37: Monster Appears 2

Mizuno Hiroshi couldn't help but close his eyes, recalling his 18 years of life, fragments of those memories piercing his consciousness like sharp shards of glass.

The dim room, cold metal, and the nauseating smell enveloped him once more.

He saw a man, his face filled with despair and rage, spewing curses against his parents, damning his birth, as if all evil began with his existence. Those bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at him, as if to devour him.

The man roared, accusing the mayor and the richest man of their crimes; accusing them of how they ruined his Family; accusing them of how his happiness was gained by stripping theirs away, accusing their entire Family of taking everything from him.

That voice, like the hiss of a venomous snake, coiled around his heart, refusing to leave.

Such scenes repeatedly played out in Mizuno Hiroshi's 18 years of life.

He had seen countless times, kidnappers or assassins, weeping before him, accusing his parents, blaming his birth, and mocking that everything around him was merely to get close to his father's power and his mother's money.

These words, like sharp blades, carved deep scars into his heart.

The seed of doubt took root in his young heart amidst these malicious words, but he never truly believed, because his father was so gentle and kind, and his mother so tender and benevolent. Doubt was buried deep, and he bore the suffering himself, determined to confirm the truth with his own eyes.

The scene shifted, and Mizuno Hiroshi saw his 14-year-old self, standing before his parents, pleading to be involved in Family affairs, wanting to understand his parents' world.

He remembered that was the first time his parents said “no” to him.

But his stubbornness did not lead him to give up when his parents said no; instead, he pleaded incessantly, and eventually, his parents agreed.

However, it was from that day on that the boy's world collapsed.

He remembered that day his father took him into a secret study he had never known before. In the study, two things stood out: a huge map and a massive bookshelf.

The huge map was covered with dense red dots.

Each red dot represented a Family, an interest group, and an endless struggle for power.

The bookshelf was not filled with books, but with file after file. At his father's signal, he opened a file, and the evil of human nature rushed at him.

His father's kind face now appeared unusually cold, his eyes glinting with shrewd calculation.

He explained to young Mizuno Hiroshi how to manipulate public opinion, how to control people's hearts, how to toy with opponents, how to create weaknesses for those who had none, and hold them in his grasp to serve his political capital.

Those words, like cold steel needles, pierced his soul, filling him with immense fear and confusion.

In his mother's company building, his mother's gentle and beautiful smile sent shivers down his spine even more.

His mother gently told him how to leverage business to influence politics, how to use the power of capital to coerce people, to coerce cities. To make the will of the city bow before capital.

Those words, like sharp blades, shattered Mizuno Hiroshi's hopes and illusions about his parents.

He began to doubt whether what he had always seen was merely a meticulously woven lie.

His heart grew utterly cold. He detested this world and wanted to see the lives of ordinary people.

So, he made an absurd request to his parents: he wanted to experience the life of a commoner.

His parents naturally disagreed, as Mizuno Hiroshi had experienced too many malicious incidents since childhood, but after a fierce argument, his parents finally compromised.

They forged an identity for him and sent him to a corner of the city; because he was still young and lacked any skills, Mizuno Hiroshi quickly became a beggar.

Just as Mizuno Hiroshi was about to completely give up and call his parents to rescue him, light finally shone upon him.

He met a girl who ran a noodle shop; she had clear eyes and a kind heart.

She took him home, cared for him, and told him he should be studying, not wandering.

There, Mizuno Hiroshi's inner wounds gradually healed, and he felt the beauty of humanity.

The girl's goodness and beauty bloomed in Mizuno Hiroshi's heart like an Epiphyllum flower.

He began to believe that this world was not only cold, cruel, and hypocritical, but also held other beautiful things.

But that goodness and beauty withered overnight, just like an Epiphyllum.

The girl kindly helped an old man who had fallen, but she didn't realize it was a trap designed for kind people.

Under the selective filming of the old man's accomplices, the girl was framed. The girl and her Family suffered severe blows: their shop was smashed, Family members were injured, and their lives fell into hardship.

Mizuno Hiroshi watched the girl's Family suffer injustice, his heart burning with rage.

He finally understood that kindness and beauty were so fragile and vulnerable in this world.

He couldn't bear to watch good people suffer.

So, he used his identity to bring those villains to justice.

Justice triumphed over evil, fairness was upheld, and a happy ending arrived.

As if!

The villains' relatives, enraged by their plight, dared not point their anger at Mizuno Hiroshi, only at the kind and easily bullied.

The flower withered.

Upon receiving news of the girl's Family's misfortune, Mizuno Hiroshi was filled with self-reproach, blaming himself for his lack of foresight.

While Mizuno Hiroshi was in immense pain, he received a piece of news.

A relative of the villain and his Family was a high-ranking official in the city. That official made political concessions to his father, and thus, with his father's tacit approval, the entire villain's Family was pardoned.

Mizuno Hiroshi became even more despondent due to his father's choice.

In a daze, Mizuno Hiroshi was kidnapped again, and again heard accusations. Mizuno Hiroshi smiled and cried at the same time.

After being rescued, he decided to leave again, to search for that faint light.

He forged his identity once more, swearing that if he could ever again encounter such a flower of kindness, he would protect it at all costs.

However, unfortunately, what Mizuno Hiroshi encountered this time was only a storm.

What he saw was the indifference between people, the cruelty of the strong preying on the weak, and countless betrayals and deceptions.

Mizuno Hiroshi was unwilling to accept this; he didn't believe the world could be so dark.

He began to use his father's power and his mother's wealth to embark on even more insane experiments on human nature.

He meticulously designed various scenarios to test the good and evil within human nature.

He watched as once noble people became ugly for profit, and as once hopeful people succumbed to despair.

He saw people kill each other for money, scheme for power, and betray friends and Family for selfish desires.

He saw kind people being bullied, sincere people being ridiculed, and voices of justice being drowned out.

Through one experiment after another, he finally reached a conclusion.

This world was wrong.

Mizuno Hiroshi wanted to change this twisted world, but he couldn't, because he had no power.

The power and money he possessed were never truly his own.

In endless mental exhaustion, Mizuno Hiroshi suffered even more.

Mizuno Hiroshi opened his eyes, looking at the hypocritical prosperity outside the French window. His revulsion towards the world suddenly reached its peak, and he urgently wished to do something.

He began to think.

Even if some inexplicable weakness arose within him, it couldn't stop him. With thoughts of what he could do, he drifted into sleep.

In his dream, a black crystal floated in the air, emitting a faint, dark glow.

A voice suddenly told him that obtaining this black crystal, if it couldn't grant the power to break free from the cage, would at least allow him to see the truth of this world and qualify him to create his ideal world.

When he truly reached out his hands towards the crystal, the world shattered.

Mizuno Hiroshi suddenly sat up in bed, his heart pounding. The dream's imagery was still vividly imprinted in his mind.

"A dream?"

Sitting quietly on the bed, Mizuno Hiroshi did not dismiss it as an absurd dream; instead, he pondered it, yearning that if such a thing truly existed, it would be wonderful.

Recalling the dream scene again, Mizuno Hiroshi noticed something unusual: aside from the crystal, the surrounding scenery seemed familiar.

Where was it?

Looking at the city map hanging in his room, his gaze swept over it inch by inch, but he found nothing.

The place name "Kaokler Mountain" suddenly appeared in his mind.

The conclusion, "That crystal is there," was instantly drawn.

His inner yearning propelled Mizuno Hiroshi to head towards the destination without hesitation.