Chapter 78: On the Great Finale of Synthesis

Just as the bird keeper was about to take his birds back to their nest with a lantern, Rimbaud, who was collecting the dead birds one by one, had a strange expression on his face.

"Manager, the dead were all people with superpowers."

He just subconsciously read it, and he actually read it! These people actually have superpowers. They're not just innocent bystanders; they're clearly a group of people with superpowers.

"Hmm... they don't seem to be ordinary people who were simply involved with the anomaly. I'll find someone to talk to you about it."

A faint golden light flashed, and the bodyguard, who had died alongside his employer, appeared in front of X in a daze. He first touched his face, and after a moment of reaction, he realized that he was actually dead, and that he was now just a piece of residue left in the world.

Driven by his current master, he unwittingly revealed all of his employer's information, including the purpose of his trip.

As X listened, the deep, affectionate gaze that X had been sharing with the big bird through his golden eyes was unilaterally cut off by him.

"You mean...you're planning to sell off our company's assets?"

A manager from Company L repeated it with some disbelief.

"It wasn't me, it was my employer and..." The bodyguard began to search around, but there was no one there, only bloodstains everywhere. The dead had all been collected by Rimbaud.

Rimbaud, a great employee who can quickly collect corpses without needing a mountain of corpses set.

Rimbaud summoned a dozen supernatural beings for him to identify, and also gave him a chance to survive, but he was in a panic. He was thankful for his courage, otherwise he would have broken his own neck in the subspace.

The middle-aged man who was called out was the buyer, and the seller...

All the living beings pointed at Ichida, whose eyes were red and who was about to hit someone.

The black swans that had been squawking were gone, and the birds were once again full of energy. Soon, Ichida, whose eyes were red, returned to normal and saw a group of expressionless dead people and a black-haired young man who was looking at him with golden eyes, holding the bewitching lantern in his hand.

That monster turned into a human! And it turned the dead into puppets!

The shock was so great that he didn't notice the large, round black ball sitting on the ground behind the young man. All he could think about was that this monstrous creature would come over and bite his head off.

Even after death, they will still be driven by him, and true death will not bring them relief.

The "monster" spoke: "I heard that you're the one who wants to sell my company's assets?"

The bodyguard, now a supernatural being, nodded repeatedly, saying, "It's him. He's the one who contacted my old... my former boss." As a well-behaved member of society, the bodyguard knew who his current boss was, and his tone changed smoothly.

The former boss himself nodded in agreement, saying that it was this person who had changed so much.

"Your assets?"

Ichida was puzzled. The only business he had been doing lately was tonight's. Could it be those six boys? Do monsters like to eat children too?

Seeing that the "monster" was no longer as violent as before, Ichida felt that he had seen a turning point and that he might be able to save his life.

The dim light dispelled the fear he had felt while in the darkness, and Ichida forced a smile, saying:

“I…I can offer you more children…assets.”

He could go find the child again to save his own life. The child is nothing compared to his life. Although I don't know why this man-eating monster uses such a literary way of speaking, it's always better to go along with him.

"Child? What are you talking about?"

X was completely stunned when he heard Ichida's outlaw declaration. He was asking about the Black Swan, so how did it get to the children?

"Didn't you want to eat the child?"

Ichida was also confused. What exactly did this monster want to do? Wasn't it talking about the six children who had already disappeared?

“I can offer you ten, no, twenty! Perhaps not as many as you had before, but I will do my best to compensate you for your losses.”

No, when did he ever say he wanted to eat children? He's not like data was deleted!

Besides, data deletion doesn't just affect children; it affects both adults and children.

X really wanted to crack open the skull of this aberration dealer to see what he was thinking; his line of thinking was just too bizarre.

"I can also compensate you for your losses."

The buyer realized that the master who was driving him was merely a subordinate, and that the decision-maker was actually the man carrying the lantern.

He didn't want to live in this world in this manner; he would rather pay the price and die completely.

"Oh, you're the buyer. How would you like to compensate me?"

To be honest, it's always been X who compensates others; this is the first time someone has compensated me, and I'm quite unaccustomed to it.

The buyer didn't even bother to introduce himself, because people with money are always fawned over, and it's not bad to use money to buy peace of mind.

“I have money, lots of money. I have no family or children,” the middle-aged man said, looking at the black-haired young man sitting behind him with a monster. “I can give you all the money, as long as you set me free.”

Is this what it feels like to be showered with money?

"If you agree, I can immediately offer you all my wealth."

Although he couldn't even control his own thoughts, even if he didn't want to take the money, he had to hand over all his assets under the control of the power master, so he might as well strike first.

X asked Rimbaud, "What is his special ability?"

If it's useless, losing one clerical staff member isn't a big deal.

As soon as Rimbaud had a thought, the buyer suddenly moved, stretching out his hand, which held a golden object.

Rimbaud was somewhat puzzled. What kind of superpower was this?

Before he could even ask, the buyer answered himself: "As you can see, my special ability is to acquire money, and it can't provide you with any assistance."

After all, they didn't seem to be short of money at all. If they were, they probably would have agreed immediately when he spoke.

"...It seems to be of little use."

The supervisor looked at the gold leaf in his hand and decided to let this unlucky guy go, who ended up losing his life after trying to buy something.

Upon hearing the supervisor's words, the buyer was not angry at all; instead, he seemed relieved.

"Thank you for your kindness."

Then he stepped aside and stopped talking.

Seeing this, Ichida became anxious. He had heard of the buyer's reputation; he wasn't just rich, he was incredibly wealthy.

Even he had to give up his entire fortune, so what else could he possibly offer become a joke? He couldn't possibly hand over six children to that monster in a single day!

Moreover, he was most likely mistaken; that monster didn't even want children!

The large bird grew impatient. The enormous black ball stood up and opened its many eyes, each emitting a golden light.

Now Ichida understood everything. That monster was actually raised by this golden-eyed young man. He was even more terrifying than the monster. When did such a person appear in Yokohama?

Looking at the not-so-bright Ichida, X was also a little worried. What should he do with this guy? Take him back to work in an office?

But I feel like he doesn't even meet the standards for an office job... I've got it.

"I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself. You just need to do one thing for me, and I'll let you go."

The young man standing in front of the monster said this, and together with the monster looked at Ichida, who was standing there frozen in place, not daring to move.

"If you just walk around Yokohama and find two birds like these, tell me as quickly as possible, and I won't hold you accountable."

The main point is that there's no point in pursuing it against you. He can't exactly bring someone all the way back to the company to feed the monster baby, can he?

The supervisor took out a simple sketch of the Flaming Bird and the Judgment Bird that he had drawn earlier and handed it to Ichida.

Ichida stared blankly at the amazing children's drawing in his hand, then looked at the backs of the two people and the monster as they left. He plopped down on the ground, his body, which had been frozen in place, finally began to tremble uncontrollably. Had he survived...?

X didn't know what Ichida was thinking. He only knew that he had to get the big bird to Abram as soon as possible. Two of the three birds had already come out. How far away was the third one?

Even if the Black Forest event is not triggered, either of them running rampant in the city will cause massive damage.

With power restored to the city, the Special Abilities Division assumed the matter was over and sent people out to check on the situation.

Then I saw that X looked a bit like a certain profession from the legends of that country across the ocean, carrying a lamp, with a huge, bird-shaped, multi-eyed monster following closely behind.

A snow-white bird circled overhead. If it weren't for the concrete buildings everywhere, he would have even wondered if he had accidentally wandered into the territory of the druids.

He dared not disturb the scene and could only report it to his superiors. X was unaware of the silent bystander, but even if he had known, he wouldn't have paid any attention.

Now everything has to give way to the big bird, unless the Judgment Bird suddenly slips onto his face...

I've taken a stroll.

A blindfolded stilt bird is wandering the deserted street, a skewed scale hanging from its slender neck.

If there were more people here, there would probably be more gallows than streetlights.

X, carrying a large bird-shaped lamp, spotted the tall bird on the other side of the road, which looked like an old man taking a stroll.

Can't one or two birds be as easy to manage as little birds?

The supervisor sighed and decided to keep bluffing, at least to sway his balance.

After all, suppressing tall birds in front of both small and large birds always feels like a prick to the conscience.

To X's surprise, the blindfolded bird simply stood in front of him. Because it was blindfolded, he couldn't see the expression of the forest's judge, and it didn't make a sound.

The supervisor and Takabiya stared at each other... He had no eyes to stare at, so the two of them, one human and one anomaly, stood face to face.

After a while, Tallbird tilted its snow-white head, as if it were thinking about something, and a balance scale was taken off its equally long neck by Tallbird's long wings.

He did not launch an attack, but simply handed it to X.

Then, the claws on the thin, dull wings hooked onto X's hand holding the balance scale, gripping it tightly.

Rimbaud stood to the side, watching this bizarre scene. The supervisor now resembled a bird of the end times in some kind of situation, and the little bird landed on his head at this moment.

X could only maintain this delicate state, holding a lantern in one hand and a scale in the other, pulling along the seemingly suddenly blind and unsteady Tall Bird, supporting the little bird that refused to fly, and struggling forward amidst the ground tremors caused by the heavy footsteps of the big bird.

What is this? A synthetic finale?