Chapter 340: The Person Who

"In other words, about three years ago, agencies that used famous heroes as their brand began to appear in large numbers; everyone could call for help when encountering danger and receive designated rescue from those powerful heroes."

"Child Emperor, Metal Knight, Flashy Flash, and other S-Class Heroes successively left the 【Hero Association】 and began operating independently."

"In the year that followed, new hero agencies began to appear in large numbers, and the 【Hero Association】 began to lose sponsorship and decline, but at that time, powerful heroes like 【Tatsumaki of Terror】 would still mobilize."

"Afterward, a terrifying battle occurred; the sky was torn asunder, and some witnessed a giant that reached the heavens being shattered. Then, the number of monsters began to decrease, but the number of professional heroes, on the contrary, grew more and more..."

Lilith combed through the information provided by Ayase Seiko. She did not know why she was doing this, but after no longer feeling the chilling murderous intent from Tao Baibai, she realized that acting together with Tao Baibai was far more secure than being with 【Short Hair】, 【Luoka】, and the others.

She tried her best to make herself more useful.

While speaking, she glanced at Tao Baibai from the corner of her eye and found a smile on the corner of his mouth. Her heart was encouraged, and she combed through the information even more diligently.

"In the year and a half after that, veteran heroes were reported on less and less, while a large number of previously unknown new heroes occupied various videos and reports. Furthermore, hero agencies began charging fees, and the cost of seeking help kept rising."

"Then, half a year ago, the so-called 【Great Catastrophe】 event occurred. The event caused 【Seasoning City】 to turn into a Spirit World Infestation Zone, with less than 5% of the city's population surviving."

"In the half-year that followed, Spirit World infestation events began to occur everywhere; monsters and ghosts appeared in large numbers, and monsters also began to reappear constantly. This resulted in a considerable scale of professional hero deaths, and now many hero agencies have begun to refuse requests for help."

From this information, one could roughly discern the changes in this world and the movements of certain top-tier plot characters; it counted as very useful information.

Bai Cangshu had a strange smile. He had originally thought that the corruption of Kageyama Shigeo had caused this world to become what it was today, but looking at it now, Kageyama Shigeo's corruption was likely just one link in the world's transformation.

Behind this kind of change, a rather exquisite arrangement was hidden. The existence of 【Heroes】 was originally non-utilitarian and altruistic. Those heroes of the 【Hero Association】, although they enjoyed certain treatment, essentially, the treatment they enjoyed came from the sponsorship of sponsors.

It had no direct, equivalent relationship with them risking their lives to fight monsters and save civilians.

Just like a person who sees an injustice and draws their sword to help, and afterward, the person who received the help voluntarily provides some wealth to show gratitude.

In this act, the hero is definitely the one who sees the injustice and chooses to step in immediately; he does not know whether the other party will be grateful to him.

【Heroes】 are the product of a unique moral outlook generated by humans as social creatures. For those heroes, the most direct sense of fulfillment from engaging in hero activities comes from the reward of their own sense of morality.

But the professionalized heroes that appeared three years ago directly changed this process; they turned 【Heroes】 into a special profession, accepting rewards and striking down monsters.

At the very beginning, this behavioral pattern was difficult to distinguish from traditional classical heroism because the rewards were unclear, but at this point in time, the result was already obvious: these 【Professional Heroes】 had completely killed the existence of 【Heroes】.

If this was not an arrangement by the space, but rather a change made by some Reincarnator who had entered this world previously, then Bai Cangshu would almost want to applaud the other party.

This way of manipulating the world was far more exquisite than 【Heaven's Will】 or 【White Face】. The former relied on pure power, while the latter relied on the information attached to power, but this person's actions had absolutely no trace of power, yet they caused an unimaginable subversion of the world.

This influence would even have a huge impact on those plot characters who were too powerful for Reincarnators to face.

Bai Cangshu had just specifically inquired: the former strongest ace hero of the Hero Association, codenamed 【Tatsumaki of Terror】, had not appeared for a year and a half.

The B-Class hero codenamed 【Caped Baldy】 had also long been forgotten by society.

That set of S-Class, A-Class, and B-Class hero ratings had all been abandoned; the small B-Class hero had no news of him at all.

"Interesting—no, it's exquisite, an exquisite arrangement!"

Bai Cangshu's smile became somewhat distorted. The earring under his earlobe moved without wind. Even he had not thought that a Reincarnator could use this form to seal 【Saitama】 and 【Tatsumaki】, these monsters.

He had a feeling that this change was intentionally done by a Reincarnator so that this world could become a place where Reincarnators could hunt.

"You, are you strong?"

A hoarse voice, a tone without any fluctuation; just hearing the voice, one knew that this person's heart was already a dead silence.

Reigen Arataka turned his head at some unknown moment. Sunlight shone from behind him; against the light, this man's face was even more gloomy.

He dropped his cigarette and entered the room with an almost crawling motion. Ayase Seiko frowned; she felt that this depressed man was like a living corpse.

Reigen Arataka was a man who could do everything except use superpowers. He was very good at observing people and very good at guessing the psychology of others.

He came before Bai Cangshu, squatted down, looked levelly at the face of Bai Cangshu who was sitting on the ground, and then nodded, answering his own question.

"Mm, you are strong, at least you think you are strong yourself, and that little girl also thinks you are strong..."

As if to deepen his own confidence, he nodded in agreement with his own analysis.

"The one who called me for help from that restricted zone was not you, but you relied on your own ability to escape. You are not one of those pieces of trash who package themselves as heroes with money."

"Then, may I entrust you with a request, great hero?"

【You have triggered the hidden main quest: Tragedy of the Spirit World】

【Task Description: The individual named Kageyama Shigeo has completely gone berserk and lost control, transforming into the unidentified???. His master, Reigen Arataka, requests that you end the chaos caused by???】

【Task Reward: According to the completion rate, obtain a Singularity ranging from a minimum of B-rank to a maximum of S-rank, and obtain 1 Bloodline Item of corresponding quality】

【Failure Penalty: None】

Lilith looked at the space prompt that had also appeared before her eyes. This was the first time she had seen such a high reward, and there was no penalty at all.

"To actually ask someone else to kill one's own disciple, what a cruel master-disciple relationship..."

Hearing Bai Cangshu's sarcasm, Reigen Arataka shook his head and said hoarsely,

"No, that is not Kageyama Shigeo, that is not that child..."

"Only by defeating that monster... can I find that child back..."

Bai Cangshu thought for a moment, then confirmed with Lilith,

"You have the ability to find anyone, right."

Lilith nodded, but still added,

"There is a certain margin of error, but if there is enough time, I can always find them..."

Bai Cangshu then accepted this commission.

He already had a rough understanding of this world and also had a plan for the subsequent actions.

To complete this hidden main quest with rich rewards relatively safely, there was basically only one way, and that was to find Saitama, who did not know where he was at this moment, and find a way to make him cooperate with the action.

As it happened, after Bai Cangshu himself realized that this world had a connection to the 【One Punch Man】 world, the greed in his heart was almost impossible to restrain.

Unlike the worlds with relatively lower difficulty that he had experienced before, there were many powerful things in the 【One Punch Man】 world, especially the special setting called 【Limiter】.

That was a powerful force that surpassed any item or ability he had seen so far.

He wanted it; he wanted it very much!

Bai Cangshu's eyes revealed a look of greed, and the shadow under his feet also seemed to no longer be in human shape.

Ayase Seiko slowly stood up; she had already realized that this guy was definitely not a good person.

Ring, ring.

The phone rang at this moment; the woman picked it up, and a somewhat hurried voice came from inside.

"Help, there's a monster, there's a monster here!"

Amidst the chaotic cries for help, Ayase Seiko, who had also registered as a Professional Hero, asked for the location while picking up her magical artifact, ready to head out.

Pfft!

A golden ray of light pierced through the floor; Ayase Seiko felt a jolt in her heart, turned her head, and saw the man she had brought home wearing a cruel smile at the corners of his mouth.

"Sorry, could you leave this job to me?"

"As compensation for sparing your life, how about letting this rescue mission be the debut show for a new hero?"

"A hero?"

Ayase Seiko could not understand Bai Cangshu; she did not understand why he spoke of sparing her life when the two had no grudges and were even meeting for the first time, nor could she understand why, even after she had said that 【Hero】 was now a profession spat upon by others, he still spoke of becoming a hero.

Bai Cangshu spread his hands, his expression strange.

"That's right, I'm planning to become a... hero for fun!"

With a flash of light, a slender blue and white single-person speedboat appeared at the doorway; Bai Cangshu stepped onto it, then signaled with his eyes for that Reincarnator who claimed to possess a special ability for finding people to stand on it.

He already had a plan; whether it was the space or some Reincarnator of great wisdom, the other party's series of operations had thoroughly killed the Concept of 【Hero】, so he would now do the opposite and make 【Hero】 revive once again.

Only in that way would he have the opportunity to make 【Caped Baldy】 reappear.

(End of this chapter)