Chapter 1

H City's central plaza was packed with people. The Ten Gods Family, H City's superstar idol group, was getting ready to put on their latest show.

In a makeup trailer behind the stage, the members of the Ten Gods Family were talking with their manager.

"This time, we've hired the D-Class criminal Man-Eating Shark. Don't worry, there's no chance of a repeat of last time," the manager said with a smile.

"You're sure?" Ten Gods asked cautiously. He still remembered the painful beating he'd taken from the criminal they'd hired the last time.

"This time, we hired a D-Class criminal. Even if he really goes on a rampage, I'm sure you'll have no trouble handling him with your abilities," the manager said. Then, hearing the cheers outside grow louder, he added, "It's about time you went on."

"Is that so? Brothers, let's go." Ten Gods walked onto the stage with his fellow members.

"Hello, everyone! We are the Ten Gods Family!"

"Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods!" The cheers from below grew louder and louder, mixed with the shrieks of plenty of girls.

Just as the concert was reaching its climax, a person standing at the very front of the crowd with a hat pulled down over their face suddenly began to swell. A gigantic shark's head appeared among the people.

The entire crowd immediately fell into an uproar.

"The Ten Gods Family? I hate you people more than anyone! Today, I'm turning you into snacks to go with my drinks!" Man-Eating Shark roared at the Ten Gods Family onstage.

Though the crowd was in an uproar, no one scattered. Instead, they all gathered around to watch.

In this age, when superheroes were everywhere and supervillains were a dime a dozen, people had long since gotten used to heading to work in the morning and catching superheroes fighting little monsters along the way. Of course, this was especially common in District C. Once, a supervillain had even gotten so fed up with the fearless onlookers staring at him that he ran away before the superhero could arrive.

The music at the scene didn't stop. With a stylish move, Ten Gods jumped off the stage, while his companions stayed behind and kept playing the high-energy music.

"Since you dared show your face here, you'd better be ready to face justice!" Ten Gods shouted at Man-Eating Shark through his microphone.

"I've heard Ten Gods of the Ten Gods Family is a powerful man. Let's see what you can do!" Man-Eating Shark said to him.

"Now it's time for my performance!" Ten Gods shouted to the audience.

"Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods! Ten Gods!" The fans watching began to cheer even more passionately.

"You think that's going to scare me?" Man-Eating Shark charged at Ten Gods. Across from him, Ten Gods calmly struck a pose guaranteed to make countless girls scream.

"Witness the power of me, Ten Gods!" he said, preparing to attack.

But just as he raised his leg, a gigantic Wolf Fang Club came crashing down on Man-Eating Shark's head.

Man-Eating Shark ended up sprawled on the ground, unconscious.

"All right, that's taken care of." Lin Jie looked at Man-Eating Shark lying on the ground.

"That guy again!" Ten Gods stared blankly at Lin Jie, still holding his leg up.

He ruined things for me last time, too!

"Okay, fight's over. Time to head home and watch the new anime." Lin Jie dashed through the crowd. Before leaving, he turned back and flashed Ten Gods a strange smile.

He even made that face at me! He's definitely doing this on purpose! But I haven't even offended him. Why does he show up every time I perform in public in H City?

"That guy's the Mace Warrior from the Decontamination Squad!" one of the onlookers recognized Lin Jie.

"Is he a member of the Decontamination Squad, the one that recently made it to D-Class?" another onlooker asked.

"That's right, the Mace Warrior. See that Wolf Fang Club? He's the only person in all of H City who uses that kind of weapon."

Their conversation made Lin Jie stumble, even though he'd already run some distance away.

Go to hell, Mace Warrior! Your whole family's a bunch of mace warriors! Lin Jie cursed furiously to himself. And what the hell is the Decontamination Squad? When did we get such a useless name? Has Xiao Zhan's censored Decontamination Stick really become our team's trademark? Does that mean we'll have to endorse something at an adult shop in the future? Come to think of it, that actually sounds like a pretty good job...

While Lin Jie's imagination ran wild over names like Mace Warrior and Decontamination Squad, Ten Gods, still standing with his leg raised, was also letting his imagination run wild.

A D-Class hero? I get it. This is vicious competition and sabotage by a rival! He must be unhappy that I hired a criminal to stage a fake fight, so he came here to mess with me on purpose. That's definitely it.

Whatever Ten Gods was thinking had nothing to do with Lin Jie. Right now, all he wanted was to get home and watch his anime.

When Lin Jie got home, he went to his room.

"Nothing beats being home alone, watching new anime and drinking cola." Lin Jie took a sip of cola and let out a long sigh.

Lin Wan worked at a research institute, and lately she'd also been busy preparing for her doctoral exams, so she was often out early and home late. Little Girl had been sent to a special school for children with superpowers.

Time passed as Lin Jie whiled it away.

"It's about time. I should go pick up Mu Mu." Lin Jie checked the time.

When Lin Jie arrived at the school Little Girl attended, he saw this scene.

"Mu Mu, look at this puppy. It's so pitiful," a little girl said to Mu Mu.

"Yeah," Lin Mumu replied.

A cardboard box sat beside the two little girls. Inside was a puppy that looked only a few months old, gazing up at them with eyes that could melt any little girl's heart. Written on the box were the words, "Please adopt me. I'll keep you warm at night."

"It looks so pitiful," the little girl said. "Mu Mu, can you adopt her?"

Lin Mumu thought it over. "I can't. Lin-jie won't agree. She's been so tired lately. If I bring another dog home, she'll definitely get mad."

"Then what do we do? My mom won't let me have a dog, either. She says it's too much trouble." The little girl sighed. "Adults are the worst."

"Then what do we do?" Lin Mumu asked.

"I don't know. My family won't let me keep her, but she looks so pitiful all alone here." The little girl said, "What should we do? We can't just leave her here. If those annoying boys see her, they'll definitely bully her."

Seeing her friend looking so troubled, Lin Mumu thought for a moment. Then she placed her hand on the ground and pulled a long blade made of dirt out of it.

"Lin-gege said that if something's too much trouble, just cut it down first." With that, Lin Mumu pointed the blade at the puppy.

"Mu Mu!" The little girl grabbed Lin Mumu in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Cutting her down," Lin Mumu said sweetly. "Then we won't have to worry about whether to adopt her anymore, right? And we won't have to worry about her falling into the hands of those annoying boys, either."

"Mu Mu! How can you be so cold-blooded? What's your star sign?" Her friend hurried to stop Lin Mumu. "If you really cut her, I'll never speak to you again."

"Tch!"

"You just went 'tch,' didn't you? That's not something a girl should do," the little girl said. "We can't be so cold-blooded. Wouldn't that make us just like the bad guys?"

"But Lin-gege and the others are like that," Lin Mumu said, confused.

"Those adults are all scumbags! Don't you go copying them," the little girl said to Lin Mumu.

"I finally understand why Lin Wan's been against Mu Mu hanging out with us lately. I never thought she'd been influenced this badly. I guess I should watch myself around Mu Mu from now on." Lin Jie watched the two little girls from behind a tree and muttered to himself. "She's still young, so her worldview can probably still be corrected... probably."

With that, Lin Jie stepped out from behind the tree.

"I'm here to pick you up, Mu Mu," Lin Jie said.

"Lin-gege!" Lin Mumu happily ran over when she saw Lin Jie.

"Are you two worried about the puppy?" Lin Jie asked.

"Mm-hmm! This puppy is so pitiful," Lin Mumu said.

"Then let's adopt her," Lin Jie told Lin Mumu.

"Are you really going to adopt her, Big Brother?" the little girl who was with Lin Mumu asked.

"Of course," Lin Jie said. "Are you Mu Mu's new friend? I'll be counting on you to look after her at school."

"Of course! We're going to form a superhero team together someday," the little girl said.

"But Lin-jie is already tired from cleaning the house and working. If she has to take care of the puppy, too..." Little Girl lowered her head.

"Our Mu Mu is such a good girl!" Lin Jie patted Lin Mumu on the head. "You're already thinking about your sister. But don't worry. We can keep her at Xiao Zhan's place. Then we won't have to worry about cleaning up the house."

Lin Jie sold Xiao Zhan out without a second thought.

"That's great!" the little girl and Lin Mumu cheered.

"By the way, not all adults are scumbags, though plenty of them are," Lin Jie told the little girl. "Don't call all adults scumbags."

"I understand." Now that the puppy had found a home, the little girl looked delighted. "Big Brother, you're the best kind of scumbag."

"..." Lin Jie was speechless. "What the hell is 'the best kind of scumbag'?"

"Goodbye, Qingqing." Lin Mumu said goodbye to the little girl, then headed home with Lin Jie, who was carrying the puppy.

"Bye-bye, Mu Mu." The little girl waved goodbye, then got into a fancy hovercar.