Chapter 67: A Family Formed Through Love
The day after the two great events: the Battle of New York and the Death of Superman.
Xi Nian's two instructors and thirty-two classmates all boarded a school bus dispatched from Washington to return to school.
By noon, when the bus arrived at the school gates, the place was already crowded with anxious parents waiting outside. As soon as the students stepped off the bus and reunited with their families, many immediately burst into tears, their cries echoing through the crowd.
There was no denying it—they had narrowly escaped with their lives.
The official reports already confirmed that casualties in the Battle of New York had exceeded ten thousand, with countless missing. For Xi Nian's class to have been caught so close to the heart of the battle, yet return without a single loss, was nothing short of a miracle. Reporters had even rushed to the school hoping for interviews, only to be blocked by the staff.
"Thank you, Instructor Roth, Instructor Beck." The school's principal and teachers greeted them warmly at the gates as they stepped down from the bus.
"No thanks needed, this was my duty as an instructor!" Roth replied with a hearty laugh. His fearless and upright demeanor drew spontaneous applause from several female teachers and parents.
Xi Nian and Gwen exchanged a glance and shared a knowing smile. Neither said a word about how Instructor Roth had broken down crying back in the mall.
Assistant Instructor Quentin Beck, however, looked distant, lost in thought. Without a word, he drifted alone toward the administration building.
The principal raised his voice, "Students, you've all been through a lot. Go home with your families now, and return to class after a day's rest."
The parents quickly led their children away.
Xi Nian and Gwen parted ways at the bus. Gwen waved goodbye and headed toward a police car parked not far away, where her father was waiting. Xi Nian, carrying Gwen's backpack, walked toward a street sign across the road. There, in the most noticeable spot, stood a black-haired woman leaning quietly as she waited.
"Auntie!" Xi Nian called as he approached, seeing the face that had been weighing on his heart. He had so much he wanted to say.
Diana already knew what he was feeling. She placed her hand gently on his head. "You did well." Then, softly taking his hand, she said, "Let's go home first."
"Meow!" At that moment, a small orange creature poked its head out of the pocket of Diana's trench coat.
Xi Nian smiled, scratching Xiao Huang's chin before lifting her into his arms. "Alright. Let's all go home together."
…
At home, in the main hall.
Xi Nian leaned back against the sofa, his arm wrapped around the slender waist of his goddess-like aunt, his head resting on the back of the couch where a few strands of her hair lay. In his arms was the soft-furred Flerken kitten. Sitting side by side with Diana, their silver guardian bracelets gleamed as a matching pair.
There were no secrets between them.
Xi Nian recounted everything he had experienced during the Battle of New York. In turn, Diana spoke of what she had faced in Gotham.
To an outsider, it would sound like an ordinary family conversation. But every word they exchanged carried the weight of the two greatest events of the era.
"Superman, questioned so harshly by the people of Metropolis… He only ever wanted to save humanity, yet was put on trial for collateral damage and mistakes… The brutal clash between Batman and Superman… and the ultimate monster born of Kryptonian origins—Doomsday…"
Listening to his aunt, Xi Nian suddenly remembered a saying from his past life:
Those who light fires for the many must not be left to freeze in the snow.
Was Superman really killed by Doomsday? Perhaps. But to Xi Nian, the doubt and slander of humanity had surely cut deeper than the claws that pierced his chest.
Diana was also surprised by what Xi Nian had gone through. Compared to her role in Gotham, he had directly altered the entire outcome of the Battle of New York.
"So that girl next door, Gwen Stacy, has mutated spider powers? And the other girl, Lorna, can control magnetism…" Diana's eyes gleamed faintly. She always thought from Xi Nian's perspective, and now she was relieved—this meant that even if she wasn't there, others could still provide him with strength.
"And what do you plan to do with those two items you brought back?" Diana asked curiously.
"Simple." Xi Nian pulled Gwen's backpack from the sofa, unzipped it, and took out—
A black-and-white spider suit.
Oops. Wrong thing.
Under Diana's calm gaze, Xi Nian's mouth twitched. He quickly stuffed Gwen's uniform back into the bag and retrieved the metallic orb and the metallic cube hidden inside.
The Mind Stone Scepter. The Tesseract.
"Xiao Huang, help me eat something." Xi Nian pinched the little orange cat's mouth. Without even opening her eyes, Xiao Huang continued drowsing, but obediently opened her jaws.
Her tiny mouth didn't even look big enough for a fist, yet Xi Nian easily slid the orb into it, followed by the glowing cube. Both vanished into the pocket dimension unique to a Flerken.
Xi Nian blinked. "See? Problem solved."
The Flerken's stomach dimension could only be accessed by Xiao Huang. As long as no one knew, no one would ever guess that Earth's most dangerous artifacts were tucked away inside an ordinary-looking orange kitten.
The safest vault on Earth.
"Auntie, there's something I want to ask you about," Xi Nian said hesitantly.
Diana smiled knowingly. "You want to help that girl, Wanda, don't you?"
"Yes." Xi Nian didn't deny it. "She just lost her parents, and her brother's been taken away. I can't leave her alone in New York."
"That's actually simple."
After a moment of thought, Diana said, "I can arrange for her to transfer to a private school in Washington. She can live nearby, and I'll cover her expenses."
Xi Nian suddenly asked curiously, "Auntie… how much money do we actually have?"
In his impression, before learning about Diana's demigod heritage, their family had seemed comfortably middle-class. Not rich, not poor—living without luxury but also without want. At least their clothes were always brand-name.
Diana tilted her head, thinking. "I've never counted too carefully. I did buy quite a few antiques over the years. Right now… probably around a billion dollars."
"H-how much…? A billion? In US dollars?" Xi Nian's eyes widened. That wasn't a few million, or even tens of millions—that was billions!
"It's nothing special," Diana said gently. "I've simply worked for eighty years. At first I restored artifacts in the Louvre, then after World War II I made some financial investments. Over the years, due to my identity, I switched professions often—archaeology, computing, law, different fields."
Money, to her, was nothing more than numbers. Whether more or less didn't matter. As long as it was enough.
As for working—she did it only to better integrate into human society.
Listen to that. What a humble-brag.
Xi Nian looked at his stunningly perfect aunt and couldn't help blurting, "Rich lady, I don't want to work hard anymore!"
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