I, the Rock King Emperor with 21 billion in power, have joined the chat group.

She hesitated for a moment, but then clicked "use".

There were no other superfluous reactions afterward, no spatial fluctuations, and not even air movement.

Two people stood right in front of her.

One was a young man dressed in what appeared to be ancient clothing, and the other was a burly man with a particularly strong build, but wearing a pink heart-patterned sweater.

"I am Zhongli, the promising True Lord of the future," the young man in ancient costume introduced himself in a low voice.

This stopped Tendo Kisara from having some unpleasant associations—she almost thought that the burly man was Zhong Li.

"Hey, girl. I am Lightwing Deployment. Girl, you can call me by my hero name, [Sexy Prisoner]." The burly man clasped his hands together, like a shy, lovestruck girl, and his pink sweater only amplified the sense of physical fear he evoked.

---This is fucking weird.

Tendou Kisara couldn't help but curse inwardly.

However, on the surface, she still maintained her ladylike persona in front of strangers as usual, and nodded slightly with a faint smile: "Hello, sexy gentleman."

"Oh, girl, I really like the title 'Mr. Sexy'." The sexy prisoner raised his finger and waved it gently at her.

"Sexy Mr., Sexy Mr."

He even repeated it twice, then laughed happily, like an innocent child.

“Alright.” Tendouki couldn’t help but spread his hands: “Okay, whatever you like in this title. Mr. Sexy.”

"Alright, you two, let me introduce myself as well." Tendo Kisara tilted his head slightly: "My name is Tendo Kisara, which is also the [Police Officer] in the chat group. I am also the head of this police agency. My current goal is to kill all the people in the Tendo family who killed my parents. If I have the chance, I would also be willing to wipe out the entire Tendo family."

"That's a nice dream, girl." The sexy prisoner's expression turned serious.

"But isn't this dream too heavy? Isn't there anyone in Tendo's family that you cherish?"

“No.” Tendo Kisara shook his head without hesitation: “The people I cherish have either passed away or left the Tendo family with me.”

"Oh...girl, don't do this," the sexy prisoner groaned softly.

“If I don’t do this, I won’t be able to achieve my goal,” the girl in the black and red sailor uniform said.

"Alright." After explaining impatiently, she immediately asked, "Do you two want to explore the city with me, or are you planning to go on your own?"

"Anyway, this is a post-apocalyptic world. No one will care if two people suddenly appear. Even the police and military systems won't keep a record of you."

"If you want me to accompany you, just give me 30 points each. I will spend a whole day with you and introduce you to the important locations and some useful people in the city."

"Hmm... then I'll trouble you, girl. I want to experience what this apocalyptic world, which you say has no redeeming qualities, is really like," the sexy prisoner said earnestly.

“I don’t need to.” Zhongli, who had seemed to be in a daze since the beginning, shook his head slightly: “I’ve decided to explore this world on my own.”

"Whatever." Tian Tongmu waved her hand indifferently—to her, Zhong Li from the Tian Tong family was of no use to her as he neither paid points nor helped her resolve the issue.

“Well then, Miss Tendo. According to our contract, when I leave this world, I will compensate you with appropriate points based on the benefits I gained in this world.” Zhongli repeated the contract he had signed with Tendo Kisara, and then waved to her.

The next second, his figure disappeared from the room.

Kisara Tendo frowned, a fearless worry rising in his heart.

However, she will return to normal after a few seconds.

----Forget it, whatever Zhongli wants to do in this world is none of her business. Even if Zhongli wants to destroy this filthy Tokyo, this disgusting and dirty world, it has nothing to do with her.

Even if she dies in the end, as long as the Tendo family is wiped out, she feels that nothing else matters.

Thinking of this, she turned her gaze to the [Sexy Prisoner] beside her and nodded slightly to the burly man: "Sexy Mr., come with me. Let me show you around this disgusting world."

"Oh, girl, don't do this." The sexy prisoner couldn't help but shyly hug his waist: "You look so pitiful."

"It doesn't matter, that's how people are in this world."

Tendo Kiyoshi responded in this calm manner.

......

There are two sides to the story.

Zhongli turned around and left Tiantong Civilian Security Company.

After that, he wandered aimlessly onto the street.

This is a bustling commercial street, no different from any other commercial street in the normal world.

In fact, it seems that because the prices are more affordable, it is much more lively than other commercial streets in the normal world that are being squeezed to the point of near collapse by large shopping malls.

But these were not the things Zhongli wanted to see.

His gaze swept around, quickly taking in everything on the street in the city.

Whether it's the street vendors hawking their wares on the street corners, the hoodlums smoking one cigarette after another in the dark alleys, or even the little girl with gleaming scarlet eyes staring at the bread displayed in the bakery, drooling incessantly.

---Um??

Zhong Li sensed something amiss with a slight tremor in his heart.

It's quite obvious that many parts of these children's bodies are not human.

A strange, unusually active virus has coexisted with their immune systems, making these children's bodies significantly stronger than those of normal people.

"The Cursed Child?"

Zhongli had heard about the anomalies of this world from Tian Tong Musang, and he had also heard about the "cursed children," but when he saw these children...

But then I discovered that some of my ideas seemed to be wrong.

These children are perhaps the ones who most need to be changed in this world.

Chapter Sixteen: The Children's Base

In Zhongli's eyes, the little girl was only about six or seven years old, wearing a tattered and oversized white shirt that covered her whole body, and her scarlet pupils held a hint of indifference and fear.

She squatted at the end of a small alley, secretly eyeing the white bread displayed outside the bakery.

Every ordinary human who passed by her, even if their faces didn't show anger, carried a sense of fear that made them want to run away.

This phenomenon made Zhongli frown again.

He could clearly sense the undisguised fear and hatred these ordinary people felt for the "cursed child"—a fear and hatred even greater than that felt towards the Gastrea creatures outside.

Zhongli didn't need much thought to understand why these "cursed children" had turned out the way they did.

Normally, in any normal society, there would be no secondary harm to these children who have already suffered serious injuries. Instead, the whole society would be mobilized to rescue them, so as to make the people more united after the disaster.

In the Japanese archipelago of this world, strangely, various propaganda campaigns have been used to smear, distort, and suppress the "cursed children." News reports even frequently appear on television and the news, showing how the "cursed children" caused several families to be killed by Gastrea due to the high rate of viral invasion within their bodies.

This strange news and public opinion manipulation is one of the reasons why people in today's society are so harsh and even distorted towards "cursed children".

Is it that the higher-ups in this world deliberately shifted the blame onto the "cursed child" to cover up their own mistakes?

Or is this kind of thing a distorted society spontaneously seeking alternatives to bear human pain and fear?

Zhongli was unaware of these matters for the time being—just as he had said before, he never used his abilities to directly probe into the human mind, so he could not draw any useful conclusions about the mastermind behind the scenes based solely on what he saw on the surface.

Of course, he didn't care about these so-called masterminds.

The moment he saw the "cursed child" before him, he understood the opportunity to move the world with minimal effort.

.....

I'm so hungry!

I'm so hungry!!

With her scarlet eyes, Yuko Kobayashi crouched at the corner of the alley, staring intently at the bread that was about to expire displayed in front of the bakery.

Just looking at her made her stomach churn with stomach acid and her mouth water.

If we count the time, she hasn't had a proper meal for about three days. Normally, she can find something to eat by rummaging through the trash cans in convenience stores.

But the day before yesterday, she encountered a group of adults at night and was severely beaten, so badly that she no longer had the strength to get up.

She lay on the edge of the city ruins, resting for two days by eating grass and leaves before she could resume normal activities.

Therefore, in the past two days, she has not been able to consume even a tiny bit of food to fill her stomach or provide energy.

She had a feeling that if she didn't get enough energy tonight, she might not be herself anymore.

This inexplicable sense of terror weighed on her nerves, leading her to make a decision she would never have dared to make before—she was going to steal something.

----Mingming's mother said that good children should not take other people's things without permission.

---But, but... Mom died too... Dad died too....

Yuko Kobayashi's mind was in a mess due to hunger, and she couldn't concentrate on anything.

All she could see were the discounted breads displayed outside; she couldn't think of anything else.

Then, she finally seized an opportunity.

The bakery employee who was guarding the door turned around and went inside. She seemed to be chatting with the store manager inside, and she looked very excited.

It's time.

As a carrier of feline gastritis virus, Yuko Kobayashi's timing was remarkably precise.

She saw this as her only chance and was about to get up when a fragrant piece of white bread was suddenly placed in front of her.

"Ok??"

She froze, her petite and adorable but extremely thin body coming to a standstill.

"Eat."

The gentle voice of the young man entered her ears at a leisurely pace.

She couldn't help but look up and saw a young man dressed in strange clothes.

---Is this some kind of ancient Eastern style?

Her mother, who was a designer, had explained the differences in clothing to her when she was a child, and she still remembers some of the differences in clothing.

"Eat."

The gentle voice rang in her ears again, and this time she heard it clearly; it was indeed the man in front of her speaking to her.

The small, thin child paused for a moment, then without hesitation snatched the whole bag of bread from Zhongli's hand, sat down on the spot, and began to eat it in large mouthfuls.

Zhong Li surveyed the little girl before him with an expressionless gaze. In his eyes, it was clear that the inhuman part within the little girl's body was becoming increasingly concentrated. Given the right opportunity, it might take over most of the girl's cells, completely alienating her and turning her into what this world calls a Gastrea.