Pretending To Be A Boss

Tang Xian thought to himself, quickening his pace, wanting to know what exactly had happened in the Evolution Zone.

...

...

Outside the safety corridor was the rest area, and in it, Akasi was covered in wounds, with a terrifying gash on his knee.

Surrounding him were guards, strewn about haphazardly.

They had all been severely injured by Akasi.

The guards had a simple thought, no one could outrun a bullet, could they?

But the process of aiming and pulling the trigger was much longer than the bullet piercing the target, giving Akasi enough time to take down all his enemies.

However, he was injured too, and most critically, a bullet had hit his knee.

A synchronization rate of seventeen percent had given Akasi the constitution of one-sixth of his former self in the mines, but the wounds he had suffered were simply too numerous.

Carrying Tang Suoye on his back and limping, Akasi still moved quickly.

But behind them, two experimental subjects who were even stronger than him at his peak were slowly closing the distance.

"Akasi... just throw me away..." Tang Suoye suddenly woke up at that moment.

Akasi was overjoyed, waking up after the injection of the calamity serum meant that Tang Suoye had withstood the serum and at least was not in danger for his life.

But such joy came at an inconvenient time.

The current Tang Suoye was too weak, and the entire Evolution Zone was slowly tightening its encirclement. They were like the mine creatures they used to hunt.

Doomed to an inevitable destruction.

"Throw me away... they won't kill me, I'm still useful to them... with me, you won't be able to escape."

Tang Suoye's breath was weak, his voice faint, audible only to Akasi.

Akasi shook his head.

Some things, if you don't do them, you'll forever be compromising, but once you do them, there's no turning back.

Without answering Tang Suoye, as an elder of the Evolution Zone, he knew more clearly than Tang Suoye that even if Tang Suoye survived this operation, it was as good as being dead.

Akasi felt his muscles beginning to tingle with soreness.

Moisture welled up in Tang Suoye's eyes.

"Akasi, I don't want you to die! Just leave me, it's okay if I become a monster, wait until you become stronger... and then come back for me..."

The iron door behind them was blasted open by a powerful force.

Experimental Subject One and Experimental Subject Two looked at Akasi with indifference.

At the same time, at the end of the hallway, a large squad of armed guards appeared, all aiming their guns at Akasi.

Enemies were in front and behind them, with no way out.

Tang Suoye, with eyes wide open, watched for a long time, realizing that this man probably wouldn't give up on him.

In truth, he also didn't want to live like this, to live like a weapon, proving himself by severing other weapons.

Experimental Subjects One and Two had no human emotion in their eyes, and if one day he became like that, it would probably trouble Akasi, wouldn't it?

It would be better to die here.

Tang Suoye held tightly onto Akasi's neck.

Akasi still didn't speak.

No matter the legends about him among the hunters, to the immense evil of this world, he was just as insignificant.

The things the Evolution Zone had done to him, he never had too much emotion about them.

Thinking that maybe one day he would become a purely fighting machine, devoid of all sensation, seemed not to matter.

Some people in this world live such muddled lives, lethargic and mild, not caring about the misdeeds others impose on them.

Yet there are things they absolutely cannot compromise on.

Bullets fired out of the gun chambers.

Tang Suoye was too weak to deal with powerful beings like Experimental Subjects One and Two, and the most he could do was to block those bullets with telekinesis.

The knife blade pierced into Akasi's bone, and Experimental Subject One's expression was indifferent. As the strongest creature in the entire Second Bastion's Evolution Zone, he had long wanted to have a hand-to-hand fight with Akasi, the fastest being in the whole Evolution Zone.

But it wasn't about winning or losing, it was simply about expressing a brutal desire.

The fearsome force of the punch sent Akasi flying along with Tang Suoye.

Subject Two, waiting at the landing point, raised up his blade.

Akasi adjusted his posture in mid-air with a strong will, enduring the pain in his knees, and moved at high speed once again.

His figure streaked into a line in the not-so-spacious area, desperately dodging the attacks of the two powerful subjects.

Once he started running, that terrifying speed alarmed the battle-hardened subjects and guards.

Even though the end result would not change, these people could feel the silver-haired man's intense will to live and his fighting spirit.

The sound of breaking bones rang out; in his swift evasion, Akasi was still hit by Subject One.

A terrifying punch broke Akasi's ribs.

Tang Suoye watched as Akasi kept coughing up blood, her tears streaming down in anxiety.

Subjects One and Two flanked left and right, blocking any possible escape routes for Akasi.

It was only then that Dr. Duke slowly pushed open the iron door, looking composedly at Akasi and Tang Suoye.

"It's no surprise you're the best subject. If you were in peak condition, you might have the strength to surpass Subjects One and Two. This terrifying combat will, it's a pity, is born from memory, and you and Nineteen will soon lose your memories."

Akasi couldn't move, but even at this moment, he was still thinking about how to get Tang Suoye out of there.

Tang Suoye cried out loudly, her crying piercing and desperate. It wasn't because she was going to lose her memory, but because the person who could remember her name was about to die.

What awaited the two of them was not true death.

Akasi always refused to leave Tang Suoye behind and go alone because he knew all too well that once he lost his memory, he would have nothing left.

Not even himself.

"Inject them with the extract," Duke ordered.

Subjects One and Two pinned down Akasi and Tang Suoye, while the researchers in the experiment area approached Akasi with injection syringes, moving slowly.

Before they could get close to Akasi, however, an extremely discordant voice suddenly emerged:

"Please wait, I have a question. Regarding Anai's ability to cause memory loss, I recall it's temporary. What percentage of purification is necessary to cause permanent memory loss? And would this cause permanent damage to the nerves, or is it recoverable? Forget-me-nots have quite a market, a friend of mine discussed something similar before.

I didn't expect your organization had already reached the experimentation phase. Before your organization goes bankrupt, could you generously share the answer with me?"

The man wearing a mask and carrying a chopper stepped out from among the guards in the front.

Dr. Duke furrowed his brows; he had never seen this person before, and no one would be interested in such questions in this situation.

"Who are you?"

"Taotie. But right now, my actions can be considered those of a hero, so you might as well call me the Masked Chopper Hero."

"I'll ask you one more time, who are you! I recognize the voice of every subject here, you're not one of us."

"Indeed, I'm not."

The Masked Chopper Hero was naturally Tang Xian. Tang Xian thought this name was quite good, like the Bald Cape Hero in the ancient anime, direct and visual.

The most important thing was that they were both invincible.

He casually walked next to Subjects One and Two, standing straight, looking at Akasi and the crying Tang Suoye, completely indifferent to the terrifying humanoid monsters beside him.

"Such a pity, but I've arrived just in time. I can calculate many things, but this I really couldn't foresee. If I had been delayed today, recruiting you wouldn't be that easy; so this is fate."

Dr. Duke furrowed his brows.

"Take off his mask for me."

Subject One instantly landed a punch on Tang Xian's face.

The mask did shatter, but Tang Xian didn't move an inch.

"You... you are..." Tang Suoye seemed to recognize the voice.

"Shush! Smart kids get to eat fish. Don't talk at this moment."

Tang Suoye fell silent.

In the scene before them, no one could speak. Subject One's terrifying fist was still pressed against Tang Xian's head, but Tang Xian's tone didn't change at all.

Dr. Duke found it hard to believe what he was seeing; he was shocked beyond measure.

"You actually withstood an attack from Subject One with a synchrony rate of nineteen percent!"

"Troublesome, I need to change my codename. Since the mask is broken, just call me Chopper Hero for now."

With a swift hand motion, the blade flashed, and Subject One's arm was instantly severed.

Everyone was shocked once again. Tang Xian calmly produced another mask from his prop bag.

"There, I'm the Masked Chopper Hero again."