Calm down, Denji! You can't take advantage of someone when they're vulnerable, and you definitely can't do something that would let Reze down!
While carrying out the full-body search, Denji confirmed one thing once again. The physical development of the animal-eared girls in this world was genuinely impressive.
Let alone the gang enforcers, even a starving thief who didn't know where her next meal was coming from was this well-endowed. It made him increasingly enthusiastic as he searched.
But he quickly realized something was wrong: Wait, I'm Denji! Is my character really that of a steadfast, unyielding man who remains unperturbed with a woman in his lap? Why am I holding myself to such high moral standards?
You're a pervert to begin with!
Then again, what was wrong with a guy being a little perverted?
And so, while searching her pants pockets, Denji sneakily gave Rope's thigh a squeeze.
It felt... very soft.
But he decided to hold off on doing anything more excessive for now: A man could be a little bad, a little perverted, but he couldn't be a total creep. Besides, Ah Fa had kindly reminded him that it was best not to get intimately involved with women in the late stages of Oripathy.
"Huh, isn't this my ring? I knew she had sticky fingers when she was giving me directions!"
Among Rope's belongings, Denji found the ring bearing the Iron Anchor Gang's emblem. Terrified that the Chainsaw Killer would track her down, Rope had originally planned to throw it into the wasteland once she made it out of Lungmen.
With this, he pieced together the truth of the matter. "I see. She recognized who I was, and that's why she was so terrified? I guess she's a smart woman."
Denji was always a bit wary of women who were too smart, knowing he had a bizarre affinity with women—many of the ones he met ended up wanting him dead.
However, he was no longer the old Denji who simply let women string him along. In this life, whether they were good women or bad women, he wouldn't easily let anyone control him. He might even turn the tables and become the master.
"Ah Fa, do me a favor. Check if the medicine we fed her has any uncomfortable side effects," Denji asked, his expression turning resolute.
Ah Fa immediately started checking the instruction manuals for those precious medications.
Not long after, Rope's eyelids twitched, and she slowly opened her eyes.
Appearing before her was Denji, wearing a ruthless expression as he toyed with an empty medicine bottle in his hand.
Rope instinctively tried to run, only to find herself tied up tight.
"Still thinking of running? Do you know how much money I spent to save your life? If you don't obediently prove your usefulness to me, do you have any idea what I'm capable of doing to you?"
At this moment, not a trace of Denji's original, innocent college student aura remained on his face. Instead, he was perfectly imitating the ruthless mob villains he'd seen in movies.
Strangely enough, with Denji adopting this posture, Rope was actually less afraid. She now knew exactly how to communicate with him.
A person's greatest fear stems from the unknown. No matter how brutal the other party was, as long as they acted according to a balance of interests and believed she had value, they weren't all that terrifying.
Having grown up struggling in the gutters, Rope knew exactly how to deal with this type of person. What she truly feared were the thrill-seeking psychopaths who didn't play by the rules and killed just for fun.
"Thank you for sparing my life, Boss! I have no way to repay you! I'll gladly work like a horse for you. Whatever you want me to steal, I'll steal it!"
Knowing that her greatest value lay in her thieving skills, Rope immediately began nodding her head like a chicken pecking at grain.
"Just sparing your life? You knew who I was, yet you still dared to play tricks on me. You've got some nerve!"
Amidst Denji's threatening voice, the ring rolled to a stop beside Rope, scaring the color out of her face.
Rope shuddered all over. She hadn't expected her little ploy of deflecting the main issue to be seen through. She could only confess repeatedly:
"I had eyes but failed to recognize Mt. Tai! I stole your property by mistake, Boss! Which hand do you want? I'll chop it off right now to apologize!"
"That's a minor issue!"
Denji stepped forward, pinched her chin, and asked, "Answer this next question honestly: After you figured out who I was, did you leak it to anyone else?"
This question was the exact piece of intel Denji was willing to play the villain to extract. For the sake of his plans and safety, the fewer people who knew the Chainsaw Man's true identity, the better. Because Ah Fa and Rope were useful, he could tolerate them knowing, but he didn't want to leave himself with too many hidden risks.
Rope, however, was plunged into a fierce internal struggle.
She had completely accepted Denji as a ruthless and merciless character. If she confessed about the anonymous tip-off letter sent to the Lee Detective Agency, Old Lee and his family might all end up dead! She might not survive either.
But if she gritted her teeth and denied it, and this man saw right through her, her fate could be worse than death.
Confess, or deny?
Rope suddenly remembered a rule she had set for herself when she first got into this line of work: Stealing was for survival. Even knowing it was wrong, it was forced by circumstance. But she could not harm people, especially good people.
Therefore, Rope would never steal someone's life-saving money. She didn't believe Waai Fu had led Denji to her to get her killed. She knew Waai Fu's character well; the heroine had surely been deceived by the "fiend" standing before her.
So, was she going to help the demon lord kill the heroine?
Rope finally steeled her heart. When I was unconscious earlier, wasn't I already prepared to die? Why drag others down with me?
"Boss... Please don't be angry when I say this. I was terrified of being silenced. So I went to the Iron Anchor Gang's turf, and when I found them all dead, I knew I shouldn't cross you, which is why I wanted to flee far away..."
Looking incredibly pitiful, Rope delivered the smartest kind of lie: She didn't speak falsehoods, but she deliberately omitted part of the truth.
Denji stared into her eyes for a long time before finally releasing his grip on her chin.
"Alright, you pass. But don't try to play smart with me again."
Pointing to the medicine bottle in his hand, Denji said, "Are you feeling incredibly sleepy right now, along with dizziness and fatigue...?"
With a completely straight face, Denji listed off a whole slew of normal reactions to taking large doses of medication. After all, besides giving Rope Oripathy suppressants, he had also fed her plenty of medicine for her fever and nutritional supplements.
As the saying goes, all medicines have some toxicity. Rope had never taken high-end drugs before, and combined with the psychological suggestion, she naturally, mistakenly believed Denji had used a slow-acting poison to control her.
"I fed you a slow-acting poison of my own exclusive concoction. I am the only one with the antidote. If you want to live, work for me obediently. If you dare play any more tricks, I guarantee you'll die a very ugly death!"
Denji fiercely spat out a barrage of villainous lines. Looking at Rope, who was pale-faced and swearing absolute loyalty to him, he couldn't help but feel a thrill of dark satisfaction.
So playing the villain and dominating others feels this good!
He felt like he finally understood Makima a little bit.
However, donning the shell of a villain was just a means to make things easier. It raised the cost of betrayal for his subordinates, sparing him from having to resort to ultimate measures.
Just like now: only after thoroughly scaring Rope into submission did he feel secure enough to untie her, pulling this girl—who was overly clever compared to Ah Fa, whose only desire was to see rivers of blood—into his inner circle.
"Following me, you only need to do two things."
"First, teach me everything you know about using grappling hooks."
"Second, figure out ways to increase people's fear of chainsaws. My Originium Arts draw power from fear, and your brain should be quite useful for this."
"As long as you do these two things well, I'll give you a life free of worry about food and clothing, plus the medicine to suppress your Oripathy. If you're smart, you know what to choose!"
Denji could finally drop his rigid villain face. After wielding the stick, he offered the carrot with the tone of a mafia godfather.
Rope had also noticed that this dilapidated storage room was piled high with all sorts of precious supplies. She realized that she had somehow struck gold out of a disaster. By latching onto this powerful backer, she could finally eat well and live comfortably.
Although being a lackey for this Chainsaw Boss carried significant risks, compared to her past life, it was an offer Rope simply couldn't refuse.
As for Denji's requests, Rope's dark, beady eyes darted around, and she had already thought of at least three good ideas.
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Arknights: Chainsaw Man Buccia
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