42 Peerless Hero

The Ma Ran everyone at Caolu Academy knew and understood was not the real Ma Ran. It was merely a persona he had created.

The real Ma Ran was not a cold, expressionless man.

When he encountered something happy, he would laugh wildly.

When he encountered something upsetting, he would feel miserable.

For this alien incident, Ma Ran had already done quite well.

Compared with the casualty figures from his previous life...

Thirty seemed like an insignificant number.

Setting aside his emotions, Ma Ran's efforts had indeed borne fruit.

Saving one life was better than building a seven-story pagoda.

Ma Ran had saved more than six hundred lives through his foresight. It would not be the slightest exaggeration to say that his merit was immeasurable.

But he still felt awful!

If possible, he wanted to save all his fellow countrymen.

But with a little thought, it was obvious that such a thing was impossible.

"Next time, I'll do better!"

Ma Ran took a deep breath. A faint glimmer flashed in his eyes as he silently encouraged himself.

A week later, a calamity would erupt in Area A3.

By then, the number of victims would be no fewer than in this alien incident.

Area A3 lay between Suizhou and Jingmen. It belonged to the safe zone, and Ma Ran, who had obtained an official researcher certificate in supernatural phenomena, indeed had the right to travel there freely.

"You want to conduct a field investigation and adjust your mood while you're at it?"

Director Huang thought he had seen through Ma Ran's intentions.

After thinking it over briefly, he decisively approved Ma Ran's leave request. "All right. I'll give you half a month off. Get some proper rest, and don't dwell on things too much."

"Birth, aging, illness, and death are part of the human condition. Every second, people are constantly leaving this world."

"Once you've seen more of it, perhaps you'll feel a little better..."

At this point, Director Huang felt that there was something wrong with what he had said. It did not sound comforting at all.

But a youngster like Ma Ran already knew everything he needed to know. There was no need for him to ramble.

After pondering for a long while, Old Huang sighed and patted Ma Ran on the shoulder.

A thousand words were contained in that single gesture.

"No matter what happens in the future, no matter what the world becomes..."

"Remember, I and Caolu Academy will always support you!"

Ma Ran nodded almost imperceptibly. "One week of leave is enough."

Of course he knew that, because of car accidents, illness, hunger, cold, natural disasters, and other reasons, people were dying on Earth at every moment!

Moreover, the casualties Ma Ran had witnessed with his own eyes outnumbered those witnessed by everyone at Caolu Academy combined!

But he simply could not get used to it!

From this perspective, Liu Huadie's assessment of him before his rebirth had been quite accurate.

"Xiaoran, you're good in every way. It's just that your heart is too soft, and you're always thinking about saving everyone."

"But sometimes, you have no choice but to face the choices of humanity—to abandon the few and save the many."

"With your level of awareness, you have no way to protect Earth!"

That assessment, colored by her personal bias, was clearly not entirely fair.

Too soft-hearted?

Those people Ma Ran had sent to the afterlife certainly would not have thought so.

Now he felt that Sister Die had really hit the nail on the head in certain respects.

Ma Ran was not a saint, nor did he suffer from saintly delusions.

When he encountered people who were ungrateful and might bite the hand that fed them, standing by while they died was the norm. Adding insult to injury was something he often did as well.

However, Ma Ran believed...

Everyone worthy of being saved had the right to survive!

Every time one of the survivors who displayed the brilliance of humanity amid the darkest, most desperate apocalyptic crisis sacrificed themselves, he felt heartbroken.

No matter how many times he witnessed it, no matter how much he experienced, he could never get used to it!

Or rather...

Ma Ran was unwilling to face everything numbly, like a walking corpse.

He was neither sufficiently noble and righteous nor dark and twisted.

He was merely an ordinary Civilization Guardian, striving to shoulder his responsibilities.

"This matter has come to a temporary end."

Ma Ran rubbed his slightly throbbing temples. Several complete Meme texts in his mind emitted a faint glow. "Next, I need to start dealing with the trouble in Area A3..."

The batch of alien invaders that had just been eliminated could be considered relatively easy to deal with.

With Earth's current technology and weapons, they could be perfectly dealt with at a certain cost.

But the real world was not a video game.

The invaders eyeing Earth covetously would not keep sending minor monsters for Earth's people to level up slowly.

Otherwise...

Someone like Su Qiangwei would not have died so early and so tragically in her previous life.

With that thought, Ma Ran immediately began packing his luggage and preparing to set off.

Area A3 had originally been a distinctive tourist village. Because a naturally awakened superpowered individual had appeared there, all the village residents had become relocation households, taking their subsidy money to live it up in other cities.

The current Area A3 had already been converted into a research base for supernatural phenomena, with all the major roads sealed off.

As an external researcher dispatched by Yingchuan Academy, Yang Guangzhao had already been stationed there for more than twenty days.

Although he was provided with plenty of delicious food and drink every day, the uneventful routine made him feel exceptionally miserable.

Having served in the military, he truly could not get used to such a placid life.

There was no fierce squad leader, no morning drills. Yang Guangzhao felt as if his joints were about to rust.

But when he tried to train on his own...

It always felt as if the atmosphere was missing, as though something was lacking from the exercise.

"Brother Yang, I heard that a peerless hero is coming to our Area A3 today. Do you know who it is?"

The speaker was in his early twenties. He stood straight as a pine and walked with the wind, carrying himself like a soldier.

As a veteran senior, Yang Guangzhao was accustomed to calling him Little Wang.

"'Peerless hero' is going a little far."

He rubbed the short bristles on his chin and said solemnly, "That person was still a student not long ago..."

"However..."

"When he gets here, you little brats had better show him some respect!"

"Understood?"

Comrade Little Wang was the type who remembered food but forgot beatings. After hearing this, he actually stiffened his neck and retorted, "Why should I? He's a student who hasn't even grown all his hair yet..."

Yang Guangzhao smacked him on the forehead, cutting him off. "Hey, you little rookie! Still arguing with your big brother?"

"He's made a great contribution!"

"You know about the 'temporary exercise' over in Jinshui Town yesterday, right?"

Little Wang had still been grinning mischievously, but his expression immediately turned solemn. "I know. They only call it an exercise when talking to outsiders. We all know it couldn't have been an exercise."

"I heard quite a few people died..."

Yang Guangzhao sighed and rubbed Little Wang's head. "Good that you know."

"Put it this way..."

"If it hadn't been for that 'hero' we were just talking about..."

"At least this many would have died!"

As he spoke, Yang Guangzhao raised his right hand and held up six fingers.

"Hiss..."

Little Wang sucked in a cold breath. "What the heck! It would've doubled?"

"Heh."

Yang Guangzhao said with a forced smile, "Sixty? Six hundred!"

"That's the figure calculated by the General Staff after repeated simulations and calculations."

"How about it?"

"Convinced now?"

Actually, this was still a misunderstanding.

The casualty figure Ma Ran had mentioned...

Had actually been a total figure, and the General Staff's calculation was roughly the same.

Yang Guangzhao had misjudged the scope covered by that number.

Of course, no one explained those details to him.

At this, Comrade Little Wang, who had still been somewhat displeased, instantly wilted.

Although Yang Guangzhao liked beating people, had a terrible temper, and possessed a whole basketful of bad habits, he had one virtue—he hated people who bragged, and he never bragged himself!

Therefore, Yang Guangzhao's words were highly credible.

Little Wang struggled for a long while before finally asking, "What's that hero's name?"

Yang Guangzhao did not answer.

He merely raised his head, narrowed his eyes, and gazed into the distance. "He's already here."

Wu Di: Yes, the man I acknowledged... has arrived!