I, the Ash Emperor

Liao Ji: "."

"That can't be possible, can it? As far as I know, they were all raised by that Great Emperor himself. They should have been closer to one another than family. How could they have harmed him?"

Even though he knew it wasn't true, Liao Ji still wanted to understand why people in the future had come up with such an outrageous idea.

And Irin's answer was:

"You're right. But maybe that's exactly why love turned to hate? It's true that the Great Emperor saved this imperiled world, but as for his personal character—especially his private life—rumor had it he was a complete bastard!"

"That Great Emperor was not only incredibly lustful, insisting that his personal guards be stunningly beautiful women, but also a shameless womanizer. He was always chasing something new and casting aside the old. Once he'd had his fill of one guard, he'd discard her without a second thought, like a tool, then go looking for another."

Liao Ji: "."

"The strongest evidence is that the Great Emperor's five personal guards came from five different races! From noble Elves to seductive Succubi, he even went after mechanical androids! Just imagine how debauched that Great Emperor must have been!"

Perhaps because she was a woman herself, Irin looked outraged as she spoke.

And Liao Ji...

Liao Ji: "."

"M-maybe that Great Emperor just thought they were nice to look at? Or could it be that he never even laid a finger on any of his five personal guards?"

"Huh!?"

Even though the female scavenger was tied up, that didn't stop Irin from shooting Liao Ji a look like he was an idiot.

"You're a grown man, so why are you still as naive as a child? Oh, a gorgeous woman who's madly in love with you is right in front of you, and you just look at her because she's nice to look at, without doing anything? Then you're worse than a beast!"

Liao Ji: "."

"Hmph. That Great Emperor was a beast through and through. They say he was into all kinds of twisted stuff, too—handcuffs, whips, hot wax. Every night, he'd have his five guards take turns serving him. Sometimes he'd make all five of them do it together, and sometimes he'd even—"

Irin grew more and more animated as she spoke, but Liao Ji stood beside her with a face full of exasperation.

Falling was a legitimate game.

It wasn't some eighteen-plus erotic game on a certain Steam platform!

"Stop!"

"Where did you even hear all this nonsense?" Liao Ji demanded angrily.

Irin: "All this? There's tons of it on the dark web."

"Hey, what's with that look? Don't tell me you haven't read any of them? Come on, some of those books actually have pretty good writing and plots. How about it? If you let me go, I might even consider giving you a few of them—mmph, mmmph!"

Irin's excited voice abruptly cut off. Soon, all she could do was glare furiously and protest through muffled whimpers.

Liao Ji took a deep breath.

It seemed people in the post-Wasteland era still had it too easy.

"All right, I'm done asking questions. Now it's your turn to ask me one. But remember, you only get one chance, so think carefully before you speak."

With a wave of the young man's hand, Irin got her voice back.

It was clear the female scavenger had wanted to start cursing, but in the end, she'd forced herself to hold it in. Irin didn't dare waste this hard-won chance.

Afraid Liao Ji might change his mind, she immediately asked the question weighing on her most.

"What did you do to me?"

"I knew you'd ask that." Liao Ji shrugged. "You probably figured it out already, right? I helped you become a Corrupted. It just came at a tiny cost. For instance, I can place restrictions on some of your actions."

Liao Ji had thought that if Irin objected, it would be to the latter part.

But to his surprise, the female scavenger's face fell the moment she heard the words "Corrupted," as if the worst-case scenario had come true.

"What's wrong? You don't want to become a Corrupted?" Liao Ji asked, perplexed.

After all, according to Falling's lore, the Corrupted were the Wasteland's hope—the strongest fighters humanity had against monsters and the Corrupt Calamity.

But Irin's next words made Liao Ji realize that times had changed.

"Heh... Heh-heh. You mean the Corrupted who have a seventy percent chance of losing control within a month, growing more and more mentally unstable over time, and being hunted by the local government and guards wherever they go? The ones who, if caught, spend the rest of their lives in a dungeon or are executed on the spot, while their families and friends get dragged down with them until their homes are shattered and their families torn apart? All that, just to gain a pitiful bit of power?"

Irin spoke faster and faster, her voice rising to a peak. She was strangely furious, and there was pain in her eyes.

"Who the hell would want to become one of these damn Corrupted?!"

After that scream, the female scavenger seemed utterly drained of strength. She sat there dazed and despondent.

Silence fell over the secret room for a moment.

Then Liao Ji spoke.

"Sorry, I take back what I said before. I didn't know you had such a strong aversion to the Corrupted. But, as far as I know, losing control usually only happens to Corrupted of Calamity Rank or above, and the odds are nowhere near as high as you said."

But Irin's next words left Liao Ji stunned.

"What are you talking about? Corrupted who can stay sane all the way up to Danger Rank are already incredibly rare. As for Calamity Rank Corrupted... Maybe you could still find them in the history books two or three hundred years ago, but every single one of them met the same end: either they lost control and triggered a calamity, or they went berserk and turned into monsters. And you call that a low probability?"

The information Irin gave him left Liao Ji deep in thought.

He really had fallen into a misconception. Both the emergence of the Corrupted and their later growth in power depended on the Corrupt Calamity.

In the Wasteland world of his first playthrough, Corrupt Calamity contamination was everywhere, so Corrupted weren't uncommon.

As for high-ranking Corrupted, Liao Ji recalled that there were plenty of four-star Danger Rank ones. Five-star Calamity Rank Corrupted were less common, but not so rare as Irin made them sound. The kind of rarity she described—one appearing once in a century—should have applied to the highest rank, six-star Disaster Rank.

But in this new era, five hundred years later, the source that produced the Corrupt Calamity had been destroyed by him. So the number of disasters and monsters had fallen drastically, and the same was true of the Corrupted.

On top of that, people's main concern was no longer surviving in the Wasteland, but progress and development. It was like how firearms became illegal in civilized society. Perhaps to this new world five hundred years later, the Corrupted were the equivalent of firearms: outlawed in the name of peace and stability, to be dealt with immediately if discovered.

As for the extraordinarily high rate of losing control among the Corrupted that Irin described, far higher than he remembered, perhaps that was also related to the scarcity of the Corrupt Calamity?

Liao Ji wondered to himself.

In any case, after digesting the information he'd gotten from Irin and gaining a deeper understanding of this world he'd traveled to for his "Second Playthrough," Liao Ji let out a long breath.

He could understand Irin's attitude a little better now.

It was probably like surviving a disaster only to be told you had terminal cancer.

But precisely because of that...

Liao Ji smiled.

"Miss Irin, don't worry. I can promise you that as long as our Contract remains in effect, no matter how freely you use your power, the Corrupt Calamity inside you will never get out of control."

"And once I find someone to take your place, I'll help you end the Contract and remove the Corrupt Calamity from your body. Then you can go right back to enjoying life as an ordinary person."

"I know you might not believe me. But as a free bonus, I'll answer one more question you asked earlier. I'll tell you who I am."

As Irin stared at him in indescribable astonishment, Liao Ji nodded slowly and spoke, word by word.

"I am the Ash Emperor."