Vought Tower, 88th floor, banquet hall.
At the memorial service, a giant "7" logo floated in mid-air, and below it was a gray portrait banner of Translucent, enlarged several times over.
Celebrities from all walks of life chatted and laughed, showing no signs of sorrow, while Wade and his group blended in naturally.
Stepping into the main venue, Wade sensed the flow of air within a hundred-meter radius of himself, as countless currents wove into a three-dimensional network.
Every wisp of air movement constructed a detailed three-dimensional point map in his mind, making the flow and positions of the crowd, surveillance blind spots, and ventilation ducts perfectly clear.
He followed behind his companions, and under the cover of the crowd, he stealthily moved the invisible portable hacking tool from under Chance's feet to beneath a potted plant.
Afterward, he used air currents to guide it, sliding it past corner after corner, and placed the hacking device in a passage parallel to the ceiling, right above the crystal pendant lamp, which was the location of the main stage.
"Mission accomplished. No one should be able to find it... Who looks at the ceiling for no reason!"
Wade swept his gaze across the room.
Madelyn stood in the middle of the crowd, chatting and laughing with several gray-haired politicians; Homelander stood in a group on the left, humbly accepting condolences from a group of middle-aged women.
Maeve and Starlight held their wine glasses, smiling brightly, each surrounded by a circle of male guests; Black Noir, The Deep, and A-Train were nowhere to be seen.
After barely two looks, Wade was hooked by the arm and pulled away by Shetty: "Stop looking, that's not a place where we can stay, come this way..."
The group walked through the corridor and arrived at a side hall in the corner.
A temporary variety show live broadcast stage had been set up here, surrounded by cameras and staff with long and short lenses, with extremely bright and dazzling lights.
Sierra distributed small cards to the five of them one by one, instructing: "If you don't know what to say, just read from the teleprompter corresponding to your number, and don't be nervous."
Wade received the card marked with the number "4."
The five of them walked onto the stage and sat on the sofa in turn. Sitting behind the desk opposite them was Tommy, a household-name talk show host known for his warmth and humor.
Tommy touched his signature mustache into the microphone: "Hey, guys, relax, this isn't a courtroom, we're just chatting."
"We all know that the film 'The Seven: Anti-Drug Operation' caused quite a sensation, and of course, there are many more questions. Today, we are very lucky to have the real 'live audience' from that night—five young people from Godolkin University. Let us hear their true story, off-camera."
He cast his gaze toward Jordan Li, who was sitting closest, and leaned forward slightly: "Jordan, tell me, what made you finally decide... to go deep and investigate that drug dealer camp in the forest?"
Jordan Li pressed his thigh and spoke softly: "It was supposed to be an ordinary camping night, but we smelled a lot of abnormal odors coming from the forest... it was that very strong chemical smell, so we decided to go see what was going on."
Tommy asked curiously: "After you got closer, what was the first scene you saw? Is it in the documentary?"
Luke glanced at the teleprompter and described it accordingly: "No, it's not in the documentary. They looked like Mexicans, there were over fifty of them... they were making drugs in the middle of the night, the lookouts all had firearms, and some looked very strange, clearly not ordinary people."
"Wow, 'looked strange,' that's a very subtle description." Tommy took a sip of water and continued, "When you realized that you might not be facing ordinary criminals, what was your first reaction? Was it 'Hey, we're Supes, we can handle it,' or were you more cautious?"
Andre crossed his arms and recalled: "At the time, we thought about retreating and calling the police first. There were too many people on the other side, and a direct confrontation wasn't a good idea... but we didn't expect that as soon as we were about to leave, we were discovered. About a dozen or twenty Supes chased after us. There were only five of us, and we were suppressed immediately."
Tommy showed an understanding expression and nodded: "That sounds very bad. Can you describe the situation at that time?"
Wade looked at the teleprompter scrolling to number 4: "We were restrained by all kinds of varied abilities, and our space to counterattack was being compressed smaller and smaller. We were about to collapse... It was Homelander. He brought Queen Maeve and Black Noir, broke into the battlefield, and saved us."
Tommy cast his gaze toward Cate: "Having experienced such a night, from being in a desperate situation to being saved by heroes, what was the biggest impact or inspiration this event brought to you personally?"
Cate turned to the side and looked into the camera: "Homelander and the others showed us what a true hero is, as well as the guardian mission and responsibility of a hero. This is very worthy of our learning."
The five people's narratives were clear and logical. Host Tommy expressed emotion and admiration at the appropriate times, and the half-hour live conversation ended in an atmosphere of praise for the heroic actions of The Seven.
'I wonder if Luke and the others will feel embarrassed when they look back on saying these insincere words during the live broadcast?' Wade followed the crowd off the stage, watching Sierra and Shetty chatting and laughing below, secretly rejoicing, 'Whatever, as long as we can muddle through. The program lines were all prepared in advance; it seems they really didn't suspect us.'
Brink walked in and dragged Jordan Li and Luke away: "You two come with me, it's time to meet some big shots. It will also be good for your future graduation."
A black man in a suit with graying facial hair put his arm around Andre's shoulder and said while walking: "Good kid, you did well. I'll introduce you to some old colleagues."
Wade stood against the wall, watching the backs of the three as they were taken away, feeling deep sympathy: 'Playing mind games is tiring enough as it is, and having to go and deal with business people with insincerity is simply suffering.'
Cate walked over with two glasses of champagne: "What, jealous? Why not let Shetty introduce you to a few professional agents... and get to know them."
Wade took the wine glass and tugged at the black lace gloves on her hands: "Does Shetty dare to introduce you to others? I guess it would scare them."
"You, you just wait and see!" Cate snorted coldly and turned to leave.
A few minutes later, Jill, holding up her floral dress, came running from the corridor, waving frequently: "Wade, come over quickly, come with me to see Mom!"
Wade put down the wine glass and took her cold little hand: "Why are you in such a rush?"
A figure flashed by, and Jade quickly followed, winking and whispering: "Listen to your buddy, don't go. My aunt..."
Jill stepped on his shoe and pouted: "Cousin, I've kept the little blue candies you gave me! When the time comes, I'll tell Mom that you're leading me astray."
Jade pressed on Wade's shoulder, shook his head, and sighed: "Don't blame your brother for not helping you... May you be blessed." After speaking, he left.
Wade caught his fearful thoughts and asked curiously: "Is the aunt really that terrifying? Is she going to eat me, or skin me alive?"
"Anyway, it's not a good thing." Jill grabbed his hand, interlaced her fingers with his, and blinked, "Guess! If you guess right, there's a reward, and if you guess wrong, there's one too."
"..." Wade knew what she meant as soon as he saw her little face flushed with a purple hue, "Forget it then."
Below Vought Tower, on the north side street.
Under a dim street lamp, a white and green van was parked.
Inside the van, Hughie stared intently at the computer screen, where the network signal bars popped up, only a single small bar flickering frequently.
"WTF, which floor did that guy Chameleon sneak into in Vought Tower? It's so far, I can't hack in at all."
MM heard the voice and pulled open the partition of the driver's seat: "Hughie, should we go to that six-story parking lot across the street? The signal might be a bit better."
"It's useless. The portable hacking device Chameleon brought in has a signal range of 300 meters. Without considering building obstructions, we need to get to the top of a 200-meter-high building at the very least for it to be effective." Hughie took off his coat and pulled up his sleeves, "I have to fly up, I need to get closer."
MM took a bag of medicine from the dashboard cabinet and handed half a bottle of milky white liquid and a syringe through the window: "It's a 3-hour dose, just inject 15ml, watch the time."
Hughie did as he was told, drew a small tube, and injected it into the brachial artery of his arm: "Okay, I'll pull out in two and a half hours."
He put on a bandit mask, took his computer bag and headphones, and left the van, skillfully and quickly floating into the air.
In the driver's seat, MM started the van and put on his headset: "I'll drive and follow, keeping watch for you. Be careful."
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