Child Emperor—this ten-year-old prodigy, the brains of S-Class—was staring fixedly at the scene before him, a storm raging in his heart.
"Looks like that bald guy's raw physical strength far exceeds the mask's limit…" he thought silently, replaying that unbelievable moment in his mind again and again.
After a brief shock, everyone's eyes turned in unison to the last person—the one hailed as "the strongest man on the surface," KING!
If the bald man who had destroyed the mask was an unknown freak beyond common sense and metrics…
Then what of KING—universally recognized as "the strongest on the surface," a pillar at the pinnacle of S-Class, a name that makes countless powerful monsters tremble, with that heart-shaking "King Engine" roaring at his side at all times? What kind of terrifying existence must he be?
If even that bald guy couldn't be measured… then KING's value…
Might overload the institute's entire energy system and bring it down, right?
Sneck, Great Philosopher, and the Darkflame Dragon Blade Wielder all had the same thought—seemingly absurd yet somehow reasonable.
Their eyes on KING brimmed with awe and anticipation.
Lin Mo's face remained as unreadable as ever; that perpetually cool, stern expression showed not a ripple.
Since crossing over, having skirted death again and again, his mentality had indeed changed greatly. He no longer went weak in the knees at the sight of a monster like he had at first.
And he truly was curious about his current physical strength now; the system's values and the "Ugly Woman Mask" readings were not the same thing.
He needed a point of reference to better locate where exactly he stood in this world.
Under the gaze of all, KING finally moved.
He said nothing extra, simply walking slowly to the middle of the room.
Thump… thump… thump… thump…
That familiar, distinctive heartbeat reverberated through the silent lab like war drums.
It wasn't loud, but it possessed a strange magic that struck directly at each person's heart, filling them with unnameable pressure.
"Ooh! The 'King Engine'! The legendary 'King Engine' has started up!"
Light danced in Child Emperor's eyes. Far from fear, excitement brought a flush to his cheeks.
"Yes, that's the feeling! Come, Uncle KING! Let me witness the limit of this device with my own eyes!"
He could scarcely contain himself as he aimed the still-odd-looking Ugly Woman Mask at Lin Mo.
Everyone held their breath; even Saitama, who'd been bored to the point of a yawn from the wait, glanced over with a spark of curiosity.
Lin Mo was a little tense inside.
"System, open my personal panel," he thought, and a translucent panel only he could see rose before his eyes.
[Name: Lin Mo (KING)]
[Sex: Male]
[Energy Value: 20,360]
[Stamina: 90]
[Strength: 90]
[Speed: 90]
[Psychokinesis: 90]
Seeing that neat row of "90"s steadied him.
"Begin the test!"
At Child Emperor's order, he pressed the Ugly Woman Mask's start button.
The mask's eyes lit and a beam swept slowly over KING's body.
Sneck and the others stared, hearts in their throats.
They stared at the side holographic screen, waiting for the picture they imagined.
A few seconds of scanning felt like a century.
Finally, the scan completed.
A row of clear digits appeared on the side holographic screen.
[Raw Physical Strength: 3888]
"Th… three thousand eight hundred eighty-eight?"
Sneck almost read the number out loud unconsciously, disbelief lacing his tone.
By any measure, it was a top-tier score.
It surpassed everyone present in A-Class, and probably outstripped most A-Class specialists in melee.
Across the Association, it would be a report card to be proud of.
But…does it befit the title of "the strongest man on the surface"?
Just now, that bald Saitama had wrecked a mask with an upper limit near ten thousand!
While KING's value… was one a device could easily measure—merely four digits?
"How could this be…"
Great Philosopher frowned as well; the result was far from the scene he had imagined—one of annihilation, of the device exploding again.
"Hmph, I told you, mortal machines—"
The Darkflame Dragon Blade Wielder began his chuunibyou commentary, but the eerie quiet in the room choked him off.
"Three thousand eight hundred eighty-eight… pretty much what I expected," Lin Mo thought, unlike the others. He was not surprised.
After allocating points many times, his body had been remade, reaching the pinnacle of A-Class—but there was still a considerable gap to the truly S-Class monsters.
The lab atmosphere grew heavy.
Everyone's gaze left the screen and settled on Child Emperor.
They were desperate for a reasonable explanation from the boy genius.
Child Emperor didn't answer. He frowned hard, staring at the number, his small face full of confusion.
"Impossible… the scan didn't fail, and power supply was normal. The number is accurate—Mr. KING's biometrics and muscle density… taken together, this is the result."
He looked up, turning a probing gaze on the man whose impassive face hadn't changed a bit, as if he didn't care about the result at all. "Uncle KING… did you use some method to suppress your strength?"
It was the only reasonable conclusion he could reach.
Perhaps the strength of the "strongest on the surface" wasn't merely raw physical force, but a godlike control over his own power.
He could compress and mask city-destroying strength to the level of an ordinary A-Class hero at will.
Saitama, bored on the side, dug his nose. Numbers meant little to him. He simply felt this was dull and wondered when he could leave this dreary place.
Just as everyone was lost in their own thoughts, trying to find a reasonable explanation for an unreasonable result—a sudden change erupted!
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