Millennium Worm

"It has been reported that Nameless Hero by Interest has once again descended upon J City. This time, he defeated a new monster and saved the lives of more than two hundred citizens. Many passersby recorded the incident on their phones."

"As we previously reported, Nameless Hero represents the return of true heroism. Perhaps we may yet see the age when heroes shone brightly return once more."

"After The Great Cataclysm, people are swallowed by Spirit World Infested Zones every day. Every day, people are killed by ghosts and monsters. Dear viewers, can you truly rest easy entrusting your safety to Professional Heroes who will not come even if you call them…?"

The television station was still holding round after round of debates, while Bai Cangshu coldly cooked the chunks of meat in the pot.

You completed Milestone: Hero—after equipping it, you will receive a minimum Friendly 1/100 reputation rating in any lawful faction.

You unlocked new milestones: Superhero; Evil Heart Hero

Superhero: Save more than 10,000 civilians in any single event.

Evil Heart Hero: Kill a total of 1,000 sinful people whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents.

Innocents?

Bai Cangshu studied that description. The Space had always been extremely precise in all its descriptions, but this description of "innocents" was particularly unusual.

Because it was not a concept that could be completely quantified. Innocence was an extremely subjective concept on a moral level.

Did someone who had committed no evil count as innocent? If so, how was the scope of "evil" defined? Did theft count as evil? Did arguing and fighting with others count as evil?

Bai Cangshu vaguely realized that within this Space, there existed a standard system completely different from the precise, fully quantifiable, numerical, absolute kind.

Just like his own Gaze of Arrogance. The passive effect of this ability allowed him to mark targets weaker than himself within his field of vision, and within that range, the mark could not be negated by abilities such as invisibility or transformation.

Bai Cangshu had previously thought that the Space quantified the strength of Reincarnators to determine whether the other party was weaker than him. But after entering the public space, he realized that was not the case.

Even when no Pupil Technique could see through Avatars in the Space to discern other people’s true strength, his Gaze of Arrogance could still place marks on them.

In other words, this ability was entirely subjective, an ability of pure will.

As long as Bai Cangshu sincerely believed someone was weaker than him, he could mark them. That mark had nothing to do with the other person and everything to do with Bai Cangshu himself.

The description of "innocents" now further strengthened Bai Cangshu’s suspicions in that regard.

Within this Infinite Dimensional Space, there probably really was a power system based purely on will.

He recalled that more than one person had emphasized the power of the heart to him.

"Mr. Mercenary Tao, I think…"

Lilith sat kneeling on the floor. That peculiar posture instantly told Bai Cangshu what country she came from in the real world. He appraised the woman, who was undoubtedly an unqualified Reincarnator in his eyes.

Whether in strength or mentality, she was completely unfit for the stage.

Her heart was constantly constricting at the moment. Her excessive tension had scattered her thoughts entirely, leaving her with no resistance whatsoever to Mantra. Even Mantra at merely Lv1 could probably read her mind.

Lilith’s breathing was quick and nervous, but she still gathered her courage and said,

"I think we’d better stop this operation…"

"If our reputation gets too big, we’ll probably become targets for a lot of people…"

Although she did not know the intelligence of this world, she could sense that as Mercenary Tao’s plan progressed, Nameless Hero’s fame was growing greater and greater. He was already catching up to Hellish Blizzard, and would likely soon become the so-called most famous hero.

It would not just be Reincarnators. Many Plot Characters would be unhappy about it too. Becoming an enemy of everyone in a world related to One-Punch Man—even a Title-level Reincarnator would find it difficult to survive.

Bai Cangshu gave a derisive laugh instead of answering, then used his ability to finish cooking the monster meat.

You consumed a specially prepared piece of monster meat.

Ingredient Grade: Ordinary
Deliciousness Grade: Superb

Gourmet Cell has grown substantially. Current level: Lv2 (34/200)

Strength +1, Constitution +1, Agility +1
Current: Strength 34, Constitution 32, Agility 33

Milestone: Gourmet triggered. You obtained temporary buff: Rapid Regeneration (Rare)

Rapid Regeneration (Rare): Gain additional cellular activity. Regeneration speed increases by 30% for 25 minutes.

Bai Cangshu swallowed the monster meat in a few bites, and his Gourmet Cell immediately gained experience. At that moment, he regretted not obtaining the Chef ability before entering the Naruto World.

Otherwise, the value of White Snake Sage and tailed beast meat would have risen greatly.

Fortunately, although the monsters of this world varied in level, there was no shortage of them. He still had ample time to raise his Gourmet Cell level.

Seeing that her persuasion had failed, Lilith also served herself a piece of monster meat.

Pfft!

A huge wound suddenly appeared across the woman’s waist and abdomen. Blood sprayed out as she stared at Mercenary Tao in confusion.

She seemed unable to understand why she had been attacked.

Blue light lit up between Bai Cangshu’s brows as God’s Right Eye opened in an instant, but he still failed to see the attacker.

Whoosh—

The scorched stench of flames burning through the air and the shriek of something tearing through the sky at extreme speed appeared in Bai Cangshu’s mind at the same time. In an instant, he grabbed the woman, whose movements still seemed so slow even after collapsing to the ground, smashed through the wall with a bang, and vanished from the room.

Boom!

The next moment, a missile exploded from within that dilapidated little building. Flames surged upward as the violent shockwave swept through the surroundings.

"That female Reincarnator has entered a near-death state. She is a low-level Reincarnator, not Moon Demon."

The man in the long black trench coat received the report through his earpiece, though he had already known the answer.

The man stood in place and merely turned around before seeing Mercenary Tao appear a hundred meters away.

The other party casually tossed aside the woman whose abdomen had nearly been split open by a single strike from the IBM he had summoned, the Black Ghost.

"Mercenary Tao, since you were not that interested in saving her, yet you still brought her out of the blast radius…"

"You were using her wound to determine our method of attack, weren’t you?"

The man wore a black mask, making his voice somewhat muffled, but there was not the slightest fear in his low tone.

The name Fierce Person: Mercenary Tao was not enough to frighten him.

Bai Cangshu saw that Lilith’s waist had likely been slashed open by a blade, but the wound was not as terrible as he had expected. This woman’s physical strength was probably only twice that of an ordinary person, and she had not been cut in half by a single strike.

That showed the mysterious attack was not very powerful.

It also explained why the opponent had not attacked him first.

Bai Cangshu looked at the other man. Another Reincarnator he did not recognize, but with eyes similar to the guy he had killed yesterday.

"You’re the one who abandoned that Nen User yesterday. Tsk, what a heartless guy. That fellow was a pretty good Reincarnator."

Bai Cangshu let his hands hang naturally at his sides and walked toward the man. God’s Right Eye between his brows emitted a blue-white glow.

Bai Cangshu appeared casual, but his Mantra had already spread completely. Every movement within several kilometers was brought under his control at once.

Millennium Worm watched Mercenary Tao’s posture, his eyelids lowered.

"Wildfire’s excellence is clearer to me than anyone."

But someone as excellent as Wildfire had merely encountered a person like Mercenary Tao during an accidental mission and been killed.

This kind of Space was rotten to the core.

Millennium Worm had long accumulated much dissatisfaction with the current Space. In his view, people like them were more suited to the Space, to battle and slaughter, than any ordinary person.

Yet they often could not match some lucky bastards. Just because they were lucky, they triggered some special mission and obtained powerful abilities. Even when awakening superpowers alike, some people simply awakened stronger abilities and gained more powerful bloodlines.

That kind of "randomness" had allowed many of his outstanding subordinates to be easily killed.

Millennium Worm watched as Mercenary Tao closed to within forty or fifty meters of him. Given the athletic abilities of Reincarnators at their level, that was practically close combat range.

Yet Mercenary Tao still had not used the high-speed movement ability Wildfire had mentioned. Millennium Worm knew that Mercenary Tao was probing him. He had already learned from the wound that Millennium Worm’s IBM did not possess enough killing power to kill him, so he was waiting for Millennium Worm to make a move.

Millennium Worm slowly removed his mask. Bai Cangshu looked at his face, one brow rising.

"Looks like you’re a man with artistic talent too."

Under the mask, the other man had three mouths—one large and two small—an extremely bizarre sight. Beside the two smaller mouths were black curse marks.

Millennium Worm held his hands before his mouths and stared impassively at Bai Cangshu before suddenly speaking.

"Die."

That voice seemed to possess a unique penetrating force, directly entering Bai Cangshu’s brain. Intense negative energy instantly transformed from language into a suggestion within his mind.

Because he understood the concept of death, Bai Cangshu’s brain began to consider how he might die.

His heart began to stop beating, and his cellular activity began to decline.

You have been affected by Cursed Speech.

Mental check in progress.

...

Lilith covered the wound across her waist and abdomen with one hand while smearing hemostatic gel over it haphazardly with the other. She struggled to speak.

"It’s a Black Ghost. He’s an Ajin!"

But the next moment, she saw Mercenary Tao’s tall figure slowly fall backward.