Chapter 2

Looking at the recruitment information on the electronic screen, Lin Jie sighed helplessly. "As expected, I really don't want to work! Forget it, I'll just buy the latest game and head home."

Lin Jie had recently taken a liking to computer games, and the reason was quite simple: the monsters in games were much harder to hack and slash than the ones in reality.

"Right, when I get back, I'll tell my sister that I got lost on the path of life and missed the job fair." Lin Jie said this while walking toward the commercial street, where a group of handsome men was performing.

"Oh? It's the latest popular superhero group, the Ten Gods Family!" Lin Jie looked at the band in front of him and remarked, "Lead singer, guitarist, keyboardist, drummer, and bassist... that's only five people total. Why call themselves the Ten Gods Family? Wouldn't the Five Gods Family be more fitting?"

"God-sama!! God-sama!! God-sama!!" The cheers of the young girls rose wave after wave as they performed.

"Thank you all for supporting our band," the lead singer said to the girls offstage.

"Ten Gods-sama, you are the god in our hearts!!" one young girl shouted loudly.

"We are not gods; we are merely a group of humans who wish to eradicate evil," the Ten Gods replied to the crowd. Immediately, another round of screams erupted from the girls in the audience.

"Thank you all! By the way, we have promoted from D-Class heroes to C-Class heroes within a month. We hope you will continue to support us so we have the motivation to reach B-Class hero status even faster..."

"So the lead singer's name is Ten Gods," Lin Jie said after watching the performance. "Speaking of which, I said that exact line in front of hundreds of thousands of people back then. But why didn't any girls scream for me? Forget girls, I would have settled for a guy screaming!"

Lin Jie couldn't help but recall the time he stood with his back to those hundreds of thousands of people kneeling on the ground and uttered the words, "I am not a god." He had thought it would be incredibly cool, expecting a chorus of gasps and awe. But in reality, the scene was so cold that he could hear the chirping of insects; it was deathly silent. This had become one of the stains on Lin Jie's life. After all, he had said that line—which he thought was so cool at the time—in front of hundreds of thousands of people, only for it to fall completely flat...

That shame had caused Lin Jie to flee the scene as fast as he could, let alone develop any relationship with the Saintess who had fainted nearby.

"Is it really all about the face?" Lin Jie looked at the impossibly handsome Ten Gods on stage. "Should I have shown my face back then? Forget it. If I had shown my face and it still fell flat, wouldn't hundreds of thousands of people have seen what the idiot who said those nonsensical words looked like?"

Just as the performance on stage was nearing its end, Lin Jie finally carved a bloody path through the crowd and squeezed into his usual shop.

"I mean, if these guys are so popular, why don't they find a bigger venue for a concert instead of coming to Central Street to block traffic? Are they sick in the head?" Lin Jie said while picking out the items he wanted.

"That's not necessarily true!" the game shop owner said from behind the counter. He pointed to the front row, which was packed with fanatical female fans. "You just need to squeeze back and forth in there once and you'll understand, hehehe!"

Looking at the shop owner's lecherous grin and then back at the crowd dominated by female fans, Lin Jie couldn't help but swallow hard.

"How about it? The event is still going on for a while, want to go in and give it a try?" the shop owner added.

At this moment, a war was raging in Lin Jie's heart: should he stick to his dream of living in the 2D world, or go out and act like a pervert?

"I am not that kind of person. I am a man immersed in the 2D world; women of the 3D world hold no attraction for me," Lin Jie said righteously to the shop owner. "Though, come to think of it, people immersed in the 2D world really are all perverts..."

Lin Jie sighed, and then, under the "fellow traveler" gaze of the shop owner, he resolutely squeezed into the crowd. He knew he could pick out games later, but an opportunity like this was rare.

And so, Lin Jie squeezed into the area with the most girls, shouting, "I love the Ten Gods!"

Feeling the contact of the bodies around him, Lin Jie thought to himself, "As expected, this is heaven."

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" A series of gunshots rang out in the crowd, and the girls around Lin Jie scattered in an instant. Following the fleeing crowd, several men in black tactical gear appeared, each holding a gun.

"It's the Black Hand!!!" someone in the crowd screamed.

Come to think of it, the Black Hand organization was quite famous in H City, as they were terrorists who frequently made the headlines in the newspapers.

Recognizing the identity of these men, the crowd began to flee in all directions.

"Ten Gods Family, you actually defeated our subordinates. Today, I'm going to make you pay!" the leader of the Black Hand said.

As he finished speaking, his subordinates aimed their guns at the handsome men.

At this moment, electric light flashed from the Ten Gods Family's keyboardist, and several of the Black Hand's guns were pulled toward him. The drummer took out a long staff, performed a flashy side-flip in the air, landed next to a thug, and struck him in the stomach, sending him flying.

The guitarist and keyboardist also flipped off the stage in a flashy manner, then sent the other two thugs flying to the left and right.

The movements of these people could only be described as cool. At the same time, it drew screams from countless onlookers.

The three Black Hand thugs scrambled up from the ground and ran away in a panic.

"Right, why didn't I think of such a cool jumping-down move back then?" Lin Jie said, watching the Ten Gods Family's performance. "I remember I used to just jump straight down for convenience. No wonder every time I jumped from a high place, the people who saw me had looks of disbelief but not a single one cheered. I guess it was because my movements weren't cool enough! It makes sense; that straight-up-and-down jumping style really does look like jumping off a building now that I think about it!! It turns out wearing a mask back then was the right choice."

"Today, I will eliminate you!" With that, Ten Gods charged at the Black Hand Boss, while the other team members began to strike poses behind him, watching Ten Gods fight the enemy in a very cool manner.

"Wait, aren't the teammates going to help? Do they trust that their leader won't lose?" Lin Jie watched curiously as these handsome men stood on the sidelines taking photos. "Even so, they should at least go catch those thugs who ran away. What's with just letting them go? Is it a trend for superheroes to stop after the fight? Such benevolence! Is this the rhythm of trying to reform evil? Like the Seven Captures of Meng Huo during the Three Kingdoms period?"

Just as Lin Jie couldn't help but let his imagination run wild, Ten Gods, who was in the middle of the brawl, clearly fell into a disadvantage. Just when even the fans couldn't help but break into a cold sweat for him, Ten Gods suddenly "burst" with power.

"I must defeat you, and use you to prove that I have B-Class strength!" With that, Ten Gods used a karate flying kick to knock down the Black Hand leader. The entire movement was fluid and incredibly cool.

After knocking down the Black Hand leader, Ten Gods began to strike a cool pose, accepting photos and selfies from fans, while simultaneously launching a verbal assault on the fallen Black Hand Boss.

The Black Hand Boss wobbled to his feet, spat out a harsh threat, and ran into the crowd. But this time, he had only taken two steps before he tripped and fell to the ground.

His feet had been locked with a pair of handcuffs at some point, and the other side of the handcuffs was locked to the guardrail on the side of the road.

"As expected, I can't let a criminal like you run away," Lin Jie muttered to himself while taking out another pair of handcuffs. "Let's add another lock to your feet, then just wait for the Special Operations Department to arrive."

Just then, the Black Hand leader's body began to grow.

"Bastard! You dare to deceive me!" The Black Hand Boss roared at the Ten Gods Family while his body continued to grow, easily snapping the three-centimeter-thick alloy chains. At this moment, a squad of armed police with riot shields also appeared around the Black Hand Boss.

"Today I will kill you all!" Seeing the armed forces that had arrived, the five-meter-tall giant shouted at the Ten Gods Family, "You dare to deceive me! Today I will kill every last one of you!"

With that, the Black Hand Boss, having been shot several times, charged toward the Ten Gods Family.

Hello everyone, I am the Black Hand Boss. I am a supervillain, and my wanted level is C-Class.

The main thing I do is go out and cause trouble, then get beaten up by heroes.

Of course, it's not for free. Those who want to become famous and increase their ranking come to me, pay me to go out and cause trouble, and then we have a fake fight, at the end of which I am defeated. This way, I get the money, and they get the fame.

This is the reason why, despite possessing B-Class strength, I have remained a C-Class Wanted Criminal.

Correspondingly, I do not receive much attention from the Hero Agency, and the heroes who trade with us must also create opportunities for our escape. Therefore, most battles conclude before the relevant authorities arrive, ending with me being defeated by those heroes.

The deal I accepted this time involved an idol group called the Ten Gods; they have no combat ability but are constantly hyping themselves up. To achieve the effect of defeating us on-site, they are holding an open-air concert on Central Street, which makes it convenient for us to strike. After all, places like theaters have excellent security.

Everything proceeded according to the pre-arranged plan.

I was defeated, and then I prepared to flee. However, my foot was locked in place.

The one who locked me was a seemingly ordinary young man. I initially intended to crush him, but I immediately realized what was happening.

How could an ordinary kid possess these high-grade handcuffs exclusive to the police?

This must be a conspiracy. They had colluded with the police to capture me; it had to be.

Thinking of this, I became enraged. Fortunately, I am not highly regarded; hearing that I was only C-Class and had been defeated, the Hero Agency only sent a squad of armed police to take custody of me.

To avoid being captured, I decided to reveal my B-Class strength and finish off those brats who deceived me.

These armed police lackeys cannot stop me; I have plenty of time to take them out and make my escape before reinforcements arrive.

"To think he could transform; my decision to drag him down with handcuffs was correct indeed! If a guy this big went on a rampage elsewhere later, it would be troublesome." Lin Jie watched as the man charged toward the Ten Gods Family: "Come to think of it, I actually got to use these souvenir handcuffs I kept from my time as a hero."

At this moment, Lin Jie had no idea that he had brought trouble upon others.

At the same time, the members of the Ten Gods Family watched the guy charging toward them, their legs, which had been posed for the cameras, beginning to tremble.