Chapter 2124 - 2122: Appraisal Session (Hungry! Hungry! Hungry!)

As the Swarm Overlord, Fang Zheng didn’t need to waste time advancing step by step like in a game. On the contrary, the Black and White Bear Legion within Tahe City was immediately shattered under the sweeping attack of Jumping Bugs, Aliens, and Flying Dragons. Fang Zheng casually strolled directly to the location of the ultimate boss.

Oh, no, strictly speaking, isn’t it the ultimate boss who should confront the novice adventurers now?

Whatever, the outcome will be the same.

"Boom!!"

The locked door was kicked open by Fang Zheng, and he stepped boldly into the room, looking around. In the hall before him, four children were staring at him with pale faces, trembling.

"One, two, three, four, hmm, very good, it seems none of you ran away, I’m relieved."

Fang Zheng counted them one by one and nodded in satisfaction.

"W-what do you want to do?!"

Seeing the Jumping Bugs and Aliens appearing slowly behind Fang Zheng, these three kids were almost scared to wet their pants. Even so, they stood there, fists clenched, glaring fiercely at Fang Zheng. The boy in the blue suit, looking like a little adult, glared at Fang Zheng, shouting loudly.

"It’s simple, if you do something wrong, you must be punished, right? I’m here to punish you... hmm, you could consider it heavenly retribution if you like."

"Don’t joke around! We haven’t done anything wrong, we just want this city to become our paradise! A paradise for children! Those damned adults, they should all die!"

"I’m not interested in discussing right or wrong with you brats."

As Fang Zheng spoke, he raised his right hand, and soon, "Ratziel" appeared in his hand.

"I said I’m here to punish you. Hmm, let me see your crimes, then perform judgment."

Saying this, Fang Zheng opened "Ratziel," then looked at a page.

"First is... Natsuki Shingetsu, oh, your father was a teacher at the Elementary School affiliated with the Academy of Hope Peak, he used you as a test subject for a talent development program, forcing you into continuous study for research... sigh, I do sympathize with you, but since you killed so many people, naturally you must pay the price."

Fang Zheng spoke while coldly sweeping his eyes over the little adult in the blue suit, causing Natsuki Shingetsu to tremble under his gaze.

"I didn’t do anything wrong, it’s all the adults’ fault, my dad included! He’s not my father at all! He just treated me like an NPC in a game, only wanting me to study, to upgrade... he didn’t care about me, nor did he love me!"

"That only means you didn’t have a good father, it doesn’t mean those who died at your hands were people like your father. In fact, if you only targeted people like him, I might show some leniency. But unfortunately, you clearly did not manage that, you were just venting your anger at unrelated people."

Fang Zheng smirked slightly as he spoke.

"Since that’s the case, get ready for your punishment, let’s do an appraisal."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng snapped his fingers.

Soon, a dense murmur rose by the boy’s ears, and Natsuki Shingetsu’s face showed a pained expression.

"What did you do to me, what’s this? Who’s talking in my ear? Stop, stop, stop!!!"

Screaming, Natsuki Shingetsu desperately covered his ears. Yet even so, the unspeakable whispers continued to flood his mind like a dam breaking, forming a chaotic picture.

"Stop! I don’t want to hear it! I don’t want to know any of this! No! No! No!"

Crying out in pain, Natsuki Shingetsu smashed his head against the wall with increasing force, blood streaming down his forehead, staining his face red. Witnessing this, the others were stunned, trembling as they watched Natsuki Shingetsu’s apparent madness, unsure of what to do.

Finally, under everyone’s gaze, Natsuki Shingetsu suddenly retreated several meters and then sprinted headlong towards the wall. He ducked his head, aimed at the wall, and charged.

With a dull thud, Natsuki Shingetsu’s corpse collapsed crookedly onto the floor, his neck completely broken, his blood-soaked face showing a horrifying, anguished expression. Fang Zheng merely glanced at the body before pulling out Frostmourne and thrusting it into the ground.

"Clang!!!"

As the chilling cold spread, everyone saw chains shooting out from the sword like beastly fangs, piercing into Natsuki Shingetsu’s corpse and yanking back.

"Aaaaaaah----------!!"

With a soul-shattering shriek, a thin soul, bound by the chains, was forcibly dragged out of the body. It struggled to escape but was pulled into the icy blade of Frostmourne in the blink of an eye, vanishing from sight.

"The first one, a good start."

Fang Zheng looked at the soul imprisoned within Frostmourne, then turned to the next page.

"Next is... Ensnake Taro, who, due to being hated since childhood, came to despise himself, loathed his appearance... hmm, truly pathetic, I’m sure this would earn you lots of sympathy in court. Compared to this, the thousands of innocent adults you burned alive seem insignificant, right? I can already imagine the jury weeping for you."

Reading this, Fang Zheng chuckled, looking at the figure wrapped in a tattered robe.

"Alright then, let’s do an appraisal too, since you hate your body so much, let me help you out a bit."

".........."

Without Fang Zheng doing anything, soon the figure in the tattered robe started writhing.

"So itchy... so itchy... soooo itchy......"

Muttering, Ensnake Taro scratched his body frantically, and then, horrifyingly, the robe started tearing into pieces wherever his nails raked. Along with the torn robe, strips of skin and muscle were shredded loose...

"So itchy! So itchy! Help me! It’s so itchy!"

Ensnake Taro desperately scratched himself, ripping off his clothes and flesh. His skin and muscles, resembling charred clay, were soft and cracked. The shreds of bloody clothing scattered on the ground, revealing a grotesque child, not the complete one from moments ago, but a bloody figure whose skeleton was visible through his body.

"So itchy, why, why is it still so itchy!"

Ensnake Taro’s face muscles and skin dropped off, revealing a white skull with twitching eyes rolling in its sockets. His fingers, now only white bones, scratched his skull furiously, emitting a harsh screech.

Finally, his skull fell apart, shattering completely, and simultaneously Ensnake Taro collapsed in pieces like dismantled building blocks, becoming a heap of unrecognizable bloody remains.

"Clang----------!"

The cold, piercing sound of chains scraping echoed once again, and then, another small soul was dragged out from the pile of mutilated corpses, imprisoned within the icy edge of Frostmourne.

"Next one..."

Fang Zheng shifted his gaze, looking at the third person beside him, a cute girl in an extravagant princess dress with pink twin tails. Noticing Fang Zheng’s gaze, the girl’s face turned ashen, and her legs gave out as she sat down on the ground.

"Sorako Kotogi... Hmm, your experience is more sympathetic compared to the first two, forced by your own father to serve customers with your mother. Honestly, your father is truly a scumbag... Hmm? You only killed two people, oh, your father and his lover, well that’s understandable."

Fang Zheng snapped the book shut with a "clap" and looked at Sorako Kotogi.

"If that were all, I might have acquitted you. You see, my position is clear; if it’s for revenge, I wouldn’t care. But involving the innocent is another matter. Unfortunately, although you didn’t kill anyone, you enjoyed the massacre and didn’t stop others’ atrocities. As an accomplice, you need an appraisal."

As he said this, Fang Zheng snapped his fingers once more.

In just an instant, Sorako Kotogi’s world changed.

"What is... this?"

Sorako Kotogi stared at everything before her in a daze. Moments ago, it was a familiar hall, but now, it seemed to have turned into hell. The once smooth marble floor had become something made of bright red flesh, resembling internal organs. As she lowered her head, she could even feel the organs writhing below.

The air was filled with a nauseating odor, and when she looked up, she couldn’t see the ceiling. What she saw was a pattern made of white ribs and twisted flesh... Eyes suddenly appeared on the wall, seemingly sensing Sorako Kotogi’s gaze and staring back at her.

Not only that, the clothes she wore began to feel tingly, like something was crawling around her body. Sorako Kotogi looked down at herself and was stunned.

The luxurious princess dress she wore was gone, replaced by clothing made of countless worm-sized, slender tentacles, a repulsive sight. The tentacles writhed as if they had a will of their own, and Sorako Kotogi saw eyes and teeth at the ends of the tentacles...

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh------------!!"

With a scream, Sorako Kotogi rushed out of the hall, disappearing into the shadows of the corridor.

Fang Zheng glanced at her retreating figure, then turned back to the last person.

It was a cute girl with green hair, sitting in a wheelchair.

"Natsuki Shingetsu, illegitimate daughter of the chairman of the Tahe Group, designer and creator of Black and White Bear, the originator of this massacre... Hmm, I think just because of this, it’s enough for you to die ten times over.

Fang Zheng stared at the girl in the wheelchair, his eyes devoid of any emotion.

If this girl appeared on the street, she would surely earn a lot of sympathy with her cute appearance and sitting in a wheelchair. Such a small girl, even if she made a mistake, shouldn’t she be forgiven?

But unfortunately, Fang Zheng wouldn’t let her go because of this.

This massacre resulted in tens of thousands dead and wounded, countless families shattered. And you think acting cute in a wheelchair will make you innocent?

Do you think I’m like those otakus who are immobilized by a cute loli?

"Since you love this wheelchair so much, stay with it forever."

Fang Zheng smiled, looking at the green-haired loli in the wheelchair.

"Now, little cutie, you go through an appraisal too."

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, the green-haired loli initially showed no emotion, but as soon as Fang Zheng finished speaking, she immediately tried to jump off the wheelchair— but it was too late.

"Snap!"

The wheelchair’s armrests turned into two bloody mouths, clamping down on the green-haired loli’s arms. Simultaneously, the footrests she stood on transformed into snake-like entities, coiling around her legs. The cold steel took on new life, slowly but relentlessly tightening around the green-haired loli’s legs.

"Ah... ah...! It hurts, it hurts so much!! Help me... I didn’t mean to..."

The green-haired loli, with tears in her eyes, pleaded with Fang Zheng, but Fang Zheng just stood there, watching her silently. Her legs were soon bent and fused by the steel, and her arms were devoured amid the "bites" of the armrests, blood, bones, and muscles intertwining with metal inseparably.

But this wasn’t the end.

Thin threads from the wheelchair’s seat cushion rose like steel wires, burrowing under the green-haired loli’s skin, wriggling and advancing. Natsuki Shingetsu was already screaming in agony, her mouth agape but able only to produce ragged breaths of "huff huff." Under her skin, the threads merged again, becoming part of the wheelchair along with her body.

Time unknown passed, and the screams gradually faded. All that remained before Fang Zheng was a wheelchair, mingled entirely with a person.

On top— there was no one.

"Clatter clatter clatter———!!"

Soon, the chains erupted again, grabbing the last struggling, screaming soul from within the wheelchair, sealing her into the sword’s edge.

"And with that, the appetizers are all finished, time for the main course."

Saying this, Fang Zheng lifted his head, looking towards the balcony on the second floor. Simultaneously, the lights turned on, illuminating the two figures standing there.

"Truly worthy of the Ultimate Mage, your abilities are astonishing."

Standing in the spotlight was the "Ultimate Despair," the prime culprit responsible for plunging this world into an abyss— Enoshima Junko.

But there was another person besides her.

It was a man with messy black hair, wearing a black suit, and blood-red eyes.

Fang Zheng was not unfamiliar with him either.

This man was the product of the Academy of Hope Peak’s human project— the artificially created being who possessed all Ultimate talents, seen as humanity’s true hope...

"Kamukura Izuru, I never expected to see you here."

Looking at the black-haired man before him, Fang Zheng’s lips curled into a faint smile.

It seems there are unexpected gains indeed.