Two Worlds

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

The three Kirigakure ninjas' legs were trembling uncontrollably.

What they were seeing and hearing was simply beyond belief.

Lord Suikazan Fuguki had actually... died?!

It wasn't an assassination, nor was it an ambush.

In a one-on-one, head-on confrontation, he had been beaten to death!

Like a stray dog on the side of the road.

An intelligence disadvantage regarding substitution techniques?

Lin Qing was at no less of an intelligence disadvantage himself.

Lin Qing knew nothing of what ninjutsu Suikazan Fuguki possessed, nor the miraculous abilities of Samehada.

This was a battle of absolute fairness.

Suikazan Fuguki even had the home-field advantage.

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

The three ninjas stiffly turned their heads, their gazes landing on Lin Qing, adding a thought to the bottom of their hearts—

He didn't even... manage to touch a corner of his opponent's clothes.

This was not a contest between equals at all!

They could not believe Suikazan Fuguki was dead, and they could not believe that someone would dare to commit such a treasonous act on the soil of the Land of Water...

A foolish act.

That's right, a foolish act.

To challenge the authority of the Land of Water and Kirigakure for the sake of a few hundred commoners who were worth less than livestock—only an idiot would do such a thing.

Suikazan Fuguki had made it very clear before.

Major organizations knew more or less about this trade route.

Why didn't they dare to act?

Because those organizations were no cleaner themselves.

If you move to mess with me.

I will move to mess with you.

Rather than both sides suffering, everyone exploiting the lower classes and filling their own pockets had long since become an unspoken rule.

Defying the world and daring to break a rule that had persisted for who knows how many years.

What kind of madman was the man before them?!

Clack.

The sound of one ninja instinctively stepping backward drew Lin Qing's gaze.

The moment their eyes met, the ninja's mental defenses shattered; boundless fear swallowed him, and he turned to flee.

The other two Kirigakure ninjas hurriedly snapped out of it, turning and fleeing in different directions.

They still had a shred of sanity left.

As long as they fled in different directions, if Lin Qing wanted to chase, he could only chase one, leaving the others a hope of survival.

They had to deliver the news that Lord Suikazan Fuguki had been killed.

The three ran with all their might, their ears filled only with the sound of their own heavy breathing and the thumping of their hearts.

They glanced back at Lin Qing, who was still standing where he was, and the joy of surviving a disaster washed over them.

The opponent actually wasn't chasing?!

The broken skylight was within reach; as long as they got out of there, they would live!

Suddenly, one ninja felt something was wrong.

The sound of his own thumping heartbeat...

It was gone?

He looked down.

A sharp pain surged, and a speck of crimson appeared on his chest.

The bloodstain expanded under their desperate gaze, stripping away their strength.

Under the threat of death, they imitated Suikazan Fuguki, pouring chakra into their eyes, and finally saw it.

Aero Smith carved an arc through the air, turning back to charge at them once more, its two machine guns spitting tongues of fire.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

A dense barrage of bullets swallowed the three, and amidst their screams and wails, their bullet-riddled corpses fell with a thud, never to make a sound again.

Dead.

They were all dead.

The foul-smelling blood flowed out, trickling along the cracks in the floor to the feet of the four hundred captives, soaking their feet.

They looked up at Lin Qing's back.

Outside the skylight, a gust of wind blew, sweeping away the clouds to reveal a waning moon.

Moonlight spilled in through the window, a beam of light falling upon Lin Qing, shrouding him in a faint silver glow.

He looked just like a god or a buddha.

A glimmer of light gradually appeared in their gray, lifeless eyes.

This light did not come from the bright moon, but from the man before them.

He was like a flame, igniting the fire of hope that had long since been extinguished in their hearts.

The first person walked out of the cage, their feet stepping into the pool of blood.

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

More and more people walked out.

They walked behind Lin Qing, stopping at a distance of five or six meters, not daring to approach any further, and knelt down piously to kowtow, chanting:

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

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

Otherwise, there was no way to explain how Suikazan Fuguki and the other ninja had suddenly dropped dead while Lin Qing hadn't even moved a muscle.

It was too mysterious and magnificent.

A ninja could not possibly achieve such a feat.

Only a god could.

Lin Qing turned his head slightly.

The crowd of captives looked up, expecting the god in their eyes to bestow a divine oracle.

"Stand up. Do not kneel."

The crowd was stunned.

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

The first time, it was to tell them not to succumb to fear.

This time, it was to tell them not to succumb to worship.

"You are free."

The captives looked blank, at a loss for what to do.

They were locals of the Land of Water, along with some travelers like Xiaotao; once free... where could they go?

Go home?

Only to be captured again after some time?

Besides, Suikazan Fuguki was dead; would Kirigakure hold them responsible?

Even if they weren't held accountable in the short term due to public opinion, what would happen once things calmed down?

One question after another arose, leaving the captives nearly suffocated.

"Please, my lord, show us a way forward."

A voice called out from the crowd.

Instead of standing up, they knelt even more humbly.

They truly did not want to be captured again, nor did they want to endure such hellish suffering ever again.

Lin Qing's gaze swept over them, and after a long while, he said:

"Follow me."

"Yes!"

Over four hundred people kowtowed in unison, their foreheads stained with the blood on the ground. When they looked up again, blood trickled down their eyebrows and the corners of their eyes, and along with it, the fear in their eyes dripped away as well.

They stood up.

Lin Qing picked up the Samehada from the ground, used it to hoist Suikazan Fuguki's corpse onto his shoulder, and walked at the very front, with a massive procession of over four hundred people following behind him.

The moment they stepped out of the processing plant, all the scouts from various organizations hiding in the shadows and secretly monitoring the facility were completely bewildered.

What had happened?

Had the Fourth Shinobi World War broken out?

With their level of understanding, they simply could not comprehend how, in a non-wartime state, Suikazan Fuguki of Kirigakure could die on his own soil.

No one dared to provoke a hidden ninja village like this.

Yet, walking at the very front with a calm expression, Lin Qing told the world through his actions—

Those whom others dared not kill, he would kill.

Those whom others dared not save, he would save.

Stepping out of the processing plant, Lin Qing looked back.

Upgrade... Aero Smith.

Soul Fragments poured out with a clatter, decreasing by 400.

Aero Smith leveled up to Rank 2.

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

"There is no need for this place to remain."

"Roger."

The pilot, Smith, inside the cockpit gave Lin Qing a thumbs-up, taxied over the processing plant, and opened the bay doors beneath the fuselage, letting fist-sized missiles rain down.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A series of explosions resounded throughout Mirage City, the soaring flames scattering the hazy mist that had always lingered over the city, and the air seemed to become much fresher.

Lin Qing took a deep breath and stepped forward.

Four hundred people followed silently in his wake.

The glow of the flames shone from behind them, paving a bright crimson path for them to walk upon.

At this moment, every observer hiding in the shadows was struck by the same thought:

Although they shared the same city, those in the darkness and Lin Qing's group in the firelight—

Were living in two different worlds.