Two Worlds

The processing plant was utterly silent, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

The three Kirigakure shinobi's legs trembled.

What they were seeing and hearing was simply unbelievable.

Lord Suikazan Fuguki had actually... died?!

It wasn't an assassination. It wasn't an ambush.

He'd been beaten to death in a one-on-one, face-to-face fight!

Like some stray dog by the roadside.

At a disadvantage because he didn't know about the substitute?

Lin Qing had been at an informational disadvantage too.

He had no idea what jutsu Suikazan Fuguki knew or what extraordinary abilities Samehada possessed.

This had been a fight as fair as they came.

Suikazan Fuguki had even had the home-field advantage.

But in the end, he was the one who died.

The three shinobi stiffly turned their heads and looked at Lin Qing, adding a thought in their hearts—

"He... didn't even manage to touch his opponent's clothes."

This hadn't even been a fight between equals!

They couldn't believe Suikazan Fuguki was dead. Even less could they believe anyone would dare commit such an outrageous act on the soil of the Land of Water...

Such a foolish act.

Yes, it was foolish.

Only an idiot would challenge the authority of the Land of Water and Kirigakure for the sake of a few hundred ordinary people, people worth less than livestock.

Suikazan Fuguki had made it perfectly clear earlier.

The various organizations all knew about this business to some extent.

Why hadn't any of them dared to act?

Because none of those organizations had clean hands.

You come after me.

I'll come after you.

Rather than destroy each other, everyone had long since tacitly accepted the rule: exploit the people at the bottom and rake in the profits.

To defy all convention and break a rule that had lasted for who knew how many years—

Just what kind of madman was this man before them?!

Tap.

The sound of a shinobi instinctively stepping backward drew Lin Qing's gaze.

The moment their eyes met, the Kirigakure shinobi's resolve crumbled. Boundless terror swallowed him, and he turned and ran.

The other two Kirigakure shinobi quickly came to their senses and fled in different directions.

They still had one last shred of reason left.

If they ran in different directions, Lin Qing could only chase one of them. The others might survive.

They had to get word of Lord Suikazan Fuguki's death back to the village.

The three ran with all their might. All they could hear was their own ragged breathing and the pounding of their hearts.

They looked back at Lin Qing, still standing where he'd been, and were overcome with the joy of having escaped death.

He actually wasn't chasing them?!

The shattered skylight was right ahead. If they could just get out through it, they'd live!

Suddenly, one of the shinobi sensed something was wrong.

The pounding of his heart...

Had stopped?

He looked down.

A sharp pain struck. A tiny red spot appeared on his chest.

As they watched in despair, the bloodstain spread, draining their strength.

With death bearing down on them, they followed Suikazan Fuguki's example and poured chakra into their eyes. At last, they saw it.

Aero Smith traced an arc through the air, turned around, and swooped toward them again, both machine guns spitting fire.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

A dense hail of bullets swallowed the three of them. Amid screams and groans, their riddled bodies thudded to the ground and fell silent.

Dead.

All of them were dead.

Foul-smelling blood flowed along the cracks in the floor and reached the feet of the four hundred captives, soaking them.

They looked up at Lin Qing's back.

Outside the skylight, a gust of wind swept past, carrying the clouds away and revealing a waning moon.

Moonlight spilled through the window. A beam of light fell on Lin Qing, cloaking him in a faint silver glow.

Like a god or Buddha.

A glimmer gradually returned to their lifeless eyes.

The light didn't come from the moon. It came from the man before them.

He was like a flame, rekindling the hope that had long since died within them.

The first person stepped out of the cage, setting foot in the pool of blood.

Then came the second, the third, the fourth...

More and more people emerged.

They walked up behind Lin Qing, but stopped five or six meters away, not daring to approach. They knelt reverently and bowed their heads, chanting:

"God... thank you for saving us!"

In their eyes, Lin Qing was a god sent from above to save the innocent.

Otherwise, there was no explaining how Lin Qing could stand motionless while Suikazan Fuguki and the other shinobi dropped dead one after another.

It was too mysterious, too incredible.

A shinobi couldn't do something like that.

Only a god could.

Lin Qing turned his head slightly.

The captives lifted their heads, waiting for the god they saw before them to deliver a divine message.

"Get up. No kneeling."

The crowd froze.

This was the second time Lin Qing had said those words.

The first time, he'd told them not to give in to fear.

This time, he was telling them not to give in to worship.

"You're free."

The captives looked bewildered, unsure what to do.

They were natives of the Land of Water, though some were travelers like Xiaotao. Once free... where could they go?

Home?

Only to be caught again after a while?

Besides, Suikazan Fuguki was dead. Would Kirigakure hold them responsible?

Even if public opinion kept the village from acting for now, what would happen once things died down?

One question after another arose, almost suffocating the captives.

"Please, sir, show us a way forward."

A voice rang out from the crowd.

They didn't just refuse to stand. They knelt even lower.

They truly didn't want to be captured again. They didn't want to go through that hellish suffering ever again.

Lin Qing's gaze swept over them. After a long while, he said:

"Come with me."

"Yes!"

More than four hundred people bowed in unison, their foreheads touching the blood on the ground. When they raised their heads again, blood ran down their brows and the corners of their eyes. The fear in their eyes fell with it.

They stood up.

Lin Qing picked up Samehada and used it to hoist Suikazan Fuguki's corpse over his shoulder. He led the way, with more than four hundred people following in a vast procession.

The moment they stepped out of the processing plant, all the spies from various organizations who'd been hiding in the dark and secretly watching the place were stunned.

What had happened?

Had the Fourth Shinobi World War broken out?

As far as they knew, they simply couldn't understand how Suikazan Fuguki of Kirigakure could die on his own country's soil in peacetime.

No one dared to provoke a shinobi village like that.

Yet Lin Qing, walking at the head of the group with a calm expression, showed the world through his actions—

Those no one else dared to kill, he killed.

Those no one else dared to save, he saved.

After leaving the processing plant, Lin Qing glanced back.

Upgrade... Aero Smith.

Soul Shards streamed away, decreasing by 400.

Aero Smith had reached level 2.

It became more agile, and its flight speed increased dramatically. More importantly, its arsenal became even more powerful.

"There's no need to leave this place standing."

"Roger."

In the cockpit, the pilot, Smith, gave Lin Qing a thumbs-up and taxied over the processing plant. The underside of the aircraft opened, and missile after missile, each the size of a fist, dropped out.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions rang across Mirage City. Towering flames drove away the ever-present, hazy mist that shrouded the city. Even the air seemed to grow fresher.

Lin Qing took a deep breath and strode forward.

In silence, the four hundred followed behind him.

The flames shone from behind them, laying out a bright red road before them.

At that moment, every watcher hiding in the shadows had the same thought:

Though they shared the same city, those hiding in the darkness and Lin Qing's group bathed in fire...

Were in two different worlds.