Why is his holy light red?

Mercury stepped lightly into the chaotic school once again.

Today is the last time Mercury will walk into this chaotic and hopeless community public high school.

Since he's switched careers to become a superhero, the conventional path to higher education is no longer an option. The Hero Association has a self-study system that not only provides preferential treatment in terms of scores for further education, but also allows heroes to accumulate enough hero points to directly exchange for degrees from prestigious universities.

As for its true value, that's another set of social rules to consider.

Al had already gone to the principal's office to complete the withdrawal procedures, while Mercury walked alone down the classroom corridor, preparing to empty his locker. This school, despite its chaotic and unpleasant atmosphere, stubbornly maintained the rule that indoor and outdoor shoes had to be changed—a bourgeois rule the principal must have picked up from somewhere.

As soon as Mercury stepped into the teaching building, all eyes in the corridor turned to him.

"Why is he back?!"

"Idiot, he was acquitted!"

"It's over, it's completely over!"

……

Several muscular school bullies, their arms covered in crude tattoos, were leaning against the wall smoking when they saw Mercury. Their fingers holding cigarettes trembled violently, and the cigarette butts fell to the ground.

In court, they had hoped to imprison Mercury by committing perjury, thus getting revenge for being stuffed into the trash can, but to their surprise, he was released in court.

Later, Mercury disappeared for several days. They thought he would never return for some other reason and were preparing to run rampant in the school again when he suddenly appeared before them.

Mercury stopped in his tracks as he looked at the group of people whose faces were pale and whose legs were trembling.

"Alright then." His gaze swept over the stiff bodies, his tone completely flat. "I'll count down from three, and you can each find the nearest trash can and crawl inside. I'll pretend I didn't see anything. If you're still standing here after the count, I'll personally shove you inside."

"three."

As soon as the syllables fell, the group of burly school bullies scattered like stray dogs driven away by gunfire, howling and running away in all directions.

The one in the lead didn't even have time to brake before he plunged headlong into the nearest plastic recycling bin. He didn't care that it was filled with fermenting fruit peels, bloody needles, and filthy waste paper; he curled up and forced his way in, causing the entire bin to tip over with a thud.

The others followed suit, squeezing themselves into the narrow rubble and rolling around in the dirty water on the ground.

Mercury withdrew his gaze, too lazy to give them any more attention, and walked straight to the end of the corridor.

Upon arriving at the locker, the small metal compartment was intact.

The surrounding row of lockers was covered in graffiti and profanity, but when it came to his locker, all the filth wisely avoided it. Even though he hadn't appeared for several days, no one dared to touch this locker; it was a testament to the prestige that Mercury had earned with his fists.

He opened the cabinet door and stuffed the contents into his backpack one by one: a pair of old indoor shoes, several textbooks with rolled-up edges, two spare cell phones, and a small amount of cash at the bottom.

There aren't many items, but they're still quite valuable; these textbooks aren't cheap.

Mercury stuffed his backpack full and just as he zipped it up, he suddenly heard the sound of quick, light footsteps behind him.

"It really is you!"

With a shout, a warm body bumped into him from behind as if losing its balance, and arms passed under his armpits, hugging him tightly.

If he hadn't recognized the person by their voice at the last moment, Mercury would have used his holy light to blast them away. He grabbed the arm that was wrapped around his chest, swiftly pulled it away, and turned around.

"Emily, this is the second time you've taken advantage of me."

The girl in front of him didn't seem flustered by being pushed away. Instead, she smiled, her eyes crinkling. "Long time no see. I thought you'd forgotten me. Besides, I just testified for you in court. What's wrong with a hug?"

Mercury's gaze fell upon her. The rebellious girl with gothic braids and heavy smoky eye makeup from the courtroom was gone. The Emily before him had a head of smooth, blonde hair in a high ponytail, her makeup light, with only a touch of lip color. She wore a conservative, solid-colored shirt, buttoned up to just below her collarbone.

She is indeed much more pleasing to the eye than before, and has regained some of the air of a young lady from the upper district.

Mercury's gaze lingered on a metal badge pinned to her chest, a symbol exclusive to believers in the community church, signifying that the wearer was under the church's protection.

"It seems you went to see Sister Maria."

Emily glanced down at the badge and nodded, saying, "I've remembered everything you told me. Including this."

She reached her right hand into the pocket of her faded jeans and pulled out a metal butterfly knife. The handle twirled between her knuckles, producing a crisp, metallic clang as she deftly and precisely executed a flourish.

"No one will protect me forever, so I have to learn to protect myself." Emily sheathed her knife, looked up, and her eyes shone with an astonishing light. "Thank you."

Mercury slung his zipped-up backpack over his shoulder: "I took your money back then, so that matter is settled. This time you're testifying in court, so consider it a favor I owe you. If you ever encounter any trouble you can't resolve in the future, come to the Hero Association and find me."

"The Hero Association?" Emily's voice became shrill, and the smile on her face vanished instantly. "Wait, you're leaving school?"

"There's no way around it. If I go down the superhero route, I can't sit here and take classes full-time," Mercury replied casually.

"How could this be... I always thought you would come back to class, I've been waiting..." Emily's eyes were visibly red, and her voice sounded like something was stuck in her throat.

Mercury didn't feel anything special about it. All told, they had only met three times, far from needing to put on a sentimental show.

"Call me when you have time." He took out his phone, exchanged numbers with Emily, put his phone back, and then turned around and walked towards the stairwell.

I had only taken a few steps when I heard short footsteps behind me.

"Wait!" Emily gritted her teeth, took a few steps to catch up, and blocked his way.

Mercury stopped and turned to look at her with a hint of doubt: "Is there anything else?"

Emily stared into his eyes, speaking rapidly: "You registered as a trainee hero with the Hero Association, right? Still in training? Which management company are you planning to sign with?"

Before Mercury could speak, she added hastily, "Don't tell me you're planning to just take the meager base salary from the association. You know, no superhero doesn't earn extra money... well, except for the Angel of Light."

This is the most basic survival knowledge in the industry. Superheroes are restricted by law and cannot directly accept donations from the public. They can only rely on commercial endorsements, variety shows, and becoming internet celebrities to maintain their high equipment costs and living expenses.

"It's not decided yet," Mercury said, looking at her. "Besides, I don't even have any bargaining chips right now."

"I can help you!" Emily took a half step forward, her neck and cheeks flushed with excitement. "You know, my family used to live in the upper part of the city. Before my father was laid off, he had a deep business relationship with Fia's company; he even knew several of the senior executives. I can have my father connect you with Fia and get you the best terms!"

Seeing her eagerness to prove her worth, and even her somewhat determined demeanor, Mercury remained completely unmoved.

What connections could an unemployed middle-aged man, laid off by his company, possibly have left? If those so-called good friends were truly influential, his family wouldn't have fallen so many social classes, sliding from the canopy to the root. Besides, it was Robert who facilitated the contact with Fia Corporation. Even if Emily's father had some influence, could he be more powerful than "The Iron Titan"?

But since Emily wanted to help him, Mercury didn't need to say anything too harsh.

"Your father used to have business dealings with Fia?" Mercury probed in a relatively calm tone. "What did he do before?"

"He used to be the head of public relations at Yong Sheng Technology."

"Eternal Life Technology?" These four words made Mercury raise an eyebrow. He abandoned his earlier dismissive attitude and lowered his voice: "Sorry, that was a bit abrupt, but when was he laid off? And why?"

"About six months ago," Emily shook her head, her shoulders slumping slightly. "He never said the specific reason, and I don't know either. After he retired, he stayed home every day drinking heavily. The property taxes and policing fees in the upper town were too much, and our savings quickly ran out. We had no choice but to sell the house and move down here."

Mercury quickly went through the timeline in his mind. The cooperation between Eternal Life Technology and the federal government seemed to have started about half a year ago. Could there be some connection between them?

"Alright, we can talk about Fia Corporation later." Mercury adjusted the shoulder strap of his backpack and looked at Emily. "If it's convenient, I'd like to visit your father."

Emily beamed at this, and excitedly replied, "Anytime is fine! Oh, no, the house is too messy... Let's set a specific time, tomorrow night, okay?"

"It probably won't work this week, how about this Saturday?"

Magic Eye is currently keeping an eye on all the trainee heroes. Mercury has completed his withdrawal procedures and moved into the association building for closed training, only able to relax on weekends.

Emily readily agreed: "Okay, it's a deal!"

Having successfully concluded his conversation with Emily, Mercury slung his backpack over his shoulder and turned to walk towards the principal's office.

He now only hoped that his father had finished the complicated withdrawal procedures. If it was delayed any longer, he would inevitably be criticized by Magic Eye Man when he returned to the Hero Association building.

However, when he knocked on the principal's office door, he was met with a brief reply from behind the desk: "You're asking about your father? He signed the papers and left a long time ago."

Mercury closed the door, stood in the hallway with a frown, quickly took out his phone from his pocket, and skillfully switched to a news platform.

Dad disappeared without a word, most likely switching back to his "angel of light" persona to handle an emergency. I wonder which tectonic plate has been struck by an earthquake this time, or if a tsunami has struck somewhere.

As per usual procedure, as soon as the Holy Light Angel is deployed, the Hero Association's public relations department will immediately push the news to all channels at full speed, for fear that the media and the public will miss even a second of the superhero's magnificent figure saving the world, and incidentally give the association a "GG" (a Chinese internet slang term for a loss).

Mercury kept swiping down the screen with his thumb, refreshing for nearly five minutes, but all the pages remained calm, and the Hero Association's official account remained silent.

Mercury frowned in thought, wondering where his dear old father had gone.

At this moment.

Tens of thousands of meters above the ground, a uniquely shaped aircraft glides above the clouds, and the Holy Light Angel approaches the aircraft at a steady speed.

The airtight side door slid open silently, and the pressure difference briefly created a wisp of white mist in mid-air. The Holy Angel slowed down, precisely passed through the decompression chamber, and landed inside the spacecraft.

The isolation door locked behind him, and the angel of holy light walked into the cabin. He soon arrived at the cockpit and met the owner of the aircraft.

She was an extremely beautiful and charming woman, with her long legs crossed and a mottled tabby cat lying in her arms.

Her fingers gently combed through the cat's fur as she smiled and said, "Long time no see, Holy Angel. I thought you had forgotten your old friend."