"Holy shit, who's got a death wish and wants to go to the Wu Clan?"
Someone immediately replied. The speaker's ID was Shadow-sama.
"Just asking. I want to do a bit of business with them,"
Kurosaki Rei continued.
"Have you never read the manga? The Wu Clan are all dangerous lunatics. Even if your skills are top-tier, this isn't how you play the game, right?"
Someone else chimed in.
"Yeah. And besides, do you even have the money? You want to do business with the Wu Clan—without at least ten billion yen, aren't you just joking?"
...
The public channel erupted into heated discussion about the Wu Clan. Before long, the topic completely derailed, and a flood of messages drowned out Kurosaki Rei's original question. Just as he was about to ask again, an Explorer named Little Mushroom posted a set of coordinates in the public channel.
"This is Wu Village. Good luck to you."
Kurosaki Rei checked the coordinates. They were latitude and longitude. After looking them up on the map, he felt the other party probably wasn't messing with him. The destination was about five hundred kilometers from Tokyo, matching the description from the original work.
"Thanks. If the coordinates are accurate, I owe you a favor."
After replying, Kurosaki Rei set off. He planned to head to the Wu Clan first and try a round of martial exchange.
The Wu Clan was a powerful lineage in the world of Kengan Ashura, and they also had ties to the ultimate boss of this world.
In modern-day Japan, the Wu Clan reigned as emperors of the underground assassination world. No other organization matched their professional capabilities. As long as you could pay, the Wu Clan would even dare to assassinate the Prime Minister.
In Kurosaki Rei's eyes, their power was utterly absurd. Their place of residence—Wu Village—was an entire city, with a population conservatively estimated at several hundred thousand. Among them, tens of thousands were members of the Wu Clan.
Such a heavily armed force developing within a country, openly engaging in assassination work, and yet the state turned a blind eye to it—one could only say the setting of this world was truly magical.
The origins of the Wu Clan actually lay across the sea. There still existed their main house—the Wu Family.
The Wu Family's lineage shared the same ancient history as that eastern ancient nation. From the founding ancestor "Wu Hei" to the present day, over five thousand years had passed.
Then, thirteen hundred years ago, a certain event directly split this enormous family into three branches, scattering them across the world.
They became the Wu Clan of Japan, the Wu Family of the Eastern homeland, and the Western Expedition Faction.
Cruel internal struggles over the long course of history caused countless secret techniques to vanish into the river of time. Yet there was one technique that all three branches preserved.
And that was precisely Kurosaki Rei's goal in coming to the Wu Clan—
Release (Guihun).
According to the manga's explanation, this secret art removed the brain's limiter on the human body, releasing all of one's physical power.
Kurosaki Rei considered it an extremely powerful burst-type ability—far too useful when facing formidable enemies.
As for the manga's "protagonist" Tokita Ohma's Possessing Spirit, in Kurosaki Rei's view, it had far too many side effects. Overall practicality-wise, it couldn't compare to Release.
After half a day of travel, Kurosaki Rei arrived at Wu Village by Shinkansen.
He looked at the office workers coming and going on the streets, the intermittent shouts from roadside shops, and the female high school students after school walking while eating crêpes…
His first impression was that this was a third- or fourth-tier small city—unhurried, peaceful, and relaxed.
But if one observed carefully, they would notice that among some of the pedestrians, the whites of their eyes were black, while the pupils were white. Eyes so abnormal they should have felt horrifying—yet the people here seemed completely accustomed to them.
"The Wu Clan folks are out on patrol again. Thanks for your hard work. These potato pancakes were just fried—take some back and eat them."
The auntie selling fried potato pancakes by the roadside warmly greeted a group of people. That smile was definitely genuine.
"No thanks, Aunt Yoko. We're still on duty. Maybe next time."
The young man leading the Wu Clan group declined with a smile and continued onward, greeting many people along the way.
Kurosaki Rei rubbed his chin. It seemed the Wu Clan had quite the reputation locally.
Back when he first read the manga, he hadn't finished it. But after entering the space, he had caught up on everything. Even though he already knew the Wu Clan was a bizarre assassin family that protected their territory, seeing it in person made them seem even more humane than he had imagined.
Kurosaki Rei walked down the street and brushed past the Wu Clan patrol. He stopped at the potato pancake stall.
"Ten potato pancakes."
Before long, the pancakes were fried and ready. After paying, Kurosaki Rei held the bag in one hand and a paper-wrapped pancake in the other, preparing to take a bite.
But after only two steps, he was surrounded.
Unhurried, Kurosaki Rei blew on the pancake and took a bite.
"This is a bit surprising. I look so weak, yet you can still sense that I'm different?"
Six members of the Wu Clan surrounded him, all with solemn expressions, their white pupils fixed tightly on him.
The young man at the front spoke up.
"Looks like, as a wanted criminal, you have zero self-awareness."
Kurosaki Rei froze for a moment. He had thought they were wary because they sensed his strength. He had completely forgotten that he was an escaped convict.
Come to think of it, it made sense. Not only had he broken out of prison, he had also killed the president of Ten Kings Communications. Without anyone powerful backing him, being wanted was perfectly normal.
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not here to cause trouble. I just want to have some martial exchanges with the legendary Wu Clan."
Kurosaki Rei put on what he believed was a friendly smile. At the same time, he silently marveled at the Wu Clan's efficiency. In just a short moment, people had already taken up the surrounding high ground. Three sniper rifles were locked squarely on his head.
This city belonged to the Wu Clan. Historically, no one who caused trouble here had ever escaped unscathed. After all, the Wu Clan was an assassin family, not a group of pure martial artists. If a real fight broke out, they wouldn't bother with one-on-one duels. They'd swarm you, using whatever cold or hot weapons they could.
Kurosaki Rei had no intention of "kicking in the door." He really had come with a mindset of peaceful exchange. But judging from the situation, the other side didn't seem to welcome him.
"Martial exchange with us?"
The Wu Clan youth sneered.
"You? A wanted criminal?"
"Behave yourself and surrender. We'll send you back to prison."
Kurosaki Rei's expression turned strange. He swallowed the remaining half of his potato pancake.
"You're an assassin family, and you want to send me to prison?"
He felt this world was truly fascinating. The Wu Clan carried out assassinations daily, yet the state didn't intervene. They didn't even seem to be wanted criminals themselves.
Some Wu Clan members even went out to find regular jobs. For example, Wu Karura's family lived in Tokyo, and Karura herself attended school there. As for whether her parents had any side gigs on top of their day jobs… that was hard to say.
Seeing Kurosaki Rei's casual attitude and his lack of intention to surrender, the young man at the front moved.
A dagger slid out from his long sleeve and slashed straight toward Kurosaki Rei's neck.
The Wu Clan were maintainers of underground order and protectors of this city. He would never allow a dangerous murderer like Kurosaki Rei to move freely within it.
Clink—
A sound like metal colliding rang out.
Under the Wu Clan members' incredulous gazes, the dagger stopped three inches from Kurosaki Rei's neck.
What blocked it wasn't any weapon, but—
A single finger.
Kurosaki Rei stared into the young man's black sclera and bared a mouthful of gleaming white teeth.
"Looks like I'm not very welcome. If the lady up there decides to pull the trigger, I wouldn't mind turning this place upside down."
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