How to react to this editor response after a long fruitless review phase? We submitted a paper 26 months ago.  Until now, more than two years have passed, but we have not got any information of our manuscript. Several times we wrote emails to the editorial office and current editors-in-chief   to ask them of about our manuscript but the status of the paper is still under review.

Yesterday, we sent a letter directly to the editor-in-chief to say that:


  We can wait one month more. After this time if we shall not obtain the first reviews then, please, permit us to  withdraw our submission from the journal.


The answer we received was:


  The better think is what you are proposing...


How should we respond to them in this case?
Actually, you don't need their permission to withdraw the paper until you give them the copyright after final acceptance. The paper is yours to do with as you please. 

The answer you got is hard to decipher. It makes me question their competence, as does the long time "in review". 

Just tell them that you are withdrawing, though you might want to wait out the month that you offered. 

Find a better publisher.