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"I have...a question that I would like to ask you no matter what."
"Oh?" Lin Mo withdrew his gaze from examining the strange corpse and turned to look at her.
He could sense the intense fluctuations in her emotions.
"Boom...boom...boom..."
Lin Mo's heartbeat, the same "Emperor's Engine" that strikes fear into the hearts of outsiders, faintly echoes in the quiet street.
The sound wasn't loud, but it struck Fubuki's heart like a heavy hammer, adding a somber touch to the tense atmosphere.
Fubuki felt an immense pressure enveloping her.
In front of this most powerful man, she felt that all her pride, and even her inner confusion, were laid bare and clearly seen through by his deep eyes.
She bit her lower lip, finally pouring out the confusion that had been building up inside her for so long:
"Mr. King, relying on companions to build your own team... is this behavior really... meaningless?"
Her voice trailed off, filled with self-doubt.
"I have always believed that one person's strength is limited. Even heroes need the support and cooperation of their companions to deal with various complex situations."
"Therefore, I created the 'Blizzard Group' in the hope of uniting everyone's strength..."
She raised her head, her emerald green eyes glistening with tears, and looked stubbornly at KING: "So, I would like to ask you, Mr. KING."
"As someone who stands at the pinnacle of all heroes, do you also believe that only one's own strength is the only real thing?"
"Was the path I've chosen... wrong from the very beginning?"
This is a weighty question that challenges the very foundation of Fubuki's character as a hero.
Saitama, who was listening from the side, only half understood. He scratched his bald head and whispered to Lin Mo:
"Is she asking whether it's better to play games in a team or solo?"
Chapter 152 Tornado and Blizzard
Saitama's seemingly random remark startled Fubuki, who clearly didn't understand what the bald man was talking about.
Lin Mo, however, had a barely perceptible smile in his eyes because of those words.
He looked at Saitama with an expression that seemed to say, "You're actually quite smart sometimes."
He turned back and looked at Fubuki again.
Those deep eyes no longer held scrutiny, but instead possessed a calm that seemed to understand everything.
"Boom...boom...boom..."
The roar of the "Emperor Engine" seemed to become more steady and clearer at this moment.
"Hellish Snowstorm".
Lin Mo spoke, his words carrying an undeniable weight that clearly reached Fubuki's ears.
"You asked the wrong question from the very beginning."
Fubuki's body trembled violently. She raised her head, her emerald eyes filled with deep confusion and bewilderment as she stared intently at the man before her.
She just wanted to know if her persistence was meaningful, and was that wrong?
"Your confusion doesn't lie in whether 'relying on companions' is right or wrong, nor in whether 'building a team' is meaningful."
Lin Mo took a small half-step forward.
It was only half a step away.
To Saitama, an observer, this was nothing more than an ordinary action.
But in Fubuki's perception, an invisible yet immense pressure rushed towards her.
The pressure made her subconsciously tense all the muscles in her body, and she even had the urge to stagger backward.
KING's voice precisely dissected her heart, which was wrapped in layers of pride and stubbornness, pointing directly to the deepest vulnerability that even she herself was unwilling to face.
"The reason you embarked on this path, the reason you were so determined to form the 'Fubuki Group' and unite the B-rank heroes around you..."
He paused, each word carrying immense weight, striking Fubuki's heart with devastation.
"It's simply because, deep down, you've already admitted, and desperately believe—"
"On the solitary path of 'pure strength,' you will never, ever, surpass your sister—Tornado of Terror."
These words struck Fubuki's mind like a thunderclap.
Her emerald green pupils contracted instantly, her face drained of color, and her lips trembled uncontrollably, yet she couldn't utter a single word.
This is the truth.
Her leadership skills, which she has always been proud of, her painstakingly built "Fubuki Group," and her so-called belief that "unity is strength"...
At its core, the motivation for all of this boils down to just two words—
She was trying to escape the absolute genius known as "Sister," who stood before her like an insurmountable chasm.
No matter how hard she tried or how desperately she trained her superpowers, she could never reach the height that petite figure stood at.
That figure was like a dark cloud that hung eternally over her head, obscuring all her light and making all her efforts seem so pale and laughable.
So she gave up.
She abandoned the pursuit of personal power and instead sought a different path, attempting to prove her value through "organization" and to construct a different definition of "power".
This was not her voluntary choice, but rather an alternative path she passively sought out in despair.
The reason Tornado's words were so hurtful was precisely because they ruthlessly exposed the lies Fubuki used to comfort herself.
“Your sister, the Trembling Tornado, she was right.”
Upon hearing this, Fubuki's face darkened even more.
So...is that really how it is? Even KING, who is hailed as the strongest on Earth, thinks so?
Everything she did was indeed just the struggle of the weak, a complete joke...
Should she... give up?
“But,” Lin Mo’s words changed, making Fubuki’s almost stopped heartbeat start again.
"Her vision was limited by her own overwhelming power."
"Huh?" Fubuki looked up, puzzled.
“Let’s go back to that question,” Lin Mo glanced at Saitama, who was still clueless, “Is it better to team up or solo?”
Instead of giving a direct answer, he used an analogy that both of them could understand.
"In some games, a max-level player can indeed dominate all the newbie villages, intermediate maps, and even most raid dungeons."
"He is fast enough, his attack is high enough, and his defense is strong enough. He is an army all by himself. In the eyes of others, he is a god."
"This is your sister, the Trembling Tornado."
Fubuki listened quietly, finding the metaphor both novel and unexpectedly apt.
“However,” Lin Mo continued, “there are always some special dungeons that are not designed to be cleared simply by relying on numerical values.”
"Some bosses require specific class combinations to break their shields, some levels require different people to step on the traps at the same time, and some enemies are immune to all physical attacks and must be dealt with by mages."
"At this point, even the 'god of solo play' will encounter a bottleneck."
Lin Mo glanced at the thoughtful Chuxue and continued, "The work of a hero is more complicated than any game."
"Faced with a disaster that sweeps across the entire city, there needs to be someone in charge of the frontal battle, someone in charge of evacuating civilians, someone in charge of rescuing the wounded, and someone in charge of logistics and command."
Can you say that any step is unimportant?
Fubuki listened intently.
She had never thought about the problem from this perspective.
In her subconscious, forming the "Fubuki Group" was her "second-best choice" after she had no hope of catching up with her sister; it was a compromise of settling for second best.
But in KING's words, this became a completely different path, yet one that could still lead to the "apex".
"Solo" and "team" are not a difference between "strong" and "weak", but rather two different "playstyles".
"Hellish Blizzard, your path itself is not wrong."
Lin Mo's voice became serious.
"You're wrong. That's what you started down this path for. You unconsciously embarked on this path to escape your sister's shadow."
"That's why you were so easily defeated by her words, because your beliefs were fundamentally flawed and impure."
"What you need is not to ask me if this path is right or wrong, but to ask your own heart."
He gazed into her bright green eyes, which were beginning to regain their sparkle, and said, word by word:
"Do you want to become a 'second-rate player who can only lead the team because he can't be the strongest DPS'?"
"Or do you want to become the 'strongest leader' who truly believes in his comrades, makes good use of everyone's strength, and challenges the impossible?"
Chapter 153 Two Sisters Taking Different Paths
"The strongest leader?"
The world seemed to be muted at that moment.
The wind stopped, the air froze, and even the city's hustle and bustle vanished without a trace.
"A second-rate player..."
This word pierced through all her past false pride.
She always believed that she was fighting in a smarter, more efficient way.
But looking back now, it was nothing but a self-deceiving lie.
She remembered the B-rank hero she had cornered in the alley; fear flickered in his eyes, while she had simply declared from her superior position:
"Join the Blizzard Group, or join the Blizzard Group after I defeat you."
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