Chapter 404: Family

Inside a warehouse, Arnie’s friend, Bernard, was watching the Director bound to the chair.

The Director was gritting his teeth. Everything was supposed to work, but everything he had planned was actually a trap to lure him out.

*Creak!*

The door to the warehouse was opened.

"Oh. Taking your sweet time?! With a wonderful lady by your side, it should have taken you less time, Brother." Bernard smirked.

Arnie, covered in blood, not knowing whether it was his blood or the enemy’s blood, walked toward the Director.

Lady Merlin stopped right at the entrance, noticing Bernard, whose strength was also extraordinary. More importantly, she was quite curious about this Director who caused this incident.

Since Arnie had arrived, Bernard simply walked back to the entrance and let Arnie handle the rest.

"Well, well, well. Isn’t this Lady Merlin? I wonder who the lady accompanying my brother is. It turns out to be the esteemed Lady Merlin. It’s an honor to meet you." Bernard smiled.

"Ah!" Lady Merlin recognized him after seeing his face. "That scar. You are that sunglasses maniac everyone’s talking about. The Director of NIA, right?"

"Indeed." Bernard smiled, noticing the wounds on her body. "Thank you for helping this brother of mine."

"I was helping a little brat, not him. He just happened to be there, so we worked together." Lady Merlin shrugged.

"Hahaha..." Bernard laughed out loud.

While they were having a little talk, Arnie walked toward the Director, carrying a bag. He flipped the bag and let all thirty-one heads pour out of the bag, including the head of his junior, Jennifer.

"You are relying on these guys?" Arnie snorted. "You should have brought three times that number."

The Director bit his lip but didn’t say anything.

"Very good. I like it when the mastermind is not talking. I can enjoy my time with you." Arnie smirked.

"Do you know that in my fusion, I can change the heat in my body? This will be a lot of fun. For example..." Arnie suddenly stepped on the Director’s right foot.

Suddenly, the Director screamed in pain as tears flowed down his face. "Aaaaarggghhhhhh!"

His right foot was melting because it had touched Arnie’s foot. The Director was shaking uncontrollably, trying to get away from Arnie, but to no avail.

"No, no. Don’t talk. I don’t want to end this so soon. Please." Arnie smiled. "This is the part I enjoy the most. You should know the saying, ’Saving the best for last.’"

Arnie suddenly grabbed the other foot and placed his finger in the middle of the Director’s foot. "Look! I’m going to show you magic!"

Arnie pressed the Director’s foot with that finger as it continued to drill into the bottom of his foot.

"Aaaahhhhhh!" The Director screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Look. It can go through! It’s magic! And when I pull my finger out..." Arnie showed the hole in his foot. "It now becomes a donut! Donut foot!"

"..." Lady Merlin’s eyebrows twitched, while Bernard was covering his mouth, having a hard time containing his laughter. "You are laughing?"

"What? Isn’t that funny?"

"I now know why you two are brothers." Lady Merlin shook her head helplessly.

"When you were small, you probably saw a solder. You might be wondering what happened if that hot solder touched your skin. Would it melt you like it melts the lead? How about we test it?" Arnie started placing his finger on the Director’s toe. His finger started melting his toe. The gradual process made it even more painful.

"Aaaahhhhh!" The Director was shaking his body left and right, trying to drop to the ground just to get away from Arnie. However, Arnie held him so firmly that his chair didn’t even leave the floor.

"Let’s see..." Arnie thought for a moment. "What tricks should I show you next? Don’t worry. I have been doing this for a long time. I know which one I can melt. I am not going to let you die so easily. You can trust me. I promise."

All those soothing words would have meant differently in a different situation, but for the Director, Arnie looked like a monster.

"You are just a devil trying to act as if you are on the side of justice!" The Director gritted his teeth.

"A devil, huh? I don’t know and I don’t care. A moniker is never a good thing." Arnie shook his head. "To be honest, I’m hoping that you just keep screaming without telling me anything. Now, should I start with your foot? No, maybe I should roast your foot... not rare, not well done, but congratulations and shove that to your mouth. Oh, wait. Your dick is better for that. At least you don’t have any capability of giving birth to another person like you."

The Director glared at Arnie. "Another person like me? You don’t have any family, do you? If you did, you would do everything for your family!"

Bernard suddenly froze when he heard those words.

"..." Arnie paused for a moment. Those words caused a lot of memories to resurface.

...

A few decades ago.

"The Iposon Gang’s executive has been captured. This is truly the achievement we should celebrate. The city will be safer tonight."

In the police station, Arnie walked down the hallway with the other officers congratulating him.

"Wow, Arnie! You’re doing well!"

"An executive? You’re rocking this time!"

Arnie was just smiling and waving his hand, kindly responding to everyone. Eventually, he reached the chief’s office.

It turned out that the police chief was Bernard.

"My friend! Congratulations! You did a great job today."

"I’m doing okay." Arnie humbly nodded.

"Why don’t you just sit in my position already? You should know that you have the skill for this. In fact, you should have been the one sitting here, not me."

"You have the skill to do it as well. It’s just... I’m not prepared to be taken off the street yet." Arnie smiled.

"It must be little Silvia." Bernard chuckled.

Arnie didn’t answer, but the smile on his face showed everything.

"Actually, Lily called me earlier. That’s why I have a surprise for you..." Bernard smirked. "Come in!"

Suddenly, someone opened the office door. It was a mature and gentle lady, but more importantly, a cheerful kid rushed in behind her.

"Papa!" The kid jumped toward Arnie, wearing a police uniform.

"Silvia! What are you doing here, my princess?" Arnie just couldn’t contain his smile as he saw her in the same uniform as him.

"I heard from Mama that you helped the people again!"

"Your Papa has definitely helped a lot of people today." Bernard confirmed with a smile. "Don’t you feel proud of Papa?"

"Silvia loves Papa! Papa is the best!" Silvia puffed out her chest proudly. "Silvia is going to become like Papa! Help people!"

"Hoho?! I guess little Silvia is going to become a good person." Bernard just chuckled, seeing Arnie’s embarrassed face.

"Un! I’m going to become like Papa!"

Bernard smiled and nodded to Lily as well. "Arnie, why don’t you take the rest of the day off? I’ll process the rest myself, so spend today with your family. You’ve definitely earned it."

"That’s..." Arnie wanted to accept, but he still had his duty.

"Silvia, don’t you want to celebrate with Papa a little?"

"Silvia can?!" She looked surprised and looked at Arnie with big puppy eyes.

Arnie simply couldn’t say no to this face. "Okay, okay! Let’s buy some toys today!"

"Yay! Papa is the best!" Silvia kissed Arnie on the cheek.

Lily was just smiling on the side as she couldn’t get enough of their cute interaction.

"Who is responsible for my daughter being this cute? Aaahhh!" Arnie kissed Silvia’s cheek. "Let’s go then!"

"Yay!"

Arnie stopped for a second and turned to Bernard. "Can you..."

"Don’t worry, Brother. Let me handle this. Lily, take care." Bernard nodded.

"Yes. Thank you." Lily politely nodded back. "You too, Bernard."

Bernard just kept watching them with a smile until they couldn’t be seen anymore. Arnie was definitely lucky in life to have such a good career, a caring wife, and a cute daughter.

What he didn’t know at that time was that going to the police station was a mistake. It was supposed to be a pure surprise for Arnie, but the Iposon Gang’s executive ended up seeing Arnie together with his family while he was dragged by another officer for processing.

Everything went smoothly in the beginning. Arnie spent a lot of time with his family and returned to work as normal the next day.

However, it all changed after that day.

Eight days after the capture of the Iposon Gang’s executive, Arnie suddenly received a report while on patrol.

"There’s a possible burglary on 7th Avenue between 24th and 25th."

"!!!" Arnie suddenly widened his eyes in shock. He glanced at his partner and said, "Go there right now!"

"Sir?!" His partner was startled.

"It’s near my house!"

"Oh!" His partner immediately turned around and stepped on the gas.

However, Arnie couldn’t wait. He simply opened the door and leaped, using his Rank 6 power to skip everything else and reach his house as quickly as possible.

And what he feared the most happened.

It wasn’t anyone else’s home in the neighborhood. It was his home.

Arnie pushed the already open door and released his energy, trying to search for his family. He feared they had been kidnapped.

A sigh of relief came out of his mouth when he sensed two presences in the living room at the back.

He rushed toward them to check if they were all right, but that was when his heart sank.

Blood was everywhere.

He saw his wife being crucified on the wall. There were many wounds on her body as though they were trying to kill her in the most painful way possible.

Arnie dropped to his knees. All the color on his face was already gone.

"Papa..."

Arnie’s heart skipped a beat. At least his daughter was safe.

When he turned around, it was even more horrifying. His daughter was also covered in wounds. There was a knife stuck in her left eye.

"Papa... it hurts... Silvia...hurts..."

Arnie hurried toward her. "No, no, no, no, no, no!!!"

"Silvia... is strong..."

"Don’t talk anymore, darling. Let me help you!" Arnie gritted his teeth, feeling that her life sign was so weak that it was a wonder how she had even walked in that state.

"Silvia... wait Papa..."

"No, no, no. Don’t talk anymore." Arnie tried to press the vital wounds, trying to stabilize her first.

"Silvia... good?"

Arnie couldn’t even speak. His body was trembling. All he wanted was to stabilize his daughter first and rush her to the hospital.

However, after saying everything she wanted to say, her heart finally stopped.

"!!!" Arnie froze. He gritted his teeth and put her down before starting CPR.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Thirty minutes later.

Bernard rushed inside the house, not expecting anything to have happened to Arnie’s family.

He found Arnie hugging his daughter without any sign of movement. All the energy he usually carried that made him look reliable was gone.

Arnie didn’t let out any sound. His tears just kept flowing until there was nothing left.

"Brother..." Bernard was trembling.

"She... was still alive..."

"She pushed herself because she wanted to be like me..."

"She tried to wait for me... She..."

Bernard felt his heart squeeze tightly. Which one was more terrifying? Knowing your family had died or seeing them survive such a brutal attack only to have that hope taken away?

Arnie was usually brimming with positivity. He captured the bad guys with his overwhelming strength. He tried to make sure they were captured instead of getting killed because he believed in restorative justice.

This was probably the first time he sensed such deep killing intent coming from him.

"Brother..." Bernard didn’t know how to even comfort him. He hadn’t even processed everything that had happened yet.

"I’m going to resign. I realize that my thinking is wrong. Those scum don’t even deserve a second chance. Once a criminal is always a criminal..."

"Brother..." Bernard was trying to stop him, but Arnie continued, "I need power and authority... to kill those bastards."

"I’m not going to let any of them survive to see another day. All those criminals don’t have to go to jail. I’m going to send them straight to hell!"

"I will kill them. Even if I die, I’m going to become a ghost and kill them in their sleep!"

"I will drag them to hell! I will drag them all!"

"I will burn them in the most painful way!"

That day... Arnie changed.

As he said, he left the police and joined a new department and officially became an adjudicator.

Bernard closed his eyes and crossed his arms. He just lowered his head, realizing that the Director had just touched something he shouldn’t have.

Arnie looked at the Director without a change of expression. He simply said without any trace of emotion. "No, I don’t."

Bernard bit his lip. He still remembered that incident. He could never forget it.

There were no words coming out of his mouth. He just fixed his sunglasses, making sure it blocked his eyes, but tears just kept flowing out of the corner of his eye.