I Became a Shinigami After Death

A woman entered the room and after taking a seat, tapped her watch, causing a 3D projection screen to appear.

The screen showed a photo of a young Eastern man, with profound deep black eyes which tainted his original sunny and handsome appearance with a touch of gloominess.

Below the photo were the man's name and other details, but the woman barely glanced at it, not only because she had seen it many times but also because a man was sitting right in front of her.

"Ren Hoshino?"

The man sitting opposite the woman was wrapped in a straitjacket, tightly bound from head to toe, with only his head exposed.

His face was covered with a thick, messy beard and dirty long hair, making it difficult to discern his original appearance.

"Is there anyone else in the company's prison getting the same treatment as me?" Ren smiled, a mix of sarcasm and self-mockery.

The woman wasn't angry; she brushed her purple hair behind her ear with a businesslike demeanour. "You can call me Nefer. I'm in charge of taking your final statement. I hope you cooperate, and in return, I might be able to get you the breakfast you want."

Ren fell silent for a moment, seemingly reminiscing. After a while, he sighed lightly. "The breakfast I want probably doesn't exist in this era anymore."

Nefer didn't pursue what Ren wanted to eat; that wasn't her task today. She checked the time and began the formal questioning. "Before the execution begins, there are a few more questions I need to ask you."

She paused, flipping through the projected images, stopping at one showing a middle-aged man in exoskeleton armour. His chest armour was shattered, and a long spear had pierced his heart, leaving him lying in a pool of blood.

"Did you kill Master Toshiro Matsumoto?"

Faced with Nifer's question, Ren looked up at the man on the screen and sneered, "Master?"

Nifer frowned. "Answer the question. You know there are many ways to execute someone. You wouldn't like to experience the more painful ones, would you?"

Ren withdrew his gaze from the projection, his eyes fixed on the woman in front of him. She was a standard 'New Era' human, with physical traits slightly different from those of old-era humans, such as her purple hair, which wasn't dyed but a result of genetic modification.

Being stared at by Ren Hoshino made Nefer inexplicably uneasy, but she remained calm, raising her voice a few notches. "I've seen your previous statements. You admitted to your crime, but didn't explain your method."

Ren leaned back, twisting his neck, seemingly stretching after being restrained for too long. "I've already told you how I did it, but you didn't believe me."

A strange look flashed in Nefer's eyes. Indeed, the man had described his 'modus operandi'.

But his description was too fantastical and bizarre to believe.

Just as Nefer pondered how to pry open the man's mouth, Ren stared at the ceiling and started reciting names.

"Toshiro Matsumoto, Wang Luo, Kaito Suzuki, Shin Woojin, Liu Huabo, Ryota Sato, Takashi Ito, Li Xiao, Lee Minho, Choi Seung."

With each name he mentioned, Nefer's frown deepened. All the names he listed were renowned martial arts masters.

Even though she looked down on the ancient martial arts, considering them as mere trickery easily defeated by modern technology, she had to admit these people were physically well-trained, and with exoskeletons, they were exceptionally strong.

Yet the man before her had killed all ten of these martial arts masters without the help of any kind of technological aid.

Human physical strength is weak; this is a common consensus. Historically, the strongest men could deadlift a few hundred kilograms at most, but with exoskeletons, even a sickly person could easily lift three to four hundred kilograms.

And those already strong martial arts masters, equipped with exoskeletons, could exert force reaching over a thousand kilograms.

"How did you do it?"

Nefer couldn't help but ask. Uncovering Ren's secret was her mission, and she was genuinely curious now.

"Is it that hard to believe?"

Ren smiled, "I didn't find it difficult to kill them."

"That's impossible. Don't tell me stupid things like your martial arts are superior to theirs. I've checked the records. Why do old-era boxing matches have weight classes? You're not in the same league."

Nefer leaned forward, locking eyes with Ren. "If you confess now how you discovered and exploited the system's vulnerability, the company might reconsider your execution and possibly offer you a position based on the situation."

Initially startled by Nefer's words, Ren then realized they had completely misunderstood the situation. They thought he had found a vulnerability in the company's exoskeleton system, and exploited that to defeat the so-called martial arts masters.

No wonder the company had kept him alive for so long without killing him; they wanted to figure out if there was a flaw in their product.

"Heh. It seems I've caused you quite a bit of financial loss."

He mocked.

"What's your answer?"

Nefer pressed. Yes, this was the company's main concern.

The incident had stirred a huge uproar. Despite the company's control over the media, many people were aware that ten martial arts masters had been killed in hand-to-hand combat by a person without any kind of technological aid. This not only led the public to question the quality of the company's products but also resulted in some military orders being returned.

Until they got to the bottom of this, ensuring no flaws in the new generation of exoskeletons, the company wasn't in a rush to dispose of him.

"Have you ever read a manga?"

"What?"

Nifer hadn't expected this answer. She had heard of manga, a form of entertainment from the last century, but what did that have to do with their current discussion?

"When I was a kid, I read a manga called Baki the Grappler. There was a character known as the 'strongest on earth.' I found his combat philosophy quite interesting."

Ren recalled nostalgically, while Nifer, sitting opposite him, looked utterly confused.

"Mr Hoshino, please answer the question seriously."

Nefer said coldly, thinking Ren was playing with her.

"Communicating with you is really difficult, so I'll be brief. Simply put... when facing someone stronger than you, you should use skill. When facing someone more skilled, you can use greater strength to win."

Ren grinned, "Your exoskeletons might be good for enhancing strength, but those people were too weak in skill."

"Are you saying that at just over twenty years old, you're much stronger than those masters who dedicated more than half of their lives refining their Martial Arts?"

Nefer was full of disbelief, "Strong enough to overcome the absolute power gap?"

Even if Ren Hoshino had killed a child wearing the company's exoskeleton, she would find it unbelievable, given the limited and fragile nature of human physical strength.

"You can understand it that way."

Ren closed his eyes, seemingly unwilling to communicate further with Nefer.

Before the company sent this purple-haired beauty, there had been over a dozen interrogators, negotiation experts, and psychologists who had 'chatted' with him, but none got the answers they wanted.

Most of what he said was true, but these people didn't believe him because people only believe what they want to believe. This hasn't changed even in the current era.

The company thought he had found a system vulnerability in their product or even mastered a backdoor to the company's network that allowed him to easily defeat those ten martial arts masters.

They hoped to find their system's vulnerability and figure out if he had any support from a resistance organization.

But in reality, he was alone and had long prepared for his end.

He knew Nefer was the company's 'last chance' for him. The company's patience had worn thin over the past six months, and by now, their system should have been fully updated, and his actions had gradually faded from public attention.

Nifer was like a foot the company had extended to his face; if he licked it, he might have a chance to live, but he didn't want to lick it.

"Let me change the question then. Why did you kill them?"

Nefer took a deep breath and continued the recording, ready to follow the procedure.

"Being the company's dog, betraying their stance, causing my master's death... too many reasons, you should know."

Ren yawned, glancing at the time on the projection, "Can we start the execution now?"

Nefer frowned. She had seen people unafraid of death, but this man's indifference was too much as if he was... bored with the world.

Like a strong person standing on the peak of a mountain, Ren personified the word 'It's lonely at the top' for anyone to see.

With an audible sigh, Nefer stood up and turned off the projection, "I'll take you to the execution ground."

The recording would be saved as audio, and as a special death row inmate of the company, she, as the final recorder, had to record the entire execution process, which would be archived with the death certificate.

Under the escort of two guards in exoskeleton armour, Ren was quickly taken to the open-air execution ground.

Squinting in the glaring sunlight, he adjusted to the light and scanned his surroundings.

"What a perverse taste. Sometimes I really wonder where your so-called progress is heading. Isn't this a step back in history?"

Ren mocked as he looked at the execution platform, which was an electric device.

Once the execution began, he would be fixed on the platform, with several mechanical arms pulling his limbs until he was torn apart.

He remembered this execution method was called "Five Horses Dismemberment" or "Chariot Splitting" in ancient Eastern times.

To prevent accidents, the perimeter of the circular square was filled with armed soldiers, and several figures stood on the high walls, watching the scene below.

"For a violent criminal like you, severe punishment is necessary to serve as a warning to others."

Nefer asked Ren emotionlessly, "Any last words?"

Under the escort of two guards, Ren walked up the steps, "I remember my master praising me when I was a child..."

As he spoke, his straitjacket was removed, and a guard used an exoskeleton mechanical arm to fix his neck, a gun pressed against his head, then fixed him step by step on the machine.

Nefer didn't understand why Ren was saying these things at the brink of death, curiosity got the better of her as she asked, "Did he praise you as a martial arts genius?"

Fixed on the machine, Ren felt the power of the surrounding mechanical arms, grinning as his eyes swept across the figures on the high platform.

The execution mechanical arms were also the company's products. Whether intentionally or not, the company used the same series model as the exoskeletons worn by those he killed.

Observing the surrounding cameras, Ren guessed the company wanted to clear their name, showing their product quality was fine by using the same models he defeated to execute him.

This would prove their exoskeleton mechanical arms had no quality issues, capable of easily tearing apart a human body.

As for the defeated martial arts masters? They were just weak, having nothing to do with the company's product quality.

If Ren Hoshino had indeed mastered a system vulnerability, he wouldn't miss the chance to escape in the face of death.

Of course, the company didn't believe Ren could interfere with their products without any electronic assistance. They wanted to see if the 'organization' behind him would intervene in this execution.

Ren couldn't help but admire the company's meticulous planning. Normally, they could restore their reputation or strike the resistance army regardless of the outcome.

But today, the company miscalculated, and he bet right.

On the high platform, an old man in a black robe and sunglasses looked down at Ren with a relieved smile on his face.

Ren being Ren, also laughed loudly, baring his white teeth like a maniac before his death.

If not for the mechanical arms holding him in place, he might have been laughing so hard he'd be rolling on the floor.

The executioner pulled the switch, and Ren immediately felt a powerful force acting on his limbs. His neck was not fixed by the mechanical arms because this execution method was designed to make the prisoner die painfully.

f he were strangled or had his neck directly broken, it would be too easy a death. But a person whose limbs were torn off would scream in agony for a while before dying.

Ren marvelled at the company's cruelty and also thanked the person who designed today's execution plan. He laughed heartily, his muscles tensing against the mechanical arms' force, under the shocked gazes of the onlookers.

"My master didn't praise me as a martial arts genius..."

Ren's voice started slowly, gradually becoming more strained as he exerted force. His muscles bulged, like mountains erupting with volcanic power.

The man's words intertwined with the whirring of the mechanical arms, like whispers from the abyss, "He said I... possess a beauty of numbers."

-------------

Translator's Note - Hey Guys! This is my first attempt at translating a (read: any) novel. So yeah....go easy on me hahaha. 

Anyway, I would try to keep this work as polished as possible, so feel free to point out any kind of mistakes if you find one. It helps.

And don't forget to VOTE powerstones, it helps in spreading the work to more people, which keeps me motivated. Thank you. Have a pleasant journey ahead!