Chapter 387: Humanity Still Remains

Chapter 387: Humanity Remained

Okayama Castle, the dark alleyway where the Shina Medical Clinic was nestled.

The night was as it always had been, the brief flare of violence and shouting from moments prior leaving barely a ripple in its wake.

The residents living within a kilometer of this hidden passage remained locked fast in their sweet, deep slumbers.

"A Sequence Five Farmer bearing the Spring Emperor’s Decree—among the Swan Group of the Yamato Sector, that must place him beneath only one man. In any other sinner sector, he’d likely be reigning as a King. Even within the agricultural sequences back in the Empire proper, he would be a grand figure looking down upon an entire prefecture."

Zou Sijiu looked back toward the debris scattered deep in the alley, smacking his lips in wonder. "To think he’s only been snuffed out once in a dreamscape, and he folds this easily?"

The more Zou Sijiu muttered to himself, the more unsettled he felt. He turned his head to look at Li Jun, who was holding the umbrella beside him, a look of worry creeping onto his face.

"Old Li, I know a thing or two about these guys from the Farmer sequence. Those crazed peasants are ruthless enough to modify their own genes and plant synthetic organs inside themselves without a second thought. They can shoot the breeze with you while undergoing enhancement surgeries." "I won’t say every single one of them has a heart of iron and a will of steel, but someone as afraid of death as Huai Guo is truly a rare sight among the Farmers I’ve crossed paths with. We best not be hoodwinked."

"Is He Cangjia not a Farmer as well?"

Zou Sijiu was momentarily tongue-tied. His lips twitched before he spoke. "...Even if you count him, that is only two anomalies."

"Huai Guo is not afraid of death. He simply feels dying like this is not worth the price."

Li Jun responded flatly, his pace unyielding as his boots crunched through the stagnant puddles toward the mouth of the alley.

"Not worth it? Someone from the Swan Group actually thinks like that?"

Zou Sijiu’s brow furrowed tightly. "Those people live by the creed of 'Are kings and nobles born to their high stations?' The doctrine the Swan Group peddles belongs to the realm of faith. Even if their brainwashing falls a little short of those bald donkeys in the Buddhist sects, the difference must be minuscule. Do members of an organization like that weigh the worth of their lives when they throw them away?!"

"The rhetoric you speak of is nothing more than a narrative used to deceive outsiders. Which of those high abbots actually believes there are deities looking down from three feet above? By that same token, which of the Swan Kings would truly spill their life’s blood to forge a so-called bright and just world for others?"

Li Jun sneered. "The Swan Group is just like those Buddhist temples; it was established for no other reason than to make it easier to gather in packs and strip away wealth. Clearly, Huai Guo is a man of sense. He sees through the illusion."

"Just from those words alone, I finally understand why the Buddhists have treated you Martial sequence folk as demons from beyond the heavens for the past few centuries. You kill the body and condemn the soul!"

Zou Sijiu grinned. "But now that we hold Huai Guo’s genetic sample, even if this is a false surrender, he can never escape our grasp. After all, genetics aren’t like a face or a fingerprint; you cannot alter them, let alone hide them."

Zou Sijiu stroked his chin, a faint smile playing on his lips. "So, you’re not dragging him back to the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s office right now because you don't want to startle the snake. You’re waiting until Xie Bi'an drains him of all his reserves before you move in for the kill?"

Li Jun countered, "Who said I intend to kill him?"

"Not kill him?" Zou Sijiu froze. "You aren't actually going to let him go, are you?"

Before Li Jun could answer, the dazed Zou Sijiu suddenly looked enlightened, a strange, feral gleam bursting from his eyes.

"I see what you’re playing at!"

Zou Sijiu flashed a thumb, his eyebrows arching in a wicked grin. "The Farmer sequence is famous for its fleshly transmutations. Swapping genders is child’s play to them, and even hermaphroditism isn't out of the question. Tsk tsk, I really didn't see this coming. You actually have a taste for that kind of thing? You magnificent bastard, you really know how to live!"

Thud.

Li Jun’s boot came down heavily, sending dirty water spraying in all directions.

Zou Sijiu yelped, hitching up the hem of his robe as he prepared to leap away, but a sudden, piercing chill froze him dead in his tracks.

"Diviner Zou, are you absolutely certain you understand?"

Li Jun turned his head, his eyes narrowing into blades that seemed to slash through the air.

"Just a joke, don't take it to heart."

The hairs all over Zou Sijiu’s body stood on end, a sharp wave of panic instantly flooding his chest.

He hastily wiped the lecherous grin from his face, shifting his tone to one of absolute gravity. "But all jokes aside, a man as 'wise' as Huai Guo is best put down, in my opinion. It's safer."

"He is worth more alive than dead."

Li Jun looked up at the sky above, compressed into a narrow ribbon by the looming buildings, and spoke softly. "The Inuyama Castle office has not managed to plant a single informant in this great city yet."

"So... you want to turn Huai Guo into a hidden pawn for Inuyama Castle?"

Zou Sijiu was appalled. "He is a leader-level figure in the Swan Group! Aren't you afraid he will turn coat again and bite the hand that feeds him?"

"A hound will bite its master only when it is kept starved. Huai Guo runs with the Swan Group merely to secure a full meal. For the Embroidered Uniform Guard, providing that is a simple matter."

Li Jun’s voice was tranquil. "Even if the day comes when we find he cannot be tamed, and he dares bare his fangs at his master, putting him down then will be no trouble at all. Okayama and Inuyama are not far apart, and the Imperial Prisons never close their doors."

The autumn wind blew biting and sharp, chilling the bone.

"There is one thing I don't grasp."

Zou Sijiu crossed his hands behind his head, licking his lips. "Kamakura has three leaders under his command. Why choose him? Merely because you saw he knows how to read the wind?"

"More than that."

Li Jun shook his head. "Because he still possesses a shred of humanity."

"A pack of heartless beasts. Demanding that much of my coin for a few scraps of broken cybernetic organs. Sooner or later, I will tip off the Garrison Bureau and have them sweep you all away!"

A figure in a tearing hurry brushed past Li Jun.

Old De, muttering curses and burning with indignation, walked a few paces before a sudden, inexplicable pang of dread seized his heart. He whirled around to look behind him.

Beyond the alley mouth, the neon signs flickered unsteadily.

The cold rain beat against the iron eaves of the buildings on either side, clattering loudly.

The two men who had walked side by side were gone without a trace.

"Dammit, why did I suddenly feel like I’d stumbled into a shiver of tiger sharks?"

Old De was entirely bewildered, scratching his head in confusion.

Perhaps the frantic pace of his walk had agitated his injury; a sharp throb of pain bloomed from the wound in his abdomen, cutting through the questions in his mind.

Old De thought no further. Clutching his stomach, he quickened his steps toward the clinic deep within the alley.

"Doctor Shina, I bought the goods..."

Old De’s cheerful shout died in his throat, the joy on his face instantly freezing solid.

"Ah, you’re back."

Huai Guo was crouching on his toes at the clinic entrance, one hand gathering his front robe to form a makeshift pouch against his chest, while the other sorted through the shattered remnants of medicinal herbs strewn across the ground.

"What happened here? Did we cross paths with bandits coming into the city for plunder?"

Old De looked shocked. He suddenly remembered the umbrella-bearing man who had crossed paths with him just moments ago. No wonder his heart had been pounding; they truly were a pair of villains!

"Doctor Shina, did the robbers only just leave?!"

Old De spoke without thinking. "Rest easy, I remember their faces. I will go to the Garrison Bureau and report this to the authorities right now!"

Upon hearing this, Shina’s hand sorting the herbs halted abruptly. He raised his head to give the righteously indignant Old De a long, deep look, a faint smile appearing in his detached eyes.

"No one robbed us. I merely knocked over the medicine cabinet through my own carelessness. There is no need to involve the Garrison."

"How could that be..."

Shina waved a hand to cut him off, his gaze falling upon the sheet-iron case Old De held in his right hand. "The items I asked you to buy—did you secure them?"

"I got them!"

A smile inadvertently broke across Old De’s weathered face, coarsened by the sea winds. Realizing the solemnity of the occasion, he quickly suppressed it.

Shina’s voice softened. "Give them to me. I will see if they can be used."

"Very well."

Old De handed over the case in his right hand, a thick stack of banknotes gripped firmly in his left as he followed close behind.

Shin Nan furrowed his brow slightly. "Didn't I already tell you? This time, I won't be taking your fee."

"No, no."

Old De's face showed a flustered expression. He spoke softly: "Didn't you ask me before if I wanted to change? I thought about it carefully on my way here, and finally figured it out. Fishing can't be a lifetime job, so I've decided—I want to [change too]."

"You misunderstood. I never asked you that."

Shin Nan muttered under his breath, snatched the box from Old De's hands, and trampled through the scattered debris, rushing into the clinic.

Edo City, Kito residence.

"Lord, a message has arrived from Dogayama Castle. One of the captains under the Latsumi banner, Hua Guo, has been uncovered."

The Ghost King Da hurried into the study, bowed respectfully before the shadowed figure, and said, "Though it seems Li Jun isn't planning to kill him."

"Looks like this youngster's brains aren't all muscle after all. Finally figured out how to secure his own future. Good fellow."

The smoke cleared, and Sukebe emerged, his left hand holding a box the size of a palm, the ashes of a cigarette piled up like a mountain within.

"Did he say what he'll do next?"

"He didn't say."

The Ghost King Da fell silent for a moment, then chuckled weakly: "Though I think he won't easily leave the mountains."

Sukebe seemed to anticipate this, smiling: "So you think Li Jun will go trouble the Kine-ryu?"

"With his nature, he might."

"Not might—will."

Sukebe flicked his wrist, the cigarette ashes trembling in his palm like a tower. "Li Jun, this brat, though rough around the edges and steeped in the blood of the streets, has learned to rein in his bloodlust in these times of plentiful enemies. He's grown cautious, low-key."

"When I was his age, if anyone crossed me and lived past that night, I'd write their name backwards!"

Cautious? Low-key?

Can you imagine these two words clinging to your kind? Do you know how to write those four characters?

The Ghost King Da pressed his hand to his chest, his eyes tearing, their whites stark against his dark irises.

"It seems this time's slaughter of the Osaka forces has woken him up. His hands and feet are finally loosening a bit."

Sukebe crushed the cigarette's tip with his finger, shoved it into the towering pile of ash, and cradled it in his palm like a totem.

"Or else my plans this time would've been like tossing a seductive woman to blind men—pointless effort."

The Ghost King Da worried: "But if he kills the Kine-ryu, we'd lose two Kito heads. The Kaimushi might scold us harshly."

"Let them scold. When was a man ever afraid of being blamed? For forgetting loyalty or committing evil?"

Sukebe cared not: "In any case, this Kito domain will soon be his to inherit. If this brat truly sets his sights on destroying this operation, he'll handle it himself in the end."

The Ghost King Da sighed: "You're letting him run so freely—are you not a bit..."

"Do you mean his manners are too rough?"

Sukebe let out a cold laugh: "This lands' Kaimushi were all propped up by me alone. I give favor to whoever pleases me. Who dares dictate to me?"

Years of collaboration had taught the Ghost King Da Sukebe's temperament. The two weren't strictly bound by rank.

"I fear the higher-ups."

The Ghost King Da lifted a finger, pointing to the ceiling.

"The Ministry of War and the Northern Pacification Office might not trouble you, but they might not give Li Jun a fair shake."

"Old ghost, relax. Those hard-hearted folk only understand fists. When the time comes, I'll bring Li Jun to the Empire's heartland and pay them a visit myself."

Sukebe wore a grin like a predator: "If they don't comply, let them send someone to take over in these lands. I want to see if the man they choose has the guts to hold my position!"

The Ghost King Da looked at the mighty elder before him, his expression dim: "You truly intend to retire?"

"What's with this dejected look? Acting like a woman coaxing a man."

Sukebe laughed: "I'm old, and tired. If it were back in the day, at my age, I'd be enjoying a lifetime of leisure in a sect. Still running around, tangled up with you and these Wa-Fujin plotting and scheming—if my brothers below knew, they'd probably laugh me to death."

"What of the vendetta from the Shirogane Court?"

"It should be settled by now, though it matters little."

Sukebe's tone was carefree: "I've lived my life, fought when I wanted, slept with who I wanted. I've never lost a fight I chose to fight. I'll carry this regret, and when I'm reborn, at least I'll have a direction—to try again as a martial arts warrior, and settle scores with those bastards once more."

The Ghost King Da pressed his lips: "If independent martial arts is truly in our blood, the future lies there..."

"Stop. Letting someone who walks alone in martial arts avenge your grievances? That's a joke. Besides, if I did that, my actions would be seen as taking advantage of your kindness. I can't face that."

"You said men don't fear being blamed."

"."

Sukebe squinted: "Huh? I didn't notice, old ghost. When did you become so sharp? Did the soup I threw you into open your eyes?"

*Snap!*

A cluster of flames leaped from the Ghost King Da's fingertips, alongside an unknown paper cigarette, and were offered to Sukebe.

"Come, my lord, I'll renew it for you."

Sukebe let out a cold laugh, cradling the cigarette, and continued smoking.

"By the way, the matter you asked me to inquire about has been resolved."

"Hmm?"

Sukebe raised an eyebrow: "What did those priests from the Eastern Palace say?"

"They said the Four Great Clans risked their lives to steal so many Yellow-Tian permissions this time, likely to rebuild the High Heaven Altar!"