Loss of Control

"Aren't you going to apologize?"

After Sato Gafeng spoke those words, time around him seemed to freeze for several seconds.

Yakuza was stunned for a moment, then his face gradually darkened, the tattoo on half of his face appearing to twist.

Everyone was standing close together, so those nearby naturally heard what he said.

The high school student, who had been playing on his phone, looked up at the salaryman, then at Yakuza, and tried to shuffle a bit further away, leaving enough space so that if the other man threw a punch, it wouldn't hit him.

It wasn't just him; many people nearby silently took a small step back to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

Except for a female office worker wearing headphones, who was still listening to music and scrolling through Twitter, her body swaying slightly.

"How do you want me to apologize?" Yakuza's voice was hoarse, his appearance fitting the stereotype perfectly. He turned around and stared directly at this ordinary salaryman who didn't know where he found the courage to provoke him.

"Just a simple apology." Sato Gafeng was trying to suppress the anger bubbling up inside him, speaking in a low voice.

"Oh." Yakuza looked enlightened, then gave two light coughs. "Ahem, ptooey."

A thick glob of phlegm landed precisely on Sato Gafeng's leather shoe.

"Oh, that's how we apologize in the countryside." Yakuza revealed half a brilliant smile.

Why half? Because the moment Sato Gafeng threw a punch, half of his face was smashed to pieces.

From the perspective of others, it looked like the salaryman threw a punch, and Yakuza's head exploded like a tomato. Red and white matter splattered in a fan shape, and Yakuza's body was knocked into others, toppling half the carriage like dominoes.

The female office worker with the headphones, who had been scrolling through her phone perfectly fine, was suddenly splattered. Half her face and the phone in her hand were stained with color; she screamed in terror, then curled up in the corner, covering her head.

At this moment, Sato Gafeng looked dazed, but he was actually savoring the aftertaste. It turned out that throwing a punch was this satisfying.

It was more pleasurable than anything else; dopamine surged like a floodgate opening, and he felt so good that his whole body was trembling.

His fist was somewhat damaged, but he didn't seem to notice at all.

Screams began to erupt throughout the carriage. Most people who didn't know the truth thought they had encountered a bomber and scrambled to escape.

Those who saw what happened were even more terrified. This is a real-life Sett!

How could anyone punch someone and cave in half their face?

Sato Gafeng, whose anger had begun to subside, smelled the overwhelming scent of fear. The impulse to tear everything apart and destroy everything rushed back like a tide.

Looking at the crowd desperately retreating, the taste of the fear washing over him finally caused his reason to vanish completely.

Shiraishi Wataru was observing Sato Gafeng's slaughter through symbiosis while taking notes.

"Does pure Super Strength actually cause one to be controlled by emotions? In other words, must Super Strength and Steel Body be paired together? Then why didn't Steel Body alone cause abnormal emotions? Is that ability more gentle?"

Although this result exceeded Shiraishi Wataru's expectations, this accident didn't seem bad. After all, knowing that the Super Strength ability alone could cause a person to be emotionally disturbed and required Steel Body to likely remain unscathed was valuable.

Moreover, he could use this to test society for Shiraishi Wataru in advance, to see if it would draw out other superpowered individuals or mysterious organizations. In any case, he could cut the line with the Holy Infant Society at any time, leaving no trace of his true self, unless there was some metaphysical tracking like divination.

On the subway platform, Sato Gafeng had torn apart who knows how many people who hadn't managed to escape. He killed his way from the carriage to the station platform, his entire body dyed red like a blood-soaked man. His hands were already deformed. The nearby guards finally arrived, and after one warning, seeing him charge directly at them, they chose to open fire.

But perhaps because the pistol caliber was too small, a few shots only added a few unremarkable blood holes to his body. Sato Gafeng quickly closed the distance. Under the guard's desperate gaze, he chopped down at his neck, and a head flew away from the body just like that.

In the end, it took the firepower of several people to kill Sato Gafeng.

The first human combat test of Super Strength yielded quite a bit for Shiraishi Wataru. If combined with the highly compatible Steel Body, it would definitely exert an effect where 1+1 was greater than 2.

However, Super Strength alone was already very strong, and it seemed to have the ability to ignore pain; it was just that the symbiont was prone to losing control.

Letting the parasite inside Sato Gafeng dissolve itself, Shiraishi Wataru chose to focus on Mrs. Sato. Perhaps he would soon know if Steel Body had any power to fight back against firearms.

Officer Yamaguchi and his colleague returned to the interrogation room.

Sato Tomomi was there, head bowed, sobbing softly.

"Mrs. Sato, what did that person say to you just now? Perhaps we can help you."

After a long while, Sato Tomomi finally raised her head, her eyes bloodshot as she stared fixedly at Yamaguchi: "He said you were incompetent at solving cases and killed my husband to take the fall."

Officer Yamaguchi and Noguchi Yuji, behind the one-way mirror, felt their hearts skip a beat. He took out his phone, intending to call his subordinate who was tracking the lawyer to detain him immediately.

But at the same time, a subordinate he had arranged earlier rushed back.

"Report, I haven't been able to reach Okamoto Ritsuichi. I found him through other means, and he said he never hired a lawyer to help Mrs. Sato. He doesn't even know Mrs. Sato is at the Metropolitan Police Department."

While listening to the report, he also found his subordinate's number and dialed it.

Then, there was a long, anxious ringing tone.

Officer Yamaguchi couldn't hear any instructions and could only force himself to stay calm, resolutely denying what Sato Tomomi had said. But Sato Tomomi wouldn't believe him at all and began to say excitedly that she wanted to see her husband.

The call connected.

But there was silence on the other end.

"...Let him go, and I won't pursue you." Noguchi Yuji, who had already guessed the situation, spoke first.

"Sorry, if the head falls off, it can't be put back on."

In the unlit alley, the Ninth Guardian, controlled by Shiraishi Wataru, casually tossed the phone and the head aside, and like an ordinary person out for a stroll, slowly disappeared into the depths of the dark alley.

No expression could be seen on Noguchi Yuji's face, but those who knew him well knew that this was a volcano about to erupt.

"Take two men and track down Ishida. Find him," Noguchi Yuji ordered.

"Yes!"

Meanwhile, amidst Officer Yamaguchi's evasive answers, Sato Tomomi finally confirmed that her husband was dead. As for whether he had died at the hands of the Metropolitan Police Department as the Ninth Guardian had claimed, she did not care; right now, she only wanted to destroy everything.

So that's how it is. Anger can increase the temporary compatibility level of Super Strength. Does that mean the consequence of losing control I felt earlier if I forcibly adapted Super Strength was actually just the result of actively using the parasite to force the host into a state of rage before adapting Super Strength? Shiraishi Wataru gained some understanding and noted down this possibility.

And now that Sato Tomomi has fallen into a rage due to her husband's death, she can complete the adaptation on her own. Will she still lose control? Shiraishi Wataru pondered. It remains to be seen.

The parasite attached to Sato Tomomi's heart officially adapted to Super Strength.

Mrs. Sato, who seemed to have calmed down, appeared almost too composed. A low-pressure atmosphere spread from her as the center, making it difficult for those around her to breathe.

"Without me, He Feng must be... he must be so lonely." She slowly raised her head and tilted it, looking at the one-way glass. Her gaze seemed to pierce through it, her tear-stained face staring directly at Noguchi Yuji's position.

"I will go to keep him company, but before that."