Chapter 327: I Am No Devil
Steven didn't see himself as any sort of devil.
Sure, he'd strung up a few corrupt merchants from a streetlamp before, but that was just doing what needed to be done. How could anyone call that "evil"?
By the same reasoning, when he dragged Kain back from Columbia, Steven felt that was also—at least in some sense—enforcing heaven's will.
Of course, compared to those profiteers, simply hanging Kain from a streetlamp would've been far too quick and clean. It just wouldn't have been satisfying enough.
So, in the end, the way he chose to deal with him was… very much in his own Minecraft-styled fashion.
He didn't kill him outright, nor did he even intend to harm him in the slightest. Instead, Steven stuffed Kain into a comical-looking little rowboat with two oars.
Then, with "kindness," he pinched Kain's jaw open and pulled out a strange piece of jerky from his inventory, forcing it into his mouth.
Kain didn't resist at all. He knew very well that if he wanted to survive, his only option was to cooperate. Forget strange jerky—if the young man had handed him a lump of dung, he'd have had to swallow it.
But once it slid down into his stomach, Kain's expression turned strange.
"You… what exactly are you planning? You've already taken over the entire Chamber of Commerce. With your strength, even ruling all of Kazimierz wouldn't be a problem for you, would it?"
Forcing down the nausea bubbling up from his stomach, Kain watched as the young man dug a deep pit straight into the floor of the derelict factory. Then, without hesitation, the young man shoved him—boat and all—into the hole.
"Why would I do that? Do you think I'm the same as you?" Steven replied casually, continuing to dig until the hole expanded into a miniature underground chamber. Only then did he clap his hands in satisfaction, admiring his handiwork like a proud craftsman.
"What's wrong with what I've done? I brought prosperity to Kazimierz, I created wealth! The rise of its economy—who do you think played the decisive role in that? Do you think people today could live and work like this, instead of wandering the plains like before, if not for me?"
Green, bubbling particles began to seep from Kain's body as he lost control of his emotions. He didn't believe he'd done anything wrong. To him, the current Kazimierz was far better than before.
"Oh? So you really believe that? That everyone in Kazimierz should be thanking you?"
Steven sighed as he looked at the old man's face, now steadily turning greenish-blue.
In fairness, purely from an economic standpoint, the Chamber of Commerce had indeed been vital to Kazimierz.
"I don't need meaningless gratitude. What a ruler needs is power and profit. With those, I can lead Kazimierz to the very top, surpass the past, and turn it into a great nation—one of the strongest on this land!"
His face twisted with a feral expression. Yet, sitting helplessly in the little rowboat, Kain couldn't move an inch no matter how much he struggled.
After all, this was the strongest sealing artifact in the entire Minecraft. Aside from a handful of bosses and the warden, everything else that sat in it stayed put. Period.
"Yeah, yeah, everything you said is absolutely right," Steven replied lazily, his tone dripping with disinterest. "But what's it got to do with me? Why should I care about what you've done, when the only thing that matters—"
"—is that I just don't like you."
The reason he was indulging Kain so much was because he had his reasons—after all, this guy was currently one of his most important test subjects. Of course he had to let him say his piece.
Besides, judging from Kain's current state, his emotions were no longer something he could control on his own.
Kain himself noticed this too. After glancing down at his completely immobile body, he barely managed to hold onto the last shred of his sanity. With deep confusion, he looked at the young man before him.
"You… what did you do to me?"
"Just a little… biochemical modification. Probably a bit more thorough than the kind of changes you people made to the Sarkaz, I'd say. But don't worry, it's the kind that can be cured. As for when I'll actually give you that cure—that depends on my mood."
After all, he was still a boss-level figure. Killing him outright might mean missing out on something important. But simply capturing him and locking him away somewhere felt too cheap to Steven.
Feeding him, guarding him—it'd be such a pain!
Instead, why not test whether people in this world could be infected into becoming zombies? What he had fed him earlier was just an ordinary piece of zombie flesh drop.
And judging by the results so far, things were playing out just as he'd expected. Kain's current state was nothing less than the first signs of zombie transformation.
Sure enough, just as Steven finished answering his doubts, a thick surge of dark green bubbles erupted from Kain's body. When Steven looked again, the old Kuranta elder was gone. In his place sat a zombie reeking of rot, motionless in the small boat.
Still, there were some differences compared to the zombie villagers Steven remembered. For one, this state didn't look quite… stable.
"Well, if zombie flesh works, then that means the weakness potion plus golden apple combo should work too, right? That's perfect. Next time I want to lock someone away, I just need to dig a pit and bury them. No need to worry about starvation, thirst, or suicide—just feed them a piece of zombie flesh, let them turn, bury them, and dig them back out when I need them. Cure the infection, and voilà."
Proving his theory brought a bright smile to his face. This reusable mechanic was incredibly convenient for him. No worrying about escapes, no scheming from captives—one bite of zombie flesh and they'd all be reduced to brainless husks.
"Poor Kain~ rest well here, beneath the land you once dreamed of ruling. Perhaps one day, when I recall your usefulness—or when you finally make peace with this world—you'll be freed."
Shaking his head at the zombie who could no longer understand a word he said, Steven leapt out of the underground chamber. Piece by piece, he sealed it up with obsidian blocks.
Turning someone into a zombie was such an efficient storage method. No food, no water, no air needed. All they required was a space to sit in, without the risk of suicide or escape. Truly, the perfect companion for travel and long-term planning.
Satisfied, Steven rubbed his hands together before strolling out of the abandoned factory as if nothing had happened.
Even if someone were to later renovate the place or construct some new building over it, they would most likely never dig deep enough—ten-odd meters underground—to discover the hidden basement.
In other words, no one would ever realize that Kain had vanished far away in Columbia, let alone guess that he had buried him beneath the very soil of the Grand Knight Territory.
Weren't those merchants always fond of spouting slogans about "becoming the stepping stones of progress" to fool others? This time, he gave Kain a chance—letting him literally become part of the land, the foundation of this city.
As for when—or if—Kain might ever be dug up again… that would depend on whether he still had any further value left for him to squeeze out.
With the most important leader of the K.G.C.C dealt with, the rest became much easier. Thanks to the prior agreement he made with the Duck Lord, reclaiming the industries that the K.G.C.C had attempted to transfer to Columbia would now be far simpler.
But that wasn't the point. The point was that burying another one of those detested capitalist big shots was, in itself, a deeply amusing matter to him.
So, when he stepped out of that abandoned factory in a rather good mood and squinted up at the blazing sun hanging in the sky, he had already decided he would share this good mood with his friends.
Silently fishing out a purple-black Warp Stone from his inventory, Steven quickly set the coordinates for the snowy frontier of Ursus and selected it without hesitation.
Now that he had also left a Waystone behind in Kazimierz, traveling back and forth between the two places would be incredibly convenient.
After a short countdown, a familiar wave of dizziness washed over him. When Steven opened his eyes again, a chill wrapped around him from all sides.
Back in Kazimierz, it had still been the pleasant coolness of autumn—but here, it was once again that unbearable, bone-piercing cold.
He exhaled lightly, watching as the white mist of his breath dispersed into the air, then broke into a long-missed, thoroughly relaxed smile before taking a deep, satisfying breath.
Yes, the air here really was better.
The environment might be harsher, but truth be told, he much preferred the straightforwardness and simplicity of the people on this snowfield frontier.
After spending too long in the stench of copper coins that clung to Kazimierz, he realized just how comfortable it was here.
But before he could continue musing aloud, the door of the room housing the Waystone swung open from outside—and standing there was a familiar silver-haired, rabbit-eared girl, staring blankly at the boy who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"What's wrong? Missed me? Come closer, I'll prove to you I'm not an illusion."
Greeting the familiar girl with a bright grin, Steven's smile became even more dazzling.
And the very next instant, he learned firsthand what it truly meant to move "like a startled rabbit."
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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