Heroic Era? Chaotic Era!

Half an hour later.

The two men went their separate ways before the police arrived.

Rorschach had no desire to keep tangling with Night Demon.

And Night Demon, his identity exposed, had neither the energy nor the motivation

to stop Rorschach from taking the stolen money.

Ever since discovering those bodies, a swelling rage had seemed to blaze within Rorschach's chest, making him want to slaughter every gang in New York.

However, on his way home, after Rorschach disposed of most of his disposable equipment along the way, his gradually returning reason stopped him from acting on that impulse.

The Tracksuit Gang had already been destroyed.

The threat involving him and his aunt had disappeared.

What remained was no longer his responsibility.

No matter how incompetent the Federal Government might be, faced with something so shocking, the various departments should mobilize their resources.

The New York police, the FBI—

perhaps even S.H.I.E.L.D. would join the investigation.

If the media learned more inside information

and sensationalized it in their coverage, even Stark, all the way in Los Angeles, would probably get involved.

In this technological age, faced with the all-pervasive Artificial Intelligence J.A.R.V.I.S., even someone as cautious as Rorschach

had no confidence that he could remain hidden.

He would have to face the authorities someday, but not now.

Keep a low profile. Bide his time.

Until Rorschach possessed even greater power

and could face everything with greater composure—

that was his top priority.

He had never been a hero.

He was merely an ordinary man fighting for his family.

Four in the morning.

Rorschach returned from Hell's Kitchen and entered the apartment building.

He did not go straight home, instead heading for the basement.

Now that the reinforcement work was complete, the basement

could temporarily serve as a Secret Base.

Unable to sleep, Rorschach sorted through and counted the stolen funds.

There was 1.98 million in cash.

Adding the 680,000 still beneath the bed in Rorschach's bedroom, the total came to 2.66 million.

Overnight, Rorschach had rejoined the ranks of millionaires.

Unfortunately, he could not deposit such a large amount of dirty money into his account all at once.

Unless Rorschach was willing to spend the time moving it bit by bit, depositing it little by little.

After putting away all the cash and hiding the Catachan Combat Knife, Rorschach, carrying the Plasma Pistol, locked the basement's iron door

and went upstairs.

The moment Rorschach stepped through his front door, it was as though he had left everything outside the door.

He carefully took a shower.

Then he found some food in the refrigerator for a late-night snack.

As the cold food slowly settled into his stomach, Rorschach gradually regained a sense of what he had once felt.

It was the security of home.

Without waking Aunt, who was still lost in dreams, Rorschach returned to his bedroom after eating.

He placed the Plasma Pistol beside his pillow and slowly fell asleep.

Twenty-three children's corpses lay in a row.

They had been neatly arranged on the floor.

Thirteen mangled, bloodied heads, were piled into a horrifying little mountain.

They stood before the children's bodies, as though they were part of a ritual sacrifice—or perhaps merely an outlet for rage.

This was the horrifying sight that greeted the large number of late-arriving New York police officers

the moment they stepped into the wreckage of the Baby Department Store.

For a moment, whether they were seasoned veterans

or rookies who had only recently joined the force, all of them went pale.

Unable to suppress the nausea rising in their throats, they rushed outside to the Baby Department Store's parking lot and vomited violently.

Even when their superiors repeatedly ordered them to return, not a single person was willing to enter the scene a second time.

Workplace punishment was the least of their concerns.

Psychological trauma was something that could follow them for the rest of their lives.

Thus, this awkward situation

continued until the FBI stepped in early, barely managing to initiate the basic investigative procedures for the Baby Department Store.

But even the well-traveled FBI agents

were at a loss when faced with a crime scene containing numerous victims of complicated identities and an unclear nature.

Especially since the children's bodies might be connected to previous news reports about child kidnappings.

The FBI began hoping that this hot potato before them

would be handed off to another department as it was reported up the chain...

"Rorschach!"

Rorschach was awakened from his deep sleep by Aunt.

He opened his eyes and saw Aunt standing in the bedroom doorway in her pajamas.

Aunt never entered his bedroom without permission.

Unless something had happened.

Rorschach drew a deep breath, sat up, and asked, "Aunt? What is it?"

"Big news! Stark!"

Aunt gestured wildly as she explained to Rorschach, "That billionaire Tony Stark admitted he's a hero!"

Rorschach frowned slightly and blinked.

No way, this soon?

He got up and followed Aunt into the living room.

On the television, footage of Stark admitting that he was Iron Man was playing over and over.

No matter how Rorschach kept changing channels.

Every television station was reporting the same story.

Billionaire Stark had returned after disappearing.

The wayward son had turned over a new leaf and become a Superhero.

This was undoubtedly the most explosive news of the moment.

Even the previous child kidnapping case had been completely overshadowed, becoming yesterday's news.

After all, even Aunt, who had been talked into it by Rorschach and had known about heroes in advance, had been gripped by an intense urge to devour the gossip.

Not to mention the public, who needed entertainment and distraction every day.

Yet Rorschach was not particularly excited.

Stark's public revelation of his identity as a hero.

Had also pushed the entire world into a chaotic era where all manner of monsters and freaks crawled out from every corner.

Especially heroes like the "Night Demon."

In the past, they had merely been frequent entries in police archives.

Urban legends whispered about in cities of steel.

But from now on.

As Superheroes continued to emerge.

Even more dangerous Supervillains would keep appearing as well...

Seeing Aunt pick up her phone and begin sharing all sorts of gossip with her friends.

Rorschach, increasingly shrouded by a sense of crisis, decided to begin his next simulation as soon as possible.

The Cooldown cost required him to buy a large number of firearms to replenish it.

In any case, all that dirty money had to be turned into Rorschach's power somehow.

Rorschach informed Aunt, then returned to his bedroom.

He did not begin the simulation immediately. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the floor.

After calming his mind, Rorschach offered the Emperor a brief yet forceful prayer.

"The Emperor Protects!"

With a solemn expression, Rorschach opened the Simulator.

Since choosing the identity of a Cadian Grenadier last time had led him to encounter the Chaos God Tzeentch.

Rorschach hesitated for a moment before choosing random deployment.

Simulation initializing--

Current identities: Catachan Recruit, Cadian Grenadier.

Please choose a deployment identity first.

If you refuse, deployment will be random.

Identity selection refused.

Simulation initializing--

You have arrived in the Warhammer Universe.

Time: Unknown

Location: Milky Way · Unknown Sector · Pelia

You have arrived on the planet's surface.

You find yourself inside an escape pod.

You do not have time to observe your surroundings.

A suffocating, nauseatingly intense stench assaults your nostrils.

You fall into an irresistible coma.

"...Commissar... there's one more..."

You seem to hear some movement, then completely lose consciousness.

Thanks to Explosive Spore for the 1,500-point donation!

Thanks to Xuelin Shang for the 1,000-point donation!

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I'm writing Commissar Cain now, haha.

Sure enough, I still like writing Warhammer stories.