Downtown, residential area.
In front of a gray apartment building, Wade, wearing a black trench coat, stepped out from an old door with peeling paint.
He had just bid farewell to a grieving family—the home of the red-haired girl whom he and Annie had bravely rescued.
That girl had ended her young life in her bedroom yesterday; he had only happened to see it on the news last night.
In her suicide note, the red-haired girl wrote of her repentance for her same-sex desires and her adoration for Starlight, wishing only to atone for her sins through death.
Wade stood by the roadside, crushing a pebble under his foot until it turned to dust. "Religious brainwashing combined with idol-worshipping fanaticism is truly harmful... I suppose this fulfills her dream in a way."
He had modified and manipulated the red-haired girl's remains, and there was always a price to pay; he had come here to gather personal information about the family.
"Have Mena contact a lawyer to set up a trust. Just make up a reason for regular financial compensation; it'll be less conspicuous that way."
Wade walked along the sidewalk and arrived at the commercial street where the Paramount Theater was located.
He stared at the massive poster for the "the nutcracker" ballet at the theater for a few seconds before turning toward a nearby electronics store.
In the display window, over a dozen television screens were simultaneously broadcasting breaking news.
Different news stations displayed similar bold scrolling headlines: "Gospel Church's Underground Laboratory Fully Exposed; 'Seed of Holiness' Project is Appalling!"
"Shocking Twist! Vought International Suspected of Illegal Cooperation with Church; Internal Files Leaked..."
"Iowa Local Heroes 'Standard' and 'Holy Mother' Implicated in Scandal!"
"Whistleblowers Emerge at Believe Expo; Truth-Seeking Believers Hurl Insults; Accidental Collapse Results in One Death and Multiple Injuries!"
The footage cut between Pastor Lief's breakdown, scenes from the laboratory, and the chaotic expo site.
Wade's goal for this trip had been more than achieved. A smile played on his lips. "Vought and the local church's methods of concealing facts and PR deception have crumbled. The expo is ruined, and their public image is destroyed... Truly satisfying!"
His gaze shifted to several nearby screens showing Vought-controlled media channels, where news anchors were loudly promoting an alternative narrative: "Starlight displays true heroism in the face of danger, bravely saving the masses regardless of her own safety!"
The video showed Starlight rushing into the collapsed ruins and emerging shortly after, cradling the blood-stained remains of a young girl.
"As the only bright spot in Vought's scandal, Starlight will surely be heavily promoted and given more resources... If Annie can seize this opportunity, I'll reach out to her again."
"I can't dress up as a woman anymore; I almost got caught... I need to adopt a new identity."
Shuddering at the thought, he leaned forward slightly, exerted force through his feet, and his speed instantly surged.
Bystanders only felt a sudden gust of strong wind; by the time they looked back, the street was empty.
High in the sky, the airflow became increasingly thin and cold.
Whoosh—Bang! Bang!
Wade continued to accelerate, breaking the sound barrier repeatedly and creating several white vapor cones.
He adjusted his posture as air resistance brushed against his skin; the drag had dropped to its minimum, reaching his current limit.
He visually estimated landmarks on the ground below, flying for about a minute before stopping to check his phone's navigation.
"Crossed two cities. Not bad—did I break Mach 4?"
Wade put away his phone and flew straight up toward the heavens. The deep blue above gradually shifted, revealing the pitch-black void of space.
Although he had looked it up long ago, escaping Earth's gravity entirely required reaching the second cosmic velocity, roughly Mach 11.
"Knowing the theory is completely different from personal practice. I'm going to try anyway..."
He continued upward, trying to fight the powerful gravity surrounding him. Before long, he felt a clear sense of a boundary, like an invisible wall preventing further progress.
Earth's gravity still held him firmly in its grasp.
"As expected... I can jog on the surface while enduring four times the force of gravity, but that power comes from musculoskeletal output; it doesn't mean I have the propulsion to break free from gravity."
Wade stopped, hovering in the stratosphere.
As far as he could see, no clouds obstructed his view; the sun hung against a pitch-black backdrop.
The surrounding air was extremely thin, with almost no water vapor or dust. Sunlight shone on him without any obstruction, several times more intense than on the ground.
He closed his eyes and began to activate his newly acquired ability: [Photoelectric Absorption/Conversion].
The surface of his panel seemed to become active, like countless tiny portals opening.
Sunlight—both visible and invisible radiation—was captured and absorbed by these "portals."
As the energy entered his body, he didn't choose an external light energy output like Annie's. Instead, he directly decomposed and restructured it into heat, merging it into his entire being.
The slight fatigue from his high-speed flight vanished instantly, and his mind became exceptionally clear.
Wade gazed at the blinding sunlight and laughed heartily. "Hahaha... solar energy is really useful!"
He further expanded his perception to capture secondary cosmic ray particles that had penetrated the atmosphere from space, their energy and quantity significantly attenuated.
Upon contact with the panel, the energy was purified and funneled into the new stream of energy within him, replenishing the energy loss in his bodily tissues.
The sunlight provided stable, continuous base energy to sustain his life activities, and his hunger receded slightly.
"This is just the most basic level of the ability. If I develop it further... I should be able to reach a near-perpetual energy state just by sunbathing and absorbing Cosmic Rays, right?"
Wade opened his eyes, looked down at the blue and white curve of the Earth, turned his body, and dove downward.
"I'm not yet capable of exploring space; I shouldn't be overambitious... It's time to head back and continue building my capital."
...On the street, a white Jeep drove slowly, merging into the flow of traffic.
Inside the car, MM sat in the driver's seat, hands on the steering wheel, his eyes vigilantly scanning the rearview mirror. "Haha... running away after doing something bad feels great!"
Ezekiel was roughly tied to a seat, a cloth stuffed in his mouth, his eyes covered with a black blindfold, and noise-canceling headphones on his head.
Butcher, his face hidden by a simple mask, leaned down to pull the blindfold away from Ezekiel's eyes and chuckled, "Don't be nervous. We just want to ask a few questions... We're all fellow Supe comrades; you'll help me out, won't you?"
Ezekiel looked at the fist that had suddenly grown a size larger and blinked obediently.
Butcher directly showed his phone screen, which was playing a clear video of Ezekiel on a bar sofa, passionately hugging and kissing two men.
He ripped the items off Ezekiel's head and mocked him coldly, "Did you see that clearly? Your pious followers—those lambs who listen to you denounce 'moral decay' and 'homosexual sin'—if they saw their beloved pastor acting like this in private... what do you think would happen?"
Ezekiel's body trembled violently, cold sweat pouring down his face. "No... don't go public... please... I'll talk, I'll tell you everything..."
"compound v!" Butcher grabbed his collar and growled. "How much have you handled? Where is it going?"
"I... I'm only responsible for providing the channels." Ezekiel waved his hands frantically, breathing heavily. "Since... since 1971, yes, it started in 1971!"
"Vought International started back then, across the country... let me think, 53! Yes, at least 53 hospitals, under the guise of providing free vaccines to neonatal wards... secretly transporting and injecting compound v!"
A notebook nearby floated on a seat; Hughie, whose invisibility drug hadn't worn off yet, was using a laptop to quickly record the routes, locations, and scale of the compound v distribution.
Butcher's pupils constricted suddenly upon hearing this. He raised his fist. "Damn it... it started in the early seventies? You bastards started experimenting on babies decades ago?!"
Ezekiel shrank back, pleading tearfully, "It has nothing to do with me! I'm only responsible for some of the transport routes; I've only been doing it for a dozen years... I just deliver specific batches to designated hospital drop-off points. I don't know anything else!"
Butcher stared intently at him, judging the truth of his words.
Hughie suddenly spoke up from the side, "One of the nearest delivery sites is the 'Mercy Angel Community Hospital' in the north of the city. Should we go?"
Butcher stuffed the cloth back into Ezekiel's mouth and tied him up again, muttering, "We need more hard evidence—photos, samples, as much as possible... otherwise, those shrewd people at the CIA won't give us the time of day."
"So we're going." MM glanced at the navigation and turned the steering wheel. "Once we find the smoking gun of them secretly injecting babies with compound v, we can clear our names completely and never have to worry about Vought International again."
Hughie's head appeared as he laughingly punched Butcher's shoulder. "Haha, those big shots who want to get leverage over Vought International will definitely make time to negotiate terms with us."
Butcher leaned back in his seat, raising an eyebrow with a mirthless grin. "Let's hope so."
The Jeep turned at the intersection and sped toward the north of the city.
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