The 30th floor of Vought Tower, in the brightly lit hall.
The still-shaken guests gathered in small groups, either whispering or making phone calls.
Maeve and Starlight walked along the edge of the crowd, offering comfort to individuals and assisting security in maintaining order.
Wade sat on a chair, holding Jill, and asked curiously, "Why are we being kept here? Can't we leave?"
Klara fiddled with her icy hair, muttering, "Unknown hackers have repeatedly infiltrated the system, and Speaker Simon died on the spot. This is a huge deal."
Wade looked at the noisy crowd on the floor and nodded, "So we're witnesses, then? Do we need to assist the police investigation?"
Jill gestured with her fingers, lamenting, "No, no, this is a terrorist attack. The ones who'll be questioning us later will either be the FBI or Homeland Security... I'm afraid we won't be sleeping tonight."
Wade picked her up horizontally and swayed her, "It's fine. If you're sleepy, just sleep."
Jill nestled into his arms, trembling, "What if there are terrorists? I, I won't be blown into a pile of ice shards, will I?"
Wade lowered his gaze and pinched her nose, "Are you treating me as a decoration? Auntie is here too, what are you afraid of?"
At this moment, Madelyn, covered in blood, and Homelander walked out of the elevator in the corridor together.
Ashley, who had been waiting there, followed them, pulling out a small notebook and bowing to listen.
Madelyn looked down, scrolling on her phone, and casually instructed, "Ashley, go and calm those people down. Tell them to cooperate with our preliminary investigation... We need to do it quickly, otherwise, once the government's investigative agencies arrive, we won't have a chance."
"Remember that mysterious shapeshifter? There must have been more than one person who infiltrated this memorial service; it's definitely a group operation!" Homelander shook off the bits of flesh from his clothes and squinted at the wall. "I'll keep an eye on things here. If they're found, they definitely won't escape!"
Madelyn ended her call and continued, "I've already asked Robert to go to the tech department to retrieve surveillance footage. His investigative and deductive skills are top-notch; he'll definitely find something... Also, be polite and don't offend anyone."
"Okay, President. I've noted everything down." Ashley nodded and turned to leave... A few minutes later, in the hall.
Ashley held a small megaphone and said softly, "Ladies and gentlemen! Please... please don't walk around. Please listen to me first."
"There has just been a terrorist attack targeting our company and Speaker Simon! For everyone's safety, we need your cooperation with the investigation. Once it's done, you can leave. We appreciate your understanding."
Her announcement caused a greater commotion and a chorus of doubts.
"Cooperate? Cooperate with you for what? Stay here and wait to be blown up?"
"I want to leave! You have no law enforcement authority; you can't detain me!"
"God, how could such a good banquet turn out like this? What exactly happened...?"
Just then, Robert, impeccably dressed, walked in with his hands behind his back, calm and composed, shouting in a loud voice, "The terrorists are hidden among you!"
At these words, the entire hall fell silent, and an atmosphere of fear and unease spread.
The guests all moved away from those beside them, scattering apart.
"Everyone, I am Robert Vernon, codenamed Tek Knight. I'm sure you've heard of me." Robert waved in all directions and continued, "Do you want to leave with someone with ulterior motives? Or do you want me to find the suspect before you safely exit? Remember, the next person to be held hostage by terrorists... could be you!"
The guests were momentarily stunned by his words, and no one dared to speak up in rebuttal.
Shetty stepped out from the crowd and said in a deep voice, "Tek Knight makes a good point. After all, he often assists the police in investigating various cases and interrogating suspects."
Brink followed closely, stepping forward and saying, "For personal safety, I believe it's necessary to cooperate with the investigation."
Others chimed in, agreeing that what was said made sense.
"Thank you for your understanding and cooperation." Robert nodded to the two and then snapped his fingers.
Vought security personnel quickly sealed all exits, and the atmosphere in the hall became tense.
Staff members pushed a 115-inch LCD television from the doorway, displaying surveillance footage of the banquet hall.
"Everyone, please look." Robert pointed at the screen, and the staff zoomed in on the image, freezing it on Simon.
The video played slowly at 0.1x speed. Simon's body slowly exploded from within, clothes flying and bursting, leaving only his head rolling on the ground.
"The victim was simultaneously detonated from within." Robert calmly analyzed, "Based on this, there are three possibilities.
First, miniature bombs were implanted in the target's body beforehand. This is the least likely point, as we were thoroughly checked by security when we came in.
Second, the suspect used telekinesis, which can bypass physical barriers to affect internal organs;
Third, the suspect injected some form of energy into the victim's body from a distance and detonated it."
"So we must first filter out people with abilities based on the attendance list." After speaking, he gestured with his eyes to Maeve and Starlight beside him, "Ladies, I'm not that robust. I'll trouble you."
Starlight and Maeve stood in front of him without a word, guarding against sudden attacks.
Robert retrieved the list of guests who attended the dinner and cross-referenced it with Vought's internal Supe registration data.
He held the list and announced loudly, "Mr. and Ms. whose names are called below, please come to me one by one and demonstrate your superpowers."
"Luke River, codenamed 'Golden Boy,' ability: Thermonuclear."
Luke stepped forward, nervously extended his palm, and a ball of scorching golden flame hovered above his palm.
Robert examined it for a moment, pointed to the side, "That's enough. Please wait on the right."
Jordan Li, Andre Anderson... Before long, more than half of the Supes present had been investigated.
Robert casually called out a name, "Wade Thompson, ability: Airflow Manipulation."
Wade took two tissues and walked to the center of the area.
He extended his right hand, palm up, and the tissues seemed to be pulled by an invisible force, floating lightly, slowly spinning and dancing.
"Just like this?" Robert crossed his arms in thought and said, "As far as I know, Airflow Manipulation... theoretically, can highly compressed gas be injected into a person's body, right?"
"For example, explosive hydrogen!"
At these words, the entire hall erupted in an uproar.
All the guests looked at Wade with horror and suspicion, everyone pressing themselves against the walls as if he were a plague.
In the checked right-hand area, Jill anxiously shook her mother's arm, "Mom~ what do we do? How could it be Wade! We were all sitting together!"
Klara frowned tightly and softly comforted her, "Don't worry, I'll explain to Robert later."
Jordan Li, Luke, and Andre stood up excitedly, questioning, "What nonsense are you talking about?" "Stop slandering people here!"
Brink raised his hand to signal and said, "We Godolkin people all came in empty-handed through security. How could we carry any hydrogen devices? This isn't a chemical plant."
Shetty walked out of the crowd and said with a stern face, "Exactly. Doesn't hydrogen sulfide smell like rotten eggs? We didn't smell anything like that in the venue. Please be more rigorous!"
Robert ignored these words, hiding behind Starlight and Maeve, and leaned out to ask, "Young man, just tell me if you can do it!"
'I'm really speechless. How did this get twisted to me?' Wade looked at him dumbfounded and nodded, "Theoretically, it can be done, but the efficiency is extremely low... because hydrogen accounts for only about 0.00005% of the air, which means you'd only find 50 liters of hydrogen in 1 million liters of air."
"This is equivalent to asking me to move air over an area the size of half a basketball court, which would cause an enormous commotion, and even then, I couldn't do it."
"Oh?" Robert raised an eyebrow, still unconvinced, and continued to ask, "Then, please explain in detail, if you were to 'detonate' a person, how would you manipulate the gas inside their body?"
Wade rolled his eyes twice and seriously explained, "Mr. Robert, you might have some misunderstanding about the physiological structure of the human body."
"Inside the human body, besides a small amount of gas in the lungs and intestines, where would I find large amounts of gas to detonate in other tissues, like muscles, heart, or liver?"
Robert looked at the TV screen upon hearing this, repeatedly dragging the progress bar with the remote control, "You have a point. If a large amount of air were forcibly compressed into the victim's lungs, it would cause alveolar rupture and internal bleeding..."
Wade pointed at the screen, enthusiastically adding, "Look here, before the incident, did he show any signs of difficulty breathing, struggling, or suffocating?"
"No. The explosions occurred simultaneously from multiple parts. If I had to use my ability to achieve a similar effect, I would have to forcibly detonate his lungs, which have the highest gas content, but that would only cause the chest to explode."
Robert was convinced by his clear explanation, and combined with physiological knowledge and the on-site video evidence, the logic was simply unassailable.
He fell silent, staring intently at Wade, analyzing the micro-expressions, carotid pulse, and vocal patterns of the person before him... A few seconds of silence felt like a century.
The surrounding guests also began to whisper, clearly, Wade's explanation had convinced most of them.
"I was presumptuous, I apologize." Robert sighed, knowing his accusation had been somewhat arbitrary, and waved his hand, "Go ahead, wait on the right."
Wade nodded calmly and turned to walk towards the screened crowd.
Jill immediately rushed forward and hugged his arm, "You spoke so well, that was so cool!"
Luke, Andre, and Jordan Li also gathered around, asking with concern, "That Robert is truly detestable, clearly trying to frame you."
"Exactly, how can there be an investigation based on assumed guilt!"
"Good thing you proved your innocence."
"It's nothing serious. Mr. Robert was just doing his job diligently." Wade scratched his head sheepishly, secretly thinking, 'I used multi-point blood explosion technique. If he could figure out I did it, that would be a ghost!'
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