Chapter 131: Sudden Incident

The sudden event caught Shi Ji and Shi Lin completely off guard.

Shi Lin stared at the derailed roller coaster, a deep fear rising within her. She wasn’t afraid of getting hurt or of the monsters. She was terrified that, despite being on the scene, she couldn’t save the people right in front of her.

Falling from such a height at such speed, the chances of survival were slim.

What to do? What to do?

Her heart pounded, her beautiful face full of panic.

Just then, a tall figure stood in front of her.

“Shi Lin, remember, a true hero cannot be afraid. Even if your power isn’t enough to save everyone, you have to try.”

Shi Lin wasn’t a professional hero, but Shi Ji recognized her as one. To him, she was a hero, without a doubt.

After speaking, Shi Ji turned back to Shi Lin with a relaxed and natural smile.

Now standing in front of her, Shi Lin suddenly felt that Shi Ji’s presence had grown enormously. He seemed tall enough to handle any difficulty.

Shi Ji was right, but now wasn’t the time for words. 

She widened her eyes and shouted, “What are you going to do?! The car is heading right towards us!”

“Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Shi Ji’s voice remained calm, hoping to soothe Shi Lin. But truly calming her required saving those people.

The roller coaster sped closer, heading straight for them. It looked terrifying even from a distance.

Hearing the screams of the passengers worried her, but Shi Lin’s heart gradually settled.

Clearly, Shi Ji had no intention of dodging. He decided to try saving these people.

Shi Lin didn’t retreat, embodying Shi Ji’s words. 

‘If you can save one person, try. Don’t fear failure; the key is to dare to try.’

But as she gathered her courage, Shi Ji spoke again, “Leave it to me. You have another task.”

As he finished speaking, the screams grew nearer. Danger approached fast. The roller coaster rushed down with a crash.

In that instant, Shi Lin closed her eyes, unable to watch.

Bang!

A loud crash, followed by a gust of wind, then silence. The screams stopped. No one spoke.

Was it over? 

She felt no impact, no pain.

“Did we… get saved?”

“We’re saved!”

“A hero saved us!”

Suddenly, endless cheering erupted in front of her.

It was really over.

Shi Lin finally opened her eyes slowly.

In front of her, Shi Ji still stood there, the only difference being that his right hand was raised, extended forward. His right palm was against something large, something holding many people who were cheering.

Shi Lin saw it clearly. It was the roller coaster car that had rushed towards them. Such a huge vehicle was now held by Shi Ji, enveloped in a blue light, floating in the air without sinking.

Placing the entire car to the side, Shi Ji turned to Shi Lin.

“A hero isn’t defined by the number of people they save, but by their willingness to help others.”

Shi Lin didn’t speak, her mouth slightly open as she stared at Shi Ji in a daze. But just then, an unpleasant voice suddenly broke through the harmony.

“Hey! You’re a hero, right? What took you so long? I almost died, you idiot!”

***

What should a hero do? What are they supposed to do?

Shi Ji always had a very clear answer in his mind.

He wasn’t the so-called hero in others’ eyes. He was just doing what he believed a hero should do.

In the face of disaster, people were weak and should be rescued. Shi Ji enjoyed saving people. On top of that, he had another belief: knowing which people should be saved and which should not.

Many people loudly thanked Shi Ji before leaving to seek safety. But there was an exception.

When that unpleasant voice came from behind, Shi Ji initially ignored it. Instead, he smiled at Shi Lin and said, “We are facing evil. Beyond the evil of the monsters, much of it comes from people themselves. Do you hear that? That’s evil.”

Then he slowly turned around.

As he spoke, two thugs, dressed sloppily with tiger tattoos on their shoulders and braids on their heads, swaggered towards Shi Ji. As they approached, they kept spewing profanities, showing nothing but disdain for Shi Ji.

Shi Lin was genuinely furious. Shi Ji had saved them, yet they could say such things—truly shameless.

Shi Lin felt indignant on Shi Ji’s behalf and wanted to step forward to say something, but Shi Ji raised his hand to stop her.

“See? Their behavior is very similar to those monsters.”

Shi Lin looked at the two men. Besides their human appearance, their attitudes indeed resembled those of monsters.

The two thugs approached Shi Ji and Shi Lin, scowling at them.

One of them, with a twisted sneer, looked down on Shi Ji, gesturing rudely with his hands. It was deeply unsettling.

“You’re a hero, right? Heroes are supposed to save us immediately. You took so long, I almost died before you showed up.”

Hearing this, the other thug wore the same disdainful expression.

“Heroes are supposed to serve the people. Remember that, you idiots!”

In Yinshuang City, many people had a general impression of heroes ranked B and above, but not much of an impression of C-ranked heroes since the number of C-ranked heroes grew relatively quickly. Because of this, the public didn’t pay much attention to C-ranked heroes.

These two thugs had directly assumed that Shi Ji and Shi Lin were C-ranked heroes, which was why they were acting so arrogant.

“If it weren’t so chaotic right now, I’d definitely go to the Star Alliance and file a complaint against you. Watch yourselves.”

“Exactly! How can you be so slow and still call yourselves heroes? You’re a disgrace to heroes everywhere!”

Initially, because of Shi Ji, Shi Lin hadn’t spoken up. But these two were saying such unpleasant things that keeping silent seemed like letting them take advantage.

“Hey! How can you say that? Shi Ji saved you! Instead of thanking him, you’re blaming him for everything. It’s disgusting!”

Seeing Shi Ji remain patient, Shi Lin couldn’t understand what he was thinking. Turning to look at Shi Ji, she found him smiling.

Shi Lin didn’t understand how Shi Ji could still smile in this situation.

“Calling you idiots isn’t enough. You really are idiots. Didn’t I say it already? Heroes are here to serve us. If they do something wrong, they should be criticized! Do you think you’re making a good point? We’re very angry now, so apologize!”

“Yeah! Apologize! If you don’t, we’ll go to the Star Alliance and report you after this is over!”

Faced with the filthy words of these two thugs, Shi Ji didn’t argue back at all. To him, if a problem could be solved with action, there was no need to waste words.

“So, are you done talking?”

By now, the two thugs had said about enough. With monsters everywhere and the roller coaster riders having fled, only these two remained. Although they were arrogant, they weren’t stupid.

Upon hearing Shi Ji’s words, they became even angrier.

“Punk, you don’t seem to accept our criticism and education, do you?” one of them shouted again.

Seeing him step forward, the other thug quickly pulled him back.

“Hey! Enough! We’ll deal with this later. Let’s go to the Star Alliance afterward. It’s dangerous here. We should leave first.”

He understood this logic too. Right now, staying alive was what mattered.

He flipped his middle finger at Shi Ji, glaring at him with a twisted, ugly face.

“Just wait. I’m definitely going to report you to the Star Alliance. Let’s go!”

They had jumped out like mad dogs, barking nonsensically, thinking they were someone important. 

Criticism? Education? Who really needed to be criticized and educated here? 

Shi Ji held a deep grudge against such people. How could there be so many clueless idiots in this world?

“Stop.” Shi Ji said, his tone still calm and steady. “Who allowed you to leave?”

The two thugs had just taken a couple of steps when Shi Ji’s words halted them. Surprisingly, they didn’t leave immediately but stopped in their tracks.

One of them turned his head first.

Suddenly, a large fist loomed before him, then everything went black. Pain surged through him instantly, and he felt his body become weightless.

His movements were graceful, almost like he was dancing in the air.

After being thrown back ten meters, he rolled several times on the ground before stopping. As he regained his senses, an unidentified object came hurtling towards him from afar. It hit him directly. At the same time, two screams echoed in the air.

Witnessing this scene, Shi Lin covered her mouth in shock. 

Shi Ji’s actions and thoughts were beyond her expectations. She didn’t know Shi Ji well, but if it had been Lin Xinyan, she would have known Shi Ji would act this way.

While still in amazement, she heard Shi Ji’s voice from the side.

“Shi Lin! Your main task is to evacuate the crowd, quickly! Remember, when you encounter people like this, just hit them. If you can solve a problem with action, avoid wasting words.”

Given the dire situation, it was indeed not wise to linger here. Hearing the sounds of battle around her, Shi Lin’s nerves tightened, and she grew anxious.

She had initially planned for Shi Ji to come with her, but after seeing him in action, Shi Lin dismissed that idea.

“Shi Ji,” she called out.

Shi Ji nodded, “Go quickly.”

“Be careful.”

“You too.”

Without further words, Shi Lin took her longbow and left.

After Shi Lin left, Shi Ji didn’t move immediately. His gaze returned to the two thugs lying on the ground.

Regardless of whether they would change their ways in the future, this lesson was absolutely necessary.

Seeing the two slowly getting up and trying to flee, Shi Ji stomped his foot and lightly jumped, landing directly in their path.

Their faces were full of fear and panic, as what had just happened was far beyond their expectations.

“Hey! What… what are you trying to do? I’m telling you, we’re going to report you to the Star Alliance! Just wait and see!”

Shi Ji’s smile was no longer friendly; it had turned into a cold smirk.

“Report me? Go ahead. But before that, let me teach you a proper lesson.”