Forest No. 17, "The Cultivation Forest".
"Warm Ape 75, are you insane?!"
The Warm Ape Curator pointed at his colleague's nose and shouted in disbelief.
"Do you have any idea who you're contacting?!"
The Warm Ape Curator thought he had lost his mind.
"That's no ordinary Galaxy Ranger! That's an Emanator, on the same level as Dr. Primitive! Are you trying to get the entire Genesis Forest wiped out?!"
The Warm Ape Curator couldn't comprehend his actions at all.
"Warm Ape 22, you're very agitated."
Master Bitter Tea took a deep breath, feeling a sense of satisfaction after having let it all out.
"Why? Is it because you know you're about to die?"
"Hahaha!"
The Warm Ape Curator burst out laughing.
"I am indeed going to die, but what makes you think you'll get to live!"
The Warm Ape Curator retorted, her face contorted with rage.
"You think a good attitude and a quick surrender will save you?"
"I'm telling you, dream on!"
"You know what you've done. He even dares to take on the Corporation; he won't tolerate a single speck of filth in his sight. The only thing waiting for us is a dead end!"
The Warm Ape Curator roared furiously.
"I should have died long ago."
Faced with her words, Master Bitter Tea showed no emotion.
"Both of us deserve to die. Neither can escape."
It was as if he had long known what end awaited him after sending that distress call.
"Fine, let's die together! But before that, I'll kill you first!!!"
The Warm Ape Curator gritted her teeth, prepared for mutual destruction.
"Deceiving your research partners, deceiving the Research Apes—the greatest mistake of the Seventeenth Research Institute was letting an academic fraud like you in!"
The Warm Ape Curator pointed at her colleague and yelled to the monstrous gorilla carrying a Mengleda on its back.
"Battle Ape, go! Clean house!"
The gorilla spread its arms, took a fighting stance, and immediately leaped, crashing down on him!
She wasn't that Galaxy Ranger, after all, so she certainly couldn't fully grasp his thoughts. So the Warm Ape Curator didn't dare to gamble.
What if Warm Ape 75 actually survived his encounter with the Ranger? Though the probability was minuscule, it wasn't zero.
If that really happened, wouldn't the entire Seventeenth Research Institute become a sacrificial offering for his new life? She would not allow that to happen!
To prevent it, she had to clean house first!
"Warm Ape 22, thanks to you, I've figured it out."
Master Bitter Tea quietly pulled a hidden energy pistol from his coat and aimed it at his former classmate.
"Morality is indeed a shallow and hypocritical thing, so I have decided to cast it aside."
Click—
The sealed mechanical door suddenly opened, followed by the anxious voice of a child.
"Master Bitter Tea!"
A disheveled, pink-haired girl walked out. Her clothes were ragged, her eyes were vacant and dull, and a collar was fastened around her neck.
This undoubtedly revealed her status as a slave, clearly having suffered inhumane treatment.
Bang!
With the sound of a gunshot, a beam shot out from the muzzle!
"Ape-like cry"
At the same time, the Battle Ape was already above him, its massive body and clenched fists smashing down without mercy!
"Master Bitter Tea!"
The girl's pupils contracted as she cried out again.
Her unusual constitution was the source of her pain, but it was also the foundation of her omnipotence. But for the first time, this omnipotence had failed.
No matter how powerful she was, she could not bring a newly dead person back to life.
Rumble!
A crater appeared in the floor of the research institute!
Indistinct flesh and disgusting brain matter splattered everywhere. How could the body of a mere mortal stand against these monstrous experiments?
Under the brute force of the Battle Ape, Master Bitter Tea was easily hammered into a disgusting, vomit-like pulp.
The Warm Ape Curator fell backward to the ground. A small hole pierced her forehead from the energy beam, her pupils dilated, lifeless.
And Master Bitter Tea was no exception. The two had destroyed each other, but he didn't even leave behind a complete corpse.
Luanpo stood there, stunned. She was at a loss, faced with the scene before her.
The most important person in her life had just died before her very eyes. And she hadn't even been in time to see him one last time.
If she had been a little earlier... just a little bit earlier...
—Would the outcome have been different?
The Battle Ape, its fists stained with blood, turned around. It set its next target on her, giving her no time to find an answer.
"Ape-like cry"
The Battle Ape charged toward her on all fours, only to meet a small, weak-looking fist.
Pow!
Luanpo's simple, unadorned punch struck the Battle Ape!
In the next moment, it was uncontrollably sent flying backward more than ten meters, crashing through at least three or four walls along the way before its figure vanished from sight.
[Do not grieve my passing, child.]
As Luanpo stood dazed, a familiar male voice tinged with a slight electronic static rang out.
Hearing the voice, Luanpo didn't react at first. Then, in the next second, she hurriedly took down the spray paint can hanging from her waist.
This was the "scroll" Master Bitter Tea had given her, containing the secret arts of Ryōran, the Ninja Hero.
[I'm probably dead, right? It's unlikely that I survived.]
It was as if a recording had been prepared in the spray can, set to play at the designated time.
[I hope you are already free by then, Luanpo.]
"Master Bitter Tea..."
[There's no need to be sad, child.]
[I should have died long ago. These people in the Cultivation Forest should have died long ago. We deserved to die for our sins. It's just a pity that my abilities were insufficient, and I ended up dirtying the Ranger's hands.]
The male voice wasn't responding; it was simply speaking word for word according to the recording.
[I left this recording because I wanted to ask you one thing.]
The recording continued.
[Now that you have left the Cultivation Forest, now that there is no one left to drive or force you, have you found the 'Nindō' you will fight for?]
"My Nindō..."
Luanpo paused, then answered instinctively, "Isn't it to become Ryōran, the Ninja Hero?"
[And after you become that?]
[That's not a Nindō. It's just a small goal in a phase of your life. A Nindō is something a ninja devotes their entire life to upholding.]
"After I become that..."
Luanpo murmured the premise, "Then... defeat the evil ninjas?"
[You will defeat Gyoen, the Evil Ninja, sooner or later. What then? Is becoming Ryōran, the Ninja Hero, just for the sake of defeating an enemy?]
"After that..."
Luanpo whispered, somewhat dazed. As if she didn't know the answer to the question herself.
She wanted revenge, but what came after revenge? After revenge, what was she supposed to do?
[Do you remember a question you once asked me?]
[—Why must a ninja stubbornly defend this world.]
The recording fell silent, as if waiting for her to continue.
"Because all ninjas are fools who love this world..."
Luanpo murmured to herself, completing the sentence.
[Yes. Don't have only hate; have love as well.]
"Love?"
Hearing this, Luanpo suddenly thought of the stories in the Galactic Ninja Scrolls.
"...Master Bitter Tea, Gyoen isn't the only evil ninja in this world, is he?"
The Ninja Heroes constantly rushed to different areas of the City of Shinobi to punish evil and promote good. Though they tried their best, the forces of evil grew even more rampant. They seemed to spring up endlessly.
Faced with this situation, the Ninja Heroes were growing weary, unable to tend to many regions.
But whenever that happened, people who had been rescued by the Ninja Heroes would stand up and become new Ninja Heroes themselves, joining their great cause and adding to their revolution!
Luanpo thought that must be what it means to experience love, to be influenced by love, and then to find a love they shared with the Ninja Heroes, to see the world they longed for in their eyes.
A world without injustice and oppression, where people could live and work in peace, never again having to fear the arrival of slavery and exploitation. And so, they voluntarily became the next fools.
[Of course. In the galactic ninja world, villains are as numerous as the twinkling stars.]
As if it knew her answer, the recording replied to her question from the void.
[The gods have no time for mortals, and the Ninja Masters with their extraordinary 'power' are fighting amongst themselves. This is the Dharma-Ending Age.]
"Then, my Nindō is—"
After receiving affirmation, Luanpo finally realized what her life's purpose was, or rather, what Nindō Ryōran, the Ninja Hero, must uphold throughout her life.
"To eradicate all evil, never resting until death. Even if the arrow is nocked and can never be returned, I will remain steadfast, shattering evil and revealing righteousness!"
To want a world without injustice or oppression, to want peace for the people, to want others to not repeat her tragedy, to want to pass on the love Master Bitter Tea had shown her! To do that, she had to kill all these villains, just like the Ninja Heroes in the Galactic Ninja Scrolls! Otherwise, none of those three wishes could ever be realized!
"—Until the Dharma-Ending Age is over!"
To ordain a conscience for Heaven and Earth, to secure a destiny for all living people, this was the Nindō she would uphold for her entire life, and it was the manifestation of her love for the world!
Why must a ninja stubbornly defend this world? Because they want to transform this imperfect world into the one they desire! Even if she was just a fool dreaming an impossible dream, she would devote her entire life to this grand ideal!
[With a mind undisturbed, shatter evil and reveal righteousness.]
[This was my first lesson to you, so do not let my passing disturb your heart.]
[I'm sorry you had a childhood spent in a laboratory.]
Poisons, electric shocks, conditioning—Luanpo's childhood as a test subject was clearly miserable.
[But you were never a failure. You are my pride, Luanpo.]
[Your ninja title is real. Your Nindō is real. And the path beneath your feet is real.]
[So, charge forward! Do what you believe is right!]
[—Go and announce to the entire world the return of Ryōran, the Ninja Hero!]
Luanpo took a deep breath. She clenched the spray can, her eyes filled with resolve, and ran toward the laboratory exit, no longer mourning Master Bitter Tea's passing for another moment, ready to follow his previous instructions.
To pave the way for the coming Ninja Hero!
[My apprentice, my child... Estian Liu.]
As she ran, a faint voice emanated from the spray can.
This was Master Bitter Tea's final message, and his last words.
[Warning: A malfunction has been detected in the protection system of Corridor C11. Technician Apes, please investigate immediately!]
As soon as Luanpo entered the exit corridor, alarms began to blare continuously.
She ignored them and continued forward.
But after a few steps, four or five Security Apes appeared ahead, closing in as if to maintain order and capture her.
Luanpo easily dispatched them with a few punches and kicks. Overcoming all obstacles, she continued onward.
Tap, tap, tap.
Luanpo moved quickly.
The sound of her steady footsteps echoed in the hallway, accompanied by the clatter of the broken chain on her ankle.
BOOM!
With one punch, the meticulously crafted titanium alloy security door collapsed under the force of her strike!
A breeze brushed her face as the outside world was revealed before Luanpo's eyes. Without a doubt, stepping out of here meant the sky was the limit!
Luanpo didn't hesitate. Dragging the broken chain on her ankle, she stepped forward, just as Master Bitter Tea had wished, leaving the institute to begin the next chapter of her new life.
"The air outside the City of Shinobi... so this is what it smells like..."
Luanpo felt the climate, so different from the greenhouse, and looked at the completely unfamiliar scenery, thinking to herself.
"Hey, little girl, are you alright?"
A magnetic male voice with a hint of that simian scent came from the side.
Hearing the call, Luanpo turned her head instinctively.
—And what she saw made her freeze in place.
It was a tall, broad-shouldered ape with a large frame. The strange-looking upright ape had a pair of sapphire-blue eyes and two tails, like a Nekomata from mythology.
But unlike a Nekomata, they were less like tails and more like two extra legs, separate from its thighs.
Besides those two points, the upright ape's right arm was also peculiar. It was a dark, damaged right arm, forcibly attached to the arm joint with black ribbons imprinted with gilded secret text, clashing with the fur-covered parts above it.
In the center of its palm was a dull, lifeless speck of golden blood.
If one were familiar with the Destruction faction, they would recognize at a glance that this was an imitation of Nanook's arm.
If you weren't familiar with the Destruction faction, but were familiar with the 'Dr. Primitive,' then, you would discover—
The eyes, the limbs, the arm. These were all customs from three planets that the Dr. Primitive had personally annihilated.
On Bacchus-II, the second son of every family was to be sacrificed to Nanook. This was the origin of the arm.
In the Pegasus Interstellar Principality, all bipedal creatures were required to be slaves to quadrupedal creatures. This was the origin of the two tails.
On the planet Kayukala, all those with blue eyes were forbidden from setting foot on the streets. This was the origin of the eyes.
These three planets were all deemed hopeless by the Dr. Primitive—vermin would remain vermin no matter how they developed—and so he conducted atavistic experiments on them.
At the same time, he himself embodied the end of these three flawed evolutionary paths, attempting to find the correct path to evolution through this.
"A decent test subject."
The upright ape sized up Luanpo, then nodded with the gaze of someone inspecting merchandise.
"But what a pity. Still a product of flawed evolution."
_____
🔥 The latest chapters are being posted! 🔥
📚 New story: Anime Crossover: A World of Reversed Common Sense
You didn't see this, but our prices are 25% less serious. 😉
✅ Read up to 40 chapters in advance (all stories)!
✅ Access exclusive posts and updates first!
Let's achieve our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 extra chapter for everybody
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 additional chapters on ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan