“You are not the target.”
Armored Gorilla’s eyes flashed.
Then he charged Genos head-on.
Genos blocked him easily.
Lu Yao looked down at Saitama.
“Mr. Saitama, did you offend somebody recently?”
“No?”
Saitama looked genuinely confused.
“Monsters acting together clearly received orders from some organization.”
Lu Yao recalled what he had heard earlier.
“I think they mentioned something called the House of Evolution.”
Lu Yao covered one eye with his hand.
Search initiated.
Had anyone read the short science-fiction story For the Benefit of Mankind?
The story described an advanced civilization that eventually produced a monstrous class of beings called Final Producers.
A Final Producer owned all wealth on an entire planet.
Even its oceans and atmosphere belonged to him.
The whole planet was his home.
One foundational technology behind such creatures was the ability to implant a supercomputer directly inside the brain.
Its capacity vastly exceeded the human brain itself.
Stored knowledge became as clear as personal memory.
But storage was merely a secondary function.
The machine also acted as an intelligence amplifier, raising human thought to an entirely different level.
Knowledge, aesthetics, philosophy, intelligence, and cognitive methods all became commodities.
Thus, so-called super education was born.
When Dark Matter fused with Lu Yao’s brain cells, it not only improved the precision of his brain.
Certain regions had effectively been transformed into the same kind of biological supercomputer.
In theory, super education was possible.
Unfortunately, only Lu Yao possessed the hardware.
So there was no practical way to implement it broadly.
There was another downside—
Energy consumption.
Originally, photosynthesis alone could sustain Lu Yao’s basic life processes.
But after he developed the biological computer inside his brain, his energy consumption multiplied severalfold.
That was why Lu Yao could gorge himself without gaining weight.
Energy intake and expenditure basically canceled each other out.
Sometimes he still needed photosynthesis to make up the difference.
There was no external system capable of delivering super education yet.
However—
By using his pineal gland as a transmitter and receiver, Lu Yao could connect directly to networks and retrieve information.
Any openly available online knowledge, technology, or experience could therefore be used by him.
His current gesture looked rather chuuni.
But he genuinely was searching for information.
House of Evolution…
I see.
An organization created by Dr. Genus with an almost religious ideology about welcoming a new world.
Another case of a genius scientist turning evil?
Still, mastering this level of technology is impressive.
I should visit later and see if I can obtain the knowledge inside his head.
Saitama didn’t know Lu Yao could do this.
Maybe he should climb out now.
“Hey, Ground Dragon!”
The lion monster shouted.
“How come you only restrained one of them?”
“Hmph. That pretty boy looks delicate.”
A mole-like monster answered from underground.
“He’s obviously a decorative vase with nothing but looks. No need to care about him.”
He continued.
“Just keep the target restrained. We only need to stop him from interfering.”
“Hahahaha! True!”
The lion monster turned toward Lu Yao.
“Then this useless pretty boy can die!”
Its claws slashed downward.
“Don’t get carried away, Beast King.”
The mole monster warned.
“The doctor wants that bald kid intact.”
“Relax. I know exactly what I’m—urk!”
Beast King’s entire body froze.
He was enormous, approaching three meters tall.
Even beside Lu Yao’s roughly 180-centimeter frame, he towered over him.
But when Beast King looked down—
One sideways glance from Lu Yao nearly scared his soul out of his body.
Beast King stumbled backward, breathing heavily.
J-Just now…
I saw myself dying?
Impossible!
I’m Beast King!
House of Evolution’s Number Two!
He shook his head.
Convincing himself that the vision had been an illusion, humiliation quickly turned into anger.
“Stop pretending!”
He roared.
“Die! Lion Slash: Meteor Shower!”
The name sounded impressive.
In practice, he just clawed wildly.
Lu Yao raised one hand.
Faint white material appeared several centimeters above his skin.
Then it darkened into black.
The next moment—
Beast King looked as though an invisible person had unleashed an endless barrage of punches on him.
His body abruptly exploded.
Organs scattered everywhere.
He died instantly.
“Uh… huh?!”
Ground Dragon nearly lost his mind from terror.
At the same time, Saitama stood up from the earth as casually as though rising from a chair.
The ground split apart around him without resistance.
His dead-fish eyes focused on Ground Dragon.
The mole monster immediately abandoned all dignity.
He activated his underground escape technique and fled.
“Need help?”
Lu Yao asked.
“Nope.”
Saitama answered.
Then he punched into the ground and apparently used his own version of an underground pursuit technique.
Lu Yao didn’t care much.
Using my Walrider, I could’ve just shaken the ground and handled the monster’s death and burial simultaneously.
The thing Lu Yao called the Walrider was essentially the collective term for the nanomachines surrounding him.
Its original spiritual concept came from a game—
Outlast.
Lu Yao later developed it into a nanomachine system combining numerous functions.
It could assemble into nanotech armor.
Or ordinary clothing.
It could operate like invisible hands, invisible blades, or invisible warriors.
It could become the Nano Swarm’s defensive barrier.
Or temporarily assemble into large-scale weapons such as continental-shelf oscillators and weather-control devices.
Naturally, the floating cutting lasers and charging cannon Lu Yao used against the Keyboard Warrior Monster had also been rapidly assembled from nanomachines.
A moment earlier, he had killed Beast King by using the Walrider like a Stand and unleashing something resembling Hokuto Hyakuretsu Ken.
It was obviously weaker than the bald monster currently burrowing underground.
But its output could still destroy one or two skyscrapers without much difficulty.
Before long, Saitama emerged from the ground on the other side.
Apparently Ground Dragon had been dealt with.
Farther down the street, Genos had also finished.
Smoke filled the area.
A somewhat battered Genos pointed his palm toward Armored Gorilla.
“Answer my question, or be destroyed. Choose.”
“You… will be destroyed.”
Armored Gorilla maintained his stoic cyborg persona.
“My strength… in House of Evolution… ranks third.”
He spoke one word at a time.
“With your… ability… you cannot defeat… Number Two… Beast King.”
He paused.
“Wait… for destruction.”
“!”
Lu Yao used nanomachines to form a tiny drone.
It carried Beast King’s severed eyeball.
He walked up beside Genos.
“By ‘Beast King,’ do you mean this?”
“…”
Armored Gorilla stared emotionlessly at the three terrifying people surrounding him.
After a brief silence—
His speech suddenly became perfectly fluent.
“Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll tell you everything. Please spare my life.”
Genos stared.
“Weren’t you only capable of speaking one word at a time?”
“Sorry.”
Armored Gorilla lowered his head.
“I was trying to sound cool.”