Chapter 44: Homelander, Simply Like a Perfect Saint
Amidst a round of enthusiastic applause, The Deep continued, "After serving in The Seven for a long time and achieving remarkable success, my good friend Lamplighter has retired. However, Vought is about to welcome a Special Existence. I can't wait to cooperate with her. Please welcome Starlight!"
Backstage, Starlight couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Pushed by Ashley Barrett, she walked towards the stage.
As soon as she appeared, a wave of cheers and applause immediately erupted from the audience.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Starlight and The Deep!" Madelyn Stillwell extended her hand towards the two.
"This young lady is quite good-looking," Supervisor Erich Sharke couldn't help but remark.
"After all, that's what the public likes these days," Xia Shang said, clapping along.
The Vought Shareholder Meeting went very smoothly.
Unfortunately, after it ended, Starlight didn't invite Xia Shang for coffee as promised.
But it was understandable; she had just started, and getting familiar with the environment was the most important thing.
On the other side, The Deep was inviting Starlight to visit the Meeting Room, but gradually, Starlight felt that something was off about The Deep.
When she turned around, she actually saw The Deep taking off his pants and exposing his small dick to her.
Starlight quickly turned her head, preparing to leave. The Deep, while stroking his dick, said, "What's wrong? You just said you were obsessed with me. I thought, you know... Hey, listen, you're beautiful. I don't mean doing it, just a bite would be nice too."
Starlight ignored the pervert and walked straight towards the exit.
"Hey, hey, this is about how badly you want to join The Seven."
Hearing this, Starlight stopped and turned to look at The Deep. Xia Shang's words flashed through her mind. After a moment of hesitation, she couldn't help but sneer, "Whether I can join The Seven isn't something you can decide, unless you can control the will of all Vought Shareholders."
With that, Starlight walked out of the Meeting Room.
"Shit! Who the hell told her?" The Deep watched her leave and angrily punched the desktop.
The excellent tradition of The Seven had been ruined by him today.
At this moment, Xia Shang was preparing to go to the Grocery Store where Hughie worked.
A prompt box suddenly popped up in front of him.
[Congratulations Player, you have slightly altered the original plot, gaining 10 Fantasy Value]
"So there's still hope; my words weren't wasted." This way, Starlight had good utilization value for Xia Shang. Only by planting his eyes within The Seven could he better control the direction of The Seven.
As for A-Train, someone who got nervous just facing Homelander, making him an undercover agent would only expose his existence prematurely. He was purely useless.
Xia Shang walked into the Grocery Store. The location of the store was sent to him by Fast.
Unfortunately, the other party wasn't inside.
It seemed Hughie was currently in contact with Billy Butcher, the Captain of The Boys.
Xia Shang planned to kill Translucent next to acquire the invisibility superpower, and he lacked a perfect scapegoat. Billy's appearance just filled this void.
Just half an hour ago.
Billy Butcher found Hughie. He held up the teddy bear in his hand and examined it carefully, attracting Hughie's attention.
"You interested in nanny surveillance cameras?" Hughie leaned closer and asked.
"They're on special offer recently. This bear is quite popular; it has a camera in its eyes."
"Tell me, how many nannies shake a baby's neck?"
"What?"
"Like this." Billy Butcher grabbed the teddy bear's neck and shook it hard.
Billy Butcher continued, "1%? Or less?" Hughie shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
"Can you imagine? Products like this sell for up to 1 billion US dollars globally every year."
Afterwards, the two chatted for a while until Billy brought up the topic of Robin.
He revealed the truth about Robin's death and knew that Hughie had refused the hush money from Vought International.
He took Hughie outside and walked while saying, "Supes indirectly kill hundreds of people every year."
"No, come on. If that were the case, the news would have reported it widely long ago. People would be screaming that it was damn murder." Hughie didn't believe what Billy said.
"Yes, occasionally there might be some untimely reports. For example, the news about Robin. But more things are hidden."
"Why?"
Hughie asked, confused.
Billy waved his arm, pointing at the billboard in the distance, "Isn't it obvious? Movie tickets, cultural merchandise, theme parks, video games, etc. A global industry worth tens or hundreds of billions of US dollars, supported by corporate lobbyists and politicians. But the main reason you won't hear these reports is because the public doesn't want to know."
"People like the sense of comfort that Supes bring them..."
After listening to Billy, the things Hughie had firmly believed in began to crumble. Eventually, he chose to follow behind Billy, who took him to the Super Bar.
Thanks to an internal contact.
They successfully entered the bar.
The incredibly debauched scene before him once again shattered his worldview.
Supes were everywhere here. He saw Superheroes he had once admired engaging in some unspeakable piston activities.
"Shit, these hypocrites."
Hughie's reaction at this moment satisfied Billy; that was the effect he wanted.
Only by pulling down the gods from their high pedestals could their ugly true faces be seen.
Subsequently, he took Hughie to the Monitoring Room.
He pulled up the footage of A-Train from last night. Watching A-Train joke with his friends about Robin's death and laugh heartily, Hughie clenched his fists, his eyes filled with anger.
Immediately after, Billy took Hughie to a sealed Room.
"They're all like that? Even Homelander?"
Facing Hughie's question, Billy shrugged, "Homelander is an exception. He doesn't smoke, doesn't drink. He's simply like a perfect saint."
With that, he took out a stack of documents and placed them in front of Hughie.
He had investigated all the police records from the day of the incident, but there was no record of a bank alarm. This indicated that A-Train wasn't chasing bank robbers at the time but had another purpose.
"What do I need to do?"
Billy instructed him to accept the hush money from Vought International, but demanded that A-Train be present in person when signing the agreement. Upon arriving at the Meeting Room, he needed to install a listening device to find out what the Superheroes were really up to.
Simply put, Hughie was completely duped by Billy's disguise as FBI.
On the other side, Xia Shang was also waiting for them to make their move.
Otherwise, he wouldn't find an excuse to lure out Translucent, and once he came into contact with Translucent, there would inevitably be a risk of exposure. He was waiting... He was very patient, like a cheetah lurking in the Jungle, staring intently at every part of its prey until it revealed a weakness.
Therefore, over the next few days, he deliberately stayed on the first floor of Vought Tower to work, using electronic surveillance to monitor the movements of all Superheroes.
(end of chapter)