"Failed, huh? Does this mean 'King's Army' can't lock down these people's power either, and 'God' can still extract their power?"
In Zuke's perception, Homeless Emperor's "qi" had completely disappeared, becoming a withered corpse, dead beyond any doubt.
Zuke walked to Homeless Emperor's corpse, kicking this body with his foot—couldn't see any difference from other corpses, just a bit more withered.
If he hadn't personally watched Homeless Emperor die before him, it would be hard to imagine this unremarkable withered corpse had been a Dragon-level monster while alive.
"However, 'King's Army' actually can't lock down the controlled person's power... this is somewhat beyond my expectations."
Kicking Homeless Emperor's corpse aside, Zuke stroked his chin in thought.
He had originally believed "God" shouldn't be able to break through "King's Army's" abilities. Since Homeless Emperor was one of "King's Army's" controlled members, his everything belonged to Zuke.
Then the power in Homeless Emperor's body naturally also belonged to Zuke. Even "God" should be unable to extract it.
The reason for such confidence in "King's Army's" abilities was because in the Dragon Ball world, he had confirmed that even Meles couldn't forcibly enter the range of "King's Army."
Could this "God's" abilities be even stronger than a Dragon Ball world Angel?
"No, it might also be because Homeless Emperor is currently outside the range of King's Army's influence."
However, Zuke quickly thought of another possibility—namely that Homeless Emperor wasn't currently inside the Monster Association.
Although after leaving the Monster Association, Homeless Emperor as a Monster Association member would still be controlled by Zuke, "King's Army's" influence would still weaken somewhat.
Outside, "God" might still be able to extract Homeless Emperor's power, but if inside the Monster Association—within "King's Army's" sphere of influence—that would be another matter.
"Seems there's a need to test again... Fortunately, the Monster Association has as many guinea pigs as needed."
Zuke pondered inwardly, deciding he needed to find another guinea pig at the Monster Association to test his hypothesis.
Monsters desiring powerful strength were countless. Quite a few monsters joined the Monster Association hoping to obtain even greater power through it.
As long as Zuke told those monsters that placing their hands on this black cube and praying would grant them the same power as Homeless Emperor, guinea pigs would come in endless streams.
"Hey, God, still there?"
Zuke still held "God's" black cube in his hand, so he tried communicating with it again to see if he could learn more about "God's" nature.
When Zuke transmigrated, One Punch Man's serialization hadn't finished yet. There were still many mysteries regarding "God" as an existence, and Zuke also wanted to see if he could learn something from the source itself.
However, what answered Zuke was only "God's" consistently sinister tone:
"If you want powerful strength, then place your hand on the box and pray."
After saying this, "God" stopped responding to Zuke. No matter how Zuke tried to speak, "God" acted as if it had gone dormant, never responding again.
It seemed "God" had also discovered it couldn't persuade Zuke. Probably it had also sensed that deep in Zuke's heart was his own method of growing stronger, so he looked down on its "external power."
Since that was the case, it was too lazy to waste more words with Zuke.
"Quite tsundere."
Zuke raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected this "God" to throw a tantrum when persuasion failed, actually ignoring him now.
But it didn't matter. Once Zuke found a guinea pig it could infuse power into, it would still speak up.
Thus, Zuke left here carrying the black cube, leaving only Homeless Emperor's withered corpse in the ruins.
Anyway, Z-City's ruins had everything. One more vagrant's corpse wouldn't draw anyone's attention.
Just after Zuke left this ruin not long after, a small black hole suddenly opened in the air—immediately after, a burly man in heavy combat suit and cape emerged from the black hole.
If Zuke were here, at first glance he'd probably think this person was cosplaying Android 16, then on second glance recognize this guy was Blast.
The Hero Association's S-Class Rank 1 hero, usually as elusive as a dragon, mainly because he was handling matters related to "God."
And his reason for appearing here now was also simple—just now he detected "God's" ability fluctuations appearing here, so he immediately rushed over.
"Still a step too late?"
Landing in the ruins, Blast surveyed his surroundings, then furrowed his brow—he also saw Homeless Emperor's withered corpse in the ruins.
He was all too familiar with this appearance of a body. It was the miserable state of someone after having their power and life confiscated by "God." Clearly someone had already fallen victim to "God."
But he carefully searched the vicinity, yet couldn't find "God's" black box.
"Was it taken away? Hope it won't cause bigger trouble."
Blast furrowed his brow slightly—since no clues could be found, he could only temporarily retreat.
He still didn't know that Blast, who retained Hero Association member status, was actually already under Zuke's control now.
The Hero Association's "internal strife" and blood replacement—most high-ranking heroes had already heard about it. But since Blast normally didn't manage Hero Association affairs much anyway, he temporarily didn't know the situation yet.
Perhaps the next time he contacted Sicchi, he would learn what the Hero Association's current situation was.
"Mm? Back already?"
At the Monster Association, in Gyoro Gyoro's room, just as Zuke entered, he saw that bloated Gyoro Gyoro monster sitting in the seat.
After all, apart from Zuke, Tatsumaki, and Homeless Emperor, no one else yet knew Gyoro Gyoro's true identity was Psykos. So normally she still had to appear before people in Gyoro Gyoro's body.
"Where's your real body?"
Zuke glanced at Gyoro Gyoro, curling his lip in question—he didn't want to converse with a bloated monster.
"Over here."
Following Gyoro Gyoro's words, a secret door suddenly opened in the room's corner.
Zuke looked over, only then discovering the secret door led to a small compartment where Psykos sat inside.
It seemed Psykos had also guessed Zuke might come to the Monster Association to meet with her afterward. For convenience, Psykos had opened a secret room here for her real body to hide in.
Zuke said nothing more, directly walking into the secret room and conveniently closing the door.
However, in the secret room, besides some monitoring equipment and experimental tables, Zuke also saw a very interesting facility.
"Why is there such a large bed here?"
Zuke looked at the bed placed in the secret room's center, also couldn't help but laugh, then looked toward Psykos.
"Who knows?"
Psykos's face flushed red as she turned her head away, not daring to meet Zuke's gaze.
She herself couldn't explain why when building this secret room, she would move a bed in here.
To be continued…