Chapter 12

After sending Dong Xue'er off, the room fell into a brief silence.

"I never imagined something like this existed," Xiao Zhan said. "That means we'll have to be extra careful these next few days. Luckily, I developed this device to handle emergencies."

"What's that?" Glasses asked curiously.

"Just wear this on your body, then press this button." Xiao Zhan demonstrated by putting the device on and activating the switch. A burst of intense music blared out: "This way, you become a man with his own BGM."

"Isn't that just a portable music player?" Glasses said. "What use is that thing?"

"Glasses, you're still too young," Lin Jie chimed in. "Haven't you heard the old saying? In my BGM, I am invincible. And this device lets you turn on BGM whenever you want—in a sense, it's already a divine artifact."

"Divine artifact my ass! You two are clearly brainwashed by anime, aren't you?" Glasses roared.

Just then, Little Girl tugged at Glasses' pant leg: "Hey, what about the good food you promised?"

"Big brother will take you to eat in a bit," Glasses said, then looked up at the two men in front of him. "What do we do about this kid?"

"I originally wanted Miss Dong to watch her, but she said she'd pretend to leave H City since she's already under suspicion," Xiao Zhan said. "Looks like it's up to us to protect her."

"Speaking of which, Thirteen spent two years investigating," Lin Jie suddenly remarked.

"I heard him say he grew up in an orphanage like that, one with illegal biological modifications," Glasses said. "Seems like she shares the same experience as him, but she doesn't have his luck."

"The same experience?" Xiao Zhan said thoughtfully. "Looks like Thirteen already anticipated this situation. That bastard went off on vacation himself and left us with the mess. No wonder he left in such a hurry yesterday."

"I don't think so," Lin Jie said. "Thirteen was probably afraid his bad luck would affect us, so he stepped out to let us go all out. I understand that kind of behavior. I just hope he can bless us from heaven."

"It's Paradise Island, you know," Glasses said.

"Same thing," Lin Jie said. "Now what we need to do is simple: take this kid to get some food first, then have my sister pick out some new clothes for her."

"Are you sure about going out now? Leaving Xiao's Building could be pretty dangerous," Glasses said.

"What are you panicking for? Would they dare snatch someone in broad daylight in public?" Lin Jie said. "Besides, we really can't let this kid keep eating spicy sticks. I just noticed that whenever she eats them, she zones out."

"Fine."

"So, what's the big deal calling me out during work?" Lin Wan said. "If it's not something serious, I'll punch you."

"Come see for yourself," Lin Jie said, leading Lin Wan into a fast-food restaurant and pointing at a little girl eating a kids' meal, with Xiao Zhan and Glasses sitting beside her.

"Who's this little girl?" Lin Wan asked as she and Lin Jie sat down next to her.

"Actually..." Lin Jie thought for a moment and said, "She's my biological daughter."

"What?" Lin Wan exclaimed. "This little girl looks at least seven years old. You'd have still been in high school back then."

"You remember I was a delinquent in school, right? Back then, I met a girl. She was drawn to me, the bad boy I was, and soon we fell in love. Later, we broke up due to differing ideals. A few days ago, this child came to me, and I found out I was a father. I also learned she left me because she had a terminal illness—she chose to give up treatment to have the child. So now, I've decided to devote myself fully to being a father." Lin Jie said sorrowfully.

"Oh, nice story. Now tell me what's really going on," Lin Wan said flatly.

"Damn, I told it so movingly and you don't believe me! How can you be so cold-hearted?" Lin Jie said.

Just then, Lin Wan pulled out a mirror and tossed it to Lin Jie: "Look at yourself. With that virgin face of yours, no girl would be attracted to you except a blind one."

Xiao Zhan and Glasses nodded vigorously beside him.

Lin Jie held up the mirror and looked: "Still heroic and wise? Where do you see virgin?"

"Alright, get to the point. And why is this kid dressed like that?" Lin Wan looked at the little girl, who was still wrapped in Xiao Zhan's coat.

"Actually, this child is being threatened by an organization," Glasses said, pushing up his glasses. "We rescued her from a human experimentation group, but another organization is now targeting her, planning to take her for experiments."

"What? Those bastards!" Lin Wan said angrily. "So what exactly do you need my help with?"

"As you can see, she's an orphan with no one to rely on and not even decent clothes. We wanted you to help pick out some outfits. You know, the three of us guys aren't good at that," Lin Jie said.

"That's easy," Lin Wan said. "After you finish eating, come with big sister. I'll make sure you look pretty."

"Okay, big sister." Little Girl looked up at Lin Wan with a sweet smile, instantly melting her heart with cuteness.

"So adorable! Big sister will take you to buy some nice clothes later," Lin Wan said, hugging the little girl.

"Boss, they've entered the mall, and there's an unfamiliar woman with them," a man said, watching Lin Jie and the others from a distance.

"Is that so? Let's go talk to them first. If they cooperate, fine. If not, we'll teach those guys a lesson," another man said.

"Boss, I heard the Ghostly Scare is also in their team."

"Relax, that guy's stuck on Paradise Island. He's probably already in heaven by now," the one called Boss said.

If Lin Jie and the others were here, they'd recognize these three as the H City Golden Horn Trio who had bullied Glasses back at the Hero Association.

Meanwhile, Lin Wan was happily dragging Little Girl through clothing stores, trying on various outfits.

Lin Jie and the other two could only wait outside the shop. Several women shopping nearby pointed at Xiao Zhan standing there.

"Isn't that the Decontamination Warrior?"

"Yeah! It really is the Decontamination Warrior! I heard he can handle any kind of dirt easily."

"Really? A friend of mine said that when he helped her with decontamination, she felt like she was floating to heaven."

"Seriously? Should we ask him to dust us off too?"

"Oh, stop it! I'd wait until my husband's on a business trip to see him alone."

"Tch, by then it won't be your turn."

"Can my hero name be Zhan Chen or not?" Xiao Zhan stood there, speaking weakly.

"Impressive! You've captured the hearts of so many young wives so fast." Lin Jie gave Xiao Zhan a thumbs-up: "Why not change your name to Old Wang Next Door, specializing in comforting lonely housewives and whatnot."

"You're actually pretty skilled at some weird stuff." Glasses said from the side, but the next moment his expression turned sour, because he saw three people he didn't want to see.

Following his gaze, Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan also spotted the arrivals.

"Come with us for a bit." The Golden Triangle Boss pointed at a deserted alley beside the mall.

"Bastards! What do you want?" Glasses said, looking at the men.

"This is the chairman's order." The Golden Triangle Boss pulled out a written order. "You'd better come with us."

"Fine, let's go." Lin Jie spoke up this time, cutting ahead of Glasses.

The six of them entered a relatively empty alley.

"I'll say it straight. We're asking you to come back to the Hero Association for some investigation." The Golden Triangle Boss said.

"Why investigate us?" Xiao Zhan asked.

"The Association is currently hunting the Winter Witch, and you had contact with that dangerous element before she fled H City. Therefore, we have reason to suspect you're in league with her." The Golden Triangle Boss said. "Also, the child you rescued a few days ago is a risk factor, so we hope you'll hand her over to the Association for processing."

"What are you going to do with that child?" Glasses asked at this point.

"No one asked you to speak, trash." One of the underlings said. "What we do with her is none of your business."

"We won't hand her over unless you explain clearly." Glasses showed a rare moment of backbone.

"That's right. That child is one of the leads in a criminal organization we're investigating, so we can't hand her over to you yet." Xiao Zhan said from the side.

"Exactly!" Glasses stepped forward.

"You'd better worry about yourselves first!" The underling who had been shouting earlier burst into golden light from his fist, swinging it viciously toward Glasses' face. "Since you won't cooperate, don't blame me for making you suffer."

Just as his fist was about to reach the person in front of him, a massive spiked club swung in from the side. The next second, the man was embedded in the wall.

"Trying to steal our loli?" Lin Jie planted the spiked club on the ground. "Go ahead and try."

"Looks like you're pretty confident in your own strength." The Golden Triangle Boss sneered. "Today I'll show you the gap between a D-rank top hundred fighter and an E-rank bottom ten-thousand nobody like you."