**Chapter 326: Bait, Preparing to Lure Out Soldier Boy!**
Xia Shang smiled as he looked at the phone screen showing the call had ended.
Of course, he didn't care about it; after all, he wasn't the one who was exasperated.
Putting his mobile phone into his pocket, Xia Shang walked to the car and reached out to pull open the car door.
At the same time, his gaze fell upon the Panel suspended in front of him. [Current Fantasy Value: 12920]
"Hmm, still over seven thousand short of twenty thousand. At this speed, I estimate I'll gather enough soon."
Xia Shang hadn't expected that Soldier Boy rescuing Ryan would provide him with over two thousand Fantasy Value; he had originally thought it would only be a little over a thousand.
It seemed that using the Media was indeed an effective move, spreading the impact of the matter to the extreme. However, Xia Shang believed this might also be related to Homelander knowing his background in advance. Otherwise, even if it affected many more ordinary humans, the Fantasy Value that could be gained would be negligible.
Boom! After closing the Panel, Xia Shang stepped on the gas pedal. With the roar of the engine, the car shot out like a sharp arrow.
Because some handover work at Vought Tower hadn't been completed yet, he still had to go there himself.
...
"Damn it! It really was him pulling strings behind the scenes!"
Billy gripped his mobile phone with a somewhat grim expression. After much hesitation, he found Stan Edgar in the contacts list.
It wasn't the first time he had cooperated with Stan Edgar. Regarding Ryan in the past, the two of them had cooperated once, but things didn't end well at the time, so they hadn't contacted each other since.
Herogasm some time ago truly surprised him a little. He hadn't expected Homelander would accuse Stan Edgar on the spot, to the extent that Stan Edgar was taken away for investigation by people from the Federal Bureau of Superhuman Affairs. However, he learned from Hughie's mouth that Stan Edgar's charges were very light, and the evidence wasn't enough to send him to prison. Furthermore, he was released last night.
"What do we do now? Mr. Jervis has already gotten ahead of us and contacted Soldier Boy in advance. With Mr. Jervis's means, he can easily control Soldier Boy." If you talk about who in The Boys is most wary of Xia Shang, besides Billy, it's Hughie.
Because Hughie was the first person to have contact with Xia Shang. From the death of Translucent to the Russia operation, he had never doubted Xia Shang's identity. If Queen Maeve hadn't told Billy Xia Shang's true identity, probably even now Hughie wouldn't know that the Mysterious Person was precisely the former Vice President of Vought International, Mr. Jervis.
"If we had known earlier, we should have focused on Soldier Boy instead of looking for some Crimson Countess," Hughie couldn't help but complain.
"Now look at this, we've wasted so much time."
"Stop complaining so much. If you have time, why don't you go wash the bowls in the Kitchen?" Mother's Milk walked out of the Room beside them.
"How's the situation with Frenchie?" Billy asked.
"Still the same as before, but Kimiko's illness is almost recovered," Mother's Milk said while sitting on the sofa and watching the news playing on the television.
"Speaking of Kimiko, I thought of Mr. Jervis, who was also hit. Logically speaking, Mr. Jervis should lose his superpower like Kimiko, but he didn't. I suspect he might know how to suppress Soldier Boy's superpower."
Billy rubbed his brow uneasily. He was trying his best to recall the scene when Soldier Boy and Mr. Jervis fought. Scene after scene like a movie screen image flashed through his mind. Slow down! Slow down again! Mr. Jervis's self-healing speed got slower and slower, even to the point where his entire skin was burned away, finally disappearing in the dazzling firelight.
"That's not right. To be precise, it's not suppressing Soldier Boy's superpower, but rather being able to make the sealed superpower reawaken."
"You mean Kimiko's superpower didn't disappear?" Hughie exclaimed.
Billy glanced at him and said in a calm tone, "That's right. Otherwise, it can't be explained why Mr. Jervis still has superpower. It's estimated that besides Mr. Jervis, only Soldier Boy knows this secret."
"But where do we find Soldier Boy now?" Hughie looked towards the storage room where Crimson Countess was being held. "How about we use her as bait to lure out Soldier Boy?"
"A miracle, God finally fixed your brain." Billy casually picked up the computer on the table, and when passing by Hughie, patted Hughie's shoulder with a look of relief.
"Shit! My brain has always worked perfectly fine!"
Hughie, with a dark face, followed Billy into the storage room.
"Let me out, release me quickly, who exactly are you?" Crimson Countess, whose hands and feet were locked by iron chains, kept shaking the iron chains non-stop after seeing Billy and Hughie enter the Room, creating a clanging sound. Because her hands were bound tightly with tin foil and tape by Billy, once she released her superpower, the first thing to be destroyed would be Crimson Countess's hands.
"Be honest. What were the account and password for your previous livestream?" Billy asked while pointing the computer screen at Crimson Countess.
Seeing that Crimson Countess refused to speak, Billy then glanced at Hughie. "Get the iron pliers out. I'd like to see if she's still stubborn without teeth."
"OK." Hughie obediently turned his head, preparing to leave the Room.
Seeing this, Crimson Countess quickly yelled stop. "I'll talk, okay? Can't I just talk? But I don't have much money in my account. If you're kidnapping me for money, then you've kidnapped the wrong person. I can introduce you to the TNT Twins. They're doing very well in Vermont, definitely richer than me."
After hearing this, Billy and Hughie exchanged a glance.
Well, look at that. An unexpected gain.
After asking everything, Billy then opened the livestream and pointed the camera at Crimson Countess.
Although Crimson Countess's popularity wasn't high, but because she was "good value," you could usually get off for just a few hundred US dollars, so she had some loyal fans. But "getting off" here didn't mean in person, but facing the screen, using language, poses, and other methods to make them "finish." Of course, if the price was high enough, it wasn't impossible for Crimson Countess to satisfy the other party.
After all, for someone in her line of work, it's hard to talk about the word bottom line; just add money and it's done.
"The streamer's act today is a bit special, huh?"
"Is it that exciting?"
"This theme is interesting."
"Vulgar! Extremely vulgar! But I love watching it."
One after another, a group of people poured into the livestream room.
"Billy, you're a damn genius!" Hughie closed the Room door and couldn't help but exclaim.
Billy didn't pay attention to Hughie at all, but said to Mother's Milk who was beside him, "Monitor her livestream room and backend DMs. Once you find anything, notify me immediately."
"No problem."
The scene shifts to Xia Shang. He had just walked into Vought Tower and ran into Ashley Barrett head-on.
"Vice President... Mr. Jervis, good morning."
(end of chapter)