One-on-one, wanna play?

Yue found a corner under the eaves, sat down on the ground, and closed his eyes to rest.

People kept passing by, glancing at him, but none approached.

After about fifteen minutes, Yue opened his eyes.

He heard a noise.

A disheveled little girl timidly approached, her bulging eyes curiously appraising him.

It seemed strange; the boy before her wasn't much older than herself, so why could he kill those formidable bad guys and possess such astonishing power?

The girl exuded a stench like garbage. Yue's gaze towards her was icy and carried a warning.

He conveyed to her not to come any closer.

This was a form of vigilance.

This was Yue's first time in this lawless zone, and he was not yet familiar with the environment.

Everything around him held potential danger.

He silently raised his dagger.

Seeing this, the girl flinched back a step.

"You should leave. The people you just killed were just minor thugs. There are far more vicious individuals above them."

"The situation here is very complicated. These people are accustomed to a life of bloodshed, so... they'll never back down. To survive here, one must kill constantly, endlessly... whether it's to fight for territory or to assert one's strength."

The reason the girl wasn't too afraid of Yue was partly due to their similar ages, and partly because she seemed to sense that Yue wasn't the purely malicious kind of villain found in this district.

"Why?"

Yue asked the question in three simple words.

He meant to ask why she was telling him this.

"You're so amazing... I want to be like you too, to have such powerful strength. Then, no one would be able to bully my mom and me anymore," the girl said, blinking her eyes, a hint of admiration sparkling in her gaze, speaking from the heart.

"..."

Yue remained silent.

"Children my age, without strength... if they just behave, they can barely survive in this district," the girl said, lowering her head, her gaze dimming slightly. "But if you go further, it's full of demons. My mom says the people there are ten, a hundred times more terrifying than here! Killing is as easy as drinking water... the environment is even harsher, a true hell of carnage."

"Many of the bad guys in this district, like the ones you killed, are connected to people from over there... they'll definitely come looking for you."

"What's your name?"

Yue asked.

"Harukana, Harukana."

The girl seemed surprised that Yue would ask her name, and her dirty little face flushed slightly.

"Harukana..."

Yue repeated the name.

Just then, before their conversation was finished, a disheveled woman burst out of a dilapidated house not far away. Her clothes were not fully on, and sweat still beaded on her skin. Close behind her, a man emerged from the house.

The woman scanned her surroundings, and upon spotting Harukana, immediately ran over.

She glared at Yue with a wary expression and, without a word, scooped up her daughter.

"Everyone here seems to have their own way of surviving..."

Seeing this, Yue understood how the woman managed to protect her child and eke out an existence in this district.

If nothing unexpected happened, Harukana probably wouldn't live to adulthood.

She would still die.

The woman's body was already ravaged, looking like skin and bones.

"There!"

Suddenly, a large group of figures emerged from a distant intersection.

Locals were guiding them, pointing in Yue's direction.

They've arrived!

Yue narrowed his eyes and, without hesitation, bolted.

However, after only a few meters, he stopped. This was because his pursuers had appeared from the opposite direction of the street. Two squads, one in front and one behind, had blocked him in the middle of the road.

Yue glanced around. Counting the people in front and behind, he estimated there were around thirty of them.

For him, this was a significant force!

"Is this the little brat?"

A man who looked like a leader frowned, leading his group forward and sizing up Yue, who had raised his dagger and entered a combat stance.

"It's him!"

The local guide nodded, confirming with certainty.

"Interesting..."

The leader sneered.

They had already seen the corpse and bloodstains exposed to the sunlight nearby.

"You killed my men... and you dare to rest here so leisurely? Kid, you've got some nerve."

"Heh."

Yue calmly raised the corners of his mouth, letting out a scoff.

This made the leader's eyelids twitch.

The next second, before the other party could make a move, Yue suddenly bent his knees, unleashing incredible jumping power to leap onto the rooftop of a street-side building. Using the terrain and the low eaves of the buildings, he darted away, literally greasing his feet and making a clean getaway.

He was a ninja, after all.

There were many ways to eliminate enemies.

"Chase!"

The pursuers hadn't expected Yue to escape in such a manner. They watched as Yue's small frame bounced across the corrugated iron roofs, quickly heading in one direction.

A group of people immediately swarmed after him.

Moments later, the leader and his men realized they seemed to have lost Yue's 'coordinates'.

That kid was too agile and knew how to exploit the terrain to his advantage.

"Split up and search... he's probably hiding. With this amount of time, he can't have escaped the district at his speed. This area is crawling with our informants," the leader said, standing at an alley entrance, glancing left and right as he issued his orders.

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, his subordinates immediately scattered like startled birds, searching for any suspicious cover nearby.

Shady trees, haystacks, dilapidated crates, abandoned warehouses, or old houses... in short, there wasn't a single place that could be used for hiding that these men didn't check.

It was a carpet-like search.

A few minutes later, a desperate man, blade in hand, stepped into a house covered in cobwebs.

Although it was daytime, the light inside the room was rather dim.

He scanned the interior and found no target.

But just as he turned to leave, he looked back and suddenly met a pair of eyes.

Upon closer inspection, it was the target!

However, before he could even make a move, the boy's short blade had already sliced open his throat.

The man died instantly.

Yue, like a bat, hung upside down from the ceiling, his feet clinging to the wooden planks as if magnetized. He held his breath, making it impossible for the enemy to detect him. After dispatching one man, Yue deactivated the Chakra in his feet and flipped to the ground.

Seizing the moment when no one else was around, he slipped out the door and vanished once more.

Not long after, other enemies, drawn by the scent of blood, found their way there and discovered the corpse.

"He's nearby, don't let him escape!"

"Yes."

Time ticked by in this tense atmosphere.

For these executioners, killing a child seemed easy, not a difficult task... but as time wore on, they gradually and fearfully realized that they were the ones at a disadvantage. They couldn't find Yue's hiding place, and at regular intervals, they would discover the mysteriously dead bodies of their companions.

The causes of death varied, but the wounds indicated a single, fatal blow.

This suggested that the perpetrator was incredibly well-hidden and had a masterful grasp of when to strike.

There were clear imperfections in how the earlier bodies were handled.

But as time went on... the killing methods clearly became more proficient.

Unbeknownst to them, the remaining group was like unwitting flies caught in a 'spiderweb', silently awaiting the predator to bare its fangs from the darkness.

A chill began to creep into the hearts of the survivors.

The standoff that lasted from day to night had reduced the team of about thirty people to just twelve.

Only now did they seem to realize their predicament and dared not split up anymore, instead huddling together.

But this also meant they could no longer pursue the kid... he could leave freely.

"Boss..."

At the scene of the latest murder, one man, looking at the remains of his last fallen comrade, had lips as pale as death.

"That kid is definitely not ordinary. He's systematically hunting us."

"Realizing this, the five of us who were together found traces of the target here. The four of us followed the figure, but bizarrely... just as we were about to catch him, his body suddenly exploded into a puff of white smoke and disappeared. Immediately after, we heard screams from behind us."

"He was a little slow to follow, and as a result... he met his end."

The others he spoke of nodded frequently, indicating that the former speaker was not lying.

Although it sounded a bit strange.

"This brat's killing methods and behavior aren't like ours… it's too strange, a bit like…"

"You mean… assassination?"

The leader understood his subordinate's meaning and uttered two words.

"The Stealth Force?"

"How could a brat like him possibly be from Seireitei?"

"I have heard some rumors about the Stealth Force… they're very mysterious."

"Stop imagining things… he can't be from Seireitei!"

The leader said with a chilling certainty.

Unless it was a special incident, people from Seireitei wouldn't be bored enough to come to this place and cause trouble.

Moreover, those old men in Seireitei had very strict rules.

Not to mention, that brat was too young. The time and qualifications needed to enter Seireitei from the Soul Society Outskirts were beyond what ordinary people could achieve.

Ultimately, he could only be described as a brat who was skilled in assassination and knew some 'evil arts.'

He appeared out of nowhere.

Squad members from within Seireitei also frequented the Soul Society Outskirts, and many of them originated from there, so some information about 'inside' would occasionally leak out.

"Only using such despicable methods. If you have the guts, don't let me catch you!"

The more the leader thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn't help but curse with red eyes.

Judging by his tone, he didn't intend to continue the search.

The casualties and losses today were already unbearable.

"Despicable?"

Suddenly, a light laugh came from behind them.

Everyone was startled and turned around in unison.

They found the 'culprit' they had been desperately searching for leaning against a tree opposite them, twirling a dagger and staring at them with a playful expression.

"If you want to leave… on your way back, I have ways to continue killing you all."

"This battle isn't over just because you say it is."

Yue's smile vanished, and he spoke to the leader in a chilling tone.

"Even if you all make it back to District 78 alive, I will appear beside you like a ghost at any time, perhaps when you're sleeping, or perhaps when you're enjoying yourselves… In short, do not split up, or… not a single one of you will survive."

Yue's words instantly turned the faces of the group of desperate men pale, their hearts trembling.

The brat's eyes were serious!

He wasn't joking.

They seemed to have gotten into big trouble.

Although their target was right in front of them, considering Yue's excellent mobility and agility, coupled with the late hour and poor visibility… it would still be difficult for them to capture the brat.

"Heh…"

"Hahahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!"

Unexpectedly, the leader suddenly burst into laughter.

He covered his forehead with his hand, seeming a little mentally unstable.

After laughing for a while, the man lowered his hand and stared at Yue with soul-piercing eyes, "Brat… the only person you truly want to kill is me, right?!"

"I can feel… that bloodthirsty desire in your eyes. I'm too familiar with it… When I want to kill someone, I can't suppress the inner turmoil either."

"That's right."

Yue revealed his true intention and slowly walked out from under the tree.

"Although I don't know your strength, your soul gives me a significant sense of danger. There's an inexplicable aura, perhaps it's Spiritual Pressure…"

"Didn't you want a one-on-one fight?"

"How about it?"

"Wanna play?"

Yue tilted his head, his eyes clear and cold.

"Astonishing courage!"

The man gave Yue a thumbs-up. "I've been in the Soul Society Outskirts for so long, and I've never seen a brat like you! I have to say, I admire you a little, even respect you."

"Even if I killed you, I would still feel regret."

"But I understand your feelings. We are both hunters. Being able to kill a powerful prey to please ourselves… this is a rare thing."

The leader also revealed a sinister grin.

Evidently, he had agreed to Yue's request.

"Your name."

The man couldn't help but ask.

"Just call me Yue."

"Yue."

"Very well. Rest assured… after my blade cuts you into pieces, I'll find a decent place to bury you. I'll always remember your name."

"Is that so? Then I must thank you properly…"

After speaking, Yue took the lead and walked off in one direction.

"You all stay here. No need to follow."

The leader left a statement for his subordinates before trailing after Yue.