Chapter 112: The Challenger
Chapter 112: The Challenger
As Pochita merged into Denji's chest, the scattered remains of Denji slowly reformed into his original shape. In this shared environment of Denji and Pochita, Pochita spoke to Denji for the first time with human words.
"Denji, you've got my body?"
Denji asked with relief and a smile.
However, Pochita replied, "I… like hearing Denji talk about his dreams."
"This is our contract."
"I give you my heart in exchange…"
"Denji must show me his dreams!"
With that, the conversation ended, and the reborn Denji stood up from the trash can. But… Pochita had disappeared.
In Denji's chest remained Pochita's chainsaw pull cord tail.
Denji looked at the ordinary people controlled by the zombie demons with rage.
Many of them were dressed stylishly, clearly leading good lives. Yet, these people, having had such comfortable lives, were tempted by demonic power and turned into demon puppets…
They wanted to kill Denji and Pochita. Denji couldn't understand:
"Why are these people, who already have a good life, so greedy?"
"…I'm the same way."
"Even though I have Pochita with me, I still yearn for a better life."
"Everyone is like this, having dreams they want to fulfill…"
"It's not wrong, but… although it's not wrong…"
In his fury at losing Pochita, Denji pulled the chainsaw pull cord on his chest.
"If they hinder us, then they all must die!"
Denji transformed into a chainsaw-headed demon, with saw blades on his hands, and began slaughtering everyone in sight!
In the end, all the zombie demons and their numerous puppets were annihilated by Denji's chainsaws!
The scene shifted.
The warehouse where Denji had slaughtered the zombies and their puppets was discovered. Three figures stood before the warehouse door.
They were all dressed in matching black coats and dress shirts with ties.
The leader was a beautiful woman with striking red long hair, bangs at the front tied into a braid, and most uniquely, her sclerae were white with orange-yellow irises.
She noticed the still-living Denji in the warehouse and suddenly embraced him.
She gently held Denji in her arms and cradled his head tenderly.
However, what she said next was astonishing.
"I'm here to deal with the zombie demons… as a public security demon hunter."
"You now have two choices: be killed by me as a demon or become my pet as a human."
[Translator: sauron]
"If you become my pet, I'll feed you well."
Denji looked at the beautiful and gentle woman. While it might seem like an insult to others, to him, living as a pet seemed like the best life!
So he asked, "What kind of food will I get… in the morning?"
The woman thought for a moment and replied seriously, "Hmm~~… bread with butter and jam, salad, coffee… and dessert."
Denji was instantly satisfied, saying, "That's unbeatable…"
**End of Chapter**
...
Gu Qianli blinked as she read this, wondering if the suddenly appearing woman was the heroine in Qingshan's new work.
Despite the strange dialogue, it seemed oddly familiar…
Especially the way the male lead Denji interacted with the female lead—seemed a bit like how Qingshan interacted with her?
Although she wasn't seen as a pet or a dog by Lin Qingshan, it felt like Qingshan had always referred to her as his "caretaker" in some way?
Gu Qianli was now somewhat certain that this heroine was based on her. Her cheeks flushed even more. Did this mean… Qingshan had feelings for her too?
If so… that would be wonderful…
Gu Qianli thought to herself, eagerly anticipating the sweet interactions between Denji and this strange female lead in the upcoming manga.
...
On the other side.
Yang Shuzhun closed the manga magazine and shook his head. "The demon setting… is quite decent, but the plot is really unexpected."
"That guy really is a lunatic. This opening is explosive."
From an objective perspective, the demon setting in *Chainsaw Man* wasn't anything new. Compared to the cyberpunk world of *Edge Runners*, it was a bit lacking.
However, the opening plot of *Chainsaw Man* was intriguing and explosive. An orphan with no parents, paired with a dog, was common in manga, but the plot of selling organs to pay off debt was quite shocking.
The protagonist's mental state and values were also interesting.
But compared to *Edge Runners*, it was slightly inferior.
"If that's the case, it might not be a rival to my *Divine Race*."
Yang Shuzhun smiled confidently. Currently, *Edge Runners* winning the rookie competition was a done deal. Even though *Spirit Master* and another new work were not yet concluded, the vote gap was too wide to close.
Yang Shuzhun accepted his defeat this time.
But the next work… was another story.
He looked at his current manuscript, which had been submitted and would be serialized on *Comic World Gogo*. This work was one he had carefully crafted, taking considerable time for setting and plot development.
It was a story of humans fighting against gods. In the past billion years, gods ruled the world and enslaved humans. But humanity reclaimed world sovereignty through war.
However, humans, coveting the gods' immense power, imprisoned some weaker gods and offered human women to them, hoping to gain the gods' power.
Humans succeeded and created a race of half-human, half-god beings known as hybrids. This was a fiery youth story of hybrids fighting gods to prevent the ancient gods from reviving and ruling the world once more!
Yang Shuzhun incorporated the strengths of *Edge Runners*, along with Norse mythology and other mythological worlds, so he was very confident.
"Next… you'll know that you're the challenger!"
Yang Shuzhun said with a confident smile.
**End of Chapter**