Physical Enhancement + Phasing = "Deliveryman"

Queens in July was like a giant steamer. The asphalt had been baked soft, and the air carried the strange mixed scent of tar and ice cream. Lin Mo rode Carlos's discarded old bicycle, a freshly repaired radio in the basket as he hurried toward Elderly Irene's home. The bell rang "ding-ding," startling sparrows off a fire hydrant.

As he passed the neighborhood park, he spotted a familiar figure—Gretchen sat on a bench, clutching a prescription slip, her brow wrinkled like a twisted, wrung-out rag. The seventy-nine-year-old woman had trouble getting around and needed two crutches to walk. Lin Mo had carried her down from the second floor during the last fire, and ever since, she had called him "a good child sent by the Bodhisattva."

"Gretchen, why are you sitting out here in this heat?" Lin Mo braked and took a bottle of iced lemonade from his basket—Aunt May had stuffed it into his hands that morning. "Have some water."

The elderly woman looked up, and her clouded eyes brightened. She accepted the bottle but did not drink, merely handing him the prescription. "Lin Mo, take a look for me. The pharmacy said home delivery would take two hours, but I've run out of blood pressure medicine. I can't wait that long."

Lin Mo took the slip. The community pharmacy was three blocks away. "Wait here. I'll get it for you." He took the radio from the basket. "Here's your radio. It's fixed now, so you can listen to storytelling programs again."

"Oh, no, you're troubling yourself too much..." Gretchen hurriedly waved her hands. "It's so hot. I should slowly make my own way over there."

"It's fine. I'm fast." Lin Mo smiled, set the radio on the bench, and pedaled hard toward the pharmacy. Physical Enhancement made his legs feel like they had motors installed, and the wheels spun furiously. As he passed an ice cream truck, the owner called out with a grin, "Lin Mo, want a cone? It's on me!"

"Next time!" Lin Mo shouted without looking back. The wind whistled past his ears, while Dynamic Vision let him easily dodge children and stray cats on the sidewalk. A route that normally took fifteen minutes on foot took him only three minutes by bike.

The pharmacy was packed. The air conditioner was broken, and everyone stood in line drenched in sweat. Lin Mo went to the prescription counter, gave Gretchen's name, and watched as the pharmacist slowly searched for the medicine while grumbling, "This damn weather. They've been fixing the air conditioner for three days, and it still isn't working."

"Could you hurry up? An elderly woman is waiting for her blood pressure medicine." Lin Mo spoke patiently, lightly tapping his fingers against the counter.

"What's the rush? Everyone's waiting." The pharmacist rolled his eyes, then slowly took out a medicine box and began tapping away at the computer.

Lin Mo frowned. If this went on any longer, Gretchen would start worrying. He looked around. Everyone had their heads down over their phones, and nobody was paying attention to him. He quietly activated his Phasing Ability, slipped his arm through the counter, precisely grabbed the medicine box, and pulled his hand back before the pharmacist looked up. The movement was so fast it seemed like an illusion.

"Is the prescription ready?" He set the money on the counter and ran off before the pharmacist could react. Behind him came the pharmacist's startled cry: "Huh? Where's my medicine?"

On the way back, Lin Mo skipped the main road and turned into an alley. He jumped off his bike, held the medicine box close, activated his Phasing Ability, and passed through a brick wall, landing in Gretchen's backyard. He then phased through the kitchen wall and appeared right in the living room—where the old woman was hobbling around in circles on her crutches, muttering, "Why isn't he back yet?"

"Grandma, your medicine is here." Lin Mo handed it to her.

Gretchen jumped, and her crutches clattered to the floor. "Lin Mo? You... where did you come from?" She looked at the tightly shut doors and windows, then at the medicine in his hand, her eyes widening round. "You child, can you walk through walls?"

"You must have seen wrong." Lin Mo smiled as he picked up her crutches. "I came in through the back door. It wasn't locked." He poured her a cup of warm water and watched her take the medicine. "Just tell me whenever you need medicine in the future. You won't have to wait for delivery."

"Good, good, good." The elderly woman held his hand, her wrinkled palm warm. "Faster than delivery! I'll count on you from now on, good child." She took a bag of fruit candies from a drawer and forcefully stuffed it into Lin Mo's pocket. "Take them. Eat them on the way."

After leaving Gretchen's house, Lin Mo checked the time. From picking up the medicine to delivering it, he had taken a total of five minutes. Suddenly, he realized that Physical Enhancement combined with his Phasing Ability was practically tailor-made for delivering things—no detours, no waiting for elevators, and traffic jams had nothing to do with him.

The discovery excited him. When he returned to the repair shop, he hung a sign by the entrance: [Free Errands: medicine pickup, document delivery, shopping on behalf of others (community only)]. Beneath it, he drew a simple stick figure passing through a wall.

When Ted saw the sign, he laughed so hard he could barely stand straight. "Mo, are you becoming a super deliveryman? Want me to design a uniform for you? Red and blue, like Spider-Man."

"Get lost." Lin Mo laughed and kicked him lightly. "Be serious. People might genuinely need help."

No sooner had he said that than a young mother rushed over, holding a crying child. "Lin Mo, could you help me pick up my son's homework notebook from school? He has to hand it in this afternoon, and I really can't get away."

"Address." Lin Mo picked up a pen and wrote it down in his notebook.

"Midtown Elementary School, Grade Three, Class Two. It's in the teacher's desk drawer." The young mother pushed five dollars into his hand. "For the trip."

"No need." Lin Mo pushed the money back and pedaled away. This time, he did not wear his school uniform. He ran to the school using Physical Enhancement, then phased through the locked entrance to the school building with his Phasing Ability and returned with the homework notebook in three minutes.

The young mother stared at the notebook in his hand, her eyes wide. "My God, you're faster than a taxi!" She insisted on stuffing homemade cookies into Lin Mo's hands. "You have to take them, or I'll feel terrible."

The news grew wings and quickly spread through the neighborhood. More and more people came to ask Lin Mo to run errands: office workers who had forgotten their keys asked him to pass them in through windows; the owner of a grocery store asked him to deliver an urgent order; even the librarian from the community library came to him, saying a precious old book had been locked in storage and the key could not be found.

Lin Mo never turned anyone down. The repair shop was usually not that busy anyway. He found that using his abilities to run errands for people felt more rewarding than simply fixing computers—seeing the smiles on their faces when they got what they needed made him happier than repairing a server.

Peter had nothing to do during summer break and often came to help at the repair shop. Watching Lin Mo phase through walls to deliver documents one moment and sprint off to pick up cakes the next, Peter's eyes shone like lightbulbs. "Brother Lin Mo, your efficiency is incredible! Let me design a route map for you. I can use algorithms to calculate the shortest paths and avoid crowded areas too."

"Sure." Lin Mo agreed with a smile. Two days later, Peter brought him a hand-drawn map of the community, marked in different colors with optimal routes. It even indicated which walls were easiest to phase through. Beside it, Peter had drawn a little figure in uniform with the words "Wall-Phasing Express" printed across its chest.

"So professional." Ted snatched the map and clicked his tongue in amazement. "Mo, we should just start a delivery company! Call it Lightning Phasing Express. It'll definitely be huge!"

"What company?" Lin Mo stuck the map to the wall. "Helping people for free is good enough."

The most absurd request came when he helped Elderly Martha deliver a cake to her sister across the street. She had baked a three-tier chocolate cake for her sister's birthday, but the weather was so hot that she feared it would melt on the way. "Could you..." Martha rubbed her hands, looking a little embarrassed. "Just phase through the walls and deliver it directly? Don't take the road, so it won't sit in the sun."

"No problem." Lin Mo carefully picked up the cake box, activated his Phasing Ability, passed through Martha's wall, then through the alley between the houses, and finally through the kitchen wall of Martha's sister's home, landing right in front of the dining table. Martha's sister had been chopping vegetables, and when she saw Lin Mo and the cake suddenly appear, she nearly dropped her kitchen knife.

"Martha asked me to deliver it." Lin Mo set the cake on the table. It was completely intact; even the frosting flowers had not collapsed.

"Oh my goodness!" Martha's sister patted her chest. "Lin Mo, your skill is far better than any delivery service! Sit down and have a glass of iced tea. I just brewed some."

Lin Mo politely declined and phased back through the wall to Martha's house. The elderly woman was standing by the window watching for him. When she saw him return, she said with a smile, "I knew you could do it." She took a plate of cookies from the oven. "A reward for you. They're tastier than Aunt May's."

"Yeah, right." Lin Mo picked one up and popped it into his mouth. It was perfectly sweet, and his heart felt warm.

Day by day, Lin Mo's reputation as a "volunteer deliveryman" grew louder. Some people gave him banners reading, "Phasing Through Walls to Deliver Warmth, Pioneer of Volunteer Service"; others knitted him sweaters, saying, "Wear this when running errands, it'll keep you warm." Even the chief from the community police station came to him, saying an urgent document needed to be delivered to the next neighborhood and asking whether he could help.

"Chief, does this count as abusing superpowers?" Lin Mo asked half-jokingly.

"It counts as a public convenience service." The chief patted his shoulder. "You've saved us a lot of trouble. Next time we catch a thief, I'll buy you donuts."

Lin Mo agreed with a smile. He found that he liked this feeling more and more—using his abilities to do small things within his reach, without facing S.H.I.E.L.D.'s surveillance or worrying about alien threats. All he needed to do was move through the community's walls and deliver warmth and convenience into the hands of people who needed them.

One evening, after Lin Mo delivered dinner to Gretchen—her daughter had been too busy, so she had asked him to bring it from a restaurant—he was preparing to return to the repair shop when Ted and Peter blocked him at the mouth of an alley. Ted held a vest printed with "Lightning Phasing Express," while Peter held a homemade helmet with a Spider-Man sticker on it.

"Try it on!" Ted pulled the vest over him. "I made it from old curtains. It's breathable!"

Peter handed him the helmet. "This can protect your head. What if you hit something while phasing through a wall?"

Seeing how excited they were, Lin Mo felt warmth rise in his heart. He obediently put on the vest and helmet. Ted pulled out his phone and insisted on taking a photo. "I'm posting this in the community group so everyone can see our super deliveryman!"

Not long after the photo was posted, Lin Mo's phone began ringing nonstop—every notification was a like or a teasing comment from a neighborhood resident. Aunt May said, "That vest color is ugly. I'll knit you a new one tomorrow." Carlos said, "Don't let this delay your computer repairs, or I'll dock your pay." Gretchen sent him a red packet with the note, "Buy yourself a popsicle."

Lin Mo smiled and sent the red packet back, then looked up at the evening glow on the horizon. The setting sun dyed the clouds gold and red, like Martha's burnt cookies. He suddenly felt that perhaps his abilities had never been meant for fighting and killing. Being a neighborhood "deliveryman" like this, phasing through walls and running through streets with his enhanced physique, bringing warmth and convenience to every corner—that was the most meaningful thing he could do.

Ted was still excitedly planning an "expanded service area," while Peter recorded "optimization plans" in his notebook. Lin Mo looked at them, then at the vest and helmet he was wearing, and suddenly smiled.

Maybe superheroes did not have to swing between skyscrapers or fight aliens. Sometimes, being able to deliver medicine for an elderly woman, pick up a homework notebook for a young mother, or bring a cake to an old lady was already enough.

He patted Ted and Peter on the shoulders. "Come on, let's go to Aunt May's for dinner. I'm treating today, using everyone's 'errand fees.'"

"Great!" the two shouted in unison, following Lin Mo toward Aunt May's house. The sunset stretched their shadows long behind them, like three Supermen walking side by side. They wore no capes, yet carried a warmer light than any cape could offer.