Chapter 10

The vibrating Plasma Decontamination Rod 2000 in Xiao Zhan's hand was, in a sense, achieving a fairly efficient effect—he merely swept it casually, and large patches of the filth monster's body turned into clean water that sloughed off.

The filth monster's tentacles were disintegrated in no time under the attacks of Xiao Zhan's decontamination rod.

"It's time to show people what I'm really made of," Xiao Zhan said as he cranked the rod to maximum power, and a fierce vibrating sound rang out.

With the powerful vibration, Xiao Zhan charged hard at the filth monster before him.

By the time Thirteen and Glasses arrived on the scene, this was what they saw.

Xiao Zhan was soaking wet, holding a strangely shaped, constantly wiggling vibrating rod, poking and prodding at a similarly drenched Little Girl. She was completely naked, her body dripping wet, kneeling on the ground with flushed cheeks and panting softly.

"You scumbag! Let that little girl go!" Glasses shouted as he rushed at Xiao Zhan. "I never thought you'd be this kind of person! I'm calling the cops!"

"That's right!" Lin Jie chimed in. "A scumbag like this should just be castrated."

With that, Lin Jie walked over and snatched the decontamination rod from Xiao Zhan's hand.

"This..." Xiao Zhan's face reddened. "It's a misunderstanding! She's actually the filth monster's true form! Didn't Lin Jie see? I just felt sorry for her falling into the sewage and turning into a monster, so I wanted to clean her up."

"I can vouch for that," Lin Jie said. "But leave this pervy job to me."

With that, Lin Jie took the newly stolen rod and headed toward the Little Girl.

"You scumbag! How can someone with an impure mind like you do this?" Thirteen grabbed Lin Jie's outstretched hand. "This kind of thing should be left to someone with a pure mind like me."

"You're drooling, you bastard," Xiao Zhan yelled. "That thing is my weapon, so obviously I'm the one who should do it."

Listening to the three of them talk, Glasses turned to the stunned onlookers and shouted, "Can someone lend me their phone! There are three perverts here, I need to call the cops."

The four of them stood silently, staring at the Little Girl, who was now wrapped in a jacket, her body trembling uncontrollably under their gaze.

"A little girl... what should we do with her? Hand her over to the authorities for research?" Xiao Zhan said.

"A little girl... yeah, that's a tough problem. Can't bring myself to fight her like this," Thirteen said.

"Tough indeed. How about I just chop her up and be done with it?" Lin Jie said.

"Lin Jie! What zodiac sign are you, how can you be so cold-blooded?" Glasses shouted.

"Tch, this world really is all about looks. She's the one who caused twelve people severe oxygen deprivation and three deaths," Lin Jie said. "There's already enough reason to cut her down."

"That won't work either!" Glasses yelled angrily. "The people she hurt were bad guys too, and I believe she didn't want to turn into that thing herself."

"Then I'm out of ideas," Lin Jie said.

"Speaking of which, was it really because of that pack of spicy strips that she went berserk?" Xiao Zhan asked curiously.

"There's no other explanation," Thirteen said. "Her rampage started right after I threw that pack of spicy strips."

"Alright, I've decided. From now on, whenever I do a chemical experiment, I'm adding some spicy strips to see what happens," Xiao Zhan said. "I have to admit, the gutter oil in those strips is a pretty unique ingredient."

"Forget your experiments, what about this little girl?" Glasses asked.

"What do you usually do when you find a wild little girl on the street?" Lin Jie asked.

"Take her home," Thirteen said.

"Take her home and do research together," Xiao Zhan said.

"Yeah, we should take her home," Lin Jie said.

"I'm still calling the cops to have you three perverts arrested," Glasses said.

"If you won't let me take her home, then I'll just chop her up?" Lin Jie said, pulling out a kitchen knife.

"How can you be so cold-blooded! Lin Jie, what zodiac sign are you?" Glasses cursed.

In the end, they brought the Little Girl back to the top floor of Xiao's Building, which also served as their team's headquarters. The only incidents along the way were two car accidents, one elevator malfunction, and a violent pipe explosion on the first floor of the building—but luckily Thirteen left in time, so the building was still salvageable.

And so a night passed.

The next morning, Lin Jie and Glasses arrived at the top floor of the building, where an adorable Little Girl was sitting in front of the TV, clutching a pack of spicy strips and watching the news.

Xiao Zhan was staring at a computer screen.

"How did that group from yesterday get handled?" Lin Jie asked.

"Handed over to the Hero Association," Xiao Zhan said. "Oh, and I'll transfer the bounty to your cards later. You know, the leader of the sellers turned out to be the chairman of a famous biochemical company."

"Oh?" Lin Jie said. "So our rankings might go up?"

"Yeah, my rank went from E-level 19980 to E-level 17777," Xiao Zhan said. "Lin Jie, you went from E-level 29998 to E-level 27777. Glasses went from D-level 14886 to D-level 12334. Thirteen stayed the same at E-level 1."

"That's such a small jump. Didn't you say that guy was the head of a major organization?" Lin Jie asked curiously.

"He was pretty big, but by the time we acted, his organization had already collapsed, so the rating dropped. Also, their trading partners seemed to have deep connections—I don't know the details. And most importantly, some eyewitnesses reported us for molesting a minor, which docked most of our score," Xiao Zhan said. "I just don't get it. I beat the monster, and people call me a pervert instead. For the record, every girlfriend I've had was a mature, voluptuous beauty."

"And you still have the nerve to say you're not a pervert!" Glasses shouted.

"By the way, where's Thirteen?" Lin Jie asked.

"Him? Heard he took a big bonus and went on vacation to Paradise Island," Xiao Zhan said.

"We interrupt this broadcast with breaking news. Waves up to thirty meters high have appeared around Paradise Island, suspected to be an attack by the Sea Tribe. All superheroes near Paradise Island, please respond immediately..." The news on TV rang out just then.

After a brief silence, Lin Jie spoke up. "Oh well, at least you got famous this time, right?"

Yesterday, after purifying the sewage monster, Xiao Zhan's strength earned recognition from many onlookers. Most importantly, he also took part in the cleanup afterward.

With a few swings of the stick in his hand, the food street—which would normally take half a day to clean—was spotless in less than fifteen minutes. Not only that, Xiao Zhan also helped clean the sewage off people who had been splashed.

It was said that everyone purified by the two sticks in his hand shared one common trait: they all ended up flushed and panting, collapsing limply to the ground. Though Zhan Chen's superhero alias wasn't well-known, the title "Decontamination Warrior" had spread among housewives throughout H City.

"Why don't you just change your name to Decontamination Warrior?" Lin Jie said. "It's probably way more famous than your current Zhan Chen alias."

"No way," Xiao Zhan replied. "If I changed it to Decontamination Warrior, I'd sound like a laundry detergent salesman."

"Honestly, you'd have a brighter future in housekeeping than as a superhero," Lin Jie said.

"Forget that for now," Glasses interrupted their argument. "What about that little girl? Didn't you ask if she has any family?"

"I did," Xiao Zhan said, shaking his head. "But she hasn't said a single word since she got here. No matter what I ask, she won't answer. The only time she reacts is when I give her spicy sticks."

"Feeding spicy sticks to a little girl—how depraved are you?" Glasses said, snatching the spicy sticks from her hand.

The little girl's eyes welled up with tears as she stared at Glasses, her small hands waving frantically, trying to grab the spicy sticks back.

"I don't have anything else here," Xiao Zhan said. "Besides, the guy stealing snacks from a kid has no right to lecture me."

"Don't eat that stuff," Glasses said, pointing at Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan, who were each holding a bag of spicy sticks. "See how those two went stupid from eating them?"

"Don't eat those," Glasses said to the little girl. "Big brother will take you to get something delicious later—a hundred times better than spicy sticks."

The little girl blinked her big, adorable eyes, thought for a moment, and then spoke her first words since arriving: "Really?"

Her voice was sweet, and Glasses was instantly charmed. "Don't worry, big brother never lies. Eating that stuff is bad for you, and it'll make you dumb. Just look at those two."

With that, he pointed at the two people with spicy sticks dangling from their mouths.

The little girl tilted her head, glanced at Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan, thought it over, and said, "Fine..."

"Tch, you damn lolicon," Lin Jie said.

"Damn lolicon," Xiao Zhan echoed.

"You two perverts have no right to talk," Glasses said angrily.

"Right, since she talked to you, why don't you ask her something?" Xiao Zhan said.

"Oh," Glasses said, snapping back to reality. He turned to the little girl. "Before we go eat, can you tell big brother your name, or if you have any family?"

"..." The little girl thought for a moment. "I can't remember."

"Do you remember what happened before?"

"No."

"Is there anything you do remember?"

"Hmm... I remember I was controlling something, and then this fell in, and then I couldn't remember anything else." The little girl pointed at the spicy sticks in Glasses's hand. Then, as if a lightbulb went off, she said, "So eating this really does make you dumb. No wonder those two pervert brothers look so stupid."

"Pfft... pervert brothers... hahaha, that's spot on," Glasses laughed, completely ignoring Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan's darkening faces.

"Alright, lolicon big brother, when are we going to eat?"

"Lolicon big brother?" Glasses froze.

This time, it was Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan's turn to burst out laughing.

Just as they were messing around, the doorbell rang. Xiao Zhan checked the monitor and saw a figure with silver hair appear on the screen.