Tokyo people don't talk about Wude

Chapter 423. Hero of Ashes
It is not yet late at night, but the streets of Tokyo are already deserted and gloomy, completely devoid of the vitality and prosperity of the past.

Hong Zhongjin strolled leisurely on the empty street, the soles of his boots rubbing against the asphalt road making a slight grinding sound.

The once orderly city streets were now nothing but debris after the riot.

The overturned incinerator was still emitting black smoke, and bricks, glass and wood fragments were scattered randomly. On the electronic billboard of a certain building, someone had sprayed a few distorted characters with red paint:

【We want to survive! 】

"Haha, hahaha~" Hong Zhongjin raised his head and took a deep breath of cool air, then laughed:

"What a great struggle! It seems that woman Otonashi Kagome has some skills."

He quickly stopped smiling and began to talk to himself again as if he were chanting a sutra:

"Wano Country Purification Association, a non-governmental public welfare organization that claims to be established to improve the quality of the people and eradicate bad practices in the country."

"They have organized many large-scale social activities, and the one that made them most famous was the [310 Incident]."

"On March 10th six years ago, a young man committed suicide live in Shinjuku, which caused a national sensation. This was because this person was once a famous national-level skater, but for some reason he suddenly disappeared."

"He said he was lured into the abyss step by step and was forced to give up his comfortable life. Now he is completely driven crazy by drug addiction, gambling debts and entertainment club bills, which has ruined his life."

"This incident has aroused heated discussions about the domestic gray industry. Taking advantage of this incident, the Wano Country Purification Association launched their [Operation 3-1-0]."

"They gathered the public and held protest marches, speeches and joint petitions, demanding that the government regulate all gray industries including pornography and gambling."

"[3-1-0], this word is not only to commemorate the star who died on March , but also represents the vision of [eliminating pornography, gambling, and drugs at once]."

"Haha, it's so beautiful~" Hong Zhongjin suddenly covered his mouth and laughed grimly:
"People once had so much trust in this organization and believed they were the moral benchmark and the hope of the country."

"It's a pity that when their true colors are revealed, what will the people think of them?"

"Now that Kakuya Otonashi has revealed all the truth to the people, they should know the true face of this organization and be furious~"

The Shibuya intersection is known as the "most famous intersection in the world" due to its extremely high daily traffic volume. It is also a representative attraction that showcases the urban style of Tokyo.

At this moment, two groups of people were standing on this large intersection that was like a square, facing each other.

One group of people was the march instigated by the Dream Shattering Organization. They were huge in number, surging like a tide, mostly young people, holding high protest signs and flags. The leaders were a few college students with white headbands and passionate faces.

As for the other group, they were the Wano Country Purification Association. Although they were few in number, they wore uniform white shirts and looked well-organized and well-trained.

"You little brats who haven't been weaned yet, you are parasites that can't even feed yourself, and you are qualified to bark here? Go back to your mother's arms and drink milk as soon as possible!"

"Stupid little brat, he knows nothing but barking like a dog in the street, making everyone's life a mess!"

"You are a bunch of idiots who have never even entered society. You are just running around the streets like wild dogs. It is your nonsense that has caused this country to become a mess!"

"If you continue to cause trouble for everyone, I'll call the police to arrest you and put you in jail! Don't kneel down and beg for mercy when the time comes!"

"How dare you stare at me, little brat! Be careful or I'll dig your eyes out!"

At the front of the team of the [Wano Country Purification Association] stood a row of middle-aged aunts and old men with fierce and difficult faces. They were insulting the protesting young people with arrogant and vicious language, and sometimes they would throw tantrums and roll on the ground pretending to be pitiful.

The protesters were already very angry, and when they were provoked by the unreasonable old man, they became furious and angry.

However, once they dared to attack the elderly people in the front row, the bribed reporters around them would quickly take pictures and accuse them of "bullying the elderly", making them bear the name of injustice.

Not only that, but behind those yelling old men, there were clearly dozens of strong men standing. They seemed to be standing there casually, but in fact they were constantly swinging rolling pins and baseball bats in their hands, beating out dangerous rhythms in their palms. Some even deliberately opened their coats to reveal the daggers and ice picks on their waists.

On the surface, these men are also members of the [Wano Country Purification Association], but in fact most of them are thugs hired from the underworld and thugs.

Once the scene gets a little chaotic, these thugs will have an excuse of "legitimate defense." They promise to make the place wailing everywhere before the police take action to control the scene, and they may even cut the throats of a few protesters to make an example of them.

This is also why the protesters still dare not take any action in the face of such verbal ridicule.

"You sanctimonious demons, get out of our way!"

"You evil government lackeys, you have been deceived all along!"

"You still want to stop us after all this, you vicious fellows who are harming others and yourselves!"

All the protesters can do now is to shout at each other unwillingly, trying to overpower the other side with momentum.

Just when the atmosphere was at a stalemate, a dark figure appeared between the two groups like a ghost, causing both sides to take a step back in shock.

The person who came was tall, with casually scattered black hair, a black cloak fluttering in the wind, and a white mask covering his face, making him look extremely mysterious.

Even though he deliberately covered his face, or perhaps precisely because he deliberately covered his face, many people were able to recognize him on the spot.

"Hong Zhongjin was the one who gave the speech that day!"

"Is that the monster?"

Hong Zhongjin glanced at the scene and ordered in a deep voice: "Silence!"

It was a short, long howl, but Hong Zhongjin contained a vocalization technique similar to the "lion's roar". Although the sound was not a full-throated roar, it was deep and powerful enough to almost shatter everyone's eardrums.

And as he roared, the scene really became quiet as he said.

But soon, a man spoke again. This man seemed to be the leader of the Purification Association:

"You...you are the Great Evil Demon Hong Zhongjin!"

"Oh? The great evil demon Hong Zhongjin~?" Hong Zhongjin looked at him with a smile, his eyes were gentle but creepy.

"You are you! You are the one who deceived us with your ridiculous lies and flawed special effects!" The leader of the Purification Association forced himself to remain calm, pointed at him and shouted angrily:
"It is you who caused our country to become like this, causing ordinary citizens like us to be deceived by rumors, forced to fight each other, suffer, and no longer have a peaceful life!"

"You must be a spy sent by a foreign country! A spy sent to split up our Yamato nation! You devil! An unforgivable devil!"

As the leader spoke, other members of the association gradually regained their courage and pointed at Hong Zhongjin. A few aunties even took out the rotten eggs and rotten cabbages they had prepared in advance, eager to throw them out. Facing this malicious intent, Hong Zhongjin remained unmoved, and just shook his wrist, and a cold light flashed from his fingertips.

"call out--"

The next moment, the leader of the association, who was still scolding loudly, suddenly fell silent, holding his neck and fell backwards.

"Leader!" Several association members hurriedly supported the leader, but saw him constantly covering his throat and struggling, with painful whimpers coming from his throat.

"What happened to the leader?" A member of the association exclaimed after checking the injury: "There is a needle on his throat! When did it get stuck in there?!"

As the culprit who used the flying needle hidden weapon, Hong Zhongjin sneered and quickly rushed into the crowd of the Purification Association.

"Tear!" He clawed at the shoulder of a shrew in the front row, then pinched it, lifted it and pulled it, actually tearing off a piece of flesh.

"You! Ahhhh!" The shrew fainted from the pain immediately. When the other shrews and old men found out, they also started screaming and cursing:

"You are a beast who doesn't respect the elderly! You will be punished by heaven and earth!"

"Old people? Haha!" Hong Zhongjin left the shrew behind and laughed happily: "I don't care if you are men, women, old or children, you are all the same in my eyes! It's just because I am different from you biased and stupid mediocre people. I believe that everyone is equal and all things have spirits!"

After saying that, Hong Zhongjin rushed forward like a ghost, attacking other members of the association like a storm:
"Come on! Come on! You old, evil-doers, since you have accused me of being disrespectful, let me be the first to 'honor' you!"

Even the once broken-hearted Hong Zhongjin could not be stopped by these association members. And now, Hong Zhongjin has reached the realm of [selflessness], integrating the martial arts of the world, and subdued all the association members present in a crushing manner, not even giving anyone a chance to escape, and his moves are extremely elegant and very entertaining.

As for those black-hearted reporters who had been bribed and hidden in the dark in advance, they had already been subdued by Hong Zhongjin with hidden weapons, and at this time, both the people and their cameras were out of service.

What is even more surprising is that although Hong Zhongjin killed nearly a hundred association members, not a single one died. All of them were merely knocked unconscious by severe injuries.

In the past, Hong Zhongjin would have killed people with blood. But now, his "selflessness" state of mind has neutralized his bloodthirsty nature, allowing him not to be swayed by resentment and to make his own judgments.

For example, now, he knew that if he massacred the association members present on the spot, this bloody scene would surely make the protesters on his side feel disgusted and fearful, and they might even begin to question the "justice" of the protest.

So he decided to deliberately spare the lives of the association members and leave them to the protesters to deal with, so as to give the protesters a sense of "participation."

Moreover, Hong Zhongjin knew that these association members were now in the hands of the angry protesters, and the final outcome would probably be worse than death.
But this result will make Hong Zhongjin feel more happy and interesting~!
Hong Zhongjin glanced at the unconscious association member jokingly, then turned to look at the protesters and said loudly:

"The Wano Country Purification Association is a hypocritical organization that is trying to cover up for the government and the people!"

"Six years ago, during the [3-1-0 Incident], the Purification Association was ostensibly speaking for the victims, but in reality, it was just cooperating with the government to monopolize the public's channels for speaking out, and then let the matter go unsolved!"

"Think carefully, you must have heard about these things six years ago! You must have heard that the Purification Association held many protests and raised a lot of money for the victims! But until today, do any of you know whose wallet these donations went into? Have any of you heard that after the [3-1-0 Operation] that year, any social problems were solved?!"

"The Wano Country Purification Association is such a despicable existence! Their purpose is not to solve any social problems, nor to help the disadvantaged groups! Instead, they are like a dog cage, imprisoning your dissatisfaction with the government and society!"

"They have established themselves as the country's top non-governmental charity organization. Only in this way can any of you who are wronged speak out through them! After they have raised a lot of funds and gained credibility, they only need to put on a few show activities or make a few ambiguous remarks to send you all back on behalf of the government and suppress your voices!"

"Relying on such despicable and shameless means, they have become the white gloves of many politicians, and their political achievements have been flaunted until now!"

"These association members who are blocking you, don't they know that they will also become victims tomorrow?"

"Ha! They know! They all know! But they still want to deceive themselves and help the evildoers to go against you ordinary people who just want to survive!"

"Just because the association promised them a little money as a petty benefit, they easily bewildered their minds; just because they have been deceived by this association all their lives, they are unwilling to admit their stupidity, so they want to drag you into the water; just because the association's top leaders may have deceived them by saying that they would also be selected into the list of people who 'will not be sacrificed', even though they know that they, the untouchables, are not qualified at all!"

"Look! Even though they have the same blood as you, they are still enemies! They are lowly dogs who betrayed us and became our enemies, enemies who kill each other like us!"

"But even so, I, Hong Zhongjin, am not an arbitrary and cruel person! I did not kill any of them, but handed them over to you for judgment!"

Hong Zhongjin rolled up his sleeves, revealing half of his arm that was rotten like a corpse: "Look carefully! This is the evidence that they are aiding and abetting the evil! Whether you are a man or a woman, if you don't want to become the same miserable as me, don't stop, unite and fight on!"

"."

With the help of Hong Zhongjin, the situation at Shibuya intersection instantly turned in favor of the protesters.

The protesters tied up and hung all the members of the association, and confiscated all their weapons. As for whether they would lynch them or something else, Hong Zhongjin didn't care.

Anyway, he was sure that his speech and actions just now had reignited the indignation of the protesters. As long as he continued to maintain this trend, these protesters would play a role tomorrow night.

Just as Hong Zhongjin was about to leave, several college students stopped him:
"Hello, please, are you Senior Hongzhong?"

"It's me, what's wrong?" Hong Zhongjin instantly restrained his hostility and even looked quite approachable.

"My name is Ryuzo Akii, and I'm from Fukuoka!" One of the college students approached carefully with a southern accent, his eyes filled with excitement:
"I came all the way from the south, hoping to be of some help to you all!"

"Haha, very good." Hong Zhongjin smiled and praised, saying some extremely hypocritical but touching words: "Keep working hard, but you also have to work hard to survive. After all, the future of this world belongs to you~"

"Yes! Thank you, [Hero of Ashes]!" Ryuzo Akii bowed to him excitedly.

"Hero of Ashes?" Hong Zhongjin laughed in silence.

"That's right! Hero of Ashes! That's what everyone calls you now!" Another college student clenched his fists and said passionately, "You fought desperately to escape from the evil organization. Even if only your body is ashes left, you must reveal the truth to us and fight for us!"

"Mr. Hongzhong, you..." More and more protesters gathered together, looking at Hongzhongjin with extremely scorching eyes, as if they wanted to make him burn:
"You are our great hero, our [Hero of Ashes]!"

"Great hero, hehe." Hong Zhongjin covered his mouth and laughed softly: "It's ridiculous. Even now, I still can't escape this name and this curse!"

And he should have thought that this must be the work of Kagaya Otonashi.

But, so what?

Even the curse called "Hero" is nothing to him!
"That's right! I am your Ash Hero!" Red Ember opened his arms and accepted the title calmly:

"Just treat me as a hero! At the same time tomorrow, you will follow my footsteps and help me save this country and your homeland!"

As he expected, his words successfully inspired these young and passionate protesters, causing them to cheer:
"Ohhh! Hero of Ashes! We will always follow the Hero of Ashes and defeat the cruel tyranny!!!"

(End of this chapter)