Takeda Masao clutched his right cheek.

Unbelievable.

Both of these underlings clearly didn't hold back.

At this moment, both sides of his cheeks swelled up at a visible rate, looking like two over-fermented steamed buns.

"You... you fucking dare hit me?"

"Are you two trying to rebel?"

The two underlings hurriedly knelt down in front of him in unison.

"No... it's not like that! Boss!"

"I... I don't even know how it turned out like this! I... I didn't mean to!"

The underling beside him wore a depressed expression.

"Boss, I really don't know what's going on."

"When I heard you speaking ill of the Gang Leader's wife just now, my mind went buzzing."

"It felt like something exploded, and then... and then I didn't know anything anymore."

"By the time I reacted, my hand had already slapped out."

The other person also nodded repeatedly, his face filled with lingering fear.

"Me too! Me too!"

"I just felt a sudden burst of fire in my heart, burning so painfully."

"Now that I think about it, my back still feels cold."

"Boss, do you think we provoked something unclean?"

Listening to their babbling explanations, the monstrous anger in Takeda Masao's heart gradually calmed down.

His brows furrowed tightly.

Today was indeed too bizarre.

It was as if he had truly been entangled by some unclean thing.

On normal days, even if you gave them nine lives' worth of guts, they would never dare to strike him.

Thinking of this, he kicked the two people kneeling on the ground one by one.

The force wasn't heavy; it was more of a vent and a warning.

"Get the fuck over to the corner, all of you!"

"If anyone dares to get close to me again, I really won't be polite!"

The two subordinates acted as if granted amnesty, nodding repeatedly.

They scrambled up using hands and feet, obediently crouching in the furthest corner of the truck.

That appearance looked like two frightened quails.

Zhou Huai remained expressionless on the surface, but inside he was already roaring with laughter.

The control effect of the Parasite was indeed quite good.

Although the control time was relatively short at present.

But at critical moments, it might just produce unexpected results.

The atmosphere in the truck bed was depressed to the extreme.

No one dared to speak anymore.

Only the monotonous roar of the truck engine remained, along with the "clatter" sound of the wheels crushing over the gravel road surface.

Soon, on the distant horizon, a ferocious black silhouette appeared.

That was a hundred-meter-high alloy city wall, like a crouching giant beast stretching between the wasteland and civilization.

As the truck drove closer, the full view of the city wall became increasingly clear.

The wall body was spliced together from massive blocks of black alloy.

Countless pitch-black muzzle openings protruded from within the wall, resembling the fangs of a giant beast, exuding a cold metallic luster.

At the city gate, the exaggeratedly thick alloy floodgate was tightly closed.

Over a dozen fully armed guards stood at attention with guns, their eyes vigilantly scanning every approaching vehicle.

The captain of the guards guarding the city gate clearly knew Takeda.

He waved to signal the truck to stop and walked over with a frown.

"Takeda, why are you back so soon?"

The guard captain poked his head in to look at the empty truck bed, the astonishment on his face growing even heavier.

"The harvest is just this little?"

Takeda jumped down from the truck, piling a smile onto his face as he familiarly handed over a pack of cigarettes.

"Don't mention it, Kenji."

"The Gang Leader has an emergency and told us to return immediately."

The guard captain named Kenji took the cigarette, but didn't show any intention of letting them pass immediately.

He lit one, took a deep drag, and the exhaled smoke blurred his solemn face.

"Takeda-kun, I must remind you."

"Tokyo City is about to be fully locked down. Once you go in, no one is allowed to come out anytime soon."

Takeda's eyeballs rolled, catching the subtext in the other person's words.

He lowered his voice and leaned close to Kenji's ear.

"Kenji-kun, did something happen in the city?"

Kenji smiled without answering directly.

"Don't ask what shouldn't be asked."

He glanced at the others in the truck bed and changed the subject.

"Did you run into any strange people when you went out this time?"

Takeda thought to himself that while he didn't encounter any strange people, he certainly encountered strange things.

But his face remained calm as he just smiled and shook his head.

"No, everything is normal."

Kenji nodded and said no more.

"Alright, bring your people down to undergo inspection."

He waved at the guards behind him.

Next to the alloy floodgate, a slightly smaller side door silently slid open.

Behind the door was a brightly lit, pure white room filled with the smell of disinfectant.

Takeda cursed as he called out to his subordinates.

"Get the fuck down! Inspection time!"

Several underlings sighed as they jumped off the truck, lining up to walk into that white inspection room.

Zhou Huai controlled Insect Emperor Caesar, mixing into the crowd and silently following at the very end.

Inside the room, several staff members wearing white protective suits expressionlessly operated various precision instruments.

The first one to undergo inspection was the monkey-thin underling.

He was asked to stand on a metal disc.

The disc lit up, and a blue beam of light scanned his entire body from top to bottom.

On the nearby display screen, his detailed information immediately popped up.

【Name: Kobayashi Kenta】

【Profession: Level C Gale Assassin】

【Level: 25】

【Affiliation: Three Mouth Gang】

【Status: Normal】

Afterwards, he was requested to undergo fingerprint and iris scans.

The entire process was cumbersome and lengthy.

Kobayashi Kenta appeared somewhat impatient, muttering softly under his breath.

"Damn it, what are they doing? It's never been this strict before."

The staff member operating the instrument glanced at him coldly.

"If you don't want to be checked, you don't have to enter the city."

Kobayashi Kenta shrank his neck and immediately shut his mouth.

Just these checks alone took a full twenty-plus minutes.

Soon, it was Zhou Huai's turn.

Mimicking the appearance of the previous few people, he expressionlessly stepped onto that metal disc.

The cold blue beam of light slowly swept across his body.

Zhou Huai could clearly feel that a peculiar energy fluctuation was probing every single cell inside Insect Emperor Caesar.

This energy even attempted to touch his soul Origin.

But just at the moment when that energy was about to penetrate deeper, the 【token of the faceless】 worn on Insect Emperor Caesar's chest grew slightly warm.

An even more mysterious and powerful force instantly surged out, quietly constructing an insurmountable barrier.

That probing energy, as if crashing into an invisible wall, was easily rebounded.

On the nearby display screen, a light flashed.

The data belonging to Natsume Masahiro clearly emerged.

【Name: Natsume Masahiro】

【Profession: Level C Insect Master】

【Level: 23】

【Affiliation: Three Mouth Gang】

【Status: Normal】

The staff member in charge of the inspection glanced at the information on the screen, then looked up at Zhou Huai, his brows furrowing imperceptibly.

"Insect Master?"

He muttered a sentence, his tone carrying a trace of undisguised contempt.

"The Three Mouth Gang now accepts any kind of trash."

Zhou Huai lowered his head, perfectly playing the role of an inferior and cowardly bottom-feeder, without making any response.

That staff member then had him undergo fingerprint and iris scans.

All data perfectly matched the information in the database.

Relying on the powerful effect of the 【token of the faceless】, the Natsume Masahiro impersonated by Insect Emperor Caesar was not found to have any flaws.

"Alright, next."

The staff member impatiently waved his hand.

Natsume Masahiro acted as if granted amnesty, hurriedly stepping off the metal disc and returning to the end of the line.

After everyone finished their inspections, Kenji then spoke a few words into the walkie-talkie.

"Creak—!"

That exaggeratedly thick alloy floodgate finally rose slowly in front of everyone.

Takeda called for everyone to get back on the truck.

The truck let out a low roar, slowly driving into the deep tunnel leading to Tokyo City.

The tunnel was very long, and the emergency lights on both sides of the walls cast a dim, yellowish light, illuminating each person's face inside the truck in flickering shadows.

After driving for about five minutes.

The view suddenly opened up before their eyes.

Takeda Masao pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Hello, Mr. Sato, we have already entered the city."

"Alright, we'll be right over."

Hanging up the phone, he yelled at the driver.

"To the headquarters."