"I didn't expect this company to have such useful things, Lady Fubuki. If our Fubuki Group had a few spatial capsules, traveling would be much more convenient."
Mountain Ape said excitedly. A monster weighing tens of thousands of tons could be easily packed, and after becoming a capsule, it had no weight at all.
"Lady Fubuki, I just thought of something. If we use these spatial capsules to transport goods, we could definitely make a lot of money."
"Hmm? Mountain Ape, you're not wrong..." Fubuki's beautiful eyes lit up upon hearing this, but then her expression darkened. She immediately scolded Mountain Ape: "But don't say such stupid things again. We are the number one B-class hero team. If we go into freight, what about the monsters?"
Mountain Ape, scolded by Fubuki, lowered his head in shame and admitted his fault: "I'm sorry, Lady Fubuki. My awareness was too low!"
Lady Fubuki was right. How could she give up protecting civilians just to make money? Such a thought should never have occurred!
While Mountain Ape was self-reproaching, Fubuki also clenched her white fingers slightly. She had almost agreed just now. Fortunately, she saw Lily's look from the side, otherwise she would have really embarrassed herself.
If she used these spatial capsules for freight, she could make hundreds of thousands in one trip, and a dozen trips a day would be easy. But she wouldn't encounter many monsters in a day. After doing a quick calculation, Fubuki couldn't help but feel a little pained.
But then she thought that with these spatial capsules, at least she wouldn't have to worry about transporting monster corpses in the future. Even live monsters, the Fubuki Group could handle.
After signing a long-term monster repurchase agreement with Future Capsule Company, the Fubuki Group received two spatial capsules. One could quickly freeze live monsters, and the other could put the frozen monsters into the spatial capsule.
Fubuki was in a good mood and said, "From now on, we should try to capture monsters alive. But we only have two spatial capsules, so Eyelashes will keep them. If you encounter a monster you can't handle, contact me."
"Yes, Lady Fubuki."
Mountain Ape, Eyelashes, Lily, and the other subordinates immediately nodded in agreement. Then they returned to the city where the Fubuki Group was based.
Besides the Tanktop Army and the Fubuki Group, other heroes also tried sending monster corpses to Future Capsule Company. Since both were in City A, the Hero Association soon learned of this.
"A large-scale acquisition of monster corpses? This shouldn't have anything to do with us, right? We should discuss it with the relevant person in charge."
Sitch, chairman of the Prediction Countermeasures Committee, asked doubtfully. Even if someone was acquiring monster corpses, it was a very small matter for the Hero Association. In fact, there were many companies acquiring monster corpses, and quite a few had connections with the Hero Association.
"This time is completely different. This company has signed acquisition agreements with many hero groups. Once they sell to him, they can't sell to anyone else. If this continues, the Hero Association's heroes will be working for him, and the Hero Association will also lack operating funds."
Before this director's assistant could finish, Sitch interrupted, "Wait a moment. Isn't the Hero Association's operating funds mainly from directors' donations? And the Hero Association's own operations also generate a lot of income. Why are you suddenly saying such dangerous things?"
Getley, head of the Sales Department, interjected, "The income from the Hero Association's own operations accounts for one-tenth of the association's expenditures. Most of it still depends on the directors' donations."
"As for heroes working for someone else, that's even more ridiculous."
The acting head of the Hero Discipline Monitoring Section lit a cigarette, exhaled slightly, and said, "If heroes can work for someone else just because of a contract, what do you take professional heroes and the Hero Association for?"
It was simply that the upper-level directors were getting less revenue from monsters and were unwilling to give professional heroes better benefits. For the same monster extermination, selling the monster to Future Capsule Company could earn seventy to eighty percent more income. Who wouldn't want that?
A wise bird chooses a tree to nest in. That saying applied to anyone.
Originally, only hero groups would capture monsters alive or kill them and send them to Future Capsule Company. But recently, Future Capsule Company had even given individual heroes a spatial capsule, enough to hold a Tiger-level monster over ten meters tall.
For powerful A-class heroes, there were even larger spatial capsules, enough to hold a Demon-level monster. Although it was difficult for A-class heroes to deal with Demon-level monsters, cooperation among several might allow them to challenge the weakest.
After being choked off by Ekusuma's words, the director's assistant said in exasperation, "In short, the directors strongly hope that after the Hero Association's heroes finish exterminating monsters, they do not sell the monster corpses to other companies for money. This is very bad for the heroes' reputation and will..."
"Stop joking, you idiot!"
Ekusuma, head of the Hero Discipline Monitoring Section, immediately stood up and slammed the table. "If this is all, I'm going back. Seriously, wasting so much of my time."
After saying that, Ekusuma turned and left directly. She was specially dedicated to correcting heroes' discipline and conduct, usually very decisive, and was considered a decent talent. Even if she left the Hero Association, there were plenty of places she could go.
"She... she..."
The director's assistant pointed at Ekusuma in anger, but couldn't do anything about her. Firing Ekusuma would require the board of directors' approval. He was just an assistant and had no decision-making power.
"This is very difficult to achieve. As long as heroes don't break the law, we can't restrict their behavior. Instead of trying to control things from the heroes' side, it would be better to proactively increase the association's monster acquisition material prices."
Fukami, head of the Liaison Squad of the Sixth Operations Room, said ambiguously. Previously, it was because heroes had difficulty handling monster corpses, and other companies didn't have the Hero Association's ability to cover twenty-six cities.
But now with those spatial capsules, even B-class heroes could easily transport monster corpses. They could put monsters into the capsule, take the train or subway to City A, and earn an extra profit.
The Hero Association's monopoly on monster acquisition had been broken in this regard. If the other company developed an even more convenient capsule, the Hero Association's monster acquisition department would be in an even more awkward position.
Other department heads, committee chairmen, or section heads had no solution. Actually, there was one solution, but it depended on whether the association's directors were willing.
While the Hero Association was discussing, Future Capsule Company was already developing another capsule. Even an ordinary person could suck a thousand-ton monster corpse into the capsule. Live monsters, as long as they were unconscious, could also be stored in the capsule.
"The gene chain is so loose, no wonder mutations frequently occur. And some natural monsters actually share the same species origin as humans. How interesting..."
Hyuga Mirai had studied many monster corpses and live monsters, and finally found differences in the gene chain. Whether it was a human who turned into a monster due to triggers, or a natural monster, the gene chain had collapsed, re-solved, changed in a very short time.
This then triggered mutations in cells throughout the body, which was commonly called monsterification.
As for those natural monsters, only the Fubuki Group and the Tanktop Army had sent one each in recent times, both were beasts.
However, based on the information carried in their genes, their monsterification was the same as sudden human mutations, only they had gone through a long time and formed racial inheritance.
"Every time the gene chain collapses and recombines, as long as the cells can be stabilized without changing, the body will gradually become stronger. But after the gene chain collapses, the cells change immediately. It's too difficult to suppress and stabilize. Rely on willpower?"
Hyuga Mirai didn't think that the power of the mind was useless. If the soul was strong enough, it could affect physical changes. However, corpses had no souls, and live monsters were too few. One or two experiments would hardly yield any useful results.
Fully formed monsters, unless they mutated again, were of little value to Hyuga Mirai. He now wanted to study humans who were about to mutate into monsters. If he monitored them carefully a few times, he might obtain detailed data on monsterification.
"I wonder if Extremis virus could affect the gene chain mutation of monsterification? Worth a try..."
Hyuga Mirai suddenly thought of Extremis virus. This virus had a high development point. It chemically encoded the part of the brain responsible for repair, allowing the human body to self-repair, completely restoring to its original state based on the information carried by the cells.
He had studied this virus back then, but at that time, Hyuga Mirai no longer needed such a simple virus. But now that he had found the cause of monsterification, he remembered the ability of Extremis.
If injected with Extremis, could the gene chain be repaired as well, restoring it to its original state?
After deciding, Hyuga Mirai acted immediately. He selected one natural monster and one acquired monster, the last two live monsters in his lab.
After injecting them with Extremis, the monsters' bodies immediately changed.
Hyuga Mirai used equipment to conduct detailed examination on the two monsters. Dense golden thin lights appeared under their skin. Then, not long after, the two monsters directly exploded, spraying blood and flesh all over the floor.
That flesh and blood was like lava, instantly burning through some research equipment. Fortunately, the data had been recorded.
"Sir, there's a visitor outside. However, based on facial expression analysis, this guest does not seem to be here to discuss business."
Kaguya suddenly reported to Hyuga Mirai. This news directly stopped him from preparing to calculate the data. He asked, "An enemy? Did she make a move?"
"No, she was just very rude to the reception robot. The visitor is Tatsumaki, the Tornado of Terror, ranked second in the Hero Association."
"Tatsumaki? Because of her sister, she came here?"
Hyuga Mirai suddenly remembered this person. An expired loli with very powerful psychic abilities, capable of pulling meteorites from space. Her full output destructive power was equivalent to the most powerful nuclear bomb, easily able to destroy human civilization.
But she cared very much about her sister, even causing Fubuki's resentment. Hyuga Mirai just didn't know why Tatsumaki had come to his place. Although Tatsumaki's psychic powers couldn't destroy his body, his own abilities would also be very difficult to be effective against Tatsumaki.
If he fought Tatsumaki, it would be very miserable, and he would probably spend most of the time just getting hit.
When Hyuga Mirai arrived at the reception room, Tatsumaki had already finished half a cup of tea. Seeing Hyuga Mirai, she immediately shouted loudly, "So slow! I've been waiting this long. Is this how you treat guests?"
Was she deliberately looking for trouble?
Hyuga Mirai sighed lightly, then directly said to Tatsumaki, "Miss Tatsumaki, did you come here to cause trouble for me because of Miss Fubuki?"
"Wh-what trouble? You came too late yourself, so I..."
"Only three minutes have passed. And the surveillance camera over there has already recorded what just happened. Let's get straight to the point."
Hyuga Mirai tilted his head to indicate the camera less than five millimeters in the corner, which had just recorded everything about Tatsumaki.
"Did you come to cause trouble for me because of Miss Fubuki? I've only done business with the Fubuki Group twice. If that's the case, your possessiveness is a bit perverse."
"What does this have to do with Fubuki?" Tatsumaki denied in confusion, then quickly changed the subject, "I heard you're researching monsters here. You should know this is City A. Illegal research on monsters is not allowed... What are you giving me this for?"
Hyuga Mirai said helplessly, "Our company's permit for monster research. If you don't want to discuss cooperation, then go back. Don't come running over after being fooled by someone. That makes you look both impulsive and unintelligent."
"You... y-you, what did you say!?"
Tatsumaki, hearing his assessment of her, immediately became angry and let out a series of stuttered sounds. Then green light appeared on her body, and her hair and the skirt in front of her floated up.
"Calm down. You're a hero representing the Hero Association. Do you want the whole world to see you bullying the weak? 'Monster Bully Tatsumaki'?"
Hyuga Mirai then swiped on the tablet again, and a video appeared. It showed Tatsumaki constantly causing trouble from the moment she entered, up until just now when she tried to use her psychic powers.
"This video can be uploaded to the internet at any time. You can't stop it. So go back. There are plenty of monsters on Earth waiting for you to deal with."
Since she wasn't here for cooperation, Hyuga Mirai didn't need to be so polite.
Was it related to the directors behind the Hero Association? It seemed Kaguya had reminded him a while ago, but Hyuga Mirai hadn't paid much attention.
After hearing her new nickname, Tatsumaki angrily shrieked, "Monster Bully? Heh, I'm going to teach you a good lesson, at least make you..."
"Since you don't care, I'll upload it then." Hyuga Mirai interrupted Tatsumaki. He could see that Tatsumaki wouldn't attack an ordinary person for no reason. At least for now, he appeared to be an ordinary person.
"Just you wait!"
Bang!
After saying that, Tatsumaki directly flew up, smashed through the ceiling, and quickly left.
(End of chapter)