Hero? I've Long Stopped Being One

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Volume 1 – Chapter 16: Sword of Judgement

"Seriously, other than spouting nonsense, what else can you bring out?" At the side, Lin Jie yawned, "Just letting you know, I still have things I need to do tomorrow."

"You bastard, how dare you look down on me!" The giant was completely infuriated by Lin Jie's contemptuous attitude and took out a special-looking syringe. "Originally, the company gave us these as a life-saving weapon, but you have the power and speed of an A-level hero. I am left with no option but to use this to fight you."

After saying that, the giant stabbed the special-looking syringe into his arm, "You will regret being so contemptuous…"

"Ah, so much nonsense." Lin Jie once again sent him into the ground.

"Hahaha." A gigantic shadow stood up in the middle of the hole. This time, distinct red stripes appeared on his body, each one emitting a strong strength.

"This is strength close to the S-level? It really feels way too wonderful." At that time, the giant's body had completely become monster-like.

"Hmph, boring." Carrying his Wolf Fang Club, Lin Jie jumped towards the giant in front of him.

"Hahaha, that's pointless! In my eyes, you're as slow as a snail now!" The monster laughed heartily and stretched out its thick, solid arm, trying to grab Lin Jie who was midair.

Then… Then the monster's whole hand disappeared.

"What!" The monster was astonished as it looked at Lin Jie. He had clearly seen through Lin Jie's movements and was confident that he could catch him just by reaching out his arm. Instead, his entire arm was forcibly smashed away by a great force. One should know that, when talking about his skin's defense, even the most advanced armor piercing bullets had no effect on his body at all.

"Just who are you?" The monster looked towards Lin Jie with eyes full of vigilance, "But don't think you can defeat me like this, because I cannot die."

Right after he stopped talking, the place where his arm had been broken started wriggling, and with a speed visible to the naked eye, the monster grew out a new arm.

"Do you think you're stronger than the Great Devil King?" Saying that, Lin Jie grasped the Wolf Fang Club tightly. In the next moment, his shadow appeared right at the side of the monster, his Wolf Fang Club swinging through the air. Under Lin Jie's attack, the monster's pair of legs were crushed. Just when the monster was about to fall down, the Wolf Fang Club in Lin Jie's hands was continuously swung at the monster. The monster's entire body was reduced into a gigantic human stick.

"I've said it before, it's useless!" Shouted the monster, as it’s wounds started to wriggle and squirm once again.

"No matter how much you regenerate, I'll smash it all again." Lin Jie let out a weird smile as he looked at him.

This went on for 10 more minutes. Lin Jie watched the fallen monster by his feet. It had already shrunk back down to a normal, human size and was repeatedly twitching.

"It looks like the effects of the drug have come to an end. Usually, this kind of violent boosting chemical drugs have side effects."

"……" The giant was silent as he looked at Lin Jie. His body violently twitched a few more times, then all was quiet.

“One moment, you’re high from drugs, the next moment, you’ll be cremated.” Lin Jie spoke with a sense of lamentation, "I will hand you over to the Hero Association when it's dawn."

"Heheheh." On the contrary, the giant let out a sneer at that moment, "Did you think that just by defeating me, it'd be your victory? You've already provoked the world's worst enemy, hahaha."

"Tch, a defeated dog's barking." Lin Jie felt that he was bluffing.

"I admit that the organization misjudged your strength, which is why they only sent a B-level person like me to deal with you. However, the next person who comes will be someone you'll have no chance of defeating." The giant arrogantly continued, "I'll have you know, our Evolution Co. is a huge organization that even true authentic S-level people don't dare provoke."

"Your words have succeeded in making me want to kill you." At that moment, Lin Jie was facing the moon. Suddenly, a strange red light radiated from his black eyes.

"Wai- wait! You can't kill me. This is not how you Super Heroes does things right?" The man was currently frightened by the atmosphere Lin Jie was giving off., "Don't you know who's backing us? It's H-City's Hero Association's president!

"Hero? I've long stopped being one." Lin Jie said very indifferently. Saying that, a completely black longsword appeared from thin air in Lin Jie's hand. The blade of the longsword was emitting a strange red glow. "You don't even know who you've provoked."

"That sword!" The man was stunned when he saw the sword in Lin Jie's hand. He then looked back at Lin Jie's eyes to see the red light emitting from them, "It's the Sword of Judgement! You are…"

There was no one in the world that couldn't recognize that sword and the red light in his eyes. That sword and that pair of red pupils were the greatest nightmare of any criminal. He was unable to speak due to the fear rising in his heart. Never in his dreams could he have imagined that he would meet the legend who had disappeared more than 5 years ago.

It was a pity that the man's astonishment would suddenly end here.

……

Lin Jie opened the door to the house and discovered the pajama wearing Lin Wan coming out of her bedroom, still carrying that little loli in her bosom.

"Why is it so loud outside!?" Lin Wan asked in bewilderment.

"Nothing much, the superheroes were fighting a small monster outside. I was just watching the commotion. The fight's already done." Lin Jie answered without thinking.

"Oh." Lin Wan nodded, "Who won?"

"The superhero." Lin Jie said.

"Oh, I'll go back to sleep then." Lin Wan said, "You should go sleep soon too."

"Mhmm, good night." Lin Jie faced his sister as he said, "By the way, what you're holding in your bosom is not a pillow."

"Eh? When did this happen?"

……

Watching his sister return to her bedroom, Lin Jie took out his phone. "Hello? ….Xiao Zhan? It's Lin Jie. How's it going on your side? Have you also been attacked… what! The person who attacked you was actually a big boobed girl?! And she was even wearing skintight clothes!!! No way! I want to protest! Why is it that the one who attacked me was a scar-faced giant! I've already settled everything on my side…."

At that moment, in the place where Lin Jie and the giant fought, the latter's silhouette had already disappeared completely. At the place where he was laying only remained a large, human-shaped pit.

……

The next morning, in front of Lin Jie's dining table.

"I've decided, we shall call her Lin Mumu from now on." Lin Wan was hugging the little loli as she faced Lin Jie.

"This uh, naming her yourself doesn't seem to be right." Lin Jie said.

"What would be wrong, huh? In any case, she can't remember her name. We can't always call her Little Sister can we?" Lin Wan faced Lin Jie as she said, "Moreover, Mumu really likes this name, don't you?"

"Yesh! Call me Lin Mumu from now on." Even while eating breakfast, the little loli managed to speak.

"Our Mumu is the best!Fortunately I am on vacation today. In a little bit, we will go to the amusement park to play! They have a lot of fun things there." Lin Wan faced the little loli.

"A lot of fun things to do? I love Big Sis the most!" The little loli cheered.

"How obedient." Lin Wan rubbed her face against hers.

"Why does it seem like you're a kid who just got a new toy?" Lin Jie curiously asked.

"You don't need to worry about it." Lin Wan said.

"Before the issues are solved, I think it's best if you don't take Lin Mumu out to play." Lin Jie said, "It's not very safe, that's why I plan to take her to a safer place today."

"No way!" Lin Wan was like a mother trying to protect her children as she body blocked Lin Jie. "I don't agree. I absolutely have to bring her out and have fun today. I already promised her."

"You don't have to be so stubborn at this kind of time." Lin Jie said.

"No way! How about this? Aren't you guys superheroes now?" Lin Wan looked at Lin Jie. "Can't you guys come with us? Otherwise, if you continue to disagree, don't have any hope of ever eating my cooking again. You can go eat your La Tiao everyday."

……

"So…. it was because of such a thing that you called us over here?" Xiao Zhan stared at Lin Jie with big, dark circles under his eyes. "Don't you know that bringing that kid out to play is equivalent to courting disaster?"

At that moment, Lin Jie, Xiao Zhan, and Glasses bro were all crouching underneath a tree at the amusement park.

"There was nothing I could do. If I didn't agree, I would only be able to eat La Tiao in the future…" Lin Jie then changed the topic. "By the way, Glasses bro, were you attacked by anyone last night?"

"I was hiding last night. I didn't go home at all, but this morning when I went back, I discovered traces of someone rummaging through my room." Glasses bro said.

"Yesterday's attackers should've been the Evolution Co.'s people." Lin Jie stated, "From the information I got from defeating the attacker, just like what happened to Dong Xue'er, the Evolution Co. indeed did use the first chance they got to attack us."

"There is one thing I've been thinking about." Glasses bro said, "In the past, we were always wearing the superhero uniforms and wore large rimmed sunglasses to hide our identities. How come Evolution Co. was able to accurately send its men directly to our houses? And not only that, they even had detailed information on the interior of our houses."

"You're actually asking this? They obviously got it through that President Ouyang. After all, only he could look up information about the superheroes of H-City." Xiao Zhan said, "Great. Being a superhero while also worrying about one's home being attacked, but fortunately, I don't have any family."

"The application contract superheroes have to sign is really…" Glasses bro only spoke halfway before stopping.

"Whatever. Right now, complaining doesn't help us in any way." Xiao Zhan said, "Which leads me to ask, is your family alright, Glasses bro?"

"They're fine. They also hid together with me last night." Glasses bro replied.

"It looks like what Dong Xue'er said was true. President Ouyang is not only related to the Evolution Co, he also secretly leaks out the information on superheroes to them." Xiao Zhan said, "No wonder incidents like family members of superheroes being kidnapped have increased greatly in the past two years."

"That's enough, let's not think about this anymore." Lin Jie interrupted, "My sister plans to give the little girl a name: Lin Mumu."

"Lin Mumu eh?" Glasses bro thought for a moment. "This name is actually quite pleasing to listen to."

"I don't really care what she's called as long as it's not Lin Daiyu ^[1]." Xiao Zhan said, "After this fiasco, I will help her become a registered citizen. This way, she can have the life of a normal child."

The three of them inadvertently, without any prior agreement, looked at Lin Wan and the little loli, who were currently lining up to buy ice cream.

"While raised up in an organization that conducted human experiments, I reckon she hasn't done many things that a girl her age should've done already." Lin Jie couldn't help but say.

"First, let's not worry about that. Is it alright for the three of us to be crouching and muttering here?" Glasses bro asked, "I see all kinds of people looking at us with weird expressions."

"Tch, caring about what others think is foolish behavior." Xiao Zhan said.

At that moment, a young mother leading a little girl passed by them.

"Mama! Look! Panda!" The little girl pointed at Xiao Zhan as she exclaimed.

"Walk faster and stay away from them. One look and you can tell they're not good people." The young mother urgently pulled away her daughter.

"……"

"……"

"……"

Footnotes:

[1]Lin Daiyu: Female character in The Dream of Red Mansions; cousin and thwarted lover of Jia Baoyu (Thanks popup dictionary, no need to use google)

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