Chapter 3

An Xinyi was like a machine, never tiring, never stopping.

And always right.

"DD, record this key point." An Xinyi rattled off a mass of data that would have sounded like gibberish to a layperson. "Pay particular attention to it during clinical trials."

"Yes, sir." Although she called her boss "scum," DD was still very reliable when it came to work.

"Mm." An Xinyi typed the final passage on his computer. "And this Nanite Repair Technology, DD. Organize the material as soon as possible and arrange clinical trials."

"Yes, sir." DD might have been the only one in the world who trusted An Xinyi without question. Even when he frequently produced fully developed technologies that worked perfectly as soon as they were replicated, she never hesitated.

Because she knew that everything, including herself, an artificial intelligence, had been born from An Xin Yi's Ability-an ability that could be called the strongest in the world.

Yet this supposedly strongest ability could also be the most tragic ability in the world.

"The strongest ability?" Teruko Okura raised an eyebrow, not believing a word of it. "There's no such thing as the strongest ability. Even Ability Users are no exception."

Fukuchi Ochi rubbed his chin with interest. "I'm really curious what his ability is."

Even if it wasn't the strongest, being able to obtain so many technologies ahead of their time made it more valuable than any other ability in certain respects.

After all, technology was the foundation of society, not Superhumans.

Did this man exist in their world? Even Fukuchi Ochi felt a little tempted.

"The strongest? The most tragic?" Fyodor chuckled. As expected, abilities were the original sin.

Ranpo Edogawa suddenly began eating his snacks faster. Yukichi Fukuzawa sensed his unease as well. "Ranpo?"

Ranpo Edogawa stopped what he was doing and muttered, "Idiots... every last one of them."

Osamu Dazai didn't possess Ranpo Edogawa's extraordinary insight and deductive abilities, but as perceptive as he was, he still gleaned something from Ranpo's reaction. His expression grew slightly graver.

Ango Sakaguchi, who had remained silent and quietly made himself as inconspicuous as possible, adjusted his glasses. He racked his brains, but found no mention of An Xinyi in any of the Special Division for Unusual Powers' records.

"Sir, there's a piece of news that requires your attention." Even DD's electronic voice sounded grave.

"What is it?"

"A rumor is circulating in Yokohama. A mysterious tycoon died, leaving behind the Five-Hundred-Billion Inheritance. Every organization in Yokohama is in an uproar."

Even as an artificial intelligence, DD knew what this meant. People would die in Yokohama. A great many people.

"Five hundred billion?" His extraordinary computational abilities produced a conclusion in an instant. "Yen, presumably. That's only 4.5 billion US dollars."

"Only?" Mori Ougai raised an eyebrow. How was he supposed to feel about that breezy tone, when he had fought through the Dragon Head Conflict with such difficulty, failed to claim the entire five hundred billion, and suffered considerable losses in the process?

"Only?" Ango Sakaguchi adjusted his glasses. That fortune had sparked a war. Just recalling the madness back then was unbearable. No one knew better than he did how many lives had been lost.

"City people really are rich," Kenji Miyazawa remarked in simple amazement.

Everyone fell silent. Surely this had nothing to do with being city people.

"Don't bother with their fighting, as long as it doesn't affect my laboratory."

An Xinyi paused again. "Collect as much brain tissue, body tissue, and information from the deceased as possible. We can use it for experiments. Pay for it if necessary."

"Cremating them would be too wasteful."

"What is wrong with this man?" Teruko Okura was furious. "He wants to recycle even the dead?"

"He talks about making all humanity immortal, yet he's going to watch other people die?"

The others all nodded. An Xinyi's behavior was undeniably far too cold-blooded.

This was a war. Who knew how many people would die?

DD calculated the costs and said with complete sincerity, "Sir, based on the projected casualties, the cost of collecting and preserving the deceased's remaining tissue would already rival the five hundred billion they're fighting over."

"Besides, outside clinical trials, mere remnants of human tissue have little value."

"I know," An Xinyi replied evenly. "But if the Consciousness Digitization experiments succeed, they can live on in a world of data."

"Without brain tissue, the resurrected digital entities would only replicate their patterns of thought. They wouldn't be the people themselves brought back to life."

"But if they could be reborn in the Virtual World... that would be the greatest value of all to them."

"At the end of the day..." An Xinyi smiled. "It's only 4.5 billion US dollars. The three Cancer-Targeted Drugs I'm about to bring to market are valued at over fifty billion, and that's only the initial valuation."

"It's only money, DD."

But they were lives.

"He is pure of heart," Yukichi Fukuzawa concluded. Ultimately, there were truly too few people in this world willing to sacrifice their own interests to help others.

Mori Ougai saw things entirely differently. "He's rich..." His tone was distinctly sour. After all, although mafia work paid well, it meant gambling with your life. Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, were indispensable. The money poured in as if you were robbing people, and you even earned a good reputation.

After all, someone could go their whole life without dealing with the mafia, but no one could go their whole life without taking medicine or visiting a hospital.

It wasn't that Mori Ougai was being crass. Beyond a certain amount, money could wield terrifying power, enough to tempt any nation or organization.

"...Sir." DD fell silent for a moment. "This is meaningless."

"According to the data, 1.8 people die every second in this world, 106 every minute, 6,360 every hour, and 152,640 every day."

"Sir, you can't save everyone."

"I know." An Xinyi was calm. "I can only save those I see."

An Xinyi had never denied this. Even though the headquarters of the Black God Corporation he founded were in Africa, that was because land and labor were cheap there, and the governments were weak. It made it easier to conduct illegal experiments forbidden internationally, not because he wanted to help anyone-even if that small country did indeed benefit.

To put it bluntly, the things he had done in Africa would have been enough to get him executed ten thousand times under any country's laws.

Besides, everyone had their preferences. An Xinyi could spend money to save the people of Yokohama, or to save that place he revisited in his midnight dreams, yet he would not offer charity to those who ought to need it most.

Even if he loved every human being in the world, love still came in different measures.

Ultimately.

"I'm not a good person. I'm a villain, DD."

An Xinyi raised his head.

"I do it simply because I want to."

"So is Mr. An Xinyi a good person or a bad person?" Atsushi Nakajima, innocent as he was, felt confused.

"No, going by what Ranpo said..." Osamu Dazai lifted his eyes.

"Is he a saint who has transcended humanity, or an utterly irredeemable monster?"

Even An Xinyi, the ultimate laboratory shut-in, needed to go outside. It wasn't a physical need, but a psychological one.

This man, whose wealth ranked among the highest in the world, was surprisingly down-to-earth when he went out. He always took buses or trains, or walked. Without the people secretly protecting him, he really would have been no different from an ordinary person.

Having spent so long in his laboratory and neglected his appearance, his bangs had grown long enough to cover his eyes and eyebrows. He tied the loose hair at the back of his neck into a small tail and wore a pair of old-fashioned black-framed glasses that completely concealed An Xinyi's handsome features. He looked no different from some gloomy tech geek—the socially anxious kind, at that.

If anything, An Xinyi had always enjoyed watching people hurry about their business and observing their lives. Those ordinary, everyday lives made his terrible state of mind a little better.

Yes, he loved humanity more than anyone else.

Even if these were all insignificant little people, each was different to him.

Ordinary or great, kind or malicious, they were all forms of brilliance born from the collective known as humanity.

No two people in this world were exactly alike. That was what made humanity so wonderful.

And so, no matter what, he wanted to preserve them forever.

"How did this guy even develop a mindset like that?" Chūya Nakahara was a little speechless. "Isn't he practically a saint already?"

Surely only a saint would think like that.

Chūya Nakahara curled his lip. Once called Arahabaki himself, he felt that this man, despite being human, had a mindset more godlike than his own.

"How strange..." Fyodor was deeply interested. How had such a contradictory personality developed? Merciful yet cruel, compassionate yet murderous.

How fascinating.

Of course, as a secret tycoon and villain, An Xinyi had plenty of covert protection around him. DD alone was enough to rival an army. In a defeated nation like Japan, no force could possibly threaten him.

Not even the most unreasonable supernatural powers.

That was how it should have been-

A stream of brown liquid fell from above.

It splashed squarely onto An Xinyi. Somewhat bewildered, he wiped his face. The soda clung to him, making him very uncomfortable.

It wasn't concentrated sulfuric acid. Right, if it had been, DD would have had the Black God Squad stop it.

An Xinyi looked up. The black-haired boy wore a smile brimming with malice, his russet eyes like bottomless abysses.

"Sorry, my hand slipped~" Yet the boy who said this looked as though he wished he had poured concentrated sulfuric acid instead.

"Ah." An Xinyi believed him. He actually believed him!

"Pfft—is this guy an idiot? He actually believes that crap!" Chūya Nakahara nearly spat out his red wine. Was this a joke? With that mackerel putting so little effort into his excuse, no normal person would believe him.

"Mr. Dazai!" Ryunosuke Akutagawa was inexplicably excited, his cheeks flushing.

"It's all right."

An Xinyi had actually recognized the boy. But he wasn't nearly narcissistic enough to assume that, after seven or eight years, the child still remembered their single encounter. At the same time, he was completely unaware of his own "scummy" side. So he believed him.

In a way, perhaps An Xinyi was so gifted at research that he was excessively "stupid" in other areas.

Though, honestly, he had never been very good at reading the room.

Tch, has he already forgotten me? Osamu Dazai, who had been all smiles a moment earlier, suddenly became expressionless. How disgusting.

He really is a liar.

I really want to kill him.

This was the first time since his birth that Osamu Dazai had felt the desire to kill someone.

Perhaps it was because, on that night when he encountered a monster, that child had harbored the tiniest bit of hope.

Fuck.

This was definitely an embarrassing chapter of his past.

Everyone restrained themselves from looking at Osamu Dazai, lest he hold it against them.

Only Fyodor and Ranpo, who were unafraid, remained perfectly composed. As for Chūya Nakahara, he truly wasn't afraid of Osamu Dazai, so he laughed without restraint.

"Serves you right!" Chūya Nakahara felt that those who screwed others over would eventually get screwed over themselves. Of course, he wasn't really taking it out on that lonely little kid from back then. He just felt inexplicably refreshed.

Osamu Dazai said, "...You're getting bold, slug." I'm blowing up your new car tomorrow.

"Scum," DD cursed at him again through his earpiece.

"Why act like you don't know him? By human standards, that's pretty awful, isn't it?" DD always felt that she, an artificial intelligence, acted more human than An Xinyi did at times.

"...It would be best if he forgot me." A few images suddenly flashed through his mind. "It would be good if he hated me, too."

Once he learned everything I had done, would he be surprised? Angry? Curious? Would he... come closer to me?

That wouldn't be good at all.

An Xinyi had already seen how it would end.

"My wish is for all humanity to reach the far shore of immortality." An Xinyi knew himself very well. "I will have subordinates. I will have henchmen. But I will never have companions. There's only you, DD."

"You're the only one who will walk beside me, DD."

DD finally understood why Osamu Dazai, who was not at all easy to fool, had been moved. Good grief, this man even flirted with artificial intelligence!

A perfectly good researcher-why did he have to have a mouth?

"Besides... being by my side is the worst hell of all." An Xinyi suddenly smiled.

"So it's truly a good thing that he isn't here."

Precisely because it was so cold here, he wanted only to be alone.

"He doesn't seem that scummy after all~ Right, big brother~?" Naomi Tanizaki hugged her brother. "I'd love to say that too. Right, big brother~?"

"Naomi!"

Atsushi Nakajima couldn't help turning to look at Osamu Dazai. That seemingly all-knowing, godlike man lowered his head slightly, his russet eyes flickering with unreadable emotion. It seemed no one could discern his thoughts from his eyes.

What the hell... acting like he knows everything.

How disgusting.

===

Villain trait +1

A mouth that made other people's hearts flutter, yet never took responsibility.

A born heartbreaker, if ever there was one.

Incidentally, don't be fooled by the current An Xinyi. He really is a villain. Under any country's laws, he would deserve to die ten thousand times over. You're only seeing one side of him right now.

By the way, An Xinyi really isn't afraid of Ayatsuji Yukito. Seriously.

You can ask for updates, but that doesn't mean I'll get fired up and write, lol.