Heroes Return

"Then let's leave some marks too," Lin Jie said to Justin. "After all, you did help out."

“But…” Justin shook his head, then said, “I think I’d better not…”

Chapter 19

"Alright everyone, to celebrate the completion of our new dormitory, I've decided to have a bonfire party on the beach tonight," Lin Jie said to the students behind him.

"Ugh!!!" Everyone exclaimed in unison.

"I'm telling you, you don't need to react like this, do you?" Lin Jie said, looking at everyone.

"Teacher... ugh... could you let me throw up for a while?" Ye Daoshen said to Lin Jie, and then he crawled to the side to throw up.

"Hey! If you're going to throw up, can't you find somewhere else?" Lin Jie said to the group. "Don't throw up in front of the new school building's courtyard!!!"

At this point, almost all the students except Tifa were vomiting incessantly, and there were large and small boxes of luggage next to them.

For their convenience, Lin Jie gave each of them a round trip on the highway. As a result, all the physically strong students vomited.

Of course, this does not affect the nature of what everyone does next.

In front of a huge bonfire, all the students began their evening's grilled octopus party.

Although there were still many barriers between them, the atmosphere among the students at this point was more like that of a normal class. In fact, after having picnics and building houses together, the barriers between everyone gradually diminished without them even realizing it.

Lin Jie, holding a can of beer, smiled as he looked at the scene before him: "Now that's more like companions. Since we're companions, we should definitely have fun together."

After taking a sip of beer, Lin Jie couldn't help but look up at the villa on the high ground: "But it seems like one person is completely inadequate."

At that moment, Justin was sitting alone on the fence of the villa, looking at the strangely shaped wood carvings.

"Are you really not going to leave your mark here? After all, you contributed to the construction." Lin Jie appeared behind him at this moment.

“Teacher…I…” Justin looked at the teacher who appeared beside him in surprise.

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean'? If you want to leave a mark, then hurry up and leave it. If you don't want to, then go downstairs and eat grilled octopus with the others," Lin Jie said to Justin.

“I…I think I’d better not leave any marks,” Justin said to Lin Jie. “I’m not suited to be a hero.”

“You’re not a hero yet,” Lin Jie said, looking at Justin. “So none of this matters.”

"A different teacher!" Justin said, sounding a little sad. "I simply can't fight!"

"Speaking of which, I'm also very curious. If I remember correctly, your strength is S-rank, right?" Lin Jie said, looking at Justin. "And it's that kind of awesome ability."

“But I’m a coward!” Justin said. “Teacher, I’m afraid of fighting! I’m afraid my abilities will hurt others! And I’m also afraid others will hurt me!! So I tremble with fear whenever I’m in real combat!”

"Isn't this like having the most powerful sniper but being afraid to fire?" Lin Jie couldn't help but look at Justin: "This is a problem, it needs treatment! But what does this have to do with you not wanting to leave a mark on it?"

"Teacher, actually I'm planning to give up my studies at My Hero Academia."

What do you mean?

"I'm planning to drop out!" Justin said to Lin Jie at this moment. "I had already decided to drop out after finishing this last week before you came, teacher."

"Are you saying you're planning to be a coward? Or a deserter?"

"Yes! I'm sorry, teacher! But I can't live here anymore! I'm just a coward!"

"You're quite quick to admit it, but not everyone is born good at fighting! Fighting is something that requires practice." Lin Jie took a sip of his drink and said, "If you'd like, I can train you."

"I'm sorry, teacher! I can't do it!"

"Are you planning to give up without even trying?" Lin Jie looked at Justin: "There's nothing you can't do! With your abilities, you should do some cool, awesome, and awesome things."

"I just can't do it!!! Teacher, you just don't understand!!" Justin shouted at Lin Jie, who could clearly see tears welling up in his eyes. "I'm just a coward! No matter how many times I try, I'm still a useless coward!"

"That's really true..." Lin Jie was speechless for a moment. For him, if you asked him to kill someone, he could kill a hundred people, but if you asked him to counsel students, he was completely incapable.

"Teacher, you don't need to comfort me! I've made up my mind." Justin said to Lin Jie, "Everyone who tried to train me because I'm S-rank has given up in the end!"

"You really know how to justify your incompetence," Lin Jie said, tossing him a can of beer.

"Teacher?" Justin took the beer that Lin Jie threw to him, puzzled.

"Since you're a coward, why did you come here? I remember this is a free registration area, right?" Lin Jie said to Justin, "Can you tell me why you came here to be a hero?"

“Because heroes are cool,” Justin said. “I’ve been a coward since I was a kid, but people always crave what they don’t have, right? So when I was found out I had S-class superpowers, I thought I could be like those heroes on TV.”

So you ended up here?

“Yes, I was one of only four S-class students in the entire academy. I was supposed to be a highly anticipated freshman,” Justin said with a hint of melancholy. “But I disappointed my classmates and mentors time and time again, and in the end, I became the laughingstock of the whole school. That’s when I realized that a coward is a coward no matter where he is!”

Simply put, a salted fish is still a salted fish even if it flips over. Right?

"Yes."

“Do you know how I became a hero?” Lin Jie asked Justin.

"A teacher? I don't know."

"That was the first time I killed a monster," Lin Jie said, taking a sip of his drink. "Do you know how I reacted then? I sat on the ground and cried! And I cried very painfully."

"Why?" Justin asked curiously, "I really can't believe someone like you, teacher, would cry."

“Because that guy killed my family!” Lin Jie said, taking another sip of beer. “When I got there, my family had already been killed. That’s why I was sitting on the ground crying when I killed him.”

"Teacher, were you crying because you lost a loved one?"

“No,” Lin Jie said, giving an answer that puzzled Justin.

"Isn't it because of the loss of a loved one?"

"No," Lin Jie said, downing his beer in one gulp before throwing the can far away. "When I cried, I was actually crying for myself."

"Crying for yourself?"

“Yes! I clearly had the ability to defeat that monster! But I could only watch helplessly as he killed my family!” Lin Jie said to Justin, “I hated my own powerlessness back then. I thought I was strong, but I was actually very weak! If I had been able to run faster or be stronger, maybe the tragedy wouldn’t have happened! Maybe I could have saved my family.”

"teacher."

“Justin, do you know what it’s like to have the power to save someone, but you can only watch helplessly as tragedy unfolds?” Lin Jie said, gently patting his heart. “If you are a person with a sense of justice and conscience, then your heart will ache for the rest of your life.”

“Teacher… but I really am a coward with no courage,” Justin said. “And I’ve already made up my mind to drop out.”

"Then consider this my parting words," Lin Jie said to Justin. "After all, monsters and such appear in this world every now and then. If you ever encounter such a situation, remember my warning. Doing nothing is often worse than death, provided, of course, that you have a righteous heart."

“I understand, teacher,” Justin said to Lin Jie. “By the way, teacher, I’m not an adult yet, so I won’t drink.”

Justin handed the can of beer in his hand to Lin Jie, but Lin Jie did not take it.

“What man doesn’t drink beer?” Lin Jie glanced at Justin: “Have you heard the saying that alcohol emboldens cowards? This beer is for you. If you really encounter the situation I’m talking about, and you don’t have the courage to rush in and fight, then drink it! After you drink it, you’ll dare to go in.”

"Huh? Really?" Justin looked at Lin Jie in disbelief.

“Look at what those drunk people are capable of doing,” Lin Jie said to Justin.

"Oh, I understand, teacher." Justin said, putting away the can of beer.

"Alright, let's go to the bonfire party by the sea now," said Justin, a reader of Lin Jie's work.

“I won’t be going, teacher,” Justin said.

"Believe it or not, I'll beat you up?" Lin Jie said, taking out his iron rod. "If you don't want to go, that's fine too. Let's have a three-hundred-round battle."

"No need, teacher!" Justin immediately stood up. "I'll go right away!"

With that, Justin ran towards the bonfire party below.

Watching Justin's retreating figure, Lin Jie found himself holding another can of beer. "As expected, trying to change someone's mind with words is not my forte at all. Even bringing up his dark history didn't help. But if he's going to back down like this, let me see what's in this kid's conscience."

As he spoke, Lin Jie looked towards the campfire below: "But right now there should be a good opportunity to test whether he has the potential to become a hero. If not, it's better to withdraw early, just like me. Speaking of spending time with these students, I've unconsciously found myself reminiscing about the past. Thinking about what I just said, it's so damn embarrassing!! If the other students find out, I'm doomed! No, I'm going to shut him up tonight."

……

Time passed until late at night, and all the students in Class S went into their new rooms.

It's worth mentioning that because there are only twelve rooms on the second floor, and Lin Jie also needs to live there, Harry moved back to the attic where he always slept.

Only one person remained on the beach, struggling to pack his things; this person was Justin.

As he was sorting through the food scraps, a person with eerie red eyes emerged from the villa. He also carried a long, blood-red knife.

Chapter 20

From the moment Justin saw the blood-red longsword, he was certain that the man was Chig.

However, at this moment, Chig looked menacing from afar, but in this hero academy, it was definitely not unusual for Chig to suddenly go out at night.

Out of curiosity and the desire to report to the teacher in time, Justin finally decided to follow Chig at a distance and walk into the distant forest.

Justin could hear Chig's shouts from afar.

"Shut up! ...I won't listen to anything you say! Shut up, you bastards!" While muttering this to himself, Qige swung his crimson longsword left and right twice.

"Could he be suffering from chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)?" Justin felt a pang of fear seeing Chig's somewhat crazed state. At the same time, he couldn't help but have second thoughts: "I'd better go find a teacher quickly."

Thinking this, Justin ran back the way he came, but then he found that the whole world had turned red and everything around him had stopped.

Forget about walking back, Justin turned on the student's computer and there was absolutely no signal.

At that moment, one by one, humanoid monsters resembling shadows began to appear in this red world. As these shadow monsters appeared, Qig swung his blood-red longsword down fiercely at one of them.

The shadow monster that had just stood up vanished into thin air after taking a blow from Qig head-on. However, a large number of shadow monsters began to appear continuously behind the forest and began to surround Qig.

And so a battle began.

As Qige began to swing his long, blood-red sword around, a strange magic circle appeared in his red eye.

As the magic circle lit up, strange energies began to surge from all directions into the eye, constantly replenishing its own energy while also granting it the ability to accurately interpret the magic of sorcerers.

Hiding far away in the bushes, watching the scene between Chig and the shadowy monster, Justin couldn't help but tremble. At this moment, he began to regret coming with Chig, but the eerie barrier in front of him blocked his way out, leaving him no chance to go back to his teacher for help.

While hiding in the bushes and watching Chig's blood-red blade slash continuously, Justin silently cheered Chig on in his heart: "You have to win, Chig!"

Of course, at this moment, Qig had no time to pay attention to whether there were people around him, because he was completely focused on the monsters in front of him.

A huge black monster opened its mouth far away and threw a massive fireball at Chig. Then, something bizarre happened in Justin's eyes.

As the fireball approached Chig, it was sucked into Chig's red eyeball like flowing water. The next moment, a huge ball of flame spread outwards from Chig, engulfing the shadow monsters that had surrounded him. They roared in resentment and vanished from their spots.

At the same time, Qige's figure instantly appeared beside the giant monster that was releasing flames, and his blood-red longsword swept across, severing the monster's body.

As the final roar faded, the world returned to calm once more.