Heidi looked closer and screamed like she had lost her mind. It was a mutilated body, my adoptive father, her real father, Stephen.
A hunched figure stepped out from the corner, smiling darkly.
The system’s cold voice spoke in my head: This man is the Butcher.
As Heidi cried and begged for mercy, a group of armed police officers burst through the door, shouting loudly, “Release the hostages, or we’ll open fire!”
My brother, eyes red, rushed to the front and roared, “Let my sister go! I’ll make sure you die with a whole body!”
Hearing Heidi’s cries, Atlas shouted into the room, “I’ll give you three billion, just let Heidi go!”
The Butcher laughed, his voice cold and full of hate.
“I didn’t plan to kill anyone at first. But someone killed and blamed me for it, and I wasn’t convinced. Since that’s how it is, I’ll kill one more. This time, you’d better watch closely, this one’s mine.”
He spoke slowly. “I caught two people this time. You can choose. Whichever one you pick, that one lives. One is the girl whose name you just called, and the other is….”
Before he could finish, my brother and Atlas shouted at the same time, “We choose Heidi!”
“I choose Heidi!”