Chapter 293: The Two Swordsmen
"It's time to go home!"
Kenji Tanaka saved and uploaded the code with joy, then turned off the monitor and, as always, stuck a note on the screen that read: "This computer is running code, don't turn it off!"
Finally, he prepared to leave.
"Kenji! Are you interested in doing some team building this weekend?" an old colleague asked him.
"No! Not at all!"
Kenji Tanaka flatly refused.
He grabbed his backpack and ran to the subway.
"Hmph! A weekend team building? What's the difference between that and working overtime on the weekend? Oh, no, working overtime on the weekend gets paid."
A weekend team building? That's basically voluntary, unpaid overtime.
Kenji Tanaka didn't want to be taken advantage of. He'd rather stay at home reading manga, watching anime, and playing video games.
No way, not even the boss could tell him that!
He was so brave!
But the surge of office workers off duty on the weekend instantly deflated the brave Kenji Tanaka, making him look as unremarkable as Binbin.
"Ah, I'm finally out," Kenji Tanaka said, feeling finally refreshed after getting out of the subway.
As usual, he stopped at a newsstand near his house and quickly handed three large bills to the owner.
"Boss, I want the new issue of Manga World Gogo!"
After getting the long-awaited issue of Manga World Gogo, Kenji Tanaka happily returned home; both his boss and Kenji Tanaka were very happy.
He opened the magazine with excitement.
However, the first thing Kenji Tanaka saw was an announcement: "This issue of Fenghuangyuan has been hospitalized for overwork. Purple Air Coming from the East will be on a one-week hiatus. I wish Fenghuangyuan a speedy recovery."
"This issue of Purple Air Coming from the East will be replaced by Amamiya-sensei's new short story, Goodbye, Eri."
Kenji Tanaka, somewhat surprised by the announcement, said: "Fenghuangyuan is hospitalized."
Thinking about it, Fenghuangyuan was a model worker.
In the past twenty years, the series had rarely been put on hiatus, and the previous pauses were mainly due to vacations, illnesses, or family matters.
He's much more hardworking than some of those old thieves who often take a break to go out and collect material.
But...
"What is Ren's new short story?" Kenji Tanaka asked curiously. "Isn't Ren still serializing Parasyte? Does he really have time to draw a new manga?"
Thinking about it, Ren is a truly hardworking man in the industry.
He seems to have not even taken a break.
Thinking about it, it seemed that Ren had not taken a single break since his debut. Moreover, during the serialization of Chainsaw Man, he also published the complete manga series of Fire Punch.
However, manga fans like Kenji Tanaka believed that Fire Punch was a manga that Ren had finished a long time ago.
Perhaps he simply didn't succeed in the submission process, so it just sat there.
After all, although everyone considers Fire Punch to be Ren's true pinnacle, as a manga, it doesn't resemble a commercial work, but rather a niche and artistic one.
Therefore, its previous rejection was quite reasonable.
Even so, Ren has never taken a break since his debut, earning him the title of "model worker."
Even Yusuke Sato took occasional breaks while serializing The Gods.
Frequently, to be more precise.
This makes Ren's hard work even more remarkable.
"Forget it, let's read The Gods first, and then the other manga," Kenji Tanaka said with a sigh, flipping through the serialized version of the series. However, this episode of Parasyte started with a night driving scene.
The two characters in the scene had never appeared before.
A man and a woman. The man was driving along a coastal road.
And the woman... her expressionless features clearly indicated to the fans that she was a Parasite.
Sure enough, the woman soon revealed her true identity and attacked the man.
However... this Parasite didn't seem very smart, she didn't understand the purpose of her seatbelt, and she actually unbuckled it first.
And she didn't even wait for the man to stop before attacking.
Instead, they attacked directly in the car. The man, wounded and terrified, swerved the car, crashing it into the side of the road, which resulted in... a serious accident.
Without the protection of seatbelts or airbags, the parasite fell forward, shattering the car windows.
She also collapsed in a pool of blood, uttering her first painful groan: "My internal organs have been shattered. This body will soon die."
But she looked at the driver and asked: "Where is the man?"
The man, protected by seatbelts and airbags, had only been hit, with his body intact. Faced with the threat of death, the parasite had an idea: "I guess I can only transfer to this man. If I'm going to transfer, I have to transfer to his brain."
Unlike Migi, she had to claim control of the body.
"Anyway, controlling the body should be similar for men and women. Cut off the head, put it back on, and wake up..."
So she stepped forward and performed the "head transplant" with alacrity.
It was a little bold.
In Ren's previous life, the "head transplant surgery" was only a concept.
Rumors circulated that the first head transplant had already been performed, but it seemed that the patient did not survive.
"Wow! Is that even possible?" Kenji Tanaka thought, thinking it was crazy, and said: "This is going to go wrong! Sister, you don't even know if their blood types are compatible, let alone if you'll be rejected!"
But the parasite, faced with the threat of death, didn't care.
Besides, she certainly didn't seem as smart as Migi and Tamiya Ryoko.
This shows that even among parasites, there are different personalities.
Not all parasites are the same. There are calm and thoughtful parasites like Migi and Tamiya Ryoko, and there are also reckless ones like Mr. A, who act only on whim.
This parasite was not very smart, and after completing the "head transplant," something was not right. She hesitated to regain control of the man's body.
In the final scene, the man's hand throbbed slightly as she manipulated the blood vessels.
Then, the next scene changed to a completely new family.
He forgot that his parents were on a trip, so he was the only one at home, and no one woke him up, so he almost was late.
"Huh? Why didn't you wake me up?! Migi!"
Shinichi ran out, panicked, and said to Migi at the same time.
However, Migi replied: "It's because your body needs enough sleep, so you overslept. Getting enough rest is not a bad thing."
Kenji Tanaka, a little helpless upon seeing this, said: "Sleeping is important, of course, but education in the Republic doesn't allow students to get enough sleep."
Although it's a parallel world, the degree of educational involution in East Asia is still almost the same as in Ren's previous life.
Ren also made some adjustments. Every time Shinichi went to class, he left almost before dawn. The only good thing is that the Republic in this world has developed better, so people don't sleep as involuntarily after they go out to work.
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