"Crap, crap, I'm going to be late!!! The supermarket in A City is having a huge sale, especially on steak. It's actually ninety percent off—a discount like this has never happened before. I have to hurry, I have to hurry, I have to get there faster, even faster, and reach A City before the sale ends. Faster! Faster! Even faster!"
A bald man in a yellow bodysuit, a white cape, and red gloves was sprinting for his life. As he ran at top speed, he muttered to himself.
The bald man was incredibly fast. His speed had already surpassed the sound barrier and was even approaching the speed of light. His entire body was like a yellow bolt of lightning, vanishing in the blink of an eye. The people along the road could not even detect his presence. Only several seconds after he had rushed past did a gale sweep through, flipping up the skirts of one girl after another.
"Eek!"
"Why did such a strong wind suddenly start blowing? Damn it!"
"Bastard, I'm exposed!"
"W-White."
"Th-This is so exciting. This wind is absolutely wonderful."
The bald man had never considered the consequences of charging forward at such high speed. His mind held only the steak on sale. Other than that, everything else had completely vanished from his thoughts.
The bald man was moving so fast that space itself had begun to distort. Under such a high-speed charge, it was not only space—even time had begun to twist.
Pop~~~
A peculiar sound suddenly rang out.
"Hm? It feels like something's wrong. But whatever. The discounted steak is more important. I haven't eaten meat in a long time. So no matter what else happens, discounted steak comes first."
The bald man muttered without slowing down, his figure flashing past.
At the instant the bald man disappeared, several fragments of broken space suddenly appeared out of nowhere, like shards of a shattered mirror. Then a woman draped in a yellow robe emerged. Most bizarrely of all, this woman was also bald!
"It was here. A spatial passage suddenly appeared. Although it vanished in an instant, it still left behind some traces. But where is the intruder?" The bald woman frowned slightly and swept her gaze around. She could not find any trace of an intruder at all.
"Who was it? Dormammu, or an invader from another dimension?" the bald woman muttered. "Yet aside from the residual spatial traces, there isn't a single other sign left here. There's no dark energy fluctuation, nor any other energy fluctuation. So was it merely a space-time passage that was accidentally broken? Or a black hole that suddenly appeared and vanished?"
The bald woman could not find any clues at all. In the end, she could only shake her head. She stretched out both hands, and a magic circle formed between them. Magic emerged from the circle and swept across the area where the residual space-time energy remained, erasing every trace.
"I don't know whether this is good or bad. I hope too many unexpected incidents won't happen." After speaking, the bald woman drew a circle with her palm. A round spatial portal appeared. She stepped inside, and the portal vanished, leaving no trace behind.
"...So what the hell is this place?! Why don't I recognize anything at all?! Where am I?! Did I get lost? No!!! My discounted steak!!!" Saitama let out a wail. His legs gave out, and he fell to his knees, bracing himself on the ground. Tears welled in his eyes. His finances had been terrible recently, and he had gone a very, very long time without eating meat.
"Screech—"
A sports car stopped inches from Saitama. The mustached man inside frowned at Saitama, who was blocking the road, and honked twice. "The clown blocking the road, move aside. I don't have time to watch this clown performance."
Saitama raised his head blankly. He looked at the sports car that had nearly hit him, then at the man inside, who was frowning at him. He rubbed his bald head. "Um, excuse me, do you know how to get to A City? I think I'm lost."
"What?" Tony Stark was stunned when he heard Saitama's question.
Tony Stark had imagined many possibilities. Faced with someone dressed in such strange clothes—a bald man who looked just like a clown performer—he thought Saitama might ask him for money as payment for a clown performance, or do something else. But he had never imagined that the man would ask him for directions at a time like this.
"Um, I'm going to A City. The steak there is on sale, and the sale is almost over, so I have to reach the supermarket before it ends. So, do you know how to get to A City?" Saitama pulled out a somewhat crumpled flyer with the words "discount sale" printed on it.
"So you stopped the world's richest man, Mr. Tony Stark, just to ask where you can buy discounted steak?" Tony Stark's expression became indescribably strange.
"Mm-hmm, there isn't much time left. So, where is A City? Could you tell me?" Saitama nodded vigorously and stared blankly at Tony Stark with his fish-like eyes.
"This joke isn't funny." Tony Stark put on a stern face.
"Huh? A joke? No way. The flyer clearly says the steak is on sale." Saitama hurriedly looked over the flyer with the words "discount sale" printed on it again.
"Mr. Clown, are you an actor who graduated from a performing arts school? I have to admit, your acting is pretty good. But I don't have time to play this clown-performance game with you." Tony Stark curled his lips. "So move!"
Saitama still looked foolish and absent-minded. He scratched his bald head twice, realizing that he had not understood a word this guy calling himself Tony Stark had said. Still, Saitama took two steps to the side and cleared the way. "Um—"
"All right, you've left a deep impression on me with this unusual approach. I'll give you an opportunity. This is my business card. You can take it to Stark Industries and apply for a job. I have to say, your way of looking for work is novel and impressive. You've left a deep impression on me, especially with that distinctive appearance of yours. I probably won't forget you anytime soon." Tony Stark gave Saitama a thumbs-up.
"Huh?" Saitama stared blankly at the business card in his hand, still unable to understand what was happening. But it seemed the other man was trying to find him a job?
"Um, I—"
"Whoosh!"
Tony Stark's sports car shot past Saitama.
"Um, you still haven't told me how to get to A City..." Saitama watched the sports car speed away and murmured the words he had just wanted to say.
P.S.: Some readers might ask why Saitama can speak English and understand English. That wouldn't make any sense, right? Well, the author's explanation is that this Saitama came charging out of the English version. Or perhaps, in reality, Saitama and Tony Stark are both speaking Chinese, since the versions they come from are both Chinese-language versions.
With that explanation, it makes perfect sense, right? It's just like how everyone in Japanese anime speaks Japanese, and everyone throughout the universe in Hollywood movies speaks English. So in this book, everyone speaks Chinese. That's perfectly reasonable too, right?
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