Once he had eaten his fill, Ren Kurogane finally looked at the two men beside him and said to Welcome, "Hey, beautiful Welcome, aren't you going to introduce us?"
Welcome tucked the ten yuan into her apron pocket and said with a smile, "I thought you'd never ask!"
"Let's do a formal introduction. To your left is the young master and summoner of the Flying Shadow (Feiying) Armor, Xu Tingfei!"
Ren turned around and gave him a friendly smile. However, his friendliness was not met with kindness. Xu "Xiao Fei" didn't even spare him a glance, staring straight ahead as if Ren and Li Haotian didn't even exist.
Seeing this, Ren frowned slightly but didn't say much.
Welcome's expression stiffened for a moment, but being a resilient girl, she quickly adjusted her mindset and continued the introduction. "And to your right is the summoner of the Punishment Heaven (Xingtian) Armor, Li Haotian!"
"I am not an armor summoner," Li Haotian said flatly.
"But you've already signed the contract! You can't escape this identity anymore!" Welcome said as if it were common sense.
Unfortunately, Welcome didn't realize that Li Haotian hated fatalism more than anything. His expression soured as he huffed, "Hmph! I choose my own path!"
With that, Li Haotian began gathering his things. Once he had everything, he said to Welcome, "Sorry, I'm not renting the room anymore."
Ren had been watching the drama unfold, but the moment he heard Li Haotian mention the room, he practically teleported into action. He slammed his hands onto Li Haotian's shoulders and said with a dead-serious face, "Brother! You don't have to be an Armor Hero, but you can't joke about the apartment!"
Li Haotian looked at Ren strangely. The guy had been enjoying the show a second ago; why the sudden intense reaction?
Seeing Li Haotian remain silent, Ren continued, "Listen, little brother! This is Hope City. Trying to find a place to rent—especially a hassle-free, good one—is like looking for a needle in a haystack!"
Under Ren's relentless persuasion, Li Haotian finally realized what was happening. "You just want someone to split the rent with, don't you?"
"Ahaha! Why you gotta speak the truth so bluntly!" Ren laughed awkwardly. "But splitting the rent is also part of our bond as roommates!"
Li Haotian gave a helpless smile. "Fine, I'll rent the room. But don't come to me about being an Armor Hero. I don't have time to save the world."
"No problem! Just a few Nether-Demons; I can crush them with one hand. No need for you to step in at all!" Ren said cheerfully.
Following that, Welcome and Li Haotian signed the rental agreement. The Heaven, Earth, and Mankind squad was officially assembled.
"I'll go move my stuff and come find you later," Li Haotian said with a faint smile.
"Great! Just come by before dark; no rush!"
As Li Haotian left, Welcome happily tucked away the contract and the rent money, only to find a faint, lingering gaze fixed on her.
"Welcome, where's my rent money?"
"Rent? what rent?" Welcome blinked her big, innocent eyes and looked at Ren cutely.
"Don't play that with me! I paid two thousand a few days ago! Now that Li Haotian is splitting the rent for the month, you owe me a thousand-yuan refund!"
"What refund?! Aren't you renting next month?"
"Next month is next month! Give me the money for this month first!"
"No! Once money enters Welcome's pocket, there's no way it's coming back! Don't worry, I won't charge you rent next month!"
"Profiteer!"
"Hmph!"
Welcome huffed, gathered Ren's empty dishes, and went to the kitchen to wash them.
Ren sat in his chair, feeling slightly annoyed that he didn't get his money back. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through videos out of boredom. As he scrolled, his brow suddenly furrowed. A thought struck him: I'm an Armor Hero. I have an instant viral hook. I don't need to do all that abstract nonsense—I can just film short videos!
After a while, Li Haotian returned carrying several bags. Hearing the commotion, Welcome poked her head out from the back and said to Li Haotian, "Xiao Tian! Let Ren take you to the apartment. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so I won't lead you there myself!"
Seeing how unreliable Welcome was, Li Haotian's resolve not to join her team only grew stronger. Ren rolled his eyes at Welcome and said to Li Haotian, "Let's go. The place isn't far."
Once they left, Welcome breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest. "That was close. I almost lost a thousand yuan!"
Meanwhile, Xu Tingfei, who hadn't spoken until now, said, "Welcome, those two are my teammates? They look so penniless! Especially that one named Ren Kurogane! He looks stupid! You want me to cooperate with him?"
"Huh?" Welcome blinked, then laughed. "Alright, Young Master! We know you're high-class, but the choice of summoners is ordained by heaven. I can't control it!"
"Hmph! Fine, as long as they don't get in my way!" Xu Tingfei grabbed his suit jacket from the chair and left. Welcome sighed as everyone departed. "Sigh... that rich kid... I hope Ren and Xiao Tian can be patient with him."
On the other side, Ren helped Li Haotian load his gear onto his motorcycle. They pushed the bike for about ten minutes until they reached the apartment.
Inside, Ren pointed to one of the rooms. "That one's mine. The other two are empty; just pick whichever one you like."
"Thanks."
While Li Haotian unpacked, Ren searched for information about Armor Heroes on a short-video platform. Most of the content consisted of blurry footage taken with old phones; the Red Dragon (Yanlong) Hero in the videos looked like a mess of pixels. Yet, the heat for these videos was incredibly high, with millions of likes being common.
"As I thought, this is the way to go!" Ren chuckled happily to himself.
Soon, Li Haotian finished setting up and saw Ren grinning like a fool. "What are you laughing about?"
Ren gestured for Xiao Tian to sit. "Xiao Tian! Do you want to get rich?"
"Of course! I'm pretty broke right now," Xiao Tian said candidly.
"I have an idea. Join me, and we'll go fifty-fifty on the profits!"
"Mmm... tell me more."
Ren placed his phone in front of Xiao Tian, showing a video of the Red Dragon Hero fighting a monster. "This? The Armor Heroes from back then?" Xiao Tian remembered the heroes, but he didn't see where Ren was going with this.
"Xiao Tian! Short videos are a gold mine right now!" Ren said earnestly. "We are Armor Heroes. And besides being a summoner, you've clearly studied photography, haven't you?"
Li Haotian looked at his camera on the table. Well... I guess I have...
However, Xiao Tian was smart. Since Ren had laid it out this far, he understood. "You want me to film videos of the Armor Heroes and upload them to make money?"
Ren was overjoyed. "As expected of the Punishment Heaven summoner! So smart! Think about it—the armors from over a decade ago still have this much hype. If new ones appear, the traffic will be insane! We hype it up a bit, and the money will come rolling in!"
Xiao Tian considered the feasibility. After a moment, he nodded. "It's worth a try."
They spent the next bit discussing the plan. Ren felt that even as heroes, they needed marketing. "Remember that arrogant rich kid from the restaurant?" Ren asked. "He thinks he's better than us, right? Well, let's use his face! He can be the 'star' of our first exclusive Armor Hero line!"
Over the next few days, Ren practiced the Diamond Armor's secret techniques. His aura grew thicker and more imposing, as if he could suppress the world with his presence. Li Haotian, having nothing better to do, also began practicing the Punishment Heaven techniques in secret. "The one who strikes later arrives first; plan for the long term and strike at the short; a hundred battles, a hundred victories!"
Three days later.
The voice of Welcome suddenly rang in the ears of the two men. "Ren! Xiao Tian! A Nether-Demon has appeared! It's at... go quickly! I've notified Xiao Fei; he should get there before you. The three of you must work together to take it down!"
"Got it! We're on our way!"
The two hopped on their motorcycles and sped toward the coordinates. "Xiao Tian, don't forget our agreement!"
"Don't worry! I've got it!" Xiao Tian smiled back.
After a ten-minute dash, they arrived at a plaza. The Flying Shadow Armor was already transformed and battling an ugly Nether-Demon. Seeing Ren and Li Haotian arrive, Xiao Fei shouted, "You don't need to help! I can handle this alone!"
"OK!" Ren made a hand sign. In the next second, he transformed into the Diamond Armor and stood in front of Li Haotian. "I'll leave this guy to you. I won't interfere at all!"
Seeing them back off, Xiao Fei smiled with satisfaction. "At least you know your place!" He then resumed his fight with the demon.
"Kid! You're too arrogant!" Bayobi, feeling looked down upon, roared. A weapon appeared in his hand as he slashed at Flying Shadow. The armor was nimble, easily dodging the strike and landing a kick on Bayobi's chest, sending him flying.
Boom! Bayobi slammed into the ground, cracking the floor tiles. "Nether-Demons? That's all?" Xiao Fei scoffed.
"Damn brat! If my power were fully restored, a piece of trash like you could never hurt me!" Bayobi was furious, but he knew he was in trouble and began planning a retreat. On the surface, however, he put on a desperate act to distract Flying Shadow.
"Heh! Even at full power, you'd still be trash!" Xiao Fei sneered, lunging for another kick. Bayobi seized the moment, spat an energy ball from his mouth, and hit Flying Shadow point-blank when he couldn't dodge in time.
Without hesitation, Bayobi turned into a cloud of black mist and vanished. By the time Flying Shadow stood back up, the demon was long gone.
In the distance, Ren deactivated his armor, and Xiao Tian tucked away his camera. The two acted as if nothing had happened, hopped on their motorcycles, and left, leaving a fuming Flying Shadow behind.
On the way back, Welcome's voice crackled in Ren's ear again, though her tone was much harsher. "Hey! Why didn't you help Xiao Fei just now?!"
"He said he didn't need help," Ren said nonchalantly.
"He said he didn't need it, so you just didn't do it?! The demon escaped—who's going to take responsibility?"
"Xiao Fei, of course! You don't expect me to take it, do you?" Ren said as if it were obvious. "I was being a considerate teammate! What if I interfered and made him upset? If he threw a tantrum, wouldn't you just blame us again?"
"You—! Fine! I'll talk to Xiao Fei about this! But next time, I expect you to cooperate! It's for the good of everyone!" Welcome said, her voice softening as if her energy had been drained.
"Sure, sure! As long as Xiao Fei doesn't demand a 1v1, I'll back him up~" Ren said nicely.
Meanwhile, Welcome felt a wave of exhaustion. A team is so hard to lead... it's all that kid Xiao Fei's fault!
Back at the apartment, Ren immediately began editing the video, adding epic background music. The total length was just over a minute. After cutting out any accidental shots of himself, the video was a solo showcase for Xiao Fei.
"Perfect!"
After checking it a few times, Ren uploaded the video with the tag #ArmorHeroDestroysNetherDemon. He even spent five hundred yuan to buy traffic, which hurt his heart... "Now, we just wait for it to blow up!"
Meanwhile, news of the Nether-Demon's appearance exploded. Eyewitnesses shared their stories online. Shortly after, people found Ren's video. The traffic surged—one person told ten, ten told a hundred. Within half a day, the video reached a million views and hit the trending page.
[Holy crap! Is this the first time an Armor Hero has appeared in a decade?][Blue? Same color scheme as the old Wind Eagle (Fengying) Armor.][He let the demon escape? Is this hero even competent? If not, let me do it!][There he is! The 'Expert' commenter!][Every time I see an 'Expert' comment, I feel like I'm getting enlightened with boiling water.]
As public opinion fermented online, the Armor Hero in the video was currently out enjoying himself, completely unaware of his sudden fame.