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Kevin decided to begin his plan.
Actually, he had intended to drag it out for a bit longer.
Wouldn't it be better to maintain the status quo, prevent things from getting too chaotic, and have everyone coexist peacefully while making money?
But unfortunately, while Kevin wanted to do that, the other people within Vought might not have felt the same way.
Edgar planned to stir up trouble, even forming a Supervillain Alliance for that purpose.
Kevin originally didn't intend to interfere, but Edgar genuinely posed a danger to Kevin and those around him.
In that case, Kevin couldn't just turn a blind eye to the matter.
So Kevin simply began his own actions and plan.
It was named the [Vought Collapse Plan].
Orochimaru sends his congratulations.jpg
Ahem, in short, the core of the plan was to first strike Vought in terms of reputation and stock market, making people question and feel hostile towards Vought.
Afterward, through The Church of the Collective, release some damaging information about Superheroes to maximally impact Vought's current public-facing business.
And while Vought was in a frantic mess, directly make a move on Edgar, using coercion and inducements to make other high-ranking Vought executives choose Kevin as the new CEO of Vought.
Finally, once Vought was completely under his control, Kevin would gradually transform Vought into the form he desired to see.
It's worth noting that Kevin hadn't used any of the technology he brought from the Marvel World yet.
And at the very beginning of the plan, to inflict the maximum possible damage on Vought, the matter of Compound V had to be completely revealed to the public.
First, expose Vought's hidden darkness to the public eye, then discuss other matters.
At this moment, the role of The Boys became prominent.
As the Vice President of Vought, Kevin certainly couldn't actively do things detrimental to the group, because if he did, even if Edgar were to step down from the CEO position due to an 'accident' in the future, Kevin would not gain the support of other high-ranking executives.
Conversely, by creating a hypothetical enemy that opposes Vought, Kevin, along with other high-ranking executives, stands with Vought and severely condemns this hypothetical enemy.
With this 'enemy' as a prerequisite, it would be easier for Kevin to gain approval from the executives by doing things that align with Vought's interests.
This was also Kevin's original intention in cultivating The Boys.
From the time he met The Boys until now, Kevin had protected them for a period, and now it was time for them to play their part.
Butcher pondered while playing with the Compound V in his hand.
He suddenly turned his head to look at the news on the television.
Due to the huge impact of the Super Villains attack, the television was repeatedly broadcasting news about the Super Villains.
Especially the convoy that was attacked by the head-exploding maniac, even with blurring, the news channel was repeatedly replaying it.
At this moment, the television just happened to flash those blurred corpses.
Seeing this, Butcher's gaze returned to Kevin:
"We have no problem doing this, but how can you guarantee that we won't have our heads exploded by these 'Super Villains'?
"I've said it, I will guarantee she won't attack you guys."
"Just saying it verbally isn't very convincing."
"Heh, then what else do you want me to do? Escort you? Be your bodyguard?"
Kevin stood up with a slight laugh and walked in front of Butcher:
"I think I've helped you enough. Who do you think is the reason you can sit here safely watching TV without worrying about being hunted by Vought? Don't push your luck, Butcher."
If Kevin said he could guarantee Neuman wouldn't explode their heads, then Kevin could certainly do it.
The members of The Boys had no right to doubt this matter.
And even if one were to take a step back, even if Kevin failed to stop Neuman, resulting in someone in The Boys dying, what did that have to do with Kevin?
From the moment The Boys decided to go against Vought, they should have been very clear that this was a path of nine deaths and one life.
They should have been prepared to die on this path at any time.
Why are they afraid to die now that Kevin is helping them?
Then why should Kevin help them?
He wasn't their babysitter!
If they could do it, fine. If not, Kevin had plenty of ways to leak the information about Compound V.
The reason The Boys still existed was because they were the protagonists, and Kevin needed to borrow their 'protagonist halo'.
This didn't mean Kevin had to protect them from beginning to end.
They were partners, not f*cking father and son!
Kevin and Butcher met each other's gaze.
Feeling the coldness in Kevin's eyes, Butcher suddenly laughed:
"I was just asking. After all, I have to be responsible for my team members. Since you said you'd guarantee our safety, then we'll trust you. Don't be angry, partner?"
"You'd better really treat me as a partner."
Kevin said meaningfully, stepping back two paces to create distance from Butcher.
Slightly adjusting his suit, Kevin raised his wrist to check the time, deciding to leave:
"I came here today to see you for this matter. Now that it's done, I should go. In any case, I don't care what method you use, within three days, I want to see the news about Compound V dominating the headlines."
"Three days..."
"This is the most lenient deadline I can give. You have no room to bargain."
Kevin felt that the time given to The Boys was quite generous.
Three days: one day for preparation, one day for finding news agencies and TV stations that could report on the matter.
Two days should actually be enough to accomplish everything Kevin mentioned.
Kevin even thoughtfully prepared an extra day for them to hide their tracks.
If The Boys couldn't even do this within three days, then they might as well disband early.
With such low efficiency, how could they even deal with Vought?
They had no fighting spirit at all.
Just as Kevin finished complaining inwardly, he heard Butcher say:
"No, that's not what I wanted to say."
"?"
"I just wanted to say, after I help you do all these things, can you arrange for me to meet Becca? Just one meeting."
"..."
Brother, do you know that saying this is like setting a flag, like 'After this battle, I'm going home to get married'?
But never mind, you're the protagonist, so this small flag shouldn't be a problem for you.
"Okay, I'm always generous to my own people."
As long as this matter succeeded and increased Kevin's prestige within Vought, allowing him to smoothly take control of Vought.
Let alone arranging for Butcher to meet Rebecca, even letting them live together wouldn't be out of the question.
...
The Super Villains incident continued to ferment.
For several consecutive days, it topped Twitter's trending topics.
And this matter had a significant impact on Kevin as well.
Because...
He could now gain a skill point almost every day.
That's right, by doing nothing but sitting in his office, browsing the trending topics about Super Villains and news of Super Villains attacking Superheroes, Kevin could earn a skill point.
This might be because the Supervillain Alliance had never appeared in the original work and was something triggered by Kevin, and the skill tree generously attributed all reasons to Kevin.
That's why there was such a good thing as gaining skill points just by lying at home and doing nothing.
The skill point Kevin used to level up [Aquatic Creature Summoning] came from this.
Precisely because the Super Villains incident's fermentation was extremely beneficial to Kevin, allowing him to continuously gain skill points, Kevin allowed the Super Villains' popularity to persist.
He even intentionally added fuel to the topic.
How could Kevin miss out on such a good thing as gaining skill points by just lying at home?
However, although Kevin really wanted to continue being a slacker, gaining one skill point a day, lying down for a year, directly obtaining three hundred and sixty-five skill points, and accumulating the skill points needed for his second advancement.
But there was no way around it; The Boys' actions were indeed very fast. Within two days, the matter of Compound V had already been made public.
While Kevin gained another batch of skill points, he also had to start getting busy with this matter.
First and foremost, he had to face Edgar's questioning.
Edgar suspected that the Compound V leak was related to Kevin, but he had no evidence.
"Are you sure you don't know about this?"
In the office on the 82nd floor, all the executives were in a frenzy. Edgar asked Kevin, who was sitting opposite him.
Due to the Compound V leak, the group's stock price plummeted, and smart people began to connect Compound V with the Super Villains.
Conspiracy theories began to circulate that the Super Villains were something created by Vought.
This left Vought in a frantic mess, not only having to quell various rumors online but also having to face court subpoenas from the authorities.
Most importantly, many large companies that cooperated with Vought canceled their partnerships due to this incident. A single news report, in less than a day, caused at least billions in losses for Vought.
And this was only for one day... no, half a day.
Even Edgar probably hadn't anticipated something like this.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have called Kevin here to ask him if he knew about this matter.
"Boss, do I look like an idiot?" Kevin looked at Edgar silently. "Do you think I'm the kind of person who would harm my own interests?"
"Hmm, I suppose it wouldn't be you, after all, you're the face of the group now."
Edgar seemed to imply something.
Kevin chuckled and said:
"Yes, so once the group really has problems, I'm the one who's easily pushed out as the scapegoat. I know that."
As a senior Vice President of Vought, he indeed held a high position and great power within Vought, but correspondingly, he also had to bear responsibility if anything happened to Vought.
Now that Compound V was public, if a way wasn't found to quell this incident, Kevin would be the scapegoat pushed out to take the blame.
From an outsider's perspective, no matter how foolish Kevin might be, he wouldn't do something that would push himself to a dead end.
"Then it's related to the group who kidnapped Madelyn. It seems they're not just targeting Homelander."
Edgar made a guess.
Two other group executives also walked over to Kevin and Edgar at this moment.
They exchanged glances, and the male executive among them said:
"Stan, we must find a way to deal with this."
The other female executive continued:
"Fraud, assault, personal injury, illegal injection... none of these are covered by insurance. Insurance companies are refusing to underwrite us. So now we have two options. First, deny it.
"Although there are risks, if the public is willing to believe us, our returns will be huge."
"But if we deny it, and the authorities have solid evidence, or there's a whistleblower, everyone here will face criminal prosecution. At that time, everyone will be sentenced to ten to fifteen years... or even more."
The male executive added.
This was precisely what Vought executives had to face.
Listening to their conversation, Edgar remained calm.
The female executive looked at her tablet, seeing the continuously declining curve on it, and said anxiously:
"Stan, we must make a decision soon."
"Don't worry." In such a critical situation, Edgar smiled and looked at Kevin, "We have other ways, don't we, Mr. Moskowitz?"
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