Chapter 8

"I'm the E-Class hero Godly Ghost. Actually, I didn't come up with that name myself. The people at the Hero Association gave it to me. But I thought it sounded pretty imposing, so I accepted it.

"Come to think of it, I've been an orphan since I was little. The woman at the orphanage named me Thirteen. I thought I'd grow up happily there, but the orphanage shut down when I was three. I heard it was raided by a bunch of armed police. To this day, I still can't figure out why my teachers blamed everything on me when they were the ones conducting human experiments.

"But I let the whole thing go. After all, I never saw them again.

"My memories of the four years between ages three and seven are pretty hazy. I was very young, and the main thing was that I kept moving between orphanages. Almost none of them were willing to keep me for more than half a month, so over those six months, I stayed at nearly every shelter in District C.

"By the time I was seven, no shelters were willing to take me anymore, so I ended up on the streets earlier than most.

"That was a really tough time, but luckily, I found a way to get by.

"One time, I lingered outside the home of a man who looked pretty rich, hoping I could get a bite to eat from him. I was so hungry that I stayed there all day. In the end, he came out and gave me a lot of money, begging me to go somewhere else. He even dropped to his knees in front of me.

"After that, whenever I needed money, I'd pick out a few people who looked wealthy and follow them around. They'd all kindly give me a big wad of cash and urge me to leave.

"That's how I lived until I was ten. That was when I realized that whoever I followed would have bad luck. Almost everyone who saw me would scatter to avoid me. Back then, whenever I went out, everyone on the entire street would vanish.

"Honestly, I was really sad. By then, I'd also realized that people despised me. Lots of them wished I were dead. But one thing I could be grateful for was that even the gangsters didn't want to come near me.

"I was sad and rebellious back then, so I made a point of picking out big-shot bosses I couldn't stand and camping outside their businesses. I saw all kinds of chaos almost every day.

"But one time, while I was camping out like usual, a monster attacked the shopping mall I was in. The weird thing was, none of the other buildings were affected. A lot of people died, and a huge piece of ceiling came crashing down right over my head.

"I thought I was done for. At the time, I thought it might be for the best if I died. No one wanted me around anyway.

"But I didn't die, because Zero showed up and saved me.

"Even though all I saw was his back, I was still drawn to him. I knew then that he was a great soul who wouldn't discriminate against anyone. Some of the people he saved were real scumbags.

"So I began to look up to Zero, and I decided to become a hero so I could meet him again. I started training, and kept at it for five years, until I was fifteen. That was when I joined the superhero ranks. All I wanted back then was to become a superhero and thank Senior Zero.

"Fueled by that dream, I became a superhero.

"Then Senior Zero disappeared, and the superheroes split into two factions and started fighting. The winning side later established the Hero Association, and I became one of its members.

"I had a pretty good time here. The Hero Association assigned me to two teams, but within a few days, my teammates and my enemies had all killed each other.

"Later, they came up with a ranking system. The examiners had to be replaced four times before they managed to finish testing me. I thought that with my strength, I'd at least get an A-Class rank, but they gave me an E-Class rating instead.

"I was furious, so I went to argue with the chairman. That night, he hanged himself...

"The chairman who came after him kept avoiding me, too. So I'm still E-Class to this day. Well, does that help you understand me a little better?" Godly Ghost said, sitting atop a pile of rubble and addressing Glasses, who was lying face down in the debris.

"Could you call an ambulance for me first?!" Glasses roared.

"Sorry, sorry. I got so caught up in my memories that I forgot for a moment. I'll get you out right now. Who could've guessed Senior Zero's statue would topple over for no reason?" Godly Ghost said.

"Don't you dare! I'll get myself out..." Glasses had barely finished speaking when it was already too late. Somehow, another statue had begun falling toward them. Godly Ghost reacted quickly and leaped backward, dodging the statue as it crashed down. But after that, Glasses, buried beneath the rubble, fell completely silent.

"Never mind. I'd better ask Lin Jie and the other guy how they're doing first." With that, Godly Ghost dialed a number.

Inside a moving ambulance, Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan were lying side by side.

"Hello? Who's this?"

"It's me, Godly Ghost."

"Oh, what's up?"

"I'm just checking how you two are doing. Looks like it'll take a while to get Glasses out," Godly Ghost said.

"Don't worry, we're fi—" Before he could finish, a violent crash sounded from the other end of the call, and then there was nothing.

"..." Godly Ghost silently hung up, then looked at the rubble and the rescue workers. "I'd better figure out how to get Glasses out first."

At noon the next day, two medical pods stood quietly in a hospital room at H City Central Hospital.

Lin Jie walked into the room and looked at the two people in the pods. "How are you guys doing?"

Inside one of the pods, Xiao Zhan opened his eyes and looked at Lin Jie outside. He had quite a few wounds, and his neck was secured in a medical brace.

"Looks like I'll be discharged in another day. By the way, how come you're fine?" Xiao Zhan typed a message using the pod's electronic controls.

"The doctor said I only dislocated my shoulder. A night's sleep here was all I needed." Lin Jie turned to look at Glasses in the other pod. "Why are you wrapped up like a mummy?"

"The doctor said I had multiple fractures all over my body. The fact that I survived this time is a miracle," Glasses typed.

"That bad?!"

"By the way, I want to discuss something with you. Could you reconsider inviting Godly Ghost?" Xiao Zhan typed from inside his pod.

"Well... I won't take back what I said, but don't worry. I'm planning to have Glasses join us too," Lin Jie said.

"Sounds good. We're short one errand boy," Xiao Zhan replied.

"Wait... What are you talking about? I don't want to join you!" Glasses's face twisted in the medical pod.

"If it weren't for you, would I have met Godly Ghost? We're the ones having bad luck, and you think you're getting off easy?" Lin Jie's expression changed too. "If you don't agree, I'll ask Godly Ghost to follow you around."

"You bastard," Glasses said.

"Oh? Who did you say I should follow?" Godly Ghost had just walked in.

"Nothing. Glasses said he'd be happy to have you tag along from now on. He's decided to join us, too. I hear Glasses is a D-Class hero as well," Lin Jie said. "By the way, Ghost, you're pretty incredible. The last time I was this badly hurt was seven or eight years ago."

"Just call me Thirteen. That's my real name," Godly Ghost said. "No need to be so formal."

"Okay, Thirteen. Still, your power is kind of... Well, I won't take back what I said, so..." Lin Jie searched for the right words.

"Don't worry, I understand. I'll try to keep a reasonable distance from you guys from now on," Thirteen said cheerfully.

"Good. That's a relief, Thirteen," Lin Jie said. "We'll keep in touch by phone. If we need anything, I'll just have Glasses pass the message along."

"That works. Glasses and I have quite a bit in common, actually." Thirteen turned to Glasses in the medical pod. "Hey, why aren't you saying anything? Are you mad at me for getting you into this state? It really was just an accident. You saw it yourself. I didn't do anything, and I even tried to save you, didn't I?"

But not only did Glasses fail to answer, his entire face had turned blue.

Xiao Zhan's face was blue, too.

Even Lin Jie could tell something was wrong by then.

"Make way!" The doctors and nurses rushed in. "We don't know why, but the oxygen machine suddenly malfunctioned. If this keeps up, they'll suffocate in there."

"..." Lin Jie glanced at Thirteen and instinctively shuffled a couple of steps away.

"Want us to help?" Thirteen asked.

"No need. We just have to turn off the machine and drain the nutrient fluid," the doctor said. "Huh? Why won't the keypad lock open?"

"What's wrong?" Lin Jie asked curiously.

"This is bad! The machine's malfunctioning. At this rate, we won't even be able to open the pods!" The doctor was sweating profusely. "I've worked at this hospital for thirty years, and I've never run into this problem before."

The nurse beside him was completely panicking.

"Want me to help?" Thirteen asked.

"No, I'll do it!" Lin Jie said, pulling out his Wolf Fang Club.

As if! If he let Thirteen help, those two would be dead for sure.

"Watch me, Lin Jie, smash the pods!" He swung his club down, and his Wolf Fang Club struck the medical pod. The next moment, the pod shattered, and the two men were finally rescued.

The doctors and nurses laid them both on hospital beds. Glasses had completely lost consciousness, and several doctors were performing CPR on him.

Xiao Chen slowly opened his eyes. "I just saw my dead dad telling me to go join him..."

"Don't worry. Your dad just came to see you. He's gone now," Lin Jie said.

And so, amid the doctors' frantic efforts, a brand-new superhero team was born in H City.