Chapter 7

The two arrived at the B-Class hero lecture hall, where quite a few superheroes were already seated. Not long after Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan found a spot and sat down, a man with pitch-black skin appeared at the podium.

"Hello everyone, I'm your lecturer. I figure I don't need to introduce myself, since I think I'm fairly well-known in H City," the man said.

"Who is he?" Lin Jie whispered to Xiao Zhan.

"A B-Class hero, I think his name is Black Gold," Xiao Zhan said. "I heard his body's hardness can reach the level of an alloy."

"Why are all the superheroes I run into today muscle-bound guys?" Lin Jie said. "I thought I'd see plenty of beauties in skintight suits."

"There were quite a few, but I heard a lot's been happening lately, so many female heroes have been hired by rich businessmen and politicians for protection work," Xiao Zhan said.

"What? Why don't they hire muscle guys as bodyguards?" Lin Jie couldn't help asking.

"Let me ask you: between a beautiful bodyguard who can fight and is easy on the eyes, and a burly guy who can fight but stinks, which would you pick?"

"Oh... I get it," Lin Jie nodded.

After that, they didn't speak and started listening to Black Gold's lecture on stage.

Five minutes in, Lin Jie successfully drifted off to sleep.

After who knows how long, Lin Jie was groggily shaken awake by someone. Opening his eyes, he saw a dark face right in front of him, startling him into instinctively jumping back.

"You're the first person to fall asleep in my class. Looks like you're pretty confident in your experience," Black Gold said to Lin Jie.

"Well, I've got a bit of confidence."

"Is that so? Then can you answer a few questions for me?"

"Sure, go ahead," Lin Jie said.

"When facing a powerful monster, what's the first thing you do?" Black Gold asked. "Especially one that's clearly unknown and strong."

"Chop it down," Lin Jie answered bluntly.

"And when facing an unknown dark force?" Black Gold asked. "Say you need to investigate some criminal activity from them. What do you usually do?"

"Chop that force down," Lin Jie replied again.

"What about rescuing people?" Black Gold asked.

"Just go chop the enemy down."

"What if the enemy threatens you with hostages?"

"Chop the enemy down before they threaten."

"Is there anything else you can do besides chopping people?" Black Gold's expression was already a bit twisted.

"Nope, I only know how to chop people," Lin Jie said.

"You're really... really..." At this point, Black Gold's expression had clearly changed: "Good one, I appreciate you. You're a real man."

"Huh?" Lin Jie was baffled by Black Gold's sudden shift.

"Naive as it is, what you said is actually the fastest solution," Black Gold said, giving a thumbs up. "Back in the day, I thought the same way—just beat all the enemies down. Too bad the association always likes to complicate things. You're new here, right? Looks like you're pretty confident in your strength."

"I'm fairly confident," Lin Jie replied. "I've always felt I'm pretty strong."

"Then make good use of your specialty. If you're good at chopping, just go chop," Black Gold said to him. "I'm looking forward to your growth, kid. You can go back to sleep now."

"Oh."

"Seriously?!" The whole room stared at the two in shock.

"What's our job as superheroes?" Black Gold returned to the podium and said to the crowd below. "Find evil, locate evil, crush evil. It's that simple, that manly. The great hero 'Zero' back in the day did it just like that. He never asked for any fame; he just stuck to those three things."

Of course, the expressions of those listening varied—some took it seriously, while others sneered.

But what Lin Jie didn't know was that when the class ended and he was leaving, Miss Dong appeared in the lecture hall.

"How is he?" Miss Dong asked.

"How to put it? He's a decent guy. Hearing you say he one-shot Yatan, I almost couldn't believe it," Black Gold said. "But at least it's clear he's not the type to suck up to the boss."

"Good."

"But speaking of which, I heard your Dong Family has quite a bit of dealings with the Ouyang Family. Doing this doesn't seem too wise. If the higher-ups in the Dong Family blame you..."

"None of your business. Just do your job," Miss Dong said.

In front of the hall's statue, Lin Jie stared closely at the statue of 'Zero.' "No matter how many times I look at it, it doesn't seem right."

"Yeah, I feel the same. The statue of Zero doesn't match the Zero I've seen before," Xiao Zhan said.

Just as the two were pointing and commenting at the statue, a sudden shout reached their ears.

"You'd better quit being a hero! If I ever catch you doing hero work, we'll beat you up every time we see you."

"Oh?" Following the sound, Lin Jie saw three people surrounding a man with glasses in the middle.

"This..." the glasses guy said weakly, "I really didn't mean to."

"You think saying 'I didn't mean to' is enough after stealing our thunder? A waste like you—if it weren't for your use as an errand boy, you think we'd let you into our team? Instead of being grateful, you dare steal our spotlight," the leading man said.

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"But if I hadn't acted, that group would've gotten away..." the glasses guy said.

"Let them run. Better than letting your sidekick steal the spotlight. Makes it look like we're worse than some lackey." The man said viciously.

"But letting that group escape will cause a lot of harm. A lot of ordinary people will get hurt."

"What do I care about ordinary people? If they cause another ruckus, even better! We'll just catch them again." The man said. "Another achievement to add to our record."

Listening to the man's words, Lin Jie's veins were bulging across his forehead.

"You go and process your withdrawal from the Hero Association right now." The other man said. "Otherwise, we'll beat you every time we see you from now on! You damn glasses."

"No. Anything but that." The Glasses Guy finally showed some backbone. "You guys don't deserve to be called heroes."

A fist slammed into the Glasses Guy's face, knocking him to the ground, then a foot stomped down on his cheek.

"Let me tell you, we are heroes. We're recognized by the World Government." The leading man said. "Otherwise, what do you think makes a hero? Some idiot like Zero who's been dead for ages?"

This time it wasn't just Lin Jie—even Xiao Zhan's forehead veins were popping out.

"Zero is not an idiot." The Glasses Guy said from under the foot. "Zero is a true great hero. Completely different from scumbags like you."

"That's exactly why he's an idiot. If I were Zero, I'd probably be king by now." The man said arrogantly. "And what did all his work get him? He dressed the bride for someone else, hah. In the end, he died without even a body to find."

"Zero isn't dead!" (Three voices rang out at once.)

Lin Jie pulled out his Wolf Fang Club and walked up to the three men. "Beating up this Glasses Guy is one thing, but insulting Zero? That I absolutely cannot tolerate."

"Right." Xiao Zhan also stepped forward, drawing his twin guns. "Beating up this Glasses Guy is one thing, but insulting Senior Zero? I won't let that slide."

"Can you two consider my feelings for a second?" Glasses said from the ground.

"Tch, a couple of E-Classes minding business that isn't theirs." The leader said. "You know who we three are? We're the D-Class heroes, the Super H City Golden Triangle!"

"Is D-Class supposed to be impressive?" A gentle, refined-looking young man walked over. This was the third person who had spoken earlier. "How about we have a little chat alone?"

Seeing the newcomer, the Golden Triangle trio backed away as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Godly Ghost!!!" One of them blurted out in shock.

"What's the matter? You were pretty cocky just now. I'm an E-Class too. Why don't you come at me?" The young man called Godly Ghost said. "Beating up Glasses is one thing, but insulting Zero?!"

"Can you guys consider my feelings for a second?!"

"We were wrong! We won't do it again!!" The three men turned and fled in terror. One of them tripped and knocked out his front tooth but didn't even stop to pick it up, scrambling to his feet and running out.

"Impressive, brother!" Lin Jie said to the young man.

"It's nothing. Happens all the time. Hardly anyone here isn't afraid of me. I've been an E-Class for five years now." Godly Ghost said. "You're the first person in three years who can talk to me normally like this."

"So you don't have any friends?"

"That hurts, you know. I do have friends." Godly Ghost pulled out his phone, which showed an anime girl waving at him.

"Oh? You play this game too!" Lin Jie said, pulling out his own phone.

"How empty are you two, exactly?" Xiao Zhan couldn't help but say.

"What do you know?" Lin Jie said. "You have no idea what it's like watching magical girls alone at midnight."

"Exactly, exactly." Godly Ghost said. "You like that manga too? I have the complete set of figures."

"No way... You have to show me."

"Sure..."

And just like that, the two hit it off more and more.

"Let's team up!" Lin Jie said. "I've never met a guy I click with like this before."

"Really? I've been a superhero for five years, and you're the first person willing to team up with me." Godly Ghost said.

"Of course. I'm sure Xiao Zhan won't mind either." Lin Jie turned to Xiao Zhan. "No problem, right?"

"No problem at all. Anyone who can scare D-Class heroes with just one word is more than welcome." Xiao Zhan said.

"Alright then, I'm in. We're teammates from now on." Godly Ghost said.

"By the way, what's your ability?" Xiao Zhan asked.

"Oh, bad luck."

"?" What's that?

"I can indiscriminately bring bad luck to everyone around me." Godly Ghost said.

"Are you sure?" Lin Jie asked. "Not joking?"

"What's there to joke about? I'm famous in the Hero Association as a jinx." Godly Ghost said with a laugh. "But someone like you who doesn't care at all and still wants to be friends with me? You're the first. Don't you die on me."

"..."

Xiao Zhan quickly backed away to Glasses' side. Lin Jie turned around and slapped himself hard. "Stupid mouth!"

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