Return (3K)

"Before we discuss Saitama, Dr. Bofoi, could you tell me exactly why you’ve remained hidden in the shadows, going so far as to monitor top-tier heroes like Blast and Tatsumaki?"

"Or rather, what is this threat you’ve always been guarding against?"

In the original story, Metal Knight, ranked sixth among the S-Class heroes, was an extremely mysterious hero. He rarely acted, and the only thing known about him was his formidable technological prowess. He constantly developed new types of robots and had absorbed the legacy of Boros’s Cosmic Pirate Group.

Moreover, he displayed intense wariness toward the vast majority of heroes, claiming that he had always been on guard against threats lurking in the shadows.

The slender humanoid robot paused. It had already uploaded the physical data of Nameless Hero Mercenary Tao.

"Were you guarding against… us, Doctor?"

Bai Cangshu spoke as if joking, but Dr. Bofoi gave an affirmative answer.

"Of course. You mysterious Ability Users who suddenly appeared are naturally now part of what I guard against. But before that…"

"Mr. Mercenary Tao, what do you believe constitutes a threat to humanity?"

Rather than answering, Dr. Bofoi posed a question of his own. He acknowledged Bai Cangshu’s displayed wisdom and seemed to wish to begin a discussion.

"Robots that might go berserk and cause massive casualties? Artificial intelligence that might develop self-awareness?"

"Gods from vague, illusory legends? The constantly emerging monsters and yokai?"

"Or… heroes who can destroy an entire city with a casual gesture?"

The robot’s mechanical voice carried no particular intonation, yet Bai Cangshu could distinctly sense its intense unease and vigilance.

After a brief moment of thought, Bai Cangshu understood the other man’s logic. It was likely an absolute human-centric ideology. Or rather, Dr. Bofoi placed humanity as a collective above any individual.

He guarded against anything that could bring disaster upon humanity as a group.

"To weak humans, all of those are threats."

Bai Cangshu spoke calmly.

Your actions have earned Metal Knight's approval. Your reputation with him has greatly increased. Current: Friendly (60/100)

Metal Knight greatly appreciated the wisdom and mindset possessed by this suddenly appearing "hero."

"Correct. They are all threats, which is why I guard against everyone. For justice and humanity, I must always be prepared with the power to deal with those threats!"

Bai Cangshu withdrew his gaze. No matter what superhero story it was, there always seemed to be characters like Dr. Bofoi.

Only an individual with immense power could accomplish what others could not in times of crisis, turn the tide, and become a hero.

Yet at the same time, when an individual possessed that level of heroic power, they would be feared by the collective.

To some extent, this could probably be called the Hero Paradox.

That was how Bat feared Superman in the DC Universe, and how the upper echelons guarded against the Avengers in the Marvel Universe.

Bai Cangshu lowered his eyelids. His long black hair stirred without wind as he turned around, lightly running his fingers across the metal table and the surfaces of the instruments. The piercing scraping sound was enough to make an ordinary person intensely uncomfortable.

Because the weak lacked a sense of security, they sought to guard against and even suppress the power of the strong. Bai Cangshu found that logic absurd and laughable.

He thought again of Shigeo Kageyama, who had willingly died by his hand. Even now, it still irritated him.

"Saitama’s strength far surpasses Tatsumaki and Blast. He is an enemy you absolutely cannot defeat through force."

"No, rather, if you regard him as an enemy, you will absolutely never win, Dr. Bofoi."

Bai Cangshu skipped over the previous topic and redirected Metal Knight’s attention to Saitama.

"In other words, even in the eyes of mysterious outsiders such as yourselves, that Saitama possesses a power that is difficult to resist…"

Dr. Bofoi extracted the information he wanted from Bai Cangshu’s words.

Seeing that the other man had not understood his intent, Bai Cangshu did not pursue the matter. As for the current Saitama, Bai Cangshu had no particularly good solution.

Even if he used Plot Characters, he could at most interfere with Saitama’s actions through them. Once Reincarnators began appearing in large numbers and resumed their activities, Saitama would likely begin attacking again.

"Doctor, since you monitor every region, I assume it won’t be difficult for you to help me locate some of my lovely kindred spirits…"

"Consider it helping Mr. Saitama clear these vermin from this world faster, heh…"

Metal Knight fell silent for a moment, seemingly analyzing Mercenary Tao’s behavioral patterns and underlying nature. Bai Cangshu’s meaning was plain: he wanted to use Metal Knight’s intelligence network to hunt down the other Ability Users who came from the same place as him.

Red Dust stood motionless, his entire body trembling. Only after Saitama walked past him did he finally gasp for breath as though he had collapsed.

"Damn it, did that Lord’s plan fail? How did Saitama become this terrifying…"

He felt as if he had been blessed by the god of luck. Earlier, after hearing that woman’s cry for help, he had instinctively attacked those two Reincarnators and left an impression on Saitama.

This time, Saitama had actually not killed him.

Return!

Red Dust did not dare linger. After Saitama left, he immediately abandoned his current mission and chose to return. Chaos Sage’s elite squad had almost been entirely wiped out in this world, and that Lord had most likely met with misfortune as well.

He could not wait to return to the Space and obtain detailed intelligence. He could sense that a massive upheaval had already begun.

The results of this large-scale deployment had been so disastrous that most gatherings and teams likely could not accept them. The Reincarnator factions of the East District would face violent turmoil.

The only thing he did not know was whether that madman codenamed Mercenary Tao had survived.

Red Dust’s figure then turned into a stream of white data and vanished from the world.

At almost the same time, most Reincarnators in this world with even a degree of information-gathering and intelligence-processing ability learned, one way or another, that Saitama was hunting Reincarnators.

The quick-witted immediately chose to abandon all missions, forfeiting their gains under the Space’s safety regulations and leaving the world. A small number of greedy people clung to the hope that, hidden within a city, Saitama might not find them.

But as more and more Reincarnators were killed, the Reincarnators of this world became jumpy at the slightest sign of trouble.

Somewhere in K City, Tree Herder frowned, caught in hesitation. He possessed a special ability called Tree Herder, originating from the world of Sword of Amber. It allowed him to implant exotic bloodlines possessing divine power into other people, transforming them into special lifeforms known as divine envoys.

Because of the power of Bloodline Items and the strength of the modified bodies themselves, the divine envoys he created possessed ferocious combat strength.

In a sense, he was actually a Reincarnator of the modification and summoning types.

Furthermore, the divine bloodlines he required were not as rare as the Bloodline Items used by ordinary Reincarnators. He had the potential to mass-produce divine envoys.

In this world, there was a body that made him drool with desire. He had only just found a few leads, but unfortunately, Saitama’s ongoing hunt had made him extremely uneasy, and he no longer dared to stay.

Creak, creak, creak.

Heavy machinery stepped across the ground. The distinctive footsteps of hydraulic equipment made Tree Herder turn around, and he saw a pitch-black robot emerge from around the corner.

Three black cannon barrels were already aimed at him.

But Tree Herder was not concerned about the robot. What caught his attention was a black-haired man holding two Scarlet Drop Cards in his hand.

Only now did he realize that the divine envoys under his command who had suddenly lost contact had not been killed by Saitama. They had actually been hunted by Mercenary Tao.

"Mercenary Tao?"

"You’re not dead yet?!"

Bai Cangshu put away the Drop Cards. He was not in good condition, and Tree Herder was quite powerful. Without Metal Knight’s full support, it would have been difficult for him to kill the other man without attracting attention.

"Heh, naturally I’m not dead. But as for that Lord of yours, his end was rather miserable."

Green blood in Tree Herder’s veins emitted a faint glow as he judged whether Mercenary Tao’s words were true. That Lord had indeed lost contact, and Saitama’s abnormal change was very likely caused by that Lord.

Bai Cangshu did not waste words and directly had Metal Knight play a recording.

In the footage, Saitama dragged a gigantic arm as he left the desert, causing Tree Herder’s pupils to contract sharply. That was… the true form of the Veritas God Race after assuming its liberated state!

Then the image changed. A boundless Sea of Suffering appeared above the city, and seven or eight Reincarnators used every means at their disposal to flee it, only to be smashed into a sky full of blood by a tyrannical punch.

The scene of Tang Sanzang’s golden body shattering before he was slapped to death completely silenced Tree Herder.

He had never expected that not only Eternal Destiny, but even a powerful fighter like Tang Sanzang, had been killed by Saitama.

But what he understood even less was how Mercenary Tao had survived when such top-tier Reincarnators had all been killed. Had Saitama shown him mercy?

Then light flashed in Bai Cangshu’s hand, and a gigantic head appeared. It was a head formed from a flickering, swaying pitch-black phantom. The moment it was taken out, it began extending continuously into its surroundings, as if trying to invade the real world.

Material: Head of the Spirit World Evil Lord

"I hope that after you return to the Space, you will do this…"

Upon seeing that enormous phantom head, Tree Herder recognized at once that it was the form displayed by the Spirit World Evil Lord Shigeo Kageyama had transformed into.

Such an existence had become material in Mercenary Tao’s hands?!

At that moment, Tree Herder immediately overturned every prior estimate he had made of Mercenary Tao’s strength. This was absolutely impossible for a newcomer.

The other man was definitely an old Reincarnator who had used a new Avatar!

Only that could explain everything now.

Listening to the other man’s words, Tree Herder’s heart shook. But as he looked at Mercenary Tao and thought of the changes that would occur in the Space following that Lord’s death, he ultimately nodded.