Fire rain and golden sand vanished into the night sky together.
Only faint afterimages on retinas served as a silent reminder to the city's inhabitants, informing them that they had just survived a disaster that should have killed them all.
Joy at surviving washed over every survivor in Golin City. They hugged each other tightly, familiar or not, tears and smiles blooming on their faces.
After the cheering died down, they instinctively looked towards Linto, who stood before Shinno's corpse.
Countless complex emotions flashed across their faces, finally settling into reverence.
A young woman was about to kneel, to express her gratitude to Linto with her actions.
A hand stopped her by the arm.
"Just watching and being grateful is enough."
Sasuke gave the woman a gentle smile. "Brother Shou doesn't like people kneeling to him."
"Watching and being grateful..."
The survivors turned their gazes towards Linto, one by one.
Many were seeing Linto for the first time. Quite a few hadn't even clearly heard his name.
But as they looked at Linto's back, they felt, for no reason, a long-forgotten strength reawaken deep within them, a strength that had been buried under endless work and suffering.
It wasn't just the survivors of Golin City who were watching Linto.
As mentioned before, due to exceptional puppet jutsu skills, large cities in the Land of Wind were equipped with surveillance cameras. At this moment, every camera in Golin City had turned its focus, capturing Linto from every angle without blind spots.
They recorded the entire process of Linto's battle with Shinno—or rather, the one-sided annihilation.
The surveillance footage was then transmitted through thin chakra lines to the rear, and after multiple relays, it appeared in—
A pitch-dark room.
The room was elaborately furnished and luxurious. A television sat in the center, and apart from the TV, there were no other light sources.
Six figures sat in the darkness. Some held wine glasses, others had cigars between their fingers.
They sat perfectly still on the sofas. If not for the ongoing television broadcast and the wisps of smoke from their cigars, one might have thought they were trapped in Linto's time-stopping technique.
The six men wore solemn expressions, yet not long ago, they had been laughing.
Laughing that the destructive beam had injured Linto.
Laughing that Shinno could hold his own against Lin Seito.
Laughing that the destruction of Golin City would cause significant losses for one of them.
One of them had even joked about making a cheap offer to buy Golin City.
Now, not a single one of them could laugh.
They hadn't expected Shinno to win. Perhaps some had entertained the thought, like imagining winning five million from a lottery ticket. They had only hoped Shinno would cause Linto some trouble.
Injure Linto, and perhaps expose some of Linto's hidden strengths or weaknesses.
That would have been enough.
If they could achieve that, the money they spent wouldn't have been a waste.
But what was Shinno doing?
Twice, he had threatened the lives of civilians, using them as leverage to attack Linto... it was too ugly.
It wasn't that using lives as threats was ugly.
Lives were assets, and the corporations wouldn't hesitate to use them when the time came.
What they meant was that relying on Linto's kindness as a trigger for their actions was a tactic that couldn't be used as a lesson or a regular method for the corporations to implement in the future.
Shinno had betrayed their investment of money and resources; such behavior violated the principles of transaction.
Ugly and despicable!
If Shinno's actions made them angry, Linto's response was as if a hand had truly reached out from the television screen to grip their throats.
The six men sat in silence in the darkness, their shoulders slumped. They instinctively tried to move away from the TV, hiding in the shadows, as if...
They were the rats scurrying in the night.
"Linto has grown stronger again."
"He's getting stronger faster than we can spend money."
"We have to find a way, but before that, we need to kill Arima Teru..."
The man with the cigar put it down.
"Haven't found him yet?"
...
Arima Teruyuki strode down the street, his hat brim low, his right hand clutching a briefcase.
It contained his entire fortune. With this money, he could live like royalty in any country.
He glanced back towards the direction of the main battlefield.
"Sorry, Shinno, I misjudged you."
After Arima Teruyuki called Shinno, Shinno hung up after only a few words.
At the time, Arima Teruyuki was cursing Shinno for being inhumane. He hadn't expected Shinno to launch a full-scale assault without a word to distract Linto.
The officials gathered at the Arima residence, upon seeing the assault from the main and secondary cannons, had all evacuated to be with their wives and children.
The assassins sent by the corporation had still not appeared. Arima Teruyuki guessed they were delayed by the chaotic situation in Golin City.
Now, hidden in the vast crowd, no matter how skilled the assassins were, they couldn't find him.
You could say that Shinno had saved Arima Teruyuki's life.
Arima Teruyuki felt his nose sting.
After years in politics, he thought he had seen the worst of human nature, but he never expected there to be such a warm-hearted but inarticulate old-fashioned man in the world.
"Don't worry, Brother Shinno, I'll live well for you too."
Arima Teruyuki rubbed his nose and continued walking.
"Hey! You up ahead, that bag you're carrying... looks like a nice one."
A voice came from behind.
Arima Teruyuki turned and his eyes met a middle-aged woman.
The woman was thin, her head tilted, her body unnaturally slanted backward, looking at Arima Teruyuki from a strange, bird's-eye view.
As she spoke, she coughed lightly and incessantly.
Just a glance was enough for Arima Teruyuki to deduce that she was a factory worker.
Textile factory workers, constantly inhaling cotton and hemp dust, almost all suffered from lung disease.
Her thumbs and index fingers were abnormally twisted, clearly arthritic from years of operating a sewing machine.
The woman didn't wait for Arima Teruyuki to speak. She strode over and attempted to snatch the briefcase containing his money.
How could a bottom-rung textile factory worker dare to stop him in such a chaotic city?
When he perceived faint wisps of dark, negative emotions flowing from beneath the woman's feet, Arima Teruyuki understood.
The core barrier in the city center had broken, and the woman before him had been affected by the leaked negative emotions, her will compromised and controlled by desire.
"Get lost!"
Arima Teruyuki had no time to waste on a lower-class woman.
Every second he possessed now was bought with Brother Shinno's life, and he had to cherish it.
As for giving her the bag?
What a joke. It contained nothing but money, deeds, and asset certificates.
Arima Teruyuki kicked the woman in the stomach, sending her falling. As he turned to leave, he suddenly felt all his strength drain away. Looking down, he saw a pair of common textile scissors deeply embedded in his abdomen.
The woman got up, snatched the bag from Arima Teruyuki again, opened it, and spilled all the gold bars and certificates onto the ground, leaving with only the empty bag.
Before leaving, she said, "This is my husband's birthday present. I want to give him the best gift."
Arima Teruyuki watched the money and certificates blow away in the wind, feeling utterly powerless.
"You... damn it, you should have said you didn't want the money earlier..."
He collapsed on the ground.
He died in a forgotten corner.
A gust of wind blew, lifting a banknote. It drifted over and stuck to his forehead, covering Arima Teruyuki's unblinking eyes.
To prevent him from scaring passersby.