Chapter 43 That Is... the Purgatory Peerless Explosive Cold Wave Cannon?!
A-City, Hero Association Headquarters.
"Report, Director! It has been confirmed that the Demon-level monster, Pig-Headed Hedgehog, has been eliminated by King."
This evening, the headquarters was exceptionally busy. In M-City, a dozen monsters had been released from the monster prison due to a man-made explosion. After this heinous incident occurred, all the Hero Association staff were stunned. How could someone in the world intentionally release monsters? Was this an act of revenge against society?
"Good, good! Quickly send King the latest tracking information on the other monsters. Request that he deal with them as fast as possible..."
Sitch was overjoyed. Among the escaped monsters, the Pig-Headed Hedgehog was the most dangerous. Not only had it lost its sanity, but it also instinctively hated humans, madly destroying city blocks and killing people. Most importantly, the monsters had escaped from the Association's own prison, which would have a severe impact on the Association's reputation.
Originally, the citizens were already beginning to question the Hero Association. Now that the monster prison incident has happened, the crisis of trust in the Association will likely become even more severe.
The Hero Association relies heavily on public funds raised through donations to operate. If the citizens lose hope in the Association, they will spontaneously stop donating. If that happens, the Hero Association's crisis of trust will evolve into a financial crisis.
And the heroes are just professional heroes; they need to be paid a fixed salary each month. Once the Association's funding chain breaks, the heroes who rely on their profession to make a living will also lose faith in the Association.
The final result would be—
The Hero Association going bankrupt and shutting down!
Therefore, facing this monster prison break incident, the higher-ups of the Hero Association, after a brief phone conference, immediately decided that the Association must meet three basic requirements for this incident.
Sitch thought of the three requirements given by the higher-ups after their discussion, and his brow furrowed.
The first requirement: The Hero Association must apologize, and sincerely at that. The monsters did, after all, escape from the Association's prison. Even if it was intentionally sabotaged by someone, the Association must still bear the responsibility for its lax supervision.
The second requirement: The Hero Association must actively eliminate the escaped monsters, striving to wipe them all out in the shortest possible time. They must try their best not to disturb or harm more citizens. Well, the main point was to strive for fewer citizen complaints.
The third requirement: The higher-ups hadn't decided on it yet, leaving it up to Sitch's discretion, granting him full freedom of speech and decision-making power.
"The third requirement, huh?" Sitch gave a wry smile, took a deep breath, and said gravely, "We must shift the public's attention to alleviate the pressure on the Association."
Immediately, he turned his head and asked Genos, "Have King's fight scenes been filmed?"
Genos nodded solemnly. "Director, ever since you gave the order, I immediately contacted the local government to dispatch drones to track the Demon-level monsters. As long as King fights a Demon-level monster, I believe his battle scenes will definitely be captured. Now that the Demon-level monster has been eliminated by King, the footage should be sent over very soon."
"Good. We can't afford any mistakes this time, or our Association will face immense pressure." Sitch rubbed his temples wearily, then ordered Maria, "Maria, access the surveillance cameras from all major districts in M-City and actively capture King's fight scenes. Whether our Association can get through this crisis depends entirely on it."
King enjoyed a great reputation among the public. However, his fighting style had always been like a castle in the air—only heard of in rumors, with no one ever having witnessed it firsthand. The citizens of the world had long felt a strong desire to see King fight. But no matter how much the common folk ran around spreading the word, or how patiently the Hero Association tried to persuade him, King always refused to demonstrate his ultimate qigong techniques, leaving everyone to plead in vain.
This time, the Hero Association was prepared. They had dispatched drones in advance to film secretly, striving to edit King's battle scenes into a video afterward to be sent to all major TV stations for broadcast, diverting attention from the news of the M-City monster prison break.
...
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for obtaining a one-star Monster Card - Magic Power Bird!"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for obtaining a two-star Monster Card - Violent Tiger."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for obtaining a one-star Monster Card - Power Monkey."
...
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for obtaining a two-star Monster Card - Vitality Pig!"
While Hill and Sonic's encounter was creating sparks, king was busy putting out fires, eliminating the escaped monsters while collecting Monster Cards. After one night, almost all the escaped monsters had been exterminated. Naturally, he had a great harvest, collecting over a dozen Monster Cards one after another.
"Phew~ That feels good!"
After collecting the last two-star Monster Card, king let out a light breath, feeling relaxed all over. Since getting the system, this was the first time he had collected over a dozen Monster Cards. His reserves were full, so he no longer had to worry about the aftermath of using the Desire Adjudicator Card and the Acute Epidemic Seedling Person Card.
"Attention M-City residents, attention M-City residents. As of now, all monsters that escaped from the monster prison have been eliminated. We ask all citizens to rest assured. The Hero Association is deeply sorry for its lax supervision of the monster prison and has decided to strengthen the construction and defense of the monster prison, striving to prevent any future monster prison breaks..."
"No more?"
king was holding his phone, constantly paying attention to the monster tracking information released by the Hero Association. Who knew that instead of monster information, he'd get a broadcast from the Association instead.
He felt a slight sense of disappointment, but collecting over a dozen Monster Cards was already an unprecedentedly huge haul, enough for him to use for some time.
At the very least, he wouldn't have to worry for this month.
...
Hero Association Headquarters.
*Click.*
The door to the operations room opened. Tatsumaki rubbed her eyes and walked in, yawning, "Hey, why'd you call me over so late? Don't you know it'll affect my sleep? Hmph! I'm very unhappy. Go, buy me a carton of 'Grow-Taller' milk."
*Boom!*
However, in response to Tatsumaki's arrogant demand, no one in the operations room replied. All the staff members were gathered under the large screen in the room, heads tilted up, eyes wide as they stared at the video playing on the screen.
Tatsumaki took one look and huffed. No one was paying attention to her. She ground her silver teeth, stamping her foot in anger. "Hey! You guys are too much, actually daring to ignore me?"
"Is that... the Purgatory Peerless Explosive Heat Wave Cannon?"
Someone in the crowd uncertainly threw out a question.
*Gulp!*
But no one answered him. Everyone was fixated on the footage, where King, in the same stance Son Goku uses to fire the Kamehameha in "Dragon Ball," pushed out a blue ball of light. It directly blasted the Demon-level monster into dregs. The entire process was over in an instant; with a flick of his finger, the monster was turned to ash without any chance to resist.
Such immense power!
This was the thought that popped into the minds of all the headquarters staff. What excited them even more was that they finally got to see King's long-awaited ultimate qigong technique—the Purgatory Peerless Explosive Heat Wave Cannon. It was just a bit different from what they had imagined. Their imagined version should refer to the special effects of the move in the "No Smoking Inside the Gas Station" advertisement—that was a complete fire dragon.
But, in the footage, what King released was a blue ball of light without any flames, its glow as soft and gentle as moonlight, not like the scorching, radiant sun.
Could it be that this move was actually... the Purgatory Peerless Explosive Cold Wave Cannon? The exact opposite of the Purgatory Peerless Explosive Heat Wave Cannon, one cold and one hot, one yin and one yang, two opposing existences?
"Is that... King?"
After shouting for a while and realizing no one was still paying her any mind, Tatsumaki floated up above the crowd with puffed cheeks to see what they were so engrossed in. However, the moment she looked, she immediately spotted King.
"Don't tell me that monster is a Dragon-level monster?"
Her heart skipped a beat, her loli face filled with nervousness. Just that afternoon, she had made a bet with King: the one who kills a Dragon-level monster first in the shortest amount of time wins. She wanted to force Sitch to upgrade a Demon-level monster to Dragon-level, but who knew that Sitch would firmly refuse her. That detestable big-nosed man!
However, as the staff members' discussion revealed the truth that the monster's disaster level was Demon, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, her heart tensed up again. She had to hurry and find a Dragon-level monster. Otherwise, she would definitely lose to King, who had already killed several Dragon-level monsters before.
Hmph, I refuse to lose to that stinking King!
The winner of this bet will definitely be me—Terrible Tornado!
(end of chapter)