A Nobody X Tradition X Sincerity

Shu Mu did not answer immediately.

His breathing was heavy, and with every breath, bloody froth seeped from the Shadow Spike wound in his chest. But slowly, his shoulders stopped trembling.

He raised his head.

There was no fear on his greasy face, no subservience, none of the ingratiating smile he had deliberately forced out earlier.

There was only something Jiang Ye had seen many times in Meteor City, something that surfaced only after a person knew death was certain.

Acceptance!

Shu Mu looked into Jiang Ye's eyes, his lips slowly curling into a smile as a desperate madness appeared in his eyes.

"Heh..."

"You think you've won?"

Jiang Ye did not answer, only watched him quietly.

"You think killing me and Tie Liao means you can sit securely in District 13's seat?"

Shu Mu's hoarse voice rose higher and higher, like a string stretched to its limit.

"Meteor City is too big! You couldn't walk all of it in your lifetime!"

"You're just a nobody too... a nobody who's floundered a little higher than the rest in this garbage heap!"

He abruptly straightened his back. Iron Wall and Shattered Eye both tried to force him down, but a burst of strength came from somewhere in Shu Mu's short, stout body, and he held his ground.

"I'll be waiting for you down there!"

His eyes remained fixed on Jiang Ye, the gray-white daylight reflected in his pupils.

"I'll be waiting for the day you fall down too!"

The instant the last word left his mouth, his jaws snapped shut.

Click.

An extremely faint crack came from deep inside his mouth.

The sound was buried beneath the end of his shout. If Jiang Ye had not been watching his mouth the entire time, it would have been almost impossible to notice.

The instant he heard the crack, Jiang Ye had already stepped half a pace back with his right foot and pointed his right hand at Toad, who lay beside him.

"Swallow!"

Toad moved faster than Jiang Ye's voice.

He opened his enormous mouth, and his dark red tongue shot out, coated in slippery saliva, wrapping precisely around Shu Mu's entire upper body.

The next instant, Shu Mu was dragged whole deep into Toad's mouth.

Iron Wall and Shattered Eye had yet to realize what had happened. All they saw was Shu Mu suddenly being swallowed by Toad.

Thud.

The next second, an explosion as muffled as if it had come from deep underground went off inside Toad's belly.

Toad's body jolted violently, his belly swelling for an instant before slowly subsiding.

A few wisps of black smoke escaped the corners of Toad's slightly open mouth and drifted into the gloomy air.

Jiang Ye stood where he was, watching Toad slowly close his mouth.

He could feel the vibration and heat coming from inside the Shikigami, but Toad's outline remained stable, with no sign of breaking apart.

He had withstood it.

Jiang Ye let out a soft breath, walked over, and pressed a hand against Toad's rough flank.

The grayish-brown skin was slightly hot, but the muscles beneath it continued to rise and fall steadily.

"Are you all right?"

Toad blinked his bulging frog eyes and gave a low, gentle croak.

Jiang Ye withdrew his hand, his face remaining expressionless.

He did not know whether this was a tradition in Meteor City, whether everyone needed a bomb planted in their body to feel at ease.

Only then did Iron Wall recover from his shock.

He lowered the hand still suspended in midair, his voice somewhat dry.

"He... hid a bomb in his mouth?"

"It was a pressure trigger disguised as a tooth."

Jiang Ye answered in an even tone.

"Biting down sets it off."

Shattered Eye's Adam's apple bobbed.

He looked down at the hand he had used to hold Shu Mu down, his fingertips trembling uncontrollably.

If Toad had been a moment slower, or if Jiang Ye had not noticed that subtle biting motion beforehand, all three of them would have been blown to pieces in an instant.

"Are all the strong people in Meteor City this crazy?"

Shattered Eye's voice was low, carrying a trace of lingering fear at his narrow escape.

Jiang Ye did not answer immediately.

He thought of the bomb in Dodge's chest that would explode when his heart stopped, then looked at Toad, who had just digested an explosion inside his body.

"Maybe."

He patted Toad's flank and spoke softly.

"Thanks for your hard work."

Toad slowly lowered his body until his rough skin rested against the ground, the faint scratches left by shrapnel still clearly visible.

But he merely crouched there quietly, like a stone block that could finally rest.

Iron Wall drew a deep breath, suppressing the emotions churning in his chest.

He looked up at Jiang Ye, his voice regaining its rough steadiness.

"Boss, your shoulder..."

"I won't die just yet."

Jiang Ye cut him off and turned his head to glance at his left shoulder.

The wound was still bleeding, but the layer of Toad's mucus still covered its surface, and there was no sign of the toxin entering.

"Let's take care of business first."

He turned around, his gaze passing over Iron Wall's and Shattered Eye's shoulders to the edge of the scrap yard still burning in the distance.

There, the remaining members of the Combined Forces and the Rust Bone Gang were facing off among the ruins.

The flames from the Molotov cocktails flickered beneath the gray sky, and the occasional sharp clang of metal carried over.

"Tie Liao and Shu Mu are both dead."

Jiang Ye's voice was not loud, but the shadow beneath his feet was already spreading silently.

"Now it's time to let them know who the real master of District 13 is."

Iron Wall and Shattered Eye dropped to one knee at the same time.

"Yes."

The three figures headed toward the battlefield.

Jiang Ye walked in front, the shadow at his feet stretching into a long, narrow dark line. Toad slowly rose behind him and followed with heavy, steady steps.

The flames on the battlefield illuminated the outlines of the ruins.

The Rust Bone Gang members held up sheet-metal shields, pinning the thirty or so survivors of the Combined Forces behind a fallen wall of scrap iron.

Bago stood at the front, the edge of his shield still stained with wet blood. He was bellowing something at the top of his lungs, his wildly ferocious yelling audible from over a hundred meters away.

But the moment Jiang Ye appeared at the edge of the scrap yard, every sound stopped.

The first to notice him was one of Shattered Eye's scouts. He was crouching on a broken concrete pillar, and the instant he turned and saw Jiang Ye, he sprang upright.

"Boss...! The boss is back!"

His voice rang out across the open scrap yard.

The Rust Bone Gang members turned in unison.

Then Bago threw away the shield in his hand, already battered out of shape, and roared at the top of his lungs.

"It's the boss!"

At that moment, the action on the battlefield seemed to freeze.

The flames from the Molotov cocktails still danced, but no one swung a machete anymore.

The survivors of the Combined Forces also turned to follow the Rust Bone Gang's gaze. When they saw the small, thin figure emerge from the shadows, some unconsciously loosened their grips on their iron rods.

Under everyone's gaze, Jiang Ye walked calmly to the center of the battlefield and stopped.

Toad crouched down behind him, his enormous grayish-brown form like a moving wall.

Iron Wall stood to his left, Shattered Eye to his right.

"Tie Liao is dead."

Jiang Ye's voice was not loud, but it was exceptionally clear on the deathly silent battlefield.

"Shu Mu is dead too."

His gaze slowly swept over the thirty-odd faces before him, some terrified, others bewildered.

"This fight is over."

As his words fell, a subdued commotion arose among the Combined Forces. Some stepped back half a pace, and others lowered their weapons, but no one dared run.

Because the shadow beneath Jiang Ye's feet was spreading silently, covering the ground beneath everyone's feet.

Bago was the first to react.

He planted the machete in his hand in the ground, dropped to one knee, pressed his right fist to his chest, and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Rust Bone Gang!"

The dozen or so followers behind him dropped to their knees in unison and roared along with him.

"Rust Bone Gang...! Rust Bone Gang...!"

The voices were uneven at first, but soon became a unified wave, echoing back and forth over the scrap yard.

Jiang Ye stood where he was, listening quietly.

He did not rush to stop them, instead letting the cheers continue for nearly half a minute.

He could clearly see the expressions on the faces of the Combined Forces.

From wariness to a softening of their guard, from that softening to hesitation, and from hesitation to tentative anticipation.

After half a minute, he slowly raised his right hand.

The gesture was slight, but the shouting throughout the scrap yard stopped instantly, as though pressed down by an invisible hand.

Bago closed his mouth and lowered his head, his back held ramrod straight.

Everyone looked at the twelve-year-old boy standing in the middle of the ruins.

Jiang Ye lowered his hand and spoke.

"I'm not an unreasonable person."

His voice was steady, every word perfectly clear.

"Those willing to stay..."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the surviving soldiers of the Combined Forces.

"Kneel down now and put down your weapons."

"Let me see your sincerity."