Yama Reborn-Chapter 387 - 384 [Totem]

Chapter 384: Totem

"..."

"..."

After sharing a glance for a second, both master and disciple looked away simultaneously.

Alright, more awkward than a social death was when both parties experienced a social death at the same time!

A second later, they both turned their heads back to look at each other, their expressions and eyes full of complexity.

"Master... you really are no ordinary person."

"...You little rascal, I’ve long felt there was something off with you!"

Yu Naitang, being held by Chen Nuo, struggled fiercely and shrieked, "What are you saying that I don’t understand? What master?"

"It has nothing to do with you," Chen Nuo said with a hint of resignation before quickly asking, "Where’s Lu Xixi? Where’s the child?"

"In the back seat."

Chen Nuo set down Yu Naitang and immediately pulled open the back door.

In the pitch-black interior, Chen Nuo first saw the backpack on the rear seat and the outline of the baby peeking out from within, his heart involuntarily surging with excitement.

Two lives as a human... Am I... is this... I’m becoming a dad?

But what was up with Lu Xixi, who was leaning against the seat and wrapped tight in a blanket?

Chen Nuo tried to reach out and pull away the covering, muttering softly, "...Wife!"

Old Jiang in the front seat heard this and his eyes widened as he raised an eyebrow.

Wife? When did this brat get himself a wife? And what about that girl from the Sun family? Holy shit!

Chen Nuo at this moment was too caught up to care about Old Jiang’s reaction, as he noticed Lu Xixi, wrapped tight in the blanket, not responding at all.

Chen Nuo instinctively sent out a tendril of spiritual power, but what he discovered made his heart sink!

Lu Xixi’s consciousness was almost at a standstill, showing no response to spiritual power, resembling a living dead person.

"What happened to her?" Chen Nuo turned to look at Yu Naitang standing by the car. "Is she injured? Who hurt her?"

Yu Naitang pursed her lips, her face full of grievance. "The Master has been like this for the past few months. If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t have had to flee and hide everywhere."

Chen Nuo had more questions, but Old Jiang, with his extensive experience in the underworld, said in a low voice, "Whatever you have to say, don’t say it here. We need to find a safe place to settle down first! We are being hunted!"

"Hunted?" Chen Nuo took a deep breath and nodded. "Alright! What you say makes sense, Master."

I am certainly not your master! Old Jiang rolled his eyes.

Although Chen Nuo didn’t understand how Old Jiang ended up with Yu Naitang, he absolutely trusted Old Jiang. The specific story could wait until later; just as Old Jiang had said, the priority was to find a safe place to stay.

Chen Nuo immediately looked towards Yu Naitang.

The white-haired loli bit her lip. "All the safe houses in this city that I know of have been discovered by those people... there’s nowhere else."

"Even if there were, we couldn’t use them," Chen Nuo shook his head. "Since your safe house has been compromised, the others may also have fallen into the enemy’s hands. We can’t risk them."

Yu Naitang thought for a moment. "...I have an idea that might allow us to evade them."

Chen Nuo gave her a look and his expression turned strange. "You... are you thinking of going back?"

Having fought alongside each other in a previous life, Chen Nuo was quite familiar with the little Minotaur’s way of doing things.

Yu Naitang was highly intelligent with an unpredictable approach, but it all essentially boiled down to one strategy: misdirection and surprise!

In fact, from Yu Naitang’s escape from the safe house tonight to the fierce battle in the cabin in the woods, the young girl’s method had been the same.

Chen Nuo mused for a moment. "Alright, the pursuers will most likely not expect that after fleeing the safe house, you would return. However... it’s still a bit risky, especially since there was an incident today. The local police might come to investigate and survey the scene."

"It’s fine, I have a backup plan," Yu Naitang swiftly told Chen Nuo. "...I’ve knocked through to the neighboring house, and the neighbor even took my money today. We can hide over there; it should be safe. If it really doesn’t work out, we can just subdue them and compensate them with some money before we leave."

Chen Nuo nodded. "Good!"

With that, he went over and picked Lu Xixi up from the back seat, holding her in his arms.

Now exposed, Lu Xixi’s pale face was somewhat clearer under the nocturnal sky.

Chen Nuo looked at her and felt something was off, as if there was something amiss with Lu Xixi’s appearance.

Her eyebrows, her nose, and the contours of her face were pale but still unmistakably the Lu Xixi he remembered.

But after a moment of confusion, Chen Nuo suddenly trembled. His eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at Lu Xixi in his arms!

He turned his head to glare at Yu Naitang. "This? This is my Lu Xixi? How did she end up like this?!"

The Lu Xixi in his arms was indeed Lu Xixi. Her appearance and contours had not changed!

But no matter how one looked at her, she was no longer the Lu Xixi Chen Nuo was familiar with.

The contours of her eyebrows and eyes, the curves of her features, the shape of her face... all seemed much more youthful.

The original Lu Xixi was captivating and radiant; even though youthful, her overall facial contours and temperament gave off the impression of a woman in her twenties—a "mature lady" vibe.

But the Lu Xixi in Chen Nuo’s arms now... viewed from the left, from the right, from above, from below... seemed to be a girl no more than fifteen or sixteen years old!

The eyebrows and facial contours were clearly more juvenile.

If he hadn’t been so familiar with Lu Xixi, able to spot the grain-sized mole under her earlobe, Chen Nuo would have truly believed that this person was a younger sister of Lu Xixi who bore a striking resemblance to her.

"Is this really Lu Xixi?!" Chen Nuo’s eyes went wide as he looked at Yu Naitang.

Yu Naitang had an odd look on her face. "Teacher... there have been some issues since she gave birth a few months ago."

Chen Nuo fell silent, utterly shocked. He took a deep breath, carried Lu Xixi in his arms, rushed to place her in his car, and Yu Naitang also picked up the baby, then helped Old Jiang over.

But once she opened the car door, Chen Nuo pulled Yu Naitang over to the driver’s seat.

"The road I took coming out of town was very safe; I didn’t encounter any problems, so you should also be safe on your way back into town."

"What do you mean? What are you going to do?"

"You were attacked at the log cabin in the woods, right? The people who attacked you must still be there. I... am going to make a visit!"

Yu Naitang’s eyes widened. "Now?"

"Of course. While they haven’t gathered too many people, let’s see if I can catch one alive to extract some valuable information."

Impressed by Chen Nuo’s audacious plan, Yu Naitang hesitated only briefly before agreeing. "Okay! Then be careful! We are all counting on you now, husband of our Master!"

Chen Nuo smiled, a gesture that seemed all too familiar, and casually patted Yu Naitang on the face.

This move, something he had done countless times in his past life, left Yu Naitang a bit surprised and taken aback. Then she saw Chen Nuo rummaging through his bag to hand over a satellite phone to her. "I’ve been to your safe house in Paris before. These are the pieces of equipment I brought from there... you should know how to use them. Contact me with this in case of an emergency."

"...Okay." Yu Naitang was somewhat slow to react. "And how did you know about these safe houses of mine?"

"No time to talk about that now. You take my car and go back! I’m entrusting my master to you... he seems to be quite seriously injured."

"Hmm, I’ve treated him, don’t worry," Yu Naitang said confidently. Chen Nuo had immense trust in her abilities and said no more.

He then walked to the back seat, glanced at the "young version of Lu Xixi" lying there with her eyes closed, and then looked at the baby beside her.

The little one had already woken up, just staring with big eyes, blinking at Chen Nuo.

Their gazes met, and the child uttered an indistinct murmur, "GOO..."

A feeling stirred within Chen Nuo, an indescribable sense of familiarity, like the natural connection of blood.

Instinctively, Chen Nuo bent down and planted a kiss on the baby’s tender cheek.

Turning to look at Yu Naitang, he asked, "I heard you say ’junior brother’ just now. So, this child, do I have a son?"

"...It’s a girl." Yu Naitang’s reply left Chen Nuo stunned!

"What? A girl? Didn’t you say junior brother?!"

"It’s a girl," repeated Yu Naitang, sounding helpless. "When we first found out the gender, the Master said that being a woman in this world is too hard. After this child is born, we should raise her as a boy, and she told me to always refer to her as junior brother..."

"What irresponsible nonsense!" Chen Nuo swore outright. That’s just messing around! Raising a girl as a boy? What if she turns out to be a handsome tomboy when she grows up?!

"From now on, no more junior brother, call her junior sister!" Chen Nuo made a swift decision, and seeing Yu Naitang about to argue, he glared. "I said so! I’ve decided! My daughter, my rules!"

After speaking, he closed the car door and tapped on the roof. "Get going! It’s not safe here!"

Yu Naitang started the car, and Chen Nuo threw a look at Old Jiang who was sitting inside.

Old Jiang sighed, gesturing a "don’t worry" sign back to him.

Alright. Although everyone was socially dead, a disciple is still a disciple, still family.

Old Jiang was injured, but a lifetime of experience in the underworld remained, and combining that with the crafty and ever-resourceful Yu Naitang, as long as they didn’t encounter pursuers, self-preservation wouldn’t be a problem.

Watching the car turn around and head back to the city, Chen Nuo then turned around.

He went over and checked the pickup truck that Yu Naitang had driven over.

After a simple ignition attempt, the engine sputtered.

Chen Nuo snorted, slapped the vehicle, and with a surge of powerful Spiritual Telekinesis seeping in, the car quickly started up.

Chen Nuo jumped into the truck and sped towards the woods.

In the wooden cabin in the forest, Black Windbreaker leaned by the fire, quietly tossing a piece of firewood into the campfire.

In the room, the woman’s body had been moved to the corner, placed alongside the body of the burly man. The one with the wrist injured by a bear trap was responsible for moving them.

After doing all this, the person tidied up the mess and traces of the fight in the room somewhat.

"Um, Your Excellency, now that these tasks are done, we should..."

Black Windbreaker sighed. "Come over and sit down, take a rest."

The man in the leather jacket hesitated before sitting down, deliberately choosing a spot a bit farther away from Black Windbreaker, and spoke softly, "Our mission is considered a failure, right?"

"Hmm, it failed," replied Black Windbreaker, glancing at his watch. "The other group will be here in about fifteen minutes. What comes next has nothing to do with us."

"Alright then."

"It’s a pity you won’t receive the payment for the commission," Black Windbreaker said with a smile.

"That can’t be helped," the leather-jacketed man shook his head. "Failing the mission and getting no reward is only natural... Hmm? What are you doing!"

Just as he was speaking, Black Windbreaker suddenly removed the mask from his face!

The man in the leather jacket immediately became alert, jumping up and stepping back twice. "You... what are you doing!"

"Don’t worry, hiding identities is pointless now." After Black Windbreaker took off the mask, he revealed an Asian face, probably in his thirties, with yellow skin and black hair, and gave a slight smirk to the leather-jacketed man.

The man in the leather jacket became alert. Everyone was masked during the mission to avoid revealing their identities. And now, this person was revealing his face to him? That wasn’t according to the rules.

"Since there’s no payment and everything is over, there’s no point in me staying here. If there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving!"

The leather-jacketed man immediately wanted to leave.

But after just two steps, his legs suddenly gave out, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, his voice filled with panic. "You... what have you done?!"

"Ah..." Black Windbreaker shook his head, looking at him calmly and said, "While you were moving the bodies, I just sat here by the fire, adding wood, and then... I also secretly added something to the fire."

...

The leather-jacketed man’s body trembled. He struggled a few times but couldn’t stand up, only able to let his body fall limply to the ground.

Black Windbreaker had already slowly stood up and walked over, speaking quietly, "Our team of five people failed the mission. I was the team leader. Think about it. If we go back and my boss finds out that someone in my team betrayed us, causing the mission to fail, then I’ll have to bear the responsibility for poor judgment in selecting team members. However, if the whole team is wiped out, then the story becomes ’the enemy was too cruel and cunning. My whole team fought to the death with all our might and was completely wiped out.’ This way, although the mission still failed, at least we fought to the death. Perhaps the punishment would be lighter then."

When he heard "the whole team being wiped out," the man in the leather jacket trembled and said, "You... you want to silence me by killing me!"

"Hmm, of course. I naturally don’t want to take the blame for ’subordinates betraying me.’ At the same time, with your death, it can prove that my team gave it their all. Let me tell you a trick: many times, even if things are messed up, if you learn to sell your misfortune appropriately to the boss, maybe the punishment will be less. This would make the boss think that although the matter was messed up, it was a problem of capability, not attitude. Bosses, these types of beings, have always been more focused on attitude. If capability is slightly lacking, it can be cultivated, or later they can be assigned to tasks that are a little less difficult. But if the attitude is wrong, such subordinates will definitely not be kept."

The man in the leather jacket trembled and said, "You... it’s no use silencing me... that deserter, he..."

"Would he reveal it himself?" the man in the black windbreaker shook his head and said, "You all came here on commission for benefits; there’s no way to trace your real identities in reality. Would he admit that he accepted this mission and then deserted on the spot? Of course not. If this person is caught, then it’s just my bad luck. But if he is not caught... then I still have a glimmer of hope for this incident! So, sorry, you have to die."

As he spoke, the man in the black windbreaker sighed, picked up a sharpened stick, and slowly, bit by bit, plunged it into this person’s heart...

Under the man in the leather jacket’s mask, blood spewed from his mouth and nose. He struggled a few times and then stopped moving completely.

After killing the man, the man in the black windbreaker looked at the piece of wood in his hand, casually threw it away, then stood up after some thought, took a deep breath, and rubbed his head.

"Ah... I’m the one who hates pain the most... but there’s no choice."

He suddenly sprinted crazily towards the wall of the cabin and slammed his entire body into it!

BANG! He fell to the ground, his shoulder visibly out of alignment and one arm bent at an unsettling angle.

His face ghastly pale and cold sweat dripping from his brow, he didn’t get up from the ground but clenched his teeth and rolled on the ground a few times, even rolling close to the campfire, allowing it to catch his windbreaker on fire. He continued rolling back and forth until the flames on his body were extinguished, and his black windbreaker was burned with several large holes.

Finally, he slowly struggled to get up, stumbling and holding his shoulder, walking crookedly into the cabin. There, he kicked the two neatly placed corpses of the Blade Knights in the corner of the wall, scattering them chaotically inside the cabin.

Then he walked to the doorway, leaning against the steps.

He looked back at the scene inside the cabin and carefully went over the explanation he had been brewing in his head once more...

Perhaps... I might have a chance to get away with it. I’m just trying to survive.

At this thought, the man in the black windbreaker’s brows knotted with tension.

Just then, suddenly, a voice came from the woods!

"If you’re trying to look pitiful, you’d be better off smearing some ash on your face. Otherwise, you don’t look wretched enough."

The man in the black windbreaker stiffened!

Looking up, he saw a young man slowly walking out from the woods. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt, hands in pockets, his face sporting a deadly cold smirk, he sauntered toward him!

The heart of the man in the black windbreaker sank!

"You... you’re not one of the boss’s men!"

"How do you know I’m not?" Chen Nuo said with a smile, standing in front of him.

"The boss wouldn’t send just one person..." the man in the black windbreaker’s voice was trembling.

Chen Nuo nodded. "Hmm, you’re right... but so what?"

With that, he raised his left hand and lightly waved it.

SLAP!

The man in the black windbreaker felt a gust of wind out of nowhere, then a force hit his face, sending him flying out and crashing through the cabin’s fence outside. When he landed on the ground, he let out a scream.

The arm that he had already broken himself was now completely twisted out of shape. And on his face, half of his countenance was deformed, and several of his teeth had been spat out.

Chen Nuo hopped lightly, then landed in front of him.

"Was it you... who pursued my wife and child?" Chen Nuo gently picked him up, looked closely, and said, "Haven’t seen you before, a new face... but... let’s have a chat."

His voice was gentle, but his face bore an unmasked deadly aura.

As the man in the black windbreaker spat blood from his mouth, he mumbled unclearly, "You... who are you..."

"An accomplice of the people you were chasing, simple right?"

"... My men will be here soon... you..."

"I heard everything just now. Fifteen minutes, huh... so now there are ten minutes left. I’ll spend five minutes interrogating you, torturing you, ravaging you. Then I’ll leave five minutes to get away. Plenty of time."

As he spoke, Chen Nuo rubbed his temples. "Just thinking about my wife and child almost getting killed by the likes of you, I’m really, really... really scared! Yes, I’m genuinely freaking scared! You might not know this, but the most terrifying moment for me is not when I’m angry. It’s when I’m scared. When I’m truly scared, even I don’t know what I’m capable of."

CRACK!!

A series of crisp sounds of bones breaking!

Chen Nuo grabbed the wrist of the man in the black windbreaker’s other, previously unharmed arm and gently twisted it!

His entire arm was instantly twisted into a contorted spiral, the bones shattering inch by inch!

Black Windbreaker opened his mouth in a crazed scream, but it was as if his throat had been sealed off. No matter how much his body struggled, exerted force, or tremored, the scream that emerged from his throat was as faint as a mosquito’s hum!

Even though the pain was excruciating, drilling into his heart, and his vision turning black, he bizarrely felt as if countless needles were viciously stabbing into his brain. This type of agony kept him from fainting. It even made him more lucid than usual, allowing him to feel every ounce of the severe pain more clearly!

"Now, let me explain what will happen next. I will only ask questions, and you are only responsible for answering! Understood? Only! Alright, let’s begin. The first question: who are you?" Chen Nuo said with a smile as he looked at this man he was holding.

Without waiting for the man to open his mouth, Chen Nuo waved his hand!

SLICE!

A razor-sharp telekinetic force swept across, and the man’s left foot, cleanly severed at the ankle, detached from his body!

Blood sprayed out, and as the severed foot flew away, the man twisted crazily and growled in a frenzy.

"I... I didn’t refuse to answer!!"

"Then next time, answer quicker and don’t make me wait," Chen Nuo said indifferently, lifting his finger again.

"My name is Alex!! A Medal-Level ability user!!" The man writhed like a fish.

"Medal Level? One level lower than Destroyer, but your demonstrated abilities don’t seem that strong."

"I’m not the battle-type..."

Chen Nuo nodded. "Then... what is your ability?"

"Machinery! I control machinery!!"

Chen Nuo laughed. "So, the car they escaped in broke down because of your tampering? You messed up the ignition device and jammed the gearbox?"

"..." Black Windbreaker looked at Chen Nuo with terror.

"Alright, Alex, right? You see, we’ve tentatively gotten acquainted. Now tell me, who is your boss. And, what audacity fuels you to dare pursue the Starry Sky Empress?"

"You, you promise me, if I tell, you’ll let go... AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

In the midst of wretched screams, the part below the knee of his left leg separated from him!

"Who gave you the illusion that you can negotiate with me?" Chen Nuo said in an eerily calm tone. "Illusions are not good; they can lead to unrealistic fantasies about the situation one faces. By now, you should be free of any illusions, right? I’ve already stated the rules of the game: I ask, you answer. It’s that simple. Is that clear?"

Black Windbreaker gasped for air, his weak, trembling voice conceding, "I understand, I understand..."

With a flick of his finger, Chen Nuo sealed the man’s wounds with Telekinesis, stopping the blood flow to prevent him from fainting or dying on the spot from blood loss.

"I don’t know much... only that our boss ordered us to continuously investigate all information and messages regarding the Starry Sky Empress. There wasn’t just my team on this job; many were at work... Then, three months ago, I received the order to take action. At first, we were afraid, but only when we began did we realize that the Starry Sky Empress might have been seriously injured and was simply incapable of resisting us, always escaping under our pursuit..."

Chen Nuo nodded. "Your boss is?"

At this moment, Black Windbreaker didn’t dare to resist anymore—he wasn’t much of a tough man to begin with, as could be seen from his initial attempt to conceal the truth to escape responsibility. His loyalty to his boss wasn’t that high anyway. Facing the killing god before him, he did not dare hesitate any longer.

He opened his mouth to speak the name when suddenly, a strong will surfaced in his mind.

"My boss is... Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh..." Black Windbreaker suddenly began to clatter his teeth, his speech garbled and unclear.

He forcefully widened his eyes, his muscles tensed up as if struggling with great effort. But no matter what, he just could not utter the name he intended to say!

"It’s... ugh ugh ugh... it’s ugh ugh ugh ugh... I, I can’t speak... I... ugh ugh ugh ugh... It’s... AAAHHH..."

Suddenly, Black Windbreaker’s body convulsed a few times before stiffening completely.

With a frown, Chen Nuo picked him up for a look, only to see the man’s facial muscles twisted grotesquely, his bulging eyes nearly popping out, the eyeballs laced with blood vessels!

A thought struck Chen Nuo. He swiftly sent a wisp of spiritual power within and wordlessly discovered that the man’s Consciousness Space had been ravaged as if by a meat grinder, his self-consciousness utterly shredded!

Spiritual restraint?!

Chen Nuo’s heart skipped a beat! He was no stranger to this kind of spiritual restraint—after all, he himself had been sealed with a similar method, locking away the memories of his trip to Antarctica in his previous life! Moreover, the spiritual restraint planted in Black Windbreaker’s Consciousness Space seemed to possess an even more brutal lethality! It appeared as if triggering the "leakage" of sensitive information would cause an automatic explosion, destroying his own consciousness!

Black Windbreaker had already stopped breathing.

With a furrow on his brow, Chen Nuo dropped the corpse on the ground and stared at it for a second.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up!

He immediately crouched down and started to unfasten the buttons on Black Windbreaker’s collar.

Then, Chen Nuo breathed a sigh of relief.

Indeed, he hadn’t seen wrong! Earlier, inadvertently, he had caught sight of the high-standing collar of the Black Windbreaker’s shirt, which concealed the neck area, faintly revealing the outline of a tattoo.

After loosening the collar and pulling back a bit of fabric, Chen Nuo gazed at the "tattoo" on the man’s body, his expression instantly becoming peculiar.

A dark red lightning tattoo that branched out like a tree from the neck to the upper body!

The Lichtenberg figure!

"One of Electric General’s men?"

Chen Nuo’s expression quickly turned exceptionally strange.