Chapter 332 — Genos, Leap of Faith
The group emerging from the laboratory quickly determined the source of the explosion.
Several buildings nearby were ablaze, flames roaring as low-frequency explosions crackled and popped.
The protesters seemed to harbor considerable prejudice against the Association; their protests were not confined to words.
The Hero Association building had been constructed with special materials, so the staff were not panicked.
They watched the marching crowd calmly, unmoved, even chatting and laughing among themselves.
Among the protesters, many young men carried Molotov cocktails and explosives.
On both sides of the march, people held up banners reading: "For everyone's safety, the Hero Association must be disbanded!"
The banners were dyed red, making them look like a petition signed in blood by ten thousand people, and lending them a certain imposing air.
Voices of protest rose from the crowd.
"They're just a bunch of vainglorious fellows. They don't deserve to be called heroes at all!"
"We demand the immediate disbandment of the Hero Association!"
"Before the Hero Association appeared, monster attacks were never this frequent!"
"The master was right—there is cause, and then there is effect! It's precisely because there are so many heroes that there are so many monsters!"
"Kill these heroes, and we'll be safe!"
"But... they aren't bad people. There's no need to go this far, is there?"
"Think carefully about your parents, your wife, your sons and daughters. If you don't kill these heroes, your family will be killed by monsters!"
"Can we even beat them?"
"Of course! They're heroes! A hero is someone who will never raise a hand against ordinary people!"
The reincarnators exchanged glances, unable for a moment to understand the situation before them.
Were the ordinary humans of this plane simply too low in average intelligence, or had they been brainwashed past all reason by the heroism of comics and films?
Heroes will not raise a hand against ordinary people...
Who made that rule?
At least in the worlds they came from, whether tyrants or heroes of history, all had hands stained with the blood of the common people.
"Ha!"
Draco Matthew Yuan gave a strange laugh, brushed the stray hair from his forehead, and his crimson dragon eyes gleamed with a demonic light: "A human charm spell?"
"No, it has nothing to do with magic."
The wand in Hermione's hand dispersed into mist, then condensed into a wrist guard around her wrist.
She said, "There are no signs of hypnosis on these people either. This is spontaneous behavior."
The two newly initiated reincarnators, still inexperienced in the world, could not figure out what was happening and decided to hear what their companions thought.
Just then, the dwarf Tyrion Lannister suddenly gave a cold laugh: "A small portion of the leaders are paid trolls doing a job, and the other portion..."
"Are just ordinary people following the crowd, echoing whatever they hear."
Tyrion paused, then added, "Profit and public opinion are always the most powerful tools of those above for controlling the ignorant masses."
He had seen too many things of this kind.
In the A Song of Ice and Fire plane, where the reincarnators had disrupted the tracks of fate, he had even personally guided several "popular uprisings."
At that moment, a sonic boom reached their ears.
Bang!
Something heavy landed, sending dust flying.
When the dust settled, the reincarnators could see the newcomer's appearance clearly.
Golden hair in strands, most of his body mechanically modified; from his neck and arms, exposed pure-black bionic skeletal muscle fibers could even be seen.
His face was handsome and striking. Where the whites of his eyes should have been, there was only pitch black, and together with his pure-gold pupils, it produced an uncanny charm.
"I am Genos, an apprentice hero of the Association. I have come on Chairman Wang Xu's orders."
The cyborg youth scrutinized the new reincarnators left and right, then walked up to Kaneki Sumi as if no one else were present. "Are you the one in charge?"
Kaneki Sumi pondered for a moment, then gave a slight nod, confirming the other's assumption.
He had seen the other's file before.
Genos, sixteen years old this year, a cyborg rebuilt by Dr. Kuseno.
A year ago, his home had been destroyed by a rampaging cyborg. To take revenge, with the doctor's help, he had abandoned his frail flesh in exchange for power, voluntarily undergoing modification to become a cyborg.
He was a cold, ruthless youth.
Once he identified a living being as an "enemy," even if that being had completely lost the ability to fight and knelt begging for mercy, he would kill them without hesitation.
For some reason, Wang Xu thought highly of him, kept him at his side, and gave him various missions as training.
"The chairman asked me to bring a message..."
Genos glanced expressionlessly at the protesters, then turned back and, imitating Wang Xu's tone, recited to Kaneki Sumi: "This sudden incident is yours to handle."
A hero...
He could not quite understand the meaning of that word.
In the entire Association, Genos believed there were only three people worth learning from.
Chairman Wang Xu, Teacher Saitama, and Mumen Rider.
In Genos's view, they represented wisdom and philosophy, ultimate power, and conviction and will, respectively.
He did not want to have too much contact with these people.
"Handle it however we want?"
Kaneki Sumi looked at Genos with a half-smile.
"My task is only to convey the chairman's orders. How you interpret them is up to you."
After saying this, flames jetted from the soles of Genos's feet.
With a hum, his figure vanished in an instant.
After Genos left, the orange-haired new reincarnator who called himself "Ichigo Kurosaki" suddenly raised a hand and pointed toward the southeast.
"Hm?"
Kaneki Sumi raised an eyebrow and glanced sidelong in the direction Ichigo pointed.
Several bald monks were hiding among the crowd, looking furtive.
Judging from what the protesters had said earlier, these fellows were almost certainly the driving force behind the march and paid trolls who had taken money.
Ichigo Kurosaki, holding monster files in his left hand, looked up and said with a light laugh: "My ability can only be used for self-preservation and defense. I have no means of active attack... These few fellows—who wants to deal with them?"
"I will."
Two voices sounded beside everyone at the same time.
Swish!
Swish!
Blue-purple light and sword qi crisscrossed...
In the blink of an eye, the loudest few protesters and the monks who had incited the crowd died on the spot.
Of the fellows who died miserably there, half died very cleanly: they merely gained a single crimson dot between their brows.
Apart from that, there was no injury on their bodies.
This was the work of Li Bai, the Green Lotus Sword Immortal.
"The sword of the great river... comes from heaven."
Li Bai closed his eyes, and the Demon-Suppressing Sword turned into a streak of light and fell into the sword case on his back.
Compared with the Green Lotus Sword Immortal's calm ease, the unlucky ones slain by the other person were far more wretched.
Most of their bodies had been shattered into dozens of pieces, tangled together; likely not even one complete corpse could be found for burial.
Clang!
The man-high slaughter weapon shrank into a half-foot pocket scythe and flew into Kayn's hand.
"This weapon is much harder to use than Rhaast."
Kayn stroked the bloodstained giant scythe in his hand, and a trace of remembrance passed through his cold eyes.
With that, he turned sideways and looked provocatively toward the top of a building two hundred meters to the southwest.
Opposite him, the man in the white hooded robe seemed to give a soft laugh, then leaped down from the roof of the hundred-meter-tall building.
The familiar sight made Kayn clench his teeth.
That was...
A leap of faith.