The mont those words left Dr. Genus's mouth, the room of clones erupted into a panic.
"What?!"
"No! We can't!"
"Even though... right now, it really is our only option..."
"Still...!"
Every single clone looked terrified at the re ntion of Carnage Kabuto. The na alone seed to drag out mories they'd all rather forget, as if it was tied to so deep-seated trauma.
"Calm down. This is only a last resort, to be used if we're truly out of options," Dr. Genus said grimly. His voice dropped to a heavy, serious tone. "The surface building is filled with traps. There's a good chance they won't even make it down here. Besides, you all know what kind of consequences we're facing this ti…"
...
anwhile, as she made her way back, Fubuki suddenly rembered sothing important. She had completely forgotten about Eyelashes and Mountain Ape. They had been blasted away by Shinji earlier, and she hadn't seen them since.
She eventually found them in a nearby trash bin, of all places. Apparently, their flight had ended right in the middle of it. Both were unconscious, lying awkwardly among the garbage.
Fubuki sighed and reached in to shake them awake. A mont later, Eyelashes and Mountain Ape stirred and slowly crawled out of the bin, their movents sluggish and their eyes dazed.
"Lady Fubuki! What... what happened to us?" Eyelashes mumbled, clearly struggling to recall anything.
The last thing either of them rembered was preparing to deal with that cocky new guy. then it all went blank.
"Forget it. Let's go back," Fubuki said flatly.
"Alright..."
Still groggy, the two n dusted off their clothes and leaned on each other for support as they stumbled after her. Though they were ranked second and third among the B-Class, getting launched that far hadn't done any serious damage. just left them sore, dizzy, and covered in trash.
On the way back, Eyelashes hesitated before asking, "Lady Fubuki, did we lose? What happened with that Kamui guy…"
"We lost," Fubuki replied calmly. "His strength was far beyond anything we imagined."
She didn't think Shinji could rival soone like Sweet Mask, let alone monsters like her sister, but even so, she had to admit it. Shinji was strong. Strong enough to be considered a monster in his own right.
"I see..." Eyelashes and Mountain Ape went quiet, the weight of her words sinking in.
They assud Fubuki must be furious, that her pride had been crushed.
But strangely enough, she wasn't angry. Instead, there was sothing else bubbling inside her. a strange sense of anticipation. And even a flicker of excitent.
...
Back at the Blizzard Group's base.
"Lady Fubuki, are you hurt?!"
Lily rushed to her as soon as she entered, eyes widening at the sight of her disheveled appearance.
"Yeah, but it's nothing serious. Just a few scrapes," Fubuki replied casually with a wave of her hand.
"Was it that guy who did this to you?! That's unforgivable!" Lily exclaid, already stepping forward. "I'll go confront him right now!"
"Calm down. It wasn't Shinji who hurt ."
Fubuki stopped her before she could storm out. "None of you are allowed to provoke him ever again. This ti... he saved . If it weren't for him, I might not have co back."
Just thinking about Beast King and Armored Gorilla sent a chill down her spine. If Shinji hadn't appeared when he did, she didn't want to imagine what might have happened.
"Oh? So that ans he's joined the Blizzard Group already?" Lily asked, her voice full of curiosity.
"More or less," Fubuki replied with a nod. She already had a few ideas brewing in her mind...
"I see. Guess that guy knows what's good for him," Lily said with a satisfied smile.
Not long after Fubuki left the room, Lily couldn't resist. She whipped out her phone, opened LINE, and began tapping away at a ssage to Shinji.
"I heard you've joined the Blizzard Group. I bet you couldn't resist Lady Fubuki's charm, right?"
"Let give you a tour of our base soti."
"By the way, what happened to Lady Fubuki's injuries? Did you guys run into monsters in the restricted zone?"
ssage after ssage flew out, but Shinji hadn't replied. The texts stayed marked as unread, and his status showed him offline.
That was because, at the mont, Shinji was mid-mission. Headed straight for the House of Evolution, and naturally, he hadn't brought his phone with him.
He, Saitama, and Genos had been running for four hours, making their way from the abandoned district of Z-City to a remote mountainous region where the House of Evolution's hidden base was located.
Shinji had a rough idea of where it was but had never visited the location before, so he couldn't use Kamui or Flying Thunder God to teleport there. Saitama, who didn't know the area at all, avoided using his usual absurdly long jumps to keep from flying off course. Genos, who did know the route, simply chose to follow along on foot since the others were running.
Shinji could've made things faster with the Body Flicker Technique, but considering Saitama was with them, he didn't want to draw unnecessary attention. Zipping around like a ninja the whole way would've felt awkward and a bit showy.
So, the three of them ran the entire way.
"This should be the place Armored Gorilla ntioned," Shinji said, spotting a tall building nestled among thick forest and trees.
As they reached the foot of the building, Genos didn't waste a second. He dropped into a combat stance, raised both arms, and locked onto the structure.
BOOM!!
A full-powered blast from his Incineration Cannons shot out, reducing the building to flaming rubble in an instant. A small mushroom cloud billowed up into the air, and the explosion even tore into the hillside behind the building, leaving a massive crater in its wake. This was the result of Genos's most recent upgrades, courtesy of Dr. Kuseno.
With that one strike, every trap and defense chanism in the building was instantly destroyed. left smoldering in pieces.
"Uhh... what the hell was that? You're a bit too sudden, don't you think?" Saitama said, blinking at the charred remains.
"I believed this was the most efficient thod. Was there sothing wrong with that?" Genos replied flatly.
"I an... yeah, it's logical, but you went full brutality mode. You know you need to start easy and then work your way up." Saitama muttered.
"T-that's inefficient. Giving chances to an enemy doesn't sound good." Genos replied.
"…man, you need to get a hobby."
Genos rubbed his chin, "Okay, acquiring a hobby. I think birds—"
"Let's head down from here. The real base should be underground," Shinji interrupted, already examining the exposed structure of the area.
"So it was just a shell. That surface building was a decoy all along," Genos concluded, quickly catching on.
"Then let's hurry and get down there," Saitama added.
Together, the three of them stepped into the underground passage, officially entering the true heart of the House of Evolution.
[Ding! Host has reached the House of Evolution base. Reward: 5 points!]
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