Happy Little Mo Zhen

"...I might have been reborn, but being reborn doesn't seem likely. Maybe the world reset. Anyway, everything's different."

Sunlight streamed through the windows of the passenger plane as it flew smoothly along.

A flight attendant's body lay in the aisle, while the passengers huddled fearfully in their seats, keeping their voices down.

Mo Zhen stared at his reflection in the window and rubbed his aching forehead, finally managing to sort through all his memories.

Simply put, he had died in a plane crash in his previous life, then been reborn with his memories intact.

Those memories, however, had remained sealed deep within his soul.

Only now had he finally remembered everything.

The worlds before and after his rebirth were completely different.

The Boeing 737, flight AC1991 of Northern Airlines, had taken off from the New Continental Europe Alliance and was flying toward the most prosperous place in this world: Taiping Prefecture.

Taiping Prefecture was an eighth continent in the Pacific Ocean.

It was the most famous metahuman city of the century. Home to the world's foremost metahuman companies and academies, it had become a Jerusalem for all metahumans.

In his previous life, he had died when a plane hijacked by terrorists crashed.

He had never expected to find himself on a plane again, with the hijackers now a group of suspected metahuman criminals instead of ordinary people.

The hijackers were a group of masked men wearing clown masks, matching black suits, and red ties.

Their leader sat on a flight attendant's corpse, idly playing with a bomb remote.

He wore no mask, instead sporting exaggerated clown makeup.

Mo Zhen cautiously glanced at him, then wisely looked away.

Why another terrorist attack...? Did heaven think I died the wrong way last time and want me to do it again?

"Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to interrupt your flight. I'm the hijacker on this flight, and my name is... Joker Man."

At that moment, Joker Man saw that it was about time. He smiled, stood up, and spoke in an elegant voice.

"As you can see, you're my hostages now. I've planted a time bomb on this plane that can blow us all to ashes."

"Look, the bomb will go off early as soon as I let go."

He raised the remote in his hand. It was a specially modified device that detonated the bomb when released, not pressed.

"Ahh!"

The woman beside Mo Zhen screamed in fright.

"Shh, shh, shh!"

"Quiet, please. Quiet!"

Joker Man immediately leaned in front of her and raised a hand to shush her. The caked foundation was clearly visible beneath his haphazardly applied clown makeup.

Mo Zhen's eyelid twitched.

Lady, please stop screaming. I'm really scared.

Joker Man looked with satisfaction at the terrified woman, then suddenly turned his gaze to Mo Zhen beside her.

I'm screwed...!

Mo Zhen's heart sank. He turned his head, afraid to meet Joker Man's eyes.

But his nervous, frightened appearance only made a flicker of pleasure flash through Joker Man's eyes.

Look at him. What a pitiful little lamb.

He leaned in front of Mo Zhen, tilted his head, and chuckled.

"Hey, darling, I like your blue eyes. That's rare among you Asians, isn't it?"

He reached out with his leather-gloved left hand and gently placed it on Mo Zhen's neck, somewhere between a caress and a choke, leaving him feeling suffocated.

"Are you mixed-race?" he asked with interest.

"N-no." Mo Zhen spoke nervously, not daring to meet his eyes. "I just took part in the Colossus Company's Incubation Project the day before yesterday... They turned this color afterward."

In this world, there were two special professions: superheroes and magical girls. The former made up about eighty percent, and the latter about twenty percent.

As for the difference between them, superheroes were more like sports, while magical girls were more like business.

Just kidding. Superheroes could be men or women, covered a broader range, and had many different paths into the profession. Simply put, the poor relied on mutations, while the rich relied on technology.

Magical girls, on the other hand, could only enter the profession through awakening. Thanks to their inherent beauty and commercial appeal, they were the Brahmins among superheroes.

Every awakened magical girl would be sought after by commercial companies that spared no effort to recruit her.

The Colossus Company was the most powerful metahuman conglomerate in the world.

It had numerous metahumans under its banner, including superheroes and magical girls of every rank, and maintained long-term partnerships with governments around the world.

Before his memories were unsealed, Mo Zhen had secretly signed up for the Colossus Company's globally recruited Incubation Project behind his family's back in order to become a superhero.

He had even traveled to a laboratory in the New Continental Europe Alliance to be injected with Compound Nine, which was said to unlock the body's potential.

Unfortunately, he had not awakened any superpowers, nor had his physical abilities improved in the slightest.

His eyes had merely turned blue, and his eyesight seemed to have improved somewhat. He was no longer severely nearsighted at minus six diopters and no longer needed glasses.

Looking at it now, however, Compound Nine might have been the key to unsealing Mo Zhen's memories of his previous life.

"Oh, the Incubation Project. How pitiful."

At the mention of the Incubation Project, Joker Man sighed and shook his head, his eyes full of pity for a test subject, with a trace of sympathy.

He slowly withdrew his hand, then looked at everyone in the cabin again. "All right, everyone, come on. Could you please turn your attention back to me?"

He took a phone from one of his men and opened a livestream. "Now, we'll officially begin the broadcast."

Holding up the detonator, he addressed the screen.

"Listen up, New Continental Europe Airlines and the Pacific State United Government. I want you to prepare one hundred million US dollars within thirty minutes, convert it all to Bitcoin, and transfer it to the account on the screen."

"For every minute you're late, I'll kill one passenger. Let me see... oh, right, you. I'll start with you."

As he spoke, one of Joker Man's men grabbed the woman beside Mo Zhen.

"Ahhh! No! My dad's a legislator!"

The woman screamed in terror, but one of Joker Man's men quickly shoved a pistol into her mouth, frightening her so badly that she went rigid.

Joker Man held up the phone, brought the woman into frame, and gave the viewers a smiling wink.

"I hate noisy hostages the most. You know how it is."

Watching from beside them, Mo Zhen was pale and drenched in sweat. He was just like Tom Cat having a nightmare.

I won't be next, will I?

Suddenly,

a line of text appeared before his eyes.

[Welcome to a world teeming with superheroes and magical girls.]

[You have activated the Villainess Witch Development System.]

[Your starting class, "Magical Girl," has been awakened automatically.]

[Now, please play the part of a villainess witch who commits every evil imaginable, defeat righteous superheroes and magical girls, and obtain evil and powerful villain abilities!]

Mo Zhen sat bolt upright in his dying dream.

The Villainess Witch Development System?

Wasn't that the indie game I developed in college in my previous life? Genre-wise, it was a bit like Tale of Immortal.

He remembered that he had not even finished writing the game's code. It was entirely half-finished, so how had it followed him into his new life?

The thing was, it had shown no sign of activity for the first sixteen years, only appearing after his memories were unsealed.

Damn Haki System, you...!

"Hey, darling, what are you thinking about?"

A voice tinged with laughter suddenly brought Mo Zhen back to his senses. Feeling as though he were sitting on pins and needles, he looked at Joker Man.

Joker Man had actually sat down beside him, phone in hand, still livestreaming.

He looked so enthusiastic that anyone who didn't know better might have thought he was streaming a reality show.

"How about saying hello to my fans? I think they'll like you, since you're so cute."

As Joker Man spoke, he slung an arm around Mo Zhen's shoulders and raised the phone, bringing him into the viewers' sight.

Mo Zhen could only raise his head nervously and look at the screen.

"Say hello."

"Hi..."

The moment the black-haired, blue-eyed boy appeared on camera, comments flooded the screen.

"What a cute child. His eyes are as dewy as a fawn's. Love from London."

"Dumbass, he's fucking scared. Wouldn't you be nervous and afraid if you had a lunatic sitting next to you?"

"Fuck! Joker Man, you goddamn gay pedophile, get away from that kid! I'll send you to Mariana Prison, I swear!!"

"Cute, vanilla."

"Amen... may I ask for his contact information? I don't mean anything by it. I'm a priest, and I just want to ask whether he's interested in worshipping our Lord."

"Try putting a gun to his head and see if he cries. [Donated $100]"

In the unmoderated dark web livestream, the screen was filled with unsightly remarks from all over the world.

Mo Zhen took one extra look and felt that human civilization was probably in grave danger.

"No, no, no."

Joker Man shook his head and wagged the index finger of the hand holding the remote. "I'm not the kind of bad guy who bullies children."

As he spoke, his patchy, caked clown face suddenly turned toward Mo Zhen. "By the way, darling, how old are you again?"

"Sixteen..." Mo Zhen answered truthfully.

"Did you hear that? He's still a minor! You bunch of perverted pedophiles, fuck you!"

Joker Man promptly gave the livestream the middle finger.

Trading insults with the audience was an essential part of the Joker Man livestream experience.

Mo Zhen watched in trepidation, afraid that Joker Man would get carried away arguing, relax his index finger, and blow up the entire plane in an instant.

The comments immediately fired back.

"Fuck you too! You're dead, Joker Man! Peacemaker just happens to be in Taiping Prefecture, and he's already sniffed you out and is coming to kill your sorry ass!"

"Haha, I want to see Peacemaker blast your dick off with his laser eyes!"

"Hee-hee, I want a hot dog!"

"Peacemaker's here. Another supervillain has fallen in the line of duty. (Sad.)"

Mo Zhen was baffled by the comments. Afterward, he managed to dig up some information about Peacemaker from his memories.

[Superhero codename: Peacemaker.]

[Danger level: S+.]

[Identity: Chief superhero of the Colossus Company, president of the Earth Alliance Superhero Association, hailed as the strongest superhero of the modern age.]

[Abilities: Super strength, super defense, super speed, rapid regeneration, laser eyes...]

"Superman?!"

Through those super keywords, Mo Zhen immediately thought of the righteous Superman played by Henry Cavill.

If it was him, Mo Zhen might be saved.

Probably...?

"Boom!!"

An explosion suddenly rang out at the plane's door. The cabin instantly lost pressure, sending loose objects and suitcases nearby flying out.

"Whoosh!!"

"Help! Ahhh!"

The passengers thought the bomb had gone off and were scared out of their wits.

Amid the howling wind, a man in a black-and-red suit, wearing the Earth Alliance flag as a cape, stepped aboard and closed the door behind him.

"Whoa~!"

Seeing everyone in a panic, he raised a hand.

"Calm down, kids! It's me, Peacemaker!"

His voice seemed to carry an irresistible force that instantly subdued everyone's emotions.

"Holy crap..."

Joker Man let out a slightly surprised exclamation, evidently shocked at how quickly he had arrived.

He stood up, twisted his neck, and introduced himself to Peacemaker.

"Nice to meet you, Peacemaker. This should be our first meeting. I'm Joker Man, a third-rate criminal."

"As you can see, I'm holding a bomb detonator, so next, I'd like to play a game with you."

The man with the superhero codename Peacemaker was tall and handsome, with short blond hair and emerald-green eyes.

Hearing Joker Man's words, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.

"First meeting? No, no, no."

Peacemaker put one hand on his hip and waved the other. The smile faded from his lips, and his tone abruptly turned icy.

"This will be our last meeting, because today... you're going to die here. Understand?"

The moment he finished speaking, his eyes glowed red. Two searing laser beams shot out, instantly severing the wrist of Joker Man's hand holding the detonator.

"Fuck!"

The subordinate beside Joker Man was startled and hurriedly opened fire.

Peacemaker ignored the bullets and turned his gaze. The lasers immediately cut every one of Joker Man's nearby subordinates in half, leaving none alive.

"Ahhh!" The passengers screamed again.

Peacemaker, still unsatisfied, twisted his neck, took a deep breath, and said,

"I hate being threatened, and I'm not interested in playing vigilante games with you."

Mo Zhen, who had witnessed the whole thing, sat stunned in his seat. Then he heard a violent explosion from the rear of the plane, which instantly tore the entire aircraft apart.

Boom!!!

Fuck!

He cursed inwardly.

The bomb was not as powerful as Joker Man had described, but it had still left the airliner completely unable to maneuver.

His gaze, along with those of the many passengers, turned to Peacemaker.

You'll save us, won't you?

"Heh heh, hahahahaha!"

On the ground, Joker Man, his hand severed, let out a heart-rending laugh.

"I knew it!"