The Mosquito That Wanted to Drink Royal Insect Blood

Z City, uninhabited zone.

"Hello, everyone."

"To get straight to the point, this year's mosquitoes are a new species..."

As the television played, Morien lay on his side on the sofa, stretching out both hands and clasping them before his chest.

"Binding Vow," he murmured. "I'll trade rapid loss of body heat for a slight increase in Cursed Energy."

The next moment, the Binding Vow took effect.

Morien closed his eyes and lay peacefully on the sofa.

"Ah, now I don't need to turn on the air conditioner."

"This feels nice..."

Before Morien could drift completely into peaceful sleep, a shiny bald head poked out from beside a nearby table.

"Morien, you really have to teach me that. I really want to learn it."

Saitama sat in Morien's living room, holding the TV remote in his hand.

"There's nothing I can do about that," Morien's voice sounded in Saitama's mind. "You don't have the talent."

"Ah... like this voice that just appears directly in my head?" Saitama pointed at his bald head.

"Mm." Morien answered with a nasal hum.

"Ah... I'm jealous..." Saitama said enviously.

It was June now, and the sun was scorching.

Although sunlight could not burn him, the discomfort was real.

"If you're hot, just turn on the air conditioner," Morien said with his eyes closed. "It's not like you have to pay the electricity bill here."

"That won't do," Saitama said matter-of-factly. "No matter the season, I won't use air conditioning."

It was training he had kept up for several years.

One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, plus a ten-kilometer run every day, without air conditioning regardless of the season.

"That works too." Morien had no intention of stopping Saitama from holding himself to his own standards.

This was Z City, an uninhabited zone where nearly everyone had fled because of the frequent Monster attacks.

Since every house was empty, anyone could live in whichever one they wanted without paying rent. The only thing to worry about was suddenly dying one day.

Yet even without people, Z City's water and electricity supply continued uninterrupted.

Morien guessed there were two possibilities.

First, the technology in this world might simply be so advanced that water and electricity were not resources at all, no rarer than air. Cutting off supplies to one district might disrupt the overall system instead, requiring new routes to be built, with the manpower and material costs far exceeding the cost of maintaining things as they were.

Second, it was because of what lay underground.

The Monster Association headquarters was in Z City, in this uninhabited zone, directly beneath them.

So it was also possible that the Monster Association maintained the city's water and electricity through some method.

After all, they might need them too.

Morien did not care what the actual reason was. He only needed to know that housing, water, and electricity were all free in this area.

Of course, since water and electricity were free, he could have simply turned on the air conditioner.

But he preferred fresh air and ventilation. He did not like keeping all the doors and windows shut.

Enclosed spaces made him think of the Morien from the Honkai: Star Rail World and recall the memories he had brought with him.

Saitama looked at Morien and blinked.

This man had moved here two days ago. He seemed to be a foreigner who could not speak Japanese, so they could only communicate in simple ways.

Still, he was easy enough to get along with, and since he was a neighbor, Saitama occasionally dropped by. Over time, they became familiar with each other.

It was just that communication could be a little difficult sometimes.

After all, Morien did not know any Japanese at all.

But this afternoon, Morien had suddenly changed. He had demonstrated the ability to speak directly in other people's minds, gone out and killed a Monster, traded its body at the police station for some money, bought prepared food and fruit, and even invited Saitama to eat with him.

The television continued playing.

"A large number of mosquitoes are currently heading toward Z City. Livestock bitten by them have turned into dried corpses. If you encounter mosquitoes outdoors, please seek shelter immediately."

"Mosquitoes?" Morien opened his eyes again.

Ah, right. There really had been this part of the story.

Morien remembered.

He had also seen the news report about Vaccine Man appearing two days ago.

Although he had not understood it at the time, he recognized that Monster whose appearance closely resembled King Piccolo.

So today was Mosquito Girl's storyline.

Morien understood.

He had indeed been hearing mosquitoes lately.

He raised a hand and looked at one slightly lifted finger.

The skin on his finger suddenly split into several small pieces, each one peeling outward.

The pieces of skin turned into tiny purple butterflies as soon as they detached from Morien.

But they could not become Fortune-Collecting Butterflies.

Was it because there was no Mother Bug here? Morien pondered.

No, that did not seem right.

If the insects' evolutionary paths in the swarm were lit up bit by bit, then every branch of evolution would have a backup within the Royal Insect.

Morien now knew how to split off a Fortune-Collecting Butterfly, but it was difficult to actually do so.

"Eh? Morien, can you do magic too?" Saitama leaned closer and asked curiously.

"Mm... a little," Morien answered.

At that moment, Morien seemed to have guessed what was missing.

It was a "miracle."

The birth of a Fortune-Collecting Butterfly required the collection of miracles.

Morien looked at Saitama.

Wasn't there a super miracle right here?

Who would dare say Saitama was not a collection of super miracles?

Just as Morien tried to investigate further—

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

"Then... did you make this with magic too?" Saitama asked, pointing at a mosquito.

"Oh, not this." Morien glanced up at it, then lowered his head and continued studying.

Smack!

Thus, Saitama began his challenge against the mosquito.

The lifelong enemy of One-Punch Man: the Mosquito Celestial Thearch who ruled through the ages.

This time, Saitama was the challenger.

His ears twitched. Morien looked toward the window he had left open, where another mosquito had flown inside. It slowly approached him before finally landing on his hand.

"Oh?" Morien raised an eyebrow and did not stop it.

A mosquito wanted to drink a Royal Insect's blood?

How long had he even been in Japan? How had he already run into a story about the weak overthrowing the strong?

And its target was him.

That mosquito was really eager to improve itself.

Buzzing, the mosquito landed on the back of Morien's hand, inserted its proboscis, and began to suck blood.

Morien watched quietly.

He was curious what would happen when this mosquito, controlled by Mosquito Girl in the original story to feed on human blood, drank the blood of a Royal Insect.

The next moment, the mosquito suddenly lifted its head and looked at Morien.

Morien immediately felt a mystical connection form between himself and the mosquito. He felt that he could easily control its life and death, control its actions.

Had it been contaminated by him?

Morien made a simple guess in his mind.

But a guess was only a guess. Morien had no intention of testing it directly for now.

He did nothing, merely watching as it continued carrying out the command of its previous master, leaving Morien and flying out through the window.