Seeking Shadow brandished her Shadow Kill, violently strangling ninjas who ventured too close, forcing them to retreat and resort to shurikens, smoke bombs, and flying sickles to wear her down.
She saw Rinne fall from a tree and immediately lunged forward, dashing swiftly to Rinne’s side to cover her.
"Troubled by friendship, now perish!" the ninjas roared as they rushed in, unleashing multiple shurikens from various angles. However, their intent was not to attack Seeking Shadow but to kill the fallen Rinne.
Seeking Shadow wielded her ion sword, its energy blade humming as it sliced through the air. She knocked aside two shurikens, but a kunai had already struck Rinne’s back, eliciting another painful cry from her before she collapsed motionless to the ground.
Feeling the gravity of the Suppliant’s injuries, the ground undulated, and a mass of vines suddenly burst forth, lashing toward the ninjas. They quickly sprang away, ascending the trees, and struggled against the animate forest.
Seeing a surge of brown timber flow out to cover Rinne’s form, shaping into a vine barrier that must have saved her life, Seeking Shadow finally relaxed.
"Ah yi yi yi yi yi yi!"
"Eeeek, let’s go together!" The ninjas stood on the branches, displaying swift maneuverability and throwing weapons.
A moonlit night, a dense forest, a battle to the death! Seeking Shadow looked up, gripping Shadow Kill, resolved to fight to the very last moment.
The sound of gunfire booming momentarily erupted as a slew of heavy machine gun bullets and beehive missiles blasted towards the ninjas in the forest, igniting blinding flames upon the trees!
A barrage of heavy firepower! Pressed by this, the ninjas scattered, each seeking a new position.
"An enemy!" a female ninja shouted.
Seeking Shadow’s scanner picked up a signal, and a Super Remodeled Man with a weathered face and a body full of cybernetic implants flew through the night. He raised his hand, releasing a red laser beam that sliced through the forest, toppling even the tallest trees with a deafening crash, sending up clouds of dust.
"Firepower too strong, retreat, retreat!" The ninjas fled deeper into the forest, quickly widening the gap.
Hosoda Yoshiyuki attempted to land but was immediately pricked by a vine whip that leaped from the forest, forcing him to maintain an altitude of about 300 meters as he cruised.
"The forest bears a grudge against me," Hosoda Yoshiyuki shouted. His thrusters spat flames from behind, and his highly modified eyes tracked the marked enemies. Seeing the ninjas scattering, he felt slightly relieved. "We’ll meet outside the forest!" With that, he flew off.
"Rinne!" Seeking Shadow sprinted to Rinne’s prone form, scooped her up firmly, and then dashed away at top speed.
Rinne... Rinne... Seeking Shadow’s central processor ran at high speed, her movement prediction module outlining the optimal path ahead so she could carry Rinne out of the forest without slowing down.
No one else was as adorable as Miss Rinne. Seeking Shadow had to protect her.
"Ahhh—are you okay?" Inubei, anxious, stood at the edge of Xijin Town, waving from the grass, "Ladies! Oh!"
"We’re okay! Uncle! You go and warn the people of Xijin Town to be wary of ninjas!" Seeking Shadow held Rinne, still sprinting fast.
Inubei understood the urgency and returned to the town to report the situation to the community.
Seeing the old man leave, Hosoda Yoshiyuki descended from the sky. He folded his arms across his chest, his expression cold, his black hair short and disheveled, his face stubbled with neglect, looking haggard. He wore a plain dark plastic windbreaker to cover the traces of his modifications—most of which he had customized himself. Now flush with resources, he had added plenty of high-end parts, significantly boosting his firepower.
"Nidelaide and Qianxue will take 30 minutes to arrive," Hosoda Yoshiyuki said, as he pulled a Healing Injection from his personal storage compartment and tossed it to Seeking Shadow.
"Is she going to die?" Seeking Shadow, looking at the unresponsive, immobile Rinne, plunged the needle into her chest, forcefully injecting the medication.
"She’s undergone human enhancement and implant surgeries, so she won’t die easily," Hosoda Yoshiyuki stated. "I’m going to keep watch on the forest edge."
Seeking Shadow carefully scanned Rinne’s vital signs.
Kneeling beside Rinne, she detected her faint heartbeat, signifying she wasn’t completely gone. Seeking Shadow never knew whose side she should sympathize with—Synthetic Humans? Humans? Or just those companions she cared about?
Hosoda Yoshiyuki did a sweep and, not detecting any ninjas, returned to Rinne and Seeking Shadow’s side, pulling out a cigarette to smoke.
"Don’t light—" Seeking Shadow interjected, "—she’s still in critical condition, and you’re just thinking about smoking."
Fool. Hosoda Yoshiyuki thought to himself. "What’s wrong?" He extinguished the flame on his fingertip, finding Seeking Shadow’s concern inexplicable but forgiving her, being a senseless Synthetic Human after all. "It’s only my first day meeting her."
"You can, you can..." Seeking Shadow’s mind module flashed with an array of new codes, "You can empathize with her plight because you’re the same kind, one day you too will be covered in blood, fallen and not getting up, and then... you’ll hope she respects your condition, puts out the cigarette."
"Compassionate yet ignorant," Hosoda Yoshiyuki scoffed but complied with Seeking Shadow, putting the cigarette back into the pack. He sat aside, instead engaging his brain processor to play little videos. A virtual pop-up window floated before his eyes, starting with a 60-second ad, intending to channel him towards the Jialong Slope casino and the beautiful dealers, "I heard this woman is the Hacker Witch, she better help me crack all the legit software in my brain!"