Ten minutes later.
Inside the bathroom, which spanned an area larger than an average bedroom.
Nishigami Yari gazed at his own reflection cast in the rectangular standing mirror.
That was a figure boasting an impeccably proportioned build, fair skin, looking as though he had never once engaged in rigorous physical training, yet adorned throughout with sturdy, flawless musculature.
To be honest.
It was simply a tad too perfect.
Resembling a work of art sculpted following rigorous calculations and meticulous deliberations.
It bore zero resemblance to the appearance of a normal human's natural maturation.
Belonging to a caliber where, even if you stripped away all external negative environmental interference and achieved absolute genetic optimization, this tier of development would still remain entirely out of reach.
Every single curve and muscle fiber radiated excessive, flawless perfection!
Even the somewhat idealized hero and demigod statues crafted by ancient Greek artists fell woefully short of this level!
However.
What caught Nishigami Yari's attention far more was the shift in his facial features and hair.
'My face looks even younger and more handsome, plus my hair color and pupils have undergone distinct changes...'
'And... My height seems to have grown a bit taller...'
Right now, compared to a month ago.
Not only was he considerably more handsome.
He also looked slightly younger.
Younger by roughly a year or two.
That sensation resembled stepping back into the rapid developmental spurt of one's youth.
Beyond that.
His slightly lengthened hair had transitioned from solid black to a deep violet-purple, while his pupils had undergone an identical color shift, and within those round pupils, previously indistinguishable from an average human's, a secondary, narrow, slit-like pupil reminiscent of a non-human beast had materialized. This empowered Nishigami Yari's visual field to directly surpass the boundaries of what a human ought to perceive.
Hair color and eye color were fine.
This world featured no shortage of weird and eccentric hair and eye colors to begin with.
Along with hair dyes and contact lenses.
Every conceivable color under the sun was readily available.
Yet a somewhat mutated vertical slit pupil was genuinely a bit out there.
The emergence of this phenomenon inevitably brought to mind certain ancient rumors.
The rumor that powerful Awakeners would, to varying degrees, manifest physical traits setting them apart from ordinary mortals.
'Abnormal physical traits...'
'A freak of nature, gifted by the heavens...'
Pondering for a moment.
He picked up the nearby phone.
Aside from having a hotel server deliver some food over, he also requested them to bring along a scale to measure body weight and height.
...
Another ten-plus minutes later.
Standing upon the electronic height and weight scale wheeled in by the server.
As the height-measuring arm descended slowly, brushing against the crown of his head.
Nishigami Yari beheld the rough external data of his physical form.
Height: 185cm.
Weight: 105 kg.
Under normal circumstances.
This would classify someone as a chubby chunk.
Yet in terms of outward appearance.
When fully clothed, Nishigami Yari not only possessed a tall, proportional build, but might even look slightly slender, completely divorced from any description of fat.
This signified that his bodily density had already diverged from that of an ordinary human.
However, he was quite content with this.
"... Not bad, not overly exaggerated."
In his view, 105 kg was somewhat heavy, yet still within the realm of possibility for a normal human; at least Nishigami Yari didn't need to fret about crushing things simply by sitting on them.
Shortly thereafter, a moment later.
As over a dozen servers wheeling food carts poured into the room one after another.
Nishigami Yari began to eat like a man possessed.
Right now.
Based on the implicit manifestations following his evolution, even though he had never tasted various rare dishes before, the moment his gaze brushed across them, his instincts would instantly inform him whether those items were edible and whether they possessed nutritional value.
That was a very peculiar sensation, somewhat difficult to put into words.
Much like how a wild beast's instincts automatically tell it which prey is edible and which is not.
Even.
When he cast his gaze toward the servers delivering the meal, his brain would automatically spit out various analytical assessments.
Edible or not?
Toxic or not?
Dangerous or not?
The moment he glanced at other objects, such as the metal plates and metal forks before him.
He would instinctively know that those gadgets could actually be digested by his stomach.
Though devoid of any nutritional value.
They could indeed be ingested in a pinch!
That was an exceptionally distinct, inexplicable sensation...
And faced with those inexplicable premonitions.
To better experience his personal changes, Nishigami Yari, right before the servers' utterly horrified eyes, proceeded to chomp down on and devour several metal plates and even a wine glass, acting much like a ravenous beast driven to desperate hunger!
How should one put it...
Though those items tasted like absolute garbage.
Nishigami Yari's teeth chewed them up with astonishing ease.
Moreover, his mouth and throat successfully and safely swallowed them down.
With no more difficulty than munching on a dry biscuit.
Zero difficulty to speak of.
In the end, his stomach functioned much like a smelting furnace, dissolving those metals and glass in less than ten seconds, forcibly converting those objects into various micronutrients required by his body.
Not only that.
Nishigami Yari also discovered that he no longer needed to rely on his mouth and nose to breathe.
His skin now automatically filtered and absorbed the surrounding air!
'Why do I feel a bit unlike a human anymore...'
Vaguely.
He even harbored a certain sensation.
That was, even if he were to be tossed directly out into outer space right now, with zero provisions supplied, he'd probably still survive for a very, very long time.
Survive for a month?
Survive a full year?
He wasn't entirely certain.
Yet just by feeding on cosmic meteorites, he figured he wouldn't have to worry about starving...
This sensation directly made him feel as though he no longer resembled a creature of Earth.
Much like some sort of cosmic lifeform.
Thinking of this.
He cast his gaze toward the [ Inherent Talents section ] on the system interface.
Right there.
A brand-new talent was gleaming with a peculiar luster.
[ Perfect Instinct: All living creatures possess their own inherent traits and instincts, such as the instinct to feed, the sixth sense... All are of this nature. Through those ineffable feelings, premonitions, and instincts, living beings will frequently make utterly unfounded yet perfectly accurate split-second judgments in critical moments, such as whether a food item is toxic, or whether the surrounding terrain is hazardous... And your nature and instincts represent the pinnacle of this tier, having attained a profound level approaching divine prophecy, enabling you to instinctively perceive numerous situations and data imperceptible to ordinary mortals.]
This was an inherent talent that automatically awakened after Nishigami Yari's strength surged and smoothly progressed into the [ Mature Stage ].
Belonging to one of his own inherent potentials.
Within the judgment and tier-ranking of the [ Life Winner System ].
The intensity of this brand-new ability directly surpassed his original [ Awakener of Past Wisdom ].
And was explicitly ranked above it!
Glancing past this new talent.
Nishigami Yari's gaze quickly drifted over to the accumulated stockpile of [ Daily Mood Value Gachapon Draw Opportunity : 30 ].
Though there wasn't anything specific he desperately wanted right then and there, he still decided to kick things off with a ten-consecutive draw just for the hell of it.
To tell the honest truth.
Facing his own ultra-easy-mode life script right now, Nishigami Yari honestly had no clue what else he could possibly want.
Aside from not having all of humanity directly act as his beasts of burden.
The two [ Bonus Talents ] bundled with the [ Life Winner System ] right out of the gate, [ Destined Pinnacle of Wealth ] and [ Life Winner Wealth Customization Right ], were already more than sufficient to let him coast through life and wait for death in total comfort.
This led to Nishigami Yari having zero targeted objectives when entering the gachapon draw.
His mind was completely blank, thinking just give me whatever useful stuff you've got.
Even if it handed him an appetizer hamburger.
He wouldn't give a damn either way.
Yet unfortunately.
Unlike its slacker of a user.
The [ Life Winner System: Deluxe Supreme Customized Edition ] felt strongly that it needed to stand tall and strive!
Therefore.
Unwavering in its dedication, it was still actively scheming to hand out even more hacks to the slacking Nishigami Yari!
Such a rock-solid, unwavering commitment to customer service was genuinely enough to bring a tear to one's eye!
1.[ Bonus Talent: Drip, Absolutely Crucial: Upon activating this bonus talent, the user's attire will be subjected to a specialized reinforcement blessing; heads may roll and blood may spill, but the hairstyle must remain unruffled; neither Gamma-ray bursts can disrupt my coiffure, nor a cosmic Big Bang can destroy my garments, complete with an all-weather automatic self-cleaning clothing function (Note: Based on the un-damaging clothing effect, this signifies that the user's garments will be immune to various piercing effects and slashing effects, though actual physical impact forces are still retained).]
2.[ Panacea Pill ( Box set: 1000 pills ): No matter the ailment, even congenital genetic diseases, a single pill yields immediate effects, healing the target to perfection right on the spot.]
3.[ Regret Pill ( Singly packaged: A precious single-dose pill provided by His Majesty ): Upon consumption, allows the user to designate a past event for regret, automatically translocating back to that event's initial inception phase, ignoring space, ignoring time, ignoring causality, ignoring destiny...]
4.[ Dino Beat-Down Card x1: Once targeting an individual or a collective, upon activating this card, the user can summon a thug vastly stronger than the target from the system's corporate manufacturing plant Crimson Heaven: Fallen Omnic Council, unleashing all sorts of brutal beatdowns upon the target. Available service categories: Beat the target to death, beat the target to a cripple, beat the target until pregnant, beat the target until their gender is scrambled...]
5.[ Gun of Mercy: This is a merciful gun that refuses to kill, shooting at someone's head won't even kill them, but whoever gets hit will randomly and permanently lose a specific, non-life-threatening number of bodily parts, with a range scaling to the user's field of vision.]
6.[ Electromagnetic Pulse Earring ( Earring design customizable ): A high-tech artifact originating from a certain technological civilization, driven by vacuum zero-point and antimatter energy sources, capable of emitting various intensities and frequencies of specialized pulses based on the user's thoughts, thereby striking and disrupting all sorts of surrounding electronics.]
7.[ Truck-kun Control Unit: Through this control unit, the user can, based on prevailing local conditions, summon a truck at a designated timeframe to ram a designated target. Whether it manages to crush the target to death, injure the target, or simply get effortlessly shrugged off by the target depends entirely on the local tech level and the target's actual combined combat power.]
8.[ Impoverished Background Card x1: Upon selecting and activating it on a target, that target will tangibly experience what an impoverished lifestyle feels like. The duration is permanent, extending to the target's next life, next-next life, subsequent lives... stretching across generations and eternities. Useless to the system host, because the host's wealth-destined fate is locked at the absolute apex, enjoying the highest priority in relevant aspects.]
9.[ World War Flare Gun: When you fire this gun up toward the sky, under the influence of destiny and causality, the world will very soon, through a series of serendipitous chain reactions, stumble into a World War phase. The effective range scales to the currently encountered instance, meaning it's adaptive, potentially spanning a single continent, a single planet, a single universe, or countless universes... The exact stopping point of the World War depends entirely on the locals' luck. Note: May His Majesty the Crimson King show mercy, hoping that the targets all meet a sudden, horrific demise.]
10.[ Not-Half-Bad Dagger: A tech-grade dagger originating from a certain civilization, boasting exceptional sharpness and structural integrity, forged entirely from an ultra-massive specialized neutron star, bundled with a gravity constraint generator. Its actual weight can be dynamically adjusted anywhere between 1 gram and the actual weight of an entire neutron star. Once its weight release hits a certain threshold, it will automatically trigger a black hole effect based on object density, pulling in and absorbing surrounding matter. More importantly, this dagger also comes bundled with a flashy lighting effect, making it exceptionally well-suited for everyday use. Such as: Peeling fruit, chopping vegetables.]
Gazing at these items he had casually pulled.
As Nishigami Yari's pupils constricted slightly, he instinctively sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.
'Holy hell, are these things seriously this terrifying...'
'Are every single one of these items this utterly absurd?'
The rest of the items remained untested.
Yet the [ World War Flare Gun ] and the [ Not-Half-Bad Dagger ], these two gadgets were definitively hazardous items capable of triggering instant world destruction if handled carelessly.
Especially the latter!
A dagger forged from an entire neutron star.
The moment it released even a fraction of its actual weight, it could utterly obliterate the entirety of Earth and the Solar System through its gravitational field alone, functioning much like some sort of localized Dual-vector Foil.
And the adaptive effective range of the flare gun was exceptionally ridiculous.
That gadget...
If you really fired a single shot.
Even Nishigami Yari had no clue how many unlucky souls would perish.
Even if a global thermonuclear war broke out, with mushroom clouds blooming everywhere, it'd still be a walk in the park.
Furthermore.
Nishigami Yari vaguely sensed that these two items weren't even necessarily the most destructive forces acquired in this gachapon pull.
Among the ten items.
The [ Dino Beat-Down Card ] and the [ Regret Pill ] directly gave him the instinctive feeling that these two gadgets belonged to the category of weapons of mass destruction.
The former's practical utility.
Through the item description, he could vaguely deduce a few things.
Nothing more than the thugs summoned being capable of kicking up a massive ruckus.
Yet the latter.
He somewhat failed to comprehend where its mass-destruction potential stemmed from.
He simply felt deep down that consuming it would let him clear the life script right on the spot.
Overall, it gave him a sensation closely resembling encountering a one-click-clear button.
Yet he didn't recall his current life ever crossing paths with anything capable of altering everything fundamentally...
Could it be that this gadget's triggering scope encompassed not just this lifetime, but also his past lives? But in his past life, did he genuinely experience anything profound enough to alter the entire trajectory of reality?
Ultimately.
After turning it over in his mind and failing to nail down a definitive answer, Nishigami Yari, after equipping the [ Bonus Talent: Drip, Absolutely Crucial ], temporarily set his speculations aside.
Moreover.
At some point, three pairs of male-styled clip-on earrings matching his hair color had materialized upon both of his earlobes.
Deep violet, circular in shape, completely devoid of surface engravings, exuding a chilling mechanical texture throughout.
3 on each ear, totaling 6, meaning three pairs.
The mechanism wasn't a pierced-ear design.
Instead, they clung via microscopic automated mechanical grips clamping onto the outer rim of the auricle.
Though those mechanical arms didn't clamp down tightly, by virtue of the [ Bonus Talent: Drip, Absolutely Crucial ], unless Nishigami Yari voluntarily removed them, they would never fall off for the rest of his life, and could be swapped in style or stashed away into system inventory at a moment's notice based on his thoughts, somewhat akin to a toggleable cosmetic skin in a video game.
...
Late at night.
Leaving the hotel, Nishigami Yari.
Dressed in a gray suit, wandered aimlessly down the streets of Shinjuku Special Ward.
It was also at this juncture.
Having toiled for thirty-odd days and nights, followed by resting for six days and six nights, he finally possessed a shred of leisure to appreciate that hedonistic, decadent scenery.
His calm gaze swept across those fashionably dressed men and women.
Though this was a bustling commercial zone, the dazzling array of neon lights never ceased for a single moment, even deep into the night.
Yet within the alleys and dark corners.
All sorts of filth and shady dealings still managed to lurk within the shadows.
Pickpockets hiding amidst the crowd, scouting targets to prey upon.
Junkies and drug pushers shooting up and peddling in hidden nooks.
Middle-aged men and women flirting and locking eyes with their lovers over their phones.
Relying on his heightened visual and auditory faculties, observing and listening to the various acts of foolishness and petty thievery concealed amidst the surging sea of humanity, Nishigami Yari felt no pronounced emotional fluctuations in his heart, only a faint sense of detached indifference.
The kind of aloof indifference where he couldn't give a rat's ass.
His sole lingering thought was 'Should I go track down some wild mobs to farm some experience?'
Indeed.
He wanted to find some wild mobs to test out his combat capabilities.
In neither this lifetime nor his past life had Nishigami Yari ever engaged in a genuine, proper brawl.
Therefore, regarding his personal combat strength, a question mark had lingered in his mind all along, leaving him somewhat unclear about his exact positioning.
Yet the problem arose.
In modern society, where on earth was he supposed to find wild mobs to farm experience and practice on?
'Do I seriously have to head out into some primeval jungle to slaughter a few beasts?'
'The primeval jungles of this world genuinely harbor various monsters capable of going toe-to-toe with modern armed forces...'
In this lifetime's world.
One would occasionally catch news broadcasts detailing how some region had been struck by a sea monster assault on shipping vessels and the like.
Though Nishigami Yari wasn't privy to the exact specifics.
Word had it.
Many of those anomalies were disasters spawned by Awakeners and various lost civilizations.
Monsters possessing considerable might.
Based on various news reports.
They were directly capable of resisting modern weaponry, going toe-to-toe with military forces in a frontal clash.
Qualifying them as one of Nishigami Yari's prime targets!
Yet those monsters basically lingered in remote regions far from human habitation, making them time-consuming and exhausting to hunt down.
Besides.
Monsters were ultimately just monsters.
To put it bluntly.
They were merely creatures driven by human civilization to the remote wilds.
Compared to trading blows with beasts.
Nishigami Yari was far more eager to discover where he stacked up in terms of strength among human society.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, he abandoned that option.
'... A bit too far, too much of a hassle, and they're all holed up in god-forsaken places.'
Then.
He pivoted to another train of thought.
'Should I head over to some War-Torn Zone and casually sign up with a faction?'
'Probably not a great idea... That'd drag in way too much unnecessary hassle...'
In this world.
Awakeners were likewise forbidden from participating in conventional warfare.
Because their entry into the fray would likely turn the battlefield into a literal slaughterhouse.
Driving casualty rates sky-high to an unbearable threshold!
Hence, they usually served a role akin to nuclear deterrents.
Once Awakeners from both sides took the field.
Then everyone had better brace themselves.
Today your legion gets wiped out, tomorrow his city gets reduced to rubble, casualty rates spiking through the roof...
Consequently.
Even if he proactively headed to a War-Torn Zone, Nishigami Yari would generally only be allowed to sit on the sidelines as a deterrent, unable to directly take the field.
That scenario unquestionably failed to align with his ambition to make a massive splash.
As for whether he could stomach participating in a war and committing slaughter?
He felt he wouldn't mind it in the least.
Or rather.
He was actually rather curious.
Curious about what it felt like to commit slaughter...
Just like that.
After daydreaming for a bit.
Nishigami Yari couldn't help but gaze up at the sky.
His eyes brimming with sorrow.
He let out a heavy sigh looking heavenward.
'Damn it...'
'Not only is there not a single wild mob...'
'There isn't even a single arrogant bastard stepping up to get their face slapped by me!'
'Is this the hollow, soul-crushing solitude of invincibility?!'
'Where on earth is my immensely powerful and vigorous life supposed to go?!'
He felt a pang of heartache and helplessness.
'Indeed, a heaven-sent prodigy of such exceptional excellence as myself could never simply follow the crowd down those mediocre, cliché paths of face-slapping... My brilliance shines like the heavens above, a blazing great sun, how could any mere rabble ever dare to provoke me...'
Reaching the depths of his thoughts.
Feeling that everything made complete sense.
Nishigami Yari, having thoroughly self-soothed, ultimately stopped obsessing over the wild mob dilemma.
"Hmph!"
"Mere face-slapping, would I ever envy such a thing?"
Yet despite those words, his tone remained suffused with a faint sorrow.
The sorrow of being unable to flex to his heart's content.
Right at this juncture.
Just as Nishigami Yari was cutting through a bustling, crowded commercial district and passing by a relatively secluded, tranquil alleyway.
Suddenly, he caught the sound of hurried footsteps echoing from within the alley.
Causing his pace to pause slightly.
Deep within the alley.
He spotted a young maiden clad in a black long-dress fleeing for her life in a disheveled state.
While trailing relentlessly right behind the maiden was a pack of thugs sporting professional yet distinct underworld attire, clearly cut from the cloth of syndicate members.
Judging by the prevailing circumstances.
Judging by the frantic frequency of the maiden's gasping breaths, she'd likely run out of stamina and collapse within another minute or two.
'?'
'What kind of classic hero-saves-the-damsel script is this?'
Catching sight of this scene.
At this very moment.
Nishigami Yari simply felt as though he had triggered a quest: the traditional hero-saves-the-damsel quest.
No low-level mobs, yet guaranteed dropped loot, with a beautiful maiden offering repayment in gratitude?
Yet saving a stranger...
As a delicate soul who fundamentally couldn't give a damn about whether outsiders lived or died, Nishigami Yari genuinely couldn't muster up the slightest shred of interest.
Besides.
That maiden probably didn't think a stranger would risk his life to help her, and furthermore, Nishigami Yari, flying solo with no backup, hardly looked like someone capable of rendering aid, so the other party completely bypassed the notion of crying out to him for help, solely focusing on fleeing with a face etched in bitter, unyielding desperation.
'Whatever, none of my damn business...'
Instinctively.
Nishigami Yari prepared to resume his deep musings on life.
His pace likewise resumed forward.
However, that pack of syndicate thugs ultimately hadn't forgotten their randomly assigned respawned mob identity.
They timely deployed a taunt skill.
"Hey you little punk up ahead!"
"Quickly block that woman, don't let her run out of the alley!!"
"Or I'll beat you to death!!"
Though the target was already running out of stamina.
Even if she actually bolted, they could easily recapture her in a heartbeat.
Yet grabbing someone directly out on the main street risked blowing the incident completely out of proportion.
Hence, the syndicate ringleader instantly decided to intimidate Nishigami Yari, who happened to be strolling past the mouth of the alley, into intercepting the target.
Yet.
What he didn't realize was that his brief two or three sentences had successfully triggered Earth's hidden ultimate Boss challenge instance.
Causing Nishigami Yari's footsteps, originally intended to carry him straight ahead, to pivot directly, turning down the path into the alley...
To be honest.
That fleeing maiden had originally assumed the worst when she spotted Nishigami Yari altering his trajectory to step into the alley.
Her heart had already gone cold.
She knew full well that should Nishigami Yari manage to stall her for even a split second, the syndicate pack behind her would instantly apprehend her.
Yet very quickly, she noticed that Nishigami Yari completely lacked any intent to heed her plight.
His gaze merely lingered with mild amusement upon the mob of pursuers behind her.
Permitting her to dash right past his flank.
Hence, at this moment, even while fleeing for her life, she couldn't help but steal a glance at Nishigami Yari's handsome face, etching it into her memory.
Meanwhile, glaring at Nishigami Yari, who looked intent on blocking their path, the syndicate thugs slowed their pace while launching into a barrage of foul-mouthed curses.
The heavily profane kind of cursing.
Causing Nishigami Yari, who had originally intended to slice them all into shredded meat with his filaments, to instantly and profoundly realize that these targets were craving a much more uniquely tailored style of death or lifestyle.
So, the magnanimous Nishigami Yari decided to accommodate their reasonable request.
He called off those invisible filaments that had already extended outward, though the targets remained utterly oblivious.
With an exceptionally tranquil expression, he retracted those wires back into his rings.
Then.
He pulled a pair of white gloves out from his system inventory.
These were items he had previously requested from the hotel's concierge staff.
Then.
Right before the faces of those syndicate thugs, he leisurely began donning the gloves.
Treating the matter with the utmost seriousness.
Catching sight of that spectacle.
The bald ringleader instinctively sensed that something felt deeply amiss.
He deliberately slowed his pace by a few beats.
Yet some of his lackeys possessed nowhere near that level of situational awareness.
A brawny short-stack standing roughly 1.7 meters tall, yet built with exceptionally heavy-set, robust proportions, lunged right up to Nishigami Yari and, hoisting the steel pipe in his hand, brought it down in an overhead arc:
"You little punk!!"
"Our boss told you to block that woman!!!"
"Are you deaf or what?!!"
Clearly, he was rather impatient.
Eager to display his loyalty.
Judging by the whistling wind generated as the steel pipe swung through the air.
He was pouring a massive amount of force into the strike.
Take a blow like that to the head, and an ordinary person would be booking a one-way ticket to the ER.
Yet unfortunately.
Standing before him was Nishigami Yari.
Therefore.
The other party's pipe.
Or rather, the hand wielding the pipe, was intercepted by Nishigami Yari.
And throughout the entire process, not a single soul saw precisely when Nishigami Yari had reached out his hand.
This left the fellow utterly shocked while simultaneously flying into an incandescent rage:
"You..."
However.
Before the guy could utter another word.
CRACK, CRACK, CRACK...
Amidst an abnormal, gruesome sound.
The sudden, excruciating agony instantly morphed the thug's tough talk into a blood-curdling, wretched shriek.
The brawny henchman's hand gripping the steel pipe was crushed flat by Nishigami Yari.
Literally crushed flat in the most literal sense of the phrase.
Bones, minced meat, and fresh blood spurted straight out from between Nishigami Yari's fingers, much like the output of a hydraulic press.
Even the steel pipe warped instantly on the spot, deeply indented by a clear handprint.
Meanwhile, the remaining thugs trailing behind the brawny brute, owing to the dim lighting of the alley, completely failed to register what had just transpired.
Assuming their lackey had just scored a hit.
Instinctively, they cursed angrily, preparing to pile on and deal with the punk together.
Yet the ensuing scene instantly obliterated every shred of their courage.
They watched as Nishigami Yari's other hand.
At some point, had descended squarely upon the terrified brawny short-stack's head.
His five fingers applying a slight squeeze.
Lifting his arm upward.
Nishigami Yari, leveraging his height advantage, effortlessly hoisted the guy completely off the ground.
While Nishigami Yari's other hand, the one that had intercepted the strike moments ago, concurrently grabbed the brawny short-stack's shoulder.
Then.
Right before the eyes of all the syndicate members, Nishigami Yari's left and right hands applied a sharp, simultaneous tug...
The brawny short-stack's shrieks halted instantly.
For a fleeting moment.
Only the sound of wet objects hitting the ground echoed through the alley.
That was the sound of massive amounts of viscera and blood spilling onto the pavement.
Much like a packaged product bursting open, spilling its contents automatically.
Until this moment.
Standing there amidst the sea of blood,
Completely immaculate, unstained by a single speck of blood from top to bottom, even his white gloves remaining pristine as new, Nishigami Yari muttered calmly to himself:
"... Originally, I was in a rather pleasant mood today..."
"Why did you have to go and ruin it..."
"Oh well, at least as my first time killing a person, it should count as a somewhat memorable milestone..."
"Ah, right... Since raw subjects just conveniently delivered themselves to my doorstep, I might as well test out some [ String Weaver ] interrogation techniques..."
With that said.
He casually tossed the garbage gripped in his left and right hands straight into a nearby dumpster.
At the exact same time.
Upon Nishigami Yari's ears, those mundane-looking earrings, the [ Electromagnetic Pulse Earring ], began radiating a peculiar luster, incessantly emitting silent, imperceptible pulses that forcibly disrupted all surrounding cameras and technological equipment.
Following that.
Came a brief round of pleading for mercy and shrieking.
Yet within a single second, everything fell dead silent.
Being a bustling commercial district, excessive wailing was hardly proper; it would inflict severe psychological trauma on impressionable youths.
Therefore.
To ensure they stopped disturbing the peace.
Nishigami Yari relieved all ten-plus syndicate thugs of their tongues within a single second.
Finally came the critique-and-education phase.
The scene was overflowing with human warmth and an exceptionally lively atmosphere; no elaborate introduction was needed, readers could easily fill in the blanks.
...
Ten-odd minutes later.
After Nishigami Yari departed the alley.
Not far away.
A figure clad in jeans and a leather jacket leaped lightly, dropping down straight from the fourth-story rooftop of a nearby building.
That was a short-haired young girl with a lollipop wedged between her lips.
Looking roughly fifteen or sixteen years of age.
She paused at the mouth of the alley and cast a glance inside.
Though she was thoroughly worldly and experienced.
Her youthful, pretty face still twitched violently, triggering an instinctive retch.
Spitting the lollipop right out to the side.
She couldn't help but curse under her breath:
"Holy shit..."
"I thought it was a hero saving a damsel, turns out it's some psycho serial killer..."
"And here I thought he was drop-dead gorgeous..."
Following that.
While retching with her head bowed, she caught a glimpse of something else out of the corner of her eye.
That was a pair of high-end gray leather shoes.
The exact same pair of shoes she had spotted earlier on a certain handsome guy.
Yet those shoes ought to have vanished into the distance alongside their owner by now...
Then.
Amidst a spine-chilling sensation that made her hair stand on end.
She felt a gloved hand rest gently upon her back as she arched forward from dry-heaving.
Accompanied.
By a voice tinged with a hint of regret:
"Though I'm quite flattered you called me handsome."
"Calling me a psycho serial killer, however, genuinely stings a bit."
The soothing words.
Caused goosebumps to instantly erupt across her entire body.
An instinctive survival urge drove her to shriek at the top of her lungs:
"Don't kill me!!"
"I'm just an innocent bystander passing by, I didn't see a damn thing!!"
"Misunderstanding, I'm not a serial killer."
"I don't harbor any rabid passion for that sort of thing."
"At most, I just bump off a few people depending on my mood."
Patting the young maiden's back.
Nishigami Yari casually offered a rough explanation while he had a spare moment.
He figured he shouldn't technically count as a bad guy yet.
Sure, he'd cleared out a batch of syndicate thugs.
But they were syndicate thugs for crying out loud!
Surely he deserved a medal for ridding society of scum, right?
Just thinking about it made him feel like he was due for an "Outstanding Citizen of the Year" achievement award.
Naturally.
He didn't consider himself a good guy either.
Saving the world, reforming society and all that, he had zero interest in pursuing such noble causes.
He vastly preferred acting on his whims.
Hearing his voice.
The retching maiden slowly lifted her head.
Yet she didn't dare turn around, terrified of catching a clear glimpse of Nishigami Yari's face.
She suspected that seeing it might just trigger a death flag.
Should things really come to that.
That would be a tragedy of the highest order...
However.
Nishigami Yari couldn't be bothered to sweat such petty details.
Seen it, seen it, so what?
As a man who walked tall and stood straight, he cared very little about trivialities of that nature.
So.
He continued patting the young maiden's back gently, speaking in an exceptionally calm tone:
"Answer me a question: do you practice martial arts?"
"Yes."
"Then roughly where do you rank among martial arts practitioners in terms of proficiency?"
"... Pretty decent level."
Though phrasing it modestly.
Nishigami Yari still caught a trace of underlying pride in her tone.
Connecting it to how she had effortlessly leaped down from the rooftop just moments prior...
Was she a genius, perhaps?
Nishigami Yari couldn't say for sure.
"Family-taught? Or part of some martial arts school?"
According to what Nishigami Yari knew.
Because individual martial prowess had been heavily emphasized since ancient times, this world harbored vast numbers of factions dedicated to martial training and ascetic cultivation techniques.
Furthermore, most of them were far from poor, they were exceptionally wealthy.
After all, martial training easily wreaked havoc on one's body, and a broke nobody couldn't afford medicinal remedies...
"..."
Right now.
Though she failed to grasp why he was interrogating her about these matters.
The maiden still answered obediently:
"Family-taught."
"Judging by your accent, you must be from the Kyoto region, right?"
"Yes."
"A family capable of establishing a foothold in Kyoto, genuine martial artists to boot, and possessing respectable strength to top it all off, you've undoubtedly been through your fair share of storms... That means you should possess a fairly practical understanding of the martial artists and Awakeners scattered across all of Japan, am I right?"
"... Yes."
Reaching this point in the interrogation.
Nishigami Yari was thoroughly delighted.
"Very well, let's find a place to chat for a bit ~"
"I feel that, as a senior, you ought to popularize some basic intelligence for a newcomer."
With that.
He directly wrapped an arm around her remarkably stiff waist, dragging her along somewhat forcefully as he strode off in the opposite direction.
...
A few minutes later.
Several police cruisers came screeching to a halt.
The cluster of flashing headlights illuminated the slightly gloomy alleyway, brightening it up by several notches.
A squad of armed police officers with holstered sidearms leaped swiftly out of their vehicles.
Charging headfirst into the alleyway.
Followed instantly.
By piercing shrieks and fits of vomiting.
At that moment, the spectacle inside the alley.
Was enough to turn countless people into instant vegetarians.
Yet no trade meant no slaughter, and Nishigami Yari, who had inadvertently spared countless innocent lives, could truly be described as a figure of boundless merit!
Shortly after.
The ambulance arrived at breakneck speed.
Aside from hauling away the remains.
They also had to administer emergency medical treatment.
Because the wild mobs weren't all dead yet.
When Nishigami Yari disposed of a few thugs along the way, he hadn't forgotten to execute his personal vision, granting a portion of those guys a brand-new lifestyle.
Roughly speaking, a lifestyle where they'd never need to gaze at scenery, never need to hear sounds, never need to chew food, never need to walk, never need to carry things, never need to bathe ever again... A completely novel mode of existence.
In short.
The ones who had cursed at him were practically done for.
The ones who had cursed the hardest were thoroughly terminated.
By the way, as a professional string-weaver and rope-art hobbyist, he even practiced a bit of knot-tying on the side.
This resulted in the medical staff inside the ambulance vomiting the moment they laid eyes on the surviving lucky bastards.
Even though they were well-accustomed to witnessing gruesome demises and all sorts of bizarre, grotesque injuries.
Yet those few surviving guys still evoked memories of classic gore flicks and ancient executioner methods among the medical crew, driving them to instinctively refuse to lay eyes upon the victims' wretched states.
...
Meanwhile.
Nishigami Yari, holding the maiden in his embrace, enthusiastically inquired:
"How about that store over there?"
That was a shop styled in a rather intriguing fashion.
Giving people a sense of Tokyo romance in neon pink.
Exceptionally well-suited for lonely, bitter, freezing single men and women.
However.
Judging by the maiden's silent attempts to murder him with her glare alone, signaling her strong aversion to entering, Nishigami Yari could only regretfully abandon that option.
Instead, pointing his finger toward another establishment, a high-end cafe that looked rather pricey.
"Then how about that one over there?"
Must be said.
He was remarkably polite.
This time, the maiden refrained from attempting to deploy her ocular murder technique, which he took as a sign of basic satisfaction.
So Nishigami Yari marched her straight inside.
While the maiden, cradled in his arms, looked up at Nishigami Yari's expression, which carried a hint of a smile, as though he had just completed some trivial chore,
Pondered for a moment.
She asked with slight annoyance:
"What on earth do you want?"
By now, through Nishigami Yari's words and actions, she had deduced the fact that her life was in zero danger.
Her attitude naturally turned significantly more composed.
As the target of the inquiry, Nishigami Yari answered offhandedly:
"Just here to ask you a few questions ~"
"I'm still quite unfamiliar with the various factions big and small across Japan, plus I'm just a rookie Awakener, so as a newcomer I happen to need your help filling in some basic common knowledge."
As someone who had never interacted with the martial arts system, and even as a genuine Awakener, lacked deep insight into the various nuances of the Awakener community, Nishigami Yari figured the maiden before him could help bridge some of his informational gaps.
In this regard, relying solely on the network intelligence scraped by the auxiliary AI invariably lacked a certain tangible realism.
Yet hearing Nishigami Yari casually label himself a rookie Awakener novice, the maiden involuntarily curled her lip in a silent scoff.
Wearing an expression that screamed she didn't believe a single word.
As someone hailing from an ancient, combat-oriented grand clan, she was acutely aware of what a standard novice Awakener's condition ought to be.
Though she still couldn't beat him.
The power gap certainly shouldn't be as utterly astronomical as the one Nishigami Yari displayed.
If he were an Awakener hailing from a martial background.
Then it would make sense for him to adapt rapidly to his physiological shifts immediately upon awakening, leveraging his foundational martial arts background to accelerate his awakening rate, thereby granting him strength and growth velocity vastly superior to an ordinary Awakener.
And that sort of fellow the maiden had indeed laid eyes on in the past.
Yet even so.
The other party still didn't possess the sheer, absolute, crushing dominance exhibited by Nishigami Yari.