The sun was setting in the west.
Below Saitama's apartment building, the dim afterglow of the setting sun stretched the three figures' shadows long.
After being thoroughly beaten all afternoon, Saitama, whose powerful demeanor now resembled a dreamless braised egg, had vacant eyes.
The highlights in his eyes seemed to have been beaten out of him, leaving him like a salted fish drained of its soul.
After seeing the two off, he waved his hand, his body swaying like a ghost as he floated upstairs.
He was muttering to himself, seemingly replaying his 108th defeat, or perhaps contemplating which city's supermarket special he would raid tonight.
Time to clear the bad luck.
"Mr. Han Sen, I'll take my leave as well."
King adjusted his collar, his expression complex as he glanced at the man beside him who, from every angle, was simply perfect.
He and Han Sen were old acquaintances, but each encounter…
Every single one of their past encounters had been more bizarre than the last.
"Alright, I'm off. How about this, I'll call a cab for you to take you to the station; it's hard to get a cab here."
Han Sen suggested with a smile.
"Uh… alright."
King looked around. The deserted streets of the Z-City uninhabited zone certainly didn't look like a place where one could wait for a bus, so he didn't refuse.
Han Sen pulled out his phone and randomly pressed some buttons to make a call.
Before long, a harsh screech of tires pierced the surrounding silence.
A strange black taxi, with a huge rhinoceros beetle logo on its roof, precisely stopped in front of the two with a drift and tail-whip comparable to Initial D.
A faint scent of burnt rubber rose from the smooth tire marks, and the distance between the car and the curb was less than a centimeter.
King: "…"
He instinctively took half a step back, and his Emperor Engine began to rumble "thump-thump-thump" uncontrollably.
—What kind of decent person plays drift in a taxi?! Haven't you driven a fast car in five years?
While King was furiously complaining in his mind, from the driver's seat, a handsome young man wearing a black baseball cap that revealed the lower half of his face rolled down the window.
He flashed a toothy grin at King, two rows of sparkling white teeth gleaming in the setting sun.
King repeatedly confirmed with Han Sen that this was indeed the car he had called, then he suppressed his urge to complain, bowed to Han Sen in thanks, and then, as if treading on thin ice, got into this strange taxi.
The car door closed, and the black taxi smoothly started, then transformed into an afterimage, a graceful tail-whip instantly disappearing around the corner at the end of the road.
However, to King's great surprise, the anticipated soul-flying and stomach-churning did not occur.
From departure to arrival at the high-speed rail station, the entire journey was incredibly fast, yet as steady as an old dog.
He didn't even feel the slightest bump; only the rapidly receding scenery outside the window and the occasional roar of the Emperor Engine reminded him—
The speed of this car had definitely broken through the limits of his perception!
King unconsciously frowned, muttering to himself with a mind full of questions, "That's strange…"
The baseball-capped driver in the driver's seat twitched an ear and immediately asked straightforwardly, "Is there something you're not satisfied with about my driving, guest?"
"Ah, no, no!" King jolted, quickly waving his hand, a professional fake smile squeezed onto his fierce strongman's face: "Your driving is the best I've ever seen! Absolutely perfect, a very satisfying trip!"
Just praise him, what else can I do… I can't just jump out of the car in the middle of the road, can I?
"That's good… Oh, we're already here!" As if just discovering they had arrived at their destination, the young man drifted into a roadside parking spot, sounding a bit unenthusiastic, "Your friend has already paid the fare, guest, please take care!"
"Ah, thank you!"
At this moment, King demonstrated the results of his daily training, nimbly leaping out of the car in a single bound and walking away quickly without looking back.
Regardless, he didn't want to ride in this kind of abstract taxi again in the future.
Watching King walk into the station, the Han Sen clone, acting as the taxi driver, subtly curved the corner of his mouth upwards.
With a flick of the steering wheel, the taxi executed another beautiful tail-whip U-turn, silently merging into the dense traffic and disappearing.
"That's strange…"
As King walked into the bustling station, he couldn't help but murmur to himself, "How is it that this journey today has been so peaceful?"
In the past, for him, a minor disaster every three steps and a major one every five steps was considered incredibly lucky.
Even scaring a few Monsters to death when he went out was considered active patrolling by nearby heroes.
Like today, returning from the Z-City uninhabited zone all the way to the prosperous downtown area, not even a Wolf-level trash Monster popped out…
It made him feel a little uncomfortable.
In the distant uninhabited zone, Han Sen, hearing King's murmur through the shared perception of his clone network, couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
You're not used to not encountering Monsters, are you?
It can only be said that it truly is you, King!
Record verifiable, strength unknown!
He has encountered countless Monsters, and almost every time he has emerged unscathed!
From a certain perspective, the title of 'Strongest on Earth' is indeed well-deserved!
King had no idea that the Z-City uninhabited zone was already the territory of a newly appointed Monster King.
The Monster Association Monsters who had been active on the surface trying to cause trouble before were either casually eliminated by Saitama, the urban legend driven by interest, as training sandbags, or they had retreated under Han Sen's command into the dark underground, not daring to show their faces.
It hadn't been long since Orochi's seventh-day memorial, and no Monster brave enough to eat a bear's heart and leopard's guts dared to defy the King's decree.
Thus, not encountering Monsters was the natural course of events.
…
…
On the other side.
After cutting off contact with his clone, Han Sen's main body casually walked into a deep, narrow, trash-filled, nameless alley.
The light was completely swallowed here, growing even dimmer.
At the same time, his tall and slender figure began to undergo horrifying and bizarre changes in the shadows.
Crack…
Crack…!!
Amidst crisp and dense bone-cracking sounds, the frail human body was forcibly stretched.
Black, muddy substance floated to the surface of his skin, muscle fibers Peristaltic Reorganization like living things, solidifying and expanding!
The handsome and gentle human face was replaced by cold, ferocious black carapace, and two crimson eyes, like burning embers, suddenly lit up in the darkness, emitting a terrifying majesty that could make living beings tremble.
In just a few short seconds, the handsome young man with a physique comparable to a top male model vanished without a trace.
In his place was a terrifying Monster over three meters tall, covered entirely in streamlined exoskeleton, with ferocious bone spikes on its shoulders, elbows, and knees, exuding an absolute king-like pressure!
Lightly flexing his matte black claws, Han Sen silently stretched his powerful Monster body.
Whoosh—
A black shadow flickered, and the black figure seemed to merge with the shadow itself, smoothly sinking into the ground.
The black light and shadow silently passed through thick geological layers, complex underground pipe networks, and hard rock formations…
Like a fish swimming in water, it quickly returned to the vast Monster Kingdom located deep beneath Z-City, unknown to the world.
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