Heroes Return

Hero Returns (Hero? I stopped being one a long time ago) Author: Bored and Looking at the Sky

Summary:

Along with various crises and despair came humanity's first true superhero.

Under his influence, a large number of superheroes emerged. However, after fighting for five years, he disappeared from people's sight.

Volume One, I'm No Longer a Hero

Chapter One

Beginning in 2093, various unidentified monsters began causing disturbances around the world. Simultaneously, the global crime rate skyrocketed. At the time, the world government adopted a policy of information secrecy and private resolution.

In 2095, the situation began to deteriorate, with monsters and criminals with superpowers appearing more and more frequently before humanity. The world government's information blockade was also broken under these circumstances. Ordinary military weapons had very limited effect on these people and monsters, and since they often appeared in densely populated areas, it was difficult to use heavy weapons each time they appeared.

In April 2095, a new era of overwhelming force was about to begin, and the world government was struggling to cope, plunging the world into panic.

In October 2095, a man whose face was shrouded in a black robe appeared before humanity, bringing hope to a world gripped by panic.

He is the first true superhero in human history, and people call him "Zero." He begins to fight against the ever-appearing monsters and the forces of darkness.

Initially, everyone thought he would be defeated by the swarming monsters and dark forces, just like those who challenged the darkness and the World Government forces.

But as one dark force after another was defeated, one monster after another was killed, and one supervillain after another was captured, humanity began to worship "Zero" with fanaticism. Some even called "Zero" a god and a savior. But at this time, "Zero" said the only words he ever spoke to the public: "I am not a god. I am just a human being who wants to destroy evil."

Meanwhile, as Zero continued to win victories, information about those monsters and supervillains gradually came into the public eye.

In 2098, thanks to a complete lack of publicly available information, humanity finally understood the origins of these bizarre creatures. Eighty percent of them were created by humans themselves, through inhumane experiments and secret weapons research. The rest originated from outer space and other worlds.

Thanks to the information released by 'Zero', people began to truly understand the world.

In May 2098, three superheroes emerged simultaneously around the world in fascination with Zero's actions, and they began to fight the criminals and monsters that Zero had no time to deal with.

In June of the same year, more than a dozen superheroes appeared around the world.

In July, dozens of superheroes appeared.

Inspired by the legendary feats of 'Zero,' a large number of superheroes began to emerge. The global crime rate began to decline that year.

The year 2100 marks the official arrival of the 22nd century. This is a special year, a year in which many significant events took place.

In March, the Superhero Registration Act was established by the World Government. Because of this law, superheroes must register with the government in order to fight crime; otherwise, they are essentially wanted criminals. This has led to two opposing voices among superheroes: supporters and opponents.

Just when the world hoped that "Zero" would step forward and say something, the man who had created countless legends in five years vanished. The government searched for him, but only found his cloak.

In 2105, standing on a bustling street, Lin Jie stared blankly at the latest movie advertisement playing on the large screen in front of him.

A beautiful female host announced, "Welcome everyone to the promotional video for the new movie 'Zero: I Am Not God.' The lead role of the great hero Zero is once again played by the big star He Qi. As the fifth installment in the Zero series, we have invited the active A-class hero 'God Hand' to play himself, since he was one of the witnesses to the events of that time."

At that moment, a masked man appeared before the crowd.

"Hello everyone, I am the active hero, God Hand," the man said.

……

"I never imagined that my chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) days would be made into five movies! Ugh... How embarrassing! It's clearly my dark history, yet it's being made into movies for the whole world to see... What kind of twisted humiliation play is this?!" Lin Jie roared inwardly, after all, he was Zero, who had disappeared for five years.

The reason why he couldn't be found anywhere in the world was because he had been a recluse for five years.

At first, he just had a fit of teenage angst and wanted to be a hero, but he ended up getting stronger and stronger. By the time he realized it, his whole life had become a mess, so on the day he graduated from high school, he decisively gave up on continuing to be a hero and became a shut-in instead.

In fact, Lin Jie did not want to become a shut-in, but when he came to his senses, he didn't have a single good friend, his studies were in a mess, he didn't even get into a third-rate university, and no company was willing to hire someone with only a high school diploma. So he began his life as a shut-in.

What Lin Jie often does is reminisce about his junior high and high school years.

In junior high, while other chuunibyou boys were playing superhero-fighting-monster games, he went out to fight real monsters...

While his classmates were killing monsters in computer games, he went out to fight real monsters...

While other students went out to play during their free time, he went out to fight monsters...

He graduated, and while others were exchanging contact information, he went to slay monsters...

Finally, it wasn't until graduation that he realized he hadn't made a single friend, because he had spent the time others used to make friends fighting monsters.

High school is the time when young boys and girls start dating.

While others go on dates in the classroom after school, he attacks people in the classroom after school.

While others are having dates in the woods, he's hacking people to pieces in the woods.

While others were having dates by the river, he was hacking people to pieces by the river.

While others are dating in the park, he's stabbing people in the park.

Lin Jie carefully considered his three years of high school and concluded that the places others used for dating, he used for killing people. The places others used for sex, he actually endured artillery fire in.

This made Lin Jie wonder if he had misallocated his skill points. Why is it that the superheroes who appeared later always seemed to be either rescuing a damsel in distress and then trying to pick up girls, or vice versa?

Lin Jie thought about what he was facing again... Monsters, cannons, strong men, aliens... There wasn't even a female one!

And so, Lin Jie cured his teenage angst after graduating from high school.

……

"I heard you were one of the victims of the cult incident back then, Mr. God's Hand?" the female host asked.

“Yes, I was a follower of that cult back then. Thanks to Zero, I was able to break free from the cult and become a hero,” said the Hand of God.

"So, you were just playing yourself this time, after all, you were playing yourself," the female host said.

"Of course, this movie isn't just about Zero's heroic deeds; it's also about the opportunity that led me to become a hero, which means a lot to me. I'll never forget what he said to us who worshipped him after defeating the evil god: 'I am not a god; I am just a human who wants to destroy evil,'" said the Hand of God.

"Yes, we think Zero at that time probably wanted to tell us that instead of worshipping those things, we should stand up and resist."

"Yes, I became a superhero because of his words. In fact, early superheroes were all influenced by those words."

……

"Damn it! I just thought it would look cool to say it like that, especially since there were a lot of beautiful women there..." Lin Jie roared inwardly, "The feeling of being judged and analyzed by others afterward for saying something cool is just too embarrassing..."

……

"So, Mr. God's Hand, do you think Zero is still alive?"

"I don't believe he's dead, because I witnessed his battle firsthand. Such a powerful being cannot be killed."

……

"Huh? Am I strong? But all I can do is chop people up! And that evil god-like thing is clearly useless."

……

"Really? So Mr. God's Hand shares the same opinion as those early heroes. Thank you for the interview. This time, the audience will experience the most authentic Heroes series. Okay, next we have invited Ms. Qin Yanran, who plays the cult saintess. She will be the female lead, acting opposite Mr. He Qi..."

……

"Screenshot my ass! In the fourth movie, I easily defeated that boss octopus, but in the movie, I was tortured by that tentacle monster for a full fifteen minutes... It makes me sick just thinking about it. The director actually had a tentacle monster torture a grown man..." Lin Jie thought to himself, looking at the screen. "And then the later plot involved the captain's daughter saving me, and then we defeated the tentacle monster together and started a love story... The captain's daughter was crying her eyes out in the cabin the whole time..."

Lin Jie couldn't help but sigh: "I guess in their movie this time, I'll be having an affair with that saintess again. Speaking of which, I really wanted to get her attention when I said that line, but unfortunately she fainted... If things really turned out like in the movie... that would be so great... I'm still single! How can I bear it when you guys are showing me having a romantic relationship with someone else in the movie? It's so damn heartbreaking! Besides, I didn't even agree to the image patent for my work, how did it become their company's exclusive image..."

Lin Jie mentally ranted for a while before remembering that he had been forced to come out and look for a job by his younger sister.

"Speaking of which, it's a good thing my sister didn't find out I'm Zero, otherwise, with all these remakes of embarrassing movies and anime, I wouldn't be able to stay at home. Other people's chuunibyou is just minor, but when I was chuunibyou, I was doing it in front of the whole world... Luckily, I kept my identity a secret back then, otherwise I really wouldn't have the face to show anyone now..."

Chapter two

Looking at the job postings on the electronic screen, Lin Jie sighed helplessly: "I really don't want to work! Oh well, I'll just buy the latest game and go home."

Lin Jie has recently become fond of computer games, for a very simple reason: the monsters in the game are more difficult to kill than the monsters in real life.

"Oh right, when I get back I'll tell my sister I got lost on the road of life and missed the job fair." Lin Jie said as he walked towards the commercial street, where a group of handsome men were performing.

"Oh? It's the newest popular superhero group, the Ten Gods Family!" Lin Jie said, looking at the band in front of him. "The lead singer, guitarist, keyboardist, drummer, and bassist... there are only five people in total, so why is it called the Ten Gods Family? It would be more fitting to call it the Five Gods Family."

……

"God! God! God! God!!" The girls' cheers rose higher and higher with their singing.

"Thank you all for supporting our band," the host said to the girls in the audience.

"Lord Togami, you are our god!!" a young female deity exclaimed.

"We are not gods, we are just a group of humans who want to eradicate evil," Togami said to the girls below the stage. Immediately, another round of screams erupted from the crowd.

"Thank you everyone! By the way, we've already advanced from D-rank hero to C-rank hero within a month. We hope you can continue to support us, as this will motivate us to reach B-rank hero even faster..."

"So the lead singer's name is Togami." After watching the performance, Lin Jie couldn't help but say, "Speaking of which, I said that line in front of hundreds of thousands of people. But why didn't any girls scream for me? I would have liked it if even a guy had screamed."

Lin Jie couldn't help but recall the time he turned his back to the hundreds of thousands kneeling on the ground and uttered the words, "I am not a god." Lin Jie had initially thought it would be incredibly cool, eliciting gasps of amazement. But the reality was that the scene was so eerily quiet you could hear the insects chirping. This became one of the stains on Lin Jie's record; after all, he had uttered what he considered a very cool line in front of hundreds of thousands of people, only to be met with complete silence…

Such shame made Lin Jie flee the scene as quickly as possible, let alone have any relationship with a saintess who had fainted.

"So it really comes down to looks after all?" Lin Jie looked at the incredibly handsome Shishin on the stage. "Should I have shown my face back then? Oh well, if I had shown my face and it had been a flop, wouldn't I have let hundreds of thousands of people know what that idiot who was spouting nonsense looked like?"

Just as the performance on stage was about to come to an end, Lin Jie finally managed to squeeze through the crowd and into the shop he frequented.

"Seriously, why doesn't this guy with such high popularity find a bigger venue to hold his concert? Why does he have to come to Central Avenue and cause traffic jams? Isn't he crazy?" Lin Jie said while picking out the items he wanted.

"That's not necessarily true!" the game store owner said at the counter, then pointed to the front row, which was almost entirely filled with enthusiastic female fans: "You'll understand once you squeeze through there, hehehe!"

Looking at the shop owner with a lewd grin, and then at the crowd of female fans, Lin Jie couldn't help but swallow hard.

"How about it? The event still has a while left, do you want to go in and give it a try?" the shop owner said.

At this moment, Lin Jie was torn between staying in the world of anime and manga or going out to become a pervert.

"I'm not that kind of person! I'm a guy who's completely immersed in the world of anime and manga. Three-dimensional women don't appeal to me at all," Lin Jie said righteously to the shop owner. "But then again, people who are completely immersed in the world of anime and manga really are all weirdos..."

Lin Jie sighed, and then, under the boss's gaze of looking at a fellow enthusiast, resolutely squeezed into the crowd. You know, you can choose a game later, but this kind of opportunity is rare.

So, while shouting "I love Shishin," Lin Jie squeezed into the area with the most girls.

Feeling the sensations around him, Lin Jie thought to himself, "This really is paradise."

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" A series of gunshots rang out from the crowd, and the girl beside Lin Jie scattered in an instant. As the fleeing crowd appeared, several men dressed in black combat uniforms appeared, each holding a gun.

"It's the Black Hand!" someone in the crowd exclaimed.

The Black Hand organization is quite well-known in H City, as they are frequently featured in the news as terrorists.