I'm Really a Villain

"Name?"

"Ash… Ash Heath."

"Age?"

"I don't know. I lost my memory."

"Gender?"

"Let me see… Male."

"Race?"

"Probably not a dog?"

"Experiences?"

"I really don't know. I lost my memory.

…

The Blood Frenzy Hunter, Amy, was observing the situation in the interrogation room through the two-way mirror. When she heard the leader of the cult make replies so nonchalantly and arrogantly during his interrogation, she was so angry that her eyes turned into vertical slits, and the nails on her hands grew longer.

"Captain, does this scoundrel think that everyone in the Crime Hunting Department is a fool? This won't do. Let me do it. When I was in school, I learned interrogation skills from priests during extracurricular hours for a period of time, and I also attained a Level One Torture Master Certificate. I'll bet on the priest's name that I can guarantee this bastard will spit out everything, even wetting his bed when he was young"

"Burn the Torture Master Certificate," Gerald said calmly. "The Torture Master System was abolished in the Amendment to Human Rights Act twelve years ago, and the Crime Hunting Department's authority to interrogate suspects was comprehensively prohibited. Those who violate it would be suspended from the Hunter's Certificate at best, and sentenced to at least a hundred years of imprisonment at worst. The council has been watching us closely, and we would get into trouble if Ash Heath so much as lost sleep at night. If you want an accusation from the council, I won't stop you."

"Hmph." Amy pursed her lips in anger and fear before changing the topic. "Where's the Memory Master? It's been so long since we caught him. Why hasn't the Memory Master come to retrieve the memories of this scoundrel?"

"The Memory Master won't be coming."

"Why not? For such a big case, there must be a Memory Master to retrieve the evidence no matter what, right? I remember it's stated in the Criminal Code that all criminal offenses must provide memories as direct evidence, no?"

"But it's different for him."

"How is it different?"

Gerald glanced at her. "He's met the Four Pillar Deities."

Em was slightly taken aback. Then she understood.

"It's not just him. None of the heretics can have their memories retrieved."

Gerald said, "Memory contamination is the Four Pillar Deities' specialty. One hundred and thirty-four years ago, when I participated in the investigation of the Four Pillar Deities Cult, a Memory Master unwittingly became a believer of the Four Pillar Deities precisely due to retrieving memories from the heretics. That is how the Four Pillar Deities Cult keeps reviving endlessly despite being put down."

"Then what should we do?" Amy was dumbfounded. "We can't get any evidence from him, we can't interrogate him, and we can't retrieve his memories… Are we supposed to allow him to get acquitted? Or should we say that he's a special case that calls for special methods?"

"There's no need for special cases or methods," said Gerald. "There's a death sentence befitting a criminal like him that has committed extremely heinous crimes and invoked public outrage… The interrogation here is just a formality. The real trial will have to wait until 8PM on the 15th, and it will be done by all the citizens in the city."

Amy immediately understood, but when she turned her head and saw that the cult leader was still in the interrogation room, saying "I don't know, I lost my memory" left and right, she still couldn't take it lying down. She stuck out her tongue and gave him a slightly disdainful look, then left with her drooping gray tail dragging behind her.

Gerald was still watching the meaningless interrogation. Inside, the interrogation had lasted more than fifteen minutes, so it was necessary to pause to give the suspect a break. It was also one of the basic human rights required by the Human Rights Act.

The cult leader was drinking water. Occasionally, he touched his chest, which had been punctured not long ago. There was surprise in his eyes, but it quickly turned to concern.

For some reason, Gerald felt that he wasn't lying.

His various reactions, from panic, curiosity, fear, to confusion… really resembled that of an ordinary person who had lost his memories.

According to the Human Rights Act, symptoms such as dissociative identity disorder, amnesia, and mental illness can be treated as cases where the person in question lacked autonomy, thus exempting him from criminal punishment.

If memory retrieval revealed that Ash had really lost his memory, he could even be acquitted.

However, these things had nothing to do with him. Because of the Four Pillar Deities, there couldn't and wouldn't be Memory Masters to retrieve his memories, so…

"Judging you is the people's business. All we have to do is reveal you to the public." Gerald turned and left, continuing his hunt for the next suspect.

…

…

"Looks like there really isn't any hope for me now…"

As he lay on the clean and soft bed, Ash put down the informative documents in his hands and looked at this bright and spacious prison cell with a single guard. His heart was gloomy.

Although he had vaguely expected it when he saw the ugly appearances of the four "angels" revealed before they died, he did not expect the truth to be even graver than he had imagined—the hunters' accusation against him was completely correct. He was really a cult leader through and through.

The few deities who bestowed the power to him were the Four Pillar Deities, the most notorious deities in this world. They had many names, and their most obvious characteristic was that the Four Pillar Deities would often appear together and cause endless chaos in this world.

Lord of Billions of Lights, also known as Tyrant, pursued endless wars and drowned the world with seas of blood and corpses. His believers would slaughter everything they saw, even themselves.

The Lord of Wind, Rain and Snow, also known as the Devious Chancellor, was famed for using schemes to manipulate mortals. His favorite act was satisfying the wishes of his believers, even though he would cause his believers to fall into extreme madness when he fulfilled their wishes.

The Heart of Eternal Heat, also known as the Benevolent Father, was the source of all epidemics and diseases and the final destination of all rotting things. His believers would become a breeding ground for diseases. They would live in pain, horror, and despair, but they could not die.

Soul of Dreams and Freedom, also known as the Prince of Hedonism, represented the endless desires of living creatures. He was also the one with the longest introduction in the informative documents. Intelligent races were the most likely to get seduced and corrupted by him. Once he corrupted them with desire and they became his believers, intelligent creatures would become base animals that could never find satisfaction. Reason would be completely devoured by instinct.

As a matter of fact, Ash had suspected that the other party was fabricating information to deceive him. However, firstly, he had already been captured and had to bend to the other party's will, meaning that there was no need to go through such trouble at all. Secondly, the informative text was also accompanied by pictures of Heath himself, as well as the processes of his crimes. The viciousness of his methods made him want to throw up the mushroom sauce chicken noodles he had just eaten.

Since Heath was a villain, naturally, the Four Pillar Deities were evil deities.

In turn, that meant the Blood Frenzy Hunters that were hunting him were the forces of justice… At least, they were the forces that maintained social stability.

In just half a day, Ash experienced both great joy and great sorrow. At first, he thought that he was a novice warrior who was starting out. He did not expect to actually be a startup cult leader who had just accepted the first round of angel investments.

Then, he wound up being the wild elite monster farmed by a team of warriors for experience.

Transmigrating as a cult leader on arrival was bad enough, but transmigrating at the exact moment the hunters were closing their net around the cult…? Did I get here specially to allow the hunters to meet their performance indicators?

Ash tossed and turned in bed, lamenting the unfairness of his fate and wondering if he had suffered a sudden death from working overtime. But all his thoughts gathered into one final thought: how will they execute me?

Though, the interrogation was very polite and provided free food and a luxurious single room. Apart from having to wear exquisite bracelets and anklets, Ash even felt like he was here on vacation.

However, it was obvious that the other party would never let him off.

Still, Ash had the vague feeling that the civilization of this world seemed to be very advanced. Perhaps the death penalty was abolished here. Then he'd still have a chance of survival…

Suddenly, a crisp notification sound rang in his mind.

[Ding-Dong!]

Ash felt the back of his neck heat up, and then a hologram unfolded before him.

His heart skipped a beat as he tried to decipher the words on the light beam—

[Dear Mr. Ash Heath, prisoner number 4001623: Kaimon City Hall officially invites you to be a special guest on Channel 1 of Kaimon's "Blood Moon Judgment" program at 8 PM on the 15th of this month. Please pay attention to your appearance when the time comes. We will send someone to escort you to the live broadcast of the program. If you wish to quit the program, please reply "TC".]

Although he did not know what this "Blood Moon Judgment" was, by the looks of its name alone, it wasn't anything good. Naturally, Ash quickly typed "TC" in the dialog box.

However, just as he thought about it, another notification popped up on the screen:

[You are currently under arrest for trial. Messaging function has been prohibited.]

Tsk, so the last part of the notice was just to mock me!?

Ash reckoned that this "Blood Moon Judgment" was his death sentence, but he had already directed his attention to the hologram in front of him.

He touched the back of his neck. He could not feel any obvious bumps, but he could clearly feel that the back of his neck was closely related to the hologram. It seemed that the hologram was set to be implanted in the back of his neck.

Since he would be notified of information like the "death sentence announcement" in this way, Ash felt that it might be the communication tool of this world, and his was not the only one.

As expected, when he focused his attention on the "?" symbol on the top left of the light beam, a series of messages popped up.

[Name: Consciousness Screen of "Heath"]

[Version: 14.4.1]

[Chip Model: Miracle 13]

[Current status: Messaging function prohibited, Internet function prohibited, access channel function prohibited, visual function prohibited, output kinetic energy prohibited, Illusory Realm visits prohibited, spell energy output prohibited…]

[Main number: 459105198]

[Service Operator: Kaimon Communications]

Ash changed the name to ['Consciousness Screen' of 'Ash'] on a whim. He thought to himself that the technological system of this world really was advanced. It had the extraordinary ability to increase an individual's combat power, as well as this external technological device that was popularized to everyone.

It was laughable that he had thought this was a transmigration cheat just now, only for it to turn out to be a universal product owned by everyone. He was like an ancient person who had transmigrated to the present world and picked up a phone, thinking it was a divine artifact.

As soon as he thought about that presumptuous idea, Ash felt his face heat up.

As much as Ash wanted to study this new toy, most of its functions had been prohibited. Aside from calendars, information, notepad, and calculator, there was only—

"Sorcerer Manual of Aurora?"

Ash was stunned.