Volume Six: What She Lost, What I Gained - Vic Fischer

Vic Fisher.

Yu He's confidant, one of the very few people who knew his secret.

He always maintains absolute rationality, always aims to maximize profits, despises so-called human virtues, believing them to be a deadly poison that weakens people. Whether in economic acumen, work efficiency, or cunning and political maneuvering, he is a top performer in the Grey Starling Company.

The same applies to superpowers.

He can create a vast domain that can cover the entire city of Business Capital, and all living things within this domain are his targets; this is the basis of his supernatural ability.

"Beautiful Mind" and "The Savior"—two manifestations of his supernatural abilities.

The former distributes all the harm Fisher suffered onto the living creatures he captures in the field.

The latter involves identifying an object and transferring all damage suffered by living beings captured within the domain to that object.

The definition of injury is broad, encompassing not only common cuts, burns, and bruises, but also physical fatigue, muscle strain, and even the devastation caused by illness.

Everyone's physical strength is different. What is a blow that breaks bones for some people may be like a tickle for others. The same principle applies to Xiao Wu, and it is even more extreme. Even with her current limited strength, her physical strength is almost at the pinnacle of biological strength. Coupled with her self-healing ability, it is extremely difficult to kill her completely, unless it is a monster among monsters whose strength completely surpasses hers.

However, the principle that small things add up remains unchanged.

A light punch aimed at the abdomen may not feel like much at first, but if repeated a thousand or ten thousand times, it can damage internal organs. A single match can cause very limited burns, but ten thousand matches burning the same person can turn flesh into charcoal.

If Xiao Wu were thrown directly into the center of the explosion, she would be perfectly fine. However, if all the severe injuries suffered by ten thousand ordinary people from the explosion were concentrated on her alone, it would be equivalent to being bombed ten thousand times simultaneously. Even Xiao Wu would not be able to withstand that.

Conversely, the same applies. Xiao Wu's ordinary attack might have the power to kill hundreds of people at once, but if that damage were spread among tens of thousands of people, each person would at most suffer minor injuries and would not be in danger of death. Fisher used this ability to make himself unaffected by Xiao Wu's attacks.

However, if Xiao Wu's full-force attack contained the power to kill hundreds of thousands or even millions of people at once, then even if it were spread across a million people, the damage to each person would be enough to kill them, and Fisher would naturally die as well.

Therefore, Fisher said from the beginning that "the best way for Xiao Wu to kill him is to attack any one of his vital points with all her might".

If Xiao Wu does that, even if she uses her supernatural abilities, Fisher will undoubtedly die.

However, countless innocent people will perish along with them.

"I told you so, Urahara Sakura Dance... your kindness will ruin you!"

"I've ruined you! I've ruined you! You deserve it!"

Fisher made his announcement with a sneer, watching Xiao Wu grit her teeth. Dastan, the parrot on his shoulder, chirped in agreement, looking quite smug.

Xiao Wu's forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat. She hated these messy abilities, and she hated even more the scoundrels who used innocent people as blackmail. Fisher had both. Although she wanted to pounce on Fisher and tear him to pieces, she knew it would be futile, so she had to patiently think of a solution.

It now appears that all physical attacks are ineffective; in other words, Xiao Wu has no way to kill Fisher without causing casualties.

(If it were Haoyue, she definitely wouldn't hesitate, and Ye would probably kill Fisher with his strongest attack immediately, then symbolically mourn for the dead for a few seconds afterward. Should I be glad it wasn't them but me facing Fisher?)

If physical attacks don't work, what about mental attacks? Givinia should be able to handle it quickly, right? But strangely, she hasn't contacted us since we entered the Business Capital. Is she busy with something at the organization's headquarters?

If Givinia isn't around... since we can't kill Fisher outright, how about knocking him unconscious? We can control the force, just enough to make him faint. For the innocent bystanders, fainting would be a relatively minor injury, right?

(No, that won't do!)

The same amount of damage can have different effects on different people. The damage that would knock Fisher unconscious might be fatal to a young child! More importantly—

"I'm asking you, Fisher... just how many people can you distribute the damage evenly among? Or rather, how many people can your abilities capture?"

Fisher ignored her, took out a hookah from his clothes, lit it with something like a lighter, and puffed away contentedly. The parrot named Dastan seemed to enjoy inhaling the escaping smoke as well, looking quite human-like.

"Tsk tsk, compared to cigarettes, pipes, or snuff, I still prefer hookah. It's hygienic, strong enough, and it even looks elegant. It has a cool, refreshing taste when you first inhale it, followed by the tobacco flavor... I always like to smoke a whole bunch before I start working."

"... Are you even listening to me?"

"Listen... do you know why I dislike cigarettes the most? Because those paper-rolled things are gone once they're smoked, while hookahs, pipes, and snuff bottles can be made into all sorts of works of art, and collecting them is one of my hobbies."

"..."

Xiao Wu's eye twitched. She'd tried smoking when she was around fourteen or fifteen, but after a few days she found it boring and a waste of money, so she gave up. She didn't really understand the romance of an old smoker like Fisher. But why was this guy bringing up the wonders of hookah now? She wasn't interested at all, or was he stalling for time? Or trying to distract her? Fisher, that old fox —Xiao Wu had absolutely no idea what he was thinking!

"Oh, right, didn't you just ask me how many people I could distribute the damage to at most?"

"Want to know? Want to know?"

Fisher exhaled another large puff of smoke, and in the swirling smoke, his voice seemed to become muffled, contrasting sharply with Das's shrill voice, which was quite irritating.

"Telling you is fine... This is something I 'determine myself.' If there are a thousand people in my domain, I can choose to distribute the damage equally among all one thousand people, or I can choose to distribute it equally among any two or three people, or I can even distribute it only among myself—that is, I will bear all the damage. Concentrating the damage on you is the same principle."

"Same principle, you idiot! You idiot! Do you understand?"

"Shut your dead bird's mouth!!!"

Xiao Wu roared in exasperation, but Fisher just chuckled and turned away, while Dastan flapped his wings and flew around smugly.

Calling my best friend a 'dead bird' is really going too far. I was going to assure you the truthfulness of what I just said, but I can't guarantee that anymore.

"Hahaha! You got what you deserved! You bad woman! Hahahaha!"

"..."

Xiao Wu's temples throbbed with rage; this master and pet were absolutely utterly detestable!

No, no matter what, this guy must be defeated! Xiao Wu cannot tolerate the existence of such scum!

Let's try a different approach.

Instead of focusing on hitting him, the goal is to restrain him without causing harm...

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Oh no, every time I type "Fisher," my brain starts conjuring up images of cell division...