Heroes Return

"Hmm? I got a perfect score in the practical exam, but only 13 points in the written exam, for a total of 113 points. I barely passed," Lin Jie replied.

“It’s true that being uncultured is terrible. If you pass the written test, you should be able to advance directly to level C. After all, I acknowledge your abilities,” Xiao Zhan said. “But that’s perfect. If my assistant’s level surpasses mine, wouldn’t I lose face?”

"..."

"By the way, let's go listen to a lecture. There's a lecture about B-level superheroes today," Xiao Zhan said.

"Oh? I should go check it out. I feel like my way of thinking is out of touch with the current superheroes."

"Let's go then. By the way, how good are your practical examiners?"

"He's a nice guy. He reminded me of a lot of things I needed to know, and he even went easy on me during the actual match."

……

If Atan heard this, he would definitely cry. He wasn't holding back at all; he was instantly killed before he even had a chance to use his strongest power.

……

"Miss Dong, here is the exam paper you requested." A butler-like person handed an exam paper and some materials to the silver-haired girl.

Miss Dong glanced at the exam paper in her hand, and after a while, she muttered to herself, "Lin Jie? He should be someone who can be put to good use."

Chapter VII

The two arrived at the venue for the Class B hero lecture, where many superheroes were already seated. Not long after Lin Jie and Xiao Zhan found a place to sit, a muscular man with a completely dark complexion appeared at the front of the stage.

"Hello everyone, I'm your lecturer. I guess I don't need to introduce myself, since I feel I'm quite well-known in H City," the man said.

"Who is he?" Lin Jie whispered to Zhan Chen from below.

“A B-level hero, I think his name is Black Gold,” Xiao Zhan said. “I heard that his body is hard enough to be made of alloy.”

"Why are all the superheroes I've encountered today muscular men?" Lin Jie said. "I thought I was going to see a lot of beautiful women in tight-fitting clothes."

“There used to be quite a few, but I heard that a lot of things have happened recently, so many female heroes have been invited by wealthy businessmen and political figures to serve as their protectors,” Xiao Zhan said.

"What? Why not hire a muscular man as a bodyguard?" Lin Jie asked incredulously.

"Let me ask you, which would you choose: a beautiful and capable female bodyguard, or a tough, burly man who's also very skilled at fighting?"

"Oh...I understand." Lin Jie nodded.

After that, the two of them stopped talking and began listening to Mr. Black Gold's lecture from the podium.

Five minutes later, Lin Jie successfully fell asleep.

Lin Jie didn't know how much time had passed when he was groggily shaken awake. Opening his eyes, he saw a dark, indistinct face in front of him, which startled him so much that he instinctively jumped back.

“You’re the first person to fall asleep in my class. It seems you’re very confident in your experience,” Black Gold said to Lin Jie.

"I'd say I'm fairly confident."

"Really? Then can you answer a few questions for me?"

"You tell me," Lin Jie said.

"What's the first thing you do when facing a powerful monster?" Black Gold asked. "Especially those powerful monsters that are clearly unknown to us."

"I chopped it down in one go," Lin Jie replied decisively.

"So what if you're facing a dark force of unknown strength?" Black Gold asked. "For example, if you were asked to investigate certain criminal activities of these forces, what would you usually do?"

"Just wipe that faction out," Lin Jie replied as before.

"So you're going to rescue them?" Black Gold asked.

"Go straight and kill the enemy."

What do you do if the enemy threatens you with hostages?

"Kill the enemy before he can threaten you."

"Besides killing people, what else can you do?" Black Gold's expression was already a little distorted.

“If I lose all my weapons, I’ll kill someone,” Lin Jie said.

“You really are… really are…” At this moment, Black Gold’s expression had changed significantly: “Well done, I admire you, you’re a man.”

"Huh?" Lin Jie was bewildered by Hei Jin's sudden change.

"It may seem naive, but what you said is indeed the fastest solution." Black Gold said, giving a thumbs up. "Back in the day, I had the same idea as you: just defeat all the enemies. Unfortunately, the Association often likes to complicate things. You're new here, right? You seem quite confident in your abilities."

"I'd say I'm fairly confident," Lin Jie replied. "I've always felt that I'm quite strong."

"Then make good use of your strengths. If you're good at killing, just go kill people," Black Gold said to him. "I'm optimistic about your future, kid. You can go back to sleep now."

"Oh."

"This is possible?!" Everyone in the room stared at the two people in astonishment.

"What is the job of us superheroes?" Black Gold returned to the podium and addressed the audience: "Discover evil, find evil, fight evil. It's that simple, that's how men are. That's what the great hero 'Zero' did. He never asked for any fame from anyone; he just did those three things all along."

Of course, the expressions of those listening to the lecture varied; some listened attentively, while others were dismissive.

However, what Lin Jie didn't know was that when he left the classroom after class, Miss Dong appeared inside.

"How is that person?" Miss Dong asked.

"Well, he's a decent guy. I can hardly believe you said he killed Atan in a second," Black Gold said. "But at least it shows he's not the type to fawn over the president."

"That's good."

"However, I've heard that your Dong family and the Ouyang family have quite a few connections. What you're doing doesn't seem quite right. What if the Dong family's upper echelons blame you..."

"It's none of your business. Just do your own thing," Miss Dong said.

……

Standing before the statue in the hall, Lin Jie carefully examined the statue of 'Zero': "No matter how many times I look at it, it doesn't look like it at all."

“Indeed, I also feel that the statue of Zero is different from the Zero I’ve seen before,” Xiao Zhan said.

Just as the two were pointing at the statue, a sudden shout reached their ears.

"You'd better not try to be a hero! If I ever see you out doing heroic things, we'll beat you up every time we see you."

"Oh?" Looking in the direction of the voice, Lin Jie saw three people surrounding a bespectacled man.

"Well..." the bespectacled man said weakly, "I didn't mean to."

"You think you can just say it wasn't intentional and get away with stealing our thunder? A piece of trash like you, if it weren't for the fact that you're still somewhat useful as an errand boy, do you think we would have taken you into our team? Not only are you ungrateful, but you also dare to steal our thunder," the leader said.

“But if I don’t intervene, those guys will get away…” the bespectacled man said.

"So what if they ran away? It's better than letting your lackey steal the spotlight. It's like we're not even as good as lackeys," the man said viciously.

"However, letting those people escape will cause a lot of harm, and many ordinary people will be injured."

“What do I care about those ordinary people! The more trouble they cause, the better! We can arrest them again then,” the man said. “It’ll add another achievement to our record.”

……

Hearing the man's words, the veins on Lin Jie's forehead bulged.

"Go and process your withdrawal from the Hero Association right now," another man said. "Otherwise, we'll beat you up every time we see you! You damn glasses."

"No, this is the only thing I won't do." The bespectacled man suddenly became firm: "You can't be considered heroes at all."

He punched the bespectacled man in the face, knocking him to the ground, and then stomped on his face.

"Let me tell you, we are heroes. We are recognized by the World Government," the leader said. "Otherwise, what do you think defines a hero? A long-dead idiot like Zero?"

This time, not only Lin Jie was affected, but even Xiao Zhan's forehead veins bulged out.

“Zero isn’t an idiot,” the bespectacled man said, being trampled on the ground. “Zero is a true hero. He’s nothing like you scoundrels.”

"So he's the real idiot. If I were Zero, I might be king by now," the man said arrogantly. "In the end, all his efforts were for nothing but benefiting others. Heh, in the end, they didn't even find his body."

"Zero isn't dead yet!" (Three voices rang out simultaneously)

Lin Jie pulled out his spiked club and walked up to the three men: "It's one thing for you to beat up this guy with glasses! But you even dared to insult Zero. I absolutely cannot tolerate this."

“That’s right.” Xiao Zhan also walked over and took out his dual pistols: “It’s one thing for you to beat up this guy with glasses, but I will never let you get away with insulting Senior Zero.”

"Can you two please consider my feelings?" the bespectacled guy said from below.

"Tch, two E-rank guys, mind your own business," the leader said. "Do you know who we three are? We're the D-rank heroes, the Super H City Golden Triangle!"

"Is D-rank really that impressive?" A refined-looking young man approached; this was the third person who had spoken earlier. "How about we talk privately for a while?"

Upon seeing the newcomers, the three men from the Golden Triangle retreated as if they had seen a ghost.

"It's terrifying!!!" one of them exclaimed.

"What's wrong? Weren't you pretty arrogant just now? I'm also an E-rank, why don't you come at me?" the young man called "Ghostly Shock" said. "You guys beat up Glasses, fine, but you even dared to insult Zero!!!"

"Can't you guys even consider how I feel?!"

"We were wrong! We'll never do it again!!" The three men were so frightened that they turned and ran away. One of them even fell and knocked out a front tooth, but he didn't care. He got up and ran outside.

"Impressive, brother," Lin Jie said to the young man.

"It's nothing, it happens all the time. There aren't many people here who aren't afraid of me. After all, I've been an E-rank for five years." Shen Jinggui Tiao said, "You're the first person in the past three years who can talk to me so normally."

"Then you have no friends?"

"That's hurtful to say. I still have friends." As he spoke, Shen Jinggui jumped up and took out his phone, on which an anime girl was waving at him.

"Hey? You play this game too!" Lin Jie said, taking out his own phone.

"Just how empty are you two?" Xiao Zhan couldn't help but ask.

"You don't know anything," Lin Jie said. "You have no idea what it feels like to watch magical girl videos alone in the middle of the night."

“Exactly!” Shen Jingguitiao said, “You like that comic too? I have the whole set of figurines.”

"Really?... You have to take me to see it."

"OK……"

……

The two got along very well and the more they talked, the more they clicked.

“Let’s team up!” Lin Jie said. “This is the first time I’ve met a man I can talk to like you.”