Chapter 315: The Peepers

Arakawa Ward, Fukuzawa Special Environment Cleaning Company.

Gluttony was sitting in that boss chair, holding the new phone Fukuza had bought for her.

She chose McDonald’s between having katsudon or unagi don for tonight.

Although the puppet didn’t need to eat, Jiang Jian Yue’s real body hadn’t eaten anything for a long time.

Theoretically, Jiang Jian Yue could go without food for a long time, but the mental hunger was hard to resist—simply put, she was craving something to eat.

“If only I could order delivery to Fortune Village…”

Unfortunately, Zuo Teng Ai’s avatar was currently at the construction site dormitory… Fortune Village was empty.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Jiang Jian Yue didn’t use the dormitory’s water or electricity in this situation.

Just then, the office door was slammed open.

Master Fuze stumbled in, his face trembling with fear.

“B-Boss! They’re here! They’re here!”

“Did the delivery arrive?” Gluttony looked up, her eyes lighting up.

“N-No… not delivery! It’s people from Kyokuto Construction!”

Master Fuze wailed, “Ashura is leading them in person! Several cars are outside, blocking both the front and back doors!”

“Oh, the Black Market King’s underlings.”

The light in Gluttony’s eyes faded, becoming lifeless again.

She casually tossed the takeout menu onto the desk, stood up, and cracked her neck with a series of sharp pops.

“Perfect. A little exercise before dinner.”

“Boss, should we run? That Ashura is a lunatic. I heard he can snap steel bars like noodles…”

Master Fuze kept babbling, but Gluttony had already walked to the window.

She peered through the slats of the blinds at the scene below.

At the main entrance, the headlights of several off-road vehicles illuminated the humble sign of the Mutual Aid Society.

Dozens of thugs brandished weapons, shouting for those inside to come out.

And the man wearing a Hannya Mask at the very front was lifting a bicycle parked by the roadside with one hand, hurling it like a toy at the gate with a vicious slam.

Boom! The already shaky iron gate was smashed open into a large hole.

“Turtles inside! Get the hell out here!”

Ashura roared, his voice like thunder.

Gluttony tilted her head, not afraid, but rather feeling bored.

A level of opponent like this—if her real body were here, she wouldn’t even need to lift a finger. A single glance would make them all kneel.

But right now, she was Gluttony, a “newly risen faction leader.”

……

Downstairs in the lobby.

Ashura charged in with his men, kicking over the front desk.

“Where is everybody?! All dead?!”

The lobby was empty, only a few sheets of paper drifting on the floor.

Just then, clear footsteps came from the second-floor railing.

Ashura looked up sharply.

A girl in a gray hoodie and face mask stood on the second-floor corridor, looking down at them.

“That’s… Gluttony?”

Ashura squinted, sneering through his mask, “I thought I’d see some three-headed, six-armed monster, but it’s just a little girl.”

“Hey, little girl! If you know what’s good for you, come down here and kowtow to your daddy. Maybe I’ll be in a good mood and leave you in one piece!”

Gluttony said nothing.

She simply raised one hand and snapped her fingers.

Snap.

The door that had been smashed open instantly closed and restored itself.

The electric rolling shutter door slammed down onto the ground in an unnatural manner.

Then, from the ventilation ducts in the corners of the lobby and the dark shadows came low growls.

“Roooar—!”

Several distorted humanoid figures leaped down from the high places around, catching the group off guard.

Before a bald thug could even raise his machete, he was tackled midair by a Semi-Devourer.

Sharp claws easily tore through his vest, and a bloody maw bit down hard.

The crisp crack of breaking neck bones mixed with a short, shrill scream. Blood sprayed like a fountain across a nearby pillar.

The young man beside him roared, swinging a steel pipe at another Semi-Devourer’s head. But the creature simply caught it sideways with its teeth.

The pipe bent, and along with the man’s right arm, was ripped off and flung away.

Screams rose one after another. The lobby instantly turned into a slaughterhouse.

The thugs who usually threw their weight around were no match for real monsters.

Of course, Kyokuto Construction hadn’t sent only ordinary people; they had brought eight Espers.

But as everyone knew, not all Espers are created equal.

At the very least, these Espers from Kyokuto Construction—or most Espers in the world—facing an equal number of Semi-Devourers would end up dead no matter what.

“A bunch of trash!”

Ashura showed no fear of being surrounded. He roared, tore off his shirt, revealing his bulging muscles.

This man indeed deserved to be the Black Market King’s top enforcer.

The moment he assumed a stance, his suddenly surging aura felt almost tangible, like a special effect ripple around him.

But Gluttony on the second-floor corridor just watched coldly as Ashura unleashed his exaggerated might below, her eyes calm and expressionless beneath the hoodie’s shadow.

‘Manifestation of Killing Intent ability similar to Belly Father’s?’

Ashura let out a battle cry, launched himself upward, and leaped onto the second floor.

His massive fist, carrying wind pressure, slammed toward Gluttony’s face.

This punch was heavy—if it hit an ordinary person, their head would explode like a watermelon.

Gluttony stood still, not dodging.

Just as the fist was about to touch the tip of her nose—

Ashura’s body brushed past hers.

Silently. No loud collision of impact. No flash of ability.

Ashura’s right arm, from the shoulder down, had vanished!

It was as if an invisible hand had erased it in an instant. Terrifying.

Only when his body lost balance from the momentum and crashed heavily onto the floor did blood belatedly gush from the stump, spreading rapidly beneath him.

“Gwaaah—!”

Ashura struggled, propping himself up with his remaining left arm. His mask cracked in several places from the fall.

Revealing a face twisted entirely by pain and shock.

He stared at his empty right shoulder, eyes blazing with mad fury.

“…You… are you a Concept-type Esper?!”

He rasped hoarsely.

Gluttony stood on the railing, slowly turned around, and looked down at him. Then she shook her head.

‘Nothing special. Just brute force.’

……

On a distant electric tower.

Yuki Asahi watched the scene through the skylight gap on the second floor of the “company,” his golden pupils narrowing.

Semi-Devourers. Many Semi-Devourers.

He had originally thought this group was heading out so aggressively, looking to pick a fight, and had considered stepping in to protect them.

But…

A gang fight?

Not sure what was going on, Yuki Asahi decided to hold off for now and see how things played out.

However, he wasn’t just waiting idly.

He called Shimada Ayaka, telling her to keep an eye on Kyokuto Construction.

Yuki Asahi focused all his attention on the company, but didn’t notice that in another shadow on the battlefield, another pair of eyes was watching everything.

It was Liu Ming.

The dark circles under Liu Ming’s eyes seemed darker than half an hour ago, but his gaze grew more fervent.

“I found it… This is the candidate we’re looking for.”

“Ten thousand times stronger than that Toudou Daigo.”