Chapter 39: Thus, Little Chi Tong

“Meow~”

“Wow, it’s a kitten!”

The girl, brimming with energy and clearly dim-witted from her outward appearance, was easily lured into the forest by the adorable kitten.

Her companions, unfazed, paid it no further attention—this wasn’t the first time she’d been distracted by a small animal, and even if something happened, she could always run back immediately.

Though she was foolish, her speed was exceptional; in the assassination unit, she had never lost a track-and-field competition.

Thud.

With a barely audible whisper, the girl’s body went limp; before she collapsed to the ground, a large hand caught her and hurled her into the darkness.

Including Chi Tong, Gozzi had raised seven children total, numbering them according to their initial trial results.

No.4 Boni, captured.

First one—Jia Ji’s heart was as cold as a fish butcher’s who’d spent ten years killing fish in Darenfa; he gave the order without mercy.

“Continue.”

Chelsea nodded, transformed back into a kitten, twisted her body, and vanished.

Soon after, two more dull thuds echoed.

Jia Ji grabbed each by one arm and tossed the sixth-ranked assassin, Suzu, and the third-ranked one, Cornelia, deep into the unfathomable darkness.

Though they were prepared, how could they possibly resist the heir of the Ultimate Assassination Fist, let alone with professional killers watching nearby?

The continuous disappearances of their companions, no matter how slow-witted, could no longer go unnoticed by the remaining four.

Unexpectedly, they did not flee—instead, all four advanced together, alert and cautious, walking into the forest they once knew but now felt utterly alien.

Though troubled by doubt, they could not abandon their comrades, their brothers and sisters; and even if they ran, where could they go? Behind them lay their only home.

Deep within the pitch-black forest, an unimaginably terrifying monster seemed to lurk, its abyssal maw wide open, waiting to swallow them all.

An ominous atmosphere hung in the air.

“Nahashu, what do we do?” The tallest boy, Guy, nervously asked the team leader at the center.

The boy called Nahashu, though the team’s No.1, had never experienced anything this bizarre; no matter how mature he seemed, he was only twelve.

He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

“Fear is useless.”

Yes, he was the team’s leader, and he bore the responsibility to protect every younger sibling.

“Stay alert. Follow behind me. If anything feels off, run immediately.”

“But—” The bespectacled, scholarly boy seemed to want to say more, but Nahashu cut him off.

“Don’t overthink—you’re just trash. Do as I say!”

Though he habitually called his teammates trash, everyone knew he was just a stubborn prideful jerk—he deeply cared for his companions, and belittling them was his way of shouldering all the blame onto himself.

“You’ve got quite the guts…”

From the darkness, footsteps drew nearer, growing louder and deeper.

Nahashu swallowed hard, tense eyes fixed on the blurred silhouette stepping out from the trees.

A muscular man, his head wrapped in bandages, revealing only narrow eyes, stopped just before them. His cold, condescending gaze imposed immense psychological pressure—far heavier than his imposing physique alone suggested.

“What, just standing there? Not going to attack?”

“Damn it!”

Giving his siblings a signal, the boy who considered himself the strongest among them charged forward without hesitation to block the enemy.

The terrifying bandaged man sidestepped Nahashu’s straight punch effortlessly, his right hand vanishing—then reappearing a second later to smash into the boy’s abdomen. As Nahashu doubled over in agony, the man stomped down on him.

“If you can’t even protect your siblings, what right do you have to call yourself an older brother?”

The bandaged man bent down, gripping Nahashu’s skull with one hand, ignoring the boy’s frantic struggles as he clawed desperately at his wrist, and grinned as he tightened his grip, as if ready to crush the skull apart.

Only when Nahashu’s hands slowly fell limp and his body went slack did the man release him, tossing him aside like a pebble.

“Trash!”

It wasn’t that they wanted to flee—it was that two shadowy figures, cloaked in black and wielding weapons, had silently appeared behind them.

“Hehe, you’re not going anywhere.”

After delivering the most clichéd villainous line possible, the bandaged man’s cruel gaze locked onto the three trembling survivors.

Visible blue light surged from the bandaged man’s body, spreading across every inch of space within a several-meter radius, turning the entire field of vision a deep blue, illuminating their pallid, bloodless faces.

The air trembled violently; a tidal wave of aura surged from him, swallowing everything—yet at that moment, he suddenly smiled.

“Relax, relax… Why are you so serious?” Speaking nonsense no one understood, his words carried no hint of kindness—only dread and horror welled up from their very cores.

He asked calmly, unhurriedly:

“You know you can’t win. Aren’t you ready to surrender yet?”

Among the seven, the lowest-ranked and the only girl among the remaining three—Chi Tong, whose name matched her crimson eyes—quietly clenched the small dagger she used to cut roasted meat.

“Your companions are still in our hands. Resist, and something bad might happen to them~”

The girl, still bearing traces of youth, stepped forward, shielding her two uncertain, hesitant brothers behind her slender frame. With eyes as deep and brilliant as rubies, she trembled but answered firmly:

“Dad said you have to refuse in situations like this.”

Jia Ji froze. Gozzi’s training philosophy was surprisingly effective—he’d anticipated even this scenario. But then Jia Ji’s expression twisted into something sinister. “But this time… even your father is in my hands.”

“Chi Tong, Green, Guy—you don’t want anything to happen to your father, do you?”

At his words, all three reacted with disbelief. Their father, who in their minds was invincible, could never have been captured?

Lying. He was definitely lying to them!

But all doubt vanished the moment they saw the artifact Gozzi never parted from—“Muramasa.”

“H-how could this be!”

“Impossible!”

Green and Guy looked as if they couldn’t accept reality.

Chi Tong’s face turned ashen. Her gaze, pitiful and broken, released the dagger from her grip. She gave up resistance.

Thus, little Chi Tong’s entire future life was completely “destroyed.”

Friends, I’m currently struggling because I can’t come up with good content or pull off bad memes properly. But the memes are already ruined—so whether I pull them off or not doesn’t matter.jpg

Just thinking about my writing being viewed by at least a thousand people every day makes me break out in cold sweat.

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(End of Chapter)