dmims Page 115
Page 115
She thought it was the leader's authority at the time, but now she realizes it was nothing more than bullying.
Was she really forcing them to join for the sake of "unity"?
No, she was just afraid—afraid that she wouldn't be able to climb any higher on the Hero Association's cruel ladder alone, afraid that she would forever live in her sister's shadow.
She thought of her true followers again.
Eyelashes, the man who always looked at her with adoring eyes;
Mountain Ape, that taciturn companion who was always the first to stand in front of her.
Did she really consider them "companions"?
She never truly understood their abilities, their dreams, or their limits.
She simply took them into the Fubuki Group as a matter of course, using the guise of "protection" to actually exercise "control".
This is not leadership at all.
This is a deeper level of cowardice.
That's why she was so confused when Fubuki's group was easily controlled by Do-S and became a burden to her attacks.
Because the facts seemed to confirm her sister's words and her deep-seated unease—these companions were indeed just a burden.
And the "strongest leader"...
These four words opened up a completely new world for her that she had never imagined.
What makes a true leader?
The image of King's calm and composed face flashed through her mind.
He was so powerful that he was hailed as the "strongest man on earth," yet he had never been known to have formed any faction, nor had he ever been seen to look down on any weak hero.
His mere presence was enough to calm people's hearts.
His strength seems to lie not only in his unfathomable combat power.
Fubuki's breathing suddenly became rapid.
Yes, a true leader will not look down on his companions because of his own strength.
On the contrary, she will cherish every bit of strength even more because she deeply understands the principle that "one hand cannot clap."
Her strength will no longer be reflected solely in her own superpowers, but rather in the extreme combat power that the entire team she leads can unleash.
The team's victory is her victory. Her teammates' glory is her glory.
She will no longer be in the shadow of her sister's brilliance!
Yes...this is...this is the path she should truly take!
A road not for escaping, but for the "blizzard of hell"!
Having figured all this out, Fubuki felt a heavy shackle on her body snap with a crisp "crack".
The dark clouds that had been weighing on her heart for so long were completely dispelled by this light.
The tear that had been welling up in her eye finally broke free and slowly slid down her pale, cold cheek.
She took a deep breath, and when she exhaled, it was as if she had expelled all the confusion and resentment of the past twenty years from her body.
When she raised her head again, all the vulnerability and confusion in her emerald green eyes had vanished.
Instead, there was an unprecedented clarity and determination.
She looked around, trying to find the figure who had given her this crucial guidance.
She had so much to say; she wanted to express her sincerest gratitude to him and to Mr. King.
However, there was no one there at all.
The bald man in the yellow bodysuit and the steady, mountain-like Mr. King have both disappeared.
It was as if they had never been there, and everything that had just happened was just her hallucination.
Only the evening breeze begins to flow again, gently caressing the empty streets.
“Mr. King…” Fubuki murmured to herself.
Is this the magnanimity and demeanor of the "strongest man on earth"?
Powerful enough to need no proof, profound enough to be unfathomable.
They do not seek fame or fortune, yet they constantly save those who are lost and vulnerable.
Fubuki straightened up, her posture appearing exceptionally upright at that moment.
She felt she had never seen the road ahead so clearly before.
Standing at the foot of the residential building, Fubuki looked up at the sky, which was dyed golden by the setting sun.
The evening breeze ruffled her dark green hair and dried the last traces of tears on her cheeks.
Her eyes were incredibly bright, reflecting the glow of the sunset.
She took out her phone, but instead of contacting any group members, she opened her contacts and found the name she had pinned to the top of her chat list, a name she rarely called, and which always made her heart skip a beat when she saw it—
She stared at those two words, and the complex, painful emotions she had felt in the past, a mixture of love and hate, had now become incredibly calm.
She did not get through on the phone.
It's not time yet.
What she needed to do was not to argue with her sister or to show off that she had found a new path.
Words are always powerless in the face of absolute power.
What she needs to do is prove it with actions and facts.
This proves that "teaming up" is not a way for the weak to stick together for warmth.
She wants to make her "Fubuki Group" an unprecedented and irreplaceable legendary team in the history of the Hero Association!
At that time, she will stand upright in front of her sister, not as "Tornado's sister," but as "the strongest leader," standing shoulder to shoulder with her.
Thinking of this, Fubuki put away her phone, a confident and powerful smile spreading across her face.
She turned and walked towards the Fubuki Group's base.
"However, Mr. King has helped me so much. Next time I have the chance, I must bring the finest black tea and pastries to visit him and express my sincere gratitude..."
She murmured to herself, her words filled with gratitude.
The setting sun cast a long shadow of hers, a shadow that was no longer hesitant, but full of confident charm.
------
Not far away, on another street in the city.
Lin Mo and Qi Yu walked side by side, with streetlights lighting up one by one behind them.
"Hey, KING," Saitama said, carrying a supermarket plastic bag in one hand, filled with snacks and ingredients for tonight's hot pot.
With his other hand raised idly in front of his eyes, fingers spread, he peered through the gaps at the night sky that was just beginning to be dotted with stars.
"Have you secretly read any 'inspirational' literature, or watched those motivational speeches by self-help gurus? They leave people speechless, even bringing tears to their eyes."
He recalled the deeply shocked look on Fubuki's face just now and found it somewhat unbelievable.
Upon hearing this, Lin Mo smiled gently, his gaze remaining fixed on the night sky where starlight began to shift, as if he could see through the depths of the universe.
"It was just a spontaneous thought. But you, Saitama, didn't you also make a very good summary?"
The two chatted idly, their shadows lengthening and shortening under the streetlights until they gradually disappeared at the end of the street.
Chapter 154 Genos's Resolve
On the outskirts of Z City, inside a huge underground laboratory, the air was filled with the unique smell of metal.
Genos lay quietly on the repair table, his eyes closed.
Most of the armor on his body had been removed, revealing a spiderweb of internal tubing.
Several robotic arms were moving across his body, making soft clicking sounds, while nanobots were repairing the wounds he had sustained in the battle with the hero.
Although his body was in a semi-dormant state of repair, his mind was working at an unprecedented speed.
He replayed that crushing defeat in his mind over and over again.
The hero's terrifying aura could shatter his proud firepower with a single blow.
In the past, after experiencing such a crushing defeat, his heart would be filled with the rage of revenge and an obsessive thirst for power.
He would immediately request the doctor to provide more powerful firepower, stronger armor, and faster speed.
But this time, something is different.
In his mind, besides the terrifying face of the hero, another face kept flashing—KING's calm face.
Why, why do I feel despair and an anger that I must overcome when facing heroes?
But when I faced Mr. KING, I felt awe and my own insignificance.
What, then, is the essence of power?
As his thoughts raced, on the other end of the platform, Dr. Kusno was intently staring at a huge holographic screen, which displayed Genos's physical data in dense detail.
He adjusted his glasses, his face showing a complex expression of mixed relief and worry.
“Genos, this battle system is based on the theory you brought back last time, and it’s a… revolutionary design.”
The doctor's voice broke the silence of the laboratory, carrying a hint of a scientist's excitement and an elder's concern.
“Doctor,” Genos replied.
He slowly raised his newly installed arm, his five fingers slowly clenching, feeling the power emanating from within, a power completely different from anything he had experienced before.
"What do you think of the guidance Mr. KING gave you that I relayed to you—[KING Style Secrets: Martial Arts: Mechanized Combat]?"
Genos's thoughts drifted back to that evening a few days earlier.
Shortly after parting ways with Mr. KING and Saitama, he found Mr. KING sitting alone on a park bench again, filled with immense awe and reverence.
The afterglow of the setting sun cast a long shadow of Mr. King.