Heroes are the brightest stars in the world right now. Even a low-ranking hero might have a whole crowd of fangirls swarming around them. With the way things are going, they’re even more popular than celebrity idols.

Shi Ji had barely arrived at the station, ready to catch a cab to the city where his new academy was located, when he ran into just that sort of thing.

Shi Ji was a little late, so now he had to wait for the next train. It wouldn’t leave for another half hour.

He found a seat and waited quietly. If a station weren’t noisy, it wouldn’t be a station. But amid all that noise, an even louder—and far more irritating—voice rang out.

“Ah! Look, look! It’s Xian Ning, the B-Rank Hero! I’m going over to get a picture with him!”

At the sound of that voice, many of the young, pretty women nearby turned to look in the same direction. A man was approaching, dressed in a white suit and sporting a carefully styled, incredibly handsome haircut. A crowd followed behind him. Judging by the numbers, there had to be more than a hundred people—and that didn’t even include the ones rushing over now. Most were women, with only a few men among them.

“Xian Ning! I’ll have your babies!”

“Xian Ning, you’re so handsome!!!”

“Could I have your autograph, Xian Ning?”

“I love you, Xian Ning!”

…

The cries just kept coming, until Shi Ji felt like he was going to grow calluses on his ears.

Hold on. Good grief, he’s just some pretty boy. Why are all these grown men crowding around him? And what’s with that hairy old creep dressed up for cosplay?

Who knew what was wrong with society these days? The whole scene was bizarre. Even someone who looked that girly could become famous. A whole crowd of fangirls swarmed around him, screaming themselves hoarse about wanting to have his babies. If they wanted babies so badly, they should’ve said so. I could help with that—and I’d do it for free.

Shi Ji had no intention of interfering with ordinary people, or looking down on them. But he couldn’t stand heroes like this. A hero should be doing their job, shouldn’t they? Instead, he was putting on this whole show and enjoying the perks of his hero status. He was practically asking for a beating.

Shi Ji didn’t care about heroes. It wasn’t just that he knew very little about them—he knew absolutely nothing. So when someone mentioned Xian Ning, a B-Rank Hero, his mind went blank. Xian Ning? What’s next, five, six, seven? Besides, there were so many heroes these days. Unless they were famous around the world or well known in your neighborhood, not many people could name that many of them.

Shi Ji turned his face away and ignored the man. Even though he despised him, he didn’t dare hit him. He had no money, after all.

Seeing how many fans he had, that Xian Ning guy eventually had to stop and sign autographs, pose for pictures, and so on. The whole thing took a good ten minutes.

One fan noticed Xian Ning moving around nonstop and figured he must be tired. She suggested they find a seat over there so he could rest for a bit.

Xian Ning agreed.

Shi Ji kept his face stiff and didn’t look at the strange scene. He only turned around when someone in front of him called out to him in a very rude manner.

“Hey, move over, would you? My Ningning’s tired and wants to sit here.”

The hell? They sure knew how to pick a spot. What kind of attitude was that?

There were only so many seats at the station, and they were all taken. The middle seats weren’t ideal for the fangirls to crowd around and ask for autographs, so the front row was the best choice. A few people sitting beside Shi Ji had just reached their stop and left, leaving those seats empty. That made him the one in the way.

Shi Ji didn’t answer right away. He turned to look at the “army” led by Xian Ning, the B-Rank Hero.

Xian Ning came over to Shi Ji. “Sorry, but could you move, please?”

With that tone, he still expected people to give up their seats? Even if he’d asked nicely, Shi Ji might not have moved. And that arrogant attitude made it even less likely.

That wasn’t even the worst of it. The people around Xian Ning all glared at Shi Ji and shouted at him to leave. Some of them had no manners at all and flat-out told him to get lost.

“Hurry up and move! What are you standing there for?”

“Hey, get lost already. Our Ningning’s exhausted!”

“If you don’t move, we’ll make you!”

Being ganged up on like this was obviously a provocation. A provocation? Shi Ji hadn’t wanted trouble, but they were already picking on him. Was he supposed to just swallow it? That wasn’t his style.

“Where’d all you little nobodies crawl out from?” The words were blunt and clear.

Shi Ji looked up at Xian Ning with a cold sneer.

Xian Ning’s expression darkened.

The conflict had begun. What would happen next?

…