Chapter 382: Saitama's Choice

"Teacher, why are we still here?"

Genos was also wearing a yellow apron at this moment, continuously restocking sold-out items on the Supermarket shelves alongside Saitama.

It seemed that because of the increase in various incidents recently, many people had begun to panic and were hoarding all kinds of supplies.

Business at the Supermarket was exceptionally good at this time.

Various data points constantly appeared in Genos's electronic eyes; he performed this kind of work far more like a veteran than Saitama did.

The locations and prices of various goods—as long as he had seen them once, he would not make a mistake again.

On the contrary, Saitama, who had been working here for some time, frequently rubbed his head, as if lost in thought.

Faced with Genos's question, Saitama stopped once again.

That's right, why was he doing these things here again...

He felt that he had probably forgotten something, but that matter probably wasn't very important, so he didn't feel particularly troubled.

After just a brief pause, he continued working; he looked back and saw the "big gift package" the store manager had left for him in the staff breakroom.

Those were many items nearing their expiration date; they were still within the shelf life, but not ideal for sale, so they were usually sold at a discount.

But after learning of Saitama's situation, the store manager would always pack these things up for him to take home when he got off work.

Saitama paused again.

The store manager's behavior was indeed very thoughtful, that was true, but it always felt... a bit strange.

Saitama couldn't say exactly what was strange about it, but he always felt that he didn't like this kind of "convenience" all that much.

He suddenly sat down cross-legged between two shelves; the customers coming and going saw this employee sitting down, but they only frowned and walked around these two rows of shelves to shop elsewhere.

Saitama, with his "dead fish eyes," watched this scene as well.

Even though he had done such a thing, it seemed that it hadn't caused any inconvenience to everyone; they just took a slight detour and continued on with their own lives.

Whether he stood here or sat here, whether he did this kind of work or didn't do it, it wouldn't have any impact on these people...

He looked at the large bag of "benefits" again and suddenly realized where the point he vaguely disliked lay.

In the past, perhaps a very long time ago, among those feelings he had slowly forgotten, there was the joy of rushing to buy things at a discount supermarket.

But now, he didn't need to pay attention to those things anymore, he didn't need to clear his schedule, and he didn't need to compete with those middle-aged women to buy things.

This kind of "convenience" had made many of his actions unnecessary.

He didn't need to do that kind of thing, he didn't need to do this kind of thing, but... what should he be doing?

Saitama suddenly realized that, without knowing it, he had been robbed of many things by these 【conveniences】, and because it had been so long, he had grown accustomed to it and hadn't even realized what he had lost.

Saitama suddenly stood up and looked around; he remembered that television program in J City again.

He saw on that television that a child was being held in the air by something, struggling frantically, but he couldn't hear any sound.

And then, who was it, Peach? Forget it, never mind, anyway, it was that someone who saved the child.

That woman said that many of them were calling for help, were calling out for a hero.

But... he hadn't heard them...

"Hey, Genos."

"Yes, Teacher?"

"Use those eyes of yours to take a look—how many people are calling for help recently?"

Genos looked at his teacher, confused, but still accessed the data; soon, he spoke.

"Today, the number of calls for help made to various Hero Agencies and attempts to dial the original Hero Association number is 135,764, an increase of about 3% compared to yesterday."

Hearing this number, Saitama still didn't have much of a real sense of it.

"Have you heard them, their calls for help?"

Genos nodded.

"Of course, Teacher. I go out on missions an average of 31 times per week."

Saitama stood where he was, looking at the goods in his hands and the employee uniform on his body; he suddenly thought of that weak, crying face once again.

The person who, when saying they were going to die, truly prayed with all their might—whether it was to a god, a hero, or anyone at all—to save them.

He wanted to hear what kind of tone the other party used to call for help from him, that he couldn't hear it?

Saitama took off his employee uniform and said calmly,

"Forget it, Genos, let's go."

"My working hours should be over~"

He then stepped forward and walked outside.

The chubby store manager immediately walked over from the front; he wasn't angry, but he blocked Saitama's path and asked in confusion,

"What's wrong, Saitama-kun? Are you dissatisfied with the work here?"

"In fact, I have other stores next door as well."

Saitama continued forward.

"If you're dissatisfied with the pay, we can talk about it..."

Genos watched this scene strangely; could it be that his teacher's work ability was so strong that the boss couldn't bear to let him go?

But looking at the two shelves where Saitama had been, they were still missing many items.

His teacher's work ability was truly something he couldn't even praise.

Then... why...

Saitama suddenly turned his head, looked at the boss who had always had a kind face, and said calmly,

"I don't want to work anymore. I want to go do something else."

He stepped toward the outside once again.

Rip!

The lights inside the Supermarket suddenly began to Flash, and under the flickering light, the kind boss's face also shifted between cold indifference and kindness.

He suddenly sighed and spoke,

"Why, Saitama-kun? Clearly, with an existence like yours, you should understand that for you, this world has no meaning."

"No human would care about graffiti on a beach."

"No deity would dwell for long in a temple worshipped by humans."

"You are the same..."

Saitama saw the Supermarket boss's face constantly changing, and his temperament was also altering.

He shook his head, not wanting to engage in a pointless argument, because he himself did not understand what he wanted to do in the future, but the only thing he could be certain of was that, at this very moment, he wanted to hear that sound once more.

Ssh-la!

Outside the Supermarket, lightning descended from Heaven.

The surrounding space began to distort, the lights inside the Supermarket extinguished completely, and Genos suddenly discovered he could not see his surroundings at all.

Even after activating infrared thermal sensing, he could not detect the existence of anything.

He tried to speak, but could no longer emit a sound.

Saitama was the same; he realized everything around him had vanished.

"Saitama-kun, you should be familiar with this environment; only this Empty void is the dwelling that can ultimately contain you..."

That voice continued to ring out, and Saitama suddenly spoke to interrupt.

"You, you're so noisy."

He extended his fist, aimed it forward, and threw a punch.

Crack~

The sound of space cracking rang out.

Following that, Bang!

The pitch-black space exploded, and the Supermarket had already vanished.

Saitama looked around; he was standing in the middle of the road.

There was no Supermarket at all, and Genos also looked at him in a daze.

Beep-beep, beep-beep~

Genos's communicator rang incessantly; after he connected, a familiar voice sounded from within.

"This is Fubuki, a destructive disaster has occurred in J City!"

"No, it's not just J City; many people in other regions have turned into monsters, the gods may have awakened!"

"Ah!"

Fubuki exclaimed in shock.

Saitama bent his knees and stomped with force.

Bang!

The entire city block shattered with a roar, and his figure had already vanished.

——

Almost at the instant Saitama broke that Supermarket, several people reacted simultaneously.

The Spirit World Evil Lord 【???】 roared in anger, and ignoring Tatsumaki entirely, tore open the Spirit World and vanished, heading who knows where.

And beneath the desert on the outskirts of Z City, the man standing within that massive ruin also had various streams of information flowing through his eyes.

He shook his head and sighed, then withdrew the hand he had inserted into the ruin.

"That is Shuming... Saitama, you have chosen this ending after all."

Above Z City, Bai Cangshu, who had been in a state of Super Limit Spiral the entire time, also sensed at this moment that a 【Message】 of complexity far exceeding everyone else had appeared somewhere in the desert.

Compared to it, if the information emitted by the 【Sage】 was as simple as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, then this 【Message】 was as obscure as higher mathematics.

"That is... the Supreme Powerhouse?!"

(End of this chapter)