Heroes, It's Not Child's Play

Dealing with these players turned out to be much simpler than anyone had imagined, especially for the usually timid Lan Xiaoke, who was now wearing a rare expression of unsatisfied eagerness.

She crossed her arms, her single visible eye beneath her white bangs constantly scanning the surroundings. "Who's next? Come out!"

Seeing no one step forward to respond, she finally nodded in satisfaction, then turned and walked back to where Luo Xi and the others were—who had been busy putting out fires in the surrounding shops.

"That should be enough." Luo Xi had also managed to rescue many people. She had always enjoyed doing volunteer work and helping vulnerable groups. Faced with children crying from fright, she patiently soothed them.

"Luo Xi, you'd actually make a pretty good mom," Lan Xiaoke remarked, scratching her head after watching Luo Xi calm the kids down in no time.

Luo Xi just smiled faintly, then glanced at Lan Xiaoke. "You could be too, Xiaoke."

"Really? Hehe, I do think I'm pretty gentle," Lan Xiaoke said, scratching her head again.

Though that wasn't exactly what Luo Xi had meant.

After all the players were dealt with, the Alliance began sending people to handle the aftermath. Fortunately, they were highly efficient, quickly transporting the injured to the hospital and cleaning up the scene.

"Good work," Wang Yanran said to Lan Xiaoke and the others. If not for their help, those players would have been a real headache.

Moreover, those players didn't seem afraid of conventional firearms; bullets and guns were useless against them. The local superhumans were still too weak, completely outmatched by these invaders.

So, after much thought, Wang Yanran had decided to come seek Ye Chuan's help.

And the facts proved her right. As long as Ye Chuan was willing to step in or send someone, these problems ceased to be problems.

Even someone on the brink of death could be brought back by one of Ye Chuan's special serums.

"Whew, I'm exhausted. I have to get some reward from Ye Chuan for this," Lan Xiaoke was saying when a voice sounded beside her.

"What reward?"

Lan Xiaoke turned to find Ye Chuan standing nearby. He had clearly used spatial teleportation to arrive, having observed everything that just happened within his divine sense.

"You were hiding all this time?" Lan Xiaoke blinked.

"Hiding?" Ye Chuan raised a hand for a karate chop. Lan Xiaoke instinctively covered her head, but he instead poked her under the arm, making her burst into uncontrollable giggles.

"So mean!"

"Chuan Chuan, how did I do?" Luo Xi asked with a smile from the side. It was her first real fight, and while she trained regularly, practical combat experience was still quite rare.

"Not bad," Ye Chuan said, pinching Luo Xi's cheek. "Just not decisive enough."

"Not decisive enough?"

"If it were me, I'd have cut their heads off directly. You're still too gentle, only severing limbs." For wanton destroyers like these, there was no need to give them much chance to struggle, Ye Chuan implied.

Luo Xi thought for a moment, hands behind her back, then tilted her head and smiled cutely. "I understand."

"Ye Chuan, these players were eliminated too quickly. We didn't get a chance to interrogate any," Wang Yanran added.

"It doesn't matter. They're most likely from those other worlds too, just treating our world as a dungeon instance." Ye Chuan was used to it by now. Since he could travel to other worlds, it was natural for players from other worlds to come to his.

So far, the strength of these players didn't pose any real threat.

"Am... am I too late?!"

Just then, Ye Chuan heard a commotion. He glanced over and saw a figure in armor standing not far away, weapon in hand. Upon noticing the surroundings had already calmed down, she scratched her head in confusion.

"That's..." Seeing the familiar armor, Ye Chuan seemed to recall something. "Oh right, the girl called... Puppy?"

"You probably remember wrong. That's Xiao Yang (Little Lamb)," Wang Yanran corrected with a slight sweatdrop.

At that moment, the armored figure clearly noticed Ye Chuan's group. The moment she clearly saw Ye Chuan's face, she jogged over.

"B-big brother!"

As she spoke, she deactivated her transformation, revealing a petite girl with fluffy, wool-like hair.

"Hmm, I do remember you," Ye Chuan said, looking at the girl before him. After all, he was the one who gave her that transformation device.

"I... I've defeated many criminals recently, and lots of monsters too! I've protected our city!" Her eyes shone brightly as she spoke excitedly to Ye Chuan, clenching her fists. "Am... am I a hero now?"

"Perhaps," Ye Chuan said, feeling a flicker of interest as he looked at the young girl. "So, is being a hero fun?"

"It's fun... Those guys are despicable." Xiao Yang tightened her fists. "But, I'm willing to protect everyone!"

Ye Chuan saw the purity in her eyes, untainted by ulterior motives. Such a person with maxed-out justice points made him regard her a bit more highly.

"First, give me the transformation device."

Xiao Yang was stunned for a second, but subconsciously took out her device and handed it to Ye Chuan.

"Alright. From today, you are no longer a hero," Ye Chuan said, putting the device away. "Go back to living an ordinary life."

Xiao Yang froze. A few seconds later, her mouth fell open. "Huh?!"

"What's wrong?"

"I... I really need that."

"Then take it back from me. If you can," Ye Chuan said playfully, looking down at the curly-haired girl who was a head and a half shorter than him. "If you can't even do that, don't talk about protecting everyone."

With that, Ye Chuan released a trace of his aura. Just a wisp was enough to make the girl's eyes widen, forcing her to bend under the pressure.

"Huh?!" Lan Xiaoke and the others beside Ye Chuan were taken aback. "Y-Ye Chuan?!"

Ye Chuan just waved his hand, signaling them to stay quiet.

Xiao Yang's pupils trembled. A feeling akin to facing death made it hard for her to even breathe. "Ah..."

"What's wrong? Without the transformation device, you can't even stand up?" Ye Chuan said calmly. "Being a hero isn't child's play."

"If it weren't for the transformation device, those monsters, those superhuman criminals... they could take your life, your family's lives, at any moment."

"What do you think life is?"

Ye Chuan extended his hand again, the transformation device resting on his palm.

"Come on. Prove it to me."

Xiao Yang remained kneeling, unable to stand, her whole body trembling.

Time ticked by. Watching this, Ye Chuan simply shook his head.

"As I thought. You can't do it, can you?"

Just as Ye Chuan started to turn away, he seemed to sense something. He looked back and saw Xiao Yang, still kneeling, stretch out a hand and clutch tightly at the hem of his pants.