Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Runaway Children’s Pact

Could Richard really have been living here lately? But why? Was he trying to save money?

As Shawn Gu was quietly speculating, Richard had already started calling out to the empty house.

“Everyone, come to the hall for a moment. The helper I invited has arrived.”

At his words, the quiet mansion immediately sprang to life.

Shawn watched as several boys and girls of different ages cautiously emerged from rooms upstairs and downstairs, all of them studying him and Su with wary, appraising eyes.

What was going on?

Shawn grew even more puzzled, and yet something about the scene seemed strangely familiar.

“Richard? These are the helpers you brought? Are you sure they can help us?”

“Richard, what exactly is going on here? Can you explain it to me properly?”

At the same time, an Asian girl in smoky makeup and goth attire looked toward Richard and said the same thing as Shawn.

Richard hurriedly spoke up. “Don’t rush, don’t rush. I’ll explain everything properly. Shawn, let me introduce you: this is Nico, Alex, Karolina, Gert, Chase, and Molly.”

“Everyone, this is Shawn and Su. Don’t underestimate them. Shawn and Su are both superpowered, and very strong. Extremely strong.”

Emphasizing the point, Richard turned to Shawn and pleaded, “Uh, Shawn, could I ask you to demonstrate your abilities? Please.”

Shawn narrowed his eyes slightly and glanced at the anxious Richard and the skeptical boys and girls before nodding and taking out his wand.

“All right. But if you can’t give me a satisfactory explanation afterward, I won’t be very nice about it.”

With that, he gave the wand a light wave.

“Restore to its original state!”

A faint silver ripple swept instantly through the dilapidated mansion. Then, under everyone’s astonished gazes, the entire house seemed to turn back time and returned to its original appearance.

“Oh, Gert, what are you doing?”

The boy called Chase cried out in pain all at once, clutching his arm and looking displeased at the slightly plump purple-haired girl beside him.

The purple-haired girl seemed not to notice his irritated look at all. Instead, she stared wide-eyed at the scene before her in utter disbelief and exclaimed, “So this isn’t a dream after all. Nico, this is so much more amazing than your wand.”

As she spoke, she bumped the goth girl lightly.

The goth girl ignored her, staring just as stunned at everything around her, like the others.

Having done all this, Shawn looked at Richard as if nothing at all had happened, his indifferent gaze putting immense pressure on him.

“Okay! Okay! Don’t look at me like that. I’ll talk. I’ll talk.”

Richard raised his hands in surrender and quickly explained everything that had happened to him during this time.

Just as Shawn had guessed, a great deal had indeed happened to Richard lately.

Learning that his friend was a wizard, and that even his younger brother was a superpowered person, had dealt a considerable blow to Richard’s worldview.

He had left the two of them partly because he wanted some quiet, to digest the truth properly.

And partly because he felt a touch of envy, even jealousy, toward Shawn. After all, as a young man, who had not once dreamed of possessing superpowers?

It was one thing if superpowers did not exist at all. But if they did exist, and the one who had them was not you, that was certainly no pleasant feeling.

Especially when the person with superpowers was someone close to you—the sense of imbalance only grew greater.

So he chose to leave, to travel for a while, and to use that journey to work through those negative emotions.

Yet just after reaching the outskirts of Los Angeles, Richard encountered a middle-aged man grievously wounded on the road.

Just like in many fairy tales, the kind-hearted Richard was preparing to take the man to the hospital, only to be refused.

The man said he was beyond saving and told Richard that he was not from Earth at all, but Roman Day from the planet Xandar.

Roman Day was a Centurion of the Nova Corps on Xandar. During a battle with the space pirate Zorr, his ship had been destroyed and he had suffered fatal injuries.

Before dying, he entrusted the Nova uniform, which contained the power of the Nova Force, to Richard, hoping that Richard would inherit that power and become the leader of the Nova Corps, defending the interests of Earth and the wider universe.

After hearing Richard’s account, Shawn’s mouth twitched, and he subconsciously looked at the special uniform on Richard’s person.

No wonder Richard’s physical condition had suddenly become so impressive. He had long since heard of Xandar’s renown.

In Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1, Star-Lord beat Ronan in a ridiculous dance-off and reclaimed the Power Stone, then handed it over to Xandar for safekeeping. That alone showed that Xandar’s reputation and strength were both excellent.

Xandar was ruled by the Nova Corps, and the Corps’ highest rulers were the five Centurions.

Richard had inherited Roman Day’s Nova Force, which in theory was equivalent to holding one-fifth of Xandar in his hands. To say he had risen to the heavens in a single step would not be an exaggeration.

Even though Shawn had little interest in the Nova Corps, at that moment he could not help feeling envious of Richard’s good fortune.

Under Shawn’s envious gaze, Richard had not yet finished his story.

After inheriting the Nova Force, Roman Day’s corpse had turned into starlight and vanished into the world.

Just as Richard was preparing to test his newly gained power, a powerful energy fluctuation was detected that same night near Burbank.

Following the guidance of the uniform, Richard went to the source of the disturbance: an abandoned construction site.

Inside, a group of superpowered teenagers were battling their parents, and the immense energy fluctuation had been caused by the fight.

The battle ended in a crushing defeat for the teenagers. Just as they were about to be captured, Richard stepped in.

Although he still could not fully unleash the Nova Force, the power of a Nova Corps Centurion was enough to let Richard successfully rescue six teenagers from the group and escape here.

After hearing Richard’s account, Shawn suddenly understood, finally realizing where that familiar feeling had come from.

Were these six boys and girls not the six protagonists of the television series Runaways?

Runaways was a teenage team in the Marvel universe. Its main plot followed several superpowered boys and girls who accidentally discovered that their parents were members of the evil organization known as the Pride. Every year, the group held secret meetings and used innocent people as blood sacrifices.

After uncovering their parents’ crimes, the children decided to run away from home and embark on a journey of resistance and adventure against their own families. In the end, they defeated the alien with sinister designs and an evil witch, protecting world peace.

That sort of story about teenagers saving the world was not especially to Shawn’s taste, so he had not paid much attention to it back then.

Still, there were a few things in that show that had caught his eye.

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