Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Where’s My Mind-Reading Ability?
Someone who had been turned into carrots somehow reverted to his original forms, even though the Rabbit Boss hadn't consciously deactivated his power.
How was that possible?!
This question swirled in the minds of the Rabbit Boss and his minions.
Especially the Rabbit Boss. He had been completely caught off guard, his legs severed by Yamiru's blade. Now he lay in a pool of his own blood, the cold, metallic tip of the sword hovering a mere centimeter from his twitching nose.
This turn of events defied all logic, leaving the Rabbit Boss utterly baffled.
When Yamiru coldly demanded answers, the Rabbit Boss's mind was so blank that a stray thought drifted through his dazed consciousness: "His blade is ridiculously sharp… and barely even gets stained with blood…"
Shing!
The blade flashed again.
Seeing the fat rabbit zoning out, Yamiru swung his sword diagonally, the sharp edge slicing through the air. "Can you focus? I'm asking you a question."
The Rabbit Boss felt a slight breeze over his head, followed by two soft thuds. He looked down to see two floppy, bloodied rabbit ears lying on the ground.
He stared at them, dumbfounded, for a moment before reality hit him. His eyes widened in sheer terror, and he burst into a high-pitched wail.
"Waaah! Aaaahhhh!!!"
He instinctively tried to scuttle backward, desperate to distance himself from this living nightmare. But with two legs and an arm missing, his bulky body flopped awkwardly to the side.
The searing pain radiating from his severed limbs was unbearable, gnawing at his nerves like a relentless beast. Tears and snot ran down his face as he wailed in agony.
"You maniac! You absolute lunatic!" the Rabbit Boss cried, trembling.
Now, his once-large, imposing figure was reduced to a pitiful mess. With just one arm supporting him, he dragged his broken body backward. Blood poured from his wounds, pooling beneath him. The top half of his head was now bald, the fur matted with sticky, dark crimson, making him look even more grotesque and pathetic.
Yamiru, holding back the nausea bubbling in his stomach, took a deep breath and slowly stepped forward, his boots squelching through the blood-soaked floor.
The Rabbit Boss flinched and rolled backward, the friction against his raw wounds making him scream in pain. His fur seemed to have turned pale white from fear.
Rip! Yamiru used his sword to slice strips from the Rabbit Boss's tattered clothing. He tightly bound the stumps of his severed limbs, temporarily staunching the bleeding.
He couldn't let this creature bleed out before undoing its powers. Yamiru wasn't sure if the people transformed into carrots would revert back to humans if the Rabbit Boss died first.
"Ugh…" The Rabbit Boss whimpered weakly, unable to meet Yamiru's steely gaze.
Yamiru recalled every twisted, sadistic villain he'd ever seen in movies, channeling their cold, merciless energy.
The long sword Yamiru had received from Jiora was too unwieldy, so he gripped the blade near the tip and traced it lightly across the Rabbit Boss's face. His tone was almost conversational, as if discussing a casual topic with a friend:
"You see, I'm not exactly a demon. If you cooperate and reverse your powers to turn back all the humans you've transformed into carrots—assuming they haven't been eaten or died yet—then my blade won't land on certain non-lethal areas of your body, like your eyeballs, inner ears, gums, or the fingers of your one remaining hand. You've already experienced the quality of this blade firsthand. If I were to drive it straight into your heart, I'm confident it would be painless for you. A clean end."
The Rabbit Boss's face grew more ashen with every word, his despair deepening. He whispered weakly, "Why? I didn't provoke you. Why must you… destroy me?"
Yamiru's voice turned cold. "Eating people is wrong. Tricking others into eating people is even worse. You deserve to die."
The Rabbit Boss was left speechless. The boy's words echoed what a monk had once said to him not long ago. That monk, however, had been swiftly turned into a carrot, boiled in lukewarm water for several days, and was now stored with the rest of the "premium carrots" awaiting trade with the Red Ribbon Army. Whether the monk was still alive was anyone's guess.
Filled with despair and defiance, the Rabbit Boss demanded, "How can you undo my powers?!"
This was the one thing it couldn't wrap its mind around. Yamiru had already been turned into a carrot, yet somehow he'd reverted on his own. How could that even be possible?
Yamiru didn't answer.
Explaining his abilities to a defeated opponent? He wasn't about to start such a foolish habit. If he ever encountered an enemy who jump on him and gouged out his eyes, it would be his own fault.
"I don't know. Maybe I'm just not meant to die yet," Yamiru replied nonchalantly, brushing the question aside.
He then ran his finger along the edge of the blade, which was so sharp that a tiny, nearly invisible cut formed on his fingertip, a bead of blood welling up. Imitating the kind of deranged villain he'd seen in movies, Yamiru licked the blood off his finger and casually remarked:
"Oh, by the way, are you familiar with gender reassignment surgery? What a coincidence—I've seen an animated tutorial on the procedure. Let me explain: First, you make a vertical incision along the skin, then sever the frenulum, followed by circumferential excision of the glans…"
As he spoke words that even he found excruciatingly painful to say, Yamiru thought to himself, I must look like a complete psychopath right now.
He glanced at the Rabbit Boss out of the corner of his eye and saw that his act was having the desired effect—the fat creature was trembling in sheer terror.
Initially, the Rabbit Boss hadn't thought a boy of Yamiru's age could devise truly sadistic methods of torture. At most, he'd expected to be hacked apart until he bled to death. There was no way he'd willingly undo his power—if this kid was so determined to save others, then let him wallow in guilt for the rest of his life.
But Yamiru's detailed explanation of the gruesome "procedure" had shattered those expectations.
As Yamiru forced himself to describe the horrific surgery, he noticed that the Rabbit Boss still hadn't caved. Growing anxious, he thought, "Seriously? This guy isn't budging even after all that?"
To be fair, Yamiru could muster the rage to kill someone in the heat of the moment—he had already done so earlier.
But inflicting cold, calculated torture on a sentient being? Now that he was calmer, he realized… he might not actually have the stomach for it. Torture wasn't something just anyone could do on a whim. It required a certain darkness, one he wasn't sure he possessed.
"Right, I can do that..." Yamiru suddenly had an idea.
"This guy is the devil!" the Rabbit Boss thought in utter despair.
Unable to resist, it glanced at Yamiru. The boy's golden eyes were quite striking, but to the Rabbit Boss, they now seemed terrifying—like the eyes of a malevolent spirit.
And just then, a voice echoed in the Rabbit Boss's mind—
"Sigh, if he can really turn everyone back to normal, I'll let it go… Chopping off its limbs is horrifying; I'm about to throw up… I still have half a Senzu Bean left. It should be enough to restore its arms and legs. This kind of miracle drug is all I've got left, but what can I do? After all, I'm the one who cut off its limbs… If it repents and reverses its power, I'll spare it."
It was unmistakably Yamiru's voice, resonating directly within the Rabbit Boss's head.
The Rabbit Boss froze in shock, staring at Yamiru, who was still solemnly describing something. It seemed the boy had just finished his grim monologue.
"So, he's all talk and no action?" Elation filled the Rabbit Boss's heart. It noticed the hesitation in Yamiru's expression after his speech, the faint hint of reluctance in his eyes. This only reinforced its suspicions.
"This is perfect! This guy is just a bleeding-heart fool! And on top of that, I've awakened a new ability—mind-reading! They say extraordinary powers can emerge under immense pressure or crisis. I really am incredible!"
"Hey, are you going to agree or not?" Yamiru's face was ashen, his hand gripping the sword trembling slightly. "If you don't turn them back soon, I'll really… I'll really…"
"Ha! Bluffing again!" The Rabbit Boss felt as though it had been granted a reprieve from death. "He's just a kid—his nerves are shot… What was that 'Senzu Bean' thing he was thinking about? Can it really heal my limbs? Hmm, since it's a thought from his own mind, it must be true! Hahaha, a miracle drug like that actually exists! I'll just pretend to be scared and agree for now." Feigning terror, he nodded reluctantly.
Yamiru's face lit up with joy, though he quickly suppressed it, maintaining a stern expression. He tapped the Rabbit Boss's face with the flat of his blade and said, "Then hurry up!"
At the same time, he secretly exhaled in relief, inwardly cheering, "Damn, it worked! I can't believe I found a new use for my Golden Veil. Genius! I really am a genius."
"But, to reverse my power, I have to perform a set of actions," the Rabbit Boss said cautiously.
The Rabbit Boss thought it had Yamiru completely figured out and was smugly lying in the half-solidified pool of blood, preparing to pull another trick.
Yamiru said, "Then do it."
The Rabbit Boss sighed in exasperation, "To perform the action, I need to stand up and clap my hands. But right now\... both my legs and arms are broken!"
"Is that so?" Yamiru asked skeptically, looking at the Rabbit Boss with his golden eyes. He focused his mind and subtly transmitted a thought through the Rabbit Boss's eyes into its brain: If that's the case, I guess I'll need to use a Senzu Bean to restore its limbs... Damn, I really don't want to!
In truth, what Yamiru sent through his Golde Veil "transmission" was only a thought, not a real voice. But the Rabbit Boss, misunderstanding, interpreted it as a voice it heard within its mind, believing it had awakened the "mind-reading" ability.
The Rabbit Boss's mind was in chaos: "I'm done for. I just hope you give me a quick end, I'm not going to trick you! Inside, it shouted, Hurry up and give me that medicine! Hahaha! You soft-hearted fool! Once my limbs are restored, I'll kill you!"
It had already made up its mind—once its limbs were restored, it would confront Yamiru again, turn him into a carrot, and chew him to pieces in the kitchen, ensuring the boy never got the chance to return to normal!
As expected, Yamiru pulled out the half Senzu Bean from his waist pouch, putting on a conflicted expression as if contemplating something.
"It really is a Senzu Bean! He actually has one!!" The Rabbit Boss was overjoyed but remained calm, thinking to itself, "My mind-reading is incredible!"
"No way," Yamiru suddenly pinched the Senzu Bean in his hand, then bent down and picked up the Rabbit Boss's severed arm. He stood behind the Rabbit Boss, one arm wrapped around it, and with the other, he held the severed arm in place. "I can't make your limbs grow back, so let's try this for now."
"Hahaha! This bean really will restore me! Stop pretending, fool! I've heard all of your thoughts with my mind-reading, you complete idiot!" The Rabbit Boss nearly laughed out loud internally. "That action to cancel my ability was just a personal preference! How could it really require such a foolish condition?! What an idiot!"
However, on the surface, it pretended to hesitate. "Well, let me try..."
Yamiru pried open the stiff hand of the severed arm and, holding the Rabbit Boss in one arm, he brought the severed hand to slap the Rabbit Boss's remaining hand twice.
"Cancel!" The Rabbit Boss shouted dramatically.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
In the restaurant's hall, all the humans that had been turned into carrots were transformed back into their original forms.
Yamiru sighed in relief and casually tossed the Rabbit Boss onto the floor.
"That hurts!" The Rabbit Boss lay on the ground, gasping in pain, its face contorting, but internally, hr thought, "Now this fool will feel guilty and feed me the Senzu Bean, right?"
After a moment, the Rabbit Boss thought curiously, "Huh? Why can't I hear his thoughts anymore? Where did my mind-reading ability go? Wait, why do I feel like I can't feel my body? Ah! Why is the room spinning? Ugh... My body... why is it... over there...?"
In the end, it was a total turnabout!
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