"Saving a life is the right thing to do, I~"
Ye Lan looked at the wounds crisscrossing like ravines, tears streaming down her face. Before Ren Yuanhao could speak, she wiped her tears and continued, "You need to change this impulsive habit of yours. If you encounter someone you can't beat one day, don't force it. Run, just run. Promise me, okay?"
"Running depends on the situation, doesn't it?"
Ren Yuanhao actually had half a sentence he didn't finish: If there was no one behind me, I would run. But if the people I cared about stood behind me, even if it meant my life, I, Ren Yuanhao, would not retreat a single step!
"What situation? Just run!" Shen Lanni poured a lot of medicinal wine onto him, causing him to yelp in pain, which made both women's hearts ache.
After a long while, when Liu Yu found that there was no more wailing in the room, he walked back inside.
With the cold poison completely removed, he no longer feared the light or the cold. His reason for living, besides repaying kindness, was to seek revenge.
He used a hammer to pry off the wooden planks nailed to the inside of the window. The city's neon lights instantly refracted from afar, striking his newly reborn face.
"Is that the light from Lionheart Tower?"
Shen Lanni's dark eyes reflected the neon lights like a vast starry river, her eyebrows shaped like a delicate crescent moon.
"That's right. One day, it will become the entrance to hell."
Ren Yuanhao and the other two were overjoyed!
"Brother, do you know the secret of Lionheart Tower?" Ren Yuanhao asked first.
"Not much, but I will send them back to hell one day," Liu Yu said, his tone returning to that of the silent and cold Liu Yu.
The three of them looked at him simultaneously. It was Ren Yuanhao who spoke first, "Could it be that your enemy is in Lionheart Tower?"
Liu Yu still didn't turn around. He gripped the windowsill tightly, shook his head, and said in a deep voice, "No, not someone in Lionheart Tower, but the entire Lionheart Tower."
Upon hearing this, Ren Yuanhao forgot about his back injury and jumped up from the bed, immediately letting out another cry of pain.
"Brother Ren, why are you so excited?"
"How can I not be excited?" Ren Yuanhao slowly got up with the help of the two women and replied, "We are ready to turn Lionheart Tower upside down!"
Liu Yu suddenly froze in place. Then he heard Ren Yuanhao say, "Brother, we have a common enemy now!"
The four of them looked towards Lionheart Tower in unison, as if they could already see the day of its destruction.
A short while later, the four of them sat around the table. Liu Yu began, "Lionheart Tower has been capturing espers and researching cloning technology. They separate the abilities from the captured espers through some mysterious art, supposedly waiting for the cloning technology to be fully mature before installing them into these clones who absolutely obey orders."
"Brother, how do you know all this?"
Liu Yu's face suddenly turned pale. His eyes seemed to flicker with flashes of scenes, like a carousel. He looked sorrowful and answered with a sad tone.
"Actually, I am also one of their targets."
"What! They arrest people so brazenly?"
Everyone seemed to have a new understanding of Lionheart Tower.
"Of course, Brother Ren, think about it. As an esper, you are already considered a freak among ordinary people. Who cares if you live or die? To turn a deaf ear has become a matter of course and a necessary condition for survival. This world is inherently dark and indifferent."
Liu Yu seemed to be lost in painful memories of the past. After a long pause, he continued, "At that time, my wife, son, and I were living a relatively good life. But I knew my time was short, and I was worried every day. The more I worried, the deeper my attachment, the more I couldn't let go of them, so I also took the opportunity to search for divine objects that could resolve my cold poison."
Liu Yu desperately wanted to smoke, as if only nicotine could alleviate the pain of his memories. However, out of consideration for the two beautiful sisters-in-law, he forcibly suppressed this desire.
He used his fingernails to trace the vertical lines on the table. Upon closer inspection, one could see many similar vertical lines scratched by his fingernails, some even with red marks. It seemed that whenever he couldn't sleep in the dead of night, he liked to lean against this table, smoke, and scratch the table with his fingernails.
"As a result, by a twist of fate, I found the Lionheart Group. I heard they had various gene drugs that could treat my condition. I believed it to be true. I lied to my wife and child, saying I was going on a business trip for a month, and then, with excitement, I accepted their so-called 'treatment'."
As Liu Yu spoke, his back had already hunched into a prone position, and his face showed a violent aura, like a lion lurking in the dark.
"Of course, even a fool could guess that the treatment was ineffective. As I gradually felt my body deteriorating, my old companion sleeping beside me quietly told me that my genes had been extracted and studied. The next day, this old companion who told me the secret disappeared. Later, when I escaped, I found that old companion in the basement, but he was no longer whole."
As he reached this point, his eyes held not only anger but also three parts fear, as if there were more terrifying things in the basement, but his brain had forcibly erased those nauseating, bone-chilling memories.
"I desperately escaped from Lionheart Tower. At that time, it was raining and thundering, and the entire Lionheart Tower was like a fierce beast baring its fangs and claws. I desperately fled home, like a bird flying out of a cage. But what awaited me, in my haste to return, was..."
Liu Yu's eyes filled with bloodlust at this point, his killing intent evident!
"You can't imagine what it felt like when I opened the door with a heart full of longing and smelled a nauseating stench of blood." Liu Yu could no longer control his emotions. He curled up and lit a cigarette. After taking five or six puffs, letting the nicotine spread freely throughout his body, he had the courage to continue.
"It felt like I wasn't opening my front door, but hell. The stench of blood was like a ghost lingering in the house. The walls were covered in impure blood, as if depicting some evil totem. On the coat hook where clothes used to hang, my hood was gone, replaced by two bloody heads..."
Liu Yu didn't continue, but the three of them already understood the situation. Ren Yuanhao was the first to stand up, extending his right hand with a face full of anger. "Brother, we have a common enemy. I swear today, if I don't bring down the Lionheart Group, I, Ren Yuanhao, will not be a man!"
The three of them placed their hands on top of each other, and the Avengers were thus born!