'Kill?' Adam thought, not entirely mortified but still having his doubts. Even for someone who survived an apocalypse, murder didn't come naturally to him.
However, the moment he saw Theo's name, his mind relaxed a little. With the kind of bastard that person was, Adam knew it couldn't be wrong to kill him. Even among the Exalted, whom he learned firsthand were awful people, Theo was notoriously horrible.
In fact, he had been publicly executed.
Still, there were two big problems. He didn't exactly know where Theo lived or how to cover up his tracks after killing him. Adam scanned the room for any possible items but was quickly interrupted by his system's chime.
[Uploading Theo Madred's address to your brain now.]
[Address uploaded]
[The arm itself erases any trace of your existence. Its signal will jam any cameras, communications, or other such technologies.]
'Oh. That's rather convenient,' Adam thought, realizing there were no more excuses. After tonight, he would become a murderer.
But at the same time, he was going to become strong enough to save his family, eradicate the stigma against the Wasted, and stop the apocalyptic event completely.
In the grand scheme of things, what were a few lives even worth then?
...
Theo was already a rich and successful person well before the concept of Qi existed. His house sat in the middle of his 400-acre property, which included a golf course, several basketball courts, and even a hiking trail through a patch of woods.
Perched in one of the trees in said woods, Adam didn't care much about the riches of a disgusting man like Theo. He was too focused on watching the house. He was fairly certain Theo would be alone, but he wanted to be sure—killing an innocent person would be horrible, even if it was for a quest.
Before obtaining his Qi, Theo had already been a shady and awful man. While there weren't many concrete details, every rumor suggested he was involved in some kind of underground trafficking ring. Completely vile stuff. Once he became an Exalted, though...
His criminal spree went unchecked for years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of young women and severely traumatizing the few who survived. Out of everyone the system could have assigned him, this was definitely one of the best. Killing Theo would feel more like a privilege than a quest or challenge.
As he dropped down from the tree, a cold fire ignited in Adam's heart as he glanced at his bionic arm. He could already feel the cold blood pouring from Theo's crushed skull and coating his arm—a feeling that was surprisingly warm.
...
Theo was humming some sort of song as he washed dishes. Scrubbing the plates clean, three of them even though he lived alone, he sighed at the dried blood on his arm. It wasn't his fault he struck the bitch, because if she had just shut the fuck up when he asked her to, he would've never beat her nose in.
Still humming as he placed the dishes in the washer, Theo never heard the shadow behind him. Even if he had, there was nothing he could have done.
Military veterans who had fought for decades wouldn't be able to do anything to a juvenile Wasted. What was a regular citizen supposed to do then?
Without his powers as an Exalted, Theo was nothing but weak and frail. A pitiful, horrible existence.
Adam watched him with a grim expression, knowing he could easily kill him right now. However, an intense rage was forming in his mind as he thought about all the people he had hurt.
'Just killing him won't be enough...' Adam thought.
Adam leaned against the wall as he casually said, "Where are the girls?"
Crack!
Adam instinctively jumped when a plate crashed against his head, followed by his fall to the ground. Theo was on top of him, pressing his elbow into Adam's neck, effectively pinning him to the ground.
If he didn't have any Qi, Adam knew he would be dead. However, even the little bit he had meant he far outclassed Theo. Not that the vermin needed to know that just yet, though.
"Hey bastard, the fuck you doing here?" Theo growled, an intense look of bloodlust in his eyes.
The pressure on Adam's neck increased, yet he stared at Theo indifferently. If he wanted to, he could simply push Theo off at any instant. There was no reason to, though. Theo was truly an insect clinging to any source of power.
"I don't have time to clean you off my rug, kid. So answer my question!"
Adam merely stared at Theo indifferently. In this moment, he figured normal people would feel some sort of empathy, however small. To Adam, though, this man was a vile rapist who only deserved a torturous death.
So fuck him.
"I'm sure you don't have time for me. Your preferred targets are little girls—"
Theo struck with his fist in an attempt to silence Adam, whose patience had finally run thin.
Casually raising his bionic arm, Adam grabbed the man's arm and pulled it off. For just a second, blood sputtered everywhere, but then something surprising happened.
The blood was dissolving. The floor and walls that had been painted red were now pristine white again. Even their clothes looked freshly washed, as if no blood had ever spilled.
If it weren't for the missing arm—which had already healed into a stub—and Theo's incessant screaming, Adam himself wouldn't have believed the arm was torn off.
"Motherfucker!" Theo screamed as he took his right arm off of Adam's neck and prepared to strike.
Adam caught this one easily yet again, but this time waited for a second before ripping it off. Once again, the blood miraculously cleaned itself.
'The system wasn't lying when it said my arm would take care of any evidence,' Adam mused as he looked at the screaming Theo.
His face convulsed with a sick purple color as the veins in his neck bulged. Tears were running down Theo's face as he succumbed to the pain of losing both arms.
"Pl- please don't kill me. T- the girls are downstairs, f- five."
"Shut up," Adam said cold and flatly as he used his arm to push Theo off of him. The man lay limp on the floor, unwilling to move from the spot Adam had left him in.
A certain, sickly look of despair washed over Theo as he registered Adam's simple rejection.
"PL- PLEASE!!! STOP!! I- I'LL STOP, I SWEAR!!!"
Adam ignored those promises as he stared down this screaming corpse.
"Even if you did stop, I wouldn't care. You've harmed more than enough people to deserve this fate."
Adam shook his head as he clasped his arm around Theo's neck. Looking into the man's eyes, Adam saw nothing but fear. For a moment, a red glint on Theo's arm caught his attention. Blood.
Theo cowered away even more after he was found out, causing Adam to grip his neck even tighter.
"You would be scared if the situation was reversed... You FUCKING PUSSY!"
A look of pure anger grew in Adam's eyes before he threw Theo into a wall. The entire wall collapsed upon impact, even causing the ceiling to fall.
Seconds later, the system or arm fixed the wreckage. Adam didn't exactly care which. Any damage that wasn't inflicted upon the target was instantly reversed.
'A pity,' Adam thought as he walked toward Theo. If the system would reverse the damage dealt to him, that would be perfect. Then, after he freed the girls, they could have their revenge.
Theo lay on the ground murmuring his disbelief. Not caring about what the man whispered, Adam grabbed his throat and lifted him into the air again.
"I don't care what you promise. All I care about is you dying."
A cold, near-indifferent sensation of pure malice exuded from Adam as he looked into Theo's eyes. The coward vermin was still whimpering, but his words had become clearer.
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
Adam shrugged and then loosened the pressure slightly, acting as though he was actually considering letting Theo go. A soft chuckle escaped the idiot, who probably thought he would be free.
Then he crushed Theo's skull with his hand, watching as all the evidence disintegrated into nothingness.