Han Yu stood up, surveyed the study, and walked slowly toward Kingpin.
As he passed the suited man Kingpin had shot dead, he stepped straight over the corpse without so much as a glance, drawing closer and closer to Kingpin.
Kingpin stared intently at the young man before him. In all his years in the underworld, he had never encountered an opponent who put him under as much pressure as Han Yu.
What's this guy up to? He's strolling around like he hasn't a care in the world. Has he already prepared a way to deal with me? What is it, a sniper or a bomb? What kind of Metahuman is he, anyway? Could he be a speedster like that guy?
Kingpin's imagination ran wild as he analyzed Han Yu's next move. Han Yu, on the other hand, had no such thoughts.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. No wonder he's filthy rich. This study alone has two floors. It's almost as big as my General Store. I'll have to buy a house like this someday!
Han Yu clicked his tongue inwardly. He was about to ask Kingpin how much a house like this cost, but his lips had barely moved, before he could utter a single syllable, Kingpin shouted, raised his cane, and pressed down on its head, aiming it at Han Yu.
Countless red laser beams shot from the end of the cane toward Han Yu. The suited man on the floor was a warning of what would happen: at best, a hit from those lasers would leave a gaping hole.
Although Han Yu didn't think the attack could hurt him, Kingpin's sudden move still displeased him.
He didn't blame Kingpin for sending assassins after him. On the contrary, he had come to thank him. If Kingpin hadn't done that, Han Yu might not have learned about the Mutants until they made the front-page headlines.
By then, starting the mission to gather Mutants would have been even harder.
So he had come to repay hostility with kindness. He didn't know what had gotten into Kingpin, attacking him again like that. Had he really made such a bitter enemy of him?
Watching the red lasers blast toward him, Han Yu sighed softly and shook his head. In a flash, he vanished from where he stood, leaving the beams to miss their target.
"Where did he go?"
Kingpin grew nervous. Gripping his cane tightly, he searched the study for Han Yu.
Suddenly, a fair-skinned hand loomed larger and larger before his eyes, then slapped Kingpin, who weighed over four hundred jin, hard enough to send him flipping backward.
He lay on the floor, unable to get up for a moment.
"Psycho."
Han Yu took out a towel and wiped his hand. Where had Kingpin picked up the habit of attacking people at the slightest provocation? Fortunately, Han Yu didn't have the twisted disposition or perverse habit of killing people whenever they annoyed him.
After giving Kingpin another kick, he left.
The study fell silent again. The moment after Han Yu left, Kingpin's men came running in. Seeing Kingpin lying on the floor with his face swollen, they turned pale with shock and hurried over to help him up.
"Useless trash! Why didn't you come in just now?"
Kingpin shook off their hands and bellowed at them.
"Mr. Kingpin, we wanted to come in too, but for some reason our bodies suddenly froze in place. It was like four invisible hands were gripping our arms and legs. We couldn't move at all."
"Just who is that kid...?"
Kingpin gazed at the rain outside the window, gradually lost in thought. The swollen part of his face was still throbbing.
Han Yu had just returned to the General Store and was about to go back to his room for a rest when he saw Wanda knocking on Quicksilver's door. "Pietro, what are you doing? Dinner's ready!"
"I'm not eating. I'm busy. Just save it for me!"
Quicksilver's voice came from inside the room. Wanda was puzzled. She shrugged and turned away, only to run into Han Yu coming upstairs. She asked him, "Do you know what he's doing? He won't even come out for dinner."
Wanda hadn't been there the last time they discussed the Mutants, and there was no need to keep it from her, so Han Yu repeated what he had told Ultron and Quicksilver. To his surprise, it caught the girl's interest.
"Yu, once the Mutants Academy is built, can I be a teacher there?"
A teacher? Han Yu hadn't considered that. He had only wanted to establish a "peach blossom spring" where Mutants could live well without facing discrimination. He had never thought about teaching there himself.
But if Wanda wanted to, Han Yu thought that was fine.
Though he called Wanda and the others General Store employees, Han Yu didn't interfere in what they usually did, so long as they didn't commit cruel and immoral acts or harm innocent people.
The General Store usually didn't have much business anyway, and Han Yu could handle it perfectly well on his own. He had only recruited them to complete the General Store's mission.
Han Yu smiled. "Sure. I think Pietro has the same idea. You two can go together and help guide the Mutant children."
"Yay!"
Wanda jumped for joy, threw her arms around Han Yu, and planted a long kiss on his cheek. Then she started talking, jumping from one thing to another.
"Then I'd better hurry and get ready. What should I teach? I never went to school myself, so I definitely can't teach academic subjects. How about teaching them to control their abilities? Yes, that's right, that's a good one. I'm going to practice right now. I have to be a competent teacher!"
"Yu, eat dinner without me. I'm going to the storage room to practice my powers."
Before Han Yu could answer, Wanda rushed off to the storage room, leaving him torn between laughter and tears.
"Does that girl dream of being a teacher? She's so enthusiastic."
Han Yu shook his head with a chuckle and headed for the dining room. Ever since he had learned he could create space inside the General Store, he had made the dining room a little bigger.
It could fit forty or fifty people without feeling crowded and was meant for hosting guests from the myriad worlds.
Fortunately, dinner wasn't much of a feast tonight. Otherwise, Han Yu would have looked rather forlorn facing a whole table of food alone in such a large dining room.
After eating, Han Yu made a few more dishes and put all the food in a warming box for Quicksilver or Wanda. Then he returned to his room, lay down on his bed, and started playing a game.
"What kind of game should I make?"
Han Yu pondered the question as he played. In this world where all manner of gods and ghosts kept appearing, people suffered so much harm in the battles between superheroes and supervillains, yet had nowhere to vent their anger.
Those who were reasonably kindhearted could only bottle it up, occasionally complaining to the people around them. Those who were less kindhearted and dissatisfied with what the heroes and villains did showed it through their actions. Protests, smashing things, and looting were standard procedure.
He needed to make a game much like the real world, one where players could run wild without regard for the law. Not only could players vent their resentment there, but that style of gameplay would also be one of a kind in this world. Plenty of people would surely play it.
"Freedom, the real world, lawlessness..."
As Han Yu pondered, a flash of delight suddenly appeared in his eyes. He slapped his thigh and said,
"I've got it, GTA!"