Calm before the Storm (4) International Edition

A brief flash of teal sparked in Lin Wu's living room, breathing it color for a second before everything turned back to dark.

Lin Wu was flummoxed as he stood there; scratching his head in confusion as he held up his right hand.

Soft crackles of electricity contrasted the ambience of the room as it coursed out of his hand.

'Can I do… that?' A glint of excitement flashed in his eyes before he closed them and started to concentrate…

"Chrrr!!!"

A loud screech—reminiscent to that of a thousand birds chirping—reverbed throughout the room as a concentration of pure raw electricity begged to be released from his hand.

'I should be done inheriting soon…' Lin Wu reasoned.

There was no way he could've done this or the day before.

'Whatever, it's not like I'm going to use it anyway.'

The mediocre student changed out of his stuffy Kuoh Uniform into something more comfortable—a plain t-shirt and workout shorts that weren't too tight on the waist. He took off his shoes and ran downstairs to put them where they belong and slipped into comfortable sandals.

As he returned to his room, he breathed a sigh of relief as his body relaxed onto the chair. Truth be told, he absolutely abhorred the Kuoh Uniform, with it's two-layered top and long dress pants.

Was it to instill a sense of pride onto the students or something? Of course, uniform wasn't mandatory, with Kagura as the prime example, but many still chose to don it despite how much they complained about it.

Such as himself.

Since there was no homework—at least not that he knows of, sometimes teachers would sneak in a homework online—and there wasn't any projects that he had to attend to…

With nothing to do, there's only really one thing to do other than sleeping, playing games, and eating.

Browsing the net.

Much to Lin Wu's surprise, the internet was relatively normal.

Relative being the key word.

Other than the occasional quirk controversy sprinkled with the latest monster attacks and/or genetic modifications, there wasn't really anything different.

Did he mention that the anime in this world is pretty good as well?!

Even the games were top tier!

Lin Wu liked the 'clean' and minimalist feel of his room. The computer rested below the desk, while it took away some leg space, there was still enough room to spread his legs.

The computer was actually gifted to Lin Wu by Tatsumaki a while back, it was probably more sturdy than his entire house…

He took a gulp as he stuck out his index finger, drawing a deep breath as he concentrated on the computer.

A 'beam' of electricity shot out of his index finger and straight into the casing. It wasn't enough to fry the computer or anything of the sort, but it was enough for him to hear the soft gentle spinning of the fans gaining speed.

It was risky of him to try this type of 'booting' up the computer, considering that he had literally just caused a mini blackout/outage of sorts when he tried his powers a while back.

The gnawing feeling in the back of his head made him more impulsive as he wanted to try out the extent of his current capabilities…

The familiar tune of Bindows 10 echoed throughout the room as the default screensaver loaded itself. He clicked a random button and it automatically logged him in. There was no need for passwords, since he didn't live with anyone—and Tatsumaki knew better than to intrude on a 'high schoolers' computer…

He went on a familiar site, an anonymous forum-type site that centered was widely used in the 26 cities. Clicking on the homepage button, he went on the page where it allowed him to pick the city for which he wanted to talk about and selected City A.

Under the 'trending-topics' section, there were a multitude of different threads.

[OP: Can hormones really stop aging and make someone a pretty boy for longer? I plan to spike my roommate's food stash with girl pills so he becomes my feminized BF.]

[OP: How do Christians answer the Euthyphro Dilemma?]

[OP: Hypothetically speaking, if a male were to let out his 'you know what' inside a public pool, could it possibly make the girls pregnant? And if it can, can it be traced back? I'm only asking this hypothetically. Please answer seriously.]

[OP: I want a rigorous approach to calculus, should I start with Spivak's "Calculus" or Apostol's "Calculus, Vol. 1: One-Variable Calculus, with an introduction to Linear Algebra"? I know that Spivak lacks much of the applications and motivations of calculus, such as related rates and optimizations. Some people also told me to read "Introduction to Calculus and Analysis, Volume 1" by Richard Courant and Fritz John, which has copious amounts of physics application, motivation, and intuition. I'm stuck, please help.]

[OP: Tomboys are the ultimate straight mans choice. Think about it, regular girl has their benefits sure, but they come up dumb shit like make up, desire for shopping, and useless crap like watching boring TV shows. A fellow man has common interests, such as League of Heroes, World of Yarcraft, and Rloodborne—but going out with them would make us gay. A tomboy, however, has the best of both worlds. A female body with enough fitness to keep up with you, common interests, and a great personality. A trap, however, is 200% gay—not only are you going after a dude, you're also putting up with the shit of a women. Discuss.]

Lin Wu clicked on the tomboy thread, only to see a moderator come in and permanently ban the poster for stirring up drama, he then went back and started looking at other threads.

[OP: Does the Dark Continent really exist? We know that outside of the 26 Cities are the 128 Forbidden Regions which envelops us from within like a donut, can we really say that we even know how the rest of the world looks like? Obviously the higher ups in the government wouldn't tell us anything so it's left to us to guess.]

[OP: My uncle works in the Hero Association, apparently we're having an irl tournament arc in City B desu.]

Lin Wu saw that the thread had many replies, with nothing to do he clicked on it.

He quickly started to skim the thread and it's replies.

[Anonymous A: If it's a tournament, there's gotta be a prize right?]

[Anonymous B: The prize is balls.]

[Anonymous A: Kill yourself.]

[Anonymous C: No, the guy wasn't lying. The prize is actually balls.]

[Anonymous D: I work as an officer for City B; if what he said was true, then it explains why I keep on seeing weird people.]

[Anonymous A: Weird people such as?]

[Anonymous D: Gothic Lolita with blue hair, and a maid with white hair.]

[Anonymous E: But were they cute tho? You got pics?]

[Anonymous C: Anon E is asking the real questions.]

[Anonymous D: What the heck, why would I take pictures of regular civilians… JK, let me upload one, gimme a sec.]

[Anomymous F: COPS, SOMEONE GET THE COPS!]

[Anonymous E: the person above is an dumbass, the guy IS a cop.]

Some seconds later, a picture was posted. It was in the traditional residential district of City B, depicting two girls. One was a small girl, who had ominous red eyes, short light-blue hair wearing a light-pink cap. The girl wore a pink dress with red ribbons. The other was seen with her eyes closed, standing respectfully behind the light-blue haired little girl. With silver hair done in long braids and a French maid's outfit, Lin Wu had to admit the two were quite 'medieval' with their aesthetics…

He drummed the wooden desk almost rhythmically with his fingers as he hummed a familiar tune. He knew who they were, but he had no plans of interacting with them. The picture alone had at least 30 replies directed at him.

[Anonymous A: WOAH, GENUINE LOLI]

[Anonymous G: *mette la testa sotto la tua gonna e lecca ovunque con passione*]

Lin Wu frowned. 'Wait, why did that person post in a different language.'

He then proceeded to open up Boogle translate as the next few replies were all in different languages.

[Anonymous H: Smettila di giustificare i tuoi fetish, dovresti solo nasconderli. Tu sei un cesso obeso incel peloso che non esce di casa. Fai schifo a tutti ti devi ammazzare.]

[Anonymous G: ^--- non vedo l'ora di ammazzarmi hehe XDDD]

When he put them on Boogle translate, Lin Wu couldn't help but be a little bit weirded out…

[Anonymous C: Is that Italian…? City B is based in Japanese and English! Get out you weebs!]

[Anonymous V: Erstens bin ich den Begriff "Weeb" satt/leid. Ich habe nicht ein halbes Semester japanische Geschichte studiert und einen Rundgang durch Tokyo/Kyoto auf Boogle Maps gemacht, damit mich ein unwissendes Schwein einen Weeb nennt, als wäre der Begriff eine Beleidigung. Japanische Kultur ist mein Leben und nicht nur eine Art Hobby, ihr Idioten. Und ja, ich werde nächstes Jahr Japan (Stadt A & B) erstmals besuchen, wenn die Flugpreise sinken.]

[Anonymous T: भाई साहब बस कीजिए मैं छत से कूद जाऊँगा वर्ना]

[Anonymous U: 肏你妈]

[Anonymous B: What the heck, we're being raided by FOREIGNERS!]

[Anonymous C: How come we still don't have a unified language despite us having so much time since the Convergence?!]

[Anonymous P: Siang enaknya makan apa ya gan?]

[Anonymous J: Babi panggang karo]

[Anonymous P: Udah, kemaren habis jumatan apa ya yang enak jam segini....]

[Anonymous N: Makan WcDonalds!]

[Anonymous M: Makan Konto--]

[Anonymous K: pengen ngentot gan...]

[Anonymous X: baru ngentot gan...]

[Anonymous E: What the **** Get out! Go back to your own cities! Stop posting here!!]

[Anonymous O: To the officer, why are your camera angles so bad? Have you ever studied proper photographic techniques?]

[Anonymous D: I'm saving the best for myself, are you dumb?]

[Anonymous O: Kill yourself.]

[Anonymous D: You make it sound like I already don't want to?]

[Anonymous A: That's a good one lmao]

[Anonymous Y: Off-topic, but I'm the conductor for one of the bullet trains connecting City I to City B, I think I saw THE famed mafia boss coming!]

[Anonymous L: I handle the entry for the City B Northeast Gate; my boss told me to ignore most of what we would normally confiscate from non-Heroes, such as weapons and the like. I don't think the guy who started the thread is lying…]

[Anonymous M: How about you confiscate this DIC--]

Lin Wu closed the tab. 'Yeah I don't even know why I browse this place.'

This wasn't the official 'news' site endorsed by the government. This site was for the common people, by the common people. Because of the anonymity, no one held back or lied much, since there was no reason to. So the place felt "human" instead of the propaganda churned out nonstop by the government.

His eyes shifted to the bottom right corner of the monitor.

2:46 PM (PC-EST)

There wasn't anything that he already didn't know, so he jumped out of his chair and onto his bed, the office chair sliding into the desk.

He didn't bother turning off the computer, it didn't use much electricity and he didn't have to pay the electricity bill since a good amount of the bills had been prepaid in advance.

As he landed face flat on top of the bed, he realized something was off.

Giving a soft sigh, he closed his eyes as a 3D model of City A was constructed inside his mind.

It was nothing fancy, just visualization aided by a passive effect of one of his abilities given by the System.

Oddly enough, a few areas were… completely black.

There were black spots everywhere! Previously, the only 'black spot' he had was Natsumi's compound—but now at least 50% of City A were covered in them!

The Church, the Hero Association, City A governmental headquarters, Kaiba Corporation, Nishizawa Corporation and so much more!

Lin Wu subconsciously turned away, facing the white cement wall by his bed.

He wasn't a control freak or anything of the sort, but losing out on information is quite a problem. It was like the difference between finding out that one of the teachers reuse the exams of the previous year and not knowing that. Sure, it's not information that 'must' be known, but simply by knowing it, you'd solve a headache or two in the upcoming days.

He could still 'hear' 40% of City A, including the Occult Research Club's 'warehouse.'

There was a lot of 'fun' miscellaneous information going around too…

As he closed his eyes, he yawned as he got himself comfortable. 'I'll just talk to the System… or visit that person.'

There was still a lot of time before 8:00PM, the release of the Kuoh Academy's statement/stance for the upcoming event.

With nothing much to do, Lin Wu figured he might as well just take a long nap.

It was either that or go explore City A, at the option of exploring, Lin Wu grimaced.

If Kuoh Academy already has a lot of characters he recognize, do you think he'd be able to hold a straight face when he goes to the main districts?!

The very reason why the 'misunderstanding' happened in the first place was because of him going outside!

As Lin Wu relaxed his body, a smooth baritone voice interrupted him—as if the voice came out from right next to him!

"Siesta already? To my knowledge, you don't do anything that'll tire you out."

Lin Wu got up from his bed, a bit frustrated that the person would interrupt his sleep despite knowing full well he'd go into sleep.

As he walked downstairs with his ugly 'Welcome Hell' t-shirt that had a grammatical error, Lin Wu couldn't help but question, 'It's not Sunday, so why did he come today?'

After opening the door, a ray of light shined on him so Lin Wu took a step back and picked up one of the many traditional-style umbrellas that sat in the bin by the entrance.

A few meters away from the small house, parked a fancy white limousine with a cross on the hood. Four bodyguards stood next to the limo, each decked out in the stereotypical black suits with domineering sunglasses—all of which locked onto his direction.

Lin Wu couldn't help but fantasize a little. 'Maybe they can hold the umbrella for me while I walk like one of those young masters…'

Surrounded by the bodyguards was someone he was all too familiar with.

A dark-skinned man of above-average height, and a slim to fit build. Strands of hair joined onto his eyebrows, forming a five-pointed star on his forehead. His white hair was weirdly shaped, with three shaved lines going from his left temple to the base of his skull with dreadlocks, which threaded through the holes of his collar.

The man wore a slim, black gown, in the style of a priest's vestment. A gold cross was printed on top of the vestment, accompanied by a pair of pants and some loafers.

The man waved at Lin Wu, inviting him over as the bodyguards opened a path for him.

Seeing that Lin Wu was using an umbrella, the man nodded at one of the bodyguards who walked towards him and carried the umbrella for him.

Lin Wu kneeled, and reached for the man's right hand, kissing the papal ring before getting up and continuing. "Father Puc—"

"His Holiness." The bodyguard holding his umbrella interrupted, before being stopped by the very man whose reputation he was trying to protect.

"It's fine; I don't mind." The voice was calm, as a matter of fact Lin Wu thought that he had heard a light chuckle.

"Father Pucci, what's the matter?"

There had to be a reason why the enigmatic pope would interrupt his sleep—knowing full well with his abilities that Lin Wu was going to sleep?

It wasn't like Enrico Pucci, one of the most guarded popes, had nothing to do and just came to mess with him… right?

"We have much to talk about, but first," the man called Pucci brought his right hand and gently grabbed Lin Wu by the shoulder, "Did you eat yet?"

"I had a small lunch two hours ago."

"Let's have lunch then, your current body's still growing after all." Pucci nodded as he crouched into the white limousine, beckoning Lin Wu to join.

A few seconds after they sat down by the end of the limousine, they were immediately sandwiched by two bodyguards, one to their left and another to their right. Another one started driving while the others watched the perimeter from inside.

The Priest-turned-Pope rubbed his well-defined jaw, before turning to Lin Wu. "What about Trattoria Trussardi? Tonio finally decided on City A to open up his restaurant since City I was being too difficult towards him with their elitism."

"Ah, I don't drink that, just give me water." Pucci politely declined as Lin Wu threw him a bottle of purified water.

The drive to Trattoria Trussardi was quite quick, considering that Pucci didn't have to follow traffic laws, but not smart enough as the line queuing for Trattoria Trussardi went from one street to another.

The bodyguard next to Pucci whispered something into the Pope's ear, only to be responded with a weak smile that hinted at something more. "No, it's fate that we weren't able to eat there today."

Pucci turned to Lin Wu, "Any suggestions?"

"How about letting me go home?" Lin Wu laughed.

"Watch your lang—"

"It's fine," caustic remarks notwithstanding, Pucci turned to the guard and gave him a rare smile, "We're practically family."

The man laughed as he gave Lin Wu a good smack on the back, probably revenge for the sarcastic reply.

The teenager grimaced as he got 'pushed' a few inches forward, the 'smack' was everything but a 'smack!' If anything—it contained enough power to smash through a wall!

But he didn't hold any grudges; there was no hostility between the two.

Both were 'Children' of the same God.

One was a 'Messenger' and the other a… Leecher? Nobody?