Temporary Development

"Boss Meng."

"I'm not backing down."

"There's something I have to test."

The boy tipped his head back, narrowed his eyes, and stared at the enormous crow in the sky.

"Every time [gestalt collapse] flares up, I get completely caught in it."

"I believe what I'm seeing is real."

"I always scare myself into trembling."

"Just like most people who dream can't tell they're dreaming."

"But."

The boy's pupils contracted slightly. "Once daylight comes and everything disappears, I realize it was all an illusion. Then I'm not afraid anymore. I even laugh at myself for being such a coward."

Meng Jihe froze. "What the hell are you babbling about, kid?!"

Then he saw it.

The boy stepped forward, actually walking toward it.

He looked up again.

The half-mechanical crow hurtling through the sky was less than 800 meters from the boy, its enormous body reflected in his pupils.

"Now, daylight has come."

The boy murmured to himself.

No one else could see the twisted, chaotic binary code covering the enormous crow's body.

At that moment.

The code suddenly seethed and surged, then began rearranging itself, gradually returning to its original order.

From the perspective of ordinary onlookers.

Black smoke inexplicably began rising from the enormous crow's body.

As though evaporating, the black mist drifted into the sky, where the fierce winds scattered it.

500 meters!

The mechanical crow was already shrouded in black mist.

300 meters!

Through the mist, they could just make out the crow's body rapidly disintegrating, as though crumbling into sand!

200 meters!

The crow had shrunk to less than a tenth of its former size, and its body was already so insubstantial that it flickered in and out of sight.

100 meters!

The crow's beak seemed about to strike the boy.

But at that very moment, its hazy body could no longer hold its shape. A gust swept past, a bird's cry faded into the distance, and the crow burst apart!

Everyone present was utterly stunned.

The situation had changed too suddenly.

"What happened?"

"What's going on?!"

Meng Jihe stood frozen as well.

No one saw it.

The boy quietly unclenched his fists.

He had been gambling, too.

But his gamble had paid off.

It came into being because of me, and it will disappear because of me!

For some inexplicable reason, an unreadable smile appeared at the corner of the boy's mouth.

Just then.

God's Abandoned suddenly woke on his shoulder, and blue data appeared.

--[gestalt collapse] temporary development: 2%.

"What's going on?!"

"My Ke 02?!"

Having lost his "mount," the balding fat man tumbled through the air in free fall. His eyes widened as he saw an ordinary-sized crow flap past him.

"What's going on?!"

"Where did you put my Ke 02?!"

"Meng Jihe, I'll kill you!"

He was still roaring.

The boy narrowed his eyes slightly. The balding fat man was flying straight toward him.

His thoughts raced.

I could dodge him, but falling from this height might kill him outright.

There was no denying it.

The crow created by [gestalt collapse] had been the key to setting him on the path he had taken today.

It feels like Ke Qiming has been influenced by some dark emotion.

Maybe he'll turn over a new leaf someday.

I'll save him.

But I don't have any equipment, or that kind of strength.

That guy weighs at least 100 kilograms.

The boy suddenly recalled a twisted killer.

He was a judo expert from the Island Nation who specialized in kidnapping strong men, then injecting his victims with neurological drugs that left them unable to move.

Then.

The deranged judo expert used his victims to practice his "throwing techniques."

He threw them over and over.

Some had been thrown for a full twenty-four hours, until every bone in their bodies was shattered and their muscles were mangled.

The boy had once imitated this deranged killer, nicknamed the "Judo Fiend," to solve the case.

It was precisely because of that case that Qin Yiguan, in the physical world, had mastered every "throwing technique," though only in theory and imagination. He lacked the strength to reproduce those techniques in reality.

Now, the boy frowned.

Among those throwing techniques, there's a way to redirect force. It should let me catch that balding fat man perfectly.

I can try.

The data from God's Abandoned updated again.

Brain hypernormal region B05 [shadow syndrome]--temporary development: 1%.

In that instant.

The boy leaped into the air, reaching a height of seven meters-even higher than the judo killer in the physical world could jump.

Then the boy reached out and, with a strange technique, braced one hand against Ke Qiming's back.

Then, as fast as lightning, he rotated his arm, redirecting the force of Ke Qiming's fall before flipping him over and seizing his collar.

Ke Qiming's expression relaxed.

But at that instant, the boy's calm face suddenly twisted, his expression shifting rapidly. He said quietly, "Why should I save you? You were just trying to slaughter every last one of us!"

Then.

The boy arched his back in midair and turned his arm, executing an immensely powerful, flawlessly textbook shoulder throw!

Boom!

Qin Yiguan drove Ke Qiming's body straight into the earth, burying his skull and shattering his neck and spine!

The consciousness matrix changed again.

Brain abnormal region A89 [conscience-free syndrome]--temporary development: 2%.