Wiped Out

In the corridor, the muzzle of the Bolter erupted with intense flashes as Fu Qinghai opened fire without hesitation.

The man in black was unexpectedly agile; the moment Fu Qinghai pulled the trigger, he tapped his toes, leaped into the air, and dodged the bullets.

The man in black braced himself against the ceiling of the corridor and jumped, landing his feet on the side wall and charging toward Fu Qinghai as if he were walking on flat ground.

Fu Qinghai watched the man's strange running posture—body leaning forward, both hands stretched out behind him—and noticed two oddly shaped black daggers that had appeared in the man's hands out of nowhere.

His jaw nearly dropped.

Is this... the Naruto Run?

And those in his hands... are those Kunai?

With extreme flexibility and fluid martial arts, the man in black dodged Fu Qinghai's shots, weaving left and right. The moment he closed the distance, he performed a forward roll, vaulted into the air, and soared over Fu Qinghai's head.

Facing forward, Fu Qinghai drew his power sword from his waist and, without even looking, swung it behind him in a follow-through motion.

The sword, flickering with pale blue lightning, traced a perfect arc through the air. Accompanied by a quick twist of his waist and a bend of his knees, Fu Qinghai slashed at the man in black, who had no leverage to dodge after landing from his leap.

In the corner of his eye, Fu Qinghai felt as though he had already seen the man in black sliced in two at the waist.

But then, a "poof" sound echoed.

The tactile feedback through the sword told him this was not a human body.

Fu Qinghai held the sword in one hand, looking at the piece of Ceramite plate that had been split in two, then at the unscathed man in black not far away.

"Substitution Jutsu?"

This is the Warhammer 40K universe. Having martial arts skills is one thing, but why can you use Ninjutsu?

Fu Qinghai raised his muzzle again with his left hand, and the man in black, a few meters away, cautiously threw two shuriken.

Facing the incoming black darts, Fu Qinghai stood unmoved. As both sides expected, with two "ding" sounds, the shuriken struck his chest armor and bounced off, not even leaving a white mark.

Seeing this, the man in black gritted his teeth and once again utilized his flexible and varied martial arts to rush toward Fu Qinghai.

However, Fu Qinghai caught sight of a surveillance camera on the ceiling of the corridor, which was quietly operating.

Fu Qinghai's lips curled, and a plan formed in his mind.

Holding the gun in his left hand and the sword in his right, he assumed a defensive stance against the man in black, but quietly adjusted his muscle control to deliberately slow his movements to a certain degree.

If his combat instructor Albuslang were here, he would surely shout that this kid was up to his old tricks again.

The man in black, standing about 1.6 meters tall, was undoubtedly a small fry compared to the nearly 2.7-meter-tall Fu Qinghai in his armor. He nimbly dodged the sword swing, performed a sliding tackle, and dove between Fu Qinghai's legs.

The Kunai in his hands struck hard at the gap in the Plasteel plating between Fu Qinghai's legs.

"Ding!"

Unfortunately, the MK4 Maximus Power Armor is a fully sealed suit.

The black ninja performed a desperate roll to dodge the magnetic steel boot Fu Qinghai kicked at him, then began to weave and dart around Fu Qinghai like a butterfly, leaping up and down. His Kunai constantly stabbed at the joints and gaps of the power armor, but the only response he received was a series of pathetic sparks.

Finally, the moment the man in black leaped up, intending to stab at Fu Qinghai's visor, he was caught off guard and grabbed by Fu Qinghai, who slammed him hard onto the floor.

Facing the pitch-black muzzle, the black ninja struggled incessantly.

Until the flames erupting from the barrel turned him into a charred lump.

[You have killed the first reincarnator from a hostile faction, achieving a career milestone event!]

[Calculating Assimilation Points... 123 points]

A hostile reincarnator!

And, killing a reincarnator from a hostile faction really does provide rewards, and the name has changed to "career milestone"... but why is the reward so small? Is it because this person was too weak compared to me?

Fu Qinghai thought to himself, idly spinning his sword before sheathing it back into the holster at his waist.

This scene was captured in its entirety by those in the control room.

Faced with the death of their companion, no one was laughing or joking anymore.

The man in black was not weak among their group; he specialized in martial arts, possessed flexible and varied movement techniques, and was the leader's younger brother. The shut-in Asano carefully glanced at the silent Horse-faced Man, wanting to speak but not daring to.

The middle-aged Horse-faced Man narrowed his eyes, observing Fu Qinghai on the monitor, silently evaluating: Defense is very strong, difficult to penetrate with ordinary physical attacks; agility is average, speed is on the slower side...

This is reasonable. After all, wearing such massive, heavily armored plating, it is perfectly normal for movements to be sluggish.

Thinking of this, the Horse-faced Man suddenly spoke: "Everyone come here, I have a plan."

In the corridor, Fu Qinghai turned a corner, climbed a flight of stairs, and headed straight for the control room.

Along the way, he scanned every suspicious room and corner with his flamethrower first, and he actually managed to burn a few pirates who were hiding.

Looking at the sallow, emaciated appearance of these pirates, who couldn't even last a few minutes once lit by the flamer, Fu Qinghai thought: These are space pirates? Is being a pirate in the Warhammer 40K universe really this devoid of a future?

I heard Huron Blackheart was doing quite well in the Maelstrom.

But that was all in the 41st millennium; this is the 30K era. Perhaps the Imperial space security is better in this period.

Fu Qinghai cautiously swept through every cabin before heading to the control room on the top deck of the merchant ship, ensuring no enemies could appear behind him.

Finding nothing, Fu Qinghai did not believe that he had already killed all the pirates on this ship.

It seems the enemies are already prepared and waiting for me in the control room, Fu Qinghai thought to himself.

Should I summon the Terminator armor? Fu Qinghai pondered as he walked toward the top floor.

Thinking of the more powerful cruiser that Ogedei and the others might have to face, as well as the Assimilation Points gained from killing hostile reincarnators... Fu Qinghai was unsure if hostile reincarnators killed by locals of the Reincarnation World would still grant him Assimilation Point rewards.

In the end, Fu Qinghai decided to go alone.

Arriving at the control room, he was faced with a tightly shut bulkhead door.

Fu Qinghai slammed his fist into the button panel beside it. "Bang," sparks and white smoke erupted from the control panel, but the door didn't budge.

That was reckless.

Fu Qinghai turned sideways and hooked his hands around the door handles. The muscle layers on his shoulders and back could be seen bulging beneath his armor, and the electronic fiber bundles woven throughout the Power Armor began to tighten and engage. Fu Qinghai suddenly exerted force and pulled hard.

A cacophony of metal twisting and electrical sparks erupted from the door's seams.

The door was forced open just enough to create a gap. Fu Qinghai took a deep breath and pulled again with all his might.

"Creak—" The door was pulled completely open.

Then, he saw two white paper charms on the wall behind the door, just about to burn out.

Having been trying hard to recall the plot and abilities of Naruto along the way, Fu Qinghai recognized the origin of these two paper charms in an instant.

Paper Bombs!

And the very moment Fu Qinghai recognized them, the Paper Bombs detonated.

"Boom!" Two fireballs, no less powerful than high-level Fire Style ninjutsu released by a high-ranking Jonin, engulfed and swallowed Fu Qinghai.

Fu Qinghai's visor was instantly covered in a sea of crimson flames, and he stumbled back two steps.

Just as his vision recovered, a person dressed in tight black gear flashed out from the side. He quickly formed hand seals with both hands and shouted:

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Again? Fu Qinghai couldn't understand Japanese, but he strongly disapproved of this habit of shouting out techniques before a fight. Before the ninja could finish the last syllable, a Mass-reactive Bolter Shell blew his head apart.

Skull fragments splattered along with blood and brains, and the body collapsed limply.

The Horse-faced Man in the control room was startled, shocked by Fu Qinghai's rapid reaction and the precision of his one-handed shot. He abandoned the "Wind Style: Vacuum Wave" he was in the middle of forming, endured the Chakra backlash from interrupting his hand seals, and ignored the blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as he roared:

"Change of plans, Nagase! Sakata! Go all out!"

The young man with yellow hair swallowed a yellow capsule. He let out a roar toward the sky, his cheeks twisting and twitching rapidly as his body began to swell and elongate. His clothes tore and burst open, transforming him into a three-meter-tall, green-faced, fanged, upright beast.

At the same time, a figure suddenly twisted and pulled out from the shadow behind Fu Qinghai. A ninja in black, holding a Paper Bomb in his mouth, appeared silently behind him.

Having sensed him, Fu Qinghai didn't care about the beast transforming in the distance. He spun around and slashed, cutting the ninja in two before he could use his shadow to escape. Blood sprayed, but the Paper Bomb in the ninja's mouth drifted downward.

"Boom!"

A close-range explosion turned Fu Qinghai's vision into a screen of static. Realizing his helmet might be damaged, he reached up, tore the helmet off, and tossed it aside, revealing his face.

The agility and reaction speed Fu Qinghai displayed were completely inconsistent with what he had shown in the corridor earlier. The Horse-faced Man, the team leader, could no longer afford to care about that; he was brewing a much larger ninjutsu.

Just as Fu Qinghai's vision recovered, the green beast lunged at him. The beast pinned Fu Qinghai's left hand, which held his gun, causing several fired bolter shells to veer off course and explode against the walls of the control room with a "bang-pop."

Fu Qinghai's right wrist, holding his blade, was also pinned. The beast opened its maw to bite at Fu Qinghai's face. Fu Qinghai let go of his Combi-bolter and leaned back, using his left hand to break free from the beast's claws. He tilted his body backward to dodge the incoming jaws, causing the beast's fanged mouth to snap shut on empty air with a "clack."

After breaking free, he swung his left hand back to build momentum and delivered a heavy, powerful left hook to the side of the beast's face.

"Wham!" The beast lost its balance from the punch and flew to the side.

With the beast's massive body no longer blocking the view, the Horse-faced Man behind him, who was still charging his attack, was exposed.

In the Horse-faced Man's hand was a mass of white lightning, constantly spitting out arcs of electricity. He shouted:

"Hold him, Nagase!"

Then, he sprinted toward Fu Qinghai, clutching the ball of lightning.

The beast on the ground shook its head and stood up. Its two canine-like legs pushed off the floor, and it lunged at Fu Qinghai's waist, intending to pin him down.

Behind the beast, the Horse-faced Man sprinted forward, trailing sparks and lightning, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"Chidori!"

Just as the beast was about to reach Fu Qinghai's waist, Fu Qinghai grabbed its wrists. With his core strength focused, he twisted his body and pulled. Using the beast's own momentum, he swung it like a giant flail, placing it directly in front of the Horse-faced Man.

The beast and the Horse-faced Man, unable to stop his momentum, collided head-on. The S-rank ninjutsu Chidori, said to be able to cut through lightning, instantly pierced through the beast's back.

"Awoo—" The beast let out a heart-wrenching scream, its body beginning to convulse as it was electrocuted.

The beast's trembling body suddenly went still. Fu Qinghai pulled his power sword from its chest, drawing out a spray of dark green blood.

The Horse-faced Man struggled to push the beast off his body. Seeing this scene, he opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly felt a heat in his throat.

He saw the scenery in front of him spinning backward.

Fu Qinghai did not give his enemy a chance to speak. He followed through with his drawn power sword, and the Horse-faced Man's head was sent flying.

And the last thing the Horse-faced Man wanted to say before he died was—

Why are you so fast?

Looking at the Horse-faced Man's wide-open eyes, Fu Qinghai smiled.

So, you're dying with your eyes wide open, aren't you? Wondering why my health and armor are so high, and why my agility is so off the charts?

Go ask the writers at GW.

Fu Qinghai looked up and scanned the control room, spotting a young man with a slightly chubby face, wearing a hoodie and jeans, huddled in the corner and trembling.

Fu Qinghai stepped over the corpses of the beast and the Horse-faced Man, striding toward him.

"No... no, please... don't kill me..."

His bone-white Power Armor was already mottled and scorched from those three explosions, and it was stained with large patches of wet blood. Seeing such a murderous, towering warrior walking toward him, Asano was scared out of his wits, sitting on the floor and scrambling backward incessantly.

"Please, I beg you..."

Facing the Power Sword flickering with deep blue arcs of electricity, Asano didn't dare to look. He waved his hands to cover his face, mumbling incoherently.

"Speak English."

Fu Qinghai's low, gravelly voice reached him.

Speak English?

Although the Low Gothic commonly used by the Imperium of Man in Warhammer 40K was virtually identical to English, Asano, who had blurted out his native tongue in his terror, still caught the implication behind those two words.

He looked up in a panic, met Fu Qinghai's calm gaze, and asked in English:

"Are you a Reincarnator too?"

"Yes."

Hearing Fu Qinghai's reply, Asano grabbed onto it like a lifeline and hurriedly said:

"Don't kill me, don't kill me! I'm very useful. I can be your consultant—a plot consultant."

Fu Qinghai had been about to say that he didn't look very useful and wondered why these people had brought him along, but when he heard the term "plot consultant," he paused, then immediately understood.

Fu Qinghai rubbed his chin. Instead of answering right away, he asked from his commanding position:

"Did you all enter together?"

"Yes, we belong to the same club."

"Club?"

"You don't know about clubs? Oh, actually, I only heard about it from them. It's just that some veteran Reincarnators—they call them high-level players—can unlock this feature in the Reincarnation World. You can call it an organization, a club, a guild, whatever you want."

It sounded like this Reincarnation World was becoming more and more like an online game.

"What's the point of it?" Fu Qinghai asked next.

"I haven't unlocked that feature myself, but I heard our leader, Takakura Yuki, say that Reincarnators in the same club can enter the next Reincarnation World together and will be assigned to the same faction when the Reincarnation World randomly distributes them."

"Randomly... distribute... factions?" Fu Qinghai keenly spotted an issue and emphasized these words as he asked.

Because he clearly remembered that when he entered the Main Reincarnation World for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Earth-199999-616) SSS-rank mission, the Reincarnation World had allowed him to choose his own faction.

Fu Qinghai immediately asked what happened when entering a world with autonomous faction selection, but Asano shook his head to indicate he didn't know.

Fu Qinghai fell into deep thought.

Fu Qinghai pointed his sword tip at the headless corpse behind him and asked:

"Is that your leader?"

"Yes, he called himself Takakura Yuki. We don't know his real name."

"What is your club called?"

"Kotohira-gumi."

"Why that name?"

"I don't know. Everyone guesses it's because the leader himself is from Kotohira Town."

Oh, so Kotohira was a place name.

"You are all Japanese."

"Yes, everyone in the Kotohira-gumi is Japanese or of Japanese descent."

Kotohira-gumi, Kotohira-gumi... Fu Qinghai muttered the name to himself. He knew that Reincarnators all had three lives; he might run into them again in some other Reincarnation World, so it was better to memorize the name now to avoid not knowing who was seeking revenge later.

"I noticed you all seem to be using abilities from Naruto?"

"Yes, leader Takakura Yuki and several core members are Reincarnators who came out of the Naruto world. I joined them halfway through."

Seeming to recall something, Asano added: "Except for Nagase; his ability has nothing to do with Naruto."

Asano pointed at the cyan beast behind Fu Qinghai.

Fu Qinghai turned to look.

Five minutes had passed, and as the effects of the yellow capsule gradually faded, the beast's body began to shrink slowly, reverting into a naked, blonde young man.

Only the horrific hole in his chest did not shrink as his body returned to human form.

Fu Qinghai recalled the blonde man swallowing the capsule when he first entered, and he had a rough guess in his mind.

Project Power, an action sci-fi film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Fu Qinghai's deepest impression of that movie wasn't the flashy superpowers people gained after taking the capsules, but those few rap segments by the young Black girl.

More explosive than The Rap of China.

Fu Qinghai feigned ignorance and asked, "I recall him eating some kind of capsule before transforming, right?"

"Yes, I don't know the origin of that capsule... oh, right, he still has some in his waist bag." Asano pointed to a waist bag on the floor with a fawning expression.

Oh? It's my favorite time to loot corpses... Fu Qinghai immediately became interested.

He found a small waist bag dropped on the ground where the blond guy had initiated his transformation, and upon opening it, he indeed found two yellow capsules inside.

Fu Qinghai picked up a capsule to examine it; there seemed to be a ball of flame slowly flowing inside, and he asked casually:

"Is this what he ate?"

"Yes, but eating this capsule might... might..." Asano suddenly choked on his words here.

"Might what?" Fu Qinghai looked at the chubby-faced kid with interest.

Asano wished he could slap himself right now.

You idiot Asano... why did you open your mouth, why did you open your mouth? If this Reincarnation World traveler gets curious, opens his mouth, and swallows the capsule, and then ends up exploding into a puddle of minced meat, wouldn't you have pulled off the ultimate comeback?

Asano stammered, cursing himself internally for being a complete fool.

Having watched the movie, Fu Qinghai naturally knew this stuff shouldn't be eaten recklessly. He put the capsules away, not intending to continue teasing this poor guy, and asked sternly:

"You mentioned a plot consultant earlier; what does that mean?"

Hearing that this powerful Reincarnation World traveler had finally steered the conversation back to this topic, Asano hurriedly said:

"I was an otaku before entering the Reincarnation World—uh, what you call a nerd. I'm a gaming nerd. I've played all the games from Sony, Konami, and Nintendo. I still remember the plots of many games. I can help you organize the plot lines, which is very advantageous in the Reincarnation World. Our last Reincarnation World was Konami's Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Although they didn't win the plot line, it was under my guidance that they successfully survived that round."

"Hmm..." Fu Qinghai gave a noncommittal hum.

Konami certainly has many game IPs. Just the ones Fu Qinghai knew included the Metal Gear series, Silent Hill, the ancient Contra, and so on... but there were also dating sims like Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side. What would I need your guidance for in a game like that?

Oh right, there's also the Pro Evolution Soccer series. Do I need a nerd to teach me how to play soccer?

Fu Qinghai said indifferently: "But at least you don't understand the Warhammer 40K universe, otherwise they wouldn't have ended up like this, would they?"

After speaking, he pointed his long blade at the corpses in the control room.

"Uh..." Fu Qinghai's words left Asano truly speechless.

"Furthermore..." Fu Qinghai slowly squatted down, looking at the Japanese nerd in front of him: "Do you think I spent all that effort coming onto this merchant ship to slaughter everyone just to uphold justice?"

"We are Reincarnation World travelers from opposing factions, after all..." Fu Qinghai raised his hand and patted Asano's head.

"Uh, I... you..."

The chubby nerd, having understood Fu Qinghai's meaning, froze. He stammered "watashi" for a long time but couldn't get a single sentence out.

Although he had deliberately kept quiet about it, this person clearly knew that killing opposing Reincarnation World travelers yielded Assimilation Points.

Fu Qinghai stood up and said: "Thank you for sharing some knowledge about the Reincarnation World with me. What is your name?"

"As... Asano Jinan."

"Very well, Asano Jinan, I've remembered your name. Seeing how weak you are, you should have more than one life in the Reincarnation World, right?"

"..." Asano Jinan didn't know how to answer this question. Should he say yes or no?

Fu Qinghai raised his muzzle and aimed it at his head, saying: "Next time, remember to be in the same faction as me."

"Bang!"

After finishing off the Japanese nerd Asano Jinan with one shot, the notification sound of the Reincarnation World arrived right on cue.

[You have wiped out the first group of opposing Reincarnation World travelers, achieving a career milestone event!]

[Calculating Assimilation Points... 831 points]

Killing a mere... Fu Qinghai counted on his fingers: one, two, three, four, five, six. Six Reincarnation World travelers. Even if the entire society was wiped out, this Kotohira Society didn't have many people, Fu Qinghai thought to himself.

Did I take them too seriously? I thought this Kotohira-gumi might have a Tokyo branch, an Osaka branch, or something similar. I didn't expect them to be completely wiped out here. I was even thinking about seeking revenge later...

At this level, even if you gave them three lives each, they wouldn't be able to make a comeback... Fu Qinghai mused.

Just as Fu Qinghai stood alone in the control room, deep in thought.

"Clatter!"

With a messy sound, a fat man dressed in luxurious fur rolled out from the wall.

Fu Qinghai was startled, only then realizing that the wall was hollow, with a bunch of thick pipes hidden behind the steel plating.

Fu Qinghai cursed himself for being too careless; he hadn't even thought to clear the battlefield. If another Reincarnation World traveler had been hiding inside, it would have been troublesome.

As soon as the fat man rolled out, he scrambled to Fu Qinghai's feet, wailing:

"Tha... thank you, Astartes-sama, for saving my life!"

The fat man hugged Fu Qinghai's leg, crying and snotting as he poured out his grievances.

Fu Qinghai looked at the fat man's trembling rolls of fat and the black implants embedded in them with disgust, kicked him away, and asked:

"Are you the owner of this merchant ship?"

The big fat man nodded like a garlic-pounding pestle.

It was truly impressive that he could squeeze into the narrow gap between the bulkhead and the conduits despite being so fat.

"Alright, go wait for me outside the door."

"Uh..." The portly merchant didn't understand why, but he still obediently walked outside.

Fu Qinghai had an image to maintain; he couldn't let these mortals see a noble Astartes rummaging through corpses.

After the fat man left, Fu Qinghai carefully swept the battlefield, collecting all the items that belonged to the reincarnators before finally stepping out the door.

"Let's go, you're coming with me to the warship."

With that, Fu Qinghai grabbed the fat man by the back of his collar without further explanation and hauled him toward the way they had come.

Shortly after Fu Qinghai had used a torpedo to board the merchant ship alone, a massive Lunar-class cruiser appeared before the frigate Dagger.

On the bridge, all the Astartes except for Fu Qinghai were already in position. Captain Adenna Conrad, Navigator Marco Van Leer, and every prominent figure on the Dagger—save for Master Kunto, who was still hidden away in the laboratory in the lower decks—had appeared.

"Zzzzt," after a flicker of static, a holographic projection lit up in the center of the room.

A middle-aged man appeared in the projection, clad in master-crafted Power Armor of blue with gold trim, wearing a white cloak over his back, holding his helmet, and sporting short, golden hair.

He scanned the room and spoke in a steady tone: "Greetings, warriors of the White Scars."