Dear Heroes, I really am a Villain-Chapter 106: The Alien Tech

"What!? Why are you laughing!?" Manifesto asked, clearly irritated by the woman’s attitude.

"Ahhh... God, I’ve never heard a joke this good before," said Photon Fury, still chuckling.

"What do you mean?" Manifesto asked again, his eyes showing a mix of confusion and anger.

"You’re going to arrest him, and you don’t even know what your opponent is like? How stupid are you?" Photon Fury sneered.

"Heh! Don’t preach to me, Pamela Diamond. You’re not so different from me in terms of arrogance," Manifesto retorted.

The moment Photon Fury heard her full name, she clenched her fists but managed to calm herself in an instant.

"That’s exactly why I do have the right to preach to you, Manifesto," she said calmly, then continued:

"Nihilus isn’t your everyday villain. The moment you enter Arkadia and your face appears on the news, he’ll dig into the archives, gather all the information he can, and study you. He’ll prepare traps and contingency plans specifically to counter you." She paused, eyes glazing over, as if recalling the past, then resumed.

"This is a warning: if you don’t let go of your pompous arrogance and you allow him to know you’re coming, he will exploit every single one of your weaknesses. He has both the skill and a powerful EF. Don’t let your stupid pride make you lose," Photon Fury warned firmly.

Instead of acknowledging the warning, Manifesto scoffed.

"Heh heh—HAHAHAHA! You... I’m not like you, Photon Fury," Manifesto said, grinning. "My arrogance is backed up by power and skill. Yours is just that... empty arrogance."

He smirked and continued, "I’ll let you know we’re not the same. I want him to know I’m coming. And once I’ve captured him, you’ll understand—we’re built different."

Photon Fury scoffed at his words. "Suit yourself..." she muttered before turning away and resuming her training.

Between Photon Fury and Manifesto, both had become heroes around the same time. They had similar potential and powerful EFs.

While Manifesto rose through the ranks with his sly, ruthless mindset, Photon Fury had been dragged down by both her own flaws and her resistance to the corruption of the system, especially from leaders who never took female heroes seriously.

She refused to become an object. Her obnoxious personality and hatred toward men weren’t without cause. The toxic environment around her had forced her to protect herself with arrogance and abrasiveness; that was the only shield she knew.

By making herself unpleasant to associate with, she had managed to remain untouched by the system’s corruption and the predatory behavior of men.

Manifesto, seeing that Photon Fury had returned to her training, decided to end his little performance. He had already gotten what he came for, the information he needed from her.

He disguised it all as arrogance, but with his cunning mind, he wouldn’t have risen to his current position if he were just a blindly arrogant fool. His pride was a tool, a mask, to make others underestimate him so he could strike when they were vulnerable.

Now he knew: if he walked into Arkadia with fanfare and media attention, Nihilus would begin studying him.

But...

He had a plan.

A plan that would use that very exposure... to fool Nihilus.

— 2 Days Later - Maximilian House —

Maximilian now stared at the old man in his mid-50s, who looked at him as if he were some kind of maggot.

The old man was Pierre Moreau, the longtime butler who had served Kiyomi since she was a child.

The first time he heard that some unknown martial artist wanted to learn the art of butlering from him, he was surprised and even pleased.

After all, martial artists were rarely the kind of people interested in such refined service. He had initially assumed this man wished to serve his young lady.

But his attitude shifted drastically when he learned that this martial artist only had two months to learn. He became immediately irritated, finding the idea of teaching this... clown utterly offensive.

In his eyes, two months wasn’t even enough to qualify someone to clean a toilet, let alone be called a butler.

And now, he was fuming at Maximilian, the young man who, in his view, treated the sacred art of butlering like a casual hobby.

Maximilian, however, didn’t care what the old man thought.

"Hello, Mr. Moreau. About the training, when can we start?" Maximilian asked with a smile.

Hearing this, the old man’s irritation deepened. Everything about Maximilian annoyed him, his voice, his face, even the way he breathed. It felt like he wasn’t speaking to a human being but to a talking, human-shaped pile of dung.

"Close your café. We’ll start now," the old butler said dryly.

Kiyomi and Rebecca, sitting at a nearby table, watched the tension build between the two men. It felt more like the prelude to a fistfight than the beginning of a butler training session.

"Before we begin, please sign this," Maximilian said as he placed a stack of NDA documents on the counter.

"You two as well," he added, nodding at Rebecca and Kiyomi.

Curious, Kiyomi walked over and picked up the NDA to read it.

The document simply stated that all information regarding anomalies and any technology used during training must remain confidential for ten years. Other than that, it was a standard non-disclosure agreement.

"What kind of anomaly are you talking about?" Kiyomi asked.

Maximilian didn’t answer. He simply placed a pen on the counter, a silent invitation to sign.

Rebecca didn’t hesitate and signed it immediately. Kiyomi, however, read through each clause carefully before finally signing.

"What kind of nonsense is this?" the old butler muttered in irritation, glaring at Maximilian. "The only ’anomaly’ that’s going to happen is you thinking two months is enough to train!" he barked, his pent-up irritation finally boiling over.

"Uncle Pierre, sign it," Kiyomi said as she signed the NDA.

"Yes, young lady," the old butler replied. His demeanor immediately shifted—polite and refined, just as a proper butler should be.

Once Maximilian confirmed that all three had signed the document, he turned to the remaining customers in the café and announced its temporary closure.

"The café will be closed for at least a month," he said, bowing slightly. "I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience."

After that, he headed down to the basement to speak with Gu Yichen, who was still training there. He asked if Gu Yichen would like to stay at the café during the training period. Without much thought, Gu Yichen agreed. There were still three vacant guest rooms available, so Gu Yichen could rest in one of them.

With that settled, Maximilian excused himself and went up to the fourth floor for private matters. Once inside his room, he activated the time compression function of his system.

When he returned, Maximilian adjusted the curtains to let only a controlled amount of light through, programming them to open and close based on the compressed time inside, since their biological clocks were not affected by the time compression, this would help maintain a consistent rhythm.

Only after all preparations were complete did the training begin.

Kiyomi chose to remain on-site, worried that her butler might either cause trouble or refuse to properly train Maximilian.

However, after observing for just a few hours, she nodded in approval. Pierre was indeed taking the training seriously, and Maximilian was an incredibly fast learner.

The old butler rarely needed to repeat himself. Maximilian quickly corrected his posture and demeanor. This impressed Pierre, who gave an approving nod, though disappointment lingered in his eyes.

"If he had just one year," the old man thought, "he could learn everything I know."

But that wasn’t the case—Maximilian only had two months.

Kiyomi reached out to touch the curtain, curious about the lighting. Despite feeling as if she had been there for over four hours, the daylight outside still looked strong, too strong.

She checked her wristwatch. It read 7 PM.

But outside, the sun hadn’t even fully shifted. The light was still bright, and the people walking past the café were moving in unnaturally slow motion.

That’s when she realized: time outside and time inside weren’t in sync at all.

"Mr. Graham!! What... what happened!?" Kiyomi asked, startled by the anomaly.

The old butler had noticed it too. He walked to the curtained window and saw that it was still broad daylight outside—even though he was certain he had spent many hours training Maximilian.

Maximilian let out a faint smile.

"You mean... this is the anomaly mentioned in the NDA?" Rebecca asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Rebecca. This is the anomaly mentioned in the NDA," Maximilian confirmed.

"What!? But... how!?" This time, Kiyomi was the one asking, her voice filled with confusion, disbelief, and surprise.

Maximilian had already prepared an answer.

"It’s time-compressing alien tech. It can compress time—one day outside my house equals one month inside," Maximilian explained calmly.

"What!? You have that kind of tech?" Kiyomi’s voice rose in disbelief.

"Ahem... young lady, please lower your voice," the butler said, regaining his calm and composed tone.

Even though he was also surprised by Maximilian’s statement, once Pierre realized that there was now enough time to train Maximilian properly, his mood improved considerably.

"Uncle Pierre, aren’t you surprised!? This is a technology that can compress time... if—" Kiyomi blurted out, then suddenly stopped.

Her mind had wandered into dangerous territory. If she could get her hands on such technology, many of her problems could be easily solved. For instance, if this technology were installed in a closed farming facility, crops could be harvested every month.

Moreover, countless experiments and technologies that required time to stabilize or mature could now be accelerated significantly.

But she stopped herself. She knew that this kind of technology was not something she should covet. It would definitely bring trouble—more than it was worth.

It was a good thing she caught herself in time.