Witch Special

"Uncle, help me stop her. This crazy girl is planning to pull my entire tower out of the ground!" Lin Zhenxi conveyed the message to Saitama through secret language.

Saitama raised an eyebrow, staring in disbelief at the tornado floating nearby. The world's greatest esper truly lived up to his reputation; he could even pull such a massive stone pillar out of the ground. Even Saitama himself couldn't do that.

It was easy for him to break the stone pillar, but as for pulling it out of the ground, without a point to exert force, Saitama had no way.

But even if that's the case, how can I stop it...

"Hmm?" Saitama suddenly turned his head and looked behind him, but there was nothing. Saitama scratched his head, confused. He had clearly felt someone looking at him from behind.

After slowly turning his head back, Saitama suddenly made another comeback and turned his head back again without any warning. This time, because he was completely unprepared for Saitama's unexpected move, the enemy who was approaching from behind was embarrassed to see Saitama face to face.

A grotesque figure dressed entirely in black with a white face, a sleazy appearance, and a tentacle on its head. This figure resembled the black blob monster that had covered the ground before being crushed by Lin Zhenxi's supergravity wave, but was several times larger and had become incredibly muscular, his muscles now angular and defined. If you ignored his skin tone and features, he'd look like a bodybuilder who spent every day at the gym and consumed protein powder.

"Are those little guys your children?" Saitama said after a moment of silence.

When Tornado heard the sound, she also looked over here, then her eyes narrowed, and she stretched out one hand and squeezed the little fist of the black monster who was frozen in place and didn't know what to do because his sneak attack failed.

A huge and invisible force pressed towards the monster from all directions, as if being sent into a compressor. In an instant, the monster was squeezed into a pool of broken flesh and blood by Tornado's powerful telekinesis, staining the ground with a disgusting color.

"Are you a newcomer? Why waste time talking to monsters? Just kill them." Tornado then said to Saitama who was stunned.

But then she changed the subject and asked, "So, do you know the origin of that weirdo?"

"We just saw a smaller one. Look, those are them." Saitama pointed to the black residue on the ground.

"All of them?"

Saitama nodded.

Tornado frowned, looking at the vast expanse of black substance on the ground that looked like wet paint or dye. He found it difficult to connect it with the former monster. Was this area serious? The superpower that could compact the ground and the superpower that could flatten the monster like building material were clearly two different levels.

And that person can even block his telekinetic attacks... Tsk, the enemy this time seems a bit tricky, but it seems that he is not impossible to communicate with.

Tornado usually follows the principle of attack first, talk later. But that's because she's so powerful that she doesn't need to waste time on others; she can simply crush them. However, if the opponent is strong, she's not incapable of communication. Only those who can withstand her initial attack, proving themselves to be more than just a small fry, are given the right to engage in thinking.

"Baldy, do you know the person who just spoke?" Then Tornado began to jump back and forth on the boundary line of irritating Saitama.

Fortunately, Saitama was feeling quite relaxed. After all, he had just defeated that Dragon-level monster called Elder Centipede, and even left behind a photo and two rows of giant insect legs as proof. This achievement should be enough for him to advance. Once he reached B-rank, not only would his Hero Perks increase, but the requirement to complete a Heroic Activity once a week would also disappear. He could then attack without hesitation, without having to worry about taking a photo with the monster first.

While this might seem trivial in terms of time, it does take a toll on his mood. Even the exhilarating feeling of punching his fists has dissipated considerably, like a numbing feeling at work, all he wants to do is finish his tasks and leave. But besides being a hero, Saitama doesn't know what else he wants to do. If even being a hero becomes boring, then Saitama feels like he's about to become a hollow, emotionless shell.

Because he was in a good mood, Saitama didn't bother to argue with the half-grown girl like Tatsumaki. But since the other party was speaking rudely, don't expect him to speak nicely.

What does it mean to be irritating? Let the outspoken Mr. Saitama demonstrate it to you.

"She's Lin Zhenxi. She's the one who opened Baizhi. Haven't you heard of her, little girl?"

"Hyashi Maki... isn't she a businesswoman? How did she become a psychic?" Of course, Tornado knew about Lin Maki's name. It was the hottest company these days, so who hadn't heard of it? For example, Tornado had several sleep-inducing pillows at home.

Because of their inherently powerful mental powers, insomnia is a common problem for espers. However, since she got her sleep-inducing pillow, Tornado has been able to enjoy a good night's sleep. While those pillows struggle to suppress Tornado's unconscious mental energy, breaking down after a few days, she can simply buy a few more to keep as a backup. The price of sleep-inducing pillows is affordable even for ordinary families, let alone Tornado, who's raking in huge hero subsidies and endorsement fees. She might even be able to buy out Lin Zhenxi's pillow factory outright.

Tornado magnanimously ignored the fact that Saitama called her a little girl again.

Saitama shrugged and said, "Krillin is very powerful, she just doesn't like being a hero. She said that if she were a hero, she would be restricted by the Hero Association, but being a rich person would allow her to dominate the Hero Association."

It makes sense... but because it makes so much sense, Tornado doesn't know how to respond to it.

Is there something wrong with the current Hero Association? That's sheer nonsense. The problem is immense. While it's officially affiliated with the World Government, with the world's population huddled in megacities, the World Government's meager revenue is already stretched to the limit to maintain the normal operations of its government departments. Expecting the World Government to pump out even more money to support the heroes would require unbridled money printing, completely ignoring the effects of inflation. Clearly, that's unrealistic, a temporary solution. Even if it solves the current problem, it will undoubtedly lead to a future abyss of no return.

After all, the current human world is too fragile to withstand any major setbacks. Therefore, to maintain the normal operation of the Hero Association, the World Government has been forced to bring in social capital. While they claim to welcome donations from all walks of life, any sane person knows that voluntary contributions from ordinary people are a drop in the bucket; the real bulk of the support comes from the major capitalist oligarchs.

However, capital is always profit-driven. If there's no return, it's more realistic to hope that all the monsters will suddenly disappear than to expect the capitalists to be kind and open their wallets. To get funding from the capitalists, the World Government had to relinquish control of the Hero Association, handing it over to so-called social capital. The World Government only holds the title of president and has no influence over the Hero Association at all.

The ones who truly control the Hero Association are the big businessmen, conglomerates, and capitalists—the super-rich, those with trillion-dollar net worths. By purchasing a seat on the Hero Association's board, these wealthy individuals have the power to dictate to the heroes, even demanding that the Hero Association send high-level heroes to provide personal protection. Even S-rank heroes aren't immune to this!

Moreover, some heroes are also happy to make peace with capital, enjoy the comfortable life provided by capitalists, serve only for them, cancel their hero names from the Hero Association, and completely become the private soldiers of the capitalists.

So-called heroes, in the eyes of the wealthy, are nothing more than watchdogs. Even Tornado, or even the world's number one mysterious superhero, Blast, is powerless to change this reality. They can only lament their frustration and try their best to uphold their original aspirations and not be corrupted by the power of capital.

Fortunately, it seems that the S-class heroes are relatively determined and have not been infected by capital. However, for the A-class and B-class heroes below, the situation has become very serious, so that the number of S-class heroes has remained unchanged for a long time. After all, all the good seedlings have been poached by capital, and there is a lack of successors. In addition, the number one in A-class deliberately suppresses other A-class heroes and prevents them from being promoted. When there is no hope of upgrading, of course, the only thing left is to find another way out.

This is an extremely cruel thing for those who truly love to engage in heroic work, but it is also a reality that no one is able to change.

So Tornado lost interest in continuing the conversation, but she didn't mention the attack on Lin Zhenxi's pillar. After all, she didn't know if Lin Zhenxi was actually a director of the Hero Association. But with Lin Zhenxi's wealth, it wouldn't be difficult to buy a seat now. If Lin Zhenxi really became a director of the Hero Association, she would have the ability to cause trouble for Tornado in the future. And as long as Tornado didn't choose to give up her status as a hero, she would have no way to deal with Lin Zhenxi, who was a director of the Hero Association.

However, Tornado didn't turn around and leave, as the incident here wasn't over yet. Since she was here, she might as well see what Lin Zhenxi was up to. Furthermore, Tornado was quite curious about Lin Zhenxi's ability. Once Lin Zhenxi was done with her work, she wouldn't have any reason to refuse a visit from the world's number one esper.

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