Inside the luxurious room, Gato sat leisurely with his legs crossed, coldly observing the fierce struggle unfolding before him.
The clash of weapons echoed through the spacious room, like a continuous peal of thunder.
Under Torune's assault, Chizhao keenly noticed that he deliberately avoided her vital points.
But this uninspired back-and-forth battle quickly bored Gato.
An expression of impatience appeared on his face, and he suddenly stood up, roaring:
"What are you two doing?! This level is not enough for me to cooperate with you! Kill each other quickly!"
Ignoring Gato's roar, Torune merely panted slightly, standing there and watching Chizhao, who had her blade pointed at him.
He gently stroked his right shoulder with his left hand; the lingering pain was still clearly felt.
The days since leaving the 'Root' organization felt like a dream, and the scene before him seemed to stir up the dampness in his heart once again.
He knew clearly that she must be acting.
But what if it was real?
What if she truly wanted to kill him from the very beginning?
That sensitive, fragile heart, after repeated self-denial, still chose to escape.
He wrapped himself tightly in the darkness woven from a cocoon, allowing pain and despair to slowly consume him.
But the moment that ray of light pierced through the cocoon and shone before his eyes, he yearned to grasp that warmth tightly, yet feared it would vanish like a bubble, disappearing before him.
Just like her brief words at this moment, which disoriented him, who thought he had escaped the darkness, and shook the belief he had so painstakingly built.
"Thank you... for everything."
Chizhao noticed something amiss, her gaze fixed intently on Torune's every move, a premonition of ill omen rising in her heart.
What was he going to do?
Was he going to do something impulsive and foolish?
As her thoughts raced, Torune had already raised a Kunai to his own neck:
"To me, you are like light, and to die in the light... is what I have always longed for."
Just as Torune was about to stab himself in the neck, a force suddenly struck, deflecting his Kunai, leaving only a faint scratch on the bandage on his neck, from which a trace of fresh red seeped.
Torune was kicked to the ground, his right arm firmly pinned under a knee. He looked up to see Chizhao's face, close by, filled with anger and confusion.
The sharp blade in her hand was pressed against his throat, cold and sharp.
"I won't let you die so easily. I want you to die in agony, as if your entire body is being eaten by insects!"
After saying this, she stared intently into Torune's eyes behind his eye patch, and from an angle unseen by others, silently moved her lips.
Trust me.
Torune's mind instantly cleared.
So that ray of light was firmly shining on him after all.
He gave a self-mocking smile, exhaled a sigh of relief, his voice hoarse:
"I see. Then let me witness it."
He then took out a Kunai and swung it at Chizhao. In the gap where she dodged the attack, he formed hand seals and summoned two clones.
This scene greatly excited Gato, who stood up eagerly: "Oh, oh, oh! It's Ninjutsu! Go on, kill her!"
Seeing Torune's clones rushing towards her, Chizhao smiled slightly, knowing that he understood her meaning, and then used Body Flicker Technique to also summon two clones.
For a time, Kunai and Shuriken flew all over the room, sticking into the walls and floor.
Gato was also frightened and quickly hid behind a human wall of thugs, peeking at the battlefield from the gaps with trepidation.
Suddenly, Torune let out a painful roar, frantically tearing off the bandages on his body to reveal his formerly healthy skin.
But in an instant, that skin quickly became covered with terrifying purple patterns, slowly eroding his body.
Gato poked his head out in horror, looked at Torune, who had turned completely purple, and then quickly pulled back, loudly questioning Chizhao:
"W-what's going on?!"
"This is... a sequela left by the laboratory..."
Chizhao stepped back a few paces, her face filled with shock. Only Torune's painful wails remained in the room.
He rolled on the ground, the deep purple quickly spreading from his neck to his face, and he twisted his body incessantly.
Finally, when the deep purple had encroached upon his last patch of skin, he let his arms drop and lay motionless on the ground.
The severely damaged room suddenly fell silent.
Chizhao let out a sigh of relief, sheathed her cang luan blade, and cast a cold glance at Gato, who was peeking out:
"He's dead."
"Huh? He died so easily?" Gato looked at Chizhao suspiciously, then turned to the person beside him and ordered:
"You! Go check if he's really dead!"
The thug nervously swallowed, and under Gato's urging gaze, finally walked up to Torune, who was lying on the ground, completely purple, and reached out to check for his breath.
But the moment he touched Torune's nose, the thug's index finger was suddenly infected by a purple stain, which rapidly climbed up his wrist, then spread throughout his body.
A horrifying scream once again echoed through the entire room.
"I forgot to tell you, his body is covered in potent poison. Just touching him will infect you with the venom, so it's best not to directly touch his skin."
As Chizhao's voice fell, the thug also suddenly collapsed, his face a deep purple like Torune's, his features contorted as he stopped breathing.
Everyone was terrified, and they all instinctively retreated away from the horrifying 'corpse'.
"So, according to the rules, can I stay?"
Chizhao walked a few steps closer to Gato, the chill in her eyes making his heart skip a beat.
He waved his hand lightly, and the few people behind him put on gloves and nervously carried Torune out.
Seeing that the eerie 'corpse' was gone, Gato finally relaxed, sitting back on the sofa and scrutinizing the girl before him.
"What's your name?"
"Qingniao...." Chizhao looked down at the ground. The next second, she felt something being placed around her neck and instinctively grabbed it.
This is?
"Don't be nervous. If you're going to be a dog, you naturally need a collar, don't you?"
She looked up in surprise, only to see Gato smiling sinisterly, holding something that looked like a remote control in his hand.
He pressed it lightly, and an electric current shot straight to Chizhao's brain. Every inch of her body's muscles ached intensely, as if being cut by knives.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!"
She fell to her knees, screaming uncontrollably, while Gato watched with interest, as if finding some twisted pleasure in the pain of others.
"Lord Gato!" Just then, a thug's panicked voice came from outside the door.
Gato stopped what he was doing and looked at him displeased: "Bastard! What's with all the panic?!"
"That... Zabuza seems to have failed his attack and is seriously wounded, lying in his base...."
Chizhao gradually regained consciousness from the intense pain. She struggled to pull at the electronic collar wrapped around her neck, listening intently to the conversation around her.
Zabuza?
Had Zabuza already fought with Team 7?
"Hmph! Useless trash!"
Gato rose angrily from the sofa, his gaze coldly sweeping over Chizhao, who was struggling to breathe.
"Qingniao, right? You come with me. Let's go see if that trash can still fulfill my request."
Chizhao forced herself to stand up slowly, her gaze involuntarily falling on the remote control tightly clutched in Gato's hand.
Her fingers curled, clenching her fists tightly, her nails almost digging into her palms.
"Yes...."
She answered in a low voice, but a raging fire burned in her heart.
Damn Gato.
You will die a very painful death!"