Chapter 91: King Was Provoked
Child Emperor led King into his research institute. The institute covered an area roughly the size of a football field and was filled with various technological elements. Robot parts hung on the walls, and many semi-finished robots lay on the floor. There was even an open space where several robots of different shapes were neatly parked, surrounded by various high-tech machines for research.
"Tsk tsk, a mere child can own such an advanced research institute. He truly lives up to his reputation as the Hero Association's mastermind—Child Emperor, whose terrifying intelligence is a once-in-a-millennium miracle!"
King surveyed his surroundings, his heart full of admiration. Child Emperor, at such a young age, understood all sorts of profound knowledge and could even independently develop robots. His intelligence was unparalleled. He was sure many parents would sigh regretfully, thinking: "Oh, to have a child like that."
Hmm, by the way, who are Child Emperor's parents?
King stroked his chin, pondering information about Child Emperor, but unfortunately, he drew a blank.
"Oh, so all of you 'uncles' have already arrived."
Inside the research institute, four people had already arrived ahead of them. However, King didn't recognize any of them, though one or two looked familiar, as if he'd seen them before.
"Hey, Child Emperor, what exactly did you call us here for? Honestly, you wouldn't even tell us the purpose beforehand. Not a shred of sincerity!"
Among the four, one wore red Tanktop trunks, a red boxing helmet, red boxing gloves, and a golden belt around his waist, representing a professional boxer's honor. His muscles were rock-hard, making his Tanktop bulge. His face had rigid features, exuding a ferocious aura.
"Oh, it's Mr. Tanktop Puncher, the B-Class Hero ranked 9th. I'm so sorry, but because the experiment needs to be kept secret, I couldn't tell you the details immediately. I hope you understand."
Child Emperor shook the lollipop in his hand, a pure smile on his face.
"Tanktop Puncher?"
King lowered his head, lost in thought. In the Hero Association, there were two major hero groups. One was the B-Class Hero team formed by Terrible Tornado's younger sister, Hellish Blizzard, called the Fubuki Group. It gathered many excellent B-Class Heroes and was dubbed the Hero Association's largest hero team. Besides Hellish Blizzard, all Fubuki Group members wore suits.
The other hero group was the Tanktop Army, founded by the S-Class Hero Tanktop Master. In the Tanktop Army, all members uniformly wore Tanktops; the Tanktop was their symbol. Moreover, they had another characteristic: their hero titles would invariably include the words "Tanktop," such as Tanktop Master, Tanktop Tiger, Tank-top Black Hole, and so on.
The Tanktop Puncher before him wore a Tanktop, and his hero title contained "Tanktop." He was one hundred percent a member of the Tanktop Army. No wonder he spoke to Child Emperor without much fear. First, Child Emperor's age and innocent appearance made it difficult for people to feel fear. Second, he had the Tanktop Army backing him, with Tanktop Master supporting him, so he would never speak subserviently to other S-Class Heroes.
"Child Emperor, if I may ask, what is the reason you invited us to your research institute? Can you tell us now?"
Another Hero asked, but this Hero's tone was very polite, clearly showing respect for Child Emperor, an S-Class Hero.
King looked up at the speaker. He saw a man with a lean appearance and sharp eyes, wearing a snakeskin suit. "Snek, the lowest-ranked A-Class Hero—Snakebite Snek!?"
He smiled faintly, finally recognizing a familiar face. He remembered that in his previous life, when watching "One Punch Man," after Saitama became a professional Hero, it was Snek who was responsible for greeting him and imparting basic knowledge about professional Heroes.
Come to think of it, he hadn't encountered an A-Class Hero since his transmigration; instead, he had almost met all the S-Class Heroes. This led him to temporarily think that A-Class Heroes were even rarer than S-Class Heroes, but he hadn't expected to meet an A-Class Hero here!
"So it's Mr. Snek, the lowest-ranked A-Class Hero." Child Emperor raised his small face and said with a smile, "I recently invented an interesting 'new toy' and hope to collect test data for it, to find any shortcomings and fix them promptly. So, after careful selection, I invited all you excellent 'uncles' here to help me complete the test experiment for my new toy."
Snek's brow furrowed. *Couldn't he not specifically mention "lowest-ranked"? Just saying I'm an A-Class Hero would be enough!*
Among the four, there was a regular staff member of the Hero Association. After hearing Child Emperor's request, he respectfully asked, "Child Emperor-sama, how would you like us to cooperate with your experiment?"
Child Emperor said with a grin, "Heh, there's nothing particular to note. I just need you to fight my 'fighting robots' with all your might. If you can defeat my robots, or if you become completely exhausted, you can stop."
"Just defeating your fighting robots?" Tanktop Puncher clapped his gloved hands together and said casually, "That's a piece of cake!" As he spoke, he glanced disdainfully at the last Hero, who stood silently to the side. "What do you say, Quick-Fist Hero?"
"Hehe... hehe..."
Quick-Fist Hero wore a white bodysuit, showcasing his strong, chiseled muscles to the fullest. The chest of his bodysuit had a boldly written, large character for "Fist," indicating his fighting style—fists!
His fighting style was similar to Tanktop Puncher's, so it was no surprise he was provoked by him. However, Tanktop Puncher was a B-Class Hero, while he was merely a C-Class Hero ranked 331st. Their strengths were vastly different. Therefore, when faced with Tanktop Puncher's provocation, he let out a few dry laughs and didn't respond.
"Hey, Tanktop Puncher, don't go too far." Snek frowned, looking at Tanktop Puncher's provocative expression. He warned, "This is Child Emperor's research institute. If you want to cause trouble, I believe Child Emperor wouldn't mind throwing you out."
Upon hearing this, Tanktop Puncher reluctantly dropped his smug look, glared at Snek, and muttered, "Tch, so what if you're the lowest-ranked A-Class Hero? What's there to be so pompous about? I'll surpass you eventually."
"Alright, Child Emperor, I'm in a hurry, so let's start the experiment quickly."
King watched the group getting into a squabble. He immediately spoke up to change the subject. *Enough with the jokes. He still needed to rush to Z-City to find Saitama; he had no time to mediate their conflicts.*
"Okay."
Child Emperor nodded with a grin, licked his lollipop, and said to Snek and the others, "Please wait here for a moment. I'll go activate my fighting robots and be right back."
With that, he walked with his small backpack towards the area where the robots were placed.
"Hmm? Who's this guy?"
Snek and the others finally noticed King. However, King's face was obscured by his baseball cap, so they couldn't see him clearly.
"Hey, who are you?"
Tanktop Puncher gave King a few glances, then curled his lip and said, "Why are you hiding your face and trying to act cool? There are only so many people in the Hero world; everyone knows everyone else!"
"Huh?"
King was slightly taken aback. *I... I've been provoked?*
Secretly using the neighbor's Wi-Fi, I spent an hour on the author's page, which is also a tragedy.
(end of chapter)