Chapter 122: Homelander's Soulmate, Tao Baibai (3k First Update)

"Federal news report: In the large-scale conflict and stampede that just occurred in the Clinton neighborhood, the death toll has risen to 73, including 1 federal government employee, 7 police officers, and dozens of b45 gang members and civilians."

"The cause of the incident is still under investigation, but the Federal Prosecutor's Office has already signed restrictions on the b45 gang's scope of activity and filed criminal charges against b45 gang leader Bobby Oaks, a move that has sparked widespread opposition online."

"Gangs including the 【Latin Kings】 have all claimed that the b45 gang are not the type of people to do such things, that the police were the ones who opened fire first in an attempt to shoot Bobby, and that high-ranking b45 member Ans had his shoulder shattered by a sniper rifle and is currently still in emergency care."

"There are also rumors that traces of The Seven's 【A-Train】 and 【Translucent】 appeared at the scene that day, but neither appeared in public; instead, during the building collision incident, an anonymous witness claimed to have seen 【A-Train】 smash through an office and fall to the ground, severely injured."

"Translucent..."

Snap.

The television was turned off. Homelander's eyes were so gloomy they seemed ready to drip water. He had rushed to the scene that day and found nothing, knowing only that A-Train had ultimately fled the scene with Translucent.

A-Train had a penetrating burn injury on his shoulder and had suffered a heart attack; he was still in emergency care. Translucent had been pierced through the body by flying knives and was also still being treated.

This was an unimaginably terrifying incident, and Vought International was currently in a state of panic.

A massive amount of money was being spent on controlling public opinion and quelling the negative impact of the incident.

Although this incident appeared on the surface to have nothing to do with Vought International, A-Train being spotted at the scene without stopping the incident would have a huge negative impact on the reputation of The Seven.

The Deep kept his head down, not daring to even breathe loudly; he felt he shouldn't have come back today and should have applied for an overseas mission. Starlight also had a strange expression and remained silent.

Only Queen Maeve, because she was powerful and had once had a relationship with Homelander, was not particularly afraid of him.

"Now is really not the time to be worrying about that kind of thing, and besides..."

She looked at Homelander, making no effort to hide her skepticism.

"The company's operations department said you received a distress call and rushed to the scene immediately. Why didn't you control the situation?"

Homelander's gloomy expression shifted. He glanced at Queen Maeve, but quickly looked away and continued to blame the others.

"Members of The Seven, actually being beaten into critical condition by some unknown nobodies! If this gets out, how do you expect us to win the trust of those people!"

"Who would entrust their safety to heroes who can't even protect themselves?"

When saying the word "heroes," there was a thick sense of mockery in Homelander's tone.

"Our Seven seem to have been dragged into all sorts of ridiculous conspiracies unrelated to our real work. Hmph, Black Noir, come with me."

Homelander rose to leave, calling only 【Black Noir】, who was the most reliable in handling affairs.

【Black Noir】 was a superhero covered from head to toe in black armor who never spoke in public, but he was powerful, handled tasks coldly and swiftly, and was exceptionally efficient.

Possessing a physique capable of resisting high-powered explosions at close range and a set of combat skills almost like those of a ninja, he ranked near the top of The Seven in combat power.

Starlight's face turned pale; she could feel that Homelander's final glance just now had been directed at her.

Homelander brought Black Noir to the door of his office. Black Noir could not speak, but he was accustomed to Homelander sending him to kill various targets.

He obeyed the strong.

Black Noir used to be able to speak, but years ago, when teamed up with the first-generation superhero 【Soldier Boy】, he suffered terrible violence at the hands of 【Soldier Boy】; his skull was shattered, and his brain was almost destroyed.

But his powerful regeneration ability kept him from dying; it was just that since then, his cerebral cortex had never fully repaired, causing him to lose the ability to speak, and he could only converse with imaginary friends in his mental world.

It was also for this reason that, when facing Homelander—who shared the same genes as 【Soldier Boy】 and was, by calculation, the son of Soldier Boy created via test tube—Black Noir displayed strong obedience.

He knew there was absolutely no possibility of communicating with this tyrant; once the other party was angered, he would likely be killed.

Currently, these people at Vought International were trying to use various means to restrict this tyrant, but such things always had their limits.

The office door pushed open. Black Noir instantly pressed his right hand toward the blade behind him, but Homelander was extremely fast, instantly pinning Black Noir's hand, pushing him inside, and closing the door.

An Asian man with a sturdy build and heroic features was sitting on Homelander's desk, a leisurely smile on his face.

"Yo, Homelander, is this the member of The Seven you trust the most? I thought you would introduce Queen Maeve to me; after all, you two once..."

Homelander's expression turned cold. He did not like others speaking to him like that, but to Black Noir's surprise, Homelander did not fly into a rage. Instead, he pointed to the seat in front of the desk, signaling for him to sit down.

"Black Noir, this is... my new supporter. We have some operations that require your assistance."

When mentioning "supporter," Homelander's voice sounded a bit strange, but Bai Cangshu just smiled and nodded, giving Homelander the respect he needed most.

Black Noir looked at Bai Cangshu, and Bai Cangshu spoke at the right moment.

"We all know that Homelander is actually the strongest hero currently known in this world."

Homelander unconsciously revealed a hint of joy. Black Noir also nodded; he felt at this moment that these two guys in the room were indeed the smartest type of people—they knew who the strong were and how to respect the strong, which was the only way to make the world a better place.

The corners of Bai Cangshu's mouth curled up. Since he wanted to incite unprecedented chaos and seize all the fruits from it, he naturally needed a sufficiently powerful representative to face the Meilijian government—the party currently maintaining order—so that the operation could continue. As it happened, in the operation to kill The Seven, this person's support was also the most critical.

Ever since Bai Cangshu realized that 【Translucent】 was likely a Reincarnator, he had already thought of this step. Although the members of The Seven had powerful superpowers, each one had obvious personality flaws.

A-Train was anxious, a drug addict, and had developed a heart attack because of it;

Queen Maeve was a lesbian, and because of issues with her own ideals and those of her lover, she had begun to drift apart from Vought International and The Seven;

Homelander, while possessing powerful martial strength, was severely lacking in love.

Because he was a test-tube baby and had never experienced much of the feeling of being loved since childhood, Homelander was extremely paranoid about the support and affection of others.

He was like a child who possessed the power to destroy the world, capable of flying into a rage and killing everyone at any moment.

To control him, Vought International had tried various methods and ultimately molded Homelander into his current personality.

Approval ratings were the reins used to control Homelander.

Bai Cangshu had turned b45 into a hot topic of public opinion attracting nationwide attention in a short period of time, with the ultimate goal, naturally, of becoming a powerful opinion leader among the group of 1.4 million gang members.

And this power was enough to shake, or even change, Homelander's concepts.

!

He understood Homelander better than the people at Vought International did.

"The strongest hero deserves treatment commensurate with his ability level, doesn't he?"

"Black Noir, no offense intended. Although I know you are very strong, and A-Train and Queen Maeve are very excellent heroes, compared to Homelander, you all are... a tier lower."

Black Noir remained silent and continued to nod. He would not argue about such things, and besides, it was the truth.

Homelander's expression grew even more joyful. This point could be seen from the prompt given by the space.

【Your actions have gained Homelander's appreciation. Your Reputation with Homelander has increased. Current: Friendly (88/100)】

If, before this, Homelander had only agreed to cooperate with the other party because the other party had shown him that they could make 1.4 million gang members all become his supporters.

Now, Homelander has realized that this damn... no, this clever Asian man, is the smartest person in the world.

He even dug up articles from his memory that suggested Asians generally have higher IQs to support his own thoughts.

Bai Cangshu continued to unchain, step by step, this tyrant whom Vought International had been carefully restricting.

"Homelander should not be a beast restricted by Vought International layer by layer, leashed by chains made of so-called public opinion polls..."

"Homelander, he should be himself!"

"If he is the strongest, then he should be the one to set the rules!"

The smile on Bai Cangshu's face at this moment was genuine; to a certain extent, he and Homelander did indeed share a tiny bit of similarity.

Both of them, in their respective environments, were either passively or actively suppressing their own power and nature to conform to the values and rules of mainstream society.

But there is always a day when one gets tired of such things; it cannot be denied that part of the reason Bai Cangshu was so delighted to enter the Reincarnation Space was the ability to unleash his nature.

Homelander closed his eyes, the smile on his face no longer concealable; he directly pulled Bai Cangshu and Xuanse over and said,

"I know, you are the ones who understand me best."

"At the same time, you are also the most excellent kind of people, hmm, second only to me."

"The era of The Seven should end; we should go... and start a new era!"

Xuanse did not know how to respond at this moment, but fortunately, he was habitually silent.

Bai Cangshu nodded and chimed in,

"Of course, a new era, heh..."

Bai Cangshu's smile was cruel, yet Homelander did not find it repulsive; on the contrary, he was quite delighted—his people ought to be this cruel.

Powerful, cruel, a rule-maker...

Every word struck a chord in Homelander's heart; at this moment, he even felt that this Asian man named "Tao Baibai" was more attractive to him than Stillwell.

Bai Cangshu had just felt Homelander's power; it was a sensation that absolutely exceeded the first Extreme Value by quite a bit—at the very least, it was more powerful than the werewolf he had traded blows with in the previous mission world.

He hadn't even had time to resist before he was pulled over.

Bai Cangshu still had that Bloodline Item stored in his Backpack; he hadn't found a suitable offer to sell it, but at this moment, he felt he might have already thought of a good deal.

(End of chapter)