#37 - The Hand Ninja

"Do you think he might be lying to us?" Gwen asked worriedly.

"Don't know," Yang Le replied candidly.

Based on the information Matt provided, Yang Le and Gwen arrived at a building on the outskirts of New York, observing a warehouse not far from it. According to Matt, this warehouse was a Hand stronghold.

"Do you think the moment we step inside, hundreds of ninjas will be waiting to dismember us?" Gwen joked, voicing a terrifying conjecture, possibly to scare Yang Le.

"Aren't you scared?"

"If there really are hundreds of ninjas, then it means we've come to the right place, and I might even be happy." After saying that, Yang Le transformed into Ghostfreak, spread his wings, and flew towards the warehouse.

"Okay, cool guy." Gwen shot out a web, wrapped it around Yang Le's foot, and followed him towards the warehouse.

Arriving at the warehouse door, Gwen surveyed the surroundings, noticing that many weeds had grown from the cracks in the walls and ground, indicating that it hadn't been cleaned for a long time. Even the warehouse door was covered in red rust.

"How do we get in? Climb through a window? Or go through the front door? Do you need me to open it?" Gwen said, striking a strongman pose, showing off her meager muscles.

Of course, those slender arms could physically punch a cow to death.

"We have a simpler method." Yang Le retracted his wings, wrapping them around himself, then walked to the warehouse door and poked a finger at it.

Ghostfreak's claws pierced the rusty iron door without any resistance. Yang Le quickly cut a person-sized opening in the iron door.

Although Ghostfreak's primary attack method is ice breath, their sharp teeth and claws are equally formidable. After all, Ghostfreak is a race that consumes various metals as their staple food. This level of metal door is no different from tofu in their eyes.

Yang Le kicked the cut-out iron sheet, and a person-sized passage appeared before them.

"I thought our mission was to sneak in? Now the whole world knows we're here," Gwen complained, hearing the sound of the iron sheet falling.

"Normally, when the situation inside is unclear, sneaking in is definitely the best approach, but I hate those roundabout methods. In games, I hate stealth levels the most. By the way, I really like Assassin's Creed, but none of this is the main issue."

Yang Le pointed to the Omnitrix on his chest, the meaning self-evident: the Omnitrix's transformation time was running out.

'Soon, the decoding will be complete in two more days, and then I can play the cracked version of the Omnitrix,' Yang Le consoled himself in his heart.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Gwen, seeing Yang Le visibly getting anxious, took the lead and walked into the warehouse.

The warehouse was pitch black, with only a sliver of moonlight filtering through the high windows. The faint moonlight obviously couldn't provide any illumination, but fortunately, neither Yang Le nor Gwen needed it.

Gwen relied on the night vision function of her mask's lenses, one of the small features Yang Le had added. As a hero of the night, not being able to see in the dark was obviously unacceptable.

Yang Le, on the other hand, relied on Ghostfreak's powerful biological functions. This level of darkness couldn't affect him.

'Humans really have their limits.' The more times he transformed into alien heroes, the more Yang Le felt this way. Humans really didn't have any advantages compared to these races.

"We're not alone here, Ghostfreak." Gwen lowered her body, wary of her surroundings. Ghostfreak was Yang Le's code name, agreed upon by Gwen and Yang Le beforehand. By the way, Gwen's code name was Spider.

"My head has been throbbing since I came in, it must be that spider-sense you're talking about acting up."

"Get ready to fight, Spider. This is your debut."

Perhaps seeing the two of them enter a state of alert, ninjas wearing scarlet ninja garb emerged from the shadows from all directions, places where normal people couldn't hide at all.

"So many spectators for a newbie debut, I'm truly honored."

Yang Le had told Gwen that if she felt nervous, she could use witty remarks to relieve the tension, and also use language to disrupt the enemy's mindset. That's right, the classic Spider-Man tactic.

"The left side is yours, the right side is mine. Don't hold back. They are all seasoned killers who aren't afraid of death. You don't have room to hold back."

Yang Le spread his wings and flew into the air, instructing Gwen.

"Don't worry, I'll help you if you can't hold on."

"That's not certain, maybe I'll be faster than you." With Gwen's personality, she obviously wouldn't show weakness, but before she could continue to retort, her spider-sense bombarded her brain like a massage gun.

"Careful!"

That's right, the ninjas couldn't just stand there dumbly watching Gwen and Yang Le flirt; one ninja had quietly snuck above Yang Le, raised his ninja sword, and descended from the sky, wanting to kill Yang Le in mid-air with one strike.

Despite Gwen's reminder, Yang Le didn't dodge or evade. Just when the ninja thought he was about to succeed, something unexpected happened.

The ninja's ninja sword, along with himself, passed through Yang Le's body. Not only that, but as the ninja passed through Yang Le's body, a bone-chilling cold instantly swept through his entire body. Before he could react, he lost consciousness.

At the same time, an ice sculpture crashed to the ground, shattering into pieces in full view of everyone.

Fragments of ice rolled to Gwen's feet. With the help of night vision goggles and superhuman dynamic vision, she clearly witnessed the human body fragments in the ice slowly turning into ashes.

"Ugh!" Gwen covered her mouth with her hand through the mask. This was the first time she had seen such a bloody scene, and she almost threw up.

The ninja she had dealt with alone had immediately turned to ashes after drinking poison, coupled with the extreme emotional changes from anger to sadness, she hadn't had any violent reactions.

"Be careful not to throw up in your mask, vomit might suffocate you." Ghostfreak's mindset influenced Yang Le, preventing him from being like Gwen.

The surrounding ninjas were also afraid to step forward because of the tragic death of their comrade, and because they didn't understand Ghostfreak's abilities.

They were fearless, but that didn't mean they would rush to their deaths without thinking. The Hand ninjas weren't respawning mobs.

Yang Le looked at the surrounding ninjas, who were watching vigilantly, preparing to seize an opportunity to strike, but he was still comforting Gwen, who was gagging.

"You need to adapt to all of this as soon as possible, Spider, not only for yourself, but also for the people you want to protect."

"Cough! I know." Gwen bit the tip of her tongue, the taste of iron rust filled her mouth, and the sharp pain pulled her thoughts back.

"I will adapt as soon as possible."