Lin Ling has the ability is to "punch real good'"/ "Bastard Fist". He has probably the single highest-power attack here, because currently he's ranked #1. However, he doesn't offer a lot of utility, with his ability being one-directional and only for himself. Also, he has a psychological weakness for Moon. If you pick him but not Moon, then she would mess with his ability to fight the other side properly. If you pick both of them, then the attackers could distract Lin Ling by targeting Moon. Lastly add his lack of experience and I would personally say he isn't worth the 75 points; I think although a huge challenge for sure you could play around him. could be good though!

Ahu seems to have decent battle prowess and shape shifting kind of? Not much to say here - I don't see much reason to pick him over other attackers besides cost.

Lucky Cyan is an interesting one and an extremely tempting option. Luck powers are VERY useful. she also has decent movement options and a ranged attack. I don't see much downside, and if you don't pick her then the attackers get luck on their side.

Luo Li is another interesting option. She seems to have ranged attacks as well as close-up attacks. It's easy to think she's too squishy since she depends on metal armor but Trust Value probably helps her there. I think I still wouldn't choose her, but if there was a lot of prep time then she could be a competitive option especially if she can make you armor.

Dragon Boy is who I would recommend if you really wanted someone with Lin Ling's powers. In the PVs we can see that he has very high movement speed. he is briefly knocked out by a metal pipe for a minute but after that it was straight carnage. Dragon boy also doesn't offer a lot of defensive utility, but I'm a lot more worried if he is on the attacker's side.

Moon offers extremely high value for low cost. if you stick by her she can teleport you anywhere which is an excellent escape option for defense. Con is that she's got low power and is probably the weakest + squishiest hero on this chart by Trust Value. She depends on her gun for teleporting, so if she loses it then you're in trouble. However, this could also mean that you can take the gun for yourself and have Moon do something else (like maybe fending off the enemy Commoner).

Queen is worth the investment. She's likely the strongest person on this list and has an extremely versatile powerset. she can fly, set rules of all kinds in an area, and summon homing spears. If you DON'T pick Queen then you have to deal with like fifteen homing meteor spears raining down on you while anybody who gets close to her gets locked down.

Ghostblade we don't have a ton of info on but he's probably capable with weapons. If I had to guess he has also has speed and stealth powers in some way? He's ranked #4 so he's likely very strong. I don't really know how to place him.

The Johnnies are also kind of vague powers wise but we know LJ can control animals. Big Johnny is VERY LARGE and could be good for area control.

Nice probably also shouldn't be picked sorry... I'll assume Nice at his prime means as strong as when he was #10 as Lin Ling? or possible before the Hero Smile incident. But his toolkit seems not very unique and again no utility. He would probably derail Wreck quite a bit though...

Smile is basically Nice but stronger and with projectiles. his power could possibly have some condition attached to it since Bowa just started beating him suddenly out of nowhere? he's also expensive.

E-Soul is a strong contender because super-speed is difficult to deal with. And that pretty much sums it up. he also has bullets that are strong enough to take out regular people in one go. However, he can't fly and heroes with durability can take him. This means that E-soul isn't particularly helpful for you, because he can't one-shot other Heroes, but is very dangerous if you don't pick him.

Enlighter/God Eye is easily the highest value and a must-pick. he's smart, can pick out weaknesses of heroes, and can create disguises of you. he's also the only one you can buy multiple of. He won't be winning fights unless it's vs Nice but he can help strategize and direct your team while making decoys of you or other people important to your enemies...

Firm Man would be a decent choice if you could buy multiples of him but on his own he's questionable. he's very strong but he literally can't bend his knees which is a very significant weakness imo. You could task him with defending you on the ground while someone else defends you in the air.

Bowa is terrifying on the other team. She can fight Queen nearly to a standstill and we know she can beat Smile. She has surprising versatility with her powers and she knows how to use them. she's likely the most experienced fighter on this list and I think she's a strong contender for your investment.

Wreck is a sleeper pick for 20 points! he's got a grade of A in episode 12 and I think he's decent for crowd control. he can build barriers and cause widespread destruction. main cons: he can't fly and he's lacking in power compared to other options.

So without further ado here is my tiering and personal choices:

Now, being put into forced proximity with someone he believes is irresponsible and a hindrance is something new. If he doesn't like someone, he avoids them, or in the worst case scenario he... takes care of them. That's his job, so no hard feelings. However, he's basically not got any option, because he's Feixiao's subordinate, to essentially 'babysit' (in his opinion). He's also not used to being close emotionally/and somewhat physically with people, case in point being his job and stint in prison. NOW bickering and arguing with someone every few days for a prolonged length of time is possibly some of the most ordinary shit he's been through. You're not trying to kill him. You're not scared of him. Yeah, you dislike him (strongly) and he dislikes you (strongly) too, but you're proving your capabilities and you dislike him personally rather than through hearsay.

Anyways, outside the job he avoids you like the plague, but inside there's bound to be far more complex emotions the more he spends time with you and the more he realises he was mistaken about your ability (but not about your shit personality). But again, not a lot of experience in dealing with emotions, so pestering you is basically him succumbing to you being a somewhat alright person rather than someone he keeps at arm's length. Or at least, he trusts your abilities (somewhat) but still holds zero expectations of you (or at least he thinks that) and still dislikes you

Jiaoqiu: remember social opposites? Honestly I don't think Moze was jealous of Jiaoqiu specifically but rather anyone who's publicly close to you (case in point A-hua), because this man is lowkey starved for affection. Like where in his job and life does he experience that? And I did purposefully write in diminutives for this man (xiaoze, a-ze) in a sarcastic way, which just makes this man's eye twitch since you have no problem being affectionate with his colleagues, not just stopping at civil. Like purposefully showing off your closeness is one thing but just slipping in a-hua or jiaoqiu's name casually is what really gets him - like your subconscious just has these two in an affectionate bubble in your mind and he's just glaring lmao.

I believe he's got a somewhat competitive side, especially due to his alleged nature to be tidy and clean. Like, he's meticulous, and he's already proved himself to you and you to him. Why are his colleagues better than him? He dislikes you even more for that lmao because he's subconsciously feeling closeness as a side effect of harmless bickering, because he has to pay attention to you in order to best find information to irritate you with

Except, a lot of his information stems around your relationships (case in point fake rumor with zhi hua in like the first fic for him)!! which he does not have (a lot of relationships) !!!!

Anyways Jiaoqiu's heard a lot of your complaints and honestly thinks it's funny as hell, like we've got his friend who's clearly going to need a while to grapple with his feelings while denying them, and then we've got the guy who just dislikes his friend. Honestly I wrote him as someone who just wanted to speed up the process, while also just being incredulous while thinking of your complaints. Because you complainnnn. Chaos inducing best friend

But a best friend who would NOT mind hitting 🙏. Ulterior motives yes, but also he does want his new friend to heal, hence the dissuading; because he's also never heard you say anything particularly good about the man, and vice versa. like ??? some people just do NOT like each other so he might as well take his chance instead lmao

Anyways I find it funny you mentioned the Earth guy bc I know damn well that knife Moze threw felt extra cathartic. Like the issue resolved itself: you fought him off with disgust, didn't suddenly become emotionally close, and he became a cadaver in the end - and once they're dead, Moze moves on. Thus, he just felt irritated this guy tried something without actually knowing why it felt refreshing to perform his occupation. The sleeping around thing is something else because it requires willing proximity (and you could've just chosen him smh).

side effect of competitiveness. Like based on his design and lore it's pretty obvious he's high up in the Shadow Guards, and perhaps one of their best assassins. He's polished his craft, but you evidently don't care about that. So being in even more forced proximity (apartment) is also forcing him to unfurl the tight bundle of annoyance to see exactly what it is. cue that whiskey scene (my favourite, because the desperation is a result of him feeling that inferiority hit)

tl;dr - yes Jiaoqiu's got ulterior motives but also sincerely believes it may be quite hard for moze to make his affections known (considering his reclusivity and emotional short-sightedness); also it's just funny as hell to poke fun at people in general and moze's a satisfying target

Moze's just jealous, because you're close to everyone but him (perceived). and you're just sarcastically calling him diminutives and ugh that's just something that lingers in his heart regardless.