Strongest Maniac: Born in an Asylum

Seaside City Special Department, War Room.

A group of people sat around, smoking. The air was thick with haze.

One-Eye sat in the leader's chair, holding his cigarette upside down. He yelped as it burned his tongue, then corrected his mistake. His expression was grave as he stared at the projected image on the wall.

A woman with long, curly hair, wearing a tight black pencil skirt, pointed at the image with a slender baton. She occasionally adjusted her glasses and said slowly, "This is the camera footage from the Grand Bridge. Due to the malevolent entity, many of the cameras were damaged. This is all we could get."

"We don't know who killed the malevolent entity, but it definitely wasn't that Vice Director, Lee Fortune."

The woman was the leader of the Special Department's Post-Incident Analysis Team, Kim Hera. She was tall, with a slender and perfect figure. In high heels, she stood at least a meter seventy-eight. She was also highly intelligent. Anyone who didn't know her would assume she was the personal secretary of some high-powered CEO. The mole at the corner of her eye was particularly alluring.

Many in the department wanted to win over this sexy team leader, but her reply was always the same: You want to eat farts?

Of course, the men who were rejected would secretly think, If they're your farts, I'd gladly eat them. It just depends on whether you're willing to turn your back to me.

One-Eye leaned back in his leather chair, his left hand on the table, his right hand gripping the armrest as he smoked in silence. The smoke billowed in front of him, and his expression was anything but calm.

He saw two familiar faces in the footage. There was no mistaking them, the unforgettable patients from the Green Mountain Asylum. They were there, and they had survived. The malevolent entity had vanished without a trace, its fate unknown. Not even a scrap of it could be found, only a pool of fresh blood on the ground.

He remembered what Director Hess had told him. The Mourning Dog had been eaten by them, with only a single fang left behind.

The masters from the four institutes around him chattered amongst themselves, their minds racing. They speculated that an unknown master had passed by and slain the creature. Or perhaps the entity had simply gotten lost and wandered off. All sorts of possibilities were thrown around, the room buzzing with discussion. No one knew what had really happened.

"Quiet!"

"I might know what happened."

One-Eye spoke, his voice a bit hoarse. His remaining eye stared intently at the image, a glint in its depths.

The crowd looked at him curiously, eager to know what had happened.

But...

"I can't tell you," One-Eye said slowly.

The crowd sighed and leaned back in their chairs. That was a load of nonsense. If anyone else had said that, they would have been furious. Damn it! You might as well have said nothing at all!

One-Eye had his own thoughts. He had encountered them at the asylum and had been taken to the hospital. He didn't know the details of the process, but he knew how it began and how it ended.

If they were normal people, that would be one thing. But they were also incredibly powerful. He himself was a strong warrior, one of the best in Seaside City, yet they had managed to paralyze his leg with just a silver needle. That was proof enough of their terrifying abilities.

Later, he had inquired at the hospital about the blood test results. The hematopoietic stem cells in their blood were astonishingly active. A normal person couldn't have such a phenomenon, not even him. So he was certain that these two mental patients were formidable, not as simple as they seemed.

If he had to give a reason for the malevolent entity's disappearance, he could only say that it was probably eaten by them.

"Don't pursue this matter any further," One-Eye said in a low voice. "Continue to search for traces of other malevolent entities. I suspect there is a high-level entity hiding in Seaside City, manipulating everything that is happening."

This was what worried him the most. A Level 7 malevolent entity had emerged from a sinkhole in Mount Tai, but that was definitely not the strongest. It was likely just a decoy, a way to disperse the malevolent entities and hide them.

The masters from the four institutes were all curious about what One-Eye knew. But from the looks of it, it was a secret he would never reveal. You'd have to break all his teeth to get anything out of him.

Kim Hera adjusted her glasses, her sensual red lips slightly parted. "Next up, the interns from the four institutes will be arriving in Seaside City. The schedule is for the four of you to lead them on a tour of your respective combat zones. You will also go to the cemetery to pay respects to the heroes who gave their lives for the city. Finally, you will volunteer at the Green Mountain Asylum."

One-Eye's eye twitched at the mention of "Green Mountain Asylum." He now had a bit of an aversion to the place. The psychological pressure from the two patients had not yet faded.

Master Drake of the Mountain Sect took a drag from his hand-rolled cigarette and said leisurely, "More of this formal nonsense. If you ask me, we should just take them to fight a malevolent entity. I guarantee they'll all grow up fast."

Master Thorne, a master from the Taoist High Institute, glanced at him. "What do you know? This is called a process. Do you understand what a process is? Without rules, there is no order. Your Mountain Sect doesn't even understand this, and you want to separate from the Taoist lineage and establish your own sect? That's hilarious."

"What the hell did you just say? I've had enough of you! Let's go outside and fight! I'll show you how I can poke holes in your body with this Coin Sword!" Master Drake couldn't take it anymore. As he shouted, his missing front tooth was visible, but it didn't stop him from wanting to provoke the other man.

"You think I'm scared of you?" Master Thorne retorted.

"Say that again, I dare you!" Master Drake pointed at him, but didn't move.

Master Thorne laughed. "I'll say it again. A pirated version is a pirated version. Can't you just admit it? And you call yourselves the orthodox Mountain Sect? You don't even acknowledge your ancestors. You're so full of yourselves."

The master from the Buddhist Temple High Institute held his prayer beads and clasped his hands together. "Amitabha."

The master from the Medical High Institute took out some pills. "You two can have a good fight. With me here, you won't die."

Master Drake put one foot on a chair, rolled up his sleeves, and glared at Master Thorne. Master Thorne, in turn, looked nonchalant, his gaze filled with contempt, as if to say, Come at me, bro.

BAM!

One-Eye slammed his hand on the table. "The four of you are almost 400 years old combined! Can't you be a little more mature? We brought you out of the mountains to teach at the institutes, and you said it was boring. Now you're here to defend the city, and you're fighting amongst yourselves. If you keep this up, pack your things and get out! I'll find someone else!"

One-Eye was truly angry. With such a major crisis at hand, how could they have the time to argue here?

"Hmph!" Master Drake turned his head away, too proud to argue further.

Master Thorne chuckled. "Immeasurable Heavenly Lord. I will not argue with a fool."

Kim Hera gathered her documents, her high heels clicking as she swayed her hips and left the war room.

The Buddhist master stole a glance at her departing figure, then closed his eyes and chanted a sutra.

"Amitabha!"