The Old Man and the Child Are a Burden

PS: Thanks to 'Shi Mo' and 'Ling Bai Yue' for the tips. Thank you for the support.

"Bastard, I'm talking to you, are you deaf?"

As the messenger left, Hijikata Yoshitoyo could no longer suppress the anger in his heart; he stepped forward and grabbed Bai Ina by the collar.

Bai Ina's expression remained unchanged as he removed Hijikata Yoshitoyo's hand from his collar. Looking at him, he said word for word, "This is war. As long as we can achieve victory, any means are acceptable."

"That doesn't mean you can do this! Do you know how many people will die because of this?" Hijikata Yoshitoyo pointed at the ruins surrounding them, his eyes bloodshot as he shouted angrily, "Look! How many people have died because of you? Those townspeople were innocent!"

"So what? War means sacrifice. If we didn't do this, these townspeople would only stand on the opposite side of us. They would provide help to the Kingdom Army and secure their logistics. They could even act as soldiers during battle, fighting against us for the Goa Kingdom. If we want to turn the populace against the Goa Kingdom, this is the fastest way."

"Fine, the young and strong can become reserve soldiers for the Kingdom Army. But what about the elderly who have no strength to truss a chicken and the infants waiting to be fed? They couldn't do anything, yet they were almost all sacrificed because of your operation."

"The elderly and children are nothing but a burden in war. If we keep them... they will only become a major hidden danger for us. They are of no help to us, and we have no time to look after them or raise them."

Bai Ina looked at Hijikata Yoshitoyo with a cold, stern expression, continuing without a hint of remorse, "You must understand that we don't have the time to slowly win over the populace. We don't have the time, do you understand? If not for this operation, the ten-thousand-strong army stationed here would have reached the Terminal yesterday and wiped us out one by one."

"Perhaps I am truly wrong, and one day in the future I might regret this decision, but I... will never admit I was wrong!"

Hijikata Yoshitoyo stared at Bai Ina in a daze upon hearing this. After a long while, a flash of disappointment crossed his eyes: "You've changed... Bai Ina!"

"Perhaps!"

Bai Ina's figure trembled. After replying, he headed toward the rear camp without looking back.

Only Hijikata Yoshitoyo remained standing in the ruins, his face filled with self-reproach.

"Hijikata, are you alright?"

Just then, a voice came, and a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

"Loxi..." Hijikata looked at the newcomer with a pained expression, his tone full of regret: "Perhaps I shouldn't have agreed to let Bai Ina join the Revolutionary Army in the first place."

Hijikata Yoshitoyo turned his head to look in the direction Bai Ina had left and whispered, "Bai Ina has changed. He changed after the teacher died. He used to be paranoid, but he was never this extreme. Now, he gives me a sense of strangeness. It feels like his goal isn't to overthrow the Goa Kingdom, but... to destroy everything, as if he's venting. He wants to destroy everyone and everything before him, using any means necessary to achieve his ends..."

"Perhaps!" A strange glint flashed in Loxi's eyes, and he murmured as if to himself: "Anyone who has experienced such things would go mad. Whether forgotten or not, some emotions are carved into the soul..."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing!"

At the same time, Bai Ina stepped into a massive factory building.

There were many people inside the factory; strips of information were being printed out by telegraphs, and people were walking back and forth clutching documents.

When they saw Bai Ina arrive, their bodies stiffened involuntarily.

"Leader Bai!"

At this moment, a young man of about twenty with a cold, icy expression walked up and said respectfully, "The location where the Kingdom Army is stationed has been leaked to the residents of the border towns. Many have run there seeking help, and Zongcilang's men have successfully blended in. They sent a telegram a few minutes ago confirming that they have placed gasoline in the dense forests at the locations marked by Lord Loxi."

"Good!"

Bai Ina nodded: "Mo Mo, go gather all combat personnel and prepare to launch the total offensive. At the same time, telegraph Zongcilang and the others to wait for my signal, then set the forest on fire!"

The cold youth known as Mo Mo nodded in response. He was the only confidant under Bai Ina's command. However, he was not originally a resident of the Terminal or a bandit from Mt. Colubo, but a bounty hunter.

Bai Ina had met him back when he was a bounty hunter himself. Mo Mo had once tried to hunt down the Tanuki Pirate Crew, which had a 13-million-Beli bounty in the East Blue, single-handedly. He had wanted to trade the captain's head for the bounty, but he failed to recognize the gap in strength and was nearly killed.

He was saved by Bai Ina, who happened to be there for the same target. Afterward, although he proposed forming an alliance with Bai Ina to hunt together, he was rejected.

They parted ways until not long ago, when Bai Ina saw him coming ashore to resupply in a border town of the Goa Kingdom and invited him to help. Out of gratitude for saving his life, Mo Mo did not refuse.

Although Bai Ina didn't know Mo Mo's personality very well, he was very confident in his ability to get things done. His strength was also a reason Bai Ina valued him; after all, in the weak sea of the East Blue, a bounty hunter capable of hunting down a pirate with a ten-million-Beli bounty alone was a rare find.

But what Bai Ina appreciated most was his ability to investigate intelligence. Mo Mo could often analyze the most powerful information from the simplest data, which was evident from how easily he could accurately locate every target in the vast East Blue back then.

"Damn it, those damned nobles!"

Vincent, shirtless, was cursing angrily inside his command tent.

The other officers in the tent dared not echo him in the slightest. Vincent could say such things because he had an older brother who was a Grand General of the Kingdom. If they dared to echo him, they would be dead in some noble's secret dungeon within a few days.

"Lord Vincent, what exactly has the higher-up decided? What should we be doing now?" one general asked.

"How would I know? Those civilians from the border towns have all gone mad. I don't know where they found out about our existence. Those lowlifes are actually rushing here seeking protection, making a total mess of our encampment," Vincent said, extremely annoyed.

"Indeed. The higher-ups ordered us not to kill indiscriminately to avoid inciting the public's resistance. But this can't go on. We've driven them away wave after wave, and the news of our stationing here has become common knowledge."

Whoosh—

Just then, accompanied by a piercing sound, a bright signal flare exploded in the sky, its beautiful fireworks drifting across the night.

"What's going on?"

Vincent frowned and led his men charging out of the tent. At that very moment, the horizon suddenly turned fiery red and spread rapidly; before long, the entire dense forest was engulfed in flames.

"It's bad, it's an enemy attack!!!" Vincent's face changed drastically. They were stationed in the center of the dense forest, having cleared the surrounding trees to erect nearly a thousand tents. This sudden, massive fire had effectively trapped them all inside.

The fire was fanned by the breeze, and sparks fell onto the thousand tents, igniting the camp like a chain reaction. The Kingdom Army soldiers, who had already undressed and gone to sleep in their tents, rushed out screaming.

The entire scene descended into chaos...