The Belated Cheat: Tech Templates

"Tech Template System loaded successfully!"

"Detected a large amount of external thermal energy. Absorbable. Automatically activating Energy Collection Template. Activation rate: fifty percent... one hundred percent."

"Loading Terminator T800 Robot Template. Loading failed. Cause detected... partial damage to host. Modifying loading plan... changing loading item... loading Bloodshot Blood Nanorobot Template... loaded successfully... Blood Nanorobot Template calculating... calculation successful... repairing host... host repair complete."

"Reloading T800 Robot Template... loaded successfully... calculation successful... loading T800 weapon templates... SPAS-12 Shotgun Template loaded successfully... Minimi LMG Template loaded successfully."

His vision went dark, and his consciousness began to dissipate. In the last remnants of his fading awareness, a cold electronic voice continuously rang out within Yueguang Han’s already-dark Consciousness Sea.

In the dark forest, amid the explosions of the Explosive Tags covering his body and the Explosive Tags pasted onto wooden boards around him, Yueguang Han’s body was instantly blown into several pieces, then blasted into fragments. The flames seemed endless, devouring everything around them and lighting up the night sky.

"No…!"

The shrill screams and unwilling roars were drowned out by the thunderous succession of explosions. The defensive ninjutsu the Sand Shinobi had just cast was ruthlessly torn apart by the violent blasts. More than twenty Sand Shinobi pursuing Yueguang Han were instantly engulfed and ripped apart by the flames of the Explosive Tags. Splintered chunks of wood flew everywhere, streaking through every corner of the area with burning flames.

Amid the endless explosions, Yueguang Han’s blasted, burning flesh suddenly changed. It turned blackish gray, and the flames on it instantly went out, transforming into the purest thermal energy and being absorbed by the scattered flesh.

Then, like dust, that flesh rose into the air, absorbing every flame it touched. It gathered and returned to where Yueguang Han had fallen, condensing into Yueguang Han’s form once more.

The flames unleashed by the Explosive Tags continued devouring everything around them. But when those flames touched Yueguang Han’s body, they all turned into pure thermal energy and were absorbed by him, no longer able to harm him in the slightest.

Yueguang Han’s fingers twitched unconsciously.

"Rumble…"

Violent explosions continued to echo through the forest, shaking the earth. The flames and gusts generated by the blasts tore apart everything in the woods, setting vast stretches of forest ablaze and dyeing the night sky crimson. Huoguang was like hell itself.

"What happened over there?"

"Could a large-scale battle have broken out? Why didn’t we receive word in advance?"

"Could some unknown secret operation have run into the enemy?"

At the Konoha Forward Base sixty li away and the Sunagakure Forward Base a hundred li away, the night-watch ninjas stared in shock at the western sky, reddened by Huoguang. None of them had received any news of a large-scale operation tonight. That had to be at least a thousand Explosive Tags—a clash involving dozens of people at minimum.

They hurriedly woke their companions. Soon, dozens of ninjas rushed out from both forward bases and sprinted toward the source of Huoguang.

"Loading complete. Host has no autonomous consciousness detected. Initiating awakening procedure. Awakening... awakening successful."

Within the pitch-black Consciousness Sea, the cold electronic voice continued to ring out. As it fell silent, a point of light appeared in the dim Consciousness Sea and grew brighter and brighter.

Amid the continuing explosions, Yueguang Han silently propped himself up and sat upright. He looked blankly at the explosions that had yet to cease, at the blazing flames sweeping toward him, and at how those flames engulfed his body without causing him any harm. Instead, they made his whole body warm and filled with strength.

"…"

Yueguang Han knew that everything before his death had not been an illusion, because he had truly done all of it. The voice left behind in his Consciousness Sea also explained why he had come back from the dead: his cheat had finally arrived.

It had just come far too late. If it had arrived a few years earlier, he could have gone to the battlefield with his parents. Perhaps he could have used it to prevent the tragedy, and he would still have had a happy family.

Slowly rising to his feet, Yueguang Han looked at the blasted remains of the Sand Shinobi and fell silent again. Then he turned and left through the flames.

Since he had not died, his revenge was not over. But before seeking revenge again, he needed to prepare—and to understand his cheat.

Yueguang Han did not know which Sand Shinobi had killed his parents, nor did he know what mission they had been carrying out before they died. But he knew that this war had killed them.

"Has the battle ended?"

"Which side won?"

Half an hour later, more than forty Konoha Ninja were the first to arrive at the still-burning forest. Unfortunately, apart from the crackling of flames, there was no movement at all.

"Captain, there’s no sign of anyone inside! It looks like the battle has already ended!" A Byakugan ninja, veins bulging around his eyes, carefully observed the burning forest before reporting to the Elite Jonin leading them.

"Quickly investigate the situation inside. Everyone, be careful! This is the central line of the battlefield. The Sand Shinobi must have noticed the commotion too. They’ll probably arrive before long." The Konoha Elite Jonin leading the group nodded and gave the order, then rushed into the still-burning forest first. Fortunately, it was now the rainy season. The forest was damp, and a light rain was falling from the sky. Much of the fire inside had already died down and was nowhere near as fierce as before.

Another thirty minutes later, the ninjas from the Sand Shinobi forward base over a hundred kilometers away also arrived at the scene. There were more than fifty of them, and they likewise began investigating the area. Unfortunately, the Konoha Ninja had already finished examining the scene and left.

However, the expressions of this group were extremely grim. On the way here, they had discovered a large number of triggered traps, along with traces and bloodstains left by a Sand Shinobi squad of around thirty companions. It seemed they had been pursuing someone. Thinking of the massive explosion from earlier, everyone felt heavy-hearted.

"Captain, the explosion was caused by a large number of Explosive Tags. It set this forest on fire. We also found a large amount of Steel Wire, ropes, and Kunai inside." More than ten minutes later, a Sand Shinobi said sorrowfully to the Elite Jonin leading them, "Someone had set up an even greater number of dense traps inside. That squad of roughly thirty companions entered them. We found no survivors—only fragments of corpses and clothing. Their forehead protectors had been taken. We also found many traces of Konoha Ninja, all left after the explosion."

"Damn Konoha Ninja!"

Hearing this, the Sand Shinobi Elite Jonin leading them could barely contain his fury. He punched the charred tree trunk beside him, snapping the trunk, which was wide enough to require one person to wrap their arms around it.

"Return to the base! Report what happened here." No matter how furious he was, he could not lose his reason. He could only order them to return. This was the central line where Konoha and the Sand Shinobi armies clashed. Although it was close to the edge of the battlefield, it was still an extremely dangerous and important location. Otherwise, there would not be large forward bases here—only sentry posts.