257. Chapter 257: Even a Toilet is More Useful Than Your Head
"Alright, it's pretty obvious."
He rubbed his face and complained, "God knows what I've been through lately. First, I was threatened by the Mysterious Person who came to my door, and then I witnessed my superior blow up her former boyfriend into mangled flesh right before my eyes."
"Holy crap, the blood and flesh bits splattering everywhere were like a gory horror movie from Hollywood, and the highest-rated kind at that."
Just thinking about the scene made Hughie's stomach churn.
He suppressed his discomfort and cursed angrily, "Shit, good thing I closed my mouth in time, otherwise that stuff probably would've flown into my mouth."
"What a pathetic guy." Frenchie, standing nearby, was full of schadenfreude.
"The main point is that he worked diligently for Victoria Neuman for a year, only to find out in the end that Victoria Neuman and Vought were in cahoots all along." Billy couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Hearing Billy's mocking laughter, Hughie's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
"My apologies, that's absolutely not mockery, but laughter from the bottom of my heart. After all, this is just too funny, it's practically the number one Hell joke of the year."
"Whatever, I'll just pretend I didn't hear it."
Hughie put on an 'I don't care' expression, but in reality, he wished he could travel back a year and slap his past self twice.
To be honest, his face felt burning hot right now. He had originally planned to use the Office of Supe Affairs to take down Vought International, but he ended up being Vought's lackey for a whole year.
Thinking about this, he had the urge to bash his head against the car and die.
"But then again, that old hag Victoria Neuman's acting skills are really good. I wondered where she got the guts to go against Vought International." Billy glanced at the car GPS on his right. They were still about a dozen kilometers away from New York Airport. "Of course, I also find it hard to imagine that what's on your neck is actually a head."
When it came to adding insult to injury, Billy was a professional.
"Honestly, I feel like the old Toilet in my Basement is more useful than your head. At least I use it often, while you don't use your head."
"Alright, I'm getting out." Hughie, whose defenses were broken by the insult, angrily tugged at the door handle on the inside of the car door.
Seeing this, Frenchie quickly comforted him, "At least we know now that the Office of Supe Affairs isn't reliable. That's a gain, at least."
"Thanks," Hughie said. After trying several times and finding he couldn't open the car door, he leaned back against the seat with a blank expression.
At this moment, Billy, who was driving the car, glanced at the fruit-green serum in Hughie's hand through the rearview mirror.
"Have you injected that stuff? How does it feel?" Billy narrowed his eyes and asked.
"Not yet." Hughie shook his head listlessly.
"That's good information."
Billy skillfully shifted gears and stepped on the gas, pulling the car over to the side of the road.
"How many doses of Temporary Compound V do you have?"
"Two doses."
Hughie said after a moment of hesitation.
"Give them to me." Billy turned and extended his right hand towards Hughie. "Trust me, you can't handle this stuff. Let me keep it for you. Maybe it'll be useful in the upcoming operation."
"How many do you want?" Hughie was glad he hadn't told him the real number, otherwise he might not have been able to keep even one dose.
Sure enough, Billy asked for all of them.
"I want all of them."
This trip to Russia was bound to be extremely dangerous, and they also had to guard against the Mysterious Person suddenly making a move against them. His previous experiences had made Billy realize that relying solely on sonic weapons was far from enough to deal with those Supe. He also had to possess equal strength, and Temporary Compound V, which could temporarily grant people superpowers, seemed to be the only viable option at the moment.
"When I need to inject it, you can't stop me." Hughie stared intently at Billy, subconsciously tightened his grip on the Temporary Compound V in his hand.
"We'll see about that when the time comes. No one knows if Temporary Compound V has aftereffects. If we can avoid using it, it's best not to."
Hughie was silent for a moment, but ultimately handed the Temporary Compound V to Billy.
Boom! The car restarted.
Soon, Billy spotted the black Cadillac waiting at the agreed location.
He honked the horn hard, then turned his head and instructed, "Guys, grab your stuff, let's go."
He put on his sunglasses, pushed open the car door directly, and walked towards the Cadillac.
"Sir, long time no see." Billy stood in front of the car window, his mouth slightly curved upwards, and reached out to tap on the car window.
As the car window slowly rolled down, Xia Shang's profile appeared before Billy.
"You've got some nerve, trying to screw me over behind the scenes." Xia Shang turned his head to look at Billy and smiled slightly.
"I was young back then, didn't know any better."
Billy was thick-skinned; not only was there no trace of awkwardness, but he even greeted Xia Shang very naturally.
"Forget it, I won't dwell on the past. As long as you can find the person I'm looking for, I can consider letting you off the hook."
Afterwards, led by Billy, Xia Shang boarded the private airplane heading to Russia.
On the airplane.
Xia Shang asked, "You guys should know Soldier Boy's location, right?"
Unexpectedly, Billy said, "We don't know, but someone does."
"Who?"
"Nina, the owner of this airplane. She was a big shot in Russia who had connections everywhere, but she fled to the United States in disgrace during a government crackdown." Billy tidied his hairstyle and continued, "But she has a lot of useful information, including Soldier Boy's whereabouts back then."
"She didn't give you the location directly?" Xia Shang frowned.
"To get the clue from her, we have to help her take care of a smuggler. I heard that guy stole a lot of Nina's business."
Billy raised his hand and called a flight attendant.
"Could I get a Karaku, please?"
"Your operations are quite extensive." Xia Shang smiled, then glanced out the window. Gentle white clouds flowed like layers of thin gauze on either side of the airplane's wings, as if he could reach out and touch them.
"I have to correct you, this isn't my operation, it's Frenchie's. This guy worked for Nina for over ten years. Thanks to him, I was able to find Nina."
Hearing Billy mention his name, Frenchie didn't make any response. In fact, his body was unusually tense at the moment, as if he was constantly guarding against Xia Shang, who was sitting in the other seat.
"I heard from Starlight that when Stormfront died, Homelander didn't leave Vought Tower..."
Hughie looked at Xia Shang with great vigilance.
"But the strange thing is, a second Homelander appeared outside and killed Stormfront."
"That's right, I did it." Xia Shang looked at Hughie with a smile on his face.
In an instant, the hairs on Hughie's back all stood up!
"You can even impersonate Homelander?" he couldn't help but exclaim.
(End of Chapter)