Ning walked out from behind the building and looked at the terrorists.
"A kid?" one of them looked at him in surprise.
"Looks like the staff. How are those incompetent buffoons failing to keep a single young man in check?" one of the terrorists said.
"What do we do now, boss?" another one asked.
The scar-faced boss looked at Ning and frowned. "Are you one of the staff, boy?" he asked.
Ning found an opportunity, so he decided to take it. "Yes! Yes! I'm a zoo staff. Do you guys know what is happening around here? I was at the toilet and when I came out, it was like the zoo was closed," Ning said.
Getting closer, Ning could see the more distinct features of the boss. The gray hairs on his head, the patches of skin where he had no hair on his neck, as well as the grayed-out right eye where the scar was.
"Tsk, it's just a kid who went to shit at the wrong time. Hey you, send him to one of the others and make him stay there," one of the magisters ordered the other terrorists.
"You fucking idiot," the boss suddenly shouted.
The magister jumped a little when he heard his boss's voice. "What's wrong, boss?" he asked.
"What's wrong?" the scars on the man's face twitched. "Do you think that's just any kid? He clearly knows what's up and has been secretly listening to our conversation for the last couple of minutes probably."
"Not to mention, he said he walked here all the way from the toilet. Where do you think a staff member's first place to go is when they notice something weird?" the boss asked.
The other terrorists realized that something was wrong.
"Besides, him walking here without being noticed by anyone… that's just impossible. Get on guard, he's probably a fighter," the leader said.
Ning's facial expression immediately changed from that of someone confused to that of someone impressed.
"You have a good head on your shoulders. Shame it looks so ugly though," Ning said.
Suddenly, all the people around the leader brought out their guns and pointed them at Ning.
"Wh-Wha-What are you doing? Are you going to kill a kid?" the prince started freaking out.
"Calm down, your highness. Just close your eyes— it will be pretty quick," the scar-faced leader said. He then turned around to Ning and said, "I would've just captured you and kept you with the other hostages, but… you, you talked about my scar, teased it even."
"Unfortunately for you, I don't let anyone who talks about my scar, live," the leader said.
Unlike the other subordinates, the boss didn't bring out any guns. Instead, he simply moved his fingers.
Ning was fully focused on the boss at the moment, so he didn't notice what was happening around him fast enough.
Two benches that were laid around the junction came flying directly at Ning. He barely noticed it at the last moment and immediately ducked. The two benches hit each other, but they remained floating.
"Shit!" Ning thought and rolled out of the way before the boss dropped it where Ning was with a heavy force.
The benches were made up of metal, but even then they didn't survive the damage they were taking and were completely deformed.
That didn't mean they were any less dangerous. In fact, the jagged, crumbled metal was starting to look far more dangerous to be around.
Ning immediately stood up and saw the two crumbled benches coming flying towards him. This time, he didn't dodge. He put out his hands and stopped the benches mid-air.
The leader's facial expression changed when he saw that. He could feel a force acting on top of his own force, pushing it in the opposite direction.
'Not bad,' he thought when he realized that the young man in front of him was almost as strong as him. However, the boss had barely been using any of his powers.
Suddenly, the force behind the benches increased as Ning barely managed to react in time. The benches moved a little bit towards himself before he stopped it from moving.
The boss could feel the increase in force once again. 'This kid…' He was starting to realize how much of a trouble Ning was.
The subordinates looked back and forth and were wondering why the boss was playing with the kid. He was never the type to do so.
The boss increased his force behind the benches once again, but Ning was ready to counteract it.
The boss's eyes changed as he realized that Ning was a real threat. He then put all he could muster into the benches and pushed on it as hard as he could.
However, he couldn't move it one bit. He, an Aether King, was losing in a match of enchanting against a kid who worked in a zoo.
His pride was starting to be destroyed. However, he was never a person to act on his pride or his anger. He had a short temper, but he wasn't impulsive.
He didn't let the fact that he was losing get to his head and ruin the mission. The job came before him.
"Shoot him!" the boss suddenly said.
"What?" the subordinates were surprised.
"Shoot him!" the boss repeated.
"But, you are atta—"
"SHOOT HIM!!"
The subordinates got scared and immediately cocked their gun and pointed at Ning.
"Shit!" Ning realized he was in some trouble. He immediately added more energy to his telekinesis and ripped the benches away from the boss's control.
The men started shooting just then, and Ning used the benches as a barrier between him and the bullets. He had an actual barrier he put behind the benches, but it was daytime and hard to see.
The bullets rang all around as they hit the metal bench and made a loud noise. The prince was already looking away as he believed Ning would be dead by now.
However, not a single of those bullets even hit Ning.
