Hero? I've Long Stopped Being One

In H City, a short man walked out of an optical shop, and perched his newly purchased glasses on his nose.

Looking at the crowd of people, the man could not hold back his tears.

"I finally came back...hey!" said the man.

The man who was crying over the street in front of him was Glasses Bro: "I finally got out of that damn world!"

Looking at Glasses Bro crying on the street, the passing pedestrians looked like they were thinking, "What a retard!"

"Master, congratulations on passing such a difficult test; These brave glasses here pledge their loyalty to you." A voice suddenly sounded in his mind.

"It's thanks to you that I managed to escape that damn place." Glasses Bro said: "We will fight together till the end." (T/N: srsly bro, don't inflict your glasses with death flags)

As he spoke to the glasses on his nose, Glasses Bro didn't notice that the surrounding crowd had disappeared.

A huge monster was making a ruckus in the area.

"When did this show up?" Glasses Bro looked at the monster in front of him with amazement. "This is good, though; let's try out our strength in this world."

Glasses Bro's fighting spirit rose, and he made a move to push up his glasses. At that moment, a hand shot out from behind and slapped the back of his head, causing him to unintentionally throw his glasses!

"It's Glasses Bro! Let me tell you, Thirteen really gave me a scare." Lin Jie patted Glasses Bro on the head and said: "Why didn't you contact me when you got back?"

"I only just got back." Glasses Bro said. "Ah!! My glasses!"

Saying this, Glasses Bro ran to his glasses that had landed on the ground.

"When I'm done here, tell me all about it." Lin Jie said, picking up his mace and rushing toward the monster.

"There!" Glasses Bro saw the vague outline of his brave glasses, and ran towards them. But someone was faster than him.

"Master!! Wait for me!! I want to fight side by side with you." A man with face handsome enough to bring forth screams from countless girls trampled the pair of glasses.

"Brave glasses!!" Glasses Bro rushed to his glasses.

There were visible cracks in the lenses of the brave glasses.

"You have to hold on! Comrade, rest assured, I will fix you." Glasses looked at his brave glasses and said: "Is that damn guy not watching where he's going?"

'My king! I'm dying. I can already feel my life slipping away.'

"Don't speak! I will find a way to cure you!" Glasses Bro said sadly.

'This is surely my unavoidable fate, but please rest assured that there are countless glasses waiting for you in this world.'

"You are my partner! Don't say things like that!" Shouted Glasses Bro sadly at the glasses on the ground.

'It seems that my mission is coming to an end. Before dying, I hope that you can help me send a message to the lady glasses at the glasses store, shelf 20, row 3 - please tell her...'

Before the brave glasses could finish, a foot fell from the sky and stepped on the brave glasses...

"Ah! Brave Glasses!" cried Glasses Bro sadly.

"Ah! I accidentally crushed your glasses." Lin Jie scratched his head, embarrassed.

"You did it again! Last time it was Sage Glasses, and this time Brave Glasses! You are a glasses killer." Glasses Bro stared at the guy in front of him, aggrieved. Even though he has gotten stronger, he still doesn't think he could beat him.

"Isn't that a pair of glasses?" The handsome guy ran over. It was Shi Shen: "Don't worry, I can work with Master instead of Senior Glasses."

"What do you know? This is my brother in life and death!" Glasses Bro growled.

"Don't worry about these kinds of trivialities. Let's go eat something. It looks like you haven't eaten for several days." Lin Jie took in Glasses Bro's wolfish appearance: "It looks like you'll need psychiatric treatment, too."

"Master, I know a good high-end restaurant where we can eat." Shi Shen said.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times! Don't call me Master! I have no intention of eating with you." Lin Jie said: "I can't afford that place."

"No worries, Master! It'll be my treat; just eat." Shi Shen said.

"Oh? Let's go!"

--

"So tell me, what happened to you all this time?" Lin Jie asked Glasses Bro: "Thirteen just brought me a pair of glasses when he came back."

Presently, three people were seated around a table, and Glasses Bro was eating a meal as if he'd never eat again. He was wearing a pair of high-end glasses on his nose; Shi Shen had bought them from a shop they had passed on the way.

"Don't speak of it!" said Glasses Bro: "I was transported to a strange world on the first day because of an instrument failure."

"A strange world?" Shi Shen listened with interest.

"Everything there is almost the same as this world. The only difference is that everything is rotten." Glasses Bro said.

"The Inner World?" asked Lin Jie.

"You even know its name!" Glasses Bro stared at Lin Jie in surprise: "I met a few heroes there, and they said that it was called the Inner World. There were monsters and ghosts everywhere."

"Ghosts?" Exclaimed Shi Shen in surprise.

"Yes, I went to that world's H City. There are very few people in the city in that world. The ones that do live there have a difficult time just surviving." Glasses Bro said: "The buildings are almost all rotting, and the river also looks extremely polluted.

"That sounds like a really terrible place." said Shi Shen.

"The most important thing was that my glasses were in the normal world, and I couldn't port to them." Glasses Bro spoke while crazily destroying the food before him: "That was really not my day."

"That world is a space that cannot be explained by current science." Lin Jie said: "If I remember right, it should have something like a magic forcefield, just like Hell."

"What? Magic forcefield?" said Shi Shen in surprise.

"I don't think anyone is studying that space right now." Lin said, "I remember the ruler there seemed to be a guy named END."

"Since when did you know so much about this crap?" Glasses Bro asked Lin Jie.

"I've been there before," Lin Jie said.

"What?" Glasses Bro was shocked: "No wonder you know so many details!"

"It's Master. He's a really powerful hero." said Shi Shen.

"Don't call me Master." Lin Jie retorted.

"I'm serious." Shi Shen said to Lin Jie: "I really want to be a powerful hero. Even if I can't be as great as Zero, at least I want to be like Master; a heart only for justice, unaffected by fame and fortune."

"Are you sure you're talking about this guy?" Glasses Bro stared at Shi Shen in shock: "I remember, aren't you that popular idol from the Ten Gods group? How did you suddenly begin following this scummy guy?"

"Don't say that! Master is a rare hero with a true sense of justice!" said Shi Shen.

"That's right! People like me with a sense of justice are hard to find these days." Lin Jie also told his bro.

"Are you finally acknowledging me? Master!" said Shi Shen.

"Acknowledge your uncle!" Lin Jie said. This Shi Shen had been stuck to him like his own skin for the last two days. The problem was that Shi Shen was obviously much more handsome than he was. Walking together makes Lin Jie always feel plain as dirt.

"Him? A hero with a sense of justice?" Glasses Bro stared at Shi Shen and said: "You are out of your mind! A person who has nothing better to do than teach Xiao Loli 'Guess what I'll chop off next' is a good person? Your master is going to end up in jail for instigation."

"Shut it. You don't know anything." Lin Jie glanced at Glasses Bro and continued: "Mu Mu isn't a normal person after all she's been through. I'm the one who helped her get used to her super powers early on. Getting used to fighting is good for her future safety."

"She's only seven," said Glasses Bro.

"I think Master is right," said Shi Shen.

"How?" Lin Jie and Glasses Bro looked at each other.

"You've been so thoroughly brainwashed by this scum." Glasses Bro said.

"I really feel that Master's thoughts are correct. As a hero, even a future hero, we must have the determination to fight the forces of evil anytime and anywhere." Shi Shen said.

"Don't call me Master." Lin Jie said: "I'm not even a hero at all."

"How can you say that?" said Shi Shen. "Didn't you save that girl two days ago?"

"But I couldn't save the one who was taken over by the shadows." Lin Jie said: "That man is dead. He didn't deserve that."

"Don't think that way." Glasses Bro said: "No one can be perfect. After all, you aren't a big hero like Zero."

"That's why I say I'm not a hero at all." Lin said: "Even Zero wasn't really a hero. We are just cleaning up after bad things happen."

"Even if you say that, Master, I can't agree! Zero is the savior of all mankind." Shi Shen said.

"He didn't save all mankind; at least, he couldn't save my parents." Lin Jie said.

"Don't you feel selfish saying that?" said Glasses Bro.

"I'm not criticizing him, but this is reality." Lin Jie took a drink and said: "Zero saved the world, but before that, do you know how many people died? Those people were there when the Zero incident occurred. And as for the people he saved, why are so many homeless children being used for human experiments? He didn't save these people in the new era. Do you remember Mu Mu? She survived, but for just the one of her, there were more than two hundred such children who didn't make it out of that damn experiment. Where were we all that time?"

"You can't blame yourself for all of that. It's the fault of the criminals." Shi Shen said.

"So, what is a hero's duty?" asked Lin Jie.

"Combating crime." said Shi Shen.

"That's just one." Lin said: "A true hero can lead the world to good, eliminate discrimination and arrogance, and save those who need to be saved, instead of arriving after things have happened. I feel that when we're fighting, it's just cleaning up messes. So, even if it is Zero! Not a hero." Lin Jie took another drink: "In my opinion, Zero is more like a weapon of mass destruction. When it appears, it is used to fight against the weapons of the enemy. But weapons will never save the hearts of the people."

"No. Zero saved me, at least." Shi Shen said. "Without him, I wouldn't be here."

"That's right." Glasses Bro said: "Without him, I wouldn't be a hero. Without him or thousands of other superheroes. Zero is always a hero in our hearts."

"Ha!" Lin Jie laughed shortly, and said, as he took another drink: "That's not fair to those who didn't get saved."

◇ ◇

Howdy howdy, friends! Glasses Bro is alive!! And we finally get some hints about Lin Jie's past as Zero, as well as some of his reasons for quitting.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

-miriga <3