Placing Little Emperor on the nearby sofa, Vincent leaned back against the comfortable soft cushion and opened his phone to check the messages he hadn't had time to look at earlier.
Most of the bombarding messages came from personal social media like Twitter, with some also from phone texts.
Vincent's popularity at school was actually quite average, so the only person who would specifically find him on Twitter and send such a massive, virus-like amount of messages was the one he had grown up with since childhood.
His good 'brother,' his childhood friend Gwen.
Vincent quickly scrolled through his phone messages. Gwen's initial messages were all Christmas greetings and some photos of her family and herself celebrating the holiday.
He flicked his finger across a photo.
Hmm, that personal photo of Gwen in a pink bunny-themed pajama looks pretty good, quite pleasing to the eye.
Vincent unceremoniously clicked to save it.
During this time, Gwen, realizing his unusual lack of response, sent messages confirming his safety and called him.
By the third day, Gwen even thought Vincent had gone missing. Officer George, for the sake of his beloved daughter, couldn't help but investigate and only then learned that Vincent's whole family had gone abroad.
It's estimated that Officer George is now thoroughly keeping an eye on him.
Vincent gave a wry smile and quickly replied: "Sorry, Gwen. I made you worry."
"My aunt and I went on vacation. I left in a hurry and forgot to tell you."
No sooner had he clicked send than Gwen replied less than half a second later: "Hmph! If apologies worked, what would we need the police for? I need sincere compensation!"
"Alright, you name your compensation conditions then. I'll definitely satisfy them if I can." Vincent, knowing he was in the wrong, readily agreed.
Gwen: "That's more like it! I need to think carefully about the conditions! Don't even think about backing out then!"
"OK." Vincent finished replying and continued to browse other Twitter messages.
He noticed that his junior, Kara Danvers, had also sent a blessing message on Christmas Eve.
However, there were no further messages after that. The last update on Kara's personal Twitter was also on Christmas Eve, five days ago. It seemed she hadn't been online since then.
"Could she also have gone on vacation abroad…" Vincent pondered, tapping his finger on the screen to reply.
First, he apologized and explained why he hadn't replied, added a belated Christmas greeting, and finally asked about her health and travel status… as a senior's concern.
After the three-part message.
Vincent then scrolled through the class discussion group messages and found that the class instructor had updated the class information. The class trip, originally scheduled for mid-January next year, had been moved up to January 1st, New Year's Day, next year.
And today was the second to last day of 2009.
Isn't this: spend a week on Christmas break, attend one day of school, and then go on a three-day trip to New York as a group?
Vincent was speechless. He still had some lingering shadows regarding travel.
He thought to himself, as long as it's truly a simple "trip," it would be fine. Not like the previous two so-called travel outings, where he was either forced to save the world or forced into arduous training, which was far from the purpose of travel for entertainment and relaxation.
After browsing and responding to the messages on Twitter, Vincent, feeling bored, started scrolling through online news.
Upon seeing this.
Vincent couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise, instinctively straightening his back and sitting upright on the sofa.
His expression was solemn as he quickly scrolled down through the news on his phone.
During the days Vincent spent on Paradise Island, two events exploded in popularity across the entire internet!
...The first event was about the superhero Captain America, Steve Rogers!
Due to the passing of former U.S. Agent Peggy Carter from illness, Captain America, who had resurfaced from the iceberg after more than seventy years, made his first public appearance as one of the pallbearers!
His lover from the same generation had aged and passed away, yet Captain America, as the first superhero to break human limits, remained as young as a man in his early twenties!
No peers, no comrades he fought with, and the inability to ever fulfill that promise—this was an extremely cruel fate for a superhero!
Spanning eras and arriving in the 21st century, where would Captain America go from here? This was also a question… The second event was about the Human God of Metropolis—
Superman.
Since his fame after battling the Kryptonian warship and forces more than half a year ago, he had continuously used his Superman strength to help humanity, worshipped by many as a Human God.
But in recent days, the prevailing narrative had completely shifted.
Due to excessive building destruction and accidental harm to humans, some citizens of Metropolis began to publicly protest. The Metropolis court announced that it would publicly summon Superman for interrogation!
The interrogation date was set for January 2nd next year!
The superhero Superman might very well be convicted and imprisoned!
...After reading the two major news reports, Vincent couldn't help but frown.
More and more superhumans were emerging and resurfacing in the world. Only superhumans could fight superhumans, yet superhumans were feared and questioned by ordinary people.
The Earth world was facing both internal and external troubles, like an invisible trend of the times.
"Is it time to prepare some precautionary measures?" Vincent murmured softly, looking at Little Emperor, who was sound asleep on the sofa beside him.
A young Flerken, a dormant Venom… without considering his aunt's situation, it was clearly not stable enough.
Vincent fell into thought.
No matter what, he had to protect the people around him.
Under this premise, even if his opponents were old gods, aliens, superhumans, or monsters, he would have no fear… Two days later, January 1st, New Year's Day.
This was the first day of the new year 2010!
The weather was clear and sunny.
In previous years, January was the coldest month, but this year, the global climate seemed to be out of whack, with temperatures continuously rising right at the start of the new year. The outdoor temperature felt more like autumn, and many students had shed their heavy overcoats and padded jackets.
Around noon, a yellow school bus, painted in a striking color, stopped at the middle school gate.
The male instructor, holding a megaphone, stood at the school gate and called out: "All students in our class, hurry up, bring your luggage and belongings, and find a seat on the bus."
Students streamed out of the teaching building and boarded the school bus.
"Vincent, what are you still doing? Get on the bus!" The male instructor suddenly shouted towards a spot.
"Coming!" Vincent, carrying his backpack, responded and hurried out of the teaching building.
He had just made a quick trip to Kara's classroom, only to find that she hadn't come to class today either. Since Christmas Eve, Kara hadn't responded to his messages, and the school had also received consecutive sick leave requests for her.
This undoubtedly caused some concern.
As Vincent boarded the bus, he glanced at the thermos cup held by the male instructor, his eyes twitching slightly.
Of all things to stick on the thermos cup's opening, why did it have to be his cross-dressing back view photo from when he fought Abomination… Who could handle that?
Vincent sighed. As soon as he entered the school bus compartment, he saw Gwen waving at him from a seat a bit further back. The seat next to her, which had made both male and female classmates envious, was occupied by her small backpack.
Vincent immediately waved back and headed towards the seat next to Gwen.
"Everyone, sit tight, we're about to depart!"
With the male instructor's deep and powerful announcement, Vincent's trip to New York was about to begin.