Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 1953

“……What the hell is that sound?”

“I don’t know, sounds like some crazy guy is making a fuss.”

“No, it’s coming from the TV right now.”

“It’s probably a hack or something. There are all sorts of weirdos in this world. They don’t know what fear is.”

In a bar in Beijing.

The people watching the large TV in front of them chuckled at the scene unfolding on the screen.

“Is he a mental patient?”

“Who wouldn’t think he’s a mental patient? He’s talking nonsense. Change the channel. Listening to a mental patient’s ramblings is making my head feel weird.”

“Should we? Where’s the remote?” The owner, who was cooking inside, poked his head out and answered.

“It’s on top of that newspaper.”

“Okay, okay.”

The person who got up from their seat walked over and picked up the remote.

Just as they were about to change the channel.

“Leave it.”

From the corner of the bar.

A man dressed in black, who was drinking alone, spoke in a stiff voice.

“What did you say?”

“I said don’t change the channel, leave it.” All eyes turned to the speaker.

The man, who had emptied his glass of liquor in one go, placed the glass on the table with a thud.

“……Hey, buddy. Are you going to keep listening to this crazy guy’s nonsense?”

“Yes.”

“Is there something wrong with your head? Is this entertaining?”

Laughter filled the bar.

No one felt threatened by the shabby-looking, obviously frail man. Just as they were about to ignore the man and change the channel.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

The person holding the remote suddenly grabbed their hand and fell to the floor.

“Aah! My hand! My haaaand!”

The people who were laughing were startled by the sudden scream and stared at the fallen person.

Something had pierced through the hand holding the remote and was sticking out.

“A, a chopstick?”

A chopstick, not a needle, how could it pierce through a person’s hand?

Those who instinctively knew who had thrown the chopstick turned their heads with trembling eyes.

Clink, clink.

The man, who silently refilled his glass, poured it into his mouth in one go and placed the glass down with a thud.

“Nonsense?”

The man’s eyes emitted a chilling murderous intent.

“Shall I show you? Whether that talk is nonsense or not?”

No one could open their mouths.

An unknown unease, which they hadn’t felt until just now, dug into their hearts. They instinctively knew that they shouldn’t mess with that man.

“Aah! My hand! My haaaand!”

“S, stay still!”

“What are you doing! Take him to the hospital quickly!” The group lifted the screaming man, who was clutching his hand, and took him outside.

“Hmph.”

The man, who snorted at the scene, silently began to refill his glass. After downing three glasses of liquor in a row without any snacks, the man looked at the TV with meaningful eyes.

“We don’t have to live in hiding anymore….”

He couldn’t understand exactly what was happening, but those words were clearly etched in his mind.

“Stop it! Stop the broadcast right now!”

“I, it’s impossible!”

“What the hell are you talking about! Contact the broadcasting station and tell them to cut the broadcast right now!”

“W, we can’t reach them!”

“What?”

“We’ve been trying to contact them since earlier, but we can’t get through. And the broadcasting stations that we can reach are reporting that their transmission rooms have been seized.”

“Seized? Did you just say seized?”

“Yes… I, I apologize…”

“You bunch of useless idiots!”

A middle-aged man dressed in a Tang suit [a traditional Chinese jacket] threw the remote control in his hand at the person reporting.

Thwack!

The head of the person who was hit with a dull sound snapped back into place.

Needless to say, it hurt, but now was not the time to show it.

“Y, you… you stupid bastards. What will happen if the higher-ups find out about this…”

The person who was speaking closed his mouth. If they find out?

It was a ridiculous thing to say, even to his own ears.

How could they possibly not know about this?

That damned face was appearing on every medium they could access. Unless they were hermits living in the mountains, how could they possibly ignore that broadcast?

‘Damn martial artists….’

Martial artists can never exert influence in the real world.

They are threatening when it comes to matters involving force, but those who are holed up in the mountains, honing their martial arts, are no different from strong monkeys.

So, they can be tamed and used as useful tools.

That was how the party viewed them.

However, all the phenomena unfolding before his eyes now forced him to admit that his perception of martial artists was completely wrong.

When did they start drawing this picture?

It was chilling.

This was not a plan to push through with force. It was a plan that had been meticulously prepared long ago, taking their time to complete it step by step.

And they were now helplessly falling victim to that malicious plan.

“Contact the relay stations and tell them to stop all broadcasts.”

“D, direct broadcasting is…”

“Then cut the power, you turtle bastard!”

“Yes! Yes! I understand!”

The man gritted his teeth as he watched the reporter run out in a panic.

“What the hell are you planning to do!”

The distorted cracks kept widening. But there was nothing those watching the broadcast could do.

The U.S. Department of Defense.

The people gathered in front of the screen chuckled.

“They finally….”

The sound of a cigarette being lit was grating, but no one pointed it out.

It wasn’t that they were tolerating it, but they didn’t have the capacity to care about it. To exaggerate, they were confident that they wouldn’t even pay attention if someone right next to them collapsed from a heart attack.

That’s how shocking the scene unfolding before their eyes was.

“This world is a lie….” Sweat beaded on the forehead of the person who was translating in real-time.

Looking at the faces of those sitting in front of him, even someone with nerves of steel would be tense. But with the content of the broadcast being like this, how could he possibly remain calm?

“Those damn Chinese bastards.”

“……It seems that this is what it has come to.”

The person sitting at the head of the table tore at his hair.

“Damn it.”

A lie begets another lie.

When they first hid the existence of the martial world, no one would have thought that it would come this far. They didn’t think it was a big deal, and they just thought it was something they could deal with at any time.

But as those small lies grew, no one dared to think about correcting this distorted world.

The bomb that had been passed down from regime to regime had finally exploded.

“How the hell are we supposed to fix this?”

“We have to eliminate them.”

The person sitting on the right said with a stern face.

“We quickly eliminate the source, and then we can just say it was a special effect.”

“Do you think we can stop it like that!”

“Then what other way is there?”

The air in the room turned cold.

“They are the ones being unreasonable. Then we have to deal with them unreasonably as well.”

“Even so…”

“This is war.”

A man in uniform said coldly.

“There’s no point in applying common sense on the battlefield. What’s important is how the opponent comes out, and how we respond to that opponent. And one more thing…”

The man slightly lowered his hat and continued.

“It’s better to carry out even a stupid plan than to waste time in meetings without doing anything.”

“In the first place!”

Bang!

The person sitting at the head of the table slammed his fist on the table.

“Why do we have to fix the mistakes those damn Chinese bastards made! That’s why we warned them so much in advance!”

At those words, low sighs flowed out from here and there.

They had warned countless times that the Black King was dangerous. But they didn’t come up with proper countermeasures, and in the end, it had come to this.

“Let’s talk realistically.”

“Yes.”

“If we intervene, how far can we go?”

A low silence descended into the room.

Breaking the silence, which had become somewhat tedious, a dispassionate voice flowed out.

“It depends on how they come out, but we plan to use all possible methods. If we can solve it with physical force, there’s no reason to avoid it.”

“In another country’s territory?”

“Since when have we considered such things?”

Of course, they hadn’t considered it.

If there was a justification, or even if the justification was insufficient, they wouldn’t hesitate to intervene militarily for the sake of the country’s interests. That was the American way.

War that requires the mobilization of large-scale forces requires national consensus, but if it’s not that scale, the U.S. can move at any time.

But the reason they couldn’t help but hesitate was that the battlefield where they had to deploy their forces was none other than China.

“Do you think they’ll just stand by?”

“If they don’t stand by, what are they going to do? Aren’t they the ones who brought the situation this far?”

“Hmm.”

It was only natural that the person who caused the problem should take responsibility for the situation. But things in the world never go as they should.

If it was natural for the cause of the problem to take all the responsibility, then there would be no wars, and there would be no conflicts. All problems arise because what is natural is not natural.

“It’s a burden for us to handle China’s backlash alone. But that’s not something to worry about. Soon, starting with Europe, all the related countries will start to put pressure on them.”

“Is that so?”

“If not, shouldn’t we make it so?”

“……I understand what you mean.”

No matter how much it was China, they wouldn’t be able to withstand international cooperation.

No, even if they resisted to the end, it didn’t matter. Then they would also try their best to suppress this situation.

‘When you think about it, it’s best to handle it within China.’

If foreign troops entered China and something went wrong, the aftermath would be even more difficult. But China is a country that can suppress most disturbances on its own.

Even the previous building collapse incident would have caused a national uproar in other countries, but in China, it was handled as a minor accident.

“It’s best to calm down for now.”

“Hmm.”

“It’s just a sudden situation, so it’s chaotic, but there are plenty of ways to fix it.”

“Yes. We need to stay calm first. Anyway, first, we need to contact Europe…”

That was when it happened.

“……The public enemy♦•••••”

The heads of everyone who was talking turned sharply to one side at that moment.

“What?”

“What did you say?”

Their eyes, wide open as if they were about to tear, were fixed on the translator.

“Just now… what did you just say?”

“What did you just say!”

“T, there’s related talk coming out now. Let me finish this translation first…”

Their gazes, filled with disbelief and shock, turned to the screen.

The translator’s trembling voice pierced their ears like a knife.

“••••••Crazy.”

The sound of someone dropping a cigarette they were smoking echoed coldly in the room.