Although it was somewhat different from the psychological expectations of the superiors,
Fang Mo's bold move to extinguish the fire did indeed eradicate the gang members lurking in Tokyo's underworld.
The police forces involved in this operation were quickly subjected to a gag order, which was unavoidable. After all, the instantaneous destruction of a building was too outrageous, and strictly speaking, it was equivalent to the use of a weapon of mass destruction. If word got out, it would easily attract the attention of other powers.
The official statement to the public was that these gang members had been completely corrupted by Zombie Devil. If not stopped immediately, these zombies could easily escape and infect other people, so a large amount of explosives was used for demolition.
Makima seemed to be very troubled by this incident.
There was continuous wrangling with the higher-ups.
Fang Mo, as a result of this incident, was also ordered not to participate in the general operations of the Special Division anymore.
Of course, this was not house arrest.
On the contrary, his salary was increased tenfold by the higher-ups, and he was told he could move freely as long as he did not continue to participate in the operations of the Special Division.
This was somewhat like trying to keep him as a hidden ace up their sleeve.
In fact, if Fang Mo made an effort, he estimated he could even receive treatment similar to Makima's.
That is, to establish another special force division similar to the Special Division.
The Cabinet could use him to counterbalance Makima.
However, unlike Makima, Fang Mo had absolutely no interest in such dirty political games. He even worried that after seeing these greedy and corrupt officials, he might not be able to resist capturing them and taking them to the planet Ego for oil refining.
This was precisely why Fang Mo suddenly found himself with free time.
Nowadays, everyone in the Fourth Special Division was busy killing Devils, Makima was busy dealing with the higher-ups, and Kishibe had gone off to find his own Sex Devil, leaving Fang Mo seemingly the only idle person in the world.
Fang Mo felt that this kind of life was quite nice.
Spending all day with Ah Xue, cooped up in a villa watching movies, and eating gourmet food.
At night, when everyone else was asleep, he would take out some MC items and try to materialize them.
During this period, Fang Mo tested a lot of MC items, like the Blaze Rod, Netherrack, Shulker Shell, Mycelium, and the negative enchantment books removed from the Dragon Egg Pickaxe, among other things, and then he would use these items to play tricks on Hayakawa Aki.
In addition, Fang Mo also materialized two Equivalent Exchange items, namely the Eye of Mercury, which he had been hesitant to use, and the Portable Transmutation Table.
However, as Fang Mo expected,
These two items were not very useful after being materialized.
After the Eye of Mercury materialized, it turned into a silver eyeball with a bizarre shape. Fang Mo tried holding it in his hand, and unexpectedly, it zipped into his left eye socket, startling him. He hurriedly checked in the mirror and found, to his relief, that his eye was still black and had not changed color.
As for the other item, the portable transformation table, it was even more astounding. It was simply a stone slab, but it was engraved with a beautifully intricate circular pentagram.
These two items had just been materialized.
No matter how Fang Mo tested them, they showed no reaction at all.
Eventually, out of options, Fang Mo considered giving up and was ready to toss the transformation table into his storage space to gather dust.
However, just as Fang Mo was about to stuff the table into his head, he accidentally touched the Eye of Mercury. The table suddenly lit up and then turned into a pile of dust, while the circular pentagram transferred into Fang Mo's left eye.
Only at this moment did a flicker of understanding arise in Fang Mo's mind.
The function of the Eye of Mercury slowly emerged in his thoughts.
With the training array on the transformation table and the Eye of Mercury, Fang Mo felt as if he had vaguely grasped a sort of alchemy, not the kind in Minecraft, but rather the concept from "Fullmetal Alchemist" – understanding, decomposing, and reconstructing.
Scientifically speaking, it was an ability to modify the microscopic world.
The number of protons and neutrons inside the atomic nucleus, the number of electrons around the nucleus, the arrangement of atoms and molecules – these were powers only a creator could possess, capable of turning dirt into gold, a true divine skill.
This ability sounded incredible, like a deus ex machina given by an author in the later stages of a book to wrap up the story.
But in reality...
Only Fang Mo himself knew how useless and disappointing this ability was.
Firstly, to activate this alchemical process, one must adhere to the principle of equivalent exchange: understand, decompose, then reconstruct and shape.
Fang Mo casually tried to understand a small piece of gold he held in his hand.
Soon, he couldn't help but laugh.
It was hilarious; he couldn't understand it at all.
Let alone decompose and reconstruct, he couldn't even grasp the understanding of its composition.
It was like putting a 'Droplet' in front of a nerd who had never read the "Three-Body Problem" series, without giving any instructions or even telling him what it was, or even providing a remote control, and then telling him to go destroy the world.
That was the situation Fang Mo was in now.
He didn't even have the means to observe the microscopic world, and yet he was expected to understand its composition.
How could he understand? With maternal love?
Fortunately, when the Eye of Mercury was not in use, the internal training array would not reveal itself, otherwise Fang Mo might have even wanted to gouge out his eye.
As for now?
Let's just leave it to gather dust in the eye socket.
Wait until the day I dig up the "Book of the Era of the Fullmetal Alchemist," then it would be just the right time to go and learn alchemy. By then, it should be usable.
And after the realization of the equivalent exchange artifact.
Time quickly passed, almost half a month.
Fang Mo initially quite enjoyed this peaceful and leisurely atmosphere, spending his days idly and teaching Hayakawa Aki ninjutsu at night, which was extremely satisfying.
But soon.
He began to feel uncomfortable.
How to describe this feeling? It's like having bugs crawling all over one's body.
Fang Mo briefly summarized his feelings, suspecting that it might be a reaction to amusement withdrawal. In other words, having not sought amusement for too long, he was getting restless and needed to organize a huge event for everyone.
And it was at this time.
That he heard a very important piece of information.
It was when Fang Mo was... teaching Hayakawa Aki ninjutsu.
Usually, when Fang Mo taught Hayakawa Aki ninjutsu, Denji and Power would watch the entire process. After Hayakawa Aki produced a fireball or earthball, they would clap and cheer like watching a circus.
But just tonight.
Fang Mo seemed to have not seen Denji's figure.
"Where's Denji?"
Fang Mo looked at the mini-map and found that Denji's chibi avatar was not there: "He wouldn't have gone to a hotel with Makima, would he?"
"Can't you stop having such a bias against Miss Makima?"
Hayakawa Aki, while struggling to form hand seals, explained: "She's been very busy lately. After the merger of all the departments of the Special Division, Miss Makima has a lot of things to handle, and she also has to clean up the mess you left behind..."
"What? How can that be called a mess?"
Fang Mo immediately responded: "Wasn't it her who asked me to exterminate the gang? I completed the task so well, not letting any criminal escape... And you wanted to learn this magic before, right? Don't you want to find a building and burn them to ashes?"
"Only you would."
Hayakawa Aki said with a dark face: "I mastered this power to deal with the Gun Devil, I would never kill the innocent recklessly."
"Oh, is that so?"
Fang Mo also smiled upon hearing this: "This gang seems to be associated with the previous Snake woman and Katana man. Himeno died because of them, you know."
"..."
Upon hearing this, Hayakawa Aki instantly fell into silence.
Although Hayakawa Aki had recently started to pick himself up, it was certain that he couldn't easily forget about Himeno. With this silence, the entire room's atmosphere immediately became oppressive.
Seeing this, Power, who was nearby, probably wanted to lighten the mood, so she took the initiative to start speaking.
"Speaking of Denji, he's been acting a bit odd lately."
Power was currently sitting cross-legged on the floor, muttering while holding a cat in her arms: "When he's teaming up with me lately, he's always distracted, and there's also a strange smell on him, which I find baffling..."
"Could it be another woman?"
Fang Mo suddenly asked.
"Ah!" Power reacted immediately upon hearing this, slapping her thigh and saying: "Right! This guy must have another woman!"
"Can you two stop messing around?"
Hayakawa Aki, seeing this, also let out a deep sigh and silently lit a cigarette for himself: "Denji, that guy, really likes Miss Makima, and with his brain... how could he possibly have another woman?"
"That's not necessarily true."
Hearing this, Fang Mo immediately showed a meaningful smile: "I know best what those brats are like. They say things like they will always like you and vote for you alone, but the next second, if they see someone pretty, they immediately turn around and call her 'wife'..."
"Denji is not that kind of person."
Hayakawa Aki took a drag of his cigarette, thought for a moment, and then added: "Of course, I don't believe in Denji, I just believe in Miss Makima's charm."
"Is that what you think?"
Seeing this, Fang Mo also laughed: "Alright then, how about we make a bet?"
"A bet on what?"
Hayakawa Aki asked.
"Just bet whether Denji has someone else in his heart." Fang Mo said cheerfully: "If you win, I'll teach you the Flying Thunder God Technique. If you lose... hehehe, you go and raid the Angel Devil at night."
"Are you crazy?"
Upon hearing this, Hayakawa Aki immediately retorted, "That guy Angel, as soon as he is touched, will absorb humans..."
"Ah yes, yes, I understand." Fang Mo interrupted him with a laugh before he could finish, "Just like that, they are absorbed in a snap, very quickly. But you can wear..."
"Shut up, I refuse!"
Hayakawa Aki almost choked on his cigarette butt: "You devil, what on earth do you think about all day?"
"Of course, I think about happy things."
Fang Mo spread his hands, and just as Hayakawa Aki was about to explode, his expression suddenly became serious: "Alright, no more joking, I suspect there might indeed be a problem with Denji's side. For safety, let's go find him together."