[This Chapter Is Sponsored by Cade Atkinson! Everyone, please thank him in the comment!]
"Ah?"
Upon hearing his son's statement, Narinki was momentarily stunned.
"Ahem..."
However, at that moment, Fang Mo suddenly grabbed Waganma and shoved him back into the portal: "Sorry, I took the wrong one..."
"No, you didn't!"
Narinki immediately shouted, "This is my son, Waganma!"
"Waganma is a good child; how could he falsely accuse me?" Fang Mo declared confidently, "So this must be an monster. Someone is pretending to be your child and trying to kill you..."
"That's impossible!"
Narinki instantly rejected the idea: "How could I not recognize my own son?"
"Oh, what if I do this?"
Fang Mo shrugged and then activated his custom Steve ability, instantly transforming into Waganma... while still holding the original Waganma. This bizarre scene stunned not only Narinki but also the other heroes present.
"What... is this?"
Narinki was completely dumbfounded.
However, Fang Mo didn't give Narinki a chance to speak. In the next second, he returned to his original form and smiled at Narinki: "See, even I can shapeshift. So those monsters could too. I suspect Mihoyo is behind this. They're trying to get close to you and kill you, cutting off your funding to the Hero Association. This monster aims to sow discord between us, causing internal strife."
"Then..."
Hearing Fang Mo's analysis, Narinki seemed somewhat convinced: "What should I do then?"
"Kill him!"
Fang Mo looked at Narinki with absolute certainty.
"Huh?"
Narinki didn't know how to respond to this. Killing him outright seemed too extreme. At this moment, another hero stepped up to help: "Um... Priest, what if this child really is Waganma?"
"Revive him, my good son!"
Fang Mo immediately shouted.
"This..."
At this point, the other heroes were at a loss for words. Just then, the surrounding space trembled inexplicably, and a strange-looking portal suddenly opened. A blood-covered black figure rushed out from it, chased by a terrifying white figure.
"Hmm? What is this..."
Sensing the terrifying aura from the portal, everyone's expressions changed.
But Fang Mo reacted swiftly, delivering a lightning-fast kick that sent the black figure flying back into the portal.
"Alright, it's all taken care of."
Dusting off his pants, Fang Mo nonchalantly said to everyone.
"Priest," this time it wasn't Narinki who spoke but Bang, who had a peculiar expression: "That just now, could it be..."
"Oh, something like that."
Fang Mo casually nodded: "That was indeed Garou. He's mostly just a bit of a chunibyo, but that despicable Psykos manipulated him, worsening his condition. Now, our director Boros is trying to treat him..."
"Is that so?"
Bang's expression was complex. He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or worried. Fang Mo's tone suggested Garou could be saved, but... somehow, Bang felt something was off.
However, it wasn't just Bang who found it odd.
In fact, Fang Mo was also surprised by Garou's escape through the portal.
Garou's current appearance... probably matched his horned form from the original work, but the portal-opening ability was a new addition in Murata's remake.
In the reboot, after transforming into a monster, Garou possesses a terrifying talent, enabling him to instantly learn or mimic any creature's special abilities, even to the absurd extent of replicating Saitama's One Punch Mode. This portal ability is something he mimicked from the top-ranked S-class hero, Blast.
Blast's abilities seem to involve controlling gravity and space.
However, since Blast hasn't appeared yet, it's unclear from whom Garou learned this portal ability. Could he have learned it just by observing Ancient One opening portals a few times? So, is this still Murata's rebooted world? Yet Garou is in his horned form...
Honestly, Fang Mo is also a bit puzzled by this point. But seeing the opponent trying to break through space to escape, does this mean he didn't gain an advantage in his fight with Boros?
"Um, Priest?"
While Fang Mo was pondering these things, someone spoke up.
This time, it was the naked Puri-Puri Prisoner who spoke. He glanced at Waganma and then began to persuade, "Waganma-kun is just a little boy, don't make it hard for him. I'm sure he already realizes his mistake... right, Waganma-kun?"
"Huh?"
Waganma, who was scared to death, heard someone speaking up for him and immediately began nodding frantically with a crying tone, "Yes, yes, yes, I was wrong! Priest is definitely the greatest hero!"
"Priest, you see, the child already knows his mistake."
Having spent some time with Fang Mo, Puri-Puri Prisoner understood him a bit and took the opportunity to plead, "He might have been just scared and speaking nonsense. If he speaks out of turn next time, I'll give him a loving hug, how about that?"
"Ugh!?"
Waganma glanced at Puri-Puri Prisoner, whose instantly naked muscular body was covered with thick, dense body hair on his arms and chest, making Waganma's hair stand on end in horror.
"Well... alright."
Hearing Puri-Puri Prisoner's suggestion, Fang Mo nodded.
He loosened his grip, and Waganma fell to the ground, immediately crying and running towards Narinki.
Narinki now understood that Waganma really was his child and that he was talking nonsense earlier. Normally, he might have been upset, but now, having his beloved son back, he quickly hugged Waganma tightly, and Father and Son cried together.
After crying for a while, Narinki calmed down.
Waganma had already explained the situation, and Fang Mo was indeed his savior. Moreover, Fang Mo had subdued almost all the monsters here.
Such immense strength had already started to make Waganma, a child, admire Fang Mo.
Calming down, Waganma realized that Priest always had a dark sense of humor, so he wasn't as scared anymore and instead praised Fang Mo to Narinki.
Soon enough, Narinki reached an understanding with Fang Mo.
"In short, I might have been too anxious earlier, please understand, Priest." Narinki extended his hand seriously, "Thank you very much for saving my child. If there is anything you need in the future... please do not hesitate to ask."
"Oh, it's nothing."
Fang Mo waved his hand dismissively, "I will be leaving soon anyway, so I don't think there will be anything I need your help with."
"Leaving?"
Hearing this, the other heroes were also stunned: "Priest... what do you mean by leaving?"
"Priest, are you dissatisfied with our Hero Association?"
Sekingar got a bit anxious hearing this; after all, Fang Mo was a major shareholder of the association. Losing him would be a big problem, so he quickly said, "If there's anything the Hero Association can improve, please let us know. You are an invaluable asset to our association."
"No, I'm quite satisfied with you."
Fang Mo glanced at Sekingar. Honestly, he had a good impression of the Hero Association. The lower levels worked hard, and the heroes were responsible.
The only issue was the corruption and greed at the top, but... Fang Mo knew that all organizations became like this over time. He wasn't short on money, so he didn't mind their corruption as long as they got things done.
After a brief explanation, the others roughly understood Fang Mo's intentions.
They interpreted it as Fang Mo becoming an S-class hero for the Hero Association by divine will. The gods could not bear to see suffering and sent Fang Mo to save humanity.
This matched Fang Mo's mysterious origins.
Actually, this is no longer a secret. Someone as powerful as Fang Mo appearing inexplicably in Z City, without any prior information about him, is quite strange, isn't it?
And now, with the reason being "the descent of a proxy god," everything seems to make sense.
The explanation is that Fang Mo is originally a divine being from the divine kingdom created by the original god, Teyvat. Now that his mission is over, he naturally has to return.
"So, that's how it is?"
After hearing this explanation, the expressions of the heroes varied. Some were relieved, others were disappointed, and most remained silent, lost in their thoughts.
"Priest..."
At this moment, Child Emperor spoke first, reluctantly looking up at Fang Mo: "When do you plan to leave here?"
"In a day or two, probably," Fang Mo replied after some thought. Although he was tempted by the promises made earlier by Xiao Yao, there was a lot of mess he had to clean up.
"I see."
Child Emperor nodded. Although they had won a significant victory against the Monster Association, he couldn't feel happy and felt a bit down. After thinking for a while, he asked, "Can I visit you at your place tonight?"
"It's possible, but I might have to change my residence," Fang Mo replied, glancing around. The no-man's-land in Z City had been turned into a huge crater by his ultimate move, so he had to use the World Box to retrieve his villa.
"Why not come to my place instead?" King suggested. "You've helped me a lot before, so let me return the favor this time."
"That works too," Fang Mo agreed, as it didn't matter where he wrapped things up.
Thus, the discussion quickly ended. As the place was still technically a battlefield, the heroes quickly got back to work, trying to rescue any survivors.
Being quite capable heroes, they soon had some initial success in their search and rescue efforts. The mercenaries hired by Narinki, saved by Pig God, survived thanks to their high-tech battle suits and were soon found, having been thrown into the sea along with the rubble.
Apart from this, no other survivors were found. The area was initially deserted, and due to the Monster Association, it was overrun by monsters, so anyone who could escape had already fled. Even the bravest wouldn't stay.
Moreover, many heroes were concerned about the surviving monster, Pochi. Even the Hero Association's senior officer, Sekingar, sensed that Pochi had a catastrophic threat level, at least Dragon level, making everyone wary.
Sweet Mask even wanted to eliminate it, but Fang Mo intervened, saying it was just his dog, and anyone who killed it would have to take its place as his dog. Pochi barked cooperatively and even changed its size. Narinki also supported Fang Mo, saying that having monsters as pets was not uncommon among the world's top tycoons.
Given that both Fang Mo and Narinki were major shareholders, Sekingar had no choice but to comply, as offending them both could mean the end of the Hero Association.
The rescue work concluded quickly. The intense battle had affected other cities in the country, so the Hero Association promptly issued deployment orders, sending many heroes to other cities to handle the aftermath. Tatsumaki, for instance, hadn't shown up because she was busy dealing with the repercussions of natural disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis.
Many heroes were dispatched to deal with these disasters, including Fang Mo's helper, Ancient One, who went to another city to help with the rescue.
However, it was worth noting that Bang remained there, not speaking but standing with a complex expression, seemingly waiting for an outcome. His brother, Bomb, patted his shoulder in a comforting manner.
Fang Mo glanced at the mirror dimension and saw that the battle between Garou and Boros had finally ended. Surprisingly, their fight unlocked a new module for him.
[System Notification: New module detected. Research to gain download access.]