nashuaworldcup Chapter 396 Faith (Page 12)
Chapter 396 Faith (Page 12)
Everyone stood there, staring at what was happening before them, speechless.
The burning black sycamore trees had long since turned to ashes, and the charred remains drifted in the wind like black snow.
The once bustling Dotonbori is now nothing but ruins, with broken neon signs leaning precariously in the rubble, and dangling power lines occasionally sparking.
The air was filled with the smell of burning and dust, and in the distance, sporadic flames still burned, reflecting on the tired faces of the crowd.
No one speaks.
They won, but at a great cost.
Yurina's fingertips still retained the burning sensation from the battle. She looked down at her palms and clenched them slightly.
Uncle Kyosuke stood beside her, silently smoking. The ashes fell on the ruins and were quickly blown away by the wind.
Amamiya Haruki's white hair was covered in dust. He looked up at the sky, his eyes filled with complex emotions. Lin Qiye gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his knuckles turning white, and in the end, he could only sigh softly.
silence.
A suppressed silence.
until--
“How about…” Shen Qingzhu suddenly spoke, her voice exceptionally clear in the silence.
Everyone turned to look at him.
He scratched his head, grinned, and tried to break the heavy atmosphere: "Everyone, come join our Black Kill Group! We have plenty of houses and rooms, and you can even stay there!"
His tone was relaxed, even a little smug, as if he were showing off his luxurious villa.
Uncle Kyosuke paused for a moment, then chuckled, his tense shoulders finally relaxing.
He exhaled a puff of smoke, nodded, and said, "Thank you for your help."
Shen Qingzhu patted her chest and said, "Don't be so polite! We're family!"
Lin Qiye glanced at him, and the corners of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.
Haruki Amamiya asked casually, "Do you have any wine?"
Shen Qingzhu laughed heartily: "Enough for everyone!"
Yurina blinked, her tense nerves finally relaxing. She softly hummed in agreement, a tired yet relieved smile appearing on her lips.
The night wind blew, stirring up the dust from the ruins and sending it drifting into the distance.
But at least they still have somewhere to go.
...
Black Killer Headquarters
Hundreds of members of the Black Killers stood like statues in the courtyard, their eyes fixed on the direction of the gate.
Their breathing almost stopped, their fingers gripped their weapons so tightly that their knuckles turned white from the effort.
A sense of oppressive tension filled the air, as if even the wind dared not stir.
Ken Asakura stood at the front, fine beads of sweat glistening on his forehead. His eyes were fixed on the doorway, his throat bobbing as he whispered hoarsely, "Will the team leader... come back?"
Inamori Yu gripped the knife tightly, his knuckles cracking: "I definitely will!"
At this moment——
"Da da da……"
The sound of footsteps came from far to near.
Everyone's pupils suddenly contracted, and their breathing stopped.
The next second, the door was pushed open.
Lin Qiye, Zhang Yun in black, Shen Qingzhu... their figures finally appeared before everyone's eyes.
In an instant, the entire Black Kill Group was struck dumb, and then—
"The team leader is back!!!"
A roar of ecstasy shook the heavens, and hundreds of gangsters surged forward like a boiling tide, only to suddenly stop three steps away from Shen Qingzhu.
"Shh-!"
A unified sound of kneeling rang out as everyone knelt on one knee, heads bowed, like the most loyal warriors welcoming their king.
"Please punish them, team leader!!!"
Shen Qingzhu was stunned.
He blinked and turned to look at Lin Qiye: "What did they just say?"
Zhang Yun, dressed in black, was laughing so hard his shoulders were shaking, and he almost choked.
Lin Qiye sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation: "They said... you should punish them."
Shen Qingzhu: "???"
Imori Hiroshi suddenly looked up, his eyes red-rimmed, his voice trembling: "Team Leader! It's all my fault! The brothers were about to grab their weapons and rush to save you, but I knew... we would only cause you trouble if we went! So I stopped them!"
His fist slammed into the ground, blood seeping from his knuckles.
"It's my fault! Please punish me, team leader!"
"I will commit seppuku!"
After saying that, he suddenly drew his short knife, and with a flash of cold light, he stabbed it directly into the abdomen!
"boom!"
Shen Qingzhu raised his hand and waved it, and an invisible air blast instantly knocked the knife out of his hand.
"What's going on!" Shen Qingzhu frowned. "You Japanese always resort to seppuku, can't you come up with something new?"
The entire Black Kill Group fell silent, their heads hanging even lower.
Shen Qingzhu took a deep breath, straightened her back, and walked forward with an air of grandeur.
Then--
He turned around quietly and lowered his voice: "Um... I need to say something, how should I say it?"
Lin Qiye: “…”
Zhang Yun: "Pfft—!" (Failed to suppress laughter)
Lin Qiye sighed and said, "I'll say a sentence, and you repeat it."
Shen Qingzhu nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Okay, okay, okay!"
The moment Shen Qingzhu turned around, the air in the entire Black Kill Group headquarters seemed to freeze.
His gaze swept over the kneeling crowd like a blade, his eyes burning with unprecedented fury.
"Eight of them!!!"
This roar was like a thunderclap, causing the cherry blossoms in the courtyard to flutter down.
Kneeling at the front, Inamori Yu trembled, his forehead hitting the ground hard, cold sweat sliding down his cheeks.
"The gods regard you as pigs and dogs, yet you must kneel before them!!!"
Shen Qingzhu's voice was low and cold, each word sounding as if it were squeezed out from between her teeth.
He suddenly raised his hand and pointed to the towering "Amaterasu Tower" in the distance—the symbol of the divine messenger and the source of fear for everyone in the city.
“Look at that tower! Look at those high and mighty ‘gods’! What do they bestow upon you? Favors? Protection?”
His voice suddenly rose, like a sharp sword piercing the night sky.
"No! All they give you is fear! Only slavery! Only that numbered wooden tag around your neck!"
Shen Qingzhu strode towards the crowd, her boots making a dull thud on the bluestone slabs.
He grabbed a member of the Black Killers by the collar, revealing a wooden plaque around the man's neck engraved with "D-7743".
"What's this? It's a dog tag!"
His fingers dug hard into the wooden sign, his nails almost embedding into the wood grain.
"The gods keep you like dogs, and what do you do? You actually kneel down and thank them?!"
The entire Black Kill Group turned pale; some began to tremble, while others clenched their fists tightly.
Shen Qingzhu released her grip and coldly surveyed the crowd.
"You think kneeling will save your life? You're wrong! Kneeling will only make them trample on you even more!"
He kicked over the stone lantern beside him with a sudden thud, the stone shattering and dust flying everywhere.
"Look at this city! Look at the burned-down houses, the massacred civilians! Did the gods care? No! They only care about their own power, only about whether you still fear them!"
Shen Qingzhu's voice suddenly lowered, but carried an even more shocking power.
"You shouldn't do this."
Shen Qingzhu slowly walked to the center of the courtyard. The moonlight poured down like water, coating him with a layer of cold silver light.
His shadow was stretched long, cast obliquely on the bluestone ground, like a drawn sword, sharp and lonely.
.
"Humanity--"
His voice wasn't loud, but it resounded like muffled thunder in everyone's ears.
"Born to stand!"
These words struck everyone like a heavy hammer. The Black Killer members kneeling on the ground unconsciously straightened their backs; some even subconsciously tried to stand up, but froze in their habitual fear.
Shen Qingzhu's gaze was like a knife, sweeping across every face.
He saw the bruise on Ken Asakura's neck caused by the numbered tag, the self-inflicted knife marks on Hiroshi Imori's palm, and the long-numbed fear in the eyes of many others.
"Knees—" He suddenly lifted his foot and stomped heavily on the bluestone. With a muffled thud, the ground trembled slightly. "They're for walking on!"
His boot soles rolled over the stone slabs, sending pebbles flying.
"It's not for kneeling on!"
"We must strive for self-improvement!"
His voice was like a resounding bell, causing the torches in the courtyard to tremble.
In the firelight, it seemed as if golden flames were burning deep within his pupils.
"God——"
He suddenly drew the knife from his waist; the moment the blade left its sheath, its cold light shone like snow, illuminating half the night sky.
"They're just slightly more powerful creatures!"
The tip of the blade pointed directly at the towering Amaterasu Tower in the distance. Under the moonlight, the dark red patterns on the tower's body writhed like veins, and the golden runes at the top of the tower shimmered with an eerie luster.
"What right do they have to dictate your fate?!"
"If gods are truly supreme—"
Shen Qingzhu's voice suddenly lowered, carrying a kind of seductive rhythm.
Why do they need us to be afraid?
The night wind suddenly stopped, and the courtyard was eerily quiet; even the crackling of the burning torches had disappeared.
Everyone held their breath, staring intently at the knife in his hand—the tip of the knife was pointing directly at the enormous golden eye at the very top of the Amaterasu Tower.
"Why--"
His voice suddenly rose, almost a roar.
"Do we really need to kneel and worship?!"
After a brief silence, Shen Qingzhu suddenly laughed. The laugh was cold and sharp, like the icy wind blowing from the far north, carrying a chilling sarcasm.
"Because they're afraid!"
His fingers slowly traced the blade, and blood slid down the edge, only to vanish as golden sparks the instant it dripped.
"I'm afraid that one day—"
Suddenly, pale flames erupted from the blade, and in the firelight, his face appeared as sinister as a god or demon.
"Humans no longer need them!"
"You lot!!!"
Shen Qingzhu's voice was not loud, but it was like a muffled thunder rumbling across the sky, making the air in the courtyard freeze for a moment.
Deep within his pupils, golden flames suddenly surged, reflecting on every astonished face.
"Ignorance!!!"
These two words were squeezed out from between his teeth, carrying a chilling coldness, like a wind blowing from the far north, carrying shards of ice that had never melted for millennia, piercing the hearts of everyone present.
Imori Hiroshi's fist slammed deeply into the ground, the sound of cracking knuckles mingling with the crisp sound of bluestone shattering.
Dark red blood beads seeped out from between the fists, congealing into tiny chains of beads under the moonlight, meandering along the moss-covered stone patterns, like a dying red snake struggling.
The veins on his neck bulged, and as he slowly raised his head, his left eye was swollen and bruised, almost unable to open, amidst the messy hair on his forehead. The fresh knife wound on his right cheek was still bleeding, the flesh rolled up like a blooming red plum.
On that distorted face, those bloodshot eyes shone with an astonishing brightness. Moonlight shattered into two dancing flames within their pupils, burning away the cowardice and hesitation of the past.
"Team leader... We were wrong!"
A hoarse roar tore through the silent night sky, and blood splattered from the friction of his vocal cords onto the lantern paper three zhang away, blurring the dark red clouds. Before Inamori Yu could finish speaking, the cold light of his drawn yakatsuki had already pierced the night.