Death at the Hands of ‘Heroes’

Walking up to Count Nefaria, Zhang Ye immediately began to devour him. When dealing with superpowered individuals like these, he had to extract their energy before the vitality in their bodies completely dissipated. Otherwise, it would be a waste.

Magical energy surged forth, gradually brightening the area around Zhang Ye. The dark green radiance was like willow branches, drawing the energy from Count Nefaria’s body bit by bit.

However, unlike devouring harmful beasts before, this pure ionic energy was much easier to absorb. It was also milder and more controllable than biological energy.

When devouring living creatures, one was often affected by the other party’s soul and fragments of information. Pure energy was different; the distinction between them was more like that between flowing water and ice.

Still, not all energy was so easy to control. If Zhang Ye were facing the Phoenix Force or Chaos Magic, that kind of violent Cosmic Might would still be extremely troublesome.

Compared to those, Count Nefaria’s ionic energy was much easier to extract.

This time, Zhang Ye did not choose to keep the energy for himself. Instead, he poured it all into the Time Twister. He wanted to know how much power it could replenish for the device.

Kara did not interrupt Zhang Ye. She merely stared blankly at Count Nefaria’s long-dead body on the ground. For some reason, she felt that this old man was different from the criminals she had faced before.

Pietro beside her felt the same way. For some reason, from a broader perspective, even though they had not done so willingly, they had clearly killed a villain while "upholding justice," yet neither of them felt the slightest joy.

Or rather, by this point, everything had already become a complete mess.

"I know you have a lot to say. You don’t have to hold it in," Zhang Ye said calmly as he continued working his magic.

"I…"

Pietro immediately opened his mouth, but after stammering for a long while, he ultimately could not say anything. "…There’s too much I want to say, but I don’t know where to begin."

Zhang Ye understood Pietro’s thoughts very well. There had never been any fixed justice or evil in this world, nor was everything simply black and white. If Zhang Ye truly had to explain such things, even he did not know how to put them into words.

Too many fields were involved, and it could even rise to the level of philosophy.

That realm was far too profound and elusive. Everyone had their own views, and no one could claim to be one hundred percent right, so there was no real meaning in those things at all.

What Zhang Ye wanted to do was simply state the facts. As for what Pietro and Kara could come to understand from them, that depended on themselves.

"Pietro, you’re wondering why I didn’t act directly, and instead chose to stand aside and accompany him in this little ‘circus performance,’ right?" Zhang Ye turned his head to look at Pietro.

Pietro silently nodded. He had wanted to ask from the very beginning, but he knew Zhang Ye had his reasons, so he had not been too surprised. Since Zhang Ye wanted to play along with him, they would play along.

"As you can see, Count Nefaria had long since become a shell of his former self. He died on the day he fought the heroes, just like most of the other villains scattered throughout the outside world. They had long lost their goals in life and could no longer find meaning in living. For decades, they had been like walking corpses."

Zhang Ye spoke slowly, calmly describing what was happening across this wasteland.

"Just as he said, he had been waiting for heroes to push open the bar’s doors and give him a world-shaking battle like the ones from before. To him, that was the only way he could find his former self again. He had once been glorious."

"But he was a supervillain, wasn’t he? Countless ordinary people died at his hands. Why should we pity him?" Kara asked curiously, unable to understand.

Zhang Ye stopped what he was doing. The last trace of energy in Count Nefaria’s body had been completely absorbed. By now, he had decayed into a mummified corpse, just like the ordinary people he had once drained into mummies.

"You think I pity him?"

Staring at Count Nefaria’s remains, Zhang Ye fell silent for a moment before speaking, sounding both as though he were answering her and talking to himself.

"This was nothing more than a transaction. Count Nefaria knew he would die. In fact, he had been waiting for this day to arrive. He looked forward to his death, while also fearing it. I merely made an inconsequential deal with him."

"These supervillains were proud. They won that war back then, and they truly did achieve what they set out to do. For people like them, who could find no meaning in life within the wasteland, the best death was a glorious one like in the old days, not dying unnoticed in some gutter."

Hearing this, Pietro lowered his head. He thought of his former self.

"They wanted to die gloriously rather than be forgotten. Just like Count Nefaria, he was like a microcosm of a dark age. Now, he had only one dream: to be killed by heroes."

Zhang Ye paused here, then swept out a hand, gesturing toward the entire bar that had become ruins.

The bar was now littered with corpses. The flowing blood had gathered in the collapsed pit, even forming a puddle. All kinds of stench mingled with alcohol in the air, making it hard to breathe.

The most miserable scene was at the entrance. When the people in the bar had frantically tried to flee outside, the doorway had been too small. The crowd had packed together so tightly that no one could rush out, and Count Nefaria’s laser beam had directly turned the piled-up crowd into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.

"Look around. Look at this place. Count Nefaria knew from the very beginning that he would die. From the very beginning, he knew that not a single person in this bar would walk out alive."

Zhang Ye picked up the unfinished bottle of wine again. Perhaps it was lucky; the bottle had somehow survived the fierce battle just now and remained perfectly intact.

"So Count Nefaria decided to act personally. Although that did not deviate from our plan in any way, since he was willing to help, I naturally chose to respect his decision."

Red wine poured from the mouth of the bottle, dripping into the glass with a crisp sound.

"Count Nefaria’s goal was simple. He wanted to die at the hands of heroes!"

Pietro and Kara both looked at Zhang Ye.

"And the hands of heroes…"

Zhang Ye lifted the wineglass.

"Cannot be stained with the blood of innocents."