Chapter 7

In H City, a staggering figure struggled out of an eyeglasses shop, wearing the new glasses he had just bought.

Looking at the crowds streaming past, he couldn't help but tear up.

"I'm finally back... Waaaah!" he said emotionally.

The man crying in the middle of the street was none other than Glasses. "I finally made it out of that damn Underworld!"

As Glasses shouted and wept in the street, passersby looked at him as if to say, What a freaking idiot.

My king, congratulations on passing the arduous trial. The Brave Glasses pledge their loyalty to you. A voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

"Thanks to you, I was able to escape that damn place," Glasses said. "From now on, we'll keep fighting side by side to the very end."

As he spoke to the Brave Glasses perched on his nose, Glasses failed to notice that the people around them had vanished.

A gigantic monster was rampaging through the block.

"When did that thing show up?" Glasses exclaimed, staring at the monster. "Perfect. Let's test out the strength we gained in the Underworld."

His fighting spirit surged. He raised a hand to push up his glasses. At that very moment, a hand smacked him on the head from behind, and he instinctively sent his glasses flying.

"Hey, it's you! I knew Thirteen was just trying to scare me." Lin Jie patted Glasses on the head. "When did you get back? Why didn't you contact me?"

"I just got back," Glasses replied. "Ah!! My glasses!"

With that, Glasses hurried over to the glasses lying on the ground.

"We'll talk after we deal with that thing." Lin Jie picked up the Wolf Fang Club and charged at the monster.

"There!" Glasses spotted the Brave Glasses and ran toward them. But someone else was faster.

"Master!! Wait for me!! I want to fight alongside you!" A man with a face handsome enough to make countless girls scream ran right over his glasses.

"The Brave Glasses!!" Glasses rushed over to them in a panic.

The Brave Glasses now had a clearly visible crack.

"You have to hang in there, my comrade! Don't worry, I'll fix you." Glasses stared at the Brave Glasses. "Does that damn guy not watch where he's going?"

My king, I can feel my life slipping away. I don't think I have much longer.

"Don't talk! I'll find a way to heal you," Glasses said sadly.

This must be fate's design. But please don't worry. There are countless other glasses in this world waiting to serve you.

"But you're my partner! Don't say things like that!" Glasses cried sadly at the glasses on the ground.

It seems my mission is almost over. Before I die, I hope you can pass a message to the ladies' glasses on the third shelf, third from the left, in eyeglasses shop number twenty. Please tell her...

Before the Brave Glasses could finish, a foot came down from above and stepped on them...

"Ah! The Brave Glasses!" Glasses cried in grief.

"Ah! Sorry, I accidentally stepped on your glasses." Lin Jie scratched his head awkwardly.

"You again! You broke the Sage Glasses last time, and now you've destroyed the Brave Glasses! You glasses killer!" Glasses glared at him in fury. If he weren't so much weaker, he would've rushed over and given Lin Jie a good beating.

"Are they really that important?" a handsome young man said as he came over. It was Ten Gods. "How about this? I'll buy you a pair of high-end glasses to make up for my master breaking them."

"What would you know? He was my brother in arms! We went through life and death together!" Glasses roared.

"Forget about that for now. Let's get something to eat. You look like you haven't eaten for days." Lin Jie glanced at Glasses's disheveled appearance. "You probably need therapy, too."

"Master, I know a great high-end restaurant. We can eat there," Ten Gods said.

"I've told you a hundred times, don't call me Master! And I never said I'd eat with you." Lin Jie replied. "I can't afford a place like that."

"Don't worry, Master. It's on me. Order whatever you want," Ten Gods said.

"Oh? Then let's go."

"So, what exactly happened to you during all this time?" Lin Jie asked Glasses. "Thirteen came back with nothing but a pair of glasses."

The three of them were sitting at a table. Glasses was shoveling food into his mouth as if his life depended on it. A pair of high-end glasses rested on his nose—the ones Ten Gods had picked up for him when they passed the eyeglasses shop.

"Don't ask!" Glasses said. "On my very first day there, a machine malfunctioned and sent me into a strange world."

"A strange world?" Ten Gods perked up with interest.

"Yeah. It was almost exactly like the real world, except it was... well, a rotting version of reality," Glasses said.

"The Underworld?" Lin Jie asked.

"I can't find the book by searching its title. Maybe try searching for the author—it might have been renamed!

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"You even know what it's called?" Glasses stared at Lin Jie in surprise. "I ran into a few heroes there, and they said it was the Underworld. Come to think of it, the place was full of monsters and spirits."

"There were spirits, too?" Ten Gods asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I made my way to H City, and there were hardly any people in the cities in that world. The few who were there were all struggling to survive," Glasses said. "The buildings were almost all rotten, and the rivers looked horribly polluted."

"That really does sound like a terrifying place," Ten Gods said.

"Worst of all, all my glasses were in the surface world, so I couldn't use teleportation at all." Glasses continued to wolf down the food in front of him. "That whole time was no way to live."

"The Underworld is something modern science can barely explain," Lin Jie said. "If I remember right, it's a place a lot like a magical realm, like hell."

"No way! A magical realm?" Ten Gods exclaimed.

"I can't believe anyone is still studying the Underworld," Lin Jie murmured. "If I recall, it was controlled by someone called END."

"When did you become such a know-it-all?" Glasses said to Lin Jie.

"I've been there before," Lin Jie replied.

"What?" Glasses was stunned. "No wonder you know so much!"

"As expected of my master. He really is a powerful hero," Ten Gods said.

"Don't call me Master," Lin Jie replied.

"I'm serious," Ten Gods said to Lin Jie. "I truly want to become a powerful hero. Even if I can't be as great as Zero, I at least want to be like you, Master—someone who lives for justice and isn't swayed by fame or fortune."

"You sure you're talking about this guy?" Glasses stared at Ten Gods in shock. "Wait, aren't you that popular idol from the Ten Gods Family? Why are you suddenly worshipping a scumbag like him?"

"Don't say that. Master is a rare, genuine hero who cares only about justice!" Ten Gods said.

"That's right. These days, there aren't many people as overflowing with a sense of justice as me." Lin Jie puffed out his chest.

"You finally admit it, Master!" Ten Gods said.

"Admit your ass!" Lin Jie replied. Over the past couple of days, Ten Gods had stuck to him like a burr. That wasn't the main problem, though. The real problem was that Ten Gods was way more handsome than he was. Walking alongside him made Lin Jie feel like the plain background character.

"Him? A hero with a sense of justice?" Glasses looked at Ten Gods. "Are you blind? The guy who told a Little Girl, 'If you can't figure something out, just cut it all down,' is supposed to be a good person? Your master is about to go to jail for inciting a crime."

"Ugh, you don't know what you're talking about." Lin Jie looked at Glasses with disdain. "Mu Mu was never going to be able to live a normal life. I was just helping her get used to the things that come with being a superpowered person. Learning to stay ready to fight from a young age will do a lot to keep her safe in the future."

"She's only seven!" Glasses said.

"I think Master is right," Ten Gods said.

"What do you think?" Lin Jie asked Glasses.

"You've really let this guy brainwash you completely," Glasses said.

"I genuinely think Master's ideas are right. As heroes—even future heroes—we need to be ready to fight evil at any time, wherever we are," Ten Gods said.

"Stop calling me Master," Lin Jie said. "I'm not a hero."

"How could you say that?" Ten Gods said. "Didn't you save a girl just a couple of days ago?"

"But I couldn't save the person who was possessed by the Shadow Demon," Lin Jie said. "He died, and he wasn't a sinner in life."

"Don't think like that," Glasses said. "No one can do everything perfectly. Besides, you're not a great hero like Zero."

"That's why I'm saying I'm not a hero at all," Lin Jie said. "Even Zero doesn't count as a hero. We're all just janitors cleaning up messes."

"Even if you say that, Master, I can't agree! Zero is the hero who saved all of humanity," Ten Gods said.

"He didn't save all of humanity. He didn't save my parents, at least," Lin Jie replied.

"Doesn't that sound selfish?" Glasses asked.

"I'm not criticizing him. That's just reality." Lin Jie took a sip of wine. "Zero did save the world, but do you know how many people died before that? They were the people Zero couldn't save when it happened. Why were so many homeless children used for human experiments? No one saved them in the new era. Do you remember Mu Mu? She survived, but before her, more than two hundred children like her died in that damn experiment. Where were we then?"

"You can't blame yourselves for that. It was the criminals' fault," Ten Gods said.

"Then what is a hero's duty?" Lin Jie asked.

"To fight crime," Ten Gods said.

"That's only one part of it," Lin Jie said. "A true hero can lead the world toward a better future, end prejudice and arrogance, and save those who need saving—not just step in to fight after something has already happened. By then, all you're doing is cleaning up the mess. So even Zero isn't a hero." Lin Jie took another sip of wine. "To me, Zero is more like a weapon used to fight powerful enemies when a crisis strikes. But a weapon can never save people's hearts."

"That's not true. At least Zero saved me," Ten Gods said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be who I am today."

"He's right," Glasses said. "Without Zero, I wouldn't have become a hero, and we wouldn't have the thousands of superheroes we have today. In our hearts, Zero has always been a hero."

"Haha." Lin Jie laughed and took another sip of wine. "That's a pretty unfair thing to say to all the people who weren't saved."