Crossover Anime: I Became Invincible Starting as an Ajin

Chapter 155 Donoban and the Camp Turmoil

After a while, rustling sounds finally came from the cellar.

A shivering old monk helped a pale-faced young girl as they shakily crawled out.

They were dressed in rags, their faces filled with fear and filth.

Seeing that it really was two children, Gus relaxed a little, but remained vigilant.

After all, Gus had heard plenty of stories from his seniors in the mercenary group about children killing people.

Wang Bai said to Gus, "Help them out. Let's go to the back of the chapel; there's no one there for now."

Despite his doubts and reluctance, Guts did as he was told, helping the old monk support the frail girl.

They came to the back of the dilapidated chapel, where it was relatively secluded.

Wang Bai had the old monk and the girl hide under a half-collapsed archway.

"Why did you save us?"

The old monk asked in a hoarse voice, his eyes filled with confusion.

In this era, it is taken for granted that the weak are plundered and killed, while being saved seems abnormal.

There's no such thing as a free lunch; they might face even more tragic experiences in the future.

Wang Bai looked at Guts, as if answering the old monk's question, and calmly said, "Because we can choose not to do something, and we can also choose to do something."

He turned to Guts, not wanting Guts to become like the people of this era.

Or rather, he wanted Guts to rebel more thoroughly against the times and against his own fate.

Perhaps, from any perspective, rebelling against the times can be considered a pipe dream.

However, with his king now in charge, Guts might not necessarily be unable to forge a unique path.

"Gus, look at those people who are robbing and killing. Are they happy?"

Gus looked at a mercenary in the distance, who was drinking heavily while clutching a wine jar and stepping on a corpse. He hesitated for a moment, then nodded and shook his head.

"After a brief period of madness comes a deeper emptiness and the constant danger of being killed by others."

Wang Bai's voice was soft, yet it possessed a penetrating power.

"Plundering the weak will not make us truly stronger; it will only make us more like beasts, and ultimately we will not escape the fate of being plundered and killed by the stronger."

Gus seemed to understand, but not quite.

"Power is not just about how many people you can kill."

Wang Bai pointed to his head.

"It also includes this: how to think, how to choose. And this too,"

He then pointed to his heart.

"Remember what we don't want to become."

He looked at the old monk and the girl: "By helping them, we might gain reliable intelligence with a paltry sum of money, or we might win hearts in times of despair. More importantly, he looked at Guts again: "We have preserved something of our humanity. That, too, is a kind of strength."

The old monk listened quietly to what the boy in front of him had to say.

His eyes could no longer shed tears, but his heart was deeply moved.

He murmured, "God—God hasn't answered our prayers for so long—but today—I seem to see a holy son!"

The frail girl also raised her head, glancing timidly at Wang Bai and Guss. Besides fear, a hint of something else lingered in her eyes.

An indescribable sense of gratitude and admiration.

Gus watched all this in silence. He looked at Wang Bai's calm and resolute profile, then at the rescued old monk and little girl, and then at the ongoing atrocities in the distance.

His beastly intuition gave him a vague feeling that what his brother Raka was talking about seemed to be another way of "living" that he had never thought of before.

Wang Bai knew that a few words could not change Gess's deep-rooted survival instincts.

But he must sow the seeds. To preserve a glimmer of humanity in this dark age.

It was not only to redeem others, but also to prevent Guts from being completely lost in the bloody torrent.

He couldn't save everyone, but within his power, he chose to follow his inner principles.

The "liquidation" following the siege has ended.

The Gambino mercenary group retreated to their temporary camp with the looted goods and the meager bounty from their employer.

The air was still thick with the stench of blood and smoke, but there was a greater sense of relaxation.

The drinks and looted food were distributed, and the mercenaries sat around the campfire, boasting about their bravery or counting their blood-stained spoils.

Gambino sat on a wooden box in front of the main tent, with a rough money bag in front of him.

He began distributing the rewards for the mission according to the agreement and the contributions made.

When it was Guss and Wang Bai's turn, some malicious chuckles and whispers arose around them.

How much money can two six-year-old children receive?

It's just a formality.

Gambino counted out a few poor-quality silver coins and a small handful of copper coins, and pushed them in front of the two men.

"This is your share."

To everyone's surprise, Gus stepped forward, without looking at the money, and instead pushed half of the silver coins back to Gambino.

Gus's voice was a little stiff. Despite having fought on the battlefield himself, he still felt a vague hesitation, or perhaps a fear of being rejected.

"Father, this is for you."

Then, he stuffed the remaining half of the silver coins and all the copper coins into Wang Bai's hand, looking at Wang Bai: "Laka, you take these."

This action caused a moment of silence in the surrounding area.

Gambino was also taken aback, looking at Gus's stubborn eyes and then at Wang Bai's expressionless face.

In the end, he said nothing and silently accepted the silver coins.

Wang Bai understood that this might be Guts' way of expressing his complex feelings for his adoptive father after Sith's death, but when he looked at Gambino's expression, Gambino didn't seem happy at all; it was more like a mockery.

It's unclear when exactly, but Gambino seemed to have started to ignore, and even show a hint of disgust, towards the two brothers.

It's fair to say that Gus projecting his father's image onto Gambino was probably not a good choice.

Wang Bai held the money in his hand and sighed inwardly.

Guss's behavior was straightforward, with his characteristic, clumsy sense of loyalty.

He probably felt the money should go to his "family," and Laka was his most trusted brother.

After doing all this, Gus turned and ran away, probably to find something to eat.

Wang Bai carefully put the money away. As he was leaving, he saw a mercenary approach Gambino.

He didn't care, but instead thought about how to use the money to buy some suitable items.

Even without the physical aid of the power of the Imaginary Tree, in this world where magic is allowed.

The magic knowledge in your head might come in handy to create some small props.

Although Wang Bai himself doesn't need to use it, Ge Si doesn't have as many hidden skills as him, so it's still necessary to give him some insurance.

The veteran Donoban of the mercenary group saw Wang Bai and Guts' departing figures.

He wore a fawning, greasy smile, had a mouthful of yellow teeth, and reeked of a mixture of cheap liquor and body odor.

"Hey, Gambino, want to talk to you about something?"

Donoban rubbed his hands together and spoke to Gambino in a low voice, but at a volume just loud enough for the mercenaries watching the commotion to hear.

"I think those two lads, Gus and Wang Bai, have good bones and are promising talents—they just lack experience. How about this, I'll pay ten silver coins for one night with them, take them out to broaden their horizons," I promise, I'll make them—hehe, become real men much faster, what do you say?"

His words revealed his filthy intentions without any attempt to conceal them.

In this precarious mercenary group, the weak are bullied, especially vulnerable and fierce boys like Guts.

Some behaviors that are difficult for ordinary people to accept are also common in this mercenary group.

After all, morality is a rare commodity in mercenary groups.

What some people see as commonplace "entertainment," or even a means of "taming," is something else entirely.

Gambino sat there, his brow slightly furrowed.

After a slight hesitation, just as he was about to refuse, for some reason, he suddenly remembered the Sith's death from the Black Death, and the two children the Sith had adopted under that ominous tree—

It's unclear whether it was a short time, or perhaps just a few seconds, but Gambino picked up the money bag Donovan handed him, said nothing, and left.

In Donovan's view, this was tantamount to tacit approval.

A triumphant, lewd grin spread across his face. He licked his chapped lips, then turned and disappeared into the deepening twilight.

At midnight, a furtive dark figure quietly crept outside the tent.

It was Donovan.

He held a tattered cloth soaked in a sleeping drug in his hand, his eyes gleaming with an impatient, wicked light.

The instant he lifted the tent flap

"puff!"

A dull thud!

Donoban didn't even see what happened; he only felt a piercing pain in his wrist, as if he had been hit hard by iron clamps, and the rag in his hand fell to the ground with a thud.

He cried out in pain, but before he could even curse, a short but unusually steady figure emerged from the shadows of the tent like a ghost—it was Wang Bai!

What Wang Bai held in his hand was not a weapon, but a short, sturdy hardwood stick used to support the tent.

He didn't waste any words, his eyes were as cold as ice in the darkness.

In the instant Donoban bent over in pain, Wang Bai's short stick, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, struck the side of his knee joint with precision and ruthlessness!

"Snap!"

The sickening sound of bones cracking was clearly audible!

"Ah! My leg!!"

Donoban let out a pig-like scream, his massive body crashing to the ground, clutching his twisted legs and howling in agony.

Although Wang Bai's spiritual power has not yet recovered, his instinct to sense malice and danger remains.

When Donovan approached Gambino with ill intent, Wang Bai vaguely sensed something was amiss.

The commotion immediately alerted the mercenaries in the surrounding tents.

They rushed out, weapons in hand, and looked at the scene before them with sleepy eyes.

Donoban rolled on the ground screaming in agony, while six-year-old Raka stood expressionless before him, holding a short stick.

Inside the tent, Gus, who had been startled awake, also crawled out, looking outside with a blank and wary expression.

"What's going on?!"

"Donoban? Laka? What are you guys up to?"

Gambino was also alerted and walked over with a frown.

Wang Bai raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the mercenaries who had surrounded him, before finally settling on Gambino's face.

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable penetrating power, clearly reaching everyone's ears: "Donoban, attempting to drug Guts and commit indecent acts." He kicked the tattered cloth on the ground. "Caught red-handed."

A commotion erupted in the crowd.

Mercenary groups have their share of dirty deeds, but harming children, especially their own members, still crosses a line that many people have been forced to accept.

Some people may not have much morality, but they still have some.

Although some elderly people are aware of certain unspoken rules, that's only in the context of things not being out in the open, and it's impossible for these elderly people to approve of such behavior right now.

Despite the excruciating pain, Donoban screamed in protest, "Bullshit! You little bastard, you're spouting nonsense! I just—I just went into the wrong tent!"

Wang Bai didn't argue with him. He simply bent down, picked up the tattered cloth, smelled it, and then handed it to a slightly older, more composed mercenary next to him. "Chuck, smell it."

The mercenary named Chuck hesitated for a moment, then took the rag and sniffed it. His expression immediately turned grim: "It has a strange smell—like 'Sleeping Grass'."

This caused the crowd to murmur even louder, their eyes filled with contempt and disgust as they looked at Donoban.

Wang Bai turned to Gambino, his voice still calm, yet carrying a chilling pressure: "Father, what are the rules of the troupe? How should one deal with someone who attacks a comrade, especially using such underhanded methods?"

Gambino's face flickered in the firelight.

He looked at Donoban lying on the ground, then at Wang Bai, who was frighteningly calm, and at the gazes cast upon him by the surrounding mercenaries.

He knew he could not admit his previous acquiescence, and now Wang Bai had outmaneuvered him.

"—According to the rules, he should be whipped, or—expelled."

Gambino's voice was somewhat hoarse.

Instantly, Donovan became agitated: "You bastard, Gambino, I got your permission and paid a full ten silver coins for both of their nights—"

Wang Bai's eyes instantly turned cold, like a frozen lake.

He didn't look at Donoban, but instead scanned the rioting mercenaries.

Finally, his gaze fell on Gambino for a moment, and seeing the other's silent attitude, he understood.

Then he looked at Donoban, his voice eerily calm, unlike that of a six-year-old: "Donoban, how much did you say you'd pay?"

"Ten silver coins! I've offered ten silver coins!"

Wang Bai nodded, then suddenly raised his voice to make sure everyone around could hear him: "Did everyone hear that? Donoban is offering ten silver coins for one night with me and my brother Guts."

The noisy campsite quieted down considerably in an instant, drawing the attention of many more people.

Donovan's smile froze; he sensed something was wrong.

Wang Bai continued in a loud voice, his tone carrying an authority and coldness that was inconsistent with his age: "In the Gambino Mercenary Group, since when did people begin to be bought and sold like commodities?"

Today he can buy Guts's life for three silver coins, but tomorrow someone can buy yours for five silver coins?!

Or do you think your dignity and your companion's body are only worth a few measly coins?!

His words struck the air like a whip, causing the mercenaries who had been watching the spectacle to change their expressions slightly.

They were used to living in a daze, used to the survival of the fittest, but having this fig leaf torn away so bluntly by a child still made some people feel uncomfortable and a little offended and annoyed.

Donoban immediately realized that the current situation did not seem to be very good.

Gambino's face also darkened suddenly. This brat had somehow damaged his standing in the entire mercenary group.

Such things have happened, and they have threatened the interests of the entire mercenary group, and we have always turned a blind eye to them. But now, this bastard Laka, who should have died, is daring to challenge his position.

But before Gambino could speak, Wang Bai's voice suddenly turned icy cold. He abruptly pulled out a rough but clearly sharpened short dagger from his back waist—a trophy he had picked up from the battlefield.

"If you do something wrong, you have to pay the price!"

Before he finished speaking, Wang Bai moved! His speed was astonishing, completely unlike that of a child!

Before Donoban could even react, the dagger, gleaming coldly, was not aimed at a vital spot, but rather precisely and fiercely slashed at the finger that had just been making the number "three"!

"Ah!" Donoban let out a shrill scream as both arms were severed at the root, blood gushing out!

Donoban fell to his knees and let out a mournful wail!

The entire camp was deathly silent!

Everyone was stunned by this sudden and ruthless counterattack.

They looked at the six-year-old boy, holding a blood-dripping dagger, standing before the screaming Donoban, his eyes as cold as ice, as if they were seeing a little devil crawling out of hell.

Wang Bai flicked the blood off his dagger and looked around. Every mercenary who met his gaze instinctively looked away.

"Today, I'll break both of his arms to pay for the ten silver coins he offered, to teach him a lesson!"

Wang Bai's voice echoed in the silent night sky.

"Remember this! In the Gambino Mercenary Group, anyone who dares to plot against their own brothers will suffer this fate!"

Unless you're confident you can dodge my knife!

He glanced one last time at Gambino, whose expression shifted and who eventually fell silent.

Without saying another word, he sheathed his dagger and turned to walk towards the corner where he and Gus were resting.

He left behind a chorus of suppressed breathing and Donoban's continued wailing.

For a mercenary, losing both arms is tantamount to death, and may even be more cruel than killing him outright.

From that day on, everyone in the mercenary group understood.

The two boys that Gambino took in, especially the one named Laca, were not only precocious, but also ruthless characters with terrifying decisiveness and vicious methods that should not be easily provoked.

In his own way, he drew an inviolable line for himself and Gus in this cruel world.