#534Chapter 534: The Nest Organization: A Man of DistinctionAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 534: The NESTS Organization, Recognizing the Times and Being a Wise Man
Under the protection of the dungeon rules, the main arena of the King of Fighters tournament, which had barely maintained its structure, entered a phase of rest and treatment.
The bloodthirsty audience, far from being displeased that they almost went to hell with the Hell Band, instead gave rave reviews.
They had truly witnessed a scene worth the ticket price, even if it meant death.
The fighters and players who participated in the battle were also sent to the hospital for treatment, one by one, under the orderly arrangements of the organizers.
In any case, it seemed that the originally scheduled final battle between Team Orolili and Team Neon would definitely not proceed; although not many had died, few were left unscathed.
After this incident, the schedule surprisingly returned to normal.
Logically speaking, the plot of King of Fighters '97, which had been altered by the addition of the MUGEN entry, was already unrecognizable, and Cheng Tian's intervention had allowed the Three Sacred Treasures heirs to complete the sealing of the Orochi clan without truly making a move.
Aside from a half-dead Leona and a heavily scarred Iori Yagami, all holders of Orochi's blood had been eliminated.
And, if nothing unexpected happened, it would be difficult for Orochi and related personnel to revive in the future.
After all, the clan leader and several of his heads had been taken away by Cheng Tian, so it would probably be quite difficult for them to unconditionally resurrect like Rugal.
Cheng, on his side, also needed to sort out many things; not only the drops, but the blood residue extracted from Orochi's body was itself a very useful special material.
Cheng Tian knew that in the future timeline of King of Fighters, there was indeed an organization that successfully acquired the Orochi material, which may or may not be called genetic, and used it to create an Orochi biological weapon named 'Kyo'.
That kind of non-human, god-like clone created by human hands would also be one of Cheng Tian's, or rather, one of the future research directions he set for Utan.
Utan said that the already sparse hair on his head was really getting a bit too much... Actually, when Cheng Tian was absorbing his companions' blood, he was still a little expectant of whether any players would be driven by greed to try and do something.
But in reality, he was overthinking it.
Even those who did have such thoughts had already been scared witless by what Cheng Tian had displayed.
They were not the ignorant kings and subjects of a Dragon Quest-like world; a hero who could kill a Demon King would only be more dangerous than the Demon King, and these players could only express deep incomprehension at the existence of those who chose to bully and ostracize heroes out of fear of their returning strength.
This was already the result of the unique "bullying the strong" mindset prevalent in Japanese society, as reflected in their works.
The players who had survived by slacking off the entire time not only didn't have any thoughts of killing Cheng Tian for equipment, but instead fell into a panic. Some even ran away without accepting treatment.
They were afraid that Cheng Tian, this space elder who was clearly a shark in a minnow pond, would choose to carry out a large-scale massacre to cover up information dissemination. In their eyes, Cheng Tian certainly had the capability to do so.
This was not paranoia, but a scene that played out in countless Heaven's Chosen Space dungeons every moment.
Indeed, the majority were those who "didn't eat beef".
It was just that Cheng was not that kind of person, and he didn't care about information exposure.
For Cheng Tian, the more others knew, the greater the chance of misjudgment when they met again next time.
His iteration speed would always exceed others' imagination.
Cheng, who was severely depleted both physically and mentally, habitually began to review and analyze the subsequent scene as he collapsed onto the ground.
As the legitimate final BOSS of the current scene, Orochi's elimination already prematurely signified the end of the dungeon's main storyline, and the final match with Team Neon was basically just a formality.
And this also meant that there wasn't much left to delve into in this scene.
The NESTS battle suit system, the escaping Seth, the blood of the Qin brothers... only these few things were left, right?
The Qin brothers' blood was relatively easy to obtain, Seth was not so easy to deal with, and the NESTS battle suits were probably the hardest to get.
After all, the big boss behind NESTS was still in outer space trying to become the strongest creature. After continuously losing Krizalid and Maxima, he probably wouldn't easily show his face again, right?
However, what Cheng Tian didn't expect was that NESTS personnel arrived that very night.
And this time, the one who came was directly the highest-ranking executive in the NESTS organization, theoretically second only to the behind-the-scenes boss!
"ZERO..."
The moment he saw the newcomer, Cheng Tian felt as if a Specter with a pet had appeared.
This armor, this long skirt, this white hair, this aura—it was indeed the mid-boss, True ZERO, who officially debuted in "King of Fighters 2001".
Based on NESTS' previous behavior, when True ZERO and his people appeared near the laboratory, the metal dragons swarmed out, surrounding ZERO and his subordinates. ZERO's approach was also straightforward.
"I am ZERO, the supreme executor of NESTS.
I have come with sincerity this time, intending to make a deal with your boss. I guarantee that he will be satisfied this time."
ZERO, who should have remained hidden for another four years, officially made his appearance, and surprisingly, this arrogant supreme executor of NESTS not only came in person but also showed a considerable degree of humility.
This was not a disguise, but ZERO's genuine feelings.
His emotional activities were relatively complex; because he advocated "might makes right," believed that only NESTS could create truly "superior humans," and firmly believed that ordinary fighters were merely "scraps of the old era," etc., these thoughts led him to hold himself in high regard while also having a condescending view of most humans.
But it was precisely because of this extreme belief that he revealed another side of himself to Cheng Tian.
Although NESTS had always been dormant, they also had a large number of spy personnel active, and these spies, originally distributed in the arena, preparing to abduct some severely injured fighters as cloning material during the chaos, very diligently reported everything that happened in the arena afterwards.
And while Cheng Tian was dealing with Orochi, NESTS satellites in the sky were also operating in real-time, connecting to the organizer's live broadcast signal, so in a sense, NESTS saw things even more clearly than the audience.
Cheng Tian, in the video footage, clearly displayed everything that a truly superior human... or even a "god" would possess. Also influenced by the belief that might makes right, ZERO's attitude towards Cheng Tian naturally became inevitably humble.
Led into the reception room to face Cheng Tian, ZERO went straight to the point and casually pushed a laptop, clearly beyond the current era, in front of Cheng Tian.
"Here are all the data for low, medium, and high-level battle suits."
Then, with a nod of his head, three cyborgs brought three boxes, which they also opened in front of Cheng Tian and the others.
"These are the three types of battle suit products currently produced by our company."
"In exchange for these finished products, there is only one thing we want..."
ZERO took a deep breath, then said with a slight fanaticism.
"Orochi's genetic material!"