A video, less than ten minutes long, swept across the internet like a storm, and within a few hours, almost everyone knew about it.
It just goes to show how fast information travels in the age of the internet!
At this very moment, Vought International's phones were ringing off the hook, with countless fans of Homelander and people eager to get information constantly calling!
As a result, Vought's receptionists no longer dared to answer the phone, because as soon as they picked up, they would hear an anxious voice on the other end, asking if what happened in the video was true!
The receptionists were also helpless; how would they know if it was true?
But even if it was true, they could only answer that it was false.
Of course, it wasn't just the lower-level staff at Vought; Madelyn, the Vice President, was in the same boat.
After she couldn't get in touch with Homelander and Li Yue, she sensed that something was amiss; what happened in the video was most likely true!
And those government officials who had already been largely won over also called individually to inquire about the situation.
For a time, Madelyn was equally swamped and overwhelmed, and dealing with those old fox-like government officials was even more mentally and physically taxing!
She had watched that video many times, and with a last glimmer of hope, she instructed Vought's best technical personnel to identify if there was any possibility of the video being faked.
At the same time, she also ordered them to find the video uploader as soon as possible and use all means to make them delete the video.
She also had her public relations team negotiate with major websites, no matter the cost, to have them delete such videos as quickly as possible to prevent the matter from spreading further!
However, the results left her somewhat disappointed, as she received a reply from her subordinates that the video showed no trace of fakery and was very likely filmed during a real event.
Having watched the video, she couldn't deny that the people in the video were Homelander and Thunder.
But Thunder's strength in the video was vastly different from what he had shown before!
He was actually able to beat Homelander, the world's recognized strongest superhero, with no ability to fight back, and even now, Homelander still hadn't appeared, which gave her a bad premonition!
Why did Li Yue join the Seven? Why did he hide his strength?
And what was his purpose in deliberately approaching Homelander and causing such an incident?
These were the questions swirling in Madelyn's mind now.
No wonder he dared to speak to her like that this morning; it was possible that his goal had been achieved, and he had nothing to fear from her!
With such an incident happening at this time, Madelyn no longer had any expectations for the passage of the bill for superheroes to join the Department of Defense.
She only hoped to minimize the impact of this incident and maintain Vought's stock price from plummeting too much!
...However, the outside world was also not calm.
Because Vought International reacted relatively quickly, the video had basically been deleted from major websites.
However, the voices of netizens discussing it could not be suppressed!
After a period of disbelief and suspicion, some curious and idle people couldn't help but rush to the location in the video to investigate!
However, they also didn't expect to actually find the giant bowl-shaped pit, over a thousand meters in diameter and several hundred meters deep, that appeared in the video!
Even more busybodies directly filmed the deep pit and uploaded the video online!
This discovery instantly shocked all the onlookers!
It turned out that everything that happened in that video was true!
Now, major social media platforms were also powerless.
They couldn't delete all the comments about this matter.
The consequence was that Homelander's fans and Thunder's fans began to argue online.
"Homelander must be on the side of justice.
He discovered that Thunder's infiltration of the Seven was with ill intentions, and then Homelander exposed him.
Thunder, in a fit of rage, wanted to silence Homelander by killing him.
It must be like that!"
These were Homelander's obsessive fans!
"Hmph, your Homelander is trash.
I suspect he must be jealous of how handsome Thunder is and how he possesses divine power that mortals cannot compare to, so he couldn't help but want to attack Thunder.
But he didn't expect to be beaten instead."
These were Thunder's obsessive fans!
"I am the keyboard warrior!
If the keyboard warrior wasn't born, the path of debate would be an eternal night.
Keyboard, come!
Uh, sorry, wrong place..."
...In short, during this period, the internet was never calm for a moment, filled with cyberbullying and various verbal abuses everywhere!
However, Homelander was, after all, a veteran superhero, recognized as the most popular in the entire United States, so his influence and fan base were far greater than Thunder's.
The result was as expected: Homelander's fans defeated Thunder's fans with an overwhelming advantage.
So much so that later people who learned about this unconditionally supported Homelander!
Online, various media outlets were also scrambling to report: "Thunder is an unpardonable villain.
To prevent Thunder from committing crimes, Homelander engaged in a desperate struggle with Thunder, but was ultimately ambushed by Thunder using despicable means, and eventually lost to Thunder.
He has now been missing for several hours, and his life or death is unknown!"
This kind of plot, with its twists and turns, was extremely similar to some big dramas in Li Yue's previous life, and the reactions of the onlookers were also very similar: they only believed what they thought was right, or they followed what the majority thought was right.
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After seven or eight hours, Li Yue finally woke up from his sleep.
"I've always used cultivation instead of sleeping.
It's been a long time since I've had a natural rest.
This sleep really feels incredibly refreshing!"
The awakened Li Yue couldn't help but think this to himself.
Since he finished his studies at Kamar-Taj, he hadn't slept normally at night like an ordinary person until now.
Taking a moment to savor it, he really felt a very comfortable sensation!
"Xiao Dai, what happened while I was sleeping?" (Xiao Dai was made by Tony using the latest nanomaterials, and its settings allow it to withstand the temperature emitted by the sun, so everyone, please don't dwell on it!)
Li Yue couldn't help but ask Xiao Dai what happened after he fell asleep.
He never thought that his battle with Homelander could be hidden from others.
However, he really didn't know how it ultimately developed!
"Sir, after you fell asleep, a video appeared online, the content of which was precisely the scene of your battle with Homelander.
I have already investigated and found that this video was accidentally filmed by a young Chinese man and then uploaded to the internet!"
"This young Chinese man is named Xu Xiaoning, 25 years old this year.
According to his online information, it can be confirmed that he came here for tourism.
During your battle with Homelander, he happened to be on the opposite mountain and then filmed the video.
His ancestral home is..."
"Alright, alright, Xiao Dai, I didn't ask you to investigate him.
You don't need to be so detailed!"
Li Yue interrupted Xiao Dai, who was about to continue speaking, and then couldn't help but ask, "Has he not returned to China yet?"
"He has not left, sir!"
Hearing Xiao Dai's words, Li Yue was a little helpless, but for the sake of being fellow Chinese, he decided to remind him!
"Xiao Dai, send him a message and tell him to return to China quickly!"
..."Brother, I'm going to be famous!"
At this moment, in a luxurious hotel, the young Chinese man, looking at the internet that had been stirred into a huge storm by the video he uploaded, almost couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Ding! Ding!"
Two consecutive SMS notification sounds rang, and the young man couldn't help but click on the message, only to see a line of large characters appear on his phone!
"Brother, there's an inside man, stop the transaction!"
"Holy crap, what the hell is this!"
The young man cursed under his breath, but still couldn't help but click on the second message!
"Haha, just kidding!
However, brother, let me remind you, Vought International is investigating the source of that video online.
Take my advice and run away quickly!
You don't need to thank me; I never leave my name when I do good deeds!"