“Flowers, trees, sky, breeze, clouds, sun, rainbow, ocean, beach, forest…”
“I’m back!”
A full week had passed since her last injury, and Su Yu had spent that entire week lying in the sunless underground laboratory.
When she saw sunlight again and breathed fresh air, she felt as if she had come back to life, and unconsciously recited a long list of strange lines.
“Get a grip.”
Through the drone’s transmission, Lin Mo naturally heard Su Yu’s string of incomprehensible words.
“This is the city center. Where’s the ocean, beach, or forest? I didn’t observe any rainbow either.”
He even started to doubt whether Su Yu’s mental state was sound.
“You don’t understand!”
However, Su Yu didn’t care about Lin Mo’s doubt.
She just blinked at the drone’s camera and revealed an inscrutable expression:
“These words have a special meaning. I’m not just rambling.”
“What special meaning could they have…”
Lin Mo didn’t believe that such frivolous words could have any special meaning, but he still ventured an uncertain guess:
“Could it be an expression of your feelings about returning to land?”
“What?! This represents my deep love for the Earth!”
The girl retorted in a huff.
As she guessed, even the smartest people in this world couldn’t catch the memes from her original world.
“I won’t talk to you anymore. I need to hurry to the Hero Association. Time is tight, and the person in charge is waiting for me.”
Lin Mo didn’t comment.
Seeing the girl so energetic now, he couldn’t be bothered to tease her.
He just said rather helplessly,
“Then go ahead. I have things to do. Contact me through the drone. I’ll put it in standby follow mode.”
—
The Hero Association headquarters was located in the city center, not too far away, but the roads to the center were too congested.
The best option was to take the subway.
Truth be told, since coming to this world, Su Yu was taking the subway for a long trip for the first time.
Although the subway station’s layout had some differences from her original world, and security checks were stricter, overall it was pretty much the same.
Nothing worth paying special attention to.
The only thing worth noting was that ever since she stepped onto the escalator heading underground, she kept noticing gazes from passersby from all directions.
At first, Su Yu thought it was just a coincidence.
But as more and more people made eye contact with her, she gradually felt that something was off.
“What’s going on? Why is everyone staring at me? Do I have flowers on my face?”
She couldn’t figure it out.
She just found the scene a bit strange, so she quickened her pace and walked deeper in.
Taking advantage of the sparse crowd, she ducked into the restroom, grabbed the drone, and started shouting:
“Lin Mo! Lin Mo! Are you there?”
After two seconds of silence, the palm-sized drone deactivated its invisibility.
Its green light had turned yellow.
“What’s up? Did you get lost?”
“No! What are you thinking?”
Hearing this rather serious question, Su Yu felt inexplicably annoyed.
This guy was completely questioning her intelligence.
“I’m an adult, you know. How could I get lost?”
“Yeah, yeah, sure…”
Lin Mo’s response was very perfunctory, clearly not taking her words seriously.
“So what happened?”
“It’s like this…”
Su Yu calmed down and then explained the situation just now.
“It’s just… I noticed a lot of people looking at me. Do I look different today?”
As she spoke, she showed her face to the camera from left to right, as if trying to find something different.
“Could it be that your white hair is too eye-catching, and passersby are just curious?”
Lin Mo manually pulled the drone back a bit, flew it around her once, and then gave his evaluation.
“No, no, no.”
Su Yu shook her head like a rattle-drum and retorted with a firm gaze:
“It was never this exaggerated before. People would glance and then continue on their way. Today I saw many people staring at me for a long time, and some were even taking photos.”
The girl said this, then slapped her forehead and blurted out:
“I haven’t done something wrong, have I? Without realizing it?”
“How could that be…”
Lin Mo immediately denied it, but on second thought, if things really were as she described, then it was indeed a bit strange.
After thinking for a moment, he decided to investigate.
“Wait a moment. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll have the AI analyze the whole situation. Don’t rush.”
“Okay, I’m not in a hurry.”
Su Yu took out her phone and checked the time.
‘I’m not in a hurry. I should be able to make it on time…’
—
“Maybe…”
“Alright, I’ve found out the reason. It’s not because you did something wrong.”
“So fast?!”
Su Yu looked up in surprise.
She had just finished speaking less than ten seconds ago, and he had already found out the reason?
“This is the power of technology. No need to be surprised.”
After replying calmly, Lin Mo stated the result of the AI analysis:
“Simply put, you’ve become famous. During the few days you were recovering, the Hero Association wasn’t idle. After all, you were the protagonist of the last monster attack incident. They gave you a wave of promotion. Now the internet is full of discussions about you. The AI estimates that your fan base has already exceeded two million, and even…”
Lin Mo pushed up his glasses, looked at the analysis results on the screen, hesitated, but still said it:
“You already have your own loyal fans. They’re probably the citizens who witnessed your heroic battle last time. They’ve spontaneously formed a fan group and have started debating online to defend the battle damage you caused.”
“Congratulations.”
These congratulations were delivered without joy or sadness, but to the girl’s ears, they sent a chill down her spine.
“Is this good news?”
“Half good? While it can increase your fame and social support, at the same time, you might soon have endless troubles.”
Lin Mo laughed on the other end, as if he could already imagine what the future would bring.
“…”
Su Yu stood frozen for a long time before muttering to herself in disbelief:
“So… I’ve become a big star?”
“This shouldn’t be. Even if the Association gave publicity, it shouldn’t spread this fast… It’s only been a few days…”
She couldn’t accept it for a moment.
Just a month ago, she was an unknown gloomy goblin.
Why had she suddenly transformed and gained so much attention?
This huge contrast made her dizzy and hard to accept.
“Take it easy. Actually, this step was also within expectations. After all, even before you debuted as a professional hero, the internet was already spreading legends about you, wasn’t it?”
Lin Mo noticed that her emotional state was off, and began trying to persuade her.
“Moreover, isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? Compared to your previous gloomy life, you don’t actually dislike the feeling of being in the spotlight, do you?”
“I think you just need a process to adapt.”
Su Yu took his words to heart.
After thinking for a while, the complicated look on her face disappeared.
“You’re right. Isn’t this exactly what I was looking forward to? Why should I panic…”
Even if she really had to face endless troubles… it was still much better than before.
The girl shifted her gaze to the drone and looked directly at the camera.
“By the way, I haven’t heard much about your hero career. Did you also encounter this kind of situation?”
Lin Mo laughed and spoke slowly with a meaningful tone:
“My career hasn’t encountered too much trouble… However, a hater who constantly trolled me on the internet gave me a headache and kept me up at night. But fortunately, I found a chance to deal with her. I believe she has now reformed and turned over a new leaf.”
“…”
“Lin Mo, you…”
Su Yu’s face started to burn.
She was at a loss, stammering, and half of her face turned red.
“No more talking. The Association people are still waiting for me. I need to go.”
Leaving behind these words, the girl rushed out of the restroom as if fleeing.
But the cheerful atmosphere in the air probably wouldn’t dissipate anytime soon.