The Fantastic Family

"Don't be nervous, kid. Relax."

Peacemaker flew slowly up to Mo Zhen, looking at the gray-haired girl before him.

With his super hearing, he could hear her heart racing from nervousness.

So he offered a few words of comfort.

"Hello, Mr. Peacemaker."

Mo Zhen nodded, indicating that he understood him.

Peacemaker nodded inwardly. He liked people like Mo Zhen, who stayed calm under pressure and knew how to listen.

"I need you to do me a favor, just a small one," Peacemaker said with a smile.

A minute later.

Mo Zhen learned of Peacemaker's plan.

He would present Mo Zhen as a rookie magical girl held captive by Joker Man and his gang, framing the whole incident as the kidnapping and persecution of a magical girl by supervillains.

And Peacemaker would naturally be the superhero who had saved the weak, pitiful, and helpless magical girl.

The media and the public were sure to love that headline, especially with the Colossus Company's public relations efforts behind it.

Peacemaker couldn't help humming to himself.

Mo Zhen looked troubled, but nodded anyway. "I understand, Mr. Peacemaker. I'll cooperate."

"Good! I like smart people, and you happen to be one." Peacemaker smiled with satisfaction and patted Mo Zhen on the shoulder.

"Once this is over, you're welcome to come work for the Colossus Company. I can give you the best magical girl contract, guaranteed on my honor as the chief superhero."

Despite his words, Mo Zhen heard an offer of hush money in them, and forced a smile.

"Thank you..."

"We don't have much time. Let's get started."

"Of course."

Peacemaker put away his smile, grabbed Mo Zhen by the shoulder, and brought her down from the sky and into the sea.

"Mm..."

Peacemaker descended so quickly that, even though Mo Zhen was prepared, he still swallowed several mouthfuls of water.

Boom!!

At the same time, Flight AC1991 crashed into the sea fifty kilometers off the coast of Taiping Prefecture.

Aside from Mo Zhen, no ordinary person survived.

On the coast of Taiping Prefecture, the media and crowds had already packed the place.

"Look! Something's flying over here!"

"It's Peacemaker!"

A black speck suddenly shot out of the water and flew rapidly toward the coast, descending from the sky like a god.

His expression was compassionate and sorrowful, and he held a petite figure tightly in his arms, like an old father carrying his daughter.

He had barely landed when microphones were thrust in front of him from every direction.

Peacemaker didn't rush to speak. Instead, he remained silent for half a minute, letting the stillness spread to everyone present.

It was a public speaking technique, and its most famous practitioner had been Adolf Hitler, the leader of a World War II supervillain group.

"I'm very sorry, everyone."

He finally spoke.

His gaze swept over every reporter present.

"Because of that despicable clown, we grieve here, we mourn here, and we honor the sacrifice of those 198 passengers and crew heroes."

The reporters immediately began asking questions.

"Peacemaker, why didn't you save everyone? Did you do it on purpose?"

"Peacemaker, why did you kill Joker Man outright? If you hadn't acted, wouldn't he have refrained from setting off the bomb?"

"Peacemaker, who's the girl in your arms?"

Trying to win public attention, the reporters asked increasingly pointed questions, prompting Peacemaker to curse them inwardly.

Vermin, every last one of them. And they call themselves journalism majors!

Fortunately, he finally heard the question he wanted and spoke at once.

"Listen, everyone. The reason I killed Joker Man after boarding was that, before I boarded, I received a threatening text from him."

"If I didn't kill him, this poor, newly awakened magical girl, whom he had kidnapped and imprisoned, would have died."

"At the time, I didn't know the bomb Joker Man held would go off when he released it, so I'm very sorry."

As he spoke, Peacemaker took a deep breath, tears in his eyes, looking so sincere, as though he had been left with no choice.

His words prompted the reporters to turn their cameras on the gray-haired girl in his arms.

Peacemaker's cape covered the girl, and her long gray hair was soaking wet. Though only her profile was visible, it was still hard to conceal her delicate features.

Click, click!

Shutters clicked and flashes went off nonstop.

Then, claiming that the poor magical girl needed treatment, Peacemaker ignored the reporters' follow-up questions and flew away.

Peacemaker knew that the more he said now, the more holes he might leave in his story. He only needed to make an appearance and leave the rest to the Colossus Company.

He flew to an alley with no surveillance.

Only then did Mo Zhen cautiously open his eyes. "Um... Mr. Peacemaker, this is far enough. Can I go now?"

Peacemaker smiled and set her down after landing. "Of course. Thank you for cooperating, and thanks for the effort."

Tap.

With his feet on solid ground, Mo Zhen finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She had really worried that Peacemaker would kill her to silence her, given his temperamental nature.

It wasn't something he was incapable of doing.

Peacemaker shook out his cape and fastened it back onto his shoulders, then rose slightly into the air, ready to leave.

"Oh, right."

He held one hand behind his back, hovering in midair as he looked down at the girl before him and said in a low voice,

"You're a smart kid, so about what happened today... you understand, right?"

The man blocked out all the sunlight. His tone was gentle, but his gaze was like an invisible arm, silently closing around her throat.

"Don't worry, Mr. Peacemaker. My lips are sealed!"

Mo Zhen nodded repeatedly.

Only then did Peacemaker smile in satisfaction. He vanished into the sky in an instant, leaving a sonic boom behind him.

Afterward, in less than thirty minutes.

The Colossus Company released an announcement. With its professional public relations department at work, the transformed Mo Zhen was quickly presented as a magical girl who had been kidnapped and imprisoned by Joker Man just after awakening.

Not only had he kidnapped her, he had also threatened Peacemaker by text, ultimately causing the tragedy aboard the plane.

And our Peacemaker was a victim too!

The announcement quickly drew public attention, and Peacemaker's public approval rating soon rose from 70% to 78%.

A full eight percentage points!

A crucial part was played by a dark-toned photograph taken by the Taiping Continent Morning News, showing Peacemaker on the shore.

In the photo, Peacemaker had his back to the sunlight and held the body of a girl draped in the alliance flag, his gaze full of compassion and pain.

As soon as the photo was uploaded, it quickly made the front page of major online media outlets.

As countless people condemned Joker Man and praised Peacemaker, they also wondered what the new magical girl's name was, when she would officially debut, and when she would enter the gacha pool.

Someone spotted a business opportunity, and printed T-shirts related to the incident quickly went on sale on PDD for 19.9 apiece, selling like hotcakes.

As for the ordinary people who had died.

Whatever. Forget them.

In this superhero world, where a minor disaster struck every three days and a major one every seven, netizens had long since grown accustomed to life and death.

As long as it didn't happen to them, they generally didn't care much.

"Peacemaker, how did you come up with that idea?! Our stock has already started soaring!"

Ashley called Peacemaker specifically to tell him the good news.

Peacemaker's lips curled up as he took the call. "Of course I could come up with it, Ashley. Aren't you underestimating me a little?"

Ashley said, "What about that magical girl? Is she still with you? The public relations department has already prepared three sets of statements for her and you."

"Uh..."

Peacemaker faltered awkwardly. "She left, maybe in a hurry to get home for dinner? But I promised her a contract, so she probably won't say anything she shouldn't."

Peacemaker had been so worried about whether his public approval rating would fall that he hadn't been in the mood to ask Mo Zhen to stay. After giving her a warning, he had let her go when she wanted to leave.

Ashley said helplessly, "All right, we can manage without her. The public relations department has a backup plan."

Meanwhile, Mo Zhen undid his transformation in the alley and hailed a ride on the street, preparing to go home.

"80 kilometers??"

"Damn!"

Mo Zhen reluctantly paid. After buying the round-trip plane tickets, he had barely any pocket money left.

"Hello, what are the last digits?"

"9527."

Riding in the Tesla he had booked, Mo Zhen felt utterly exhausted after the day's events and fell straight asleep.

It was sunset by the time the driver woke him. He got out and returned to his familiar neighborhood.

Taiping Prefecture, Earth's eighth continent, was home to the Earth Alliance's headquarters and jointly administered by the world's three major alliances.

It was slightly smaller than Australia, but had two world-class financial cities: Tianhe City and Liberty City.

Officially, both cities belonged to the Pacific State United Government, but different powers and organizations stood behind them.

After humanity broke through its genetic limits and entered the superhuman era in the new century, the world's heads of state realized a problem.

If nations went to war, all of human civilization could be destroyed, because superhumans were ten thousand times more terrifying than nuclear weapons.

So how could they continue superhuman research and experimentation while maintaining an understanding between the sides and ensuring they didn't trigger a world war?

Thus, they turned their attention to Taiping Prefecture.

Tianhe City was first established and funded by the Eastern Continent Alliance, and in a very short time replaced Hong Kong and Tokyo Metropolis in their financial and strategic positions in East Asia.

The Liberty City project was launched three days later, but with the combined support of the Pan-American Federation and the New Continental Europe Alliance,

Wall Street financial groups joined forces with Silicon Valley tech companies to establish themselves there, creating the world's most staggering stock market valuation in a short time. The Taiping Continent Composite Index broke through 100,000 points, with the Hero 100 standing above the rest.

The two great giants of East and West had arrived at the same answer: the commercialization of superhumans.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with Mo Zhen at present.

Back to the matter at hand.

Mo Zhen's home was in an old villa neighborhood along Aries Road, in Jinghai District, Tianhe City.

Although it was in the suburbs, tourism development in JH District in recent years had gradually made the area livelier.

He bought a bag of boneless chicken strips on the snack street to take the edge off his hunger, then returned home and hesitantly knocked on the door.

The reason he hesitated was that...

He had run away from home.

In pursuit of his dream of becoming a hero, the sixteen-year-old boy had resolutely chosen to run away while his father was on a business trip.

He had flown alone to the New Continental Europe Alliance and injected himself with Compound Nine. When he failed to awaken, he had dejectedly boarded a plane home.

Click.

The door opened.

A tall figure loomed over Mo Zhen, fixing him with a stern, cold gaze that made the boy at the door terribly nervous.

"While I was on a business trip in the Eastern Continent, I got a call from your younger brother. Mo Zhen, I think we need to have a serious talk. You shouldn't have made us worry so much."

The man at the door was tall, with short black hair and a straight mustache. He looked unsmiling, cold, and solemn.

Mo Zhen's eyes wandered, and his shoulders tensed.

He had been afraid of his dad before his rebirth. After his rebirth... well, he was even more afraid.

Because he had discovered that his system had actually given him a prompt.

[Dear Miss Witch, you can view the personal panels of those close to you. This function requires the other party to have a certain degree of affection and trust toward you.]

[Name: Mo Chou.]

[Affection: 99%.]

[Race: Viltrumite.]

[Danger level: S+ rank.]

[Strength: S+ rank.]

[Speed: S+ rank.]

[Defense: S+ rank.]

[Spirit: A+ rank.]

[Charm: E rank.]

[Abilities: super strength, super speed, super defense, rapid regeneration, will of war, faster-than-light leap.]

[Introduction: A Viltrumite from a distant galaxy. His race regards war and conquest as honors, and every Planet Huo person must undergo brutal and rigorous colonial training.]

Mo Zhen was dumbfounded.

What do you mean, my dad's an alien??

And he's S+!

If he gets angry, wouldn't he be able to turn me into a pulp with one punch?

Still, unlocking the personal panel was a pleasant surprise.

Judging by his affection level, Dad really did care about him, so he probably wouldn't beat him to death.

"I was wrong, Dad..."

Mo Zhen spoke hesitantly.

Mo Chou turned around. "Come inside. We'll talk there."

After following his dad back into the house, Mo Zhen obediently stood against the wall as punishment.

Don't call him a coward. With an invincible S+ dad in front of him, it was hard not to be scared, okay?

He hadn't actually read many American comics in his previous life. His knowledge of superheroes was limited to famous characters like Superman, Batman, Iron Man, and Spider-Man.

So after coming to this world and discovering the sudden change in his dad's identity, he was still completely confused.

Mo Chou frowned deeply as he looked at the water and mud on the young man. After hesitating for a while, he finally softened.

"Go take a shower, then get a good night's sleep. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Okay."

Mo Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and fled the living room. He returned to his room, grabbed some clothes, and rushed into the bathroom on the second floor.

After his shower, he returned to his room and finally had time to start gathering information about this world.

"Knock, knock."

Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Mo Zhen sat on the bed with a laptop in his hands and a blanket over him, calling out without looking up.

Click.

A young man pushed the door open and walked in, holding a cup of warm milk. He looked worried and spoke hesitantly.

"Uh... bro? Are you okay? Where have you been these past two days? We've all been worried about you."

"Want some milk? I just warmed it in the microwave."

He was a little nervous. He had never been very good at comforting people, and he didn't know how to ease the conflict between his older brother and their father.

Mo Zhen slowly looked up at him. Fortunately, his little brother didn't seem to have changed much... wait, no?!

[Name: Mo Xiaochuan.]

[Affection: 100%.]

[Race: Half-Viltrumite (unawakened).]

[Danger level: Ordinary human.]

What did it mean, half-Viltrumite?!

Mo Xiaochuan blinked, surprise appearing in his eyes. "Holy crap, bro, your eyes... how did they turn blue?!"

"They're freakishly blue!"