Early the next morning, War Rabbit had already dashed out the door—chasing another piece of fabricated Smash intel that Mr. E had "coincidentally" uncovered.
In truth, the intel was fake. The real goal? To get me, Wanzhang Long Wo, moving. E had been dropping increasingly unsubtle hints that I should contact my girlfriend. The kind of obvious nudging that made it painfully clear: If you don't get it, I'll start drawing diagrams.
I couldn't help but complain inwardly—villains these days were really too dedicated.
Grumbling, I pushed myself off the hard floor and stood up. There was only one bed in this place, naturally reserved for the only girl—Misora. As for the rest of us? The War Rabbit and the boss had no choice but to make the ground our companion.
Reluctantly, I followed the script. I used the boss's phone to call "my" girlfriend. Sure enough, I found out she had been arrested for a Smash experiment. Without another word, I snatched the phone, grabbed the motorcycle keys, and tore off toward the location provided by the "honest man."
Behind me, Mr. E stared blankly as I sped off with his phone and bike. Hopefully there's nothing confidential saved on there, he thought. Otherwise, I might be in for a wardrobe change... straight into prison orange.
But this girlfriend… she was more than a plot device. The life-energy full bottle that's eventually purified from her Smash form? That's hers.
Even so, that wasn't my goal. The bottles? War Rabbit would take care of those. My goal was to save her life.
In the Build world, combat strength is classified by a metric known as the Hazard Level—a measure of a human's tolerance to the Nebula Gas used in Smash experiments.
At Hazard Level 1.0, subjects die instantly when the Smash essence is extracted. Only from Level 2.0 onward can they survive—albeit with memory loss. Most average people injected with Nebula Gas sit between 1.0 and 2.0.
Hazard Level 3.0 is the minimum threshold for using a Rider System. War Rabbit's roughly there now.
As for me? Thanks to my "Bloodline Talent" from the Blood Tribe, my estimate is somewhere around 5.0 to 6.0.
And that's dangerous. At 5.0, a person can already withstand a fusion with Evolto himself.
That's why I've been very careful not to show my strength. I even avoid physical contact with the boss. If he realizes the true level of my body, he might just snatch it for himself on the spot.
As the saying goes: A wise man does not court death by standing under a collapsing wall. I am not a coward—just smart. And I'm definitely not admitting to anything else.
But I digress.
As mentioned, "my girlfriend"—or rather, Wanzhang Long Wo's girlfriend—was Hazard Level 1.0. In the original series, she dies as a result of the experiment.
Since I've taken over this identity, the least I can do is save her—it's only fair.
When I arrived at the location given by the honest man, Smash was already active and tearing up the area.
With no time to lose, I leapt in—barehanded.
I knew War Rabbit would be arriving shortly, so I had to act quickly. I forced myself to fight Smash directly, despite knowing I wasn't a physical match. Blood was already dripping from my knuckles after a few punches.
But the pain was secondary. Secretly, I was manipulating blood—my own—into Smash's body. With that, I could influence her genetic structure and forcibly raise her Hazard Level. If I could push it past 2.0, she'd survive purification.
Of course, I couldn't just spit blood magic everywhere. The boss—Night Rogue, or "the honest man"—was definitely watching. I had to make it look like I was simply fighting desperately.
Right on cue, War Rabbit arrived on his motorcycle and saw me getting clobbered.
"Hey! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! What are you doing?!"
"No choice! It's my girlfriend!" I shouted, wiping blood from my mouth and getting up shakily.
The Bloodline Talent doesn't particularly enhance my physical body—after all, when your body is literally a mass of blood, muscle strength becomes... a little irrelevant.
So, while I could take a hit better than most, I wasn't made for raw combat. Fighting Smash with my fists? It was a performance, a bluff… and it worked.
But the results were worth it—my modifications had taken hold. Her Hazard Level had risen. She could now be safely purified.
"Don't worry," War Rabbit said with a confident smirk. "I'll save your girlfriend."
...You'd better get beaten half to death. I clenched my fist behind my back, feeling no more guilt than necessary.
Just as War Rabbit reached for his belt, a plume of black smoke erupted nearby. A masked figure emerged—dark, winged, and eerily familiar.
"A Bat Mask?!" War Rabbit stiffened.
"I am Night Rogue," the figure declared, arms crossed. A bit dramatic.
War Rabbit blinked. "Okay… but nobody asked your name."
Night Rogue—real name Gentoku Himuro—was the Deputy Chief of the Eastern Capital's science division and the founder of Faust. Secretly, of course. Publicly, he played the bureaucrat. Knight fans fondly dubbed him "the honest man" for his straightforward villainy—even after his redemption arc.
The system he used now, the Transteam Gear, was developed by the forgetful genius Katsuragi Takumi. Unlike the Rider systems, it required no minimum hazard level or Nebula Gas exposure, making it accessible to regular people. But its power ceiling? Much lower.
"I don't care what you call yourself!" War Rabbit snapped, transforming into his HedgehogTank form. "Were you behind the experiments on us?!"
"I don't recall every test subject," Night Rogue sneered. "Besides, your bottle combos can't defeat me."
He wasn't wrong. At this stage, War Rabbit was no match.
To make things worse, the modified Smash was preparing to strike again.
Then, in the most honest move imaginable, Night Rogue calmly explained that the girl—now a Hazard Level 1.0 Smash—would die if defeated in that state… and then simply left the battlefield.
"What the—?! HE ACTUALLY LEFT?!" War Rabbit stared in disbelief.
"Hey! Don't believe a word he says! Save my girlfriend!" I shouted, rushing to War Rabbit's side.
"You sure? He said—"
"Obviously he's lying! Look, if what he said is true, and you kill her, at least it'll be a clean end. But if she lives like this, is that really saving her?!"
"…Alright then." Sento exhaled and reached for two familiar bottles.
Gorilla and Diamond.
Time to start the rescue.