Power is only a tool. What makes you a hero is how you use it

Early the next morning, the simulated lights came on right on schedule, shifting to the soft hues of dawn.

Lynn rubbed his slightly sore neck and got up off the floor.

Sleeping on a mat this hard for an extended period was quite a challenge for a frail office worker like him who rarely exercised.

He looked down and found that little John was already awake, sitting cross-legged and staring at him with unblinking blue eyes.

He had folded the thin blanket neatly and set it aside.

"Good morning, Lynn." The little boy's voice was clear, with a hint of obedience that most people would have struggled to notice.

"Good morning, John." Lynn stretched and yawned. "Getting up on time is a good habit for a hero. How are you feeling today?"

John answered earnestly, "I feel great. I had a dream last night. I dreamed I broke lots of naughty cats' legs and protected all the trash cans."

Lynn froze for a moment, then gave a smile that was both pleased and helpless.

All right, it looks like this kid's dreams are full of the rules of justice I taught him.

Although his methods were still somewhat brutal, at least his targets were those naughty cats, rather than everyone indiscriminately.

"That was a wonderful dream. But right now, you need to finish today's routine checkup and tests first."

Lynn brushed the dust off his white coat and turned toward the airlock. "Wait for me to come back. Maybe I can bring you some spoils better than an apple today."

At the mention of new spoils, John's eyes brightened, and he nodded vigorously.

When Lynn left the sterile room, the corridor outside was already bustling.

Researchers in protective suits wheeled all kinds of equipment back and forth, their faces filled with numbness toward their work and fear of that heavy metal door.

Lynn had just picked up a steaming cup of freshly ground coffee and had yet to take a sip when Supervisor Madelyn's icy voice came over the intercom.

"Lynn, bring your coffee and come to my office immediately."

Lynn sighed and headed toward the supervisor's office, cup in hand.

He pushed open the door to find Madelyn sitting behind her large desk, rubbing her temples, with obvious fatigue in her eyes.

Her desk was piled with all kinds of classified documents, and a few blurry photographs had spilled out of one of them.

The photographs seemed to show an old man in loose Taoist robes casually overturning an entire armored vehicle with a wave of his hand.

"You wanted to see me, ma'am." Lynn withdrew his gaze without betraying anything, pretending he had seen nothing.

Madelyn looked up and tossed a report in front of Lynn.

"Bob from Logistics had his finger broken into three pieces."

There was no telling from Madelyn's voice whether she was pleased or angry. "Dr. Sarah says a fracture at that angle could only have been caused by someone forcibly snapping it. You were the only one there at the time, Lynn."

Lynn's expression did not change, and the hand holding his coffee cup remained rock-steady. "Ma'am, I already submitted my report. It was an unfortunate accident. John wanted to help him up-"

"Enough. Spare me that bullshit."

Madelyn cut him off impatiently. "I don't care whether Bob lives or dies. Even if John tore him to pieces, it would only count as a loss of company property. I didn't call you here to listen to you recite your report."

She stood and walked over to the enormous floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the busy underground base.

"The higher-ups are putting a lot of pressure on us."

Madelyn lowered her voice, a trace of anxiety in her tone. "Those Outsiders across the ocean have started getting active again lately. And those old fossils in Europe seem to have developed some new spatial spell. The company's superhumans are looking increasingly inadequate against their bizarre abilities."

She turned around and fixed Lynn with a sharp gaze.

"We need John to mature as soon as possible. We need him to be more than a weapon. He needs to be an obedient, perfect weapon we can deploy on the battlefield at any time."

Lynn nodded without replying, waiting for her to continue.

"I carefully reviewed your observation records from the past few months, as well as John's attitude toward you in the surveillance footage."

Madelyn walked up to Lynn and patted his shoulder. "You've done better than I expected. That little monster feels nothing but indifference toward everyone except you, yet he's actually willing to eat what you give him, and even listen to those childish stories you tell."

"I'm just trying a new approach to guiding his socialization." Lynn gave a modest smile.

"Whatever approach you're using, keep it up."

Madelyn returned to her seat. "Effective today, you're promoted to mid-level researcher. Your sole responsibility will be taking full charge of John's daily interactions and psychological counseling. I want you to wipe every unpredictable factor out of his head and replace it with absolute loyalty to the company."

Lynn sneered inwardly.

Absolute loyalty to the company?

When this kid grows up, you can count yourselves lucky if he doesn't slaughter every last one of you capitalists who treated him like a lab rat.

But his face still wore that highly professional smile. "Understood, ma'am. However, to provide better psychological counseling, I'll need more authorization. For example, improving his meals and providing some reading material and videos from the outside world."

Madelyn frowned, seemingly weighing the pros and cons.

"Fine." A few seconds later, she nodded her approval. "But all materials you provide must pass my review. You'd better not cause me any trouble."

After leaving the office, Lynn felt that even the coffee in his hand smelled and tasted considerably sweeter.

The promotion and pay raise were secondary. What mattered was that he now had a legitimate reason to take little John's brainwashing education further.

At noon, Lynn returned to the sterile room pushing a food cart.

When the airlock opened, John was sitting on the padded mat, idly squeezing colorful building blocks into all sorts of strange shapes.

Seeing Lynn enter, he immediately dropped the toy in his hand and stood up.

"Lynn, what are today's spoils?"

Lynn lifted the metal cover on the food cart.

Instead of that nauseating green nutritional mush, the plate held a steak sizzling with fat, accompanied by golden, crispy fries and a small bowl of vegetable salad.

The enticing aroma of meat instantly filled the pure white room.

John's eyes went round, and he even swallowed involuntarily.

He had never smelled anything so delicious.

"This is the special hero meal."

Lynn set the plate in front of John and handed him a knife and fork. "Only good children who've learned to control their strength qualify to enjoy real food."

Copying Lynn, John rather clumsily cut off a piece of beef and put it in his mouth.

Rich juices spread through his mouth, and the little boy's eyes narrowed slightly at the unprecedented feeling of satisfaction.

"Do the bad guys in the outside world eat food this good too?"

John asked indistinctly as he chewed the beef.

Lynn pulled over a chair, sat down, and casually crossed his legs.

"Yes. The outside world is very complicated."

Watching John eat, Lynn's tone grew somewhat contemplative. "The bad guys out there aren't as simple as that fat guy Bob. Some can shoot flames from their hands, some can vanish in an instant, and some only need to draw a few paper talismans to summon strange animals."

John stopped chewing, a flicker of curiosity and wariness passing through his blue eyes.

"Are they stronger than me?"

"They might be stronger than you now, because you're still growing."

Lynn rubbed his chin and looked at him seriously. "But in the future, you'll be stronger than all of them. Still, John, there's one thing you need to remember."

John immediately sat up straight, like an elementary school student listening attentively.

"Power is only a tool. What makes you a hero is how you use it."

Lynn pointed at John's chest. "When you face those bad guys who can shoot fire and use magic, you can't be afraid just because they're powerful, and you can't bully them at will just because they're weak."

John nodded, only half understanding. "I get it. Whether they're bad guys who shoot fire or bad guys who do magic tricks, as long as they break the rules, I'll break their legs."

Lynn opened his mouth, then swallowed the words about how some bad guys could actually still be saved.

Forget it. With those godlike beings fighting out there, we really might not be able to keep things under control without getting a little ruthless.

As long as John doesn't slaughter innocent people, let him break a few legs. Vought International's medical department needs something to do anyway.

After lunch, Lynn did not rush to clear the dishes. Instead, he took a bulky tablet from the bottom shelf of the food cart.

It was a device he had just requisitioned using his new authorization.

"All right, lunchtime is over. Now it's time for our afternoon lesson."

Lynn tapped the tablet, and a folder appeared on the screen. "We're not telling stories about Puppy Hero today. Let's see what the outside world is really like."