August in Lone Star City was still sweltering.

Nemo, who had just begun his new superhero career, spent his days napping and supervising Tolya’s study and homework in their rented apartment.

At night, he would head to the safe house to read intelligence reports and monitor specific channels. Sometimes, he would first go to the Grimm Tower to attend the world’s richest man’s gym time, continuing his physical training and combat skills, or even engage in some practical training, which meant some unlucky soul was about to become the latest trophy in the KS man's collection.

Nemo and Tolya kept up their routine of walking to the Westlake Restaurant for Chinese meals every two or three days. Not only did this maintain their friendship with the restaurant’s owners, but it also allowed Nemo to closely observe the progress of Tolya’s limp-acting and image transformation.

So, the customers of Westlake Restaurant all knew that the former Russian waiter was temporarily physically disabled due to an surgical accident.

Originally, the surgery had been free, and he even received a large compensation from the Grimm Group. Now, he was diligently undergoing rehabilitation. Under his roommate’s supervision, he was studying American university exam materials.

Though Tolya might not take the exams right away, it was still a wonderful and significant life change. This could be the turning point in his life. Everyone was full of praise for Tolya, impressed by his optimism and how far he’d come.

The retired curly-haired chef had also achieved something extraordinary. Recognized by the president of the Grimm Group, he was currently being trained to become a professional bodyguard. Not to mention, Nemo was already receiving private chef assignments from the president. He had become an inspirational model for new immigrants, personally demonstrating the importance of learning English. He was even able to give impromptu speeches to reporters on TV, leaving a room full of celebrities teary-eyed.

Nemo had originally planned to take Tolya, who was walking with a cane, for a few more laps to digest their meal, but the sudden rainstorm in Lone Star City sent them rushing back to their rented apartment.

During this time of year, if you went outside without an umbrella, you had to accept the possibility of getting drenched. More often than not, bringing an umbrella didn’t help much. Tolya knew Nemo hated the rain, which came with a salty taste and heat. Going out always left them sweaty, and they’d have to take a shower as part of their "entering the house ritual."

Of course, the Taiwanese roommate wouldn't let the Russian simply change into a new set of clothes. Tolya also had to take a shower, change into clean, breathable clothes, and ensure he could sit down and focus on his studies. It seemed like Nemo had led the Russian into a completely new world—though the process was a bit meticulous, it was a much more relaxing private life overall.

"In Taiwan, everyone changes into slippers when they enter the house. But in this country, we don’t ask for so much," Nemo said.

But who in their right mind would wear sneakers after a shower, especially in an old house in the southern summer with no air conditioning? Not to mention the Taiwanese roommate, who was absolutely a "pajama at home" type. Tolya believed Nemo was just subtly enforcing his slipper policy, but after getting used to it, he actually found it quite comfortable.

Since Nemo became a superhero, his routine had shifted to a nocturnal one. He was sometimes not at home during the day and always left at night. His attitude towards Tolya hadn’t changed much compared to before, but their lives had changed so drastically that now, Tolya was more homebound.

Nemo and Tolya had also discussed whether they should just install air conditioning, but the reality was that the electricity bill was even more terrifying than the cost of buying and installing the units.

After all, they were renting the place, and neither of them had confidence in staying long-term. The conclusion was to avoid wasting money and to perhaps move to a better apartment next time in Lone Star City.

"If you get into Lone Star University, we can rent a place next to the school. At that point, we’ll save more money and directly upgrade. Wouldn’t that be great?" Nemo had already planned it for Tolya. The vision he painted made the Russian’s eyes light up.

Though Nemo thought that getting into university wouldn’t be something Tolya could achieve in just one or two years, at the moment, it was a way to comfort him without any cost. In the U.S., psychological counseling was expensive, so Tolya should be thrilled to receive free encouragement from Nemo.

Nemo thought privately that a small apartment like the one Angie was currently living in, but in a slightly worse location, with a lower price, and air conditioning, would be ideal.

However, Nemo didn’t plan to pamper Tolya too much until he made some initial progress in becoming independent. Furthermore, the Russian roommate was a grown man, so no matter what, he would pay half of the rent and living expenses. Tolya only pleaded with Nemo not to abandon him.

From Nemo’s personal standpoint, even if Tolya had to live in a cardboard box, it didn’t matter, as long as the Russian could save or earn his tuition. Though America was a land where anyone could succeed, Tolya’s nationality, political background, and social circle were a bit sensitive. If not careful, he might end up on the Lone Star City police’s radar. Right now, the police knew him, but at least it was through their familiar encounters with him over takeout orders.

Obtaining a degree and a stable job seemed to be the best path for Tolya. After all, they were not yet U.S. citizens, so discussions about life were still premature. They could only focus on survival.

"Are you feeling sleepy now? Maybe we can talk?" On the phone, Tolya's tone was a bit hesitant. Now, Tolya's lunch basically equaled Nemo's dinner.

"Sure, is there something I should know?" Usually, it was Nemo catching Tolya trying to hide something, but this time, it was Tolya bringing it up himself. Clearly, it was some unusual information.

"Last night, Veronika asked me to meet her, of course, at a bar." Even if Nemo wasn’t at home at night, Tolya wouldn’t dare bring a third person home. It didn’t matter whether they were male or female. Nemo had always been very private about their living space. Now that he was a superhero, Tolya cared more about the safety of their shared apartment.

Even though Nemo mentioned he had a safe house, Tolya still believed that the place they rented together should be the safe house, the one where Nemo could take refuge.

However, even though he had arranged to meet the daughter of the former Wagner group member at a bar, the bar had been cleared out by the Russian gang due to the sensitive nature of the topic.

“You two are childhood friends, it’s only natural to meet up occasionally. I’m not forbidding you, just don’t spend too much money on drinks or get so drunk that you expose yourself. Besides, alcohol is bad for the brain. Scientific research proves that the more liquor you drink, the more brain cells you lose, and it leads to forgetfulness and dementia. All that studying would be for nothing.” Nemo encouraged Tolya to relax. He knew the danger of overdoing things.

“I only drink beer when I go to bars now—wait, I was going to tell you, Veronika wants to talk to me about something. Although I’m limping, I still have my brain and other connections. Using a Chinese war story analogy, like you said before, I’m kind of like Veronika’s… Zhuge Kongming(諸葛孔明)?” Tolya struggled to say the four-syllable name, making it sound like he had learned it by memorizing hotel reservation keywords like "Check & Calling."

Nemo almost choked on his saliva. “You mean Miss Gromova and her gang are treating you like their strategist?”

“What? Do you doubt it?” Tolya sounded a bit upset.

If Nemo tried to speak Russian, he would probably end up sounding like a baby. Tolya usually spoke to him in English, and they got along fine, though there were still plenty of details and nuances from his native language that he couldn’t fully express.

On the other hand, to the Russian gangsters, Nemo—who couldn’t speak their language—seemed like nothing more than a dim-witted Chinese chef who didn’t even know how to greet people. Only Tolya knew that was far from the truth.

“No, I believe you’re knowledgeable and quite smart. Otherwise, why would I be pushing you to take the U.S. university exams? Do you think I want to waste money?” Nemo smiled and dismissed the matter. Even though Tolya had graduated from university in Moscow, he was 28 and had been out of school for several years.

Even though Tolya graduated from university in Moscow, at 28 years old, how many years had passed since then? Everyone’s been through the same thing, so who are they trying to fool? If you’re still at the Foundation Establishment stage, you should already be secretly celebrating, let alone all the adults who are still stuck at the Qi Refining stage, barely hanging on.

Even Nemo’s fluent English and basic Japanese were learned out of practical necessity (reading missions and guild chat in English, checking Japanese resources for Nobunaga's Ambition), with no help from school. The same went for Tolya, who had improved his listening and speaking skills quickly due to frequent forum visits, although his grammar and writing still needed work.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Wait, Tolya’s birthday was coming up, which meant he’d be 29—how depressing.

“True enough.” With that reassurance, Tolya was satisfied and got back to the point.

He still kept an eye on Nemo’s expression, especially since the topic was related to gangs.

Tolya had been faking his disability to distance himself from the criminal circles. “Veronika wants to ask for my advice on some special information. Like you said, it’s not easy to sever ties with the gang all at once, but I’m trying. Plus, now that you’re a superhero and involved in dangerous missions every day, when I can’t avoid it, I might as well help you gather some intel, right?”

“I’m worried that Miss Gromova’s people will give you a hard time,” Nemo said.

Given the warmth and familiarity the Russian gang had shown Tolya before, it was likely that Tolya’s skills and his background from Russia made him stand out in their eyes. He was also childhood friends with the boss, so their attitude towards him had been somewhat flattering. Now that he had a limp and had fallen from grace, the reality of how men treat each other would likely show its ugly face.

“That’s unlikely. As long as Veronika can save my dignity, I’m good, and her people won’t be rude to me. Maybe her brainless ex-boyfriend is an exception, but that long-haired idiot got himself killed. He dragged four others down with him. If they find his body, Veronika will probably run over it with her car and then burn it in a gasoline barrel. ‘Before the limp,’ even though I couldn’t recover the missing members from the New Orleans swamp factory, I did manage to get a truckload of survivors to the hospital, and I personally carried the infected who had been attacked by bloodsucking mosquitoes out of the refrigerated truck and handed them over to medical staff. Journalists snapped pictures, and they all thought it was pretty impressive.” Tolya briefly explained his current interactions with the Russian gang. His disability time was still short, and the rift hadn’t fully formed yet.

“Tell me about the special intel you’ve gathered! Otherwise, you’re thinking about other things again, and your study plan will fall behind,” Nemo urged.

Are you a devil? You’re talking about special intel and then bringing up the study plan? Tolya realized that Nemo was particularly fixated on tormenting his roommate’s mental state.

“Have you heard of ‘The Kingdom’? It’s one of America’s urban legends after the Meteor Shower Event. It’s a mysterious organization, with no clear good or evil stance. Dark web rumors say that ‘The Kingdom’ has clashed with several supervillains, possibly due to conflicting interests or a desire to seize fallen Fragments. This part hasn’t spread on the public web yet.”

“I haven’t heard of it. Is ‘Kingdom’ a translation, or is the code name itself in English?” Nemo asked.

“Everything I’ve heard has been in English—‘Kingdom.’”

“That’s interesting. English is the global lingua franca, so it suggests the organization’s leadership might not necessarily be American. And since they don’t emphasize any particular national, ethnic, or religious background, they probably have big ambitions.”

“You’re right. ‘The Kingdom’ is very active in recruiting talent. This part isn’t just a rumor. My hacker friend knows someone who was recruited. Supervillains, fallen superheroes, ex-soldiers, dirty cops, exiled scientists, spies from various countries… all sorts of experts and individuals with special abilities, not limited to superpowers. I was a bit surprised when I heard they even took in some fallen superheroes. I thought superheroes wouldn’t end up in an organization like this?” Tolya listed a long list and then wiped his face.

"Superheroes who have been kidnapped and tortured, severely injured in previous battles, lost fallen items, or had their powers go out of control but still retain some skills and intelligence networks are still quite valuable to large organizations. If they can recover to their original combat abilities, even better. Returning to a normal life means being monitored by the government for 24 hours—who can stand that?" Nemo casually listed various possibilities.

"I later thought about it and explained the same to Veronika, but gathering all these talents requires a lot of financial power and political-business connections." Tolya feeling thirsty. He casually grabbed Nemo’s tea cup and downed half of the ice lemon red tea in one go, earning a kick from his Taiwanese roommate.

"You can’t compete with Matthew Grimm by working alone, but capitalists who want a share of the superhero pie can fund it!" Nemo finished speaking and grabbed a clean cup, heading to the fridge for a refill.

"Veronika is worried because 'The Kingdom' not only wants to take over the underworld business, but they’re also planning to charge protection fees to the gangs. The Wagner mercenary group’s coup failed, and now their subordinates are frantically moving arms to avoid being seized by the Russian Ministry of Defense." Tolya said.

He continued, "Veronika’s father recently had a batch of weapons stolen by unknown individuals. It’s not clear which states or cities will be the first to be taken over, but New Orleans and Lone Star City are highly likely to be among them, since both have cargo ports and the political instability there makes it easy to intervene. There’s a legend that ‘V’ comes from ‘The Kingdom,’ and the explosion at the New Orleans swamp factory was also to establish their power and prove their strength—that’s quite convincing."

"Robbery is robbery, but protection fees?" Nemo was astonished.

"Yep! They say they’ll offer some protection from monsters and other threats, so the gangs should pay some upfront costs as regular expenses. Lone Star City, because it’s the headquarters of the Grimm Group, is something ‘The Kingdom’ will likely respect. The Grimm Group doesn’t deal with gang issues—that’s too low level. ‘The Kingdom’ may focus on the gangs in Lone Star City first and consolidate power, directly affecting Veronika." Tolya shook his cup, which still had some tea left.

"Then it will squeeze and exploit the ordinary citizens, and our rent might increase too." Nemo decided to despise this "Kingdom".

"Hmph, if that happens, they can’t call themselves vigilantes!" Tolya immediately got upset when he thought about the rent going up.

"I’ve always thought the gang forces in Lone Star City were pretty disorganized. The three armed robbers who robbed our restaurant got assassinated by a drive-by shooter as soon as they were bailed out, which was pretty suspicious. We had discussed before that there might be a gang leader trying to dominate Lone Star City, and now it’s probably not just one leader, but the ambition to control the gangs in Lone Star City hasn’t changed." Nemo recalled.

"Veronika is the only female gang leader in Lone Star City. 'The Kingdom' might have chosen to make a 'gesture' in her territory to show their 'gentlemanly' attitude. This could be either good or bad, depending on whether Veronika accepts it." Tolya added, "It could be a priority for collaboration, or if she refuses, they might make her their example. The signal has been sent for a while now, and they don’t seem to be in a hurry for Veronika to respond. They haven’t made any demands yet, probably assessing her strength: 'Can you detect our people?' and 'What will you do when you find them?'"

"I understand why she came to talk to you now. At least having some familiar faces involved brings some reassurance. Miss Gromova’s subordinates certainly lack intelligence." Being tricked into becoming an incubator for bloodsucking mosquito larvae under the pretense of "activating superpowers," and having more than one subordinate like that—if Nemo were a gang leader, he would have already had a stroke from anger."Exactly!" Tolya could only speak up for now.

The Russian man finished drinking the stolen tea and hesitated to speak further.

"Why are you squeezing toothpaste? Are you asking for a beating?" Nemo didn’t think the gossip Tolya shared was the complete reason for him chatting with him.

"One more thing. Lone Star City is practically a desert for superpowered people. You’re the exception. Why am I telling you about 'The Kingdom' intel? Do you get it, Nemo? I’m worried they’ll come after you. Even if there are no rumors of 'The Kingdom' fighting against superheroes, that doesn’t mean there aren’t people inside targeting superheroes in secret. This large organization is a fog, and even the assassin who shot at you could be from 'The Kingdom.'" The Russian man finally expressed his core concern.

"I’ll ask Matthew to clarify 'The Kingdom' situation. He never brought it up before, probably thinking I didn’t need to know, but since you’ve told me, I can’t pretend I don’t know about it." Nemo wasn’t going to overstep and inquire about deep-level information unless Matthew got bored and started spilling gossip.

Tolya found himself aligned with the billionaire on this matter, agreeing that Nemo should avoid any contact with 'The Kingdom.' Nemo’s decision to focus on weaker enemies was a good one.

Now, the hidden risk of 'The Kingdom' possibly setting up operations in Lone Star City had become a concern. As a superhero, Nemo needed to start confronting ordinary criminals, and his Taiwanese roommate had to be informed. the Grimm Group’s leader surely had concrete information, not just street rumors. Tolya thought to himself.

"One more thing, you’ve been refusing to spar with me again, saying that you can pick up a bit while training at the Grimm Tower gym. Do you think I’d lose to Matthew Grimm in a fight?" Tolya had been holding this in for months and couldn’t help but vent.

"I don’t really know the true strength of you two, and I don’t need to know, but one thing I can be sure of is that Matthew wouldn’t fight you with his full strength. Protecting personal information is more important to him, so even if you won, it wouldn’t be satisfying." Nemo said.

Tolya tilted his head back and muttered a swear word in Russian before looking at Nemo with dissatisfaction. "I don’t really know your true strength either, and you wouldn’t use your powers or weapons to attack me, right? Even if I beat you with my bare hands, I still wouldn’t be happy."

Nemo gave Tolya a smile identical to the one on his winter pajamas.

"You don’t have to tell me about your powers specifically; I know you're a superhero, and there are a lot of things to consider." Tolya quickly clarified.

Nemo sighed. "It’s fine if I tell you. I can temporarily enhance my physical condition, so I’m naturally better at fighting, but transformations aren’t something I can do. Don’t imagine anything strange. I promised you that I’d get stronger, but fighting isn’t the main point. Matthew says I’m an all-around support type, and that’s true."

"But you said using abilities comes with a cost."

"Just like when you overexert yourself in exercise and become fatigued, the body takes on strain. It’s just more intense for me. Also, in the early stages of power development, things are unpredictable. All I know is I can’t lose control. That means not wasting time or energy on unnecessary or ineffective attacks, which is why I use weapons."

"I get it a bit more now." Tolya still frowned.

"But the reason I don’t spar with you 'now' is not only because I’m worried about accidentally injuring you or putting myself in danger, but mainly because we both have new roles to step into. It’s better if we keep our daily lives separate and as clear as possible. You focus on your stuff, and I’ll focus on mine. We can't afford to be distracted. Also, the rooftop isn’t a good place for practice. If any drones capture it and post it online, Your fake limp is gonna get exposed." It would be too troublesome to explain all the details, and Nemo didn’t want Tolya causing more trouble.

Tolya had not considered all of this. He had previously thought that Nemo was just fickle. "Aren’t you afraid of accidentally injuring Matthew Grimm?"

"I’ve already almost injured him. No, it’s more accurate to say I almost killed him. It was right after I first awakened. Matthew found out I had powers, but he didn’t hold it against me. Also, he’s an expert in training rookie superheroes, so I trust him on that. It’s convenient to get medical help at the headquarters. However, my combat training mostly involves robots and virtual reality. Matthew just sparred with me, using the computer to record and review my reactions."

"…Looks like rich people aren’t totally useless after all!" Tolya decided he couldn’t be too petty, or he’d really be outdone.