City Y's Seventh Research Institute sits on the outskirts of the city, a vast, futuristic complex of silvery-white buildings that stands in sharp contrast to the surrounding ruins.
This is one of the Hero Association's top technology R&D centers, under the full charge of Child Emperor.
The car carrying Lin Mo rolled to a smooth stop at the institute's gate. Before the door had even fully opened, a figure came shooting over like a shell fired from a cannon.
With a lollipop in his mouth and his signature giant backpack on his back, he wore the excited look of someone meeting his idol.
"Uncle KING! You finally came! I've been waiting forever!"
Child Emperor's voice was clear and bright, brimming with enthusiasm.
Lin Mo stepped out of the car and quietly took stock of his surroundings.
He knew that in this world of One Punch Man he'd crossed into, the level of technology far surpassed that of his original world.
After all, monsters here appeared in an endless stream, greatly spurring technological development.
Yet since arriving, everything he'd encountered in daily life—grocery shopping, utilities in his apartment—was no different from his original world, making him all but forget the massive technological gap between the two.
Only upon seeing this grand, futuristic complex with his own eyes did Lin Mo truly realize that the technology of this world is indeed advanced—it just hasn't filtered down to ordinary life yet.
Led by Child Emperor, Lin Mo passed through several heavy alloy gates and identity checkpoints and entered the institute's core area.
It was like stepping onto the set of a massive sci-fi film.
Countless robotic arms swung through the air; holographic displays flashed with all sorts of information he couldn't understand; strange, oddly shaped instruments hummed with a faint buzz.
"Whoa! KING!"
A voice he couldn't be more familiar with rang out from not far away.
Lin Mo looked over. His gaze passed a few robots and finally landed on a bald man in a drab yellow hero suit.
The man was sitting rather unceremoniously on a sturdy lab table, chewing hard on a piece of beef jerky. When he saw Lin Mo, his face lit up with delight.
Standing near him were several heroes Lin Mo vaguely recognized.
A-Class Rank 37 "Sneck," dressed in a suit made from the hide of a serpent-type monster, his expression deadly serious; A-Class Rank 13 "Great Philosopher," whose very face exuded philosophical vibes; and B-Class Rank 50 "Flame Dragon," a youth in heavy armor with a scar on his face.
"Saitama? What are you doing here?" Lin Mo was a little surprised.
Since the meteor crisis last time, both Genos and Saitama's hero rankings had risen markedly.
On the strength of his outstanding performance in that crisis, Genos had moved up one slot from the bottom of S-Class to Rank 16.
Saitama, meanwhile, had rocketed up from the tail end of A-Class, finally settling at A-Class Rank 25.
"Still being credited as picking up the slack work?" Lin Mo sighed, feeling a bit aggrieved on Saitama's behalf.
This time, though, Lin Mo was wrongly blaming the Association brass.
They weren't all blind. The surveillance satellites had clearly captured the crucial image of Saitama shattering the meteor's core with a single punch; add to that a personal recommendation from "the strongest man on the surface," KING, and the weight could hardly be greater.
Although some conservatives in the internal promotion meeting insisted he needed a longer period of observation and review, a proposal to fast-track him into S-Class was already in preparation.
A-Class Rank 25 was just a springboard for the transition.
"Ah, I'd just dropped Genos off with Dr. Kuseno for repairs, and the Association called me."
Saitama swallowed his jerky and explained through a full mouth, "Said some—what's his name… Tong-di? Anyway, he said he's got some newly developed combat robots and wants me to help test their performance. Lunch included."
He pointed at Child Emperor—who twitched at being called by the wrong name but forced himself to hold it in—without a care.
Child Emperor took a deep breath and swiftly suppressed the flicker of displeasure.
With his idol present, he couldn't lose his composure.
He ran up to KING again, tilted his head back, and proudly pointed to the equipment all around as he introduced:
"Uncle KING, welcome to my lab! Look, over there are my newest 'Houndman'-series combat robots. They've got ultra-strong tracking and coordinated-combat capabilities!"
He pointed to a backpack presently auto-dressing a dummy model:
"And this is my in-development 'Fully Automated Battle-Suit Stowage Backpack.' Press one button and it completes battle-suit donning and weapon loadout in three seconds, cutting down hero deployment prep time drastically!"
Child Emperor walked as he spoke, going on at length—from the theoretical model of a high-energy particle compression cannon to the latest progress on a single-soldier anti-gravity flight wing, his eyes alight with scientific fervor.
Lin Mo "listened intently," occasionally offering cooperative "mm"s and "oh"s, wearing the look of someone thinking things over.
In truth, he didn't understand a single one of those technical terms.
Saitama, for his part, yawned massively. These theories that sounded like clouds and fog were nowhere near as interesting to him as the supermarket's bargain day.
At last Child Emperor led them into the lab's core area.
Inside a glass cover lay a strangely shaped mask.
It was an odd mask of unknown material with a warm grayish-white sheen.
The mask bore a grotesque, twisted female face: four pairs of unevenly sized eyes arranged symmetrically, the corners of the mouth slightly upturned in a weird smile.
"This is it!" Child Emperor took it out and announced proudly. "I call it the 'Ugly Woman Mask'! I invented it on a sudden inspiration a few days ago."
"As long as it scans a face, it can analyze that person's muscle mass and neural development, precisely measure the wearer's raw physical strength, and quantify it!"
He paused, licked his lollipop with excitement, then turned to the others, eyes bright.
"The Association's existing stamina tests are too crude and primitive—they're behind the times!"
"This invention is to build a more precise combat-power data model for the Hero Association! And you are the ones I asked the Association to invite for data collection! Thanks for the help, everyone!"
"Sounds like a pain…" Saitama muttered under his breath, picking his ear.
"Then, testing begins!" Ignoring Saitama's complaint, Child Emperor raised the Ugly Woman Mask and first aimed it at the most stern-faced person present—Sneck.
"We'll start with you, Mr. Sneck, A-Class Rank 37."
-------
Enjoying the story? Support the author and get access to early chapters by joining my Patreon!
Find me at My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (180 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (110 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (190 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (78 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (130 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (80 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (140 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (50 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (60 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (70 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it