Chapter 616: Banana Evil, Not the Way (44)

"Good! First meeting, Luan Po, the Luan Po Ninja Disciple, aka Luan Po! Next comes the harsh cultivation to become a ninja—can you keep up?"

"Of course. Pain is ordinary for a ninja; I will never retreat."

Xing opened the room door, and the first ordeal met her: Ninja Diamond Body.

A Banana Helper stood before her, staring motionlessly.

"It's an evil specter… but it also despises the Imperial Monkey Evil Ninja, belonging to the Bitter Tea Master's outer circle, the Luan Po Evil Specter." Luan Po thought silently.

Suddenly, the Banana Helper shifted and handed her a pill: "Number Three… take the medicine…"

"A dim secret medicine, infused with excess Ninja Force; swallowing it will bring the agony of shattered bones and torn intestines. But to become a Ninja Hero, one must take it daily… thereby forging a Ninja Force Great Universe within the body, a trial to grind body and mind."

(No… cannot eat…)

Xing wanted to refuse the medicine, but Luan Po seemed to force herself to comfort herself, and still reached out: "Do not fear… a Ninja Hero does not fear!"

The moment the pill was swallowed, intense pain instantly drowned Xing's perception.

"Ugh—!"

She could not help but let out a suppressed cry of pain, her body convulsing violently, forced to curl up on the ground.

Her skin felt as if pierced by billions of red‑hot steel needles, the searing pain nearly driving one mad; every muscle seemed constantly torn and crudely re‑stitched. Even her bones kept emitting a sour‑to‑the‑teeth "creak", as if ground repeatedly by a millstone.

(Hmm! Is this the excruciating pain Luan Po felt then…?)

Yet Luan Po clenched her teeth to death, trembling all over from the pain, nails digging into her palms and bleeding, she forced herself not to make a sound.

"Osu! After three thousand nights of this ordeal, I shall be like a Ninja Hero… impervious to blade and spear."

——

Slash Crimson Eye.

"Hmm…!"

In the Imperial Huntmen Corps' lounge, a suppressed sob, as if forced from deep within the throat, shattered the silence.

Seated in the corner, Hei Tong's petite frame began trembling uncontrollably; when she saw Luan Po take those pills, her face turned as pale as paper.

The next second, she bent over sharply—

"Ugh—!!"

She didn't even have time to find a container; she vomited straight onto the floor before her. Her stomach roiled, not merely from physical discomfort but because Luan Po's plight mirrored a cruel reflection of the experiences she and her sister endured in the assassin cultivation chamber. In an instant, the intense rejection reaction nearly left her exhausted to the point of collapse.

Although she had never taken the drug Luan Po held, Hei Tong could almost empathize with the pain from her reaction; during those bouts she thought of giving up more than once…

"Hei Tong! What's wrong?!" Wei Er, sitting beside her, jumped in shock, hurried over, and clumsily patted her back.

"Hei Tong‑chan, you didn't get a stomach bug last night, did you?" Bo Lu Si stood helplessly, unsure how to help, "If your stomach hurts, I can make you some tomato broth."

"It's… it's nothing… just… thinking about some… past events in the Empire."

After spitting everything out, Hei Tong gasped, leaning on the chair, her gaze fixed on the researchers in white coats under the Celestial Canopy, staring at Luan Po's twisted, pain‑ridden face.

Had she not had her sister, she likely would have died in the cultivation chamber back then, succumbing to the drug's side effects.

(Luan Po… does she have to endure this life for ten more years?)

(Has she never thought of giving up? If she gave up… this painful life could end in an instant, right? Could the belief in becoming a Ninja Hero truly sustain her for ten years?)

——

Xing continued forward, and the second ordeal awaiting her was Ninja Super Sense.

(She is Ai Dai Guan Zhu, head of the Dojo, also the support for our Luan Po ninjas. She uses the Ming Shen Great Ring to awaken a ninja's potential, and through the Thunder Escape Ninja Art Daigo's top‑down infusion, the body gains extraordinary Ninja Sense.)

Luan Po thought this in her heart.

Ai Dai Guan Zhu crossed her arms, coldly saying, "Number Three, I'm raising the intensity. You must hold on; the laboratory's future depends on you."

Luan Po nodded, "Exactly… the future of the Ninja Capital must be forged by a Luan Po Ninja Hero. I will definitely keep my promise."

Staring at the collar in her hand, Luan Po bit her teeth, reassuring herself word for word, and finally closed her eyes: "Put it on, for the sake of becoming a Ninja Hero—"

In the end she wore it; the next instant, the collar emitted a powerful current, like a thousand needles piercing flesh, countless bombs detonating inside her body. Xing felt her heart beating at an abnormal rate, countless sounds rang in her ears, even the hiss of protons annihilating.

So noisy, so noisy, so noisy…

A flood of sounds surged into her mind; Xing felt her head about to explode in an instant.

(This is… too much…)

Luan Po's voice began to carry a hint of sobbing, yet she still clenched her teeth, refusing to relax.

"Osu! After three thousand nights of this ordeal, I shall be like a Ninja Hero… with boundless divine powers."

The final trial was combat training, with the Rebel Monkey Crowd as Luan Po's opponents. She had never passed the rating before, but after countless harsh cultivations, she finally defeated two monkeys this time.

"Number Three, Level Five Experiment passed… rating increased……"

"The Galactic Ninja Manual says… the Ninja Dao Elder's path is long, suffering like a skateboard… Osu! After three thousand nights of this ordeal, I shall be like a Ninja Hero… unrivaled."

——

Sword and Blade Divine Realm.

"After three thousand nights of this ordeal…"

"Too cruel, truly too cruel…"

Asuna could no longer bear to watch any further.

Originally she had been full of longing for the "Ninja Nation" spoken of by Luan Po, thinking it a place like a manga brimming with cool ninja techniques. Yet when the truth sliced the glamorous façade like a cold blade, her and Kirito's spirits plunged instantly into a abyss.

The so‑called Ninja Nation was merely a white, cold furnace. And the "Bitter Tea Master" Luan Po regarded as the guide of the ninja path, yearning for his approval… turned out to be a researcher in a white coat, responsible for recording her bodily experiment data!

The words the Bitter Tea Master now says match those of the Ninja Nation's Bitter Tea Master we once glimpsed through the Celestial Canopy… perhaps the world Luan Po saw then was a form reshaped by a meme virus?

Kirito furrowed his brow and sighed deeply, "The so‑called 'Ninja Path'… is probably just a doctrine the master fabricated to make Luan Po endure desperately and complete data collection. Without this belief, Luan Po would have collapsed under the pressure long ago."

To make a girl grow up within a meticulously woven lie, all her effort, all her perseverance, even her entire world, the meaning of her life… was merely to become a string of cold numbers on a researcher's sheet.

Prime Doctor, truly damned…

——

Luan Po passed through the room ahead, only to see Bitter Tea Master and Nen Nen Hall Master discussing something in front of a screen.

"Using the meme virus on Number Three... what good does it do for the experimental data?"

Faced with the Nen Nen Hall Master's question, Luan Po instead felt smug about the progress of her super hearing, hearing every low whisper from the other party clearly.

"Able Person 22, we need to increase Number Three's mental resistance." Bitter Tea Master's face showed some reluctance as she softly sighed: "The later experiments she might not be able to endure; if we use the meme virus for cognitive intervention, maintaining her mental stability will also make the experiments go more smoothly."

"Fine, but whatever you do, don't let personal feelings get involved. You let Number Three run around everywhere, and the research apes already have objections."

Bitter Tea Master showed a troubled expression: "She can unlock the modification chamber's password with just two systems, and she can't be locked in a cage like an orangutan..."