Heroes Return

"Hey, Lin Wan, it's been a long time," Tian Xiaoshu said to Lin Wan with a smile. "You've changed so much."

"Sister Tian!! Long time no see! Have you gone back to H City?" Lin Wan's face lit up with excitement when she saw Tian Xiaoshu. After all, Tian Xiaoshu often cooked for Lin Wan when she was little. In fact, it was Tian Xiaoshu who taught Lin Wan how to cook.

"Yes, due to some work reasons, I've been transferred back to H City. We'll be able to see each other more often from now on." Tian Xiaoshu said to Lin Wan with a smile, "Um... I heard Lin Jie was injured? How is he? Is he badly injured? The news said Lin Jie was seriously injured!"

"Huh? Sister Tian, ​​do you miss my brother?" Hearing Tian Xiaoshu's words, Lin Wan couldn't help but show a slightly gossipy expression: "Did you come here specifically to see your cousin?"

Upon hearing Lin Wan's words, Tian Xiaoshu's face immediately turned red: "I...I...I came to see the two of you. You're pushing me...You two are the only friends I have in H City."

"Don't be shy! I'll take you to see your brother right now. Don't worry, he's doing great. I just wanted an excuse to stay home and not do any heroic activities." Lin Wan said to Tian Xiaoshu, somewhat annoyed, "But when I saw my brother come home a few days ago, I was really shocked!"

"Is...is that so?" Hearing her words, Tian Xiaoshu breathed a sigh of relief and followed Lin Wan toward Lin Jie's room. "Lin Jie has changed. He should live for himself more now."

……

Tian Xiaoshu's mind involuntarily returned to ten years ago. Looking at Lin Jie lying in the room covered in blood, tears welled up in Tian Xiaoshu's eyes, but she was still stitching up Lin Jie's wounds according to the method taught in the book.

"Don't get up, you're too badly injured. If this continues, you...you'll die. You can't go out anymore. At least...at least not for now."

'No, people need me!' Lin Jie said, and as Tian Xiaoshu cut the stitches, he stood up and walked out with difficulty.

"No!" Tian Xiaoshu watched helplessly as Lin Jie walked out of the room, then angrily turned to Xiao Qian beside her: "You devil! You female liar! You scum! Lin Jie usually listens to you, doesn't he? Why didn't you try to persuade him?! If this continues, he... he'll die! You bastard!! You devil!"

"I am a demon! White people, don't forget what I am. If you keep talking like this, I'll kill you too." Xiaoqian glared fiercely at Tian Xiaoshu, and the two girls stared angrily at each other in the room.

"Sigh, do you really think my advice will work?" Xiaoqian sighed before saying to Tian Xiaoshu, "This guy is an idiot, a complete fool who only thinks about others but doesn't care about his own life at all! This kind of utter fool can't be persuaded about something like this. You idiot, you moron!"

……

This is the Lin Jie of the past. Tian Xiaoshu really finds it hard to imagine that Lin Jie would ever feign illness at home to refuse to pursue a heroic career. Time really does seem to change people a lot.

When the two arrived at Lin Jie's room, they heard a loud noise coming from inside.

"Brother! What happened to you!" Hearing the loud noise from inside the room, Lin Wan opened the door in alarm. What she saw was a collapsed wall and a messy room.

Right in the center of the room, on the bed, Lin Jie had arranged for the two girls to sit together. The two girls were currently in a tense standoff.

The two girls were Tristi and Anya. However, the air was thick with tension.

"Hey, little sister. Let me explain. This isn't some kind of chaotic situation. I wasn't caught cheating on someone, really. You have to believe me! Your brother isn't that kind of person..."

Before Lin Jie could finish speaking, Lin Wan punched him in the face and sent him flying.

"Scumbag!!!" Lin Wan shouted angrily at Lin Jie, who had been beaten out of the house, "Sister Tian came to see you, and you showed her this?"

Chapter two

"Hey? Tian Xiaoshu, you're here?" Upon seeing Tian Xiaoshu, Lin Jie, who had been knocked away and was hanging on the wall (Lin Jie's house was on the third floor of an apartment building), climbed back up and greeted Tian Xiaoshu.

However, just as the two were exchanging greetings, a fierce battle between the believers had already begun on the other side. In Lin Jie's room, Anya's blood-red spears filled the entire space, and Tristie emanated a terrifying aura powerful enough to kill any living being nearby. For a moment, both sides were completely on the verge of battle.

"You two!" Seeing this, Lin Wan's face finally showed uncontrollable anger: "What do you take my house for! Don't turn my brother's room into a battlefield! Can't you two get along properly? Are you all children?! Do you know how much financial trouble this will cause my family?! My brother is already very poor!"

"Little sister, stop talking. What you're saying hurts your brother's pride!" Lin Jie said helplessly after hearing Lin Wan's words. However, under Lin Wan's sharp gaze, Lin Jie finally shut his mouth.

Hearing Lin Wan's roar, Tristia and Anya stopped fighting simultaneously. Faced with Lin Wan's sudden outburst, the two girls' previous momentum vanished.

After giving the two girls a lecture, Lin Wan finally let them go and then looked at Lin Jie. However, when Lin Wan focused her attention on Lin Jie, she realized that he had disappeared sometime earlier. Tian Xiaoshu had also vanished.

……

Somewhere in the city, Lin Jie and Tian Xiaoshu were walking on the streets of H City.

"Speaking of which, it's been a long time since we've taken a walk together like this." Looking at Tian Xiaoshu beside him, Lin Jie then asked, "Have you gone back to H City?"

"Yes, I've gone back to work in H City." Tian Xiaoshu looked around with a faint smile on her face. "H City has changed a lot. It seems to have changed a lot since I lived here."

"After all, it's been destroyed by monsters many times, so it's normal for it to change a lot." Lin Jie didn't seem to care much about the changes here: "But our secret base that we used to frequent is still there! And that restaurant we used to go to all the time."

"Really? That old shop is still open?" Hearing Lin Jie's words, Tian Xiaoshu was quite excited: "Well, let's go take a look again. What do you think? I really want to see how it is now."

"I'm sorry, I have somewhere I'd like to go today, so I can't come along." Lin Jie declined Tian Xiaoshu's invitation outright.

"Where are you going? I'll go with you." Tian Xiaoshu didn't seem to want to miss this opportunity to be alone with Lin Jie.

Hearing Tian Xiaoshu's words, Lin Jie was somewhat surprised: "You've changed. You used to never ask to follow anyone."

“People’s fighting spirit changes, and I need to be more courageous too.” Tian Xiaoshu gave Lin Jie a sweet smile: “I’m not that timid and cowardly little girl I used to be!”

"Really? You have changed quite a bit."

“You seem to have changed quite a bit too.” Tian Xiaoshu looked at Lin Jie, and after thinking for a moment, she said, “But there’s one thing that doesn’t seem to have changed much.”

"Which point?"

"My popularity with girls hasn't changed at all," Tian Xiaoshu replied with a smile.

"I used to be very popular with girls? You're not kidding, are you?"

"I guess you were the only one who didn't realize that at the time! But that's normal, since you only had eyes for one girl back then." Thinking of this, Tian Xiaoshu hesitated for a moment: "Never mind, I won't say anything more. If it's not inconvenient, I'll go with you."

"Okay, it's not really an inconvenient place." Lin Jie finally nodded after hearing Tian Xiaoshu's words. The two walked towards the Hero Association.

After entering the H City Hero Association, the two walked straight towards a long corridor. In the corridor, a video of a character appeared before Lin Jie, continuously playing footage of that character's battles.

"This is the Superhero Memorial Hall." Looking at the scene before her, Tian Xiaoshu couldn't help but be a little surprised: "Do you know this person? I remember you never interacted with other heroes before."

"I've developed some connections with him because of some special relationships," Lin Jie said with a hint of helplessness. "Speaking of which, I even attended his wedding."

Right in front of Lin Jie, a hero running at an extremely fast speed appeared in the new video.

"Sonic? I heard he died in the last major event." Tian Xiaoshu had heard of this hero before, after all, he was a very famous SS-class hero.

"Yeah, he was a scumbag, but he was alright in some ways." Lin Jie said helplessly, "Maybe I'm the one who killed him. If I had acted faster, maybe he wouldn't have died."

"Before he went to the battlefield, he told me you were very strong. Before leaving, he also said that as long as you were there, everything would be alright. Zero!" Just as Lin Jie was talking to Tian Xiaoshu, a girl's voice suddenly rang out, and then a burning shadow appeared in front of Lin Jie. With extremely fast speed, Lin Jie was directly blasted away by the opponent.

"Why! He trusted you so much, why was he the one who died?!" The woman's voice was filled with sorrow and anger: "Zero, wasn't he never going to disappoint you? Why! Why did he still die in the end!"

"Amira! I'm sorry, maybe I'm not as strong as you think." Lin Jie, who had been knocked away after hearing the other party's words, could only say helplessly, "You're right, maybe I'm the one who killed him. If it weren't for knowing me, maybe he wouldn't have died. After all, given his past personality, he wouldn't have been killed so easily."

"..." Hearing Lin Jie's words, Amyra raised her fist again: "He was influenced by you and made up his mind to become a true hero, but in the end, all he got in return was death! I've been waiting for you here for the past few days. I knew you would come."

As she spoke, Amyra's fist prepared to strike again. The woman's hand trembled, while Lin Jie, standing beside her, showed no intention of retaliating. As Sonic's only family member, Lin Jie couldn't offer any explanation in front of her.

"This isn't Lin Jie's fault! You shouldn't blame him!" Just then, Tian Xiaoshu instinctively ran over and grabbed Amyra's fist: "Mr. Lin Jie didn't do anything wrong! You must have seen the battle in the human world! Lin Jie is the hardest-working of all the heroes! He shouldn't be blamed like this!"

"..." Having understood Tian Xiaoshu's words, Emila's gaze shifted to Tian Xiaoshu. Faced with Emila's expression, which was a mixture of anger and sadness, Tian Xiaoshu still stood in front of Lin Jie, suppressing her anger.

“In that battle, Mr. Lin Jie was almost killed! You have no right to blame him!” Tian Xiaoshu’s face was flushed with anger as she said this.

"Stop talking, Tian Xiaoshu." Hearing her words, Lin Jie stopped Tian Xiaoshu, not letting her continue: "If beating me will make you feel better, then come on, at least I won't fight back. In the end, I'm still not strong enough to protect everyone from harm at all times."

Hearing Lin Jie's words, Amy finally released her grip on his collar. Silent tears streamed down her face. For a woman who had just reunited with the person she loved, maintaining composure in this situation was no easy feat. Amy knew very well that Lin Jie hadn't done anything wrong. As a hero protecting the people, it wouldn't be surprising if he were killed in battle at any time. Perhaps her treatment of Lin Jie was simply a way of venting her emotions.

However, Amyra managed to hold back in the end and broke down in tears in front of the holographic image of Sonic.

“Because of my influence, Sonic decided to become an excellent hero, and it was because of this decision that Sonic participated in that war of the gods, ultimately being killed on the battlefield. Perhaps I shouldn’t have spent so much time with Sonic in the first place.” Lin Jie said helplessly to Amira, “If that’s the case, why did you choose to become a hero?”

“No, that was his own choice,” Amyra replied. “He admired you so much that he even mentioned you to me. He often said he hoped to become a hero like you, able to solve everything. Now that he’s dead, I want to help him fulfill that last wish.”

……

On the other side, in the World Government headquarters, in a specially designated cemetery area, a cemetery for SS heroes was being built. Torus was sitting quietly in front of a tombstone.

“You’ve been coming here every day these past few days.” Captain Justice appeared beside Torus, and the two of them looked together at Loki’s grave.

“He’s a true hero, so righteous that I even doubt my own decision back then,” Torus said regretfully to Captain Justice. “As a hero, he has suffered too much injustice over the years.”

"It was his own choice." Captain Justice patted Rocky on the shoulder. "I don't think our decision was wrong, and I've never thought those who opposed us were evil. They were undoubtedly true heroes back then. It's just that life is unpredictable, isn't it? At least in the end, he was able to fight like a hero to the very end."

"Sometimes I often wonder if we made the right decision back then."

"No matter what, we have to do it, otherwise the heroes will only descend into chaos." Captain Justice said to Rocky with lingering fear, "Remember the murderous hero incident? I don't want that to happen again."

As he spoke, Captain Justice sat down in front of the blasted cemetery.

"I only thought he could be a role model for young heroes, I never imagined it would end like this. Blast was a great support, he shouldn't have died here like this."

"No hero should die here. But unfortunately, we don't live in a fantasy world."

third chapter

Right in front of the cemetery, Captain Justice and Thorus exchanged a few words before leaving together. It was only after they left that Number One and the others appeared in the cemetery.

"Why deliberately send them away? You should no longer be on the World Government's worst list." Looking at Number One's figure, Nianxin couldn't help but ask with some doubt.

"It's nothing, I just don't want to run into them," Number One said somewhat helplessly. "The rift has already formed, and it's not so easy to repair. Besides, we have different ideologies, so it's better to avoid meeting them to prevent further conflicts."

With a sigh, Number One then walked towards his destination.

Meanwhile, in H City, Amyra had already left. After watching Amyra's departing figure, Tian Xiaoshu turned to Lin Jie and said, "You didn't do anything wrong, and you don't need to blame yourself."

"Thank you, don't worry, I'm not that sensitive." Hearing Tian Xiaoshu's words, Lin Jie replied with a smile, "After all, I've always been a thick-skinned person, haven't I?"

At that very moment, time seemed to stand still in a strange way. Right in front of Lin Jie, a beautiful young woman appeared. When Lin Jie saw what she was wearing, he instinctively clenched his fist, but he immediately relaxed it.

"Hey, is this some kind of twisted sense of humor, Solomon?" Lin Jie asked, somewhat annoyed, looking at Solomon's devilish outfit. After all, this was the same outfit Xiao Qian wore when he first met her. Solomon usually dressed in gothic attire; he never expected him to appear before Lin Jie dressed like this.

"Hehe, I just wanted to change my style. Besides, this is an outfit I used to wear! There's nothing special about it." Solomon was actually in a good mood when he saw Lin Jie's displeasure: "Actually, I came to see you to repay you! Without your help, I don't know how the situation would have ended."

"Repay me?"

"Of course, a beautiful lady saved by a hero will repay the hero!" Solomon smiled and came to Lin Jie's side, saying, "How about it? Look at my outfit today, isn't it great? Didn't expect a special reward?"

"What kind of repayment?" Lin Jie's expression had begun to turn evil at this point.

"Of course, it's news about Romanor." Hearing Lin Jie's words, Solomon immediately changed his tone and became serious: "Romanor should be making his move soon! He seems to be preparing to try and obtain the Xuanyuan Sword!"

"The Xuanyuan Sword? Although I know it's an ancient sword, is it really that powerful?" Hearing the other party's words, Lin Jie couldn't help but feel doubtful: "Even if he gets his hands on the Xuanyuan Sword, what can he do with it?"

"Hehe, you're from District C, and you don't even know about the Xuanyuan Sword?" Hearing Lin Jie's words, Xiao Qian seemed a little surprised: "The Xuanyuan Sword is one of the earliest Human King Swords! It possesses considerable power! After all, the Xuanyuan Sword is one of the Nine Ancient Treasures of District C. But there's something you might not know! Besides its power, the Xuanyuan Sword actually has other uses! Because it's the Human Emperor Sword, it's actually blessed with good fortune! Simply put, with my Xuanyuan Sword, anyone can instantly become Charlie!"

"Holy crap! So you can get rich just by buying lottery tickets? You can eat as many packs of spicy strips as you want in the future?" Lin Jie was surprised when he heard what the other person said.

"Your imaginative thinking ability is completely disproportionate to your status! That's really true." Hearing Lin Jie's question, even Solomon couldn't help but say helplessly, "It's not that simple! You must know that the Human King Sword is a weapon that helps a recognized king walk the path to becoming king!"

"Is that so?" Upon hearing Solomon's words, Lin Jie simply picked his nose.

"Well, with your power, there's really nothing to worry about. After all, for someone like you who has killed countless gods, whatever Romanor gains seems insignificant."

"Just tell me where that guy is hiding! I've wanted to find him and settle the score for ages. So, are you finally willing to tell me his whereabouts?" Hearing this, Lin Jie looked at Solomon. He seemed to be in a bad mood lately and needed a suitable scapegoat.

“You’ve been there! It’s on a section of the Great Wall. I’ll leave you a map showing you the exact location.” Solomon said, tossing Lin Jie a map. “Speaking of which, how much do you know about the Great Wall?”