28 King of the East
"Don't get me wrong. The Dark Lord personally approached me even though I'm done with my quest here. And here I am... tasked to be your watchdog from the shadows if in case things don't go according to your plan," the player embarrassingly explained as Liam wordlessly stared at his codename, ID, and health bar.
[Sun Wukong #A81-69-8411-2]
"I should be grateful for your kindness but... I know you wouldn't accept this without getting something in return from the Dark Lord, Yang Xiaoming!"
Yang Xiaoming clicked his tongue, averting Liam's gaze for an unknown reason.
He has a bowl-cut with long braided hair attached at the back of his head, clad with a changshan, a traditional Chinese robe that looks like a simple polo shirt with Chinese flowery designs, writings, and lanyards knots instead of simple buttons, and a Chinese male baggy pants and conventional martial artist's shoes.
"Sun Wukong, huh? How presumptuous! Isn't he a god in Chinese Mythology?! And yet you dare to use his name as your codename?" Liam raised his brows as if the Chinese in front of him weren't qualified to use the name.
Yang Xiaoming flinched at Liam's questions, wondering why he was being pressed for after he came to be the latter's bodyguard.
He shook his head and glared at Liam in retaliation.
"You don't care! Don't you dare talk about our cultures and mythologies, American!"
"Why not? I think I know enough. Oh... Don't tell me he's just a king? They call him Monkey King too, right?"
"He's a God!!!" yelled Yang Xiaoming after Liam got to his nerves.
Liam chuckled in response, infuriating the Chinese even more.
"I see. You haven't changed a bit since the last time I saw you, have you?"
"And you're still annoying as fuck, American!"
"My apologies, mister."
The two exchanged glances, inspecting each other as if they could read each other's mind.
Before Liam became the World's greatest hero, Selene Fay Smith and Yang Xiaoming were both legit competitors on the 'World's Greatest Hero' title until Yang Xiaoming resigned before he could reach his prime for an unknown reason, leaving the competition between the couple.
He was Selene and Liam's rival on the other side of the globe.
While people considered the couple as the King and Queen of the West at the beginning of their careers, people regarded Yang Xiaoming as the King of the East.
"I heard you don't want to be part of any government-associated job anymore. Then, what are you doing in this place? Don't tell me you are really thinking of becoming a god?"
"You have a knack for insulting others, don't you? What do you take me for? I'm not that low, dumbass!"
Liam let out a wry chuckle.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that aspiring to be a god is being low, Monkey King wannabe."
"Errr... just stop, alright? The World's Greatest Hero... was it fun...? Being the government's pawn most of your life?"
Suddenly, the atmosphere surrounding them turned heavy because of Yang Xiaoming's question.
From Yang Xiaoming's question, Liam could tell that there was a deep reason the former went into hiding.
Selene and Liam's careers were progressing even rapidly in America while China struggled to keep up because of Yang Xiaoming's disappearance in the media's eyes.
Liam knew that the weight of competing against Selene and him simultaneously and carrying federal crises alone in China, or the entire Eastern Continents rather, was too much pressure for Yang Xiaoming already.
Yang Xiaoming, Liam, and Selene crossed paths before and developed a strange type of relationship out of their respect for each other's almost inhuman skills both in weaponry, technologies, detective skills, martial arts, etc.
However, there was something else beyond that Liam wanted to know about Yang Xiaoming.
The Chinese Government knew the importance of Yang Xiaoming full well so they didn't take him for granted, giving every possible benefit they could give to him to prevent their worst nightmare from happening, losing Yang Xiaoming in their power struggle against Western Countries like America and Britain.
However, somehow, it still did.
Liam sweated excessively.
"I would be lying to you if I say that saving innocent people wasn't joyous. My parents were murdered when I was in high school. Unfortunately, no one saved them. Everything fell apart and the trajectory of my life wasn't bright after that. When I became a detective... It felt like I'm finally doing what my parents wanted me to be. I feel I'm finally doing what's right. I convinced myself that they are there somewhere proud of me. But... I don't know. When I died, I realized that... I only did all of those out of my extreme guilt. I should have been at our house when the tragedy happened. And I made myself think that… saving people would someday make me forget the sin that I made that night. But it wasn't."
Liam gently licked his lower lip as he tilted his head in remorse after his heartfelt statement.
"You're the same as me, Liam. You are a victim of our society as well. They used your bitter experiences to manipulate you. Manipulate you to what they want you to become. I am certain your parents forgive you. You're just a teen back then. But they will be more proud of you if you prioritize yourself on top of everything. That is the best way you can honor the dead, especially your parents. No offense."
Liam paid great attention to Yang Xiaoming's every word.
He felt relieved for some reason.
"I have a little brother who admired me a lot. But that little brother of mine was arrested after bombing an entire city in Africa. Are you familiar with that incident?"
Liam's eyes almost fell from its sockets in shock from the sudden realization.
It was Liam who figured out that there would be an attack in Africa back then, but he was late to save the day.
The bombing inevitably happened!
Although Liam was late, he caught Yang Xiaoming's little brother, whose identity was sealed back then.
China did its hardest to seal the relationship between Yang Xiaoming and his little brother in order to keep Yang Xiaoming's image.
Yang Xiaoming didn't resent Liam despite what happened.
Instead, he hated the government because of cleaning their names in the public's eyes and ditching his little brother since it was necessary for them to keep their pleasant image.
"Of course, you do. But it was the government's doings. They denied all the accusations to avoid a full-fledged war, pointing all the blame on my little brother as if he was nothing even though he was technically successful on his bombing mission," Yang Xiaoming bellowed, "They screwed him and convinced him to take all the blame by himself. They force him to shut his mouth even from me. They threatened him that they would also strip me of my position if he speaks. I only learned that truth before he died. That's why you shouldn't let other people use you again, Liam. They will chew you and spew you out once they drained everything from you."
Liam was out of words after Yang Xiaoming revealed the reason for his early resignation.
It was only after a few seconds when Liam managed to speak.
"I am sorry about your little brother. He's a great soldier right until the end and protected you in his own way. I knew it. I knew something was amiss when you declined even the UN's invitation to be their image."
"That's fine. Anyway, accept this."
Right after Yang Xiaoming summoned his system to type something, Liam's system came into view.
**Ding!**
[Sun Wukong sent you a friend request]
- Codename: Sun Wukong
- Gender: Male
- ID: A81-69-8411-2
- Player Level: Novice
- Species: Human (lesser species)
Liam's gaze was now fixed on the Chinese man in front of him.
It was strange to have a close relationship with Yang Xiaoming.
The Chinese detective almost killed him twice in their limited encounters.
But Liam's gut feeling was telling him it was only right to trust Yang Xiaoming.
"I hope I'm not making the wrong decision," Liam mumbled before he toggled to the green 'check icon' to accept the friend request via thought-command.
<Status Screen>
[Codename: Sun Wukong]
[Gender: Male]
[ID: A81-69-8411-2]
[Temperament: Dark Knight]
[Player Level: Novice]
[Species: Human (Lesser Species)]
[Cultivation Type: Gale Annihilation Art]
[Cultivation Level: Colorful Stage of Nascent Warrior]
[The Last Floor Cleared: First Floor]
[Class: Strength]
[Affinity: None]
[Innate Battle Trait Type(s): Brawler/Tanker]
[Innate Battle Skill(s): Shapeshift, Invisible Staff, and Cloning]
[Profession(s): None]
[Profession Skill(s): None]
[Wings: None]
[Tail: None]
[Battle Pet(s): None]
[Mount(s): None]
[Guild: None]
'Shapeshift, Invisible Staff, and Cloning? I wonder what extent those battle skills have. And he's in the Colorful Stage of the Nascent Warrior Cultivation Level already.'
'Death Shot, Ash Phoenix Fist, and Psychometry? What the fuck are those?'
The two exchanged cautious glances after they analyzed each other's status screen, which only became available after being friends.
"Before I go to the second floor, there is one thing I must tell you about Aaron Williams."
