The helicopter landed at the lakeside villa, then immediately took off.

The transportation options around the mountain lake were diverse, with the most extravagant being the mini-submarines that could sit at the bottom of the lake.

Nemo had been trained by Matthew to pilot them, as well as helicopters and light aircraft, through virtual simulations at the Grimm Tower. While he couldn’t claim to be a master at flying, at least he had some concept when it came to treating it like a game.

The dock houses small yachts and double-paddle canoes, intended to enhance the luxurious and romantic image in line with the identity of the world's wealthiest person. Once the villa's location is revealed, Matthew can use them to transport beautiful women around the lake. Currently, the main mode of transportation to and from the Lakeview Villa is still by helicopter.

The practical motor-powered small boats Nemo was most familiar with were docked at the pier on the shore. Fortunately, he had also tested the yacht in real conditions.

The yacht, with cabins, could store emergency supplies and offer privacy, and Nemo could use it to pick up the injured superheroe who would soon arrive—perhaps more than one.

Following the steps he had planned on the helicopter, Nemo first went to the attic's medical room to grab a first aid kit and suturing tools, placing them on the living room table. He then went to the study to find the yacht key and entered the boat dock, moving toward the shore with the mentality that a little collision wouldn’t matter.

Fortunately, with the calm waters of the mountain lake, there wasn’t much driving skill required. Nemo just needed to aim for the pier, start the engine, steer, and stop when necessary.

The lake shore was so wide, where could he find anyone? There were three piers alone.

After some thought, Nemo casually chose one of the piers to dock, and by luck, he didn’t cause any accidents. If he interpreted Michael’s hint correctly, all he needed to do was keep waiting. If it wasn’t the other party coming to find him, then it would be a superhero that Nemo could spot.

The yacht was already equipped with a first aid kit, and Nemo brought the medical supplies and provisions ashore, waiting.

Time passed minute by minute. It had been an hour and ten minutes since he left the harbor battlefield. Normal phones couldn’t connect to the internet on Matthew’s private land, but Nemo used a secure phone to contact the billionaire. The call was still redirected to his assistant, but luckily, the assistant informed him that the battle was over. Some heroes, including Michael, were still at the scene on standby to prevent the monster from coming back to life. Salamander had been treated in the Grimm Group headquarters laboratory half an hour ago, and the situation was stable.

The assistant even thoughtfully relayed a message from the boss couple of Westlake Restaurant, who had called Nemo's regular phone number to report their safety.

Since the superheroes had successfully subdued the sea giant on the shore, the western district hadn’t been affected by the monster’s landing. Boss Liu, Sunny Jie, and their familiar staff had escaped immediately and were now listening to radio broadcasts along with other evacuation teams in the mountains, waiting for the city’s chaos to subside before returning to the Westlake Restaurant.

Matthew’s location still hadn’t been activated, which didn’t surprise Nemo. He must be busy with all sorts of post-battle work, especially with some superheroes still at the scene. The U.S. military was stationed in the southern district of Lone Star City, and large crowds were in a state of panic, so there was no time to answer Nemo’s call.

After confirming that Angie was safe and the sea giant had been defeated, though the details were still unclear, Nemo breathed a sigh of relief. Now, it was time for him to take on the special mission of assisting the injured superhero.

No matter who the injured superhero was, Nemo was ready to protect them with his life.

A large shadow appeared vaguely in the clouds, writhing in pain. Nemo didn’t hesitate and immediately blew a sharp whistle.

The massive figure in the sky froze for a moment before continuing to shrink and transform. It didn’t trigger Matthew’s anti-aircraft defenses, which confirmed that the newcomer was a friend, not an enemy. Nemo could even call out the superhero's codename.

Though he had entertained similar guesses, when the answer became clear in this battle, Nemo couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

Matthew Grimm was truly insane. He was planning to entrust such an important superhero like Leviathan to someone he had only known for half a year—Nemo!

Nemo then tapped out his name in Morse code on the whistle. Luckily, it was just four letters, and the shadow, now so small it was almost invisible, flew toward him. Nemo held his breath, focused, and looked up, waiting silently.

The winged figure, wobbling in the air after decelerating, then plummeted into the nearby forest. Nemo sprinted toward the spot, only to find the figure lying on the ground.

The scene before him was strangely familiar—except this time, the naked man had black wings, and his hands and feet were bird-like with sharp, scaled claws.

Reality was always more absurd than imagination. Just when you thought the world’s wealthiest person was already outrageous, he could still break records.

Nemo kneeled down and lifted the golden-eyed man’s upper body. He hooked one arm around his shoulder and the other around his neck, pressing his fingers gently against the carotid artery to check his heartbeat, while feeling the odd sensation of feathers and strong wings brushing against his arm. Some of the wings trailed on the ground, even covering Nemo's lower leg.

Matthew’s pulse was alarmingly fast. Suddenly, Nemo felt a sharp pain on his back as claws—like those of a bird—hooked into his back.

Matthew gasped heavily as his wings gradually retracted and turned into feathers, returning to his body. After five more minutes, he looked like an normal person again.

"Leviathan?" Nemo whispered to the trembling, naked man, his face buried in Nemo's shoulder. "Matthew, you bastard!"

※※※

The world's richest man, now completely naked—again—Nemo quickly wrapped him in a blanket, ensuring that both his head and face were carefully concealed. He then placed an open bottle of mineral water in Matthew's hand, and Matthew immediately took a small sip.

Nemo helped the billionaire out of the forest and into the yacht, gently laying him on the floor in a recovery position. Matthew continued to shiver, and Nemo had noticed freshly healed red wounds on his chest and side earlier. He suspected that the injuries had healed as Matthew transformed, but weren’t fully healed until he had completely reverted to human form. That showed just how severe the injuries had been at the time.

Nemo placed his hand on Matthew's forehead to check his temperature. It was still low, but after he drank some water, Matthew's heartbeat slowed down a bit.

“I’m going to start the yacht and head back to the artificial islet. Hang in there,” Nemo said.

“This was Michael’s idea to inform you. I’m fine on my own,” Matthew muttered weakly.

"Then I'll find your corpse, pack you up, and drag your dead body from the forest? Shut up, bird-man*," Nemo retorted.

It was obvious Matthew wouldn’t risk landing straight at the artificial islet—just getting there would be risky enough. On top of that, he had to make sure he didn’t end up transforming halfway or losing focus when facing enemies who could crack through firewalls, or even allies he couldn’t trust. After all, his territory was still a work in progress, and top-tier superhumans could easily break through his tech defenses.

Moreover, there were no impenetrable walls in the world. There might be a superpower capable of spying on Matthew’s villa, like a wizard peeking through a water barrel.

In order to safely dock the yacht, Nemo even used his superpower perception. Unless someone outside was using X-ray vision, Matthew should be able to enter the Lakeview Villa undetected.

After half-carrying and half-dragging the weakened billionaire to the living room, Nemo threw Matthew onto the couch. He leaned against the backrest of the couch, panting, sweat dripping down his chin.

Nemo hadn’t expected such exhaustion from just a short rescue, but then again, he hadn’t stopped using his superpowers for vigilance since the sea giant landed. There had also been some parkour-style movement earlier, and he had already surpassed the one-hour safety limit Matthew had warned him about.

“Did I scratch you?” Matthew asked, almost keeping his head down the whole time.

However, he remembered the posture from earlier when they embraced while transforming. For a moment, Matthew had unconsciously held onto the warm human in his arms. He was just so cold. It wasn’t that his body was freezing, but the loneliness and coldness emanating from the depths of his soul.

“Just a little scratch. You’re pretty self-controlled, you didn’t claw me. The injury isn’t serious, but your claws aren’t poisonous, right?” Nemo replied.

“You’ll feel for yourself if they’re poisonous,” Matthew shot back.

Nemo's last remark was just a small verbal revenge for Matthew hiding his identity. If Matthew had meant to grab him earlier, based on the immense power contained within his wings, Nemo’s back muscles would have been torn to the point where his lungs would be visible, or his entire body could have been torn apart into several pieces.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Just as Nemo turned around, Matthew, sitting up from the couch wrapped in a blanket, saw his back and immediately darkened his expression.

"Your back's all red. I'll clean it up and put some medicine on. Come here."

Matthew gestured to the spot on the couch for Nemo to sit. Nemo reluctantly removed his shirt, knowing that if he didn’t comply, Matthew’d refuse to cooperate with the medical care that followed. Two worn-out superheroes shouldn’t continue hurting each other.

To save time and avoid the difficulty of carrying an injured person upstairs later, Nemo moved the first aid kit from the attic surgery room to the coffee table in the living room. Unexpectedly, he was the one who would need it.

“Why did you hug me earlier? Aren’t you afraid I’m a monster?” Matthew asked, staring at the small wounds on Nemo’s back that were still bleeding.

“Your wings were too long. I couldn’t drag you, so I tried to prop you up, but you were too heavy, and it looked like you were about to die,” Nemo said, letting his hands hang limply between his legs, slumping his back as Matthew cleaned his wounds with antiseptic. “Have you read 'The Happy Prince'?”

“Am I just a big, almost-dead swallow in your eyes?”

“When I was little, after reading that story, I always thought I didn’t need the swallow to bring me golden leaves or jewels; I just wanted to hold it in my hands when it was about to freeze to death. Anyway, you can just consider it a momentary impulse! Next time, I’ll remember to kick your ass,” Nemo said irritably.

Matthew remained silent while Nemo applied anti-inflammatory ointment and bandaged his back.

“Small injuries heal faster without bandages,” Nemo complained, trying to stretch his upper body and showing a satisfied expression.

“Is that a ‘small injury’ equivalent to being stabbed ten times with scissors?” Matthew retorted.

“At the time, it didn’t hurt that much. Probably because the scene was too interesting,” the curly-haired youth said with a playful raise of his eyebrow.

“Speaking of which, the Little Prince's heart almost cracked once,” the billionaire pointed to the bullet scar on Nemo's left chest.

“So, you were coming back from fighting East Coast Kaiju, and when you saw me in the forest, you decided to scam me?” The mystery of the naked billionaire being kidnapped was finally solved, and Nemo couldn’t help but admire Matthew’s thick skin for twisting the truth.

“In fact, I was the victim here! I could’ve landed at a safe place, but then you suddenly appeared in the forest below, and I was startled! I had already reached my limit, and for a moment, my focus slipped. I lost control and fell. To fully transform back before you noticed, I was literally risking my life!” Matthew said, describing how encountering Nemo while still in Leviathan form right after a battle was one of the most dangerous moments in his life, second only to his fall from the space station.

So it was all his fault? Nemo grumbled inwardly. Why not just come up with a law that bans campers from interrupting superhero transformations?

“If this hadn’t happened, I could have approached you calmly to be friends, without having you suspect I was a pervert on our first meeting,” Matthew said with a hint of grievance.

So the billionaire did realize how strange it looked being naked? Nemo snorted.

“Don’t doubt it. You are a pervert.”

“Okay, give me an excuse I could use that you would buy,” Matthew reluctantly argued.

“Run in the opposite direction from me. If you can’t run, dig a hole or hide somewhere. Bet I won’t find you. If I do, just pretend you fainted or were drugged and lost your memory, or say you’re a lost nudist. Your face is too recognizable for people not to know who you are. I’ll take you to get help and safely send you back to the Grimm Group. Since there’s no actual ‘kidnapper,’ you, the big boss, don’t need to explain why you’re naked. Whether you were playing too hard or conducting a cult ritual, I won’t meddle.” Nemo thought the root of all the problems was that Matthew overthought things.

“But you’d still think I’m a pervert in your mind. I have to do my best to improve the first impression, and ‘rescuer’ is a very useful excuse. Otherwise, if the leader of the Grimm Group suddenly approaches a Chinese chef, you and the media both misunderstood that I was trying to pursue you. How am I supposed to take action now?” Matthew had weighed the pros and cons and chose convenience over full reasoning.

Nemo fell silent after hearing this. He couldn’t recall anything from their first meeting that would match the idea of ‘improving’ an impression.

“Actually, just handing over a business card and saying you’re a friend of an acquaintance who asked you to take me for treatment would have been enough. You’re a public figure, as long as the reason is legitimate, Matthew Grimm’s name would guarantee it,” Nemo said helplessly.

“I did consider being straightforward, but I was worried that if I brought up the amnesia topic too early, you’d think I was the mastermind behind your memory loss. Based on the information I had heard and my own experience, I’ve confirmed that you’re extremely suspicious,” Matthew stated confidently.

“Forget it, let’s stop talking about our first meeting. It was just an accident. Actually, during the Meteor Shower Event, the escape pod didn’t save your life, but you survived because you transformed,” Nemo reflected on the events where Matthew had survived the meteor shower. He and three supermodels had escaped the space station aboard a manned spacecraft and each took an escape pod, but due to varying degrees of malfunction, they got separated. Matthew ended up stranded on an uninhabited island and went missing for a whole month.

"Nothing can be hidden from you. It would be cuter if you were a little dumber..." Matthew muttered.

Nemo quickly unraveled the origin of Leviathan. If Matthew didn’t keep this person by his side and properly train Nemo as an assistant, it would be terrifying if Nemo ended up becoming the villain.

Matthew had awakened his superpowers while struggling to survive on the uninhabited island. He learned to grow bigger and shrink again, relying on his genius and a lot of luck to survive, until his acting skills were good enough to contact the U.S. military. When he returned to the country, his first action was to move the company headquarters to a coastal area near the mountains, buying large tracts of primitive forest land to facilitate future transformations and hiding.

“So how can I help you?” Nemo fully cooperated, letting Matthew continue with the bandaging. It was now the time for the billionaire to listen obediently.

“Basically, I need rest and nutrition to recover from hypothermia and dehydration. If the transformation takes too much out of me, I might lose consciousness and go into shock. You can give me adrenaline if necessary, but usually, it’s not that serious. Don’t worry,” Matthew explained.

“What did you do when you transformed and no one was around to help you faint?” Nemo asked.

“Staying in the attic operating room, under normal conditions, I would just fall asleep. When receiving an IV drip, my physiological reactions are monitored by a machine. If my blood oxygen drops, it triggers a noisy alarm and sprays cold water to wake me up. If my heart stops, it automatically injects emergency medication and applies electric shocks. If you need to rest, I can just go up to the attic for an IV drip to replenish nutrients.”

Matthew's casual tone made Nemo frown.

There were many discussions on Meteor Shower Watchers Forum pointing out that Leviathan and Michael were not only active in human cities but also fighting monsters in no-man's lands.

Some of these combat records have been corroborated, whether it's the abnormal observation data captured by various scientific associations monitoring ocean and atmospheric changes or the eyewitness records from fishermen who venture out to sea for a living. Matthew, unknowingly, had become Leviathan several times, enduring the risks and pain of transformation alone.

This private estate was not only the Grimm Group's exclusive refuge and superhero base but also a giant safe house built for Leviathan. All of Matthew Grimm’s extraordinary, unconventional achievements now had reasonable explanations. The world's wealthiest man had a shocking secret, and he would go to any lengths to protect it.

"I’ll make you some easy-to-digest food, let you take a hot bath to restore your body temperature, and then wait in the living room."

While Matthew went to take a bath, Nemo poured ground meat, spices, and rice into an electric pressure cooker, added the right amount of water, closed the lid, set the time, and waited to add beaten eggs before the food was ready. During that time, he challenged himself to stoke the fire in the fireplace. His previous two camping experiences came in handy, and after several demonstrations from Matthew, Nemo felt confident that he wouldn’t fail.

Matthew came into the living room wearing a bathrobe, the warm fire and a big bowl of fragrant porridge were waiting for him.

"My goodness! You really know magic!" Matthew said, touched.

"Eat the porridge, then dry your hair! Michael was right, you really need help, especially with your head!" Nemo commanded. Despite the humid southern summer, the high mountain lakes were still chilly. Hypothermia could kill at any time, no matter the season.

Nemo thought Matthew should install heating and air conditioning, using it when needed after transforming, rather than relying on a rich man's romantic fireplace!

"You’ll rest in the living room for two hours by the fire. Once the hypothermia symptoms ease, I’ll monitor your vitals, and then you can go to the master bedroom to sleep. Wear the smartwatch, and I’ll keep an eye on your condition." Nemo decisively made the arrangements.

"Thank you, Nemo."

Owing to Nemo’s timely intervention, Matthew was feeling great and was excited to share some of his secrets for turning into Leviathan.

"I have to go through several stages of transformation before I can become the giant 'Leviathan.' For safety reasons, when I transition in and out of this form, I ensure I am either in the deep sea or at altitudes exceeding 25,000 meters, where aircraft propulsion is insufficient. While the enemies I face are not particularly challenging, but constantly shifting forms really wears me out."

Without an extraordinarily strong body and will, no one could survive those unimaginable transformations. It was an intense physical and mental torment, and for the sake of secrecy, Matthew always chose extreme and dangerous environments to transform, which left him exhausted and with hypothermia every time he returned. If it were a superhero with slightly weaker abilities, they would have already died.

The first time Nemo saw Matthew collapsed in the forest, looking like a dead dog, it wasn’t just from battle damage, but also from the toll of the transformation. Still, Matthew didn’t forget to struggle and get himself injured. One could say that the obsession with rationality wasn’t just a problem for Nemo.

"Luckily, the Meteor Shower Event caused many satellites to be destroyed, and now advanced nations are cautious about deploying reconnaissance planes. There aren’t many left. Synthetic aperture radar is more troublesome, but I’m fast enough, and the radar can’t form clear images. As for other detectors, as long as I hide in the clouds or water, I’m fine. Thermal imaging cameras basically have no effect on me..."

Nemo splashed a bucket of cold water on him. "Can you transform into Leviathan every day? If not, then don’t get too carried away with your powers."

"You're probably the only one who would say that to me," Matthew pouted.

"How are you going to explain to Holly why you appeared at Lakeview Villa without anyone picking you up?"

"Alright, you made me lose ten thousand dollars."

"You’re the one who insisted on betting on such a boring thing, so don’t blame me."

Matthew made a face and said, "There are several small airstrips set up in the forest. Of course, I could fly a light aircraft myself or have someone bring me over, just like you and Angie did, finding a pilot to take you to a small airfield near your destination. Who else would have the nerve to criticize my movements right to my face? Except for you, of course!"

"So, you and Michael have been playing solo this whole time, keeping everything from each other? Aren’t you friends? Can’t he take care of you a little?"

"Believe it or not, Michael really doesn’t have the time. I’d rather he use that time to save more people." Matthew crossed his fingers, his golden eyes staring at Nemo. That was the look and tone you’d expect from a superhero, even if that superhero was also the world's wealthiest man.

"Matthew, you can’t keep doing this alone. You won’t always make it through by luck."

The reality was indeed quite ironic. While Nemo, the amnesiac chef, could rely on his Russian roommate for emergency support, Matthew, the world’s wealthiest man and a superhero, didn’t have a single trusted ally to rely on during his superhero activities.

"I know," Matthew stared at Nemo. "That’s why I’ve been desperately trying to secure reliable backup for myself."

Nemo had a bad premonition.

"Mr. Captain, I do need a British butler. If not, a Taiwanese one will suffice," the billionaire said.

The curly-haired youth took a deep breath.

This guy was a serial liar, and now he even wanted Nemo to be his butler?

"Fuck you! Again! Matthew, Fuck you!"

* In Chinese, "bird-man" (鳥人) is also a crude insult used to describe someone who is annoying, picky, and has personality issues.