The Answer

At this very moment, on the darknet livestream, beneath the gaze of every witness...

Huai Shi fell silent.

"Teacher..."

Without realizing it, Yuan Yuan crushed the screen in her hand until cracks spread across it.

Behind her, Lin Shijiu had already turned off her phone and walked out the door. She did not want to watch any longer.

But even more people could not wait. Their eyes widened, barely able to restrain their mockery and curiosity as they waited for the newborn hero to make his choice.

They waited for the moment of his fall.

"How do you think he'll choose?"

Russell sat in his chair, propping up his chin as he stared at the screen before him, and at the phantom beyond it.

"How would I know?"

Tongji shrugged calmly, unconcerned with the outcome. "No matter what he chooses, he is still my contractor. That won't change, will it?"

"Aren't you worried he'll be crushed?"

"Why?" Tongji looked over in confusion. "It's just a choice that even kindergarteners would find boring. Is there really any need to agonize over it?"

"Relax, Russell," she said decisively. "A choice on this level is nothing more than a minor problem to him."

He would not hesitate, nor would he be afraid.

He would not be crushed by a question of this caliber.

Nor would he fall before someone like Woodman.

She smiled, utterly confident. "Isn't that what a hero is?"

And so, on the screens before everyone, Huai Shi finally raised his eyes.

Yet his gaze did not linger on Woodman's phantom. Instead, he looked toward the opponent before him. "Is what he said true, Kamishiro?"

Kamishiro Mirai said nothing. He merely looked at Huai Shi with amusement.

"Answer me, Kamishiro Mirai—"

Huai Shi questioned him word by word. "After killing you,