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Madelyn had no idea that the document Edgar gave Kevin mentioned The Woods located beneath the school.
The document specifically stated that if Kevin was interested in The Woods, he could speak to Indira, and she would take him for a 'visit'.
Kevin was unsure why Edgar brought up The Woods to him.
But he guessed that this might be a signal, a signal that would allow Kevin to participate in the company's high-level decisions.
In fact, the matter of The Woods was not a secret among the high-level executives of Vought.
Successive CEOs and successive Godolkin University deans basically knew this secret.
This included the Supe who became a high-level executive at Godolkin University, Professor Brink, whom Kevin had just met, and Ashley, who would later become Vice President of Vought…
All these people knew about The Woods.
Madelyn also knew, but she would never have thought that Edgar would tell Kevin about it.
In fact, Kevin himself never expected Edgar to bring it up.
The reason was that The Woods was a special institution of Vought dedicated to studying Supe weaknesses; they researched Supes, confining powerful but uncontrollable Supes here to study their weaknesses and methods to counter them.
Many of Vought's methods against Supes originated from here.
Before confirming Kevin's true intentions, Edgar dared to tell Kevin about The Woods.
Did he not worry that Kevin would develop a dislike for the Group because of this?
Or did Edgar think that Kevin, knowing about The Woods, would be more afraid of the Group's power?
To be honest, Kevin didn't think Edgar was trying to intimidate him.
The reason was that the document mentioned that Kevin would be responsible for the security of The Woods in addition to his duties with The Seven.
Simply put, he could now be considered one of the persons in charge of The Woods.
Just like Stormfront in the second season, he was both a member of The Seven and responsible for Vought's experiments at a mental hospital.
With such a significant leap in responsibility, Kevin felt that Edgar had no intention of threatening him.
But this made Kevin even more unsure of what Edgar was thinking.
Indeed, the thoughts of a big shot were not something an ordinary person like him could guess.
Anyway, regardless of Edgar's intentions, since he told Kevin about The Woods, Kevin would follow his lead and go see The Woods.
It's not like he wanted to trick him into The Woods and then conduct experiments, right?
Killing a goose that lays golden eggs—they'd have to be out of their minds to do something like that.
Edgar had probably informed Indira beforehand.
Therefore, when Kevin mentioned The Woods, Indira was only slightly surprised, but said nothing and led Kevin to The Woods.
Through a special elevator leading directly to The Woods, Kevin and Indira entered the underground area where The Woods was located.
During this time, Indira handed Kevin an ID card:
"Entering here requires a special key. The keys are divided into different levels, and this one is the highest-level access key. In the future, you will need it to enter and exit here, as well as to activate special facilities."
"You're giving me the highest authority right away?"
Kevin flipped through the key card, which looked similar to an ordinary bank card, slightly surprised.
"Because you are a member of The Seven, and Mr. Edgar values you, and The Woods is not too secretive of an institution, so..."
"I see. That's good."
After hearing Indira's explanation, Kevin nodded slightly.
The Woods was indeed hidden from ordinary people, but for Vought, it was not too much of a secret.
In terms of Concealment level, it might even be below the mental hospital managed by Stormfront.
After all, that was a place even Homelander didn't know about.
This was probably also because The Woods had never produced any useful results.
The Woods was established at the same time as Godolkin University. So far, after decades, the only successful outcome was a sonic disruptor created by utilizing a Supe's powerful hearing.
Other than that, it seemed there were no other notable achievements.
No results, yet the Group had to pour so much funding into it every year... It would be strange if Vought valued this institution.
Looking at it this way, Kevin's highest authority didn't seem to be of much use.
It just sounded good.
The elevator reached the underground level, and Indira led Kevin through a corridor guarded by security personnel to a room full of monitors.
Inside the room, a middle-aged man in a white lab coat was eating a burger. Seeing the two enter, especially seeing The Deep, his expression was slightly startled:
"Uh, Shetty, is this..."
"Dr. Cardosa, this is Mr. Kevin Moskowitz. Starting today, he is also one of us."
Indira introduced him simply. The middle-aged man who was eating a burger was briefly stunned, then began frantically wiping his hands, which were stained with ketchup.
After wiping his hands clean, he extended his hand to Kevin and said:
"Uh... Hello, I'm Edison Cardosa, the chief physician here... Oh, my goodness, it really is The Deep!"
Cardosa seemed to be a fan of Kevin's, exclaiming again after speaking.
Kevin smiled and shook Cardosa's hand without minding:
"Hello, I hope I didn't scare you?"
Perhaps seeing Kevin's friendly attitude, Cardosa was no longer as nervous as before and replied:
"To be honest, a little. I didn't expect the famous The Deep to come here..."
Indira, standing nearby, continued to explain to Kevin:
"He is the primary researcher here. Most of the research work is his responsibility. If he produces any results in the future, he will report them to me or you immediately."
After she finished speaking, she looked at Cardosa again:
"Dr. Cardosa, please pull up the latest research data and let Mr. Moskowitz understand the situation here."
"OK, I'll go now."
Hearing Indira's command, Cardosa quickly devoured the burger in his hand, then ran to a nearby computer and began retrieving the latest research data.
This place seemed to be a combination of monitoring and office space. Besides monitors connected to various rooms, there were many computers used for data calculation.
And separated from the monitoring room was Cardosa's research room, but Indira didn't seem to have any intention of taking Kevin there for a visit.
While Cardosa was retrieving the experimental data, perhaps to pass the time, Indira suddenly thanked Kevin:
"Actually, I've always wanted to meet you and thank you properly."
Kevin glanced at her:
"If it's for your husband and daughter, you've already thanked me. There's no need to thank me again."
"No, you don't know how important they are to me. You saved them, and no matter how much I thank you, I feel it's not enough."
Indira responded earnestly.
Kevin looked at her strangely:
"But I also said, I wasn't the only one that day. Why do you only want to thank me?"
"Because I know what kind of person Homelander is, and you do too, right?"
Indira did not avoid Kevin's gaze and spoke her mind frankly:
"The fact is, if it weren't for you, they would have died there. I'm sure of it."
"Wow, that's really..."
Indira's understanding of Homelander was somewhat surprising to Kevin.
Kevin pondered for a moment and was about to speak to Indira when suddenly a loud bang interrupted their conversation.
Boom!
The sound seemed somewhat like an explosion. Kevin and Indira looked towards the monitors almost simultaneously, only to see the display screen of one of the monitors completely extinguished.
"It's that kid who breathes fire again. It's okay, there's an emergency response team going to handle it."
Through the darkened screen, Indira immediately knew the cause of the explosion. She then turned to reassure Kevin, telling him not to worry.
Hearing her say that, Kevin indeed saw on the monitor that a fully armed response team was rushing towards that room.
Indira seemed accustomed to it, very calm.
Even Cardosa, who was nearby, only looked up for a moment before turning back to his work.
Seeing this, Kevin also relaxed slightly and asked:
"Does this happen often?"
"Occasionally, powerful experimental subjects will have this kind of situation, but don't worry, the security here is very..."
Rumble!!!
Indira hadn't finished saying the word 'secure' when another explosion occurred.
This explosion was more severe than the previous one; not only did the sound cause ringing in the ears, but the monitoring room also vibrated from the explosion, and various instruments malfunctioned for a moment.
At this point, the previously calm Indira was no longer calm. She looked at the large area of darkened monitor screens and shouted into the intercom:
"What are you doing?! Solve this matter as quickly as possible!"
"She... Ms. Shetty, it's bad! For some reason, the containment equipment suddenly malfunctioned, and many Supes have escaped... Ah!!!!"
On the other end of the intercom, a member of the response team quickly reported the situation to Indira.
Before he could finish reporting, the team member's voice, accompanied by a scream, abruptly ceased.
At the exact moment he screamed, a piercing alarm blared throughout the entire underground base, and red alarm lights flashed rapidly within the monitoring room where they were located.
The piercing alarm was irritating.
Kevin looked at the clearly panicking Indira and knew that this was probably not something that could be easily resolved, as Indira had claimed.
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