In This Rebirth, The Male Lead Is Mine [BL]
Chapter 44: Plan Ahead

Chapter 44: Plan Ahead

The once chaotic scene suddenly fell silent only a few minutes later. The groans of pain did not cease, but the whimpering stopped. Most of the Espers who attacked Rise were now on the ground and unconscious.

Rise sat on a boulder, legs crossed, his left foot rested on someone’s back, lying on the ground with his stomach. The man had a robust body compared to the young man, and yet he could not even get up, letting his body become a footrest, albeit unwillingly.

Gritting his teeth, the robust man cursed once more.

"Y-You... will not get away from this. No one can just provoke the underground forces like th—cough...this..."

He almost could not finish when the pressure of the foot on his back increased.

"Oh?" Rise smiled and looked down at the man, leisurely crossing his arms. "Are you threatening me?" His gaze carried a kind of menacing glint, making the robust man who was about to refute once more firmly shut his lips.

Being someone who had lived in the wasteland and also a leader of this zone’s underground world, his ability to sense danger was top-notch. His intuition was telling him... If he said something more... He would die.

He gulped, both saliva and blood. He was unwilling. However, it was obvious that the young man who attacked them was very powerful.

He singlehandedly defeated all of them in just a few minutes. In fact, if the young man had not toyed with them, the man was convinced the young man could defeat them in just seconds.

Rise, seeing the man stop responding to him, he nodded with a smile, seemingly satisfied. He patted the man’s back using his foot, as though commending him.

"Cough... cough..."

As a result, the man had coughed up blood once more. His foot was too heavy. The man felt there was a huge boulder resting on his back.

Rise clicked his tongue. "Too weak."

Again, the man coughed up blood hearing this, but not from pain but anger!

Yeah, I’m weak! And now, you’re bullying the weak, no?

He could only complain inside, unable to truly voice it out. How did they provoke this devil here? And what was he doing here?

Rise looked around; bodies were seen sprawled everywhere. Some were truly unconscious, while others just pretended to do so. He was sensitive to any movements and even slight fluctuations in the air as one breathed inside his force field.

He did not tease them further and just let them pretend to be dead.

"Truly... weak." Rise sneered once more, and yet there was an obvious smile on his lips.

He did not care about their strength; he only needed their usefulness. Sometimes, being weak was not necessarily a disadvantage.

It was easy for Rise to subdue these wild Espers; as long as there were not any A-rank Espers, he could dominate them in under a minute. Of course, this did not mean A-rank Espers were troublesome to deal with, it would take longer to subdue them.

He was not afraid of S-ranks either, but that required him to be serious, and that was not fun. Not at all. With all the S-ranks, Kamille was the only one fun of them.

Rise also did not kill them and only injured them, with the most extreme injury being broken bones. And as Espers, even no matter how low their rank was, their ability to heal was faster than an ordinary person.

They would be fine, just a few days of being bedridden.

Rise was not afraid of the underground forces, but that would be detrimental to his plan. After all, he was precisely in this stronghold related to his future plans.

Seeing Rise fall silent, the man finally could not stop himself and asked. He also noticed that Rise was here not to really kill them. If he had known, then he would not be foolish enough to attack him.

This could not be blamed on him; who would have thought this troublemaker to be in this place, miles away from the capital?

After calming down, the man finally recognized Rise. He was widely popular even with the underground forces.

"You... Ah, I mean... Why is Mr. Rise here? Do you need something from us?" The man suddenly spoke more respectfully.

Since it has come to this point and knowing the identity of the other party, he could only succumb to fate. Rise Lee was indeed popular as an unruly Esper, but he was still an official Union member, which meant he was under the strict regulations of the government.

Usually, this might not convince him, but in order to calm down, the man could only deceive himself with this. As if, Rise could really be regulated and disciplined by the rules.

Rise’s eyebrows rose, sensing the difference in the man’s demeanor. This was better. Satisfied with it, he almost patted the man’s back with his foot again but decided not to do so.

He would be very important for his plan, after all.

"Yes, indeed," Rise replied succinctly. He bent slightly, meeting the man’s gaze. "From now on... You’re my subordinate." He even smiled as though being one was such a huge honor one could get in their life.

The man seemed to not understand it at first, but as he processed this, his eyes widened, stunned.

What the fuck was this? Who said he could be just anyone’s subordinate?

***

Rise, sitting to a more presentable seat this time, turn, and look at the man kneeling in front of him. He still appeared battered with bruises, some stains of blood could even be seen in his shirt.

Yet, he looked respectfully and fawningly at Rise. At least on the surface.

The bodies were also cleaned up, and the injured were sent to be treated. And those members who were not really unconscious and could still stand on their own were the same as the leader, kneeling in Rise’s direction.

The room, which was supposed to be a meeting room, suddenly looked like a worship hall for some reason.

Rise laughed at this thought. Truthfully, even when these people were kneeling to him, he did not have any accomplished feeling or anything. It just looked fun and interesting, that was all.

Sweeping his gaze around, and then landing once more at the leader, their gazes were not sincere, but Rise never cared about loyalty.

Betraying him would never be an easy matter either.

With a smile on his lips, Rise produced a small pouch. He then threw it in the air; they even stopped mid-air before slowly descending neatly to everyone.

Everyone looked at it, confused. The white and small thing was a seed, or it looked like it.

What was this seed supposed to be?

Rise playfully chuckled.

For his plans, he needed a force in his hands. And why would he create from scratch? When there’s an available and organized force somewhere?