Act.12 With or Without You · The You Who Keeps Me at Arm's Length

Foreword:

Lovers shouldn't argue, because there are only two of them, but the whole world is against them.

--Ernest Miller Hemingway

[Part 1: Binding Force]

"What nonsense is this woman spouting?"

Meteor hesitated, sword in hand, not daring to make a move. He looked at the tall, unfamiliar woman holding the skull and was certain that she was not the Hunter King —unlike the gentle and refined Cat Tree Lady, the woman's every move had an inexplicable eeriness about it.

[She was once my wife, Meteor Boy.]

Bu Liuxing asked in a low voice, "What do you mean?"

[Zhong Kui's genetic prototype is Shihara Momo, who, after multiple iterations and upgrades, is one of the administrators of a classic human educational institution. Babies sent out of this arsenal must obey the commands of this foster mother.]

[She's a big project, a major intellectual property (IP), and many, many people are interested in her story. Whether they're high-ranking officials or ordinary citizens in Shinto City, many years ago, everyone more or less trained their own [Miss Peach]—initially as a language model, then as a product spokesperson; she was a commodity, sold and resold.]

[Ultimately, he ended up like this, becoming a manager of a military-industrial complex.]

"That's right." Zhong Kui gently stroked the skull in his arms, his fingertips brushing against the spinal joints, drawing out arcs of electricity from the polymer protective plate. "So this little brother is the helper you found?"

Meteor immediately became alert and shouted loudly.

"Hot Wind! This woman can hear you!"

[Her earliest form was a language model, designed to be empathetic. Later service robots not only needed to be empathetic, but also adept at undressing—so the ability to detect neural signals isn't surprising.]

Zhong Kui gently placed the brain back into the petri dish, smiling sweetly.

"Don't be so serious, we rarely get to see each other."

Meteor cautiously stepped back, and the atmosphere became stiff and tense.

Hey kid, what are you thinking about? You seem a bit confused.

Meteor gripped the sword hilt, feeling his hands were drenched in sweat. "It's your chaotic mind! The Hot Wind! You're affecting me!"

[Is it... my heart that's in turmoil?!]

"Of course! I have no relation to this woman! What nonsense am I spouting?!" Bu Liuxing could sense the anomaly in the VENOM mechanism; the synchronization rate was slowly decreasing. "Her face is exactly the same as the Hunter King's. Although I don't know what connection the two have, it's all the same to me. I'm a warrior; I don't choose my opponents! If you want to fight, I'm ready anytime."

"But Hot Wind! Why is my right arm not obeying me?! This arm has become weak!"

Zhong Kui wasn't in a hurry; he crossed his arms and looked ambiguous.

"Because it has a guilty conscience, it feels ashamed, it regrets, it is in pain, it begins to waver, and it becomes weak."

Bu Liuxing shouted at Zhong Kui, "You want to fight me?!"

"My mission is to protect the [classic humans] of Kanto City. If you want to move forward, you must defeat me." Zhong Kui slightly hunched over, her eyes sharpening, her eight-shaped pupils gradually converging to lock onto Meteor: "However, I must make this clear from the start—I am very strong, stronger than you can imagine. Don't associate me with Yezhong Yoguang; the two are incomparable."

"If your Venom doesn't obey, it can't fully cooperate with you--"

Flames spewed from Zhong Kui's bright red lips, her core engine operating at full power, instantly unleashing terrifying spiritual pressure and high temperature. The flames left a heart-shaped plume of smoke, which she then blew out as a sharp arrow, ultimately piercing the heart.

"You definitely can't beat me."

At that moment, Meteor felt his limbs stiffen, as if he had been hit by infrasound, and his internal organs were convulsing. He didn't know what was happening, but he was still being stubborn.

"Did you learn this trick from TOM? That's fucking cool."

Zhong Kui squinted and smiled, "Want to learn? I'll teach you."

"It's a pity I have a girlfriend." Meteor gasped for breath, trying to rouse his heavy body. He felt like he was sinking into a quagmire, with invisible water pressure forcing his chest and abdomen to deform and shift.

His expression changed, and he tore off the front of his shirt, ripping the fabric from the straps of his carrying gear. Various marks were visible on his chest and abdomen.

The shapes of those marks were like pairs of invisible fleshy hands stroking his muscles and pressing his skin; the strange sensation made his whole body go numb and his forehead sweat.

Meteor reached out to grab them, trying to pry open these invisible hands, but he couldn't touch anything, not even the spiritual entities that resembled magnetic storm clouds.

"It's impolite to touch someone inappropriately."

He was astonished by this "touch phenomenon" that transcended psychic powers, and he couldn't understand the underlying principles at all.

[Kid, this is a cloud of energy she created using magnetic fields and sound waves; it's invisible to the naked eye.]

[You don't have an electronic prosthetic eye, so you can't see electromagnetic waves and infrasound waves.]

Bu Liuxing angrily shouted, "What exactly does she want! Why is she touching me all over!"

She's toying with you, and she's toying with me too.

Zhong Kui grinned and laughed, covering his face with one hand to hide his ugliness, while flipping the other hand upwards as if he were going to steal a bird's nest.

Meteor's legs involuntarily tightened, and his expression changed drastically.

"You!"

"Hot Wind, how are you feeling? How are you feeling?" Zhong Kui spoke rudely, mercilessly mocking her husband. "I'm holding this boy's manhood in my hands! You live inside his body, so you should feel it too."

A Xing had seen people who didn't care about their lives, but he had never seen such a shameless woman! He hugged the Dragon Slayer Sword and jumped backward to dodge the unseen and eerie attack, leaping back and forth in the narrow corridor!

Zhong Kui's carefree and playful expression changed, seemingly because Bu Liuxing's escape had angered her. She began to feel restless, and the heavy spiritual energy that had been reverberating in the originally windless environment now began to generate wind pressure and howls due to changes in sound waves and electromagnetic forces.

She reached out, intending to continue toying with the nameless young man, and recounted past stories with her former lover, Hot Wind.

"I can hear your thoughts, Hot Wind, what's the rush?"

"You have to understand that this body, these artificial remains, have all been tested and refined in the market. When it comes to being pleasing to the eye, if I say I'm second, no one dares to claim to be first."

"From military use to household use, and then from household use back to military use, my husband..."

"What's there to feel aggrieved about? Wasn't this our own choice?"

That's enough!

Bu Liuxing cursed as he ran away.

"You woman have no martial ethics! You only use low-level attacks—I despise you!"

"So you surrender?" Zhong Kui lowered his hands and clapped gently. As the applause rang out, the lights in the surrounding incubators flickered on and off. "As long as you give up resisting, I will personally sing you a lullaby. In [Extreme Bliss Space], there are many wonderful older sisters waiting for you. Like these babies, fall asleep in my arms."

"The pressure of reality is too heavy, too heavy for you."

"Why not lay down your weapons? You can gain eternal freedom."

Bu Liuxing felt a sudden relief from the pressure. The feeling of having his vital points locked by something unseen was incredibly uncomfortable. He was covered in cold sweat, just like an ordinary person encountering Spirit Calamity, completely powerless to fight back, without even knowing where the enemy was or how to counter it!

Zhong Kui, who was standing at the end of the road, took two steps forward, turned around on the spot, and immediately changed into a kimono.

The mesh fabric on her body resembled an extremely advanced and highly sensitive acoustic projection element.

Meteor had also seen this virtual reality projection technology in Kanto City.

--The idol Matsushima Seiko can create a specific form through the waveform of her voice, including the material of her clothes, the texture of her skin, the overall color and the light and shadow, all of which are incredibly realistic!

At this moment, sound, the key that carries information, influences the energy within Zhong Kui, and the unstable plasma of flames transforms into an oscilloscope within a strong magnetic field.

The form of her voice sculpted a vibrant crimson kimono; she changed her attire in the blink of an eye.

A huge bow was tied around his waist, and when he turned around, Zhong Kui's cascading black hair was already tied up in a bun.

"You like this?"

Another lap has passed--

--She changed into a pure white wedding dress.

"Still like this?"

From glamorous models on the fashion runway to swimsuit-clad women on the Hawaiian coast.

In just over ten seconds, Shihara Momo's ghostly charms were displayed in countless ways.

"I can transform all this sweetness, and I can give it all."

I said! You fucking shut up!

Bu Liuxing could feel the fury of the Hot Wind within the VENOM mechanism—that soul had become a vengeful ghost, possessing a strong desire for self-destruction and murderous intent.

Zhong Kui said with a grin, "Are you angry?"

Bu Liuxing felt something was off; he was like an innocent little baby caught between this ghostly couple.

He needed to experience the Hot Wind firsthand.

--A profound sense of helplessness and pain almost drove him mad.

That was Hot Wind's wife, who, under the catalysis of Extreme Bliss Space, transformed into different modules, different memories and experiences, into products on the shelf, and into an Artificial Intelligence assistant.

She became part of the service industry, a prostitute, a custom-made toy.

It has become a weapon of the military-industrial complex, and has become what it is today.

She was completely disfigured and had become a demon.

That's enough.

[As long as I'm alive! As long as I'm still alive in Yezhong and Yoguang's training sessions!]

You cannot destroy my will. Don't even think about turning me into this!

[Part ② - Further Talk is Useless]

"Then I won't joke with you anymore." Zhong Kui reverted to his original form, his artificial body returning to normal. "Young brother, before we fight to the death, I have a few things to clarify with you, and a few questions to ask you."

After what just happened, Bu Liuxing was unsure of himself, and he spoke in a flustered manner, even stuttering a little.

"Ah, you tell me."

Zhong Kui raised his head, his expression becoming calm and natural, but his eyes held resentment and anger.

"You want to go against the gods? Do you know why Shinto City has become like this?"

Bu Liuxing shook his head. The Hot Wind wouldn't let him peek into the fragments of his memories. Apart from some things he had learned in the Extreme Bliss Space, he knew very little about the history of the Shinto City.

"Foolish!" Zhong Kui scoffed. "Do you know why Venom uses electrolyte solvents as its life-sustaining energy source?"

"Because this place can't grow crops anymore! After the crimson tide flooded the soil, hematite and bauxite polluted the land."

"But we have to survive. How can people live without food or water?"

"The Earth's mantle beneath the surface is full of solid electrolytes. VENOM has solved the problem of food, but what about the other problems?"

"The earthquake destroyed the railway between the stations. We have no Universal Elixir, so we developed a nanomechanical medical unit derived from the VENOM organization. The pressure to survive in reality is getting greater and greater, so we have to escape into Extreme Bliss Space to enjoy life, to fight against the Inspiration Pressure brought by this land, to fight against our weak and powerless brains, and to fight against the soaring Madness Index!"

"Years ago, in order to fight against the Madness Butterfly Sect, we transformed into a military-industrial complex economy."

"Later, in order to fight against BANKER, Artificial Intelligence took over the role of the manager."

"But what can we do if one day there are no more wars?"

"There is no pressure to survive, no need to eat, no medical services, and no entertainment or culture."

"My comrades are going to retire in Extreme Bliss Space and become useless trash."

"I'll lower my head and sell myself, I'll become a clay idol to make money."

"Because I'm worth so much money, people are willing to pay for me, willing to work hard, willing to consume me, and own me—where there are buyers, there are producers; where there are jobs, there is an economic cycle; where there are different versions of me, there are countless versions of me. So beautiful, so ugly."

As for Hot Wind —everyone loves him, everyone fears him.

"Just like his name, he is the leader of the Fen Feng."

"It is the descending airflow on the leeward slope of the mountain, a dry wind that destroys crops."

"He can destroy cities, blow down crops, make people tired and depressed, cause vomiting and insomnia, and raise temperatures."

People feared him, yet also hoped he would blow away the winter snow.

"Young man, things might not be what you think."

Zhong Kui's eyes were full of amusement, hinting at something deeper.

"He was the first individual to be eliminated by the Shinto People because his destructive power was too great."

"He cannot adapt to this civilized society because he does not love any person, any object, or any group."

"Including his wife, he doesn't love me at all. He attacks and tries to correct everything he sees!"

"His mind is only focused on the world he imagines; he finds fault with everyone! Nobody will like him."

"So when the war ended, he disappeared, becoming nothing more than a lonely ghost."

"So his two children were also cursed— Yezhong and Yoguang would have to live with dog leashes on."

"Now do you understand? Do you know what kind of monster is residing inside your body?"

"Even knowing all this, you still want to be our enemy? You should think this through. Kanto City is just the first stop. This area of 378,000 square kilometers contains more than ten cities and hundreds of towns—everyone living here deeply loves the gods of the Six Divisions of Shinto."

Zhong Kui took out his fighting weapons from his carrying bag. They were two double-edged short swords, each about 37 centimeters long, and like the execution sword used by the Night Patrol, they were high-frequency weapons.

She stood upright, sword in hand, without hunching over or bowing her head. This posture showed that she had enough confidence to deal with the sudden impact, and her artificial body exerted a very strong force.

"Ms. Zhong Kui, I don't know your history." Bu Liuxing was heavy-hearted and momentarily speechless. "But I'm on Hot Wind's side."

Zhong Kui found it utterly incomprehensible, and his expression twisted in pain. "Why!"

"Because I am a Homo sapiens," Bu Liuxing said. "I must uphold the justice of Homo sapiens —from the moment I entered this city, the Shinto City no longer considered me human."

"It transformed into a monstrous beast, demanding that I sacrifice my essence, sell my memories, and steal my experiences."

"Although my brain isn't the best, my memory is pretty good. My older brother once said—this is called human flesh trading."

"You treat those who haven't installed VENOM like babies and wild animals, turning them into raw materials, into commodities that can be quantified and priced."

"No matter how eloquently you speak, or how movingly you tell your story—that's the justice of Artificial Intelligence, or perhaps not even justice at all. It's just a pricing formula left to you by the banker, a business transaction."

Bu Liuxing raised the Dragon Slayer Sword, urging Hot Wind to perk up.

"Whatever is in my arm, you call the Hot Wind a monster—I don't think so, Ms. Zhong Kui."

"Calling you 'madam' is already giving you plenty of face; in a country like yours, etiquette is highly valued—this is my final act of courtesy."

"When you flaunt your Gikai body to me, when you wear Shihara Momo's skin and act all seductive—I can feel Hot Wind's heart being cleaved open by an axe, it's almost collapsing."

"And you don't care at all, like an outsider, like you don't care about anything, as if this process of coercion and inducement is just a matter of course for you, like eating and drinking."

"Compared to your cold-blooded and cruel nature, Hot Wind is more like a living, breathing person."

"You were once a warrior of the Fēngfēng Battle Group, so you should have heard of the calling of the nameless warriors from hundreds of years ago."

"I am human, you are a monster."

"My duty is to slay demons and monsters, so we have nothing to talk about."

[Looks like you're another stupid, angry, and troll! I like you!]

"--Your codename shouldn't be Zhong Kui, I am your Zhong Kui. Enough said, let's see your health bar!"