Heroes Return

"God had already arranged everything!"

"I remember your initial assignment wasn't to be locked up, hahaha! That's why I dislike that so-called God! He always says he's arranged everything, but it's so unfair. Hahaha! Honest and law-abiding people are made to be cuckolded! Some people are born without parents and have physical disabilities, while others are born rich and handsome. If all of this is God's arrangement, then God doesn't seem very fair! Hahaha! But if everything really is God's arrangement, then I should thank God! Hahaha! He even endowed me with such outstanding talents. Speaking of which, since I've praised God so much, can I be considered a believer? Hahaha!"

"..."

"Why aren't you saying anything? We agreed that I would help you, and you would help me, right?" Ivan smiled at the angel before him. "God must be bored too! Otherwise, why would he arrange a plot where I have to kill a high-ranking clergyman? Hahahaha!"

"..."

"You should at least respond! I've said so much, if you don't say anything, wouldn't I be very embarrassed?" Evan looked at the angel in front of him: "Of course I'm lying to you, how could I be embarrassed? We're bored now, how about we dance?"

Regardless of Evan's incessant chatter to the angel behind him.

At that moment, the entire holy city underwent a dramatic transformation. In an instant, the scenery around everyone became extremely bizarre, and the people around them vanished simultaneously. Everyone was scattered throughout the holy city.

Lin Jie stood there, dumbfounded, in a place that seemed to have been shattered and haphazardly pieced together, with glimpses of streets and buildings still visible above his head. Just a moment ago, his surroundings hadn't looked like this.

"Fine, at least I can act alone now! Let's quickly chop down these Ivans and go home!" Lin Jie finally breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, Lin Jie used to completely disregard trivial matters like whether his identity would be discovered. But after seeing Torus last time, especially after the other man stabbed him in the thigh and bled profusely while asking him questions, Lin Jie made up his mind to keep his identity a secret! He didn't want to be cornered at his doorstep by those SS-class heroes asking him questions he was too embarrassed to answer. He didn't want the news that the image of Zero, the great hero he had built up, had been ruined by his obsession with anime and manga, and that he had abandoned his heroic mission.

For Zero's eternal fame.

Chapter Fourteen

After looking around at the scenery, Lin Jie decided to go find the extra Ivans and kill them, then resolve this incident as soon as possible so he could go back for dinner.

"Huh? Are we the only two left? What happened?"

Just as Lin Jie was about to leave, a man suddenly appeared in a building not far from him. Lin Jie recognized this man; he was the one named Ling Yu who was carrying the large gun.

"I don't know, they should have been scattered throughout the city," Lin Jie replied.

"Is that so? That's a real shame!" Ling Yu said, slinging his spear over his shoulder. "But I have to admit you're very lucky! You actually ran into me, an S-rank, under these circumstances! Don't worry, I'll lead you. After all, I'm a man who just captured Ivan alive!"

"..." Faced with this person with a mysterious confidence, Lin Jie had no idea how to deal with him.

"Alright, Rank A, follow behind me. I'll lead you to eliminate the culprit behind all this! Since you're by my side, Lord Ling Yu, you're the safest! Feel fortunate! Then proudly tell your friends about my story! Hahaha!" Ling Yu said, jumping to the side.

Can I ask you a question?

"Hmm? Do you have any questions for me?"

"Where exactly does this inexplicable confidence of yours come from?" Lin Jie asked, looking at Ling Yu.

"Is that even a question? Because I'm Ling Yu the Great Gunner! Hahaha! I'm the future SS-class hero, the protagonist of this world! So it's only natural that I can defeat the enemy in front of me! Now you just need to stay by my side! Hahaha!" Ling Yu said to Lin Jie while laughing.

"So it's another clown. No wonder I felt a sense of familiarity when I saw this guy!" Lin Jie couldn't help but cover his forehead. "Speaking of which, lancers have always been unlucky! There's clearly no future with this guy!"

"Huh? What are you saying? Hurry up and follow me!" Ling Yu shouted back to Lin Jie after walking a distance.

"Do you even know which way to go?"

"I don't know, but since I'm the protagonist, I think I can't go wrong by choosing a direction!" Ling Yu turned around and gave Lin Jie a hearty smile.

At this moment, Lin Jie was considering whether to knock this guy unconscious with a stick and leave. But upon closer inspection, if this guy didn't find a few teams, he'd probably be the first to die, right?

Regardless of Lin Jie and Ling Yu's condition, Alice was sitting with a smile in front of a fountain that was floating in mid-air.

"Kuhu, how interesting! There's clearly no water supply system down there, yet water still sprays out. It seems the space itself has been shattered! This place is truly full of surprises! Wasn't I right, Delis?"

"What do we do next?" Delis asked, staring blankly at Alice while holding a flowerpot. In fact, Delis had placed some strange plants on Alice earlier, and it was because of these strange plants that Delis was able to appear beside Alice at the first moment.

"Need you even ask? Of course, we'll continue this game! Kuhuhu!" Alice smiled at Delis: "Of course, since it's a war of heroic spirits, I'll naturally try to summon a heroic spirit of my own!"

"How are we supposed to summon it?" Dalys looked at Alice in confusion. "We have absolutely no idea how to summon it."

"Kuhuhu! You don't seem to have figured out the ultimate purpose of this game yet?" Alice said, jumping off the fountain. Then she walked out first.

Delis followed beside her, then looked at Alice with wide eyes, waiting for Alice to continue. She knew Alice would explain.

"First of all, don't you find it strange?" Alice said with a smile. "Although they are clones with implanted memories, they are still male puppets I created with my memories. Aren't they defeated a little too easily? They are all essentially living Ivans, aren't they?"

“I still don’t understand,” Dai Lisi said.

“Kuhuhu, let’s put it another way. Since those are all real Ivans, they shouldn’t have been so easily defeated or even self-destructed in this pointless game, right? So they must have a purpose!” Alice said with a smile. “Kuhuhu! As for the purpose, it’s obviously to keep this city in constant killing and high-intensity battles. So why would those Ivans play such a meaningless game?”

"I don't quite understand." Daisy continued to stare blankly at Alice.

"I told you to read my 'Self-Cultivation in the Game' guide, but you never do," Alice said to the little girl beside her with a hint of coquettishness. "Because these seemingly meaningless things must have some meaning! That's why we do these seemingly meaningless things, even at the cost of sacrificing most of our people. Kuhuhu, or rather, all of the Ivans here, except for one, are destined to die."

"I don't understand what the benefit is in doing this."

“Of course there are benefits! This will definitely meet the conditions for starting something. Kuhoo!” Alice revealed a smile that was completely out of place for a cute girl: “So all of this is just a warm-up game for the real game! Kuhoo! How interesting! The game now is just a warm-up! The real game will only begin when there is only one Ivan left.”

"Can certain conditions be met in the current Summoning Heroic Spirit battles?" Delis asked.

“Yes, as long as we continue to increase the intensity of the battles and the number of deaths, we can definitely achieve a certain condition! Although I don’t know what that condition is yet. Kuhuhu! And the real game will only begin after that condition is achieved,” Alice said with a smile.

“But what that Ivan said just now wasn’t a lie; there are psychics present. Aren’t all the Ivans fighting individually?” Daisy finally uttered a rare long sentence.

"So this is actually a warm-up match!" Alice said, looking around at the strange scene. "And what Ivan said was all true! He just didn't say the real thing! All the Ivans are indeed fighting each other! And they only have one goal in mind!"

"What is the purpose?"

"Kuhuhu, only the last remaining Ivan can participate in the official game and use the reward he gets from winning the warm-up game to challenge the real opponent! That is, prepare to destroy the whole world, and then use that to lure out Zero! In other words, the winner among us will get another chance to challenge Zero with the new equipment and the chance to destroy the whole world! Ahahahaha... Don't you think it's a very interesting game? Ahahahaha!! But first we need to find the city gate we came in through! Ahahahaha! There should be three more!"

"Why do we need to find the city gate?" Daisy asked curiously.

"Because if it were me, if I wanted a massive, terrifying battle to erupt in this holy city, I would definitely set up something at the city gate that could summon Heroic Spirits. That way, the Hero Association would summon even more Heroic Spirits to get involved in this game! In my opinion, the more powerful people there are this time, the better, hahaha! Come to think of it, aren't those guys just me? And they even share the same interests as me." Alice's smile was remarkably similar to that of the male Ivan, and her laughter also became like Ivan's: "It's a pity that when we entered, the Association was too cautious and blew up one of the city gates. They probably won't know until their deaths that the gate not only posed no danger but actually increased their fighting power, right? How ironic."

“Will the other city gates be safe?” Delis asked.

"Kuhuhu, everything should be alright, right?" Alice's glasses lit up as she said this. "Looks like we're in luck, Kuhuhu."

Just above the two of them, a massive city gate bearing the inscription "Kingdom of Ivan" stood tall in the sky.

“But we don’t have any useful relics,” Daly thought for a moment and said, “How are we going to summon heroic spirits?”

“I do have something on hand that can be used to summon heroic spirits,” Alice said, taking out a bar of soap. “I was thinking I might need it, but I didn’t expect to use it so soon.”

Meanwhile, in another part of this cubic space, Captain Justice floated atop a building in mid-air. Using the building as cover, he watched the battle unfolding on the rooftop of a building below.

In fact, by the time the Justice Team came to their senses, everything around them had already changed to this state.

However, a dozen or so people dressed in ancient costumes suddenly appeared at his feet, clearly the heroic spirits summoned by Ivan. But after fighting for only a dozen minutes, only three of these heroic spirits remained standing.

One of the bald-headed Captain Justice recognized him; it was the recently deceased Master Boredom. Beside him stood an Ivan. Similarly, a dozen or so Ivans lay dead on the ground opposite them. In Captain Justice's view, all of these Ivans were thoroughly dead.

However, what Captain Justice did not expect was that these Ivans and Heroic Spirits would actually start a bloody battle the moment they met.

"Damn! Spartacus is just for show, all that shouting to build up momentum? No, this should be called Spartacus." The Bored Master said, kicking a Heroic Spirit away. At this moment, besides Ivan beside him, the only one still standing was the last Ivan on the opposite side who hadn't been killed!

"Hahahaha! As expected of me, I actually thought of summoning the recently deceased Master Boredom. Hahahaha! It's definitely more fun to fight myself! Hahahaha!" Ivan on the other side showed no awareness of his impending doom.

"Hahahaha! As expected of the genius and handsome me! I actually thought of summoning a warrior from mythology! But it's a pity that the warrior whose name is something else also has balls, hahahahaha!" Ivan next to the Bored Master also laughed and looked at Ivan opposite him.

"Looks like it's time for the final laugh!" Suddenly, Ivan, sitting across from them, pulled out seven funny balls. Each one had a star on its head. "I heard that collecting all seven will bring an unexpected surprise, ahahahaha! I've always loved surprises, ahahahaha!"

"WTF? What's that?" Captain Justice looked at the comical object in Ivan's hand with some surprise.

Chapter 15

However, just as Ivan took out the seven comical balls, the Bored Master suddenly appeared beside him. He raised his foot and kicked Ivan in the groin. Then, without giving the latter any chance to retaliate, he punched Ivan in the chest.

This punch pierced right through Ivan's chest.

After being pierced in the chest, Evan spat out a string of bloody spittle before being shot in the head by an energy gun.

"You talked so much nonsense! Don't you know that those who talk too much nonsense never have a good ending?" Master Bored withdrew his hand and then turned to look at Ivan behind him.

"We've got quite a few things this time! Hahahaha!" Ivan said, picking up the seven comical figures scattered on the ground. "Speaking of which, how exactly are these things used? I think I can study them carefully, hahahaha! But first, we need to deal with that spying captain!"

As Evan spoke, he raised his hand and pointed the gun at Captain Justice in mid-air.

At the same time, the Bored Master leaped high into the air and pounced on Captain Justice.

"I'm telling you, you've been a hero for so many years, can't you learn some stealth techniques? Anyone can find your location like this!" Bored shouted at Captain Justice in mid-air while launching a series of fierce attacks on him.

When their fists and feet collided in mid-air, a deafening roar erupted, and the shockwaves from their collision shattered the surrounding buildings. Powerful gusts of wind swept wildly outwards from the two men.

"Hmph! Kid, you're pretty tough!" Bored suddenly said to Captain Justice, who was still fighting, after a few moments of clashes. "But you'd better watch out for now!"

Bored as he spoke, a ball of golden light suddenly appeared in his hand, and he immediately threw a punch at Captain Justice. Faced with this powerful attack, Captain Justice, unable to dodge, raised his arms to block Bored's attack.

Immediately afterwards, Captain Justice was punched away by Master Boredom.

"Get out of the way!" After sending Captain Justice flying with a punch, Bored immediately shouted at the captain in mid-air. Upon hearing Bored Master's shout, Captain Justice didn't dare to hesitate and immediately flew to the side.

But the next second he clutched his groin and bent over, kneeling on the ground, his expression one of extreme pain.

"As expected, it's not so easy to dodge my move these days!" Bored Master helplessly walked up to Captain Justice and then stomped Captain Justice's head into the ground from top to bottom.

In that instant, Captain Justice suddenly exerted force and pulled himself out of the ground, then flew into the air. Although his body was in mid-air, Captain Justice could still feel the pain in his lower body.

"What on earth is going on? I clearly didn't even see you make a move." Captain Justice looked at the Bored Master standing below in surprise.

"This is my unique skill, an invisible assassination kick. I call this kick the Deadly Egg-Chasing Kick!" Master Bored said, "If you can sense the flow of hidden energy, then try to detect it. If you can't, then I advise you to run now! Watch out, I'm about to attack."

As the Bored Master spoke, a powerful fist gust of wind attacked Captain Justice in the sky. Captain Justice, however, intended to fly backward immediately. In fact, after witnessing the Bored Master's previous battle, he already understood that defeating Bored Master alone would be an extremely difficult task.

So he readily heeded the advice of the bored man and flew away into the distance. But he hadn't gone very far when the excruciating pain in his lower body returned.

"Looks like you can't escape now." Master Bored glanced helplessly at Captain Justice, who was foaming at the mouth and falling to the ground.

Just as Bored Master was about to move again to deliver another kick to Captain Justice, a thick beam of energy suddenly appeared behind him, shooting straight towards his back.

"Oh? Help is coming?" Bored didn't even turn around at this moment, but simply turned to the side, his body close to the energy beam to dodge it.

At the same moment, a black hole suddenly appeared beneath the fallen Captain Justice, sucking his body in.

"They rescued the person, so it seems there are quite a few experts among those who came in this time!" Bored smiled as he looked at the empty space ahead.

Now, boredom is evident in the numerous spatial gaps beneath our feet. And surprisingly, in the lowest gap, there's a small convenience store.

Captain Justice's figure fell directly from the ceiling.

"Why are we saving him?" a man shrouded in a black cloak asked the man beside him. The man beside him then stepped forward and helped the Captain of Justice up.

“Kira, although the captain has many disagreements with us, he is a true hero,” the man said to the man in black beside him.

"Loki? What are you doing here?" Captain Justice struggled to open his eyes and regain his senses. At the same time, he saw a man he knew very well.

“I’m here to wipe out those damned Ivans.” Rocky had Captain Justice lean against a shelf, then grabbed a bottle of water and tossed it to him.

After receiving the water, Captain Justice took a large gulp, but instead of swallowing it, he spat it out. The water, however, had turned red as he spat it out.