You're a bad person, and you were very rude to me just now

John walked barefoot down the cold underground corridor in pure cotton pajamas.

His footsteps were so light that even the most advanced sonar detector could not pick them up.

Lynn had told him today that Area D of the underground base was specifically used to detain and interrogate outside intruders.

A few minutes later, John arrived at the door of a Special Interrogation Room in the deepest part of Area D.

The two fully armed guards stationed outside were so startled by the blond little boy that they nearly discharged their guns.

"T-test subject! Why are you here? This area is off-limits!"

The guard stammered, his hands trembling.

John did not look at them. He simply said calmly, "Open the door."

"But the director's orders..."

John tilted his head slightly.

"Open the door, or I'll melt it along with you."

The guard swallowed and pressed the open button on the console with a trembling hand.

The heavy pneumatic door slowly opened.

Inside the interrogation room, an elderly Japanese man with graying hair and a tattered kimono hung suspended in chains.

He was covered in blood, having clearly just endured brutal torture.

This was Takeda, the leader of the Japanese Onmyōji who had caused trouble in San Francisco.

Hearing the door open, Takeda weakly raised his head.

When he saw a six-year-old foreign boy walk in barefoot in pajamas, his shriveled lips twisted into a mocking sneer.

"What? Have those ignorant barbarians at Vought International sunk so low that they've sent a suckling infant to interrogate me?"

Takeda taunted him in hoarse English.

John walked up to Takeda and frowned in disgust.

The old man reeked of blood, reminding him of that acid-spitting monster.

"You know a lot of things I don't."

John's voice echoed through the empty interrogation room. "Lynn said you don't need Compound V. You can gain power on your own."

Takeda froze for a moment, then burst into unrestrained laughter.

"Hahahaha! Who is Lynn? One of your researchers at Vought International? That's right, we command Onmyōdō, which lets us commune with heaven, earth, ghosts, and gods! It's a mighty power that defective products like you, spawned by drugs, could never understand! Even if I die, I will never tell you capitalist lackeys the secrets of the scroll!"

Takeda struck a righteous pose, acting as though he faced death without fear.

John listened quietly, then tilted his head.

"I don't want your secrets. I don't want to give that thing to the company, either."

John took a step forward, his blue eyes looking especially deep beneath the lights.

"Tell me, how can an ordinary adult without any talent learn that power of yours? I want to give it to Lynn."

As though he had heard the funniest joke in the world, Takeda looked at John with contempt.

"An ordinary person? A common mortal without spiritual power can't even sense the existence of ghosts and gods, yet you think he can learn Onmyōdō? What a pipe dream! You'd better kill me now, brat, or else..."

Before Takeda could finish his threat, his voice abruptly cut off.

John did not use Heat Vision.

His small body merely flickered, crossing several meters in an instant at a superhuman speed almost impossible to follow with the naked eye, and he stood directly before Takeda.

He slowly reached out with his soft, pale little hand and seized the knee of Takeda's right leg as he hung in chains.

Crack!

A sharp crack exploded through the interrogation room.

Though John appeared to give it only a casual squeeze, the kneecap in Takeda's leg was instantly crushed to powder beneath his overwhelming strength.

"Aaaaaah-!!!"

Takeda let out a scream like a pig being slaughtered, his entire aged face twisting completely with excruciating pain.

His proud dignity as an Onmyōji instantly crumbled beneath the crushing violence.

John still wore that calm, innocent, even somewhat well-behaved expression.

He remembered Lynn's teaching: when dealing with bad people, stop short of going too far and break their legs.

"I learned a word today. 'Empathy.'"

John watched Takeda convulse in pain, his tone earnest. "Lynn said it means feeling other people's pain. You're in a lot of pain right now, aren't you?"

Takeda gasped for breath, staring in utter terror at the devilish child before him.

John slowly raised his hand and aimed it through the air at Takeda's other leg.

"I don't want to feel your pain. I just want to know how to make Lynn stronger. If there's no way in this world to make him stronger, then I'll just have to eliminate every dangerous person like you who might threaten him, right at the source."

John's voice held no inflection.

"Last chance. How can an ordinary person gain power?"

"Aaaaaah-!!!"

Takeda's screams echoed through the thoroughly soundproofed interrogation room, shrill and despairing.

He stared fixedly at the demonlike blond boy before him, the contempt and arrogance in his eyes now completely replaced by fear.

John's expression did not change at all. He shook off the little bit of blood on his hand in disgust.

"Answer my question."

John's azure eyes looked chillingly cold in the dim light,

"How can an ordinary person become stronger? You have ten seconds left before my patience runs out. Ten, nine..."

"I'll talk! I'll talk!!"

Takeda broke.

Against Vought International's brutal torture, he could still hold out through his fanatical devotion to his faith and power;

but faced with a completely unreasonable monster of a child who could crush him on a whim and cared nothing about the balance between factions, his pitiful pride instantly disintegrated.

"The... the thing we were fighting over in San Francisco! That magical artifact passed down from some artifact refiner in China's history!"

Takeda gasped for breath, speaking rapidly,

"It's a Yasakani Blood Jade! Its user doesn't need any talent for cultivation! Once bound to its owner with a drop of blood, the Blood Jade will automatically absorb ambient energy and feed it back to the host!"

John stopped counting down. "Feed it back to the host? Can it make him as strong as me?"

"N-no, it couldn't make him like you!"

Takeda hissed in pain and hurriedly explained,

"But it can protect its host from one fatal danger! It can also greatly strengthen an ordinary person's constitution and slow aging! It's the very best protective magical artifact an ordinary person can use!"

John's eyes brightened slightly.

Protection from danger, a stronger constitution.

That was exactly what Lynn needed most.

"Where is that Blood Jade now?" John asked.

"Your... your Superheroes from Vought International took it! During that clash in San Francisco, Black Noir brought it back to your headquarters!"

Takeda looked utterly dejected.

John nodded.

Since it was at the company, that made things easy.

He turned, ready to leave the interrogation room.

Seeing that the little devil was finally leaving, Takeda let out a long sigh of relief, thinking he had finally escaped with his life.

However, John suddenly stopped.

"Lynn taught me that you have to be punished when you do something wrong. You're a bad person, and you were very rude to me just now."

Without looking back, John simply swung his hand backward, striking Takeda's remaining left leg.

Bang!

Takeda's left kneecap burst into a cloud of bloody mist.

"With both legs broken, you won't be able to run off and break the rules."

John left those words with satisfaction and walked out of the interrogation room without looking back, closing the heavy pneumatic door behind him.

The two guards outside had already collapsed to the floor in terror, not daring to so much as glance at him.

As though strolling through his own back garden, John disappeared down the corridor with light, barefoot steps.