"Long live Lord KING!"
"Humanity's strongest!"
Cheers, like a mountain tsunami, crashed against Lin Mo's eardrums, wave after wave.
He stood in the center of the ravaged street, yet above him, the sky, clear and bright after the rain, was exceptionally transparent.
Golden sunlight bathed his body, outlining his tall figure.
"Ding! Detected that the host is at the center of attention, gaining 'Adoration' emotional energy! Energy value +1000!"
"Ding! Gaining massive 'Awe' emotional energy! Energy value +1000!"
"Ding! Detected extreme astonishment from Deep Sea King, energy value +1000!"
The cheers rose again, even drowning out the distant sirens and ambulance sounds.
People's faces were a mix of the wild joy of surviving a disaster and reverence for KING.
They tried to surge forward but were pushed back by his invisible aura, not daring to advance half a step.
Just then, a bald figure wearing a yellow jumpsuit and a white cape appeared at the edge of the crowd—Saitama had finally arrived, albeit late.
He rushed onto the battle-scarred street, looked at the completely vanished Deep Sea King, and KING, who was bathed in sunlight, and scratched his smooth head in confusion.
"Huh? It's… over?"
Saitama glanced at the scene and realized there was nothing for him to do.
He had originally received an urgent alert from the Association along with Genos, but he chased after a suspicious figure midway, though he couldn't catch him.
He had told Genos to go ahead… He wondered where Genos was now?
Saitama looked at KING, who was surrounded by everyone; the powerful aura emanating from him felt somewhat peculiar even to him.
"Well, it's good that it's resolved," Saitama was never one to seek excitement, nor did he go up to greet KING.
He silently shrugged, turned, and disappeared just as unobtrusively and quietly into the cheers.
Lin Mo didn't notice Saitama's arrival; he bent down and carefully picked up Mumen Rider, who had already fallen unconscious.
This action confused many, but in the eyes of his fervent fans, it took on a deeper meaning.
"Did you see that? Lord KING personally carried that Class-C Hero!"
A young man wearing a homemade KING support shirt shouted excitedly to his companion, his voice trembling slightly with emotion.
"This shows that Lord KING recognized his courage! Even if he is weak, as long as he dares to resist, he can gain the respect of the strongest!"
"This is the true demeanor of a hero! Powerful, confident, yet benevolent!"
The crowd automatically parted a path for him.
Lin Mo, holding Mumen Rider, walked steadily, step by step, towards the other end of the street.
There, the Hero Association's logistics and medical personnel had already set up a temporary cordon, ambulances flashed red and blue lights, and medical staff waited anxiously.
His silhouette, stretched long by the setting sun, was silent and aloof, deeply etched into the minds of every survivor.
After handing Mumen Rider over to the medical personnel, Lin Mo, surrounded by Association staff, prepared to take a special car to leave.
He never once looked back at the cheering crowd; this indifference only added to his mysterious and powerful aura.
However, as the hero's figure disappeared, some murmurs that had been suppressed began to quietly spread through the crowd.
"Speaking of which, what exactly was that Class-C, Mumen Rider, doing just now?"
A middle-aged man with glasses wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with lingering fear, speaking to his companion beside him.
The fear from earlier hadn't completely dissipated; he needed to talk to distract himself.
"What else could he be doing? Playing the hero," his companion pouted, a hint of disdain in his tone.
"What can a Class-C do against a Demon-level disaster except throw his life away? If Mr. KING hadn't arrived in time, he would have been a puddle of flesh."
This conversation attracted the attention of many nearby people.
Unbeknownst to them, the earlier admiration for Mumen Rider's fearless courage began to quietly fade in the face of realistic logic.
"You can't say that, he was at least… very brave?" a young girl tried to softly argue.
"Brave?" The bespectacled man who spoke first immediately retorted, his voice growing louder.
"Is that called brave? That's foolish! That's overestimating himself! If he had any brains, he'd know he'd only be a hindrance if he went up there!"
He grew more agitated as he spoke: "Think about it, how critical was the situation at that time! Yet Mr. KING had to divert his attention to save him."
"What if, I mean what if, it affected Mr. KING's performance and led to him losing to Deep Sea King? Who would bear the consequences then? Can a mere Class-C bear that responsibility?!"
These sharp words were like a stone thrown into many people's hearts.
Indeed, from a rational perspective, Mumen Rider's actions were meaningless, even disruptive.
In the face of absolute power, courage seemed so cheap and ridiculous.
"Exactly! He just wanted to show off! He wanted to take this opportunity to make an appearance on the national live broadcast to boost his ranking!" another person immediately chimed in.
"I've seen too many people like him, fools who don't even care about their lives for fame and fortune!"
"If you ask me, the Hero Association should revoke his hero qualification! Such behavior is not worth encouraging!"
"Right! He's a disgrace to the hero world!"
The rhetoric began to grow increasingly extreme.
People had just escaped from the immense fear of death, and their minds were in a state of extreme excitement and instability; they desperately needed an outlet.
And trampling a weak person underfoot undoubtedly gave them a false sense of security and superiority.
So they wantonly mocked and criticized the person who had just risked his life to protect them, as if doing so could distance themselves from "weakness" and "folly."
Just as this wave of criticism grew fiercer, almost swallowing Mumen Rider's heroic glory, a cold voice forcefully interjected.
"What… were you just saying?"
Several men, who were spouting venom, turned their heads at the sound and saw three young men wearing T-shirts with KING's portrait staring coldly at them.
The leader of the youths, with a buzz cut, fierce eyes, and traces of an unremoved tattoo on his neck.
They were die-hard fans of KING, calling themselves the "Emperor Engine" fan club.
"We were talking about that Class-C Hero…" The bespectacled man subconsciously replied, but before he could finish, he was roughly interrupted by the buzz-cut youth.
"I asked, what kind of tone are you using to discuss a hero recognized by Lord KING?"
The buzz-cut youth's voice wasn't loud, but the oppressive feeling it contained made the shouts of those around them significantly quieter.
The bespectacled man was startled by this aura but still stubbornly said:
"I… I'm just stating the facts! And I'm also thinking for Mr. KING! That Class-C was clearly just causing trouble…"