Monster Paradise

The announcement from Misery caused a stir.

Misery, which had been staying low-key for many years, became the No. 1 trending topic on all the social media platforms.

Dynasty soon trended as No. 1. However, not many talked about Lin Huang this time. After all, it did not seem to be very much related to him this time.

“Dynasty has been doing so many things recently. They came up with an agreement earlier and it has only been two to three days, but they’re already at peace with Misery. I wonder what will happen next.”

“They had just dropped from the top ten trending topics this morning and they’ve risen back to No. 2 in the afternoon. They’re amazing!”

“They’re trending everyday. I’m a little tempted to join Dynasty for the exposure.”

“The neutral organization, Dynasty, welcomes everyone to join us! You can join as long as you pass Dynasty’s assessment and are at least 16 years old. No matter what your gender is, what kind of person you are, how you look like, your height, weight, and sexual preferences… We don’t discriminate. We welcome minors below 16 too as long as you’ve got your guardian’s permission!” That was the response Dynasty posted on their official account.

“Damn, their official account is so playful! Can a gender-bender join too? Asking for a friend.”

“Of course, there’s no gender restriction o(*￣3￣)o,” responded the official account.

“Are you talking about yourself when you said you were asking for your friend?!” Many people commented below.

“I’m also asking for a friend. Can a person who weighs 800 pounds join?”

“Sure, we accept anyone who passes the assessment,” the official account replied again.

“800 pounds… Did you eat the weighing machine when you were growing up?”

“Wow, that weight is ten times more than mine!”

“The commenter who said he’s 80 pounds, you must have looked at the wrong unit. Am I right?”

…

Misery’s account was jammed pack as well. However, the admin taking care of Misery’s account seemed to be a cold person, and he replied to none of the comments.

No matter what the people commented, the admin remained silent.

It was crowded on all the social media sites, and even more so on the black market forum.

After all, it was about Misery. It attracted tons of attention as soon as the announcement was made.

However, the first thought everyone had when they saw the announcement was, ‘The account that posted the thread has to be fake, isn’t it?”

However, the account was verified by the forum when they refreshed the thread. It caused a stir among the commenters.

Nobody could believe that Misery compromised with Dynasty and permitted them to pull out!

Initially, most people from the underground organizations were upset with Dynasty’s decision.

How could a top three underground organization pull out from the underground world and convert to a neutral organization?

However, most of them were only criticizing Dynasty online. None of them had the guts to confront Dynasty face-to-face.

Hearing that Misery visited Dynasty, they thought Misery was going to claim justice, whereby they would definitely teach Dynasty and Lin Huang a good lesson.

They never thought that that would be the outcome. They could not believe that Misery permitted Dynasty to pull out.

Many of them looked dumbstruck when they saw the announcement Misery published.

However, many people shifted their rage away from Dynasty to Misery in the thread.

“Why don’t you guys pull out from the underground world just like Dynasty did? The neutral organization would definitely welcome you guys with open arms!”

“This announcement… They were obviously bribed!”

“I thought Misery would claim justice. I can’t believe they put up a show like this.”

Although many people were criticizing them on the black market forum, Misery did not explain themselves.

…

Meanwhile, in foothold No. 2A13 of Freedom City, the 13 of them gathered in the meeting room of the heretics’ headquarters.

The baby-faced man sitting in the main seat took his mask off. He wore a black robe.

He glanced at everyone before speaking, “I’m visiting Dynasty tomorrow. Those who are willing to go with me, please raise your hand.”

The 12 of them at the meeting table were doing everything else such as digging their noses and rubbing their feet. None of them seemed to be listening to their leader. None of them even raised their hands.

Baby-face cleared his throat, feeling a little embarrassed upon seeing that. He changed his way of conveying the message by shouting directly, “Those who are unwilling to go, raise your hand!”

The meeting room was peaceful. Still, nobody raised their hands.

Baby-face looked helpless. Clearly, it was not the first time such a thing had happened.

“Since none of you are volunteering, I’ll pick on my own. Whoever I pick later must go with me. I don’t care if you’re unwilling by then!”

“Boss, I remember that girl, Xia Yu, spoke to Lin Huang before. You can bring her with you. It’s easier to go with someone familiar with the Emperor after all. Moreover, she’s a Virgen. She’s a suitable candidate to go to the meeting with you.” The person who spoke was a middle-aged man with stubbles on his face and was picking his nose. His voice sounded nasal.

“Hey, stop giving stupid ideas, okay?” The hunk, who was rubbing his feet, could not help but confront him. “Xia Yu told me about her encounter with Lin Huang before. She was trying to bring Lin Huang back to the heretics back then, but he fought back hard, so the mission failed. It should be an upsetting experience for Lin Huang.”

“Ah, so that’s what happened. Indeed, I’ve never heard of this story before. I thought they were friends.” The hunk, who was picking his nose, dug a sticky booger out of his nostril without a care in the world and flicked it at the trash can with a sign written ‘residual’ on it.

“Hey, can you stop doing such a disgusting act in front of everyone?”

“How is that disgusting? Have you never dug your nose in your whole life?! Furthermore, how’s your habit of rubbing your feet any better than mine?” The middle-aged man digging his nose confronted and taunted before he was done.

“Alright, alright. Stop fighting,” pacified Baby-face immediately. “I’ll ask Xia Yu later. She’ll go with me if she’s okay with it.”

“How about the rest? Do you guys want me to go with just a little girl? I’m the heretics’ Presiding Judge after all. If we don’t show any grandeur, people will think that the heretics are dead,” Baby-face argued again.

“What kind of grandeur do you want? You’re not getting married anyway,” complained the young lady who was biting her nails in silence. Although her voice was soft, everyone heard her loud and clear.

“That’s right. Do you want us to rent eight sedans and get eight muscular hunks to carry you to Dynasty’s headquarters?” argued the middle-aged man digging his nose in his nasal voice, “Is that grand enough?”

“I think that’s a terrific idea. We’ll definitely trend the next day. I’ve already thought of the news title, ‘Breaking News: The Heretics’ Presiding Judge is Married to Dynasty!” crowed the hunk rubbing his feet.

“Are both of you eager to be smacked?” Baby-face glared at both of them and subsequently looked at the rest. “Since none of you volunteered, I’ll pick the candidates then.”