When Nemo woke up, he found himself lying on the master bedroom's big bed, with Matthew beside him, breathing steadily with his eyes closed.
Nemo shakily lifted the blanket with his left hand, and the one fortunate thing was that both of their pajamas were still intact. Nemo noticed that his right hand was handcuffed to Matthew's left hand.
"If you keep pretending to be asleep, I won’t hesitate to wake you up with my fist."
"I'm just resting my eyes, waiting for you to wake up."
"Explain this, and why am I in the same bed as you?" Nemo lifted the handcuffs, showing the other end attached to Matthew's hand. The weight was substantial, and the sheer mass conveyed an unspoken threat.
" The movie marathon you made me watch was too intense. I was really exhausted and worried that if I fell asleep, you might run away. I considered tying you to the guest room bed, but I was afraid you'd hate me for life, so I gave up. Besides, I wasn’t even sure I could keep you tied up. As a precaution, I decided to handcuff myself to you. That way, any movement would be easier to notice." Matthew admitted to the crime.
"Why would I run away?"
"Hard to say. You were quite panicked when you discovered your superpowers. That reaction is pretty common; many newly awakened superhumans just flee immediately without knowing how to protect themselves, and then they disappear. The few who are caught rarely have a good outcome. The lucky ones just end up as confused slaves. The unlucky ones... well, let’s just say they end up in pieces. This is internal intelligence I have." Matthew’s words made Nemo feel a chill.
"I was scared because I almost killed someone!" Nemo argued.
" Let's go with that!" Matthew rolled over, propping his arm up to look at Nemo. It was an unguarded posture, and Nemo's wrist was pulled near Matthew's face.
"What can I do to make you trust me more?"
"Unlock the handcuffs and don’t worry about me," Nemo said.
"I can’t abandon that person's request, Nemo. Let’s make a deal. I won’t say who it is, but I will tell you about your life before the amnesia and the reason behind it. The condition is that you’ll allow me to continue protecting your safety, including investigating and stabilizing this superpower of yours, so it doesn’t get out of control and hurt you or others."
Nemo bit his lip and thought. Many newly awakened superhumans, unfortunate enough to die early, never get such a good offer. Thanks to the previous "Nemo," who had amnesia, he had a powerful connection even he didn’t know about, and Matthew Grimm, the wealthiest man in the world, had come to Nemo’s side at the request.
"Alright."
"It's a deal."
Seeing that Matthew hadn’t moved, Nemo curiously tugged at the handcuffs.
"Why haven’t you unlocked it?"
"Do you feel stronger after waking up?"
"Obviously."
"I was thinking... the first time your power awakened, after you shot that blast, it was definitely not an accurate test of your strength. Now seems like a good time for another one."
"Fine, let’s test it. Just take me back to your headquarters for a check-up!" Nemo still felt something was off with Matthew’s gaze.
"The first time I suspected your powers were awakening was when thugs broke into Westlake Restaurant. You went full-on killing intent, taking on three of them. But this morning, when you were joking with me, you seemed much more relaxed. The only common factor is that both times, your mental state was different than usual. I don’t think simply tying you to a chair would activate your powers, especially with your psychological preparedness." Matthew spoke with a professional tone.
"What do you want to do?"
"The handcuff key is outside the bedroom door. If you can’t unlock them within five minutes, I’ll kiss you."
"Say that again?"
"Feeling more motivated now? If you can’t unlock it in ten minutes, then I’ll kiss you twice."
Without thinking, Nemo immediately swung his left fist at Matthew’s face, but the man quickly blocked it. As their connected wrists were pulled, Nemo lost his balance and was pressed down by Matthew.
"You really don’t know how to fight. Your punches aren’t your strong suit, and you’re just flailing when you panic." Matthew genuinely worried about Nemo’s fighting skills.
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Nemo didn’t have time to respond, he was in a huge crisis. He slammed his knee into Matthew’s groin, but Matthew quickly twisted his waist to avoid it. Nemo took the opportunity to perform a judo shrimp escape, but the damn handcuffs pulled him back.
After an indescribable struggle, the five minutes passed. Nemo was drenched in sweat, his shirt open, his eyes red, barely able to breathe. With one final burst, he angrily shouted, "Matthew Grimm––"
The golden-eyed man held Nemo tightly in his arms and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek. At the same time, the handcuffs on Nemo's right wrist clicked open. Matthew watched Nemo’s disbelief and laughed out loud.
"I never said I’d kiss you on the lips, why so nervous?"
Do you have any fucking integrity?
"The key’s on you?" Nemo thought today might be the day he’d kill someone.
"You believed me when I said the key was outside the door. That shows you still trust me to some extent, and that’s quite endearing. But you’ve been too hard on yourself. Your wrist is bleeding from struggling, and I clearly made sure to cuff you through your sleeve." The bloody sight made Matthew stop pushing Nemo further.
"Fuck you!" Nemo retorted.
"Are you serious? I haven’t even considered being with a man." Matthew was still holding Nemo (using his chin and arm to keep him locked in place), purely for his own safety.
In response, Nemo spat out a string of Taiwanese curses.
"Dear, it’s bad for your liver to stay angry. As for almost killing me, let’s call it even. I was just trying to lighten your psychological burden!" Matthew added with a smile.
"Hmph!" Despite stopping his struggles, the young man in Matthew’s arms still felt dangerous.
Matthew was not invincible, especially after Nemo had just tried to attack him in his most vulnerable spot.
"Honestly, if I wanted to kiss the U.S. president, he'd be all for it! But you’re the one who’s disgusted!" Matthew wasn’t exaggerating. Sometimes he felt that the face-to-face greetings from world leaders were too much.
"That’s for votes and political donations!"
" Stop fighting once I let go, OK? You see, I saved you a trip to the headquarters for a check-up, at least confirming that you still can’t use your powers at will." Matthew quickly added, "If you don’t deny it in three seconds, I’ll consider it as you agreeing."
After a cautious countdown, Matthew let go of Nemo, who immediately jumped off the bed and ran toward the door.
"You know we’re on an isolated island in the middle of the lake, right?" Matthew was about to burst out laughing at Nemo’s cute reaction.
Nemo slowly turned back. If looks could kill, the world’s wealthiest man would be a beehive by now.
"Go take a shower, change your clothes, and come to the living room. We need to talk about your superpower."
Nemo slammed the door behind him, and Matthew heard him stomping upstairs, unable to help but sigh about how hard it was to make friends.
When Nemo returned to the living room, Matthew had changed into casual clothes and was leisurely waiting by the first-aid kit on the table. Nemo reluctantly extended his right arm for Matthew to bandage the wound.
For a chef, the dominant hand was particularly important, and Nemo had always consciously protected his hands. This only showed how good Matthew was at making people lose their rationality.
Matthew walked over to the wall and pulled out a perfectly intact pen. He studied it carefully for a moment before pressing it against his lips, saying, "Very good, you’ve gotten my attention."
"I thought we agreed not to do Fifty Shades of Grey references."
" Sorry, as a victim who almost got a pen in the head, it's hard to hold back," Matthew said with a grin, looking nothing like someone who had just survived a real-life danger hours ago. "It’s just an ordinary plastic pen, but when you throw it with a certain force, it should have shattered when hitting the stone wall. From that, we know your abilities go beyond simple physical enhancement."
"I know," Nemo said dryly. "There’s just one hole that fits the pen's shape, and the wall hasn’t cracked, which means the problem is much bigger than I imagined."
The energy required to make a perfect hole in a non-physical stone wall was beyond Nemo’s calculations, but he understood that things had escalated.
"I forgot to tell you, the stone walls in this villa are reinforced with steel plates to withstand armor-piercing bullets. Judging by the depth of the penetration, the pen didn’t quite go through the steel plate, but it did get embedded," Matthew added, as if that wasn't enough.
"So, what are the possibilities?" Nemo asked directly.
"First, the speed at which you threw the pen is no faster than a bullet. It's more like a trained knife thrower, so I could dodge it. But the fact that it caused such incredible damage at such a slow speed is what's most terrifying," Matthew explained.
"The more likely scenarios are that your touch temporarily altered the properties of the plastic pen, making it invulnerable; or your power was transferred to the pen, making it indestructible upon impact; or, the target you hit with your power briefly lost its durability and became extremely fragile. Of course, when your powers are activated, your offensive capabilities and reaction speed increase. From my observations, you have an innate talent for throwing."
Matthew placed the pen in an evidence bag, pointing to the hole in the wall. "I’ll send both the pen and a sample of the hole in the wall to the headquarters for analysis. While it looks like both have returned to their normal state, we can’t take any chances and need to be thorough."
"Although this is a sensitive issue, I still have to ask: Have you come into contact with or held any fallen objects?" Matthew asked, his expression as casual as if he were asking if Nemo had brushed his teeth this morning.
Nemo racked his brain but couldn’t remember touching anything like AllSpark or Mother Box. The only unusual thing he had touched recently was Angie's scale.
Fragments were the source of power for those with abilities. Angie's performance in clearing out the mosquito operation showed her powers were unaffected. The scale that Nemo obtained might be a part of her power, or simply the residue of her transformation material, but it is not the source of the superpower that was granted to him, and its power characteristics are completely different.
"My last memory loss was on December 29th last year. Before that, I can’t confirm anything, but I did search my rented place to check for any fallen objects, including my roommate's room," Nemo explained.
"That’s not surprising. Fragments can also take on a form that only those with special abilities can identify, regular medical tests can’t detect them," Matthew replied.
"Do I need to give blood or something now?"
"As much as I don’t want to say it, you did provide me with a blood sample while excited. I’ve been reflecting on whether I should have scared you like that," Matthew said, holding up the evidence bag containing the bloodied handcuffs.
Nemo give the world’s wealthiest man the finger.
"You’ve been very careful with the people around you lately. You understand why, and once your abilities are stabilized, you can let a few trusted friends help protect you. But for now..."
"I’ll stop practicing hand-to-hand combat with Tolya," Nemo promised without hesitation.
"Good. I’ll help arrange any necessary combat training for you," Matthew said.
Nemo knew this was an inevitable development, so he simply muttered "Mm" in agreement.
Matthew suddenly leaned in closer to Nemo, close enough that Nemo could see his reflection in Matthew’s golden eyes. "Nemo, you’re a very special case. It’s just a shame you don’t realize it."
"What?" Nemo had a bad feeling about what Matthew was going to say next.
"‘Oh my god! I woke up with superpowers after watching a superhero movie?!’ I wonder if that title will break the click-through record on Meteor Shower Watchers?" Matthew made a boy scout gesture, swearing he wouldn’t laugh, but within two seconds, he broke his promise and collapsed on the couch, laughing uncontrollably.
"I think it's still not too late to silence you now, what do you think?" Nemo seized the opportunity to straddle Matthew, pressing a cushion over his face with an expressionless face. Revenge for the kiss would come.
Matthew didn't get to breathe until he started tapping the couch, signaling surrender.
In fact, the signs had appeared earlier, long before Angie gave him the scale for protection. Nemo hadn’t been completely unaware; he just held on to a slim hope, believing that the moment of intense focus was merely the combat instinct remaining in his body.
This morning, the sudden and unreasonable strength shattered that expectation. The most embarrassing part was that it was Nemo who had forced his mind to the limit with a movie marathon, causing his rationality to no longer set boundaries for his subconscious.
Reflecting on the entire sequence of events, Nemo couldn’t help but feel profoundly foolish. It was only now that he truly understood Angie’s relentless attempts to bury her dark past.
The billionaire had seen the pen he threw embedded in the wall, but Matthew hadn’t immediately used any secret weapons in the house to subdue the dangerous ability user. He hadn’t even worn protective gear while checking Nemo’s hand and had even laid down beside him, waiting for Nemo’s powers to run out.
Matthew Grimm treated him like a person, not an experiment, and that was the real reason Nemo forgave him.
Although, this bastard was really irritating!
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End of Volume 1
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