Chapter 149 : Chapter 149
149. About Being a Hero
Seeing the serious look on Lu Zheng’s face, Yi Ning blinked.
She probably had some idea why he was angry.
He was indignant on behalf of that planet’s civilization.
But she still didn’t quite get it.
Was that really necessary?
Yi Ning stared into Lu Zheng’s eyes, trying to glean more information, but unfortunately, she failed.
After a few seconds of hesitation, she met his gaze again and decided to be frank.
“Sorry, I didn’t think you’d have such a big reaction.”
“After all, that civilization doesn’t have anything to do with you.”
It was billions of light-years from Blue Star—there was no way it could impact Lu Zheng. Their survival or destruction wasn’t his responsibility, so she couldn’t quite understand why he was upset.
Was it because of so-called compassion?
But the species that built civilization there might not even be human.
Lu Zheng looked at her cold expression and opened his mouth as if to speak.
In the end, he only sighed and shook his head helplessly.
After a moment of silence, he asked a seemingly unrelated question: “What do you think a hero is?”
Yi Ning tilted her head, puzzled by the connection to the earlier discussion.
She thought of making a joke to lighten the mood, but sensing Lu Zheng’s unusually serious tone, she felt herself shrink back a little.
After a short pause, she decided to answer honestly.
“Mm~ isn’t the job of a hero basically to protect the people in their jurisdiction… and make life difficult for us in the evil organization?”
Lu Zheng didn’t reply.
The air between them felt inexplicably heavy.
Yi Ning scratched her head in discomfort, glancing at him, hoping to read his mood from his gestures or tone.
But unlike before, this time she couldn’t read anything.
Faced with this unfamiliar version of Lu Zheng, she felt a strange sense of tension.
“Honestly, I think being a hero’s a pretty good gig. The pay’s above average, and if you’re lucky enough to be assigned somewhere safe, you can spend every day sipping tea at the association. Not like us in the evil business—we’ve got monthly evil quotas, and if we can’t meet them, next month’s budget is in trouble.”
She laughed awkwardly, waving her hand in an attempt to ease the mood. But for some reason, instead of lightening, the air between them grew heavier.
She didn’t dare speak again.
After a moment, Lu Zheng spoke.
He asked another strange question: “Do you know what the hero association’s entrance exam asks?”
Yi Ning only gave a dry laugh.
She was an evil scientist—how could she possibly know anything about the hero association’s recruitment exams?
Still, since Lu Zheng seemed to be in a bad mood, she answered truthfully after her laugh.
“Come on, brother… how would I know? It’s not like I’m planning to go undercover in the hero association.”
She tried again to defuse the tension.
But Lu Zheng ignored her and continued.
“The hero association’s exam has two main parts—written and practical. The written test is just school knowledge, to check if candidates have basic learning ability. The practical is to test their skills—see if they can fight.
But at the end, there’s a crucial multiple-choice question. No matter how well you did before, if you get this question wrong, you can’t become a hero.”
What? That made no sense. Shouldn’t all the results be considered together?
Yi Ning rolled her eyes at the absurdity.
Good thing she wasn’t in the hero business—no need to deal with such nonsense.
Lu Zheng continued without reacting to her expression.
“In the final exam, the examiner makes candidates forget they’re in a test, wipes their memories, and throws each into a simulated environment. The scenarios differ, but they all lead to the same choice—
An innocent civilian is facing a danger you have no way to stop, where rushing in is certain death. Do you go in anyway to buy even a single second, or do you retreat to find a hero who can actually handle it?”
“…”
Yi Ning stayed quiet for two seconds before cautiously giving her answer.
“Go find a hero who can handle it?”
Lu Zheng only smiled and gave her the association’s official answer.
Seeing this, Yi Ning guessed it right away.
“The correct answer is…”
“To go in and buy even a single second.” ×2
They spoke the final line almost in unison, though Yi Ning’s tone carried obvious uncertainty.
When he confirmed it, her expression turned odd.
Because to her, someone who chose that option was—
“…just an idiot, right?”
“They change nothing, end up dead, and take away any hope of saving other civilians. If you go for help, there might still be a chance.”
“Haha~”
Hearing the expected response, Lu Zheng didn’t argue. He only chuckled.
“Who knows… maybe the essence of being a hero is to be the kind of fool who doesn’t think about the cost.”
“But as a hero, when faced with danger, as long as the ones being protected aren’t truly vile, you have to be at the very front. ‘If the sky falls, I’ll hold it up’—it might sound exaggerated, but that’s the hero’s creed.”
After speaking, he took off his helmet, drank a sip of cola to moisten his throat, and seemed to decide the topic was done.
“That’s enough idle talk.”
He ignored Yi Ning’s puzzled look and returned to the possible civilization-ending disaster.
“About this job you’re trying to hire me for—don’t you have any intel? Anything at all, even if it seems trivial.”
Seeing her sit in silence, Lu Zheng started to grow anxious.
“You didn’t investigate, or at least ask the Cosmic Civilization Protection Committee for clues?”
He picked up the notice again—the date at the bottom was three days ago.
Given Yi Ning’s personality, it was hard to believe she’d done nothing.
“Uh… that…”
Pressed hard by Lu Zheng, cold sweat began to trickle down Yi Ning’s back.
It was obvious that from the moment she’d received the notice until today, she hadn’t been up to anything good.