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"Ah! KING, I died again!"
Saitama stared blankly at the ceiling, as if his soul had been completely drained (╥_╥).
"You definitely secretly increased the difficulty, didn't you? And you lied to me, saying you'd already lowered it!" Saitama glared at Lin Mo with a resentful look.
"I can't even beat the monsters in the starter village! Isn't this supposed to be for players to get familiar with the controls? Is this reasonable?!"
Lin Mo was currently trying to suppress the twitching at the corners of his mouth, striving to maintain his composed image (⊙o⊙).
He glanced at the game screen, where the character representing Saitama was lying on the ground in an extremely humiliating posture, with a large "GAME OVER!" displayed on the screen.
"Cough..." Lin Mo cleared his throat, trying to hide his amusement.
"Saitama-kun, it's you... How did you manage to precisely get hit by every single skill from the small monsters, perfectly miss all of your own skills, and ultimately get relentlessly beaten to death..."
Lin Mo even suspected that if Saitama's gameplay was recorded and uploaded online, it would definitely go viral with the title "Human's Most Confusing Actions Award."
"Hey, hey, you were just making fun of me, weren't you!" Saitama demanded angrily.
"No, I'm just admiring, admiring Saitama-kun for reaching a peak in another field that ordinary people cannot achieve," Lin Mo said earnestly.
"Really? As expected, I'm quite talented then!" Saitama instantly revived, snatching the controller back, his eyes fixed on the screen, "Watch me this time, I'll definitely defeat this annoying guy!"
Lin Mo shook his head helplessly. It seemed Saitama really had no talent for gaming... ---
Inside an unknown house in D City.
"My goal is... to become The Strongest Man on Earth!"
A shirtless man with bulging muscles was frantically doing bench presses, muttering to himself:
"Becoming the strongest is my only, ultimate dream!"
Directly in front of him, a huge poster hung on the wall. The image on the poster was the promotional advertisement KING had shot last time.
KING in the photo had a stern expression and deep eyes, exuding an aura of looking down on the world with just a standing pose. Beside him, there were several large, flowing characters—"KING, The Strongest Man on Earth!"
Looking at the stern-faced man in the poster, he once again firmed his belief and shouted:
"You just wait, KING! I will definitely surpass you! I will stand at the pinnacle of the world!"
Just then, from the other end of the basement, a makeshift laboratory filled with various beakers, test tubes, and precision instruments, a shriek of ecstatic joy erupted.
"Ultimate Steroid, Biceps King, finally—finally completed!"
A scrawny man in a white lab coat and thick goggles excitedly held up a vial filled with a viscous, strawberry-colored liquid.
He happily ran to his brother, who was exercising, and handed him the sweet-smelling potion, his voice full of pride:
"Brother! Drink it! Drink this, and the absolute power you've always dreamed of will be yours instantly!"
"Considering your taste, I even specially made it strawberry flavored!"
His brother's expression showed emotion.
"Brother..." His voice was hoarse with excitement.
Without the slightest hesitation, he snatched the potion, named "Biceps King," and swallowed it in one gulp.
Instantly, an unimaginable torrent of scorching heat surged from his throat into his stomach, then detonated!
"Ah ah ah ah—!"
His brother's body began to swell rapidly at a visible speed, and the already tight athletic vest he wore was completely torn apart.
"It worked! It worked!" His brother watched the scene before him, not with fear, but with even more maniacal laughter.
Just before his brother's body completely destroyed the basement, he agilely leaped onto his brother's now mountain-wide shoulder.
---
The scene shifts to D City's downtown.
His brother had transformed into a colossal behemoth, blotting out the sky.
The skyscrapers, hundreds of meters tall, were as fragile as children's building blocks before him, not even reaching his knees.
He simply took one casual step.
"Boom—Rumble—!"
A street was reduced to ruins, leaving only a deep footprint.
"Hahaha, the potion works! My research is flawless!" His brother stood on the giant brother's shoulder, spreading his arms to the high-altitude winds, shouting excitedly.
"With your ultimate body and my unparalleled ultimate brain, we brothers will conquer everything in the world!"
The giant brother felt the surging, immense power within him, raised his arm, and casually swung it.
Boom, rumble, rumble!
The immense wind pressure formed an invisible shockwave, sweeping across one high-rise after another.
Previously sturdy reinforced concrete was as fragile as paper before the wind pressure. In an instant, the once prosperous and bustling city center was transformed into a desolate ruin.
"That's right... This is the power I want!" The giant brother said excitedly.
He looked down at the city, tiny as a sandbox model beneath his feet, and his excitement grew even more.
"Even that so-called 'The Strongest Man on Earth' KING, in the face of this absolute power, is nothing more than an ant that can be crushed with a flick of the wrist!"
"Well done! My brother!" His brother's eyes gleamed. He pointed into the distance, giving the next command.
"After crushing everything here, we'll go to the next city! Let the whole world tremble before our power!"
---
Hero Association Headquarters.
Around a massive circular conference table, a group of the Association's core executives sat, their faces etched with solemnity and horror, the atmosphere so oppressive it felt as if water could drip from it.
"Latest report! The damaged area in D City has exceeded eighty percent... No, just updated, it's eighty-three percent! And, that giant is moving towards C City..."
The voice of a staff member responsible for intelligence reports trembled. On the screen in front of him, real-time footage from a high-altitude drone was playing.
"Damn it! Where did this monster come from?" An executive angrily slammed his fist on the table.
"That's not the priority right now!" A chubby but sharp-eyed executive said in a deep voice.
"Immediately sound the alarm! Notify all S-Class Heroes to head to the target location! At the same time, use all propaganda channels to urgently evacuate all citizens in the giant's path! At all costs!"
He took a deep breath and made the final decision:
"This disaster will be designated as—'Dragon' level!"
"Dragon" level! The word struck like a heavy hammer, pounding on the hearts of everyone present.
This meant that the incident could lead to the destruction of several cities, and it was currently the highest level of disaster alert.
Everyone's hearts tightened, then they stood up abruptly and responded loudly: "Understood!"