Seeing Holden's desperation, Zayden felt a surge of satisfaction, a smirk playing on his lips. “Come on, Holden. The game has begun!"

Zayden glanced at the terrified kids and chuckled. "Make your choice now, Holden. I'm dying to know which one you'll sacrifice? Don't worry; pick one, and I'll let the other live!"

Perched on the rooftop's edge, Zayden looked smug, like he had already won.

"You're the one who's gonna die!" Holden bellowed, drawing his pistol and aiming it at Zayden. He swiftly fired.

Not taking Holden's words seriously, Zayden was shot on the shoulder before he could react.

Clutching his wounded shoulder, Zayden staggered back.

He had been too exposed, having just stood there on the rooftop in the open. He hadn't anticipated that Holden would still be able to make preparations in such a dire situation and would even have brought a gun with him. Zayden believed he had misjudged Holden.

Zayden crouched behind the rooftop's concrete barrier, covering his shoulders and daring not to look up. "Holden! How dare you shoot me? You think you can take me down? Even if you have a gun with you, you are alone here. Your friends can't do anything! My people are all here. You're done for!"

As he spoke, Zayden retrieved his own gun, glancing at the kids.

“Holden, you had your chance to choose, but you wouldn't do it. Now, you'll die together."

With a shout to his lackeys, Zayden ordered, “Drop the children into the water! Feed them to the crocodiles!"

Zayden stood up, pulled out his gun, and started shooting at Holden.

But Holden had already scoped out the area and dodged behind some nearby containers to avoid the bullets. With the layout in mind, he fired back twice, hitting the critical joints of two cranes hanging overhead.

The cranes froze in midair. The two kids were dangling from them, screaming and crying. Below them was a crocodile with its mouth wide open.

Zayden saw this and lost it. He shouted at his crew, "Get the scissors! Cut those ropes now!"

It was clear Zayden wanted the kids dead. He continued firing at Holden, and they were in a heated shootout.

Zayden's men turned to grab the scissors when, out of nowhere, the rooftop door was kicked open. Sonia, Adrian, and Mitchel barged in.

As the door flew open, Adrian lunged forward and tackled one of Zayden's men to the ground.

Zayden had no idea how they had got here without being stopped or spotted.

He exclaimed angrily, “You can't even stop these guys? What a bunch of losers!"