Chapter 16: Zero's Hunting Moment

Bang!

Crack!

An evil demon preparing to prey was pressed to the ground by Zero with a turn and his mechanical left hand. His head was squeezed into the ground, his skull made a crisp cracking sound, and blood burst out.

"You're really brave! Daring to prey on even me! I really don't know if you are fearless or ignorant?!"

Looking at the demon whose head was squeezed and exploded by his mechanical left hand, Zero showed a look of disdain.

After leaving Mount Yunxue, he rode his motorcycle back to his jurisdiction. It was already night. He retracted the motorcycle into his nano-space and was about to patrol when he felt something staring at him from behind.

He simply pretended not to know anything and lured him into a quiet little corner.

Finally, the demon thought Zero was at a dead end and attacked from behind, but he didn't expect Zero to just turn around, grab his head, and press it into the ground with a sudden force.

Looking at the slowly regenerating demon, Zero didn't stop him, just stood on the side with his arms crossed over his chest and watched quietly.

The regenerated demon stood up, stared at Zero fiercely, and shouted: "You damn human, daring to be so rude to me, I must slowly swallow you bite by bite!"

Zero: "Is this your last word?"

Bang!

Instantly flashing in front of the demon, his head was pressed into the ground again, bursting like a watermelon.

Then he used his half-metal high-top boots to keep stepping on the demon.

"You're very brave!"

"You're very powerful!"

"Try being fierce again!"

"You're also worthy of being fierce to me!"

"You don't even look in the mirror!"

"You don't even look at what you are!"

"You don't even look at how ugly you are!"

He stepped on him every time he said a word, and finally took out the first form of the 【Dark Alloy Type IV】 from his nano-space, sliced the demon into pieces, and turned him into ashes...

"Haa~ continue patrolling!"

After solving the demon, he walked straight along this road. Any demon he encountered was tied up, beaten up, and then his neck was cut off.

As for the demons hiding, Zero directly turned on the infrared scan of the 【Analysis Glasses】 to find him, then knocked him out, dragged the demon's leg to the small woods, and tied him to a tree...

Time passed in the blink of an eye for half a month.

In this half month, he constantly cleared demons in his jurisdiction, and his messenger crow, Xue, was quietly resting on a tree. The number of times it returned to the Demon Slayer Corps to report became less and less because it was not needed at all.

Its master was either clearing demons or on the way to clear demons. Yesterday it was the village in the east, the day before yesterday it was the village in the west...

Even if the Demon Slayer Corps had missions, they were already completed before they reached his hands. He only needed to send the hidden attendants to do the aftermath.

From reporting once a day to reporting once every three days, and now there was no need to continue reporting.

So it decided: lie flat!

Now, Zero was sitting on a tree branch with his right leg crossed over his left leg, swinging back and forth, holding a notebook and pen in his hand, seemingly recording something.

And under the tree where he was sitting, there was a demon who had just been tied up, still in a dazed state from being knocked out...

"Hmm... I wonder how Muzan turns people into demons?"

After thinking about it, he finally came to a guess: blood!

"If it's really Muzan's blood that can turn people into demons, then if he gives more blood, will they be stronger?"

Recalling the Upper Moon Two, Dōma, he met when saving Kochō Kanae, he felt that although his strength was not as powerful as those exotic beasts in the starry sky, it was very powerful for this world.

"Twelve Kizuki... Upper Moon... Lower Moon... How exactly are their strengths ranked?"

Opening a new page of the notebook, he wrote 【Kibutsuji Muzan】, drew a line below the name, and wrote 【Subordinates: Twelve Kizuki】.

"Upper Moon demon... Lower Moon demon... Twelve... Could it be twelve Upper Moon demons and twelve Lower Moon demons?... No, no! I seem to have ignored something?"

Zero suddenly remembered the two Lower Moon demons he met when he first came to this world, Lower Moon Three—Hairo, Lower Moon Four—Mukago.

And a few days later he met Upper Moon Two, so Zero made another guess: Twelve Kizuki should be divided into Upper Six and Lower Six.

So he drew six lines below the 【Twelve Kizuki】 text, and wrote under each line: Upper Moon One, Upper Moon Two, Upper Moon Three, Upper Moon Four, Upper Moon Five, Upper Moon Six.

After thinking about it, he wrote at a distance below each corresponding 【Upper Moon】 text: Lower Moon One, Lower Moon Two, Lower Moon Three, Lower Moon Four, Lower Moon Five, Lower Moon Six.

"The two Lower Moon demons I met at that time only had two characters in their eyes, for example, Lower Moon Three, the eyes only had the 【Lower Three】 characters. But the Upper Moon Two I met later had 【Upper Moon】 engraved on the left eye and 【Two】 engraved on the right eye... What does this represent?"

"Or what does this represent...? If it is said that Kibutsuji Muzan's blood is needed to turn people into demons, then to join the Twelve Kizuki, how much of Muzan's blood is in the body... Wait! If calculated this way, doesn't it mean that the Twelve Kizuki also possess the ability to turn people into demons?!"

He seemed to have guessed something. If Kibutsuji Muzan only needs his own blood to turn people into demons, then as a member of the Twelve Kizuki, their bodies must also contain a large amount of Kibutsuji Muzan's blood.

Calculated according to this trend, couldn't the Twelve Kizuki also turn people into demons?!

"If it's really as I guessed, then the Lower Moon demons among the Twelve Kizuki should be the beginning! It represents the beginning of ordinary demons joining the Lower Moon of the Twelve Kizuki!"

"If it's really like this, then the Lower Moon demons are calculated by strength, Lower Moon Six is the weakest, Lower Moon One is the strongest! And the Upper Moon demons are also like this, Upper Moon Six is the weakest, Upper Moon One is the strongest!"

"Not only that! Lower Moon demons and Upper Moon demons cannot be compared at all!"

Judging from the situation of fighting Lower Moon demons and Upper Moon demons before, the strength of the Upper and Lower Moons is not in the same dimension at all, which can be said to be an insurmountable watershed.

"And with Kibutsuji Muzan's personality, he certainly wouldn't want to see subordinates stronger than himself, and he must do something!? For example... just like the curse Ubuyashiki Kagaya suffered, a curse in the blood?"

"Sigh... it's really troublesome. Forget it, it seems that if there is a chance in the future, I will collect the blood of Upper Moon demons or Lower Moon demons to analyze..."

Just as he was about to put the notebook and pen back into his nano-space, the tied demon woke up, found himself tied up, and screamed!

"Ah! Damn it! Who is it?!"

"So noisy! What are you screaming about!!" Zero jumped down from the tree branch, came to the tied demon, and gave him a slap directly.

Slap!

A loud slap rang out, and the demon looked at Zero in a daze, not knowing what had just happened?!

"You damn human! I must eat you..."

Slap!

The demon just finished speaking, and Zero gave him another slap directly.

"It's really noisy! Isn't it good to wait quietly to be burned to death by the sun? Why do you have to scream here!"

The demon was slapped on both sides of his face, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. Just as he was about to scream, he was punched in the mouth by Zero before he could scream, his teeth were knocked out, and even a few teeth were swallowed by the demon himself.

"Really, isn't it good to be quiet?! Why do you have to yell!"

The demon, whose teeth were knocked out, stared at Zero fiercely.

Zero looked at this look and greeted him with two more punches, turning into two big black eyes.

Finally, the demon couldn't stand it anymore and shouted: "Muzan-sama!"

Bang! Bang!

Two alien arms popped out of the demon's body, and Zero was also surprised by this series of operations, and his figure quickly retreated a short distance.

I saw those two alien arms, one grabbing the demon's head and one pinching his body, instantly squeezed and exploded! Turned into ashes and dissipated in the air.

Seeing this situation, Zero fell into deep thought. When the demon shouted Kibutsuji Muzan's name just now, he died like this. Are other demons like this too?

"It seems that my guess just now was correct. Sure enough, Muzan put a curse in his own blood. As long as you shout his name, you will die! But... I don't think the Twelve Kizuki will be like this? After all, they are Kibutsuji Muzan's direct subordinates!"

"I guess this should be aimed at those lower-level demons!"

Write a note in the notebook: Ordinary demons shouting the name 【Kibutsuji Muzan】 will die! Then put the notebook and pen back into the nano-space.

"Sigh, forget it, it's almost dawn, let's go back to the Demon Slayer Corps and study slowly! Xue, we should go back!"

The messenger crow Xue, who was resting on the tree, heard its master's shout, flew down and landed on Zero's shoulder, and left here.

Walking and walking, he came to a fork in the road, and Zero suddenly realized a very serious problem. He remembered that there was no such fork in the road when he came.

Turning his head and asking the messenger crow Xue on his shoulder: "Xue, I remember there was no such fork in the road when we came!"

The messenger crow Xue saw this and said: "Master, you went the wrong way. You should go back, so you can return to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters."

"Eh..." Zero only then remembered that he had been clearing demons in a straight line for the past half month. Then, logically, if he wanted to go back, he could just go back in a straight line...

"Alright, my fault... then let's go back, and by the way, see if there are any demons left out, and clear them again! Anyway, I have to go back. And according to this distance, it will take about half a month to go back, just in time to help the lord with the second treatment."

Just like that, Zero turned back and walked back in a straight line. He didn't intend to ride a motorcycle back to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters. After all, if he walked too fast, he would definitely miss some demons who were doing evil.

So, he started the hunting moment again. Those demons never expected that Zero would walk back, and before they could hide, they were picked out.

Even if they were all hidden, they didn't know what method the demon slayer used to accurately find their hiding place.

Then they were caught and made a choice: either be beheaded directly, or be sliced.

Those who wanted to resist were beaten up with bruised noses and swollen faces or missing arms and legs.

Every time before they died, they were drained of a lot of blood, feeling as if their bodies were hollowed out.

If it was just like this, it would be fine. What made the demons feel even more desperate was that even during the day, the demon slayer would look everywhere for places where they could hide from the sun.

Then he fired a shot, making their bodies paralyzed, foaming at the mouth, and twitching incessantly! Finally, he dragged their legs and dragged them out, threw them under the sun, and burned them to death directly...

Now the area under Zero's jurisdiction is a safe zone for people and a dangerous area for demons.

The messenger crow Xue already felt that there was no need to go back to help Zero pick up missions. After all, every time a mission was just delivered, those evil demons were left with only a pile of ashes...

Except for Ubuyashiki Kagaya wanting to hold a meeting.

Zero's residence.

Xiao Yue was sitting depressed in the renovated residence room, supporting her chin with both hands, sitting cross-legged on the cushion.

On the large cushion, Xiao Yue sat there, her small body looking like a figure, staying there quietly.

"Stinky Master, bad Master, it's been more than half a month, why haven't you come back yet?! I'm so angry! Stinky Master, stinky Master!!! Hmph!"

"Ara, little Yue-chan, what's wrong? Who made you angry?" Kochō Kanae appeared behind Xiao Yue at some point, knelt down, and picked up Xiao Yue in her palms.

For more than half a month, Kochō Kanae would come to Zero's residence from time to time after completing missions, and occasionally bring Kochō Shinobu with her, under the name of coming to take a look, but only Kochō Kanae knew what she was thinking.

Seeing the interior of Zero's residence for the first time, Kochō Kanae and Kochō Shinobu were also amazed. It was antique, looked very pleasing to the eye, and could also smell a special fragrance, making people feel relaxed and happy.

"Little Yue-chan, tell me, who made you angry? I'll vent your anger for you!"

"It's little Kanae-chan~ No, it's just that my master hasn't come back yet, I'm a little sad..."

Speaking of this, Xiao Yue puffed out her mouth.

"Huhu~ Alright, alright, little Yue-chan, Zero is just on a mission, he will probably be back soon, don't be angry, okay?"

"Little Kanae-chan, do you... like my master? You're speaking for him so much!"

Kochō Kanae, whose inner thoughts were exposed by Xiao Yue, heard this and a faint blush appeared on her cheeks involuntarily. She hurriedly explained: "No... no such thing... little Yue-chan, you... you you... don't talk nonsense..."

When saying this, Kochō Kanae looked somewhat flustered, not daring to look into Xiao Yue's eyes, and hurriedly turned her face away.

Seeing this, Xiao Yue's tone was somewhat teasing: "Ho~ so that's how it is~ Hehee~"

"I... I have something to do, I'll go first..." Kochō Kanae hurriedly placed Xiao Yue on the cushion gently, covered her face, and ran away in a panic.

"Cut, if you like him, just say it, why hide it?! Only that big blockhead Master doesn't understand what's going on!"

Thinking of these, her gaze turned to the door again: "Hmph! Stinky Master, if you don't come back, I'll tell little Kanae-chan all your embarrassing things!"

Zero, who was on his way back, suddenly sneezed inexplicably and felt a chill.

"Achoo! Strange, who is talking about me?"

Thinking about it, he couldn't think of any reason, so he just continued on his way...

In the blink of an eye, another half month passed.

At night, Zero was slowly chasing an evil demon who was running away in front.

The demon was running with all his might, looking back at what was behind him from time to time, only to find that the demon slayer was still chasing him, and had to use all his strength to continue running again.

As for the reason, it was naturally because the demon was about to attack two children who were going home, but was discovered by Zero, scaring him into running away.

The running demon suddenly stopped and didn't continue to run, because in front of him was a cliff, so he had to stop.

"Little demon brat, you can really run! Hehehe..."

The demon turned his head, only to see those scarlet eyes radiating weird red light, slowly approaching him. Looking at those eyes, his whole body couldn't stop trembling.

Zero walked to the demon, stopped three or four meters away, drew the 【Dark Alloy Paralysis Gun】 hanging on his leg, aimed it at the demon, and said: "Give you two choices: either be beaten to death by me! or..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the demon turned and jumped off the cliff, falling to pieces.

Seeing this, Zero's mouth twitched slightly, thinking: Am I that scary?

To be on the safe side, Zero took out the 【Light Energy Flying Device】 and installed it behind him, flying down the cliff to check the situation, so as not to let the demon regenerate and continue to harm others.

It's best if the demon is dead; if not, give him a few more slashes.

... ===== CHAPTER 17 =====