The bound figure trembled all over, staring at the Painter as he walked closer, his eyes burning with anger.
"Why are you doing this? Did I ever offend you?"
The Painter seemed to find the question amusing. A slow smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
He lowered his head and looked at the man on the ground. "Director Tido, having someone of your… stature join the Restart Society is a tremendous honor for us."
He lifted his eyelids. "So of course, in order to welcome you properly, I have to… share a bit of my plan."
Tido's expression darkened. It was clear he didn't want to say another word to this madman.
A layer of silver light burst from his body, and in the next second, a silver-white suit of form-fitting armor materialized around him at incredible speed.
Crack.
The restraints shattered instantly.
He raised his hand. Two blinding beams gathered in his palms, and with barely a pause, he swept them outward.
Where the beams passed, the Restart Society members were pierced on the spot, bodies collapsing, skins flattening, leaving a field of carnage.
The Painter only lowered his head slightly and slipped under the first sweep with ease.
When the beams came again, his body stretched unnaturally, sliding through the narrow gap as if he were liquid.
Every beam missed by no more than half an inch, yet not a single shot hit him.
"Tsk tsk."
He flicked the arm that had stretched and snapped back. "Dangerous ability you have there, Director Tido."
Tido realized he had no way to deal with the Painter. Naturally, he didn't want to continue.
He brought his arms together, a blast of thrust shot from under his feet, and he rocketed upward as a streak of silver light.
But—
Slap.
The ground swelled. A massive mechanical arm burst out from the flat mech "skin" lying there, inflating like a balloon as it erupted upward, grabbing him in its fist.
The rest of the mech remained flat and pressed to the ground, looking disturbingly wrong.
Tido struggled violently, the silver armor blazing with bright light, but he couldn't break free from that grip.
The Painter seemed to grow impatient.
He exhaled slowly, his body returning to normal as he smoothed his sleeve with one hand and reached into his pocket with the other.
He pulled out a small glowing scorpion.
The scorpion shone red, the light flickering like a tiny ember in the night.
It crawled straight toward Tido's trapped arm.
Seeing this, Tido struggled harder, but being pinned in place, he couldn't move at all.
The scorpion stopped at the edge of the giant mechanical hand, its tail arched high.
Then—stabbed down into the silver armor.
The armor's bright sheen dimmed immediately, spiderweb cracks spreading across the surface.
The red glow on the scorpion faded bit by bit. Its body grew translucent, and finally, it turned into a faint layer of ash.
Director Tido's armor could no longer hold.
The silver-white armor shattered completely, scattering into fragments of light.
What emerged underneath was far from normal—skin flushed red, muscles swollen and bulging, twitching unnaturally beneath the surface.
"Nn… ah… aaahhhh!"
His screams tore through the night. His body writhed harder and harder, blood seeping from every pore.
As the last trace of light on the scorpion faded, its body dissolved into drifting ash.
And without the scorpion's suppression, the silver armor collapsed completely with a soft crack, breaking into countless shimmering particles.
The body revealed underneath was no longer human.
The skin was a dark, unnatural red. His frame was larger, muscles bursting and tearing his skin in several places, blood leaking through the splits.
"Argh… aaahhhhhh!!"
Tido shrieked as if his throat were being ripped apart, the veins around his eyes flooding with blood.
At that moment—
The giant mech "skin" on the ground bulged violently.
Like a balloon being inflated in an instant, it whooshed upward and expanded back to its full ten-meter height.
The colossal mech stood again, its metal frame groaning in the night.
The Painter leapt lightly onto its shoulder, his mood visibly lifted as he surveyed the scene.
He crouched down and touched Tido's reddened skin, an extremely pleased smile spreading across his face.
"Let's go."
The giant mech lifted its foot, crushing the ground beneath it as it strode forward, carrying its new "owner" into the depths of the night.
——————
Wang Yanfei waited in the shadows for a little while longer.
Only when he was sure the Painter had truly left did he slowly emerge from behind the tin shack and jog back toward the battlefield.
The battlefield was still brutal.
The ground was covered in crushed skins, smeared across the dirt. Wisps of pale fog rolled low like a thin blanket, dispersing gradually.
But the place wasn't empty.
Plenty of Restart Society members were still cleaning up, gathering scraps of skin and debris.
Wang Yanfei hid in a shadowed corner and watched.
There were too many of them. At this density, walking out openly would be suicide.
Soon, he had an idea.
He retraced his steps to where he had killed the black-robed man earlier and crouched to check the "corpse."
The torn human skin lay in the corner. The burned edges left by the Bullet Ant were still visible.
Wang Yanfei stayed silent for two seconds, giving himself a quick pep talk. Ending a life was one thing, but doing a small favor afterward… well, that wasn't impossible.
Then he picked up the skin and slipped it on.
The skin was cold and stiff, with a strange, hard-to-describe texture. Putting it on made his entire body crawl.
Worse, the damage from the Bullet Ant meant the skin had lost its ability to shrink and fit to his body.
Fortunately, the man's build was similar enough to his own. It fit, though uncomfortably tight.
He threw the black robe over it, completing the disguise.
He inhaled deeply.
Then he walked boldly back toward the battlefield.
As expected, almost no one looked at him.
Everyone was busy with their heads down, sorting through the remains.
He blended into the crowd, circled around twice, and when he confirmed no one was paying attention, he bent down to "search" the debris like the others.
Only, as he bent over, he quietly loosened the control over his absorption.
The gray mist on the battlefield slowly gathered, flowing into him bit by bit.
There was no shortage of mist. The real problem was whether he could absorb enough before it dispersed.
Just as he was about to continue, a weak voice sounded beside him.
"Brother… hey, brother!"
Wang Yanfei tensed.
He turned and saw a black-robed man with nothing left below his thighs, dragging himself forward with his elbows.
He had planned to pretend he didn't hear and walk away.
But the man had already called out. Avoiding him would be suspicious.
So he stopped and walked over slowly.
The black-robed man looked up with a pitiful glimmer of hope in his eyes.
"Brother… do you have any… spare legs over there? Lend me a pair?"
"…"
Good grief. This guy really thought limbs were plug-and-play.
Wang Yanfei shook his head with a sigh. He circled behind the man to see how the legs were broken.
When he lifted the robe, he froze.
Inside wasn't the bloody mess he expected.
The stump was hollow and pitch-black, like the cut end of a ventilation pipe stretching inward. Deeper inside, he could faintly make out the shape of a recessed face.
Alvina poked half her head out of his collar, followed his gaze, and froze stiff.
"Hiss… what in the world is that supposed to be?"