Hero? I’ve Long Stopped Being One - Volume 1 – Chapter 15

Shadow was already unable to continue keeping herself hidden the reason being very simple: a bastard holding a pixelated rod thing that flung white milk everywhere. Even though she knew it was milk, she was just a young woman, and her body instinctively wanted to dodge the incoming milk that was flung out.

“Who are you?” Xiao Zhan looked at the woman who suddenly jumped down from the ceiling.

“I’m here to kill you.” At that point, Shadow thought she might as well cancel her stealth and took out a laser dagger.

“Was it President Ouyang or Evolution Co. who sent you here?” Xiao Zhan asked.

“You don’t need to know.” Saying that, Shadow charged towards the pixelated entity in front of her. She already had enough of the dirty feeling this filthy object was giving her. Now she just wanted to quickly get rid of the filth in front of her.

At the peak speed of her charge, her body was covered in milk. At the same time, a black, pixelated object flew towards her.

Facing this pixelated, black object, Shadow was unable to control her female instincts. She screamed and retreated backwards, avoiding the unknown object. Even though she had no idea what that thing was, at that moment, Shadow’s instincts were telling her not to touch it.

“Good thing I prepared long ago.” While saying that, Xiao Zhan flipped a switch on the wall. In the next moment, the wall suddenly inverted. In Shadow’s eyes, the walls of the room all suddenly flipped over. On the backs of the walls were several hundred pixelated objects inserted. Every single one of the rod heads were pointed at the distant Shadow.

Shadow’s current point of view was just like this.

The walls were covered with a large amount of these pixelated, rod-shaped things, all pointing at her. In the center of the room, a pixelated human-shaped entity covered in white liquid was slowly approaching her. The pixelated rod-shaped thing in its hands was continually pumping out a milky white substance.

The rods were inching closer, little by little, as the entity spoke wretchedly, “Miss, would you like to drink some milk…?”

Such a picturesque scenario, please go and repair your brain first.

“As… as expected, it’s impossible for me to fight against something as disgusting as this!!” Shadow completely lost the will to fight. This battle was totally irrelevant to any ability or power rankings! If you’re told to seriously fight against something like a pile of shit, you probably couldn’t even do it.

At that moment, Shadow smashed the glass behind her with a dagger, quickly fleeing the building.

After escaping far away, Shadow paused at a rooftop. Possibly due to Xiao Zhan’s influence, for some reason, the structure of the Xiao company’s building kind of looked like…

Unlike Xiao Zhan’s mental situation, the current scene of Lin Jie’s household was extremely peaceful. Lin Jie was in his room, catching up on recorded TV shows while Lin Wan and Little Loli were together in the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Lin Wan was washing Little Loli’s hair while the little girl played with bubbles.

“Alright, stop playing. Big sis is going to rinse off the soap.” Lin Wan spoke.

“Big sis, look!” As she spoke, Little Loli lifted her hand full of bubbles towards Lin Wan’s face. The bubbles suddenly formed a shape of a girl in a ponytail.

“Eh, isn’t this me?” Lin Wan exclaimed, “How did you do that?”

“I don’t know.” Little Loli replied after thinking for a while.

“Could this be the reason why big bro previously said that there were people who wanted to capture her for experiments?” Lin Wan wondered silently.

At that moment, the bubbles in Little Loli’s hands turned into two men who were carrying weapons.

“Ah! It’s big bro and Xiao Zhan!” Lin Wan exclaimed happily.

Next, the bubbles became a pair of glasses.

“Ah, this is the glasses-wearing person who was with them. You’re really good!” Lin Wan praised.

Like this, peals of laughter echoed out from the small little bathroom.

“As expected of my little sis, she’s the best choice for raising kids!” Hearing the laughter from the bathroom, Lin Jie couldn’t help but feel grateful.

……

Approximately an hour later, as Lin Jie was drinking water, he walked past his sister’s room and heard her say, “After that, Jia Baoyu…”

Bewildered, Lin Jie entered Lin Wan’s room to see both Lin Wan and the little loli both laying on the bed. A thick book was held in Lin Wan’s hand, titled “Dream of the Red Chamber”, as she read out loud to the little loli. And as for the aforementioned little loli, she had opened her two big eyes, looking all around. Lin Jie was absolutely sure that she completely did not understand what was being read.

“You’re reading ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ to a kid as a bedtime story?” Lin Jie asked Lin Wan.

“Are you questioning my teaching methods?” Lin Wan said, “I’ve planned to teach her wisdom so she won’t be like me when I was younger, always being tricked.”

“…You don’t have to read ‘Dream of the Red Chamber to a kid though.” Lin Jie retorted.

“What’s wrong with ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’? It’s a masterpiece. Do you know how much effort Cao Xueqin spent in order to write it?” Lin Wan was dissatisfied. “It’s because there are too many people like you in the world. That’s why our culture and traditions are slowly going down the drain.”

“Tch, I don’t know about Cao Xueqin, but I do know about Cao Xueqin’s classmate.” Lin Jie said.

“Keep bragging.”

“Little sister, do you want to know his classmate’s story?” Looking at the wide-eyed little loli, Lin Jie asked a question.

“I want to hear, Lin Brother.” The little loli replied.

“You’d be best off not believing his words.” Lin Wan said from the side.

“But I really want to hear it.” The little loli said.

“Then I will tell you.” Lin Jie cleared his throat and then said, “It was a long, long time ago. Cao Xueqin had a classmate, and his level of study was basically on par with Cao Xueqin. But then one day, Cao Xueqin wrote a book called ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, making him famous in an instant.

For a person of similar high academic caliber, how could he possibly resign himself to watching Cao Xueqin surpass him? That’s why he decided to create a miracle by writing a book that was even better than ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’.

From then on, he would continuously ponder over the contents of his book. Day after day, year after year of researching on the background and informative content of the book. He passed 20 years being deep in thought like this.”

“And then? Did he write a book even more famous than ‘Dream of the Red Chamber?” The little loli curiously asked.

“No, after 20 years of pondering, he turned bald and strong. In the end, he gave up his education for strength, and became an unparalleled general.” Lin Jie said.

“Tch, you’re still talking drivel.” Lin Wan was discontent as she slanted her eyes at Lin Jie.

“Lin Brother. What is a classmate?” The little loli curiously asked at that moment.

“Classmate ah, it’s just a person you study together with in school.” Lin Jie said.

“What is school?” The little loli asked.

“School? It’s a place for letting little friends learn things.” Lin Jie replied.

“Are there a lot of friends like me?”

“Mhmm.” Lin Jie nodded.

“Then, can I go to school?” The little loli used her big, watery eyes to look at Lin Jie as she asked.

“Of course you can! Now, obediently go to sleep. Wait until we defeat all of the bad guys, then brother can take you to school, ok?” Lin Jie rubbed the little loli’s head as he answered.

“Really? You promise?” The little loli asked.

“I promise.” Lin Jie smiled.

……

Midnight, a tall man came to the outside of Lin Jie’s apartment.

“Is it here? The higher-ups only wanted me to bring that kid back. It doesn’t matter whether they’re dead or alive, right?” The tall man thought aloud to himself.

“What are you doing muttering outside my house?” Lin Jie suddenly appeared next to the tall man’s side.

“You’re Lin Jie?” The tall man asked. “I didn’t think you wouldn’t take everyone and run. It seems like you have a lot of confidence in your strength.”

“Eh? You know about me?” Lin Jie curiously asked.

“Obviously, before one fights an enemy, they have to completely understand them.” That tall man said, “Even though you’ve only been evaluated as having E-level strength… you have managed to instantly defeat two B-level opponents… that means, your strength is, at the very least, higher than B-level… so….”

The man had not finished talking when a morningstar was already about to smash right onto his head. In that critical moment, the man used both his hands to block the attack. But an incredibly powerful force pushed his entire body into the ground.

“Tch, if you want to fight, then just fight. There’s no need to say so much rubbish.”

“But today you’ve met me.” At that moment, the tall man climbed out of the ground, and at the same time, his body started expanding. He was at least 5 meters by the time he finally stopped expanding. “I am also someone who has power surpassing B-level…”

He had not finished speaking when the morningstar in Lin Jie’s hands once again disappeared. Then the massive 5 meter tall man was once again smashed into the ground.

“I’ve said it already, why speak so much rubbish.” Lin Jie said.

But that tall man once again climbed out of the ground.

“I admit, you have incredible strength, but you think you can defeat me that easily?” As soon as the giant said that, a layer of hard scales appeared on his body. “To be able to cause me to use my second form, you should feel proud. Now it’s time for you to experience…..”

Once again interrupting his speech, the morningstar in Lin Jie’s hands disappeared. The giant in his second form was, for the third time, smashed into the ground.

As Lin Jie looked at the giant who was still trying to climb out, he couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow, “You can still get up after that?”

Saying that, he once again raised his morningstar.

“Wait a second!!!” The giant abruptly shouted at Lin Jie.

“What do you want?” Lin Jie asked.

“You are being too shameless! Not like a man at all! I can’t even finish talking and you attack. What kind of skill is this?!” The giant said while climbing out of the ground.

“Oh, then speak.”

“Today, I will let you experience the difference in strength between us.” When the giant said that, his body once again swelled up. The scales on his body emitted a burning smell.

“Are you done talking?” asked Lin Jie.

“I’m done…” His words had just come out when the giant was once again smashed back into the dirt.

“This cannot be!! Even in my strongest form, I still don’t have the slightest ability to resist!!” The giant who was once again smashed into the ground yelled in shock. One should know, he had been carefully paying attention to Lin Jie’s movement, yet he was still easily driven into the dirt. “What are you actually? This sort of strength must’ve at least reached A-level! Why are you still putting on the label of a E-level hero?”