to this!”

“There might be another way…”

“There’s no other way. This is the best choice right now.”

After waving his hand to stop the rebels, Leon explained helplessly:

“When he showed up here, it was already impossible for us to retreat safely. There are so many patrols below; just one flare would draw them all over. So whether we blow up the airship or not, the result will be the same.

Rather than accomplishing nothing and being surrounded by those patrols, it’s better to negotiate terms, let you all evacuate safely, and I’ll handle the rest, right?”

“But you…”

“No buts. Go on.”

After urging them again, Leon comforted them gently:

“Have you forgotten? I have an immortal body. With his half-baked foresight, he might not actually be able to kill me. Go on, don’t worry!”

(End of chapter)