Chapter 543: Why Aren't You Smiling Anymore

The Death God warrior removed his power armor helmet, revealing a crumpled monkey mask beneath it. The mask clung tightly to his face, completely obscuring his features. The mask’s shoddy material looked incredibly cheap, making him appear almost comical.

Yet, the Doctor was ecstatic as he recognized that mask. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined he would encounter the Monkey in a place like the heavily guarded Nether God Fortress in Tokyo. After all, it was as perilous as a dragon’s den.

And from the looks of it, Monkey wasn’t a captive. He had infiltrated the laboratory. From what little the Doctor knew about Monkey, he understood that this mask only appeared when Monkey was fully confident in his plan.

The Doctor suppressed his urge to shout in astonishment, careful not to disrupt Monkey’s operation. From this point forward, everything would rest on the shoulders of this miracle-worker.

Mitsui Masao, momentarily caught off guard, casually waved his hand.

"Seize him," he ordered.

But the other three power-armored Death God warriors remained motionless. Realizing something was amiss, Mitsui Masao immediately retreated.

Although he was primarily a researcher, his strength was nothing to scoff at. As a high-level practitioner in the Dao Union Realm, he was a formidable force anywhere. He threw himself back just 0.01 seconds after he realized he needed to retreat.

In an instant, Mitsui Masao had withdrawn deep into the crowd, his instincts kicking in to protect himself.

Beep, beep, beep.

A shrill alarm blared throughout the facility. The massive alloy gates around the laboratory descended rapidly, sealing off all exits and passageways. Mitsui Masao let out a sigh of relief. When he glanced at Roger, the senior inspector of the Realm of Traces, who stood calmly by his side, his confidence surged.

Roger was a genuine quasi-Saint, an expert few could rival. Moreover, there were forty Fire God-class power-armored warriors, four Solar Whale-class ultra-micro mechs, hundreds of combat robots, and a variety of fixed vitality devices, all equipped with subspace semi-divine weapons, within the laboratory.

This level of firepower would force even a Saint to lower their head. The person in front of them was nothing more than an intruding monkey who had somehow slipped through the cracks.

"I don’t know who you are, nor do I care why you’re here," Mitsui Masao smirked. "None of that matters. Setting foot in the Nether God Fortress is the same as entering the underworld. Rest assured, before you embrace death, every ounce of value in your body will be extracted and put to good use."

He reveled in the power those words wielded over the psyche of his opponents. He didn’t need to lift a finger if a few well-placed phrases could destabilize an adversary and toy with their nerves. This was true enjoyment. Though it might seem excessive, with victory assured, indulging in a few more words only made the moment sweeter.

Opposite him, the monkey tilted his head slightly, looking Mitsui up and down in a single glance. Then everything blurred. In the blink of an eye, the monkey’s figure moved at an incomprehensible speed as he seemingly multiplied into a dozen afterimages.

In a flash, he was behind the Doctor and the other Great Xia Dragon Group members, his movements so fast they seemed almost supernatural. In the next instant, the Doctor felt his sealed inner qi surge forth. His strength was fully restored.

"Thank you," he muttered, a grin spreading across his face.

"Ha! Time to fight to the death again!"

The Dragon Group members were startled but overjoyed. Even in the direst of circumstances, as long as they could fight, what harm was there in bleeding and dying for Great Xia?

"Stay out of the way," Monkey ordered, his voice calm yet imbued with an unquestionable authority.

The Doctor quickly urged his companions to focus on restoring their inner qi and not to interfere with Monkey’s plan.

"Oh? So, you’re remnants of the Dragon Group?"

Mitsui Masao’s reaction was not one of fear but delight.

"Hahaha! Wonderful! We’ve finally caught a big fish."

The slippery eels of the Dragon Group had infiltrated every corner of the empire and had a tendency to evade capture. The true elites of the Dragon Group were particularly elusive. They concealed their strength so well that they blended seamlessly into the shadows. Yet, when they did strike, the damage they caused to the empire was devastating, and rooting them out remained an almost impossible task.

The strength Monkey had just displayed far exceeded that of ordinary Dragon Group members. To Mitsui Masao, this could only mean one thing, a high-ranking Dragon Group operative had finally been forced into action. When they saw so many of their comrades captured, the higher-ups must have grown desperate and decided to take matters into their own hands. But they had only fallen into his trap.

Mitsui’s grin widened as he barely contained his excitement.

"Smiling so happily, are we?" said Monkey as he tilted his head quizzically. There was a peculiar look in his eyes.

His figure blurred, splitting into ten identical afterimages as he charged into the crowd.

The Fire God power-armored warriors reacted immediately. Their combat-assist light cores precisely calculated Monkey's trajectory and calculated angles to avoid damaging the laboratory equipment. Since the automatic fire systems were disabled, they engaged him with powered weaponry.

𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

But the outcome was decided in the blink of an eye as over a dozen power-armored warriors lay in pools of blood. Wherever Monkey moved, the so-called Fire God power armor, renowned as the most defensively robust in Jiepeng, was shredded like paper by his assault.

Mitsui Masao's eyelids twitched, but he forced himself to remain composed. The Fire God warriors were merely the first line of defense. Next came the Solar Whale ultra-micro mechs.

These mechs represented the empire's most advanced technology, with combat capabilities rivaling the Divine Realm. Each unit cost over 10 billion Star God Coins, and they lacked human frailties like pain or fear. When deployed in squads of four, their coordinated attacks could...

Wait. Where are my Solar Whale ultra-micro mechs?

Mitsui’s eyes darted around until he found four smoldering wrecks on the ground. Flames were faintly flickering on the charred remains of what once were state-of-the-art mechs.

Why do they look so... familiar?

Mitsui Masao was suddenly gripped by terror. He watched in disbelief as the combat robots fell even faster than the first line of defense. In less than three seconds, they were all reduced to piles of scrap metal. The third line of defense had also collapsed entirely.

Fortunately, at that moment, Roger, the senior inspector from the Realm of Traces, stepped in. The quasi-Saint unleashed an overwhelming wave of energy that radiated throughout the laboratory, saturating the air with oppressive force.

The atmosphere grew stifling as everyone felt an unbearable sense of dread. It was like an ancient primordial beast had suddenly materialized within the room.

"Fall before me!" Roger roared, striking out with full force.

His aura had swiftly fallen over the room. His charge was even swifter. But his defeat was the swiftest of all. Before Mitsui Masao could process what had happened, Roger's body slammed into the ground with a sickening thud.

Blood gushed uncontrollably from Roger's mouth and nose as his limbs twitched spasmodically. It was clear that he was moments away from death, as his breaths turned faint and irregular.

Mitsui Masao was horrified.

Defeated in an instant? A quasi-Saint? Could this monkey truly be a Saint-level intruder? Did the Great Xia Dragon Group actually hide a Saint within the empire’s borders?! This is catastrophic!

Realizing the gravity of the situation, Mitsui Masao spun on his heel, intending to flee.

"Quick! Activate the Nether God Spear!" Mitsui Masao shouted as he ran, his voice echoing through the chaos.

But there was no response from the distant operators controlling the subspace gods’ weapons. He looked up, and his entire body felt like it was drenched in icy water. The four operators lay slumped over the control consoles in pools of their own blood.

Thud!

A dull sound echoed as Mitsui Masao collided with a figure in his path. The force of the impact was so immense that he fell backward, landing heavily on the ground.

Instinctively, he raised his head. The cheap, plastic, crumpled monkey mask loomed over him like the crown of death itself. It stared at him, silent and unyielding; its presence radiated an icy chill that pierced straight to Mitsui Masao's core, as if he were standing in the depths of a frozen hell.

"Why aren't you smiling anymore?" asked Monkey as he calmly tilted his head. His voice seemed to carry the weight of an impending storm. "Weren’t you laughing so heartily just now?"

Mitsui Masao’s entire body trembled, overtaken by a terror so profound that the thought of laughter was impossible.

Everywhere he looked, he saw devastation. Shattered combat robots, mechs burning away, bloodied power-armored warriors, and the lifeless body of Roger, the senior inspector from the Realm of Traces.

The once impenetrable laboratory now resembled a hell drenched in darkness and death. And standing at the center of it all was the man in the monkey mask—the true Nether God. The harbinger of death and despair.

"Who... who are you?" Mitsui Masao’s voice quivered, barely audible over his own fear.