"What's your name?" Cassandra Nova asked.
"Azuma Shoyo, ma'am!" Azuma Shoyo replied with a smile.
Cassandra Nova nodded, then raised her voice to address her subordinates around her. "Let's welcome Shoyo to our big family!"
Another one who couldn't handle Chinese names. Azuma Shoyo smiled outwardly but groaned inwardly. So far, only Clark Kent, with his superhuman intellect, could say his full name correctly. Everyone else just stuck to his surname, "Shoyo." Someone who didn't know better might think he was some kind of "Black Emperor" or something.
Sure enough, Azazel, standing nearby, shot Azuma Shoyo a few curious glances when Cassandra Nova called him "Shoyo," as if wondering if he had anything in common with the "Shoyo" he knew.
The mutants and assorted human thugs around them erupted into cheers. That's right—Cassandra Nova's crew wasn't just mutants; it also included regular human thugs. Outside, mutants and humans were at each other's throats, but here, they managed to get along.
Of course, status-wise, mutants far outranked the ordinary thugs, who were little more than grunts in the camp. Only mutants—and those with exceptional abilities—could earn any real standing here. Among them, Azazel and Juggernaut were second only to Cassandra Nova herself, followed by Pyro, Toad, Sabretooth, and a few others.
At that moment, Cassandra Nova raised her hand in a calming gesture, and the cheering crowd fell silent instantly. She turned to Azuma Shoyo with a smile, her gaze carrying a subtle, meaningful weight as she looked at him.
"Shoyo, from now on, you're one of us," she said, extending her hand.
Juggernaut and the others nearby gave Azuma Shoyo odd looks, watching him closely. But Azuma Shoyo acted as if he hadn't noticed, smiling as he confidently took Cassandra Nova's hand.
Ding!
[Would you like to extract a character entry from the target "Cassandra Nova Xavier"?]
[Detected that the target "Cassandra Nova Xavier" possesses multiple character entries. Please select one to extract!]
Whoosh!
A list unfurled before his eyes.
[Cosplay Enthusiast]
[Your cosplay skills are so lifelike, they perfectly mimic the target's essence.]
[Professor X's Sister]
[You are Professor X's sister, possessing the same telepathic abilities as Professor X, but your gender will change to female!]
[King of the Void]
[You are the ruler of the Void. All living beings in the Void will instinctively feel affinity toward you and be more inclined to obey your words!]
[True Big Boss]
[Mr. Paradox is the big boss? No! Cassandra is the true big boss! You will gain all of True Big Boss Cassandra's abilities!]
Four character entries. The first one was utter trash—easily dismissed. What Azuma Shoyo really wanted was the fourth entry. The third one was decent, but only decent. Its scope was too narrow to be truly useful, so there was no point in extracting it.
"System, extract the [True Big Boss] entry!" Azuma Shoyo commanded inwardly.
Ding!
[Extraction successful!]
In an instant, Azuma Shoyo instinctively mastered the use of his newly acquired abilities. Just as he'd suspected from the start, Cassandra Nova's powers were all rooted in her telepathic strength. Without that, all her abilities would collapse.
Right then, he sensed a telepathic force attempting to invade his mind.
"You're not getting a peek at what's in my head," Azuma Shoyo thought. With a flicker of intent, he constructed a telepathic barrier, effortlessly blocking Cassandra Nova's intrusion.
It was straightforward. By extracting her [True Big Boss] entry, Azuma Shoyo had gained all her abilities, including her powerful telepathy. His own mental strength wasn't weak to begin with, either. While Kryptonians were physically dominant, their mental power wasn't lacking in quantity—just quality. It was like comparing a pound of cotton to a pound of iron: same weight, vastly different density.
For telepaths like Cassandra Nova, their mental power was like super-alloy—high quality and abundant. Azuma Shoyo's original mental strength, by contrast, was cotton-like in quality but matched hers in quantity. Now, with both forces combined, his telepathic power outstripped hers. That's why his barrier so easily repelled her attempt to probe his mind.
A few seconds passed. Cassandra Nova frowned slightly, realizing she couldn't penetrate his thoughts.
"Something wrong?" Azuma Shoyo asked with a smile.
She gave him a deep, searching look before withdrawing her telepathic probe. Smiling, she said, "No, I hope you enjoy your stay here!"
"Thanks!" Azuma Shoyo replied with a smile.
They released hands, acting as if nothing had happened. Cassandra Nova turned and headed back upstairs, pausing to instruct Azazel to arrange a room for Azuma Shoyo on the second floor.
Azazel nodded. "Follow me," he said to Azuma Shoyo.
Azuma Shoyo smiled and nodded, following Azazel to the second floor. The so-called "second floor" was really just the arm of Ant-Man's corpse, where makeshift housing had been built for residents.
Azazel led him through a corridor to an unoccupied room. Opening the door, he ushered Azuma Shoyo inside.
"This is your room. If you have any other questions, you can find me or Juggernaut," Azazel said.
"Got it. Actually, I do have a question right now," Azuma Shoyo said, smiling at him. "Living inside this giant corpse—doesn't that draw Alioth here?"
"No," Azazel replied, his face expressionless. "Alioth only devours living things. This is a corpse, dead for who-knows-how-long. As long as we stay inside, Alioth can't sense us."
"I see!" Azuma Shoyo nodded, as if it all made sense now.
"But if we use our powers too often in here, Alioth will detect the energy fluctuations and come looking," Azazel continued. "So, try to keep your abilities in check while you're in camp. Otherwise, that thing will show up and give us trouble again."
--- Translator Note ---
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