“I thought that your generation of Protectors was blessed,” You Zhengping and the others’ superior Director Xiao said after reading the report You Zhengping had delivered. His expression was grave. 

Director Xiao was You Zhengping and the others’ direct superior, and he had formerly been called “the most powerful Protector.” 

He was forty-three years old and had kept his figure well. Ordinarily he was as affable as a next door neighbor. Only in the slanting eyebrows that had picked up the marks of the passage of time could you see the keenness of his youth. 

“If possible, I’d hoped that you wouldn’t have the opportunity to encounter a Destroyer in your lifetimes,” Director Xiao said. 

While You Zhengping’s young generation were Protectors, they had actually never seen Destroyers. They had learned everything they knew about Destroyers from books. They had no real combat experience. 

You Zhengping hesitated, then said, “I was chosen by you fifteen years ago to become a reserve Protector. You told us then that in the future we would face frightening enemies. But fifteen years have passed, and we haven’t come across a single Destroyer. Why is that?” 

Director Xiao shook his head and said seriously, “I don’t understand either. Fifteen years ago, in my time, Destroyers came to our world regularly. They were hidden among the crowd, harboring different aims. When they were caught, they killed themselves. To this day, we’ve fought with the Destroyers for hundreds of years, but we still know nothing about the power behind them.” 

Director Xiao had experienced the most arduous era. He had started taking part in hunting Destroyers at age seventeen. During the most difficult period, he and his team had apprehended over thirty Destroyers within three years. During that time, the sum of Destroyers throughout the whole world had reached the hundreds. 

No one knew where the Destroyers came from, why they came again and again to this world. They would become some random person in this world, possessing complete identity records. No matter how advanced science technology got, they still couldn’t prevent the Destroyers from tampering with government records. 

Such unknown beings were frightening to humans. Each nation showed unprecedented unity in facing the Destroyers, establishing an international organization to pursue the Destroyers throughout the world. 

Despite this, after hundreds of years, they had yet to take a single Destroyer alive. Director Xiao had heard foreign Protectors say that they had captured Destroyers alive, but if they dared to ask about the power behind them, the Destroyers would self-destruct at once. 

Ordinary people’s peaceful lives were forged from the sweat and blood of countless Protectors. 

But since You Zhengping’s class had become reserve Protectors, this world hadn’t seen any more Destroyers. 

“Fifteen years ago, we were faced with a crisis that threatened to destroy the world,” Director Xiao said, remembering. “I was planning to tell you this the first time you carried out a mission, but you haven’t come across a single mission.” 

You Zhengping and the others felt very guilty facing Director Xiao’s envious “you are truly fortunate” expression. Their class of Protectors really had it too easy. 

Director Xiao sank into his memories. Fifteen years ago, he’d been only twenty-eight, hardly older than You Zhengping, but he’d already been a seasoned veteran. 

That day, all the world’s Protectors had simultaneously felt an enormous power that made their hearts palpitate. Unusual phenomena appeared in the skies. All the countries where it was night saw a full blood moon, while all the countries where it was day experienced a total eclipse of the sun. 

The globe’s magnetic field was thrown into disorder. The birds and beasts wailed. Director Xiao stood under the blood moon, feeling the air around him congeal. 

At that moment, all the Protectors prepared to sacrifice themselves. Director Xiao, who worked as a trainer for the reserve Protectors, stroked the ten-year-old You Zhengping’s head, looked at the children sleeping soundly in the dormitory, picked up his weapon, and left the base. 

The battle-tested Director Xiao knew that this was enough power to destroy the world. An unprecedentedly strong Destroyer had come to their world. He was too frightening and too confident. This Destroyer even felt it was beneath his dignity to conceal his power, openly declaring war on the whole world like this! 

Before leaving, Director Xiao hid the base deep underground, hoping that the new soldiers could avoid this calamity. As long as they were alive, the inheritance of the Protectors would be unbroken. 

All the world’s Protectors and political leaders who understood the situation hurried to the place where the power had descended. It was Huaxia¹! 

Director Xiao, who was the closest, found that it was actually within his own jurisdiction, and in a residential district! 

He was worried that this Destroyer would hurt ordinary people and rushed as fast as he could to the place where the power had appeared. 

But while he was on the way, the power suddenly vanished. The air flowed again. The world grew calm. 

Director Xiao came to the place where the power had descended, feeling a peacefulness he had never known before, for a time even having the idea of retiring and living calmly. 

Later, when all the world’s Protectors began to research that day’s events, Director Xiao learned that it hadn’t only been him; all the Protectors had had the idea of returning to civilian life. 

And from then on, no more Destroyers had come to this world. 

Ten years later, when the World Protection Organization announced that it was disbanding, they called that day “The Day of Rest,” believing that that power had been the force behind the Destroyers paying its respects to them. This was how the curtain dropped on hundreds of years of war spanning several generations of Protectors. This was the Protectors’ victory, and also humanity’s victory. 

Many Protectors were skeptical about this point of view, especially people like Director Xiao, who had been closest to the power. They thought that that power hadn’t been paying respects; it had seemed more like a lazy yawn. 

Some countries had claimed that they would no longer be educating Protectors, but Huaxia hadn’t given them up. They remained vigilant in peacetime; if they let down their guard and a Destroyer came to their world, humanity might not even have the power to resist. 

Director Xiao persevered in educating You Zhengping and the others, but he hoped from the heart that these children could live happy, comfortable lives, never having an opportunity to come into contact with Destroyers. 

Unfortunately, what would come would always come. 

“Based on my experience, it’s likely this Zhen Li is a Destroyer,” said Director Xiao. “But the objective of Huaxia’s Protectors is to protect. We can only take action after making certain of his identity. At present, focus on observation. I’ve requested identity protection from our superiors. You can go choose face-changing masks from the storeroom soon.” 

You Zhengping and Cen Xiao, who had never experienced battle, became excited. Face-changing makes were a defensive tool they had also only learned about in textbooks; they had never used them in actual combat! 

They had heard that in order to protect the identities and families of the Protectors, the country had used the most advanced nanotechnology to manufacture these masks. 

In past battles, Protectors had worn ordinary masks. As soon as the vicious Destroyers discovered their identities, they would take the Protectors’ relatives as hostages. Countless innocent family members of Protectors had been murdered like this. Because of this, the country had done decades of research, finally developing this face-changing mask, which stuck perfectly to the skin and couldn’t be easily torn away. Unfortunately, when this mask had just been developed, the Destroyers had disappeared. Even Director Xiao had never used them in actual combat. 

You Zhengping went to the storeroom with Cen Xiao to receive face-changing masks for their unit. He picked around and chose a very well-preserved face about the same age as Director Xiao’s.

Cen Xiao, on the other hand, chose a completely unremarkable face that you wouldn’t have been able to pick out of a pile. He saw You Zhengping instantaneously turn into a charismatic middle-aged man. Frowning, he said, “The most important part of undercover work is being covert. That face of yours is too identifiable!” 

“It’s precisely because it’s so identifiable that it won’t be associated with me. The difference is too great.” You Zhengping adjusted his voice, making it sound low and resonant. 

He put on a subdued suit. There was an ink-landscape print on his white shirt. It made him seem mature and steady. 

“When Yu Hua gets older, he’ll probably be this charismatic, too,” You Zhengping said to his face in the mirror. 

Cen Xiao: “…” 

There was no help for You Zhengping’s love-addled brain. 

After receiving their defensive instruments, the two of them quickly went to join up with their companions who were shadowing the peacock man Zhen Li. They divided the face-changing masks up among them, becoming a crowd of ordinary-looking lackeys led by a handsome man in his forties. 

“If you go ahead and attract attention, the rest of us can hide,” Cen Xiao said, staring at You Zhengping. “That face really is pretty good. It’s a valuable shield.” 

You Zhengping openly walked after the peacock man Zhen Li on the avenue. After following him for a while, he asked through his walkie-talkie, “Has he…been doing this the whole time?” 

“Yes,” answered Shi Yongfu, who had been following Zhen Li for two hours. “Since getting his residence certificate issued, he’s been eating at the mall. He ate a hamburger on the first floor, sweets on the second floor, and ice cream on the third floor. In the fourth-floor food court, he ate malatang, rice noodles, and pastries. In the fifth-floor restaurant, he ate hotpot and barbecue. In the sixth-floor movie theater, he ate a two-person tub of popcorn.” 

Another underling, Bao Chengyue, said, “He’s very clever. On each floor, he eats the food capacity of a normal person, doesn’t attract attention at all. But he keeps eating on different floors, and in two hours, he’s already eaten a week’s worth of food for me. I suspect he’s a Destroyer who wants to eat up our whole world.” 

“I envy his stomach,” said Shi Yongfu. “My dream is to have an alternate dimension stomach.” 

You Zhengping said, “So he’s only gotten a residence certificate and eaten? He hasn’t done anything else?” 

“Right, I have no idea what he wants to do,” said Shi Yongfu. 

You Zhengping frowned. Judging from the quantity of food, Zhen Li definitely wasn’t an ordinary person. Even Protectors didn’t have such a frightening eating capacity. His identity as a Destroyer was already established. 

Their drill instructor had told them that in dealing with Destroyers, it was necessary to lure them away to a place with no people before acting. Destroyers normally seemed like ordinary people, but as soon as they encountered danger, they would show absolutely no regard for the lives of ordinary people. Through limited dialogue, the Protectors had discovered that Destroyers called ordinary people “natives” or “NPCs,” called the Protectors “bosses” or “minor monsters.” This game-style vocabulary demonstrated that the Destroyers thought themselves superior and didn’t regard others as intelligent life forms. In order to accomplish their missions, Destroyers would conceal their identities, take on the appearance of ordinary people, but when their identities were revealed, they would kill without hesitation. 

For the safety of all the ordinary people in the mall, You Zhengping and the others had to be patient, wait for Zhen Li to leave the mall and go somewhere with few people before they acted. 

“Boss.” Cen Xiao’s voice came from his earpiece. “I’ve seen Yu Hua, he’s next to Zhen Li.” 

“What!” You Zhengping’s heart tightened. Yu Hua was an ordinary person. He couldn’t withstand a single punch from a Destroyer. He couldn’t get hurt! 

Following Cen Xiao’s directions, You Zhengping, wearing the handsome middle-aged man’s face, hurried over to Yu Hua. This was an arcade; Yu Hua and Zhen Li were playing Whac-A-Mole back-to-back. 

You Zhengping: “…” 

Was Yu Hua…that stressed? So this whole week, when he couldn’t find work, had he been coming to the arcade to play Whac-A-Mole to relieve stress?

Enduring heartache, You Zhengping exchanged money for some game tokens, sat next to Yu Hua, and played Whac-A-Mole while observing Yu Hua and Zhen Li behind him. 

From the corner of his eye he watched Yu Hua, holding a little plastic hammer in his hand, missing mole after mole. 

“Boss, Yu Hua really sucks at this game,” said Shi Yongfu, watching from far off. 

Shut up, Yu Hua was an academically and morally excellent student, he definitely didn’t play any games, it’s normal for him to be bad at them, don’t talk about him like that! You Zhengping was sitting next to Yu Hua and had to conceal his identity. He couldn’t yell directly at his underling; he could only retort internally. 

—

Yu Hua had wavered between “laundering money” and looking for work, then had finally decided that he had to proactively face the fact of his abilities inexplicably being unsealed and find a way to get used to his strength so he would promptly be able to return to work. 

Restoring his identity as a normal person was more important than “laundering money.” 

So he had chosen to go to the arcade, planning to practice controlling his strength by playing Whac-A-Mole. 

Yu Hua whacked moles for an entire half an hour without hitting one. He sighed lengthily. He hadn’t been like this before. 

In the past, Yu Hua had possessed the power to destroy a planet, but he had been able to use that power to gently brush away an ant on his shoulder without harming the ant at all. 

Before, he had perfected his powers. But now, he couldn’t even control the physical strength to lift a few tons. Fifteen years of normal life had set him back too far. 

Fifteen years ago, after clearing the last level and becoming a legend among countless worlds,  Yu Hua had chosen an unopened ordinary world and become an ordinary person. 

The System had said that countless levelers had been lost in this world, and that the world’s defense screen had gradually grown stronger. In a few more decades, the Chief Deity world would lose control over this world. The Chief Deity had also warned Yu Hua that an unopened world was very dangerous for levelers. If he sealed his powers, it was likely that he would die forever in that world, like an ordinary native. 

Yu Hua thought that that was good. That was the ending he yearned for most. 

After arriving in this world fifteen years ago, he had immediately sealed the outflow of his powers, from then on living the peaceful life he had constantly longed for. 

Why would the seal on his powers suddenly weaken? Yu Hua couldn’t come up with an answer no matter how hard he tried. 

Next to him, the middle-aged man’s hands flew, whacking all the moles and getting full marks. Yu Hua turned his face, looking enviously at the middle-aged man beside him, thinking, It really is good to be normal. If I lowered this hammer, this game machine… No, the game machine along with the arcade floor may both be done for. 

Whac-A-Mole didn’t suit him. He would go shoot hoops. 

Yu Hua stood up melancholically, ready to practice with a different game. 

The “middle-aged” You Zhengping: “…” 

He really wanted to follow Yu Hua, but Zhen Li, sitting in front of the game machine behind him, hadn’t moved; he couldn’t abandon his post. 

What should he do! 

You Zhengping was extremely annoyed. 

---

Author's Note

You Zhengping: Requesting assistance. My husband can’t find a job after losing his, and he’s wallowing in games. How can I help him? Urgent, I’m waiting online! 

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Translator's Note

¹华夏 - An old name for China, commonly rendered in English as “Cathay.”