Slaughter

"Are you kidding?"

Tony and Yinsen were both stunned by Li Chuan's answer. He was going alone, without bringing anyone else—how was he supposed to get them safely out of the hands of fifty or sixty terrorists armed to the teeth?

It would be better to stick with the escape plan they had discussed earlier: building a humanoid armored suit. They had already completed the suit's blueprints and even finished some of the parts.

Maybe if they held out for another month or so, as long as they weren't discovered, they could break out on their own.

"You don't need to worry about that. Just stay here and don't move. I'll deal with the people outside."

Seeing that everything had been settled, Li Chuan used the Transformation Technique again, turning into Obadiah before walking toward the large iron door.

"Don't you need our help?" Tony quickly asked.

Without turning back, Li Chuan waved a hand.

"Staying here and not distracting me would already be the greatest help you could give."

Tony: "..."

Pushing open the iron door, Li Chuan gave the two guards stationed outside a gentle smile.

"Alright, we've reached an agreement. Take me to see Laza!"

One of the guards peered through the opening in the iron door and saw that Tony and Yinsen were both fine. He nodded to the other guard, who immediately led Li Chuan toward the cave's surveillance room.

It turned out that Laza had gone straight to the surveillance room after leaving, intending to check what was happening inside through the cameras. But the moment he arrived, he saw Obadiah smash the camera with a chair.

Following the guard through the twisting tunnels, Li Chuan soon saw Laza again.

The side mission required him to kill Laza and destroy the base. It did not say that he had to wipe out every last one of Laza's subordinates.

So his first priority was to make sure Laza was dead. Otherwise, if fighting broke out and the man realized things were going badly and escaped, it would become troublesome.

As for the subordinates, killing them all would naturally be best. But if one or two escaped, it would not matter much anyway. After all, he was using Obadiah's appearance.

If the Ten Rings came looking for trouble afterward, they would go after Obadiah. What did that have to do with Li Chuan?

"I've fulfilled my end of the bargain. Now it's your turn!"

Inside the surveillance room, Laza sneered as he placed a laptop in front of Li Chuan, telling him to transfer the money.

The reason he had been willing to bring Obadiah to the base—and had not gotten angry even after seeing him smash the camera—was because he knew that once Obadiah entered his territory, there was no longer any need to worry about him breaking the deal.

If Obadiah dared to violate their agreement, Laza could blow his head open on the spot.

But Li Chuan merely smiled as he looked at the laptop before him. He stepped forward, shot out both hands, grabbed Laza's head like lightning, and twisted hard.

Crack!

With a crisp snap, Laza's head spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees around his neck. He was dead beyond any doubt.

"Now that's insurance!"

After dealing with Laza, Li Chuan glanced at the other two people in the surveillance room. They had clearly been frightened by the sudden scene before them and froze for quite a while before remembering to draw their guns.

However, it was already too late.

With Li Chuan's current strength, even if the two had already drawn their weapons and aimed at him, he could have avoided their shots through prediction. Much less when they had stood there stunned for so long.

Before one of them could even touch his gun, Li Chuan raised a leg and stomped his neck against the wall, snapping it cleanly. The other had just drawn his gun when his entire body was sent flying.

After stomping the first man's neck apart, Li Chuan immediately spun and swept the second man away with a rear whip kick.

As a martial artist, Li Chuan's strength already far exceeded that of an ordinary person. With the added enhancement of Chakra, the second man crashed into the wall and fell to the ground, coughing up blood with no breath left in him.

"Looks like no one noticed. That saves me some trouble."

Because he had moved quickly and struck ruthlessly, no gunshots had sounded when he dealt with Laza and the two men in the surveillance room. The Ten Rings members outside had not been alerted.

Forming hand seals with both hands, Li Chuan's appearance changed once more, shifting from Obadiah into Laza.

He pushed open the surveillance room door and walked through the rugged cave passage until he reached the outside. Then he waved at the Ten Rings members smoking, chatting, and patrolling throughout the valley.

At once, the men slung their guns over their backs and hurried over eagerly.

"Kava daba oligawa."

A string of words Li Chuan could not understand entered his ears. He ignored them, merely signaling with his eyes for all the men to follow him back into the cave.

Although the men were puzzled as to why their boss was not speaking, they did not dare ask further because of his usual authority. They obediently followed behind him.

After walking to a relatively spacious area within the cave, Li Chuan turned and looked around.

"This is a pretty good spot. It's perfect for your graves!"

Before the men could react, a sharp dagger had already appeared in his hand.

The dagger was a weapon he had obtained from a previous mission. He had kept it in the Mission Space, where he could take it out and use it at any time.

Chakra flooded his body. Li Chuan flashed forward with the dagger in hand, and blood immediately sprayed through the air. One Ten Rings member after another fell to the ground screaming and clutching their throats, like stalks of rice being cut down.

If those thirty or forty men had been scattered outside in the valley, firing from behind cover, killing them all without injury would not have been easy for him.

One should never underestimate the power of modern firearms. Getting shot was no joke.

But now that they had gathered together and allowed Li Chuan to get close and slip into their midst, the outcome was naturally very different.

So in a modern society like this, when dealing with ordinary people, supportive ninjutsu could sometimes be even more threatening than offensive ninjutsu.

Once the slaughter was over, Li Chuan dispelled the Transformation Technique and returned to his original appearance, then turned and headed toward the secret room at the bottom of the cave where Tony and the others were being held.

"Oh right, there's still a guard!"

After only a few steps, Li Chuan spotted the gang member who had been stationed by the iron door. Holding his gun warily, the man was walking toward him.

He had obviously heard the screams from outside and come out to investigate.

"Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger, Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Li Chuan rapidly formed hand seals, then exhaled a massive fireball that shot toward the guard ahead.

When the guard saw Li Chuan, a stranger, he had initially wanted to raise his gun and fire. But before he could even aim, he saw an enormous fireball flying straight at him and immediately turned tail and ran in terror.

But how could an ordinary person possibly evade the Great Fireball? The huge fireball struck him squarely in the back, turning him into a charred, desiccated corpse.

"Not bad power."

Li Chuan nodded in satisfaction and continued toward the bottom of the cave.