Silence filled KING's apartment.
Only the strongest man on the surface's soul-deep cry of regret echoed and echoed.
"My perfect save—every CG, every bond, every secret scene—gone!"
Lin Mo collapsed bonelessly into his new ergonomic gaming chair, eyes empty, fixed on the TV's big red letters, cold and mocking—
[GAME OVER]
At center screen, Lily-chan—the heroine he'd painstakingly cultivated to the brink of a lover ending—looked outward with disappointed eyes that seemed to say "How are you this bad?" Then her image broke into pixels and scattered on the wind.
The world lost its color.
S-Class rank six, thirty million yen—what were those next to the perfect clear he'd fought for two days and two nights to achieve?
He felt hollowed out. The pain in his heart was more real than when he'd faced Vaccine Man.
As he wallowed, debating whether to wipe his file and go another seventy-two hours, the phone shrilled, slicing his grief.
He raked his slightly greasy hair—he hadn't washed it in days—and dragged himself to answer, thoroughly put out.
"Hello." His voice dripped with annoyance.
"Is this the strongest man on the surface, Mr. KING?! Oh my god, I got through!"
The young man's voice on the other end was so excited it nearly broke. Lin Mo frowned.
"I'm Jimmy, star reporter of Hero Frenzy Weekly! When you single-handedly one-shotted the Dragon-level Vaccine Man, what exactly were you thinking?"
"Based on fuzzy eyewitness testimony and the hottest analysis threads online, did you use the legendary ultimate technique—the Inferno Unrivaled Super Heat Wave Cannon? Or the even more mysterious Dimensional King Slash?!"
"…" A vein throbbed on Lin Mo's forehead.
What nonsense move names. Less believable than the King Engine.
Beep. He hung up.
That call had kicked the hornet's nest. The ringer barely fell silent before it shrilled again, even more frantic.
He breathed deep and picked up.
"Mr. KING! Hello! I'm the chairman of the National Modern Combat League! Our entire league worships you! We've created a brand-new contemporary martial art based on your heroic slaying of Vaccine Man—KING-ryū: Annihilation Fist!"
"We sincerely hope you'll serve as our lifetime honorary president, and authorize us to promote this supreme art and spread your spirit of—"
Beep. He hung up again, feeling his blood pressure spike.
The third call came, a wheedling voice:
"Uh… we're elementary school classmates, remember? I sat behind you—you used to lend me your eraser… So, I just started a company, and cash flow's tight, so could you maybe…"
This time Lin Mo actually laughed—out of fury. Ever since he'd gone truly viral, every cat and dog crawled out of the woodwork to hit him up.
He blocked them, switched to airplane mode.
True quiet at last.
He leaned against the wall, chest heaving.
Dealing with deranged fans and all manner of grifters was more draining than staring down a Dragon-level.
Belatedly, he realized that the title "strongest on the surface" brought tsunamis of Energy Points—and endless trouble.
"I have to adapt…"
Rubbing his throbbing temples, his gaze dropped to his clenched fist.
He froze.
Wait… this feel… is off.
He slowly opened his right hand and studied it.
He'd seen these hands countless times since waking up here—but never had they felt so unfamiliar.
The palm was full-muscled and solid; the knuckles stood out with explosive potential; veins lay coiled beneath the skin like hidden dragons. With each heartbeat, he felt blood surging hot through them.
These were not the hands of a shut-in gamer.
He'd been too consumed by his lost save and the nuisance calls to notice the seismic changes after absorbing nearly ten thousand points.
Strength, Speed, Constitution—all at 50.
What did that even mean? Where did that put him on the Association's scale?
Everything else vanished from his mind. Excitement spiked.
He straightened, stepped into the open space in the living room, mimicked a fighting game stance, drew a breath, and eased into a textbook straight punch.
He didn't use full force—not even half. He simply engaged his arm and core by feel and punched the wall in front of him.
"Whoosh—!!"
With a bang, the wall art flapped down under the wind of the blow. Fine cracks crawled across the steel-reinforced load-bearing wall.
Lin Mo stared at his fist, then at the wall, mind blank.
I… did that? I just… swung like calisthenics. If I went full out… could I punch someone's skullcap clean off?!
Disbelieving, he lifted a leg, wanting to test 50 points of Speed.
Prepared this time, he merely intended a fast step forward to feel the burst.
"Zip—!"
He had grossly underestimated what 50 Speed meant.
His body blurred into an afterimage and crossed several meters almost instantly—straight toward the opposite wall!
"Crap!" His heart lurched.
But just before his forehead met concrete, his boosted reflexes kicked in.
The world dropped into slow motion. He could see the pores in the cement.
His feet slid a hair on the floor; his waist torqued. His body froze half an inch from the wall at an impossible angle.
Fluid. Effortless.
Wind tousled his hair; his balance didn't budge.
"A monster… I'm a little monster now too…"
Backing away, he murmured.
Shock tangled with confusion—and then irrepressible joy surged up.
Good or bad, this was very good.
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (390 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (166 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (190 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (150 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (168 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (180 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (120 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (160 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (50 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (70 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (60 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (30 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it