In the Sand Village, the clones are everywhere, and the Arkham game begins

Chapter 491 Saitama
Sharp spikes and long, bristly bone blades were all aimed at Shimizu's vital points.

Beneath the Black Warrior Puppet Armor, Shimizu's eyes lit up with blue light, activating a reversal state. With the support of her mental aura and the armor, she threw a punch at Mosquito Girl.

He wouldn't go easy on this weirdo just because she's pretty and has a sexy body.

No matter how pretty a mosquito is, it's still an annoying mosquito, not to mention that this female mosquito has killed quite a few people.

There wasn't a single living person to be seen in the surrounding neighborhoods.

With a single punch, the lower half of Mosquito Girl's body vanished, while her upper half slammed into the ground like a cannonball.

The building collapsed, and the mosquitoes that had survived the lightning and wind blades rapidly converged on the Mosquito Girl's body, offering the blood they had sucked to help her recover.

"Oh? One punch only resulted in serious injury? And it can even recover? Insects are quite resilient!"

Shimizu's tone was tinged with surprise as he watched the Mosquito Girl rapidly repairing her body amidst the swarm of mosquitoes.

When he fought Sweet Mask before, his strength had already exceeded the threshold of Dragon level. Now, he has undergone a significant enhancement, and his strength has been improved in all aspects.

Mosquito Girl's performance was enough to surprise him.

However, it seems that in the original timeline, Mosquito Girl survived Saitama's punch and eventually became a waitress and signboard girl at Genus's takoyaki shop.

That makes sense.

In terms of strength, Mosquito Girl is only at the Demon level. Even if she has entered the second stage now, after sucking up all the mosquito blood, she will only be at the peak of the Demon level at most. She is still a long way from the Dragon level.

Before this avatar was promoted to S-rank, this might have been a bit tricky. If it were a hero like Sexy Prisoner, who was at the bottom of S-rank, they might not have been able to beat Mosquito Girl.

But now...

"Immortal Technique: The Technique of Baiji!"

A blinding white light burst forth as the Chakra Dragon appeared, and a powerful ultrasonic wave exploded along with the shockwave of the explosion.

The remaining insects controlled by the Mosquito Woman immediately froze, stopped flapping their wings, and fell from the sky.

Even the mosquito woman, who was taking off, couldn't help but fall to the ground, covering her head with her hands and trying to endure the discomfort.

The true White Rage Technique is far more powerful than the White Rage Bomb that Shimizu previously created.

If it were a powerful dragon-level monster with terrifying physical abilities, it might still retain a considerable amount of fighting power under this influence.

But Mosquito Girl is much worse off; she may only have two or three tenths of her previous strength left.

"Mosquitoes should be burned to death."

The clear water landed in front of the ruins, and a hole opened in the black warrior's breastplate, revealing the laser cannon port connected to the second-generation arc reactor.

"No, I..."

A blazing, thick laser cannon interrupted the Mosquito Woman's words and enveloped her.

This guy has a strong self-healing and regeneration ability; he even survived Saitama's attacks.

Even though Saitama wasn't serious at the time, the power of his ordinary punch was still considerable.

To deal with this kind of enemy, you have to kill them all!

Not to mention mosquitoes!
Mosquitoes must be eradicated completely!

They must be reduced to ashes; there should be no possibility of them surviving.

"I hate mosquitoes."

A dozen seconds later, the laser cannon gradually dimmed, leaving behind only a charred mass that was no longer recognizable as human.

"Oh, Siguoyi, all the mosquitoes have been electrocuted. What brand of electric mosquito swatter is this?"

A bald man holding insecticide appeared beside Qingshui at some point, his two eyes, which had a somewhat silly look about them, looking at the dead mosquitoes all over the ground.

"You are... Saitama? What are you doing here?"

Shimizu suddenly turned her head and subconsciously took a step back.

He hadn't even noticed when Saitama had appeared beside him.

Either his own perception abilities, such as his Clear World, were not working, or Saitama crossed ten kilometers and appeared next to him in a moment that even he couldn't react to.

Either way, it's enough to demonstrate Saitama's strength.

"Hey? Do you know me? I was chasing mosquitoes when I saw a lot of them over here. I got electrocuted and wanted to see who used the electric mosquito swatter. It's so powerful!"

Saitama grinned, a silly smile on his face, and gestured with his hands.

"By the way, how do you know me? You're not a fan, are you?"

"I only happened to see you dealing with some weirdos."

"Oh! So that's my fan. I never thought that after being a hero for three years, I would actually gain some popularity."

If that's what it means to be a fan, then...

Okay, even so, Saitama only has one fan.

If you admit it yourself.

"By the way, where's that super-sized electric mosquito swatter you were using that could kill several mosquitoes at once?"

Saitama scratched his bald head and said.

"That's my ability, and... you call that an electric mosquito swatter? Apart from discharging electricity and killing mosquitoes, it doesn't seem to have anything to do with an electric mosquito swatter at all, does it?"

"But isn't the function of an electric mosquito swatter to discharge electricity and kill mosquitoes?"

"What you said makes so much sense, I can't even refute it... wait, it has to be a camera, right?"

Shimizu couldn't help but complain.

"That's the electric mosquito man."

"What a lame name. I have my own hero name, Black Lightning, which is very popular."

"Oh, we're in the same industry! Oh, I remember now, I think I saw you on TV before. I thought you were some kind of variety show star. By the way, could you teach me how to kill mosquitoes?" "You shouldn't worry about that. The mosquitoes in Z City and D City are probably all dead here. If all else fails, use mosquito coils."

"But using mosquito coils means closing the windows, and in the summer it gets very stuffy, so we have to turn on the air conditioner. But the electricity bill for air conditioners is very expensive, so it's impossible to use it. Besides, I need to save money to buy things at the supermarket, otherwise I won't even have enough to eat."

I almost forgot, for the past three years, this guy has been doing 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run every day, all without turning on the air conditioning.

It seems that not turning on the air conditioner is a great test of Saitama's willpower, and plays an important role in breaking his limiter.

Of course, the bigger reason is that Saitama can't afford the high electricity bills for air conditioning.

This world has extremely advanced energy technology, and electricity is relatively cheap. Residents' daily electricity consumption is completely free as long as it is below a certain limit. As long as they are careful with their spending, it is still barely enough.

Even the uninhabited area of ​​Z City where Saitama lives is like this.

However, if you add in high-electricity-consuming appliances like air conditioners, the monthly cost can reach several thousand or even tens of thousands of yen.

If Saitama took this and bought it during a supermarket sale, it would be enough to cover at least two weeks' worth of food expenses.

Before becoming a professional hero in the Hero Association, Saitama was actually an unemployed man with no income, living off the savings he had accumulated while working as a wage slave.

Having exhausted his savings, Saitama naturally became very frugal with money. Sometimes, after defeating strange creatures with seaweed and crabs, he would even take the seaweed and crab meat back with him.

That's how he managed to barely have enough money.

Meanwhile, the strange people he encounters while running ten kilometers, rushing to supermarket sales, and engaging in hero activities out of interest all become part of Saitama's training—real combat is the best training.

Perhaps this is the key to Saitama's ability to repeatedly break his limiter.

During this process, the food ingredients rich in energy and nutrients taken from those monsters also provided Saitama with the energy he needed to train and break through his limiter over the past three years.

"Oh, right, it's a supermarket sale!"

Saitama suddenly slapped his forehead and pulled a crumpled supermarket sale poster from the back pocket of his old-fashioned yellow superhero suit.

"It's Saturday! It's the day of the supermarket's special sale!"

"No rush, Saitama-kun. It's nine in the morning now, and there's still an hour before the supermarket sale you have starts. At your pace, you'll have plenty of time. If you think that's not enough, I can give you a supermarket sale money-saving guide that covers twenty-six supermarkets and convenience stores in Z City and D City. The time range includes Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in addition to Saturdays, so it can basically ensure that you can buy cheap goods and ingredients most of the time."

Shimizu looked at the weekly supermarket sale guide planned by artificial intelligence on the eye display screen of the Black Knight armor and said to Saitama.

Saitama's dead fish eyes lit up at that moment.

"Really? Senior? I didn't expect we'd find ourselves on the same wavelength! Could I have a copy of that strategy guide you have?"

"No problem. Also, I can recommend you join the Hero Association, where you get paid to be a professional hero."

"Hero? Profession? These two words don't seem to be related at all."

Saitama scratched his shiny bald head again.

He always felt that being a hero was a personal matter, referring to a certain type of person rather than a particular profession.

If you are doing good deeds out of interest, you are a hero. Why should it be related to your profession?
Shimizu said:

"Well, after all, we can't let those who are truly active on the front lines fighting disasters suffer losses. Doing this can also relieve them of their worries and allow them to focus more on heroic actions. It can also attract more capable people to engage in the heroic profession. This will certainly allow some mixed-race people to get involved, but under the constraints of the system and regulations, the negative impact can be limited."

Overall, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

A wise person judges by actions, not intentions. As long as what is done truly helps many people, whether it is done sincerely or for fame and fortune, the contribution is real.

The story of Zigong redeeming people makes a lot of sense.

If everyone saw that the fate of becoming a hero is to be as poor as Spider-Man or Saitama, who would still be willing to do good deeds?

While the Hero Association certainly has a dark side, its existence has effectively curbed the frequent monster attacks, and its positive impact far outweighs its negative impact.

This thing is like a food delivery platform; there are plenty of shady characters and all sorts of disgusting and exploitative manipulations. But it also genuinely saves consumers' time, creates many jobs, and promotes economic circulation.

What these organizations really need is strong oversight and effective safeguards, as well as competition from other similar organizations to prevent them from becoming corrupt and turning into tools for some people to gain profits and exploit the lower classes.

"That makes sense. So what exactly are the job duties? How will the salary be calculated?"

Saitama continued to ask.

He really doesn't have much savings left.

If he could continue his heroic activities as before and receive a salary, he wouldn't object; in fact, he would be quite happy to do so.

Saitama has never been a pretentious person; on the contrary, he is quite down-to-earth, just a bit of a goofball. In terms of personality, he is more like a Japanese otaku who longs to lie down but whose inner kindness and sense of justice make him quite proactive at times.

"When you join the association, you have to take an exam, and then your hero level is determined based on the exam results. The lowest level, C, has a mission quota every week, but once you reach B, you don't have that anymore. You just need to deal with monsters when you receive a notification."

As for salary, I remember when I first joined, I was ranked in the top ten of the B-level, with a base salary of 400,000 yen per month, but there were other commissions as well. Generally speaking, earning over a million yen a month was not a problem. Now I am the thirteenth in the S-level, with a base salary of 100 million yen, but because of my high popularity, I receive more peripheral bonuses, so my actual income is much higher.

"Oh, Su Guoyi! Do you think I can make it to B-rank? With 400,000 yen a month, I won't have to rush to supermarket sales anymore."

A B-level job pays 400,000 yen a month, which is equivalent to a monthly income of 20,000 yen in terms of purchasing power, making it a high-paying job.

Saitama would be very satisfied with this kind of income.

As for higher income, Saitama has never looked down on himself, but he feels that a guaranteed monthly income of 400,000 yen is enough and he doesn't need to think too much about it.

"With your strength, becoming an S-class is no problem at all, and you can at least rank seventh."

Shimizu said firmly.

Because King is ranked seventh in the S-class in the Hero Association.

"I'm not really thinking about how high a level or ranking I can achieve. I'd be happy with a B-level where I don't have to train and still get paid. But if I could get promoted and a raise, that would be great too."

Saitama, on the other hand, seemed completely unconcerned.

"With your strength, you should be promoted if you can. There are many benefits to being an S-class hero. The association's shareholders sponsor and endorse various businesses, give you luxury cars and watches, and even the top-grade A5 beef is so plentiful that the refrigerator can't hold it all."

"They even give away top-grade beef? This must cost tens of thousands per serving, right? I've never eaten anything this good before."

Saitama doesn't care about luxury cars or watches, because he can run faster than a car, and he can check the time with a phone or alarm clock. But top-quality beef is something Saitama really cares about.

Because this is a truly delicious food that you can actually taste.

(End of this chapter)