"Arrived ahead of schedule, and went to Cocoyasi Village to wait for me?"
Luo Chen was puzzled.
After he dismissed the soldier, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was strange.
Stepping outside his quarters, Luo Chen activated Wood Style: Wood Dragon Technique.
With his improved Taijutsu, the Wood Dragon had become even larger, approaching ten meters in length.
He leaped onto the dragon's head, rose into the air, and flew toward Cocoyasi Village.
...
When Luo Chen arrived outside Cocoyasi Village, his expression changed abruptly, becoming as dark and grim as water.
The entire village was engulfed in flames, black smoke shrouded the sky, and the air was filled with a pungent smell.
A sense of foreboding welled up in Luo Chen's heart, and he quickly rushed into the village.
On the street ahead, the bodies of villagers lay in front of every house, and the ground was muddy with blood.
The smell of smoke and blood assaulted Luo Chen's senses.
His face was extremely grim. With a flash, his figure shot off into the distance.
'Who did this? The Marines from Headquarters? Why would they massacre the village?'
Luo Chen was both shocked and furious, as well as confused.
His eyes filled with rage and killing intent, he scanned the bodies lining the road, the aura around him fluctuating violently.
"Luo... Luo Chen..."
As he passed a house, a faint voice called out.
Luo Chen stopped in his tracks and darted to his left.
He helped up a young woman from the ground, her face covered in blood.
"The Marines... the Marines killed... you... run..."
The young woman had several gunshot wounds piercing her abdomen. She had lost too much blood and was on the verge of death.
Her pained eyes showed a hint of concern, as if she were urging Luo Chen to flee.
But before she could finish her sentence, she breathed her last.
Her eyes, filled with pain, fear, and confusion, remained open in death, growing dim and lifeless as they stared blankly at Luo Chen.
Luo Chen slammed his fist into the ground in fury.
He suppressed the overwhelming rage and killing intent in his heart, gently closed the woman's eyes, and once again summoned his Wood Dragon, soaring into the sky.
Standing high in the air and looking out into the distance, Luo Chen's ice-cold gaze focused on the northern slope of the village.
That was where Nami and Nojiko's house was located.
There was a small forest on the mountainside.
At this moment, the forest was surrounded by hundreds of Marine soldiers, and figures could even be seen inside the woods.
'Are they rounding up the villagers?'
Luo Chen didn't know the specific situation inside the forest. But it was clear that there were still survivors in Cocoyasi Village.
He didn't dare to delay, urging the Wood Dragon to charge toward the forest.
In just one or two minutes, Luo Chen arrived above the woods.
Some of the Marines outside the forest spotted him.
"It's Luo Chen!"
"What kind of ability is that wooden dragon? He's actually flying!"
"Shoot him down! Open fire!"
The Marines scattered outside the forest shouted continuously, passing messages to one another.
One by one, they raised their rifles and opened fire collectively on Luo Chen, who was dozens of meters in the air.
"So it really was you," Luo Chen said, his eyes extremely cold.
This group of Marines was trying to kill him on sight; they must have received orders beforehand. Killing him and massacring the villagers of Cocoyasi was clearly premeditated.
From the head of the Wood Dragon, wooden vines rose and coalesced into a wooden shield.
Hundreds of bullets struck the shield, having no effect whatsoever.
When the shooting stopped, the wooden shield dispersed.
Luo Chen clapped his hands together. The mountainside shook as if the earth dragon were turning over. One after another, giant trees shot out from under the ground, their branches whipping around like lashes.
Dozens of Marines were whipped into a bloody mist, their bodies severed in two.
He controlled the Wood Dragon to dive down.
The dragon's head opened its giant mouth, skimmed along the ground, and bit down hard on three Marines, returning once more to the sky.
Luo Chen looked at the terrified Marines below and didn't waste any more time.
He steered the Wood Dragon into the forest.
He looked at the three Marines in the dragon's mouth and asked coldly, "Whose orders are you following? Why did you massacre the villagers and try to kill me?"
The three Marines gritted their teeth and said nothing.
With a thought from Luo Chen, a multitude of wooden spikes extended from within the dragon's giant mouth, instantly skewering one of the Marines until he looked like a hedgehog.
Bloody flesh hung from the countless spikes.
The remaining two Marines turned deathly pale, trembling like sieves.
If it were a clean and quick death, they were confident they wouldn't leak any information. But such a miserable and painful way to die was utterly terrifying.
One of the younger Marines couldn't bear the pressure and spoke with a trembling voice:
"It was Captain Gal Locke's order."
"Why did you want to kill us?!" Luo Chen's voice was frigid.
The young Marine stammered, "I don't know, I don't know. I was just following orders."
Luo Chen snorted coldly. The Wood Dragon bit down in a fury, tearing the bodies of the two Marines into several pieces and throwing the remains to the ground.
He steered the Wood Dragon on a path of destruction, tearing down the trees blocking his way, heading straight for the center of the forest.
Luo Chen did not spare a single Marine he encountered along the way.
At this moment, he had no time to think about the consequences of killing so many Marines.
Luo Chen had only one thought: to kill every last one of the invading Marines today to avenge this blood feud.
He fought his way to the center of the forest.
Suddenly, a dozen panicked figures appeared ahead.
Luo Chen took a closer look and saw that it was Nami, Nojiko, Genzo, and the others.
They also spotted Luo Chen standing on the head of the Wood Dragon. Joy appeared on their faces, but it was quickly replaced by panic as they looked behind them.
A dozen Marines were in hot pursuit, raising their guns to fire.
A barrage of bullets flew straight toward Nami and the others.
Luo Chen waved his arm, and a wooden shield rose from the ground, blocking in front of them. The bullets ricocheted off the shield.
The Wood Dragon roared out, its giant mouth biting down in a fury, tearing the dozen or so Marines to shreds.
Luo Chen landed beside Nami and the others and looked at them. "What on earth happened?"
Genzo was breathing heavily, his expression vaguely ferocious.
"These Marines from Headquarters... they started shooting the villagers the moment they entered the village."
"I happened to be visiting Nojiko and Nami today and wasn't in the village, otherwise I wouldn't be alive right now."
"They all ran out of the village after hearing the gunshots."
Genzo indicated that besides himself, Nami, and Nojiko, these were the only dozen or so surviving villagers. Everyone else in Cocoyasi Village had been killed by the Marines.
Luo Chen's gaze swept across the group.
Nami's and Nojiko's eyes were red, filled with tears that were held back by their rage and hatred. The dozen or so survivors were mostly women and children, hugging each other and sobbing softly.
Genzo looked at the women and children, his voice low. "The men used their bodies to block the bullets so they could escape."
Suddenly, the sound of dense footsteps came from ahead.
Luo Chen looked over with cold eyes. A group of several people emerged from behind the trees.
The man in the lead was in his thirties. He wore a "Justice" coat, and his neat black suit and gold-rimmed glasses made him look as elegant as a nobleman.
His gaze fell upon Luo Chen, and the corner of his mouth lifted in a smile.
"Luo Chen? I didn't expect you to walk right into the encirclement yourself. That saves a lot of trouble."
Luo Chen asked in a cold voice, "Why did you massacre the villagers?"
The young man adjusted the frame of his glasses on the bridge of his nose and smiled.
"Massacre? Who massacred anyone? Weren't you the one who killed them?"
"You massacred over five hundred people in Cocoyasi Village. Unexpectedly, you were discovered by the advance party of Headquarters Marines, so you took the remaining dozen villagers hostage to escape."
"In the end, you were killed by Headquarters Captain Gal Locke."
"Regrettably, the dozen or so hostages died unfortunate deaths."