One-on-One, Wanna Play?

Yue found a corner beneath an eave, sat on the ground, and closed his eyes to rest.

People continually passed by, looking him over, but none dared approach.

A quarter of an hour passed before Yue opened his eyes.

He had heard something.

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

She seemed puzzled. The boy before her did not look much older than she was, so why could he kill those formidable bad guys and possess such astonishing strength?

The girl reeked like garbage. Yue looked at her with coldness and warning in his eyes.

Telling her not to come any closer.

It was vigilance.

It was Yue's first time in this lawless area, and he was still unfamiliar with the surroundings.

Everything around him held potential danger.

He silently raised his dagger.

Seeing that, the girl took a frightened step back.

"You should leave quickly. The people you killed just now were only small fry. Above them are even more vicious people."

"The situation here is very complicated. People like them have long grown accustomed to living with their lives on the line, so... they will never bow their heads. To survive here, there is only constant slaughter, endless slaughter... whether it is to fight over territory or display their strength."

The reason the girl was not too afraid of Yue was partly because of his age, and partly because she seemed to feel that he was not one of those bad people in the district who were purely malicious.

"Why?"

Yue asked the three words calmly.

He meant why she was telling him all this.

"You're amazing... I want to be like you too, to have such powerful strength. Then no one will be able to bully my mother and me anymore." The girl blinked, a trace of admiration appearing in her eyes as she spoke sincerely.

"..."

Yue remained silent.

"A child my age without any strength... can barely survive in this district as long as they obediently do as they are told." As she spoke, the girl lowered her head, her gaze dimming. "But farther ahead, it is full of evil spirits. Mom said the people there are ten, even a hundred times scarier than the people here! Killing someone is as easy as drinking water... The environment there is even worse. It is a true hell of carnage."

"Many of the bad people in this district, like the ones you killed, have connections to people over there... They will definitely come looking for you."

"What is your name?"

Yue asked.

"Kana, Harukana."

The girl had apparently not expected Yue to ask her name, and her dirty little face flushed.

"Harukana..."

Yue repeated it.

At that moment, before the two had finished talking, a wild-haired woman ran out of a dilapidated house in the distance. Her clothes were not fully on, and sweat still covered her body. A man came out of the house right after her.

The woman looked around, and the instant she spotted Harukana, she ran over.

She gave Yue a wary look, then scooped up her daughter without saying a word and carried her away.

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

Seeing that, Yue understood how the woman had kept herself and her daughter from being harmed and barely survived in this district.

If nothing unexpected happened, Harukana would probably not live to adulthood.

She would still die.

The woman's body had already been tortured beyond recognition, little more than skin and bones.

"There!"

A large crowd suddenly appeared at the distant intersection.

A local led them over and pointed in Yue's direction.

They were here!

Yue narrowed his eyes and immediately turned to run.

But after darting only a few meters, he stopped. Their companions had appeared from the opposite direction as well. Two squads, one in front and one behind, blocked him in the middle of the street.

Yue swept his gaze over them. Counting both sides, there were nearly thirty people.

For him, it was truly a massive formation!

"Is this the little runt?"

A man who looked like the leader frowned deeply as he led the others forward, examining Yue, who had raised his dagger and entered a fighting stance.

"It's him!"

The local who had led them there nodded with certainty.

"Interesting..."

The leader sneered.

They had already seen the corpses and bloodstains exposed beneath the sunlight nearby.

"You killed my men, yet you still dared to sit here and rest so calmly. Kid, you've got some nerve."

"Heh."

Yue curled his lips and let out an unhurried scoff.

The leader's eyelid twitched.

The next second, before they could make a move, Yue suddenly bent his knees and leaped onto a nearby rooftop with astonishing force. Using the terrain and the low rooftops, he bounded across the buildings and slipped away.

He was a ninja.

There were many ways to kill an enemy.

"Get him!"

They had not expected Yue to flee like that. His small body bounced across the plank houses several times before racing off in one direction.

The crowd immediately surged after him.

Before long, the leader and the others realized that they seemed to have lost Yue's "coordinates."

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

"Split up and look for him... He has probably hidden somewhere. With his speed, he could not have escaped the district in such a short time. Our eyes are everywhere here." The leader stood at an alley entrance, looked around, and issued his orders.

"Yes!"

After hearing that, his subordinates scattered like birds and began searching every suspicious hiding place nearby.

Tree shade, haystacks, old crates, abandoned warehouses, or rundown houses... In short, they did not overlook a single place where someone could hide.

A carpet search.

A few minutes later, a desperado carrying a blade stepped into a house covered in cobwebs.

Although it was daytime, the room was dimly lit.

He entered and looked around, but found no sign of the target.

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

Looking closer, it was the target!

Unfortunately, before he could strike, the boy's short blade had already slit his throat.

The man died on the spot.

Yue hung upside down from the ceiling like a bat, his feet clinging tightly to the wooden boards as if they were magnets. He had focused his mind and held his breath, so the enemy had never noticed him. After killing one man, Yue dispersed the Chakra from the soles of his feet and flipped down to the ground.

Taking advantage of the absence of anyone nearby, he slipped out the door and vanished again.

Not long afterward, other enemies followed the scent of blood here and found the corpse.

"He's nearby. Don't let him get away!"

"Yes."

Time passed bit by bit in that tense atmosphere.

To these executioners, killing a child should have been effortless, nothing difficult at all... Yet as time passed, they gradually discovered in horror that they seemed to be the ones at a disadvantage. They simply could not find Yue's hiding place, while every so often, they would discover the bizarrely dead bodies of their companions.

Their deaths varied, but judging from the wounds, each had been killed in a single strike.

That meant their opponent had hidden himself perfectly and chosen his moments to act with remarkable precision.

When dealing with the first few corpses, there had clearly still been some flaws.

But later on... the methods of killing had obviously become much more practiced.

Without realizing it, the remaining people seemed to have been caught in a "spiderweb," quietly waiting for a predator to bare its fangs from the darkness.

A chill began to rise in the survivors' hearts.

The standoff lasted from daylight until nightfall. By then, the group of around thirty had been reduced to only twelve.

Only then did they seem to realize that they could no longer split up. Instead, they gathered together.

But that also meant they could no longer hunt that little brat... He could leave freely.

"Boss..."

At the scene of one bloody killing, a subordinate stared at the remains of the last companion to be killed, his lips turning pale.

"That guy is definitely no ordinary brat. He's hunting us with a plan and arrangement."

"Once we realized that, the five of us stayed together. We found traces of the target here, and four of us followed the figure we saw. But the strange thing was... just as we were about to catch him, that body suddenly burst into white smoke and disappeared. Then we heard screams from behind us."

"He was a little slower to follow, and then... he was killed."

The others he mentioned repeatedly nodded, indicating that he was not lying.

Though it sounded rather strange.

"This brat's methods and style of killing are not like ours... It's too eerie, somewhat like..."

"You mean... assassination?"

The leader understood what his subordinate meant and spoke two words.

"The Stealth Force?"

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

"I have heard some rumors about the Stealth Force... They're extremely mysterious."

"Stop imagining things... He cannot be from the Seireitei!"

The leader's face was cold as he said with certainty.

Unless it was a special incident, why would people from the Seireitei come to this place to cause trouble?

Besides, those lords of the Seireitei had strict rules.

Not to mention that the brat was far too young. To enter the Seireitei from the Soul Society Outskirts required time and qualifications beyond what ordinary people could attain.

In the end, he could only be a little brat skilled in assassination who knew a few "evil arts."

No one knew where he had come from.

Seireitei soldiers often appeared in the Soul Society Outskirts as well. Many of them had originally come from the Soul Society Outskirts, so bits and pieces about the "inside" spread around.

"He only knows how to use such underhanded methods. If you've got the guts, don't let me run into you!"

The more the leader thought about it, the angrier he became. His eyes reddened as he cursed.

From his tone, it seemed he no longer planned to continue searching.

The casualties and losses today were already unbearable.

"Underhanded?"

A soft laugh suddenly came from behind them.

Everyone was startled and turned around together.

They found the "murderer" they had been desperately searching for leaning against a tree opposite them, twirling his dagger and watching them with an amused expression.

"If you want to leave... I have ways to keep killing all of you on the way back."

"This battle does not end just because you say it does."

The smile vanished from Yue's face as he spoke coldly to the leader.

"Even if all of you make it back alive to District 78, I will appear beside you like a ghost whenever I want. Maybe while you are sleeping, maybe while you are enjoying yourselves... In any case, do not split up. Otherwise... none of you will live."

Hearing Yue's words, the desperadoes instantly turned pale and trembled.

The brat's eyes were serious!

He was not joking.

They seemed to have provoked serious trouble.

Although the target stood right before them, considering Yue's outstanding mobility and agility, along with the late hour and poor visibility... catching the brat would likely still be difficult.

"Heh..."

"Hahahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!"

Unexpectedly, the leader suddenly began laughing.

He covered his forehead with one hand, as though he had gone a little mad.

After laughing for a while, the man lowered his hand and stared at Yue with a piercing gaze. "Brat... the person you really want to kill is only me, right?!"

"I can feel it... that bloodthirsty desire in your eyes. I know it too well... When I want to kill someone, I cannot suppress the restlessness in my heart either."

"That's right."

Yue revealed his true intention as well and slowly stepped out from beneath the tree.

"Though I do not know how strong you are, your soul gives me no small sense of danger. There is some kind of aura surrounding you for no apparent reason. Perhaps that is spiritual pressure..."

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

"Well?"

"Wanna play?"

Yue tilted his head slightly, his eyes cold and clear.

"Amazing courage!"

The man gave Yue a thumbs-up. "I have been roaming the Soul Society Outskirts for so long, and this is the first time I have seen a brat like you! I have to say, I admire you a little. I even respect you."

"Even if I kill you, I will feel regret."

"But I understand how you feel. We are both hunters. Being able to kill powerful prey and please ourselves with it... that is something rare indeed."

The leader revealed a savage grin as well.

Clearly, he had agreed to Yue's request.

"Your name."

The man couldn't help asking.

"Just call me Yue."

"Yue."

"Good. Don't worry... after my blade chops you into pieces, I'll find a decent place to bury you. I'll remember your name forever."

"Is that so? Then I'd better thank you properly..."

After saying that, Yue took the lead and headed in one direction.

"You stay here. Don't follow."

After leaving those words for his subordinates, the leader followed after him.