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On the way to the Hero Association headquarters, Jess sat in the driver's seat, his palms already drenched in sweat.
He kept glancing at the man in the back seat through the rearview mirror, only to see Mr. KING sitting motionless.
Lin Mo naturally sensed Jess's nervousness and his peeking gaze, but he said nothing, pretending not to notice.
The vehicle entered the underground parking lot of the Hero Association headquarters in this strange atmosphere.
When Jess led Lin Mo out of the elevator, the entire office hall of the headquarters instantly fell into an eerie silence.
"Oh my god... it's Lord KING! Am I dreaming?" A young female employee covered her mouth, her eyes glinting with disbelief.
"He actually came! For an advertisement?" Another senior employee pushed up his glasses, his eyes behind the lenses also filled with incredulity... Lin Mo's appearance greatly surprised them; they never expected The Strongest Man on Earth to take on this advertisement.
[From Hero Association Staff A's awe, Energy Points +3]
[From Hero Association Staff B's admiration, Energy Points +4]
[From...]
Sitch, with his big nose, had already brought several high-ranking association officials to wait at the entrance. Seeing Lin Mo, he immediately came forward, a grateful expression on his face.
"Mr. KING, thank you very much for taking time out of your busy schedule."
"This matter shouldn't have troubled you, it's just that..."
Lin Mo just nodded slightly, without speaking.
Talking too much leads to mistakes, especially when playing a role like Mr. KING; silence and coolness are the best camouflage.
"Oh, KING, I didn't expect you to do something like this." A clear yet slightly disdainful voice came from inside the association without warning.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a petite figure slowly floating in mid-air.
She had naturally curly green short hair, wore a simple black dress, and emitted a visible green glow.
She was the S-Class Rank 2 hero, Terrible Tornado.
Lin Mo also looked back in surprise. He never expected to meet this tsundere loli here.
"He still lacks the qualities of a hero, doing something that diminishes his status."
Terrible Tornado stared at Lin Mo with an annoyed expression. In truth, she usually didn't bother with other people's private matters, but she had been in a bad mood recently and wanted to vent her anger on someone, and Mr. KING just happened to walk into her crosshairs...
——————
The time rewound to five days ago.
A colossal monster, tens of meters tall, was wantonly destroying the streets. Its body was entirely composed of sharp black rocks, and every step it took caused the ground to shake.
"I am the ultimate life form, 'Myriad Strange Rocks'!" The monster roared at the empty street, its voice like the grinding of rocks.
"I slept in the Earth's core magma for a thousand years, constantly accumulating energy, and now I have finally awakened, becoming a strange rock with supreme will!"
"My mission—is to eliminate you fragile humans!"
The rock man grew more agitated as he spoke, his eyes glowing red like magma.
"Mere mammals... I will smash you one by one into flesh paste, grind you into powder! Let the Earth return to the rule of our rock tribe!"
"So noisy!"
An impatient, delicate shout descended from the sky.
Immediately, Terrible Tornado casually waved her hand, and with a violent crushing sound, the rock man was forcefully ground into a sky full of flying gray powder, scattering with the wind.
The accompanying Hero Association staff watched in awe, then burst into enthusiastic praise: "That was truly magnificent, Lord Tornado! Still a one-shot kill! The incident was resolved peacefully, with no casualties!"
Terrible Tornado slowly landed, but stood with her hands on her hips, complaining: "Although there are monsters every day recently, everyone only asks me. Others should also show some results."
She stretched, then sighed in a feigned mature manner, "Even though it's supposed to be a holiday, I have all sorts of things to do."
After speaking, Terrible Tornado's body once again lit up with green psychic energy, preparing to fly away, adding a final remark: "Well... if, if my power is absolutely necessary, then there's nothing I can do."
"It's something that can't be helped!"
With that, she left the scene, leaving a silent group of staff members.
However, to Terrible Tornado's surprise, from that day on, she had not received any deployment requests from the Hero Association for several consecutive days.
The association's emergency communication channel was dead silent. Every time she couldn't resist calling to inquire, the reply was always the same: "Lord Tornado, please rest assured, a hero has already dealt with the situation at the scene."
She was so bored that she could only drink "height-increasing milk" and watch TV at home every day.
Eventually, she couldn't stand the idleness anymore and decided to take the initiative, patrolling the skies over various cities to search for traces of monsters.
However, every time she rushed to the scene based on information from the network, the battle had already ended.
What awaited her were only the tattered corpses of monsters and the Hero Association personnel who were cleaning up the aftermath.
What concerned her even more was that most of the monster corpses showed signs of being defeated by a single, powerful blow, appearing to be the work of the same person.
At the same time, in a corner of Z-City, a bald man who had recently eaten too much and had to increase his walking time, suddenly let out a loud sneeze without warning.
"Achoo! ...Strange, is someone talking about me?"
Left with no choice, Terrible Tornado, simmering with unidentifiable anger, could only fly back to the Hero Association headquarters to see if she could find something to do.
As a result, she happened to run into Mr. KING, who was there to film an advertisement.
——————
"This is my freedom." Lin Mo said, staring at Terrible Tornado. He hadn't expected to encounter her here.
It couldn't be that she was also here to shoot an advertisement, could it?
A ridiculous thought flashed through Lin Mo's mind. No, given her personality, that was absolutely impossible.
Then, why did she harbor such obvious hostility towards him?
Lin Mo subtly observed Terrible Tornado, and at the same time, Terrible Tornado was staring intently at Lin Mo with her emerald green eyes.
With that look, a flash of lightning instantly struck Terrible Tornado's mind!
The rumors among the Hero Association staff, the latest updates about Mr. KING, now fit together like a puzzle, quickly completing in her mind—
Rumor one: Mr. KING recently seemed to have changed his habit of being a recluse and started being active in the uninhabited areas of Z-City.
Rumor two: The frequency of monster appearances in Z-City had sharply declined recently, especially in the uninhabited areas, which were almost completely cleared out.
Rumor three: All monster remains found in the uninhabited areas of Z-City showed characteristics of being killed in one blow by absolute power.
Well, KING!
Terrible Tornado's eyes instantly widened, and the anger in her heart shot to her head with a "whoosh."
So it was you! You're the one stealing my monsters!? No wonder I've come up empty-handed every time I've gone to Z-City to catch monsters these past few days!
"KING, I challenge you to a duel!"
Terrible Tornado declared she couldn't tolerate it any longer, immediately pointing at Mr. KING's nose and shouting.
Lin Mo: "Meow meow meow!?!"