The moment Hughie saw him, he understood: this person was probably just like him, having been scammed by Billy before, and he himself was the one Billy was currently scamming!
The man's name was Frenchie, a short, stocky Frenchman who was practically a jack-of-all-trades, proficient in firearms, bomb-making, and more. Billy still owed Frenchie forty thousand dollars, so when Frenchie heard that Billy had brought something worth eighty thousand, he couldn't help but be curious. He followed them to the back of the car.
Hughie watched Frenchie about to be scammed by Billy, feeling sorry for him but saying nothing. He figured he shouldn't be the only one getting scammed!
When Frenchie opened the trunk and saw Billy subduing Translucent with a taser, Frenchie finally realized that he had been scammed again. Due to Translucent's unique nature, his tracking chip was directly implanted in his body for Vought International to locate him easily. Now that Translucent had seen his face, Frenchie was also dragged into Billy's mess.
Left with no choice, Frenchie found an abandoned, long-closed small restaurant on a secluded street in Jersey City. He lined the kitchen's cold storage with tin foil to block the tracking chip's signal. Then he built an electrified cage to trap Translucent.
After locking Translucent in there, Frenchie and Billy tried various methods to kill him!
This left Hughie dumbfounded! He hadn't expected that Billy had brought Frenchie along to murder Translucent!
This created a huge divergence from Hughie's goal. He was only doing these things to seek justice for his innocent deceased girlfriend; he had no intention of opposing superheroes. But how had he inexplicably ended up on this rogue ship?
Killing a superhero was something Hughie had never dared to imagine before, yet Billy and Frenchie were already putting it into action.
They tried various methods. First, they increased the electricity, using enough power to kill a buffalo on Translucent, but it only stunned him; it couldn't kill him! Then they tried electric drills, grinders, and electric saws, but none had any effect. Translucent's skin was like a turtle shell, incredibly tough!
Frenchie even custom-made bullets of the same material as Translucent's skin. However, the bullets still caused no damage to Translucent when they hit him! Instead, after bouncing off the walls a few times, they pierced the tin foil overhead used to block the signal, but none of them noticed this.
This result left the three, who had been busy all day, very discouraged. They had a supe under their control, yet they had no way to deal with him. This made all three of them anxious! This couldn't go on; Vought would eventually discover Translucent's disappearance and find them.
After some thought, Billy suddenly stood up, preparing to leave. He needed to find a way to deal with Translucent, and the person he was looking for was an old friend, a woman who now worked for the CIA!
He wanted to get a detailed file on supes from her, which might contain a way to defeat Translucent!
...Another day quickly passed, and night fell. Li Yue stayed in his room, contemplating his next move.
Today's events had sounded an alarm for Li Yue. Homelander was an unpredictable person, and killing was as common as eating for him.
At some point, if he carelessly exposed himself, it would provoke Homelander to kill him. With his current strength, he couldn't defeat Homelander, so fleeing was his only option.
However, he felt a bit unwilling. If he missed such an easy opportunity to improve his strength, he would probably regret it greatly.
After all, in just one day, Li Yue could clearly feel that his strength had increased significantly. If he had only gained 10% of Homelander's strength before, it had now exceeded 12%.
Of course, this did not include the bonuses from Thor's state and other states.
Although it doesn't seem like much, only a two percent increase. But to put it another way, if Homelander had 100 tons of strength, then a two percent increase would be an increase of 2 tons of strength! Two tons is roughly ten times the strength of an ordinary person. Moreover, Homelander's strength is far more than just 100 tons.
To be able to increase his strength so much in one day, one can imagine how tempting it was for Li Yue! If possible, Li Yue wished he could be by Homelander's side at all times.
Homelander was like a human power bank to Li Yue. If he could continue like this every day, he would only need another month and a half to possess all of Homelander's strength! By then, he wouldn't have to fear him anymore!
"Hmph, why think so much? Anyway, I have the ability to leave at any time. As long as I pay more attention in the future and run away directly when I feel danger, I refuse to believe that even if Homelander is fast, he can catch up with someone who can teleport!"
"No more thinking, continue cultivating. Xiao Dai, set an alarm to remind me at 8 AM tomorrow!"
After Li Yue instructed Xiao Dai, he lay directly on the bed, and a transparent version of Li Yue slowly emerged from his body, floating in mid-air, sitting cross-legged! Points of starlight-like energy were attracted by the transparent Li Yue, merging into Li Yue's soul!
Li Yue had already come to regard cultivation as sleeping... While Li Yue was deep in cultivation, some people at Vought International couldn't rest. Translucent had been missing for a full twenty-four hours now.
This situation finally caught the attention of Vought International staff. They basically ruled out the possibility that Translucent had disappeared due to heavy drinking.
Moreover, the tracking chip on Translucent's body suddenly emitted a faint signal, which was received by Vought International's technical department. However, because the signal was very weak, they could only determine the approximate location, which was near a street in Jersey City!
They immediately notified Madelyn Stillwell, the company's Vice President. Madelyn didn't think much of it and directly ordered a search party to go to that location to conduct a thorough investigation and see if there was anything suspicious!
However, the search party couldn't conduct a blatant search, because that would arouse public speculation, and coupled with Translucent's long absence from the public eye, it would inevitably lead to the discovery of his disappearance.
Once Translucent's disappearance was known, it would cause public suspicion and distrust. If superheroes couldn't even protect themselves, how could they protect the people? At that point, the plan for superheroes to join the Department of Defense would directly fall through! This was not what Madelyn wanted to see!
"Find Translucent at all costs, as soon as possible. Also, announce to the public that Translucent is on a secret mission and will not be appearing in public for a while."
Madelyn issued the order directly. She had to suppress this matter because it was a critical moment for deciding whether superheroes could enter the Department of Defense! No mistakes could be made!
Meanwhile, Homelander outside was secretly watching Madelyn. He had been entangled with Li Yue all day, with no chance to spy, and only now, at night, had he finally escaped Li Yue's persistence!
While Homelander was spying on Madelyn, he also encountered Starlight returning in plain clothes. Fortunately, Starlight was only a little curious and didn't know that Homelander was spying!
...