Special Reward

Special Reward

Kōkan Station stood completely isolated beyond the coastal cliffs, surrounded by sea on all sides. Its terrain was also quite steep, giving it a natural defensive advantage that kept the rampaging Kabane outside the city.

But prolonged peace bred complacency, especially among guards whose spirits were low at night.

The rumble of an armored Steam Iron Fortress came from the tunnel at the only entrance.

Hearing the sound, the Samurai and Steam Smith on watch began checking the timetable.

"This time it's right. The timing matches—it's Fuso City."

"Lower the drawbridge."

Searchlight beams appeared in the pitch-black tunnel, and the roar of the Steam Iron Fortress drew closer and closer.

At the command of the Samurai on duty, the drawbridge connecting the tunnel entrance to Kōkan Station slowly began to lower amid the clatter of mechanical gears.

Having lived in comfort for too long, the Samurai of Kōkan Station never considered that, since Hayatani Station had fallen and the Koutetsujou had arrived a full day early, why had Fuso City arrived "on time"? Exhausted from the late hour, they also failed to notice that beneath the thunder of the armored Steam Iron Fortress, there was no sign of it slowing down...

Yet just as the drawbridge began to descend, several Shuriken arced out from the shadows within the city, blanketing the control lever.

Pfft~

Two of them struck the arms of the Steam Smith operating the mechanism, drawing a shrill scream from him.

The remaining Shuriken, however, trailed several steel wires nearly invisible to the naked eye. They wrapped around the lever and yanked it back hard.

The drawbridge, which had already begun lowering, slowly started rising again as the lever shifted.

"Who goes there?!"

Only then did the stunned Samurai on watch shout and turn toward the direction of the attack.

At the same time, he raised his Steam Gun, his face filled with tension.

The attack had come too suddenly. If their target had been him rather than the switch, he would probably already have fallen.

"Idiot, use those nearly deaf ears of yours and listen. Does that Hayajiro sound like it's slowing down?"

Xu Yue, gripping the metal wire in one hand and pulling the control lever back, slowly stepped out of the shadows with a cold expression.

There was no time to put on some negotiating face. Those Reincarnators had delayed him a little—he had to cut this short!

Rumble—

But just as Xu Yue finished speaking, the howling Fuso Hayajiro, showing no sign of decelerating, burst straight out of the tunnel and even charged directly off the cliff.

It smashed into the steep cliff face beneath Kōkan Station!

In the anime, they had discovered the problem too late and failed to pull the drawbridge back in time. Fuso City had charged forward, blasting several carriages into the city and causing the Kabane to spread rapidly.

But now, thanks to Xu Yue arriving just in time to intervene, most of it crashed directly into the mountain beneath their feet.

The ground shook. The entire Kōkan Station seemed to tremble from the violent impact at full speed, and many people wore baffled expressions, having no idea what had happened.

The Samurai who had been aiming his gun at Xu Yue was even more terrified. He hurriedly began examining the situation outside, his face drenched in cold sweat.

Had this suddenly appearing man not acted, Fuso City would have crashed into the city.

And without a doubt, something was seriously wrong aboard Fuso City!

The Samurai on the walls, having fully realized what was happening, began ringing the warning bells.

But it was not over yet. The Fuso Hayajiro had several carriages.

As the engine and front carriages plunged downward and smashed into the cliff beneath Kōkan Station, the final carriage was flung violently upward by the immense momentum. It struck the city gate drawbridge squarely in the middle, destroying it and lodging itself in the gateway!

The drawbridge shattered, fragments flying everywhere. The ground below was shoved up into a wall of earth, and the rails were twisted completely out of shape.

The Samurai on watch, who had turned to inspect the situation, was crushed between the shattered drawbridge and carriage, instantly turned into a mangled mass of flesh as blood sprayed everywhere.

"Good thing I didn't waste time going after them, or all that effort really would have been for nothing."

Seeing that even stopping the drawbridge from lowering had failed to completely avert the disaster, Xu Yue was thankful that he had made it in time.

In this situation, the carriage being wedged inside the gate passage was a blessing amid misfortune.

Otherwise, if he had arrived too late and the Kabane had spread out, there would have been nothing he could do. He could only have fled along with the plot's usual course, which went against his original purpose of farming mission points.

Roar! Roar!

Beastlike howls erupted as grotesque monsters crawled from the shattered carriage one after another, their bodies covered in bulging veins and their chest furnaces flickering.

"Kabane! They're Kabane!"

After spotting the Kabane, most of the Samurai on the walls cried out in terror. More than half of the guards actually chose to flee.

The remaining half barely held their Steam Guns and tried to fulfill their duty, but the fear and trembling were obvious.

Yet faster than their gunfire were several Shuriken that flashed past in an instant.

Pfft! Pfft!

The Kabane Heart Membranes, capable of withstanding direct fire from Steam Guns, were utterly vulnerable before those Shuriken and were pierced through at once.

Glittering bodily fluid sprayed out.

The first few Kabane had not even finished roaring before they collapsed to the ground.

The Samurai on the walls, as well as those nearby who had rushed over after hearing the alarm, could not help widening their eyes.

In their understanding, Kabane could not be destroyed. They could only be continuously repelled and driven back with Steam Guns.

Only Kōkan Station's natural defenses and city walls could keep them safe. Only the speed and armor of a Hayajiro could allow them to travel between stations.

And yet... someone could defeat Kabane directly?!

"Stop standing there like idiots. Set up a Volley Gun Formation and make sure no Kabane break through. If even one gets out, you should all know the consequences."

Xu Yue had no intention of letting these Samurai who had stayed behind take it easy. Though they were of little use, he still needed them.

Right now, he had to ensure that his objective was foolproof!

He had to complete the first step of his plan to alter the plot.

After speaking, Xu Yue paid no attention to whether the Samurai understood him. Holding two Kunai, he charged toward the twisted, deformed carriage ahead.

There were far more Kabane inside than just the first few!

As Kabane squeezed out from the gaps in the carriage one after another, Xu Yue's eyes changed color. Two Magatama emerged in his eyes and began rotating rapidly, locking onto every Kabane ahead.

Their numbers, speed, wind direction, formation, and future paths of movement—all of it became perfectly clear to him!

Under normal circumstances, his efficiency at killing Kabane was lower than that of a specialist like Mumei. But once he revealed his trump card, his precision and efficiency rose by several levels.

In an instant, Xu Yue found his route through the Kabane formation. His target was clear as he headed straight for the largest opening in the twisted, damaged carriage.

The Kunai in his left hand pierced the Heart Membrane of the first Kabane. At the same time, he kicked its corpse aside, spun around, and threw the Kunai in his right hand, striking the second one directly!

He surged forward again. After the final Kunai in his hand pierced the third target, the shrieking spinning sphere that had formed in his right palm tore the fourth obstacle blocking his way to pieces!

Rasengan

The entire sequence flowed like water, completed in one fluid motion.

Among the dozen or so Kabane that had already emerged, he used the fewest movements, the fastest speed, and the best route and killing order to reach the largest crack in the carriage in an instant.

Snake—Ram—Monkey—Boar—Horse—Tiger.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique

Scorching flames surged from Xu Yue's mouth and poured into the sealed carriage.

The explosive fire even forced its way out through several smaller cracks in the carriage, forming jets of flame.

The smell of roasting flesh filled the air.

The extreme heat caused the already twisted carriage to groan and warp further.

At that moment, Xu Yue had no energy to worry about the other Kabane already charging the Volley Gun Formation. He could only trust that the Samurai and the Mumei who had arrived later could contain their spread.

He had to seal off the source.

Although the Great Fireball Technique was the most stereotypical throwaway ninjutsu in Naruto, there was a significant reason Xu Yue had chosen it among the C-rank ninjutsu he could master.

It was an AOE skill capable of physical destruction, with considerable potential for growth. Depending on the user's strength, it could unleash vastly different levels of power.

At the very least, the Kabane inside this sealed carriage could not possibly survive furnace-like temperatures.

After spraying flames continuously for several seconds, Xu Yue stepped on the carriage, which was beginning to glow red from the heat, leaped backward, and rolled onto the open ground behind him.

The greatest source of Kabane entering the city had been sealed off. All that remained was to contain the dozen or so that were left and prevent them from spreading.

With Mumei's help, as well as the Samurai who had formed a Volley Gun Formation, the cleanup became much easier.

With the source cut off and the Samurai steadying themselves to establish a Volley Gun Formation blockade, they had no problem preventing this small number of Kabane from spreading.

With Mumei and Xu Yue, two great killers, constantly hunting them down, the number of Kabane rapidly dwindled before they were completely wiped out.

And because of the nature of space missions, although plot characters would be surprised by abilities from outside their own world, they were highly accepting of them. They would even automatically come up with explanations involving fuel, incendiary bombs, and the like to make sense of Xu Yue's actions.

"Whew, that was close. If we'd been one step slower and let even one of those things spread out, all of Kōkan Station would've been finished."

Mumei wiped the sweat from her forehead, patted her chest, and spoke in a relieved tone before looking at Xu Yue with a strange expression.

"Hey, hey, Mr. Pervert, how did you know something would happen here? Good thing we made it in time."

Xu Yue turned and shot this curious girl a glare before replying in a familiar, irritated tone.

"Our Koutetsujou arrived a full day early. There was no reason for Fuso City to be delayed this long. It hadn't arrived for so long after Hayatani Station fell, so obviously something had gone wrong. I was just taking precautions."

It was both an explanation and an opportunity to quickly draw closer to this heroine. During his first mission, gaining Orochimaru's favor had earned him bonus points in the final evaluation.

Then, the mission notification Xu Yue had worked so hard for arrived.

Achievement mission completed: Redemption of Kōkan Station

Follow-up trial mission unlocked: Redemption of Kōkan Station: Continuation. You have saved Kōkan Station, which was originally destined to fall. Continue ensuring Kōkan Station's safety for seven days to obtain the Privilege Space: Kōkan Station.

Recorded in final evaluation.

Sensing the series of notifications, Xu Yue could not help feeling greatly surprised.

Privilege Space: Kōkan Station.

According to the prompt, if he obtained this Privilege Space, then after completing his mission and returning to the Reincarnation Space, he could exchange time spent in the Reincarnation Space for time in the completely independent Kōkan Station of this world!

Although he would not be able to leave the boundaries of Kōkan Station, this reward had already far exceeded Xu Yue's expectations.

Kōkan Station had a highly developed steam industry and could build Hayajiro. By comparison, its industrial technology was even more advanced than that of the Qing Dynasty in the real world. He could absolutely establish production lines here.

For example, he could produce rifles for newcomers. Though the profit per unit would not be high, steady income would add up!

And besides...

The greatest benefit here was that, even if he could not leave Kōkan Station, this was still the world of Koutetsujou. He could arrange for people to lure small numbers of Kabane over and kill them.

The ten points per Kabane were secondary. Collecting Kabane flesh and blood and storing it in the space would definitely make money as well.

Even ordinary workers like the protagonist could become Kabaneri. There was no reason Reincarnators from the Reincarnation Space could not do the same.

Xu Yue might not care for it himself, but for newcomers, this was absolutely a fast and efficient way to gain power. Its cost-effectiveness was extremely high!

This reward certainly could not compare to the immediate settlement rewards of the Mission Space in the short term, but in the long run, it would become an endless "salary"...

Sure enough, his decision to conduct destructive extraction in a space with no potential had been correct.

Since the mission required him to guard the place for seven days, something would obviously happen during those seven days.

Had he stopped the trigger for the plot from unfolding, so the space would use other methods to compensate and oppose him?

If the space was not directly interfering with him through plot power, then the quickest method should be to make use of those people...

But no matter what—

He was determined to obtain this special privilege!

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