Heroes Return

"I'm sorry for causing you trouble," Lin Jie said apologetically. "Speaking of which, it's been a long time since I've had Tian Xiaoshu's cooking."

"Yes, it's been a long time," Tian Xiaoshu said somewhat embarrassedly. "I don't know if it still suits your taste."

"Your cooking is always the best."

"Dude, you're really something! You're the one who usually eats my cooking."

"By the way, Tian Xiaoshu, are you planning to work in H City long-term?"

“Well, I will be a basic course teacher at the Hero Department in H City.” Tian Xiaoshu thought for a moment and said, “After all, even heroes should have basic knowledge education.”

"That's true! You're not leaving? That's wonderful."

"Yes, that's great." Tian Xiaoshu said, running towards the kitchen: "By the way, I've stewed some vegetables, I'll bring them over right away."

Just as Tian Xiaoshu was serving the dishes, she suddenly heard Lin Jie say something.

"By the way, since that's the case, why don't you marry me?"

Crash! The plate of food in her hand fell directly to the ground. Tian Xiaoshu looked at Lin Jie in surprise.

"Um, marry me." Lin Jie blushed slightly, a rare occurrence for him. "I really do want to live with you."

"Dude, you're really something!" With a roar, Lin Wan punched Lin Jie on the back of the head: "How can you just casually say something like 'propose to a girl' at the dinner table! At least prepare a ring first!!! Choose a formal occasion."

At this moment, Tian Xiaoshu simply covered her mouth and looked at Lin Jie with reddened eyes.

……

In outer space, the aliens of the Starry Sky Sword Hall opened a storage box containing an Earth cell phone. This time, they planned to return the phone to Earth. However, due to its perfect preservation, the phone remained unlocked. Of course, no one noticed the contents of the chat app on the phone.

"Ahhh! Really?! It really is you! This is amazing!"

'Hehe, aren't you surprised?'

'It's less a feeling of surprise and more a feeling of happiness.'

'However, I can't be with you for now. I'm going to go out for a while. Although I'll keep in touch with you, it will probably be at least several decades before I can come back to see you.'

'Hey, hey, hey? Why? Why do we have to go away and travel for decades?'

That way, it won't bother you and that idiot.

'You're saying this for her sake? But why?'

"Well, there's no way around it. That idiot has waited for you for ten years. Unlike you and me, she's just an ordinary person. And how many decades does an ordinary person have? So, you have a chance to stay with her until old age, right? Hehe, anyway, we have plenty of time in the future, don't we? After all, we both have a long lifespan. So, I'll give you a few decades off for now."

'But, doing this to you...'

'It's just to repay a favor; I never like doing favors for others.'

'...'

"Okay, it's decided then, hehe. I'm a girl and I have no objections, so what are you agonizing over? It's clearly a win-win situation."

"I understand, but I have another question for you."

Is it about me?

'yes.'

"I didn't quite understand it before, but recently I finally realized that miracles are called miracles precisely because they defy logic, right? The reason we acted the way we did before was simply because we misunderstood the power of miracles, thinking that miracles were limited in number! And yet, miracles granted our wishes according to our misunderstandings!"

'So, all these years...'

'That's right, we brought it all on ourselves, hehe. Isn't that ironic?'

'But what exactly is this miraculous power? It's truly powerful.'

Which do you think is stronger, the power of miracles or transcendence?

'Who knows? I've never met anyone who's truly detached.'

…………

[The End]

P.S.: Thank you all for your continued support of Heroes. However, I want to tell those of you who have read this far that there is actually more content to come. There will be a Heroes side story updated tomorrow, titled "[One Day Ten Years Later]". You can check it out if you are interested.

A few words

Well, thank you all for your continued support. Without your support, "Hero" wouldn't have come this far. It's been over two years since I started updating, and quite a few things have happened in those two years. The main story officially ends here. Although I'm a little reluctant, I believe that every story eventually needs to come to a close. Dragging it out would just lose its charm.

Thank you all for your continued support. Even after *Hero* is finished, I will not give up writing. Although my writing is poor and contains many typos…

But after all, it all started as an interest and hobby.

As for the prequel to the hero's story, "The Beginning of the Heroic Age," just as promised in the comments section, it will begin to be serialized daily. Those interested in Lin Jie's five years as Zero can check it out.

By the way, I'll also be updating a new book, the protagonist of which is Nicholas DouDou, mentioned in the hero series. The title is "I Quit Being a Villain a Long Time Ago."

Also, I will update a few side story chapters tomorrow. If you are interested in "One Day Ten Years Later", you can check it out in the latest volume of Heroes.

From now on, I would like to thank everyone for your continued support of the heroes.

Side story, one day ten years later

Side Story (1)

H City, a city with a population of over 500 million, sees all sorts of people walking its streets every day. Monsters also appear from time to time. However, for the citizens here, the appearance of monsters is quite commonplace.

As usual, Ren Xiaojie rode his hoverbike through the city delivering food. He looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old, which was precisely what made him surprising, since in this day and age, it's not common to see young people working.

Just as they were passing a traffic light, a strange voice rang out in the middle of the road.

"From today onwards! This H City is my territory, the territory of the Philosophical Snake-Skin Monster! Ahahahahaha!!" A muscular humanoid monster with snake skin appeared in the middle of the crossroads.

However, unlike before, the passersby not only showed no fear, but even a hint of excitement. One by one, they stopped and began recording videos with their mobile phones.

"See that, Rose? The monster has appeared! I'm sorry to trouble you! This time, you must record the heroes' scene." Ren Xiaojie, wearing headphones, muttered to himself as he saw the scene before him.

"Leave it to me, Master, but remember to bring me yogurt when you get back." A girl's voice rang in the earpiece. Then Ren Xiaojie noticed that a small cube had appeared next to him. As the cube changed shape, a camera floated up next to the boy.

However, the next second completely extinguished the interest of all the pedestrians in taking pictures, and even Ren Xiaojie almost spat out his saliva. With the appearance of these superheroes, the crowd dispersed in an instant…

"You evil philosophical snake-skin monster! We, the Muscle Alliance, will never let you succeed!!" Immediately afterwards, a group of muscular men appeared in the road and surrounded the newly appeared monster.

"...I'd better hurry up and take you to deliver food." With that, Ren Xiaojie rode his bike directly towards the Hero Association. What would happen next was something Ren Xiaojie could easily imagine, even without thinking.

"Don't worry, I'll help you complete all the recordings." Rose's voice rang out in Ren Xiaojie's earphones once again.

"I'll buy you the yogurt, but please don't record it!" Ren Xiaojie roared as he headed towards the Hero Association. He didn't want to actually watch this kind of awful stuff.

Before long, the boy arrived at the entrance of the Hero Association. In the plaza in front of the association, two statues stood side by side. Every time Ren Xiaojie saw these two statues, he would stop and look at them for a while. In his eyes, the owners of these two statues were simply too cool.

Leading the pack is Zero! The pioneer of the heroic era! The first hero to stand up against the disaster!

The second is a man wearing armor, wielding a longsword, and radiating black flames—THE ONE, the guardian of the Hero Age! He is also the current No. 1 of the Hero Association, an undisputed guardian of the era, and the second symbol of justice after Zero.

If we were to name the person most admired by children of this era, without a doubt, it would be THE ONE. In fact, almost every young person dreams of becoming a guardian of the times like THE ONE, a symbol and embodiment of justice for their generation.

Ren Xiaojie was the same. Looking at the little comical figures under the statue, although he felt they were ruining the atmosphere, Ren Xiaojie ultimately gave up on sweeping them away.

Ever since Xiao Zhan's company developed a type of creature called "Comical Creatures," these creatures, resembling tiny people, have been roaming the world, somewhat like insects. However, unlike insects, these comical creatures are actually friendly. Some people have studied them and discovered that these comical beings are not only harmless and friendly to humans, but also have a valuable purifying effect on the environment. Although the exact process of their transformation is unknown, it's undeniable that their existence makes the world a better place. So, we've left them alone.

Of course, most importantly, these comical creatures are also a rare delicacy. Once the body is removed, the head becomes a delicious fruit, in a completely fruit-like form.

However, Ren Xiaojie had never eaten the funny fruit. He always felt a little uncomfortable. Just because he was kind, did he have to be eaten?

Ignoring those wild thoughts, I walked towards the front desk.

The man standing at the front desk looked to be in his thirties.

"Xiaojie, are you still working part-time as a food delivery driver?" The man asked Ren Xiaojie with some surprise. "I remember you already have three jobs, right? Even if you're an orphan living on your own, you don't need to work this hard, do you?"

"Brother Lin Jie! It's your shift today. Isn't Sister Pandora here?"

“She’s off today.” Lin Jie said, lighting a cigarette. “The takeout was ordered by those heroes. Just leave it here with me, and I’ll deliver it to them later.”

"Okay." Ren Xiaojie said, pulling out a takeout package. "By the way, was Brother Lin Jie really a hero before? Did he ever see Zero?"

"Of course I've seen him! I fought alongside Zero in the early days, and I know that after I lost my power, I could only collect my government salary and idly drift through life here." Lin Jie sighed helplessly, "Now that I think about it, it's really too boring to do nothing every day and still receive the highest treatment in the country."

"You'll probably get beaten to death for saying that," Ren Xiaojie said helplessly after hearing Lin Jie's words.

“I don’t know if I’ll get beaten to death, but you can’t keep doing three jobs a day like this. Young man, this isn’t a good thing.” Lin Jie said seriously to Ren Xiaojie, “You should be of high school age by now, right? After all, you’re already sixteen! If you don’t pay attention to your studies, you won’t have a bright future.”

"Don't worry, Brother Lin Jie, I'm here to tell you some great news. I got into Hero Academy! I've been working part-time to save up for my living expenses. I heard things are pretty expensive at Island Academy." Ren Xiaojie said to Lin Jie, almost boasting, "I got into Hero Academy through self-study! I'll become a pro hero someday!!"

"I didn't realize that!" Lin Jie was somewhat surprised to hear Ren Xiaojie's words: "Speaking of which, you don't seem to have any superpowers."

"Didn't you say that anyone who trains hard can become a superhero?" Ren Xiaojie smiled and said after hearing Lin Jie's words, "I'm going to become a hero like Zero or THE ONE sooner or later! Especially THE ONE, he's so cool! Did you hear? That powerful supervillain Blackhead was instantly killed by him. Also, Fenrir, the No. 2 wolf, is amazing too!!"

"Of course I know. I'm an employee of the Hero Association, so I know these basic things." Lin Jie said with a smile to Ren Xiaojie, "But kid, why do you want to become a hero? Is it just hero worship?"

"Of course not!" Ren Xiaojie suddenly said seriously to Lin Jie, "I'm an orphan, aren't I? And back then, because of the disaster, I heard there were many orphans like me. But it's precisely because of that that I aspire to become a hero. I think, if I can eliminate all the bad people and disasters, then maybe there won't be any more orphans in this world in the future?"

"Is that so?" Hearing Ren Xiaojie's words, Lin Jie calmly took a puff of his cigarette: "Then you'd better work hard. After all, being a hero is a very dangerous profession. Don't die before you even realize your dream."

"Don't worry, I won't give up until we achieve our goal!" Ren Xiaojie nodded seriously and said to Lin Jie, "I still have to deliver some food, so I'll be going now, Brother Lin Jie."

"Wait a minute, take this. It might come in handy later." Lin Jie said, tossing a mechanical structure encyclopedia to Ren Xiaojie: "Knowledge is a weapon, isn't it? Speaking of which, you seem to be quite good at mechanics."

"Thank you! I've wanted this for a long time!" Ren Xiaojie didn't waste any more words. After taking the very thick book, he ran outside.

Watching his retreating figure, Lin Jie couldn't help but smile: "I was pretty much the same when I was in my chuunibyou phase. But he wasn't as extreme as I was back then."

After speaking, Lin Jie's gaze fell on the statue of THE ONE. Of course, THE ONE did not refer to Number One of the Floating Island; in fact, Number One had already retired after marrying Nian Xin on the Floating Island. As for this Number One, he was the successor whom even Lin Jie acknowledged so far.

That's right, they are the inheritors.

After several years, Leng Yan and Lin Jie finally chose one person to be the user of Zero Power—the power extracted from Lin Jie years ago.

THE ONE lived up to their expectations, and through his continuous efforts, he was able to maintain 20% of his power in continuous combat. Not only that, but at crucial moments, he could even unleash 50% of his Zero Power. In the most dangerous instance, it is said that he even used 100% of his Zero Power in battle. Although it only lasted for a few minutes, it still almost caused his body to collapse, and he spent several months in the hospital.

Of course, Lin Jie's reason for valuing THE ONE was not because of his use of the Zero Power. What Lin Jie and Leng Yan both valued was that he possessed the demeanor and beliefs of a true hero. After ten years of testing, he had indeed surpassed Fenrir and become the true symbol of justice in the Hero Association, truly reaching the height of Zero in people's hearts.

Unlike Zero's dark past, THE ONE is the knight of light in this era. A hero without any flaws.

Of course, the existence of such a person actually puts the higher-ups at ease, as they are the ones who can shut down THE ONE's power source at any time. Of course, only Lin Jie, Leng Yan, Gear, and certain high-ranking government officials know this.

Side Story (2)