At this moment, the rough voice from the cave entrance sounded again, "One minute is up. Since you refuse to cooperate with us, don't blame me. Hehe..."

"Help... help me... Ah!!" A woman's heart-wrenching scream echoed from the cave entrance. The people inside the cave heard this, feeling terrified but helpless. The woman's screams lasted for about twenty seconds before gradually subsiding. The excited voice of the man came through again, "Oh, why isn't she moving? Not even a good cut. Oh, it seems I cut her neck, but it's no big deal. There are still over thirty people here. I'll just pick someone else. Oh, this little girl seems to be Captain Gao's younger sister, named Gao Wan, quite delicate. I'll choose her next, hehehe..."

"You bunch of insane lunatics, release my sister now!" Gao Zhanxiang, upon hearing this, was enraged and rushed towards the cave entrance, but a burly middle-aged man beside him quickly held his shoulder, preventing him from going out.

Gao Zhanxiang looked back and saw that the person stopping him was Instructor Hong from the academy. He anxiously said, "Let me go, Instructor Hong, do you want me to watch my sister die at their hands?"

Instructor Hong stared with his eyes wide, "Why would I? My nephew is out there too, and I'm worried about them. But even if we rush out, we can't save them. It's just going to lead to our deaths!"

"What should I do then?" Gao Zhanxiang felt a mix of sorrow and confusion, looking at Li Ruobing. "Dean Li, either you let me go out and fight them, or we hand over 'Di Jiang' to them. I only have this one sister; I can't let her die!"

Li Ruobing's eyes were dull, showing a sense of helplessness and confusion. She wondered if handing over 'Di Jiang' was really the only way out. At that moment, Qin Yan, who hadn't spoken much, said, "Strange, how does that person outside know Captain Gao's sister? Could that person be an acquaintance of Captain Gao?"

Upon hearing Qin Yan's words, everyone realized that something was amiss. Lin Shiqi exclaimed, "I remember now. No wonder the voice sounded familiar. It's Liu Shi, that bastard Liu Shi. He hasn't been back to the academy for a long time. I almost didn't recognize him."

"Liu Shi?" Instructor Hong seemed to recall something, his face frozen in shock.

Li Ruobing noticed Instructor Hong's reaction and quickly asked, "Instructor Hong, do you know something?"

"It's like this," Instructor Hong slowly explained, "Liu Shi came to see me this morning, bringing a box of money. He asked me about 'Di Jiang' and said he would give me all the money in the box if I told him where 'Di Jiang' was. I told him I didn't know, and he left unhappily with the money."

"Such a thing happened." Li Ruobing pondered, "So, Liu Shi is a traitor. He inquired about 'Di Jiang's' whereabouts in advance to provide information to the Chiyou organization."

"What?" Gao Zhanxiang was shocked. His facial muscles twisted, and he said fiercely, "That traitorous Liu Shi, selling out our academy. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have spared him in the first place!" Gao Zhanxiang continued to pound the wall with his fists, filled with deep regret.

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Li Ruobing comforted Gao Zhanxiang, saying, "Captain Gao, this is not your fault. Even without Liu Shi, the Chiyou people would still invade our academy. Now, let's think about what methods we can use to deal with them."

"What methods?" Gao Zhanxiang, after venting his frustration, became extremely disheartened. "We have so many hostages in their hands. Even if we charge out and fight them now, these hostages will be killed by them. Besides handing over 'Di Jiang,' we have no other way."

"There is a way," Dream Butterfly suddenly said. Gao Zhanxiang, eager for a solution, quickly asked her, "What method? Tell me quickly!"

Dream Butterfly calmly said, "Captain Gao, please tell them that we want to exchange hostages."

"Exchange hostages?" Although Gao Zhanxiang didn't understand Dream Butterfly's plan, he shouted towards the outside, "Don't act recklessly out there. We want to exchange hostages with you."

Ten seconds later, the rough voice, presumably Liu Shi's, came from outside, "No exchange. We only want the divine beast 'Di Jiang.' Besides 'Di Jiang,' we want nothing else!"

"What do we do? He won't agree," Gao Zhanxiang looked at Dream Butterfly. She said, "Is there anyone among us that Liu Shi particularly cares about? Someone he either hates or likes."

"What does that mean?" Gao Zhanxiang was a bit puzzled by Dream Butterfly's idea. Suddenly, Qin Yan said, "Captain Gao, just say they can have me in exchange. Liu Shi would love to see me dead; he should agree."

Gao Zhanxiang was taken aback. After a moment of hesitation, he shouted towards the outside, "We want to exchange a young man named Qin Yan for the hostages."

There was no immediate response from outside, indicating they were considering it. After about twenty seconds, Liu Shi's voice came from outside, "Okay, I'll exchange him for three hostages."

"Tell him we want to exchange all the hostages!" Dream Butterfly whispered to Gao Zhanxiang. He immediately shouted, "No, I demand to exchange all the hostages."

The response from outside came promptly, "No, we'll exchange up to five hostages, no more."

Gao Zhanxiang was not foolish and began to negotiate, "This Qin Yan is not an official member of our academy. After we hand him over to you, you can do whatever you want with him, we won't interfere. But the condition is to exchange him for all the hostages."

There was a moment of silence from Liu Shi outside the cave, indicating that Gao Zhanxiang's words had some impact. Half a minute later, the voice from outside said, "Ten people. I'll let you exchange for ten people, no more, or there will be no deal!"

"Ten people?" Gao Zhanxiang looked at Dream Butterfly, "Should we agree?"

"No, either we rescue all the hostages at once, or exchanging for only ten people is meaningless. We will still have many hostages in their hands," Dream Butterfly said.

"Let's include me as well," Lin Shiqi interjected, "That scumbag Liu Shi has been after me for a long time, he should agree."

"This may not be a good idea. Shiqi, you are the granddaughter of the former dean. If we use you as an exchange, this..." Gao Zhanxiang hesitated, but Lin Shiqi stared at him and urged, "What kind of leader are you being so indecisive? Hurry up and tell me!"

Reluctantly, Gao Zhanxiang shouted towards the outside, "Include Miss Lin Shiqi as well. We demand to exchange all the hostages!"

After a moment of silence from outside, there was a response, "Okay, I'll let you exchange for twenty people. No more bargaining, stop wasting time!"

"Twenty people? Should we agree?" Gao Zhanxiang asked through the communication device.

"Include me as well," Li Ruobing spoke up.

"You, Dean Li?" Gao Zhanxiang was taken aback, thinking this was getting out of hand. Li Ruobing was the current dean of the Academy of Espers. Handing her over would be no different from surrendering.

"Quickly, this is the only option now. Do you want everyone outside to die?" Li Ruobing stared at Gao Zhanxiang. Under her intense gaze, Gao Zhanxiang had no choice but to shout towards the outside, "Include Dean Li Ruobing as well. The condition is to exchange all the hostages, not one less!"

This time, there was several minutes of silence from outside, indicating they were seriously considering Gao Zhanxiang's proposal. About five minutes later, there was a response from outside, "Okay, you have three minutes to hand over these three people, or the deal is off!"