“Winter Witch!” Xiao Zhan stared at the girl in front of him in shock. “Please, come in, come in!”
Glasses Bro on the side unconsciously straightened his back too. The girl before them had rocketed up to rank 78 in B Rank heroes in just two years. More importantly, she was a total beauty. Among all the Super Heroes in H City, her popularity was easily top three.
Miss Winter walked over and sat down in the boss chair. “No need to be so stiff. Just call me Winter, or Winter Xueer is fine too.”
“Understood, it’s an honor!” Xiao Zhan and Glasses Bro answered in unison.
“Sorry for the poor hospitality, I’ll get you something to drink right now.” Xiao Zhan hurried to say. “Glasses Bro, go buy some snacks! All we’ve got at home is Spicy Strips.”
“No problem. I left a spare pair of glasses at a store I often go to.” As soon as Glasses Bro finished, he vanished, leaving a pair of glasses on the floor in his place.
“Interesting ability.” Winter Xueer glanced at the glasses on the ground. “You guys are pretty fun here.”
Winter Xueer gave a meaningful look toward the little loli peeking at her from behind the sofa.
“Uh… don’t get the wrong idea, we’re not perverts.” Xiao Zhan said in a panic. “All that stuff outside isn’t true.”
“Relax. Whether you’re a pervert or not, I’m not interested.” Winter Xueer pointed at Lin Jie, who was standing off to the side. “I’m here this time for him.”
“Me?”
“Yes.” Winter Xueer’s hand gently brushed along Lin Jie’s face. “I need your power. I hope you’ll help me. We’re planning a large-scale operation soon, and your destructive power is indispensable.”
“Hey, hey.” Lin Jie leaned back, dodging her touch. “I’m not interested. Doesn’t the Hero Association have plenty of strong people? What’s the point of coming to an E Rank like me?”
“E Rank? You’ve taken down B Rank Heroes with a single hit. Twice.” Winter Xueer looked at him. “In all of H City, besides you, only one other person has ever pulled that off.”
“Then I’m still not planning to help you.” Lin Jie stared at the woman in front of him. “I can clearly see the word ‘trouble’ written all over your face.”
“What are you talking about? Of course we should help Miss Winter.” Xiao Zhan walked over with a cup of coffee. “This is a perfect chance for our squad to make a name. Working with Miss Winter, no less.”
“But,” Lin Jie said, “my gut tells me that getting involved with her is going to be a huge pain.”
“How can you say that about Miss Winter?” Glasses Bro appeared in front of them with a bag of snacks in his arms. “And even if Miss Winter’s situation is super troublesome, we still have to help!”
Watching the two guys wag their tails like lapdogs in front of this woman, Lin Jie couldn’t help once again sighing that this really was a looks-based world. A pretty face says a few words and these two were already ready to charge in.
“I’m saying, what’re you two getting so hyped for? She came for me, not you.” Lin Jie said.
“Aren’t we a team?” Xiao Zhan said.
“He’s right. Your business is my business. Bros stick together.” Glasses Bro chimed in.
“Damn it! Now we’re ‘good bros,’ huh? Let me tell you, selling out your friend may feel good for a while, but it ends with the whole family cremated.”
“Hehe, your two teammates are way cuter than you are.” Miss Winter said, then turned her gaze back to Lin Jie. “But your answer is exactly what I expected. With your strength, if you wanted a promotion, it’d be easy. But this time you *will* help me—because we already share a common enemy.”
“What?” Lin Jie asked in surprise.
“It’s because of her.” Miss Winter pointed at the little loli next to them. “When you wrecked that deal, you already signed yourselves up for trouble.”
“What?” Xiao Zhan blurted out. “Didn’t that bio company already collapse?”
“They’re definitely done for. But aren’t you curious who such a huge underground force—one that had Deities and Demons investigating for two full years—was actually trading with?” Winter Xueer asked.
“You mean they’re really dangerous?” Glasses Bro asked in shock.
“Let’s put it this way. Not long after you sent the buyer to the Hero Association, they were secretly transferred away.” Winter Xueer took a small sip of coffee. “According to intel, they were rescued by unknown individuals.”
“What!” Xiao Zhan shouted.
“Do you know what their company is called?” Winter Xueer asked.
“No idea.” The three of them all shook their heads.
“Ignorance really is fearless.” Winter Xueer gave them a look. “Their company is called Evolution Corporation.”
“What?!” Xiao Zhan and Glasses Bro screamed at the same time.
“Evolution Corporation? They’re that powerful?” Lin Jie looked at his two teammates, whose bodies had started trembling.
“It’s not just ‘powerful’!” Glasses Bro said. “They’re a world-class criminal organization!”
“Not only that, in the past few years, countless Heroes have died at their hands. Even an S Rank Hero was killed by them. They’re a true S Rank criminal organization.” Xiao Zhan added.
“Exactly. And the girl you brought back just happens to be the key for them to break through on a new line of research.” Winter Xueer said. “Even if you don’t help me, they’ll come for you sooner or later.”
“That’s really a pain, then. Alright, what do you need us to do?” Lin Jie asked curiously.
“Protect that girl.” Winter Xueer said.
“With intel this good, can’t you just tell me where this Evolution Corporation is hiding? I’ll just go chop them all up. I hate trouble the most.” Lin Jie said.
“Hehe, I admit you’re strong, but you’re still far from being able to openly wage war against Evolution Corporation. Besides, if we really did find their main base, the Association would dispatch multiple S Rank Heroes. Maybe even an SS Rank.” Winter Xueer looked at Lin Jie. “And in H City, our enemies are not just Evolution Corporation.”
“You mean there’s someone else?” Lin Jie asked.
“Yes.” Winter Xueer said. “The President of the Hero Association—Ouyang Rui.”
“What?” All three of them were visibly shocked at that.
“You’re saying President Ouyang Rui and Evolution Corporation…” Glasses Bro finally reacted and blurted out.
Winter Xueer nodded. “There’s another reason I came today—to warn you. The Hero Association in H City is completely rotten. They might try to force you to hand over that little girl.”
“What! They even want to snatch our loli? I’m gonna make them pay for that.” Lin Jie said angrily.
“You sure get mad at weird things.” Glasses Bro muttered.
“Then why should we trust you?” Xiao Zhan asked, his expression serious.
“Take a look at these.”
Winter Xueer plugged a USB stick into Xiao Zhan’s computer. A bunch of incriminating files about the President popped up, including him rigging hero rankings and huge money transactions with certain special figures in H City.
“After seeing this, do you still dare to trust the Hero Association?” Winter Xueer asked.
“Alright… what do we do?” Xiao Zhan asked.
“Like I said, we’re planning a big operation. Three days from now, I’ll lead the righteous side of H City’s Hero Association to take down Ouyang Rui. For that, I need a lot of powerful combatants.” Winter Xueer said.
“But what’s the official charge? The money dealings will definitely get covered up. We can’t just accuse him of sleeping his way through promotions.” Xiao Zhan thought for a moment.
“I’m starting to like you.” Winter Xueer poked his forehead lightly. “You actually have some insight. In fact, three days from now he’s going to have a meeting with Evolution Corporation.”
“You mean we’re using that chance to take him and Evolution Corporation down together?” Glasses Bro asked.
“Exactly.” Winter Xueer said. “Without him, Evolution Corporation couldn’t come and go so freely in H City. When the time comes, we’ll be counting on your power, Lin Jie.”
“Alright.” Lin Jie said.
“Hope we’ll work well together.” Winter Xueer said.
“Wait, I’ve got a question.” Glasses Bro said. “Do you know who she is?”
He pointed at the little loli beside them.
“I don’t know much.” Winter Xueer’s expression dimmed. “I only know she’s from the Orphanage run by that organization you destroyed. But it seems the hundreds of kids in that Orphanage all died because their experiments failed. She’s the only successful case.”
“You knew about their experiments beforehand?” Lin Jie asked. “So they slaughtered hundreds of little girls, and you knew?”
Seeing the look in his eyes, Winter Xueer slowly nodded.
“Since you knew early on, why didn’t you save those kids? Aren’t you a Hero too?” Lin Jie’s tone suddenly turned harsh. “You already dug up a lot on the President and Evolution Corporation, right? Why didn’t you stop it?”
“At that time, I hadn’t made up my mind yet.” Winter Xueer’s gaze dodged slightly. “And if I acted then, it would’ve blown my cover. All the evidence I’d collected in secret would’ve gone up in smoke, so…”
“So you just ignored those kids’ lives, is that it?” Lin Jie asked.
His face looked awful. Xiao Zhan and Glasses Bro stood to the side, quietly tugging his clothes, signaling him not to push things too far.
“That’s exactly why I don’t want something like that to happen again.” Winter Xueer bowed her head slightly toward Lin Jie. “Please. According to our data, in H City, the only person not on Ouyang Rui’s side and also capable of breaking his defensive field… is you. So I’m begging you to help me.”
“Fine. I’ll help you.” Lin Jie said. “Anyone who lets that kind of thing happen—no matter how high they stand—in my eyes, they’re still scum.”
At that moment, Lin Jie’s presence surged, becoming overwhelmingly intense. Everyone in the room felt like they couldn’t breathe. Even Winter Xueer, who had seen many strong fighters since she was little, started trembling instinctively. She could feel it—if Lin Jie directed that aura fully at her, she might not even be able to fight back.
