Little Cricket

When Li Wei finished washing up and was about to head out, the little beauty Kate was still sound asleep—this was the result of her overestimating herself and trying to challenge Li Wei.

All one could say was that if you're bad, you need more practice, though no matter how much she trained, she'd basically never win back anyway.

Casually scrolling through his phone, Li Wei unsurprisingly found that several news stories related to him had once again topped the trending searches.

Since Edgar had agreed to let Li Wei become one of The Seven, there would naturally need to be a lot of hype-building upfront, at least to make as many people as possible know who Li Wei was.

That way, once Li Wei became one of The Seven, when making movies or taking endorsements, the profits could be maximized.

Then there were congratulations from superheroes he was more familiar with, like Blue Hawk. For superheroes, trending searches could boost their commercial value, which basically equated to money, and exchanging such congratulations was a very frequent daily occurrence.

Li Wei used to do it himself too, but recently he'd gradually handed it over to his little secretary, Firecracker.

After a while longer, he might pass it on to Kate.

Given Kate's abilities, it was strange that she hadn't entered Sage Grove Academy, but instead had been advised by Intralla to study behind-the-scenes work for superheroes, like taking endorsements or making movies.

Clearly, Intralla never intended for Kate to become a real superhero, let alone a guardian of a state or county. Her positioning for Kate was very clear: Golden Boy's ace support.

Because of her own superpower, Kate originally had mild social anxiety and never thought about becoming a superhero, having to go out and show her face every day.

On top of that, since it was advice from Intralla, whom she trusted deeply, she went along with it.

Now that Li Wei had stepped in, she certainly wouldn't keep working for Golden Boy, and there was no need to finish all four years of school. Since she didn't plan to be a superhero anyway, what did dropping out matter?

But she still needed to stay here for a while longer. Goda University actually had some real skills, and even if she was just helping out as Li Wei's girlfriend, Kate felt she needed to learn more.

There were two other messages worth mentioning.

One was from Firecracker, saying that Kimiko had something to discuss with her last night, so she left early, and asked if she should come today.

In truth, they both knew perfectly well—this was her giving Li Wei an out, telling him she had no idea what happened between him and Kate last night.

But Li Wei didn't plan to just gloss over it. Now that he had Kate, he should find other things for Firecracker to do.

Unless she was willing to be a third party, then she could keep things as they were.

The other message was naturally from Starlight, saying she had something very important she wanted to discuss with Li Wei.

Clearly, she'd seen Firecracker in the news and felt a strong sense of crisis.

She was worried Firecracker would reveal the truth from back then, even more worried she'd take her place, and might even suspect that Firecracker had appeared by Li Wei's side just to get revenge on her.

After replying to the more important messages, Li Wei called Edgar and got straight to the point about Kate and The Woods.

With an old fox like Edgar, there was no need for any roundabout nonsense.

Now that he had Kate's telepathy, if they were face-to-face, there'd be even less reason for useless chatter.

Edgar didn't waste time either: "Actually, this was exactly what I originally planned to have Intralla and Ricky tell you about. I didn't expect you to find out through other means."

"Heh, perfect then. Arrange for someone to replace Kate. She'll become my assistant. As a price, I can do one thing for you."

Edgar pondered for a moment: "Fine. I'll have Mindstorm go to Goda University this afternoon to replace her. To ensure safety, Mindstorm's first operation will need you and Kate to assist on the sidelines. This deal ends here."

"Deal!"

Hanging up the phone, Li Wei turned around and saw that Kate was already awake, gazing at him with tender affection, her eyes once again glistening with a moist sheen.

Li Wei couldn't help but grin. Damn, had he unlocked some hidden fetish in her?

Or did she have a sex addiction? No wonder yesterday, even though it was clearly her first time, she kept losing and trying again.

But he didn't have time to keep playing with her now. Today he needed to check in with A-Train as usual and get his superpower.

"Kate, baby, you rest up for a while. We've got a mission tonight."

Kate nodded obediently: "Mm, I understand."

After a kiss goodbye, Li Wei, fully dressed, pushed open the door and walked out.

Kate didn't offer to see him off—mainly because she looked a bit too disheveled. If anyone else saw her, unless they were blind, they'd know exactly what kind of fierce battle had gone down between them last night.

Li Wei didn't care, but she still had to keep studying at Goda University for a while. As a lady, she needed to maintain her public image.

Just a few steps out the door, Li Wei saw Golden Boy approaching with a big bouquet of flowers. When he saw Li Wei, he was clearly taken aback.

This was the exclusive VIP dorm for top-performing female students, with only a handful of people qualified to live here. Considering that Kate had been the one to receive Li Wei yesterday, he immediately got a very bad feeling.

But he wasn't stupid enough to ask outright. Kate shouldn't be that kind of girl either. He just forced an awkward smile and greeted Li Wei.

Li Wei kept his expression normal and didn't say much. He trusted that Kate would handle this issue very cleverly.

If she didn't handle it well, or if she hesitated in the end, then she just wasn't smart enough. Even if she left, Li Wei wouldn't feel the slightest regret.

By the time he reached the school gate, about a dozen students happened to swarm over. Seeing Li Wei, they all asked for photos.

It was his alma mater, after all, and a main entrance with plenty of cameras. Li Wei had to give them that much face.

After they all finished taking photos, Li Wei noticed that at the very back, there was a slightly chubby-faced short-haired girl who hadn't joined in.

A genuine smile of sincerity crept onto his face. He hadn't expected that a chance encounter like this would bring an unexpected gain.

Codename: Little Cricket Type: Physique Type Special Ability 1: Shrink body size, down to a minimum of 0.1 cm. Strength and defense decrease proportionally. If control is insufficient, repeated triggering of the gag reflex can further reduce size. Fully replicable, estimated to require 5 minutes of continuous contact.

Special Ability 2: Size Increase, can increase up to 20 meters. During this time, strength and defense will improve synchronously. If control is insufficient, size can be increased by continuously eating. Can be fully copied. Estimated contact time required: 5 minutes.

Although Li Wei himself wasn't interested, these two superpowers were still quite interesting and very rare.

So when the other party walked over, Li Wei took the initiative to greet her: "Hey, you're Little Cricket, right? I've seen your videos online, especially the one where you fought that hamster—it was really fun."

The short-haired cute girl was struck as if by lightning, then she jumped up excitedly: "Oh my god, Angel, I can't believe you've seen my videos too, oh my god!"

"Heh, want to take a photo together?"

"Of course! When I take it back to school, they'll be so jealous!"

Li Wei was a bit puzzled: "Back to school? You're not from Goda?"

"I'm still in high school now, but I'll be coming to Goda next year!"

Li Wei realized: "So that's how it is. I think you have a lot of potential. Keep it up—maybe you'll be a super more talented than Termite."

Termite was a third-tier super who could shrink his body. He was pretty good in combat, but he was a damn gay man. His favorite trick was to crawl into his male partner's urethra to give them intense stimulation.

When Li Wei found out about that, it disgusted him to no end.

"Ah, Termite is my most admired super! Oh no, now I have to add Angel too. You look way more handsome in person than in your photos!"

Little Cricket giggled, looking like she had no scheming at all.

Li Wei quietly used his newly acquired basic telepathy to listen to her thoughts, and she really did think that way.

Li Wei immediately knew—well, this was another naive girl like Starlight back then, full of beautiful fantasies about supers.

Especially after this chance encounter with him, her belief in that had been greatly strengthened.

Too bad she was born in the wrong place. The Black Robe wasn't a world fit for true heroes to live in.

After the photo, Li Wei also gave Little Cricket his private contact info, signaling that if she ever ran into trouble, she could come straight to him.

This made Little Cricket's heart race, her chubby little face flushed red.

Even without telepathy, Li Wei could guess what she was thinking. A seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl was at the age of wild fantasies.

If he took the chance to invite her, she probably wouldn't refuse.

But having just finished Kate's big meal, he wasn't really interested in a little snack like Little Cricket. Besides, he really didn't have time—there was still so much to do today!