Release That Succubus



The only thing Hogan could feel at the moment was remorse at not locking up his bastard of a son during this crucial time. His carelessness had allowed the Smith family to have an upper hand against them in a negotiation that would have no doubt ended in their favor.

Hogan finally calmed down after there was nothing left to demolish. Only wooden debris from the smashed furniture remained around Hogan after he regained control of his senses once again.

Just when he was about to launch into another fit of fury, an idea popped into his mind that immediately cleared the clustered murderous intentions within.

Hogan found that his son's capture might not necessarily have been a bad thing. At the very least it had answered one of his questions regarding Zach. Previously he had been curious as to what Zach thought about the woman he was keeping as hostage.

Although he hadn't dared to harm her for fear of Zach's unbridled retaliation, he also couldn't tell if Zach placed any importance on her well-being or not. Zach's continued indifference and unresponsiveness had even given him the impression that he didn't care about the life and death of the woman at all.

But now that Zach had made a move and had captured his son in one go, it could only mean that Zach had planned it all to ensure Diana's safe return.

Hogan laughed uncontrollably at this aspect of the disastrous news. The gears in his mind whirred at unimaginable speeds surpassing the normal brain operation.

Although Zach had one upped him by capturing his son, Hogan believed that he could still turn the situation around if he played his cards right. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to bring down the entire Smith family in one go.

Hogan dismissed the guard who had brought the news and hurried back to his room. Ordering the guards outside to prohibit anyone from disturbing him, he locked himself in the room. To the outsiders it looked like he was throwing a temper tantrum like a little kid who had failed to have his way with the world.

While in reality, Hogan was busily thinking about the hostage exchange that Zach had suggested. His cunning mind was especially brilliant when it came to scheming.

Hogan considered all the possibilities. He took into account the strength of the Smith family that his intelligence had confirmed and began to go over all the permutations of the situation in his head. Most of the permutations ended in his failure but the night was too long and there were still a ton of possibilities left to ponder upon.

Finally, as the first ray of light appeared on the horizon, Hogan chanced upon a brilliant idea; an idea that was perfectly capable of producing the results he desired from the hostage exchange.

With a satisfied smile adorning his frightening visage, Hogan could barely keep his excitement from bubbling out of him as he finalized a few minor details regarding his scheme.

…

Zach was in high spirits as his plan to capture Nelson had been executed flawlessly. He finally had the means to get Diana back from the clutches of the Hunter family after all this time. He could finally breathe now that he didn't have to feel guilt and remorse eating away at him from the inside for not being able to help Diana even though he had such a large force at his discretion.

Together with Christina and the others, he was trying to figure out the details regarding the exchange that he had in mind. There was no doubt in his mind that the hostage exchange would be studded with schemes.

Therefore, he was planning some schemes of his own so as to not get done in by the enemy at such a crucial time.

But before he could begin the meeting, an alert from the system consumed all of his attention.

The system had issued several alarms before, some saved him from an impending attack, some warned him of potential hiding in the vicinity and some warned him about the danger level of the enemy. But the alert this time was completely different from those times.

The transparent screen was no longer normal, it was blinking blood red like the final alert of a submarine that had sprung a leak and was about to sink.

The alarm that accompanied it was so loud that it almost exploded his eardrums. He couldn't help but put his hands on his ears in order to keep the sound from affecting his hearing capability. But none of his efforts even reduced the volume of the alarm by a little bit.

It was as if the sound was ringing out from within him and there was no possible method of stopping it from outside of his body.

As such, he somehow ordered the system to dismiss the alarm but the screen in front of him continued to blink red as if warning him of his impending doom.

The notification he received as a result of his demand stunned him to the core. He had to admit that this kind of threat deserved such an alarm system at the very least.

According to the system, there was a disaster headed straight towards Greenland in three days' time.

The reason for the disaster was even more unbelievable. A meteorite field was expected to pass through the planet's range of gravitational pull in three days. Unfortunately, the pull was sufficient enough to draw in the meteorites towards the surface of the planet leading to a massive meteorite shower.

If it had been only up to this, Zach wouldn't have felt so worried. The problem began when the system announced the possible point of impact of those meteorites. 

The landing zones estimated by the system showed that the possibility of the meteorites falling on to Greenland was as high as eighty percent. Even the chances that the meteorites would end up becoming weaker due to the gravitational acceleration were extremely low. Therefore, it was almost a given that Greenland would be destroyed in three days' time completely.

Zach finally understood what that kind of horrendous sounding alarm truly meant. 

It meant that he was totally fucked this time.

A literal natural disaster was coming for his home, and he couldn't possibly do anything about it. After all, he couldn't change the trajectory of heavenly bodies even with the greatest advancement in science. It wasn't possible even in his previous world that was so far ahead of this world.

Zach couldn't take it anymore as he fell down on his butt in a moment of extreme helplessness.

He couldn't help but ponder where he had gone wrong to deserve such an ordeal from the heavens. 

More than himself, he was worried about the people who had built their home with their own hands after being forced to leave their previous one. How could he tell those people that they were about to lose their home all over again?

Zach didn't have that much courage. He almost broke down and his brain almost stopped functioning.

He had yet to bring back Diana, but a new problem had already shown itself. He wondered if he was just unluck or if fate had it in for him this whole time as it seemed to love toying with him. 

Dismissing the notification from the screen in front of him, he finally paid some attention to the people around him who were worried that something had happened to him all of a sudden. After all, to the others it appeared as if he had fallen onto his butt out of nowhere.

"Are you alright? What happened all of a sudden?" inquired Christina worriedly. She had been the first to approach him as she was the closest to him.

"I am fine. Just a little tired it seems."

Zach didn't dare to tell the others about the impending doom. He preferred to keep the news to himself after all no one would blame him for not being able to predict a natural disaster. 

Moreover, he didn't want to cause the people to panic more than they already had. A natural disaster of that scale was bound to create widespread chaos among the people.

For as long as possible, Zach needed to avoid such a situation because he needed the exchange to go well before that.

Diana was missing. She was one of the pillars who supported the entire Smith family, especially the soldiers. She was the source of their motivation and their drive towards betterment. Her absence had greatly affected the morale of the Smith family as well.

Zach was gradually beginning to notice the signs, but he couldn't do anything about it, at least not yet. He could only try his level best to bring her back as soon as possible and let her handle the situation that was getting increasingly out of hand.

"I told you to rest earlier but you ignored me. Now look at this, you can barely stand." Christina reprimanded Zach but the latter only waved his hand in dismissal.

"I am fine. Don't make a fuss over nothing."

Though Christina wanted to argue that he wasn't fine, she didn't say anything knowing that Zach would probably get pissed at her if she continued further.

"If you say so."

Now that there were two problems coming towards him from different sides, he had to think of a way to counter both at the same time.

Zach wrecked his brains out thinking of a possible solution to the problems but after a full ten hours he had come up with exactly nothing.