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Translucent was discovered missing in the morning.
Today, Translucent had a special fan meet-and-greet.
It was for a child with cancer, a fan of Translucent, who desperately wanted to meet him before surgery.
Vought International saw this as a great opportunity for publicity and to boost Translucent's fame and influence, so they announced to the public that Translucent would meet this special young fan today.
The news was released, the script was drafted, and the scene was set.
But Translucent was gone.
Now, everyone at Vought International, from top to bottom, who was responsible for this matter was completely numb.
Even more frustrating was that Translucent and The Deep had a joint mission tomorrow night, which was also part of Vought International's publicity.
But Translucent still couldn't be found.
Madelyn was furious in her office, but on the surface, she remained calm, telling Ashley to find Translucent and discuss the roster for tomorrow's mission with The Deep.
Then, Madelyn called Kevin into her office again.
"The Deep, there's something I need you to do."
As soon as Kevin entered the office, Madelyn, who was leaning on her desk watching TV, turned it off and spoke to Kevin.
"OK, I'm listening, Boss."
Kevin acted very respectfully, listening attentively to Madelyn.
Madelyn took out the file of the child with cancer, which was originally meant for Translucent, and threw it to Kevin, saying:
"You go meet this fan in place of Translucent today. Aren't you trying to change your image? This is a good opportunity."
Kevin took the file and glanced at it.
Recalling the original plot, Kevin knew that he was replacing A-Train's job.
In the original plot, after Translucent disappeared, it was A-Train who went to see the fan, but now, possibly because of Kevin's improved new image, it was Kevin instead.
Being able to show off his new image, shed his past foolish one, and also get overtime pay, Kevin was naturally willing.
He said, "No problem."
"Anything else, Boss?"
"After you meet the fan, help me find something in the sea."
"What?"
"The mayor of Baltimore's private jet crashed yesterday on its return flight. Rescue workers are trying to find the plane's wreckage, but I think it would be faster if you did it."
The mayor of Baltimore?
Kevin's eyes flickered, already remembering what happened in the original plot.
He remained calm on the surface, nodding, "No problem, I'll do it shortly."
"Tell me immediately if you find anything, understand? Immediately, tell, me."
Madelyn might have guessed something, repeatedly emphasizing that she needed to be told immediately.
Kevin nodded again, then left Madelyn's office to begin his work for the day.
First, he went to meet Translucent's young fan.
There wasn't much to say about this.
Although Translucent's young fan was deeply disappointed that it wasn't Translucent but The Deep who came, Kevin wasn't an uncultured guy like A-Train.
He effortlessly spouted various inspirational platitudes he'd heard online in his previous life, and in no time, he had the young fan completely charmed, almost turning him into a fan of The Deep.
Madelyn was very satisfied with this, even calling personally to express her regards, saying that Kevin's fan count had increased by three percentage points because of this, and told Kevin to keep it up.
Indeed, for these capitalists, image and strength don't matter; what matters is whether they can bring them profit.
Kevin's rising fan count meant his value was increasing, and it also meant his merchandise could sell for higher prices.
Madelyn didn't mind showing goodwill towards Kevin.
After meeting the young fan, Kevin went to the sea area where the mayor of Baltimore's plane crashed, as per Madelyn's request, and in a very short time, by mobilizing underwater creatures, he found the plane wreckage.
Including the plane's black box, and... engine fragments.
Looking at the two scorch marks on the engine fragments, like they were burned by lasers, Kevin was completely certain.
Homelander did this.
The reason was simple: Madelyn wanted to assign a superhero to every major city in the United States, with Baltimore as a pilot city.
She originally wanted Baltimore to pay a higher price to hire her heroes, but the mayor of Baltimore threatened her with 'Compound V' to demand a price reduction.
And this matter happened to be overheard by Homelander.
And Homelander happened to like Madelyn.
What would a giant baby who acts without considering the consequences do when given an opportunity to please someone he likes?
The answer was now right in front of him.
That's right, Homelander, that giant baby, personally went and destroyed the mayor's plane in the sky, causing it to crash.
The unfortunate mayor and his son died right there.
"If I tell Madelyn about this, I'll probably offend Homelander, hmm…"
Underwater, Kevin stared at the plane wreckage fragments, deep in thought.
After finally leaving a good impression on Homelander and ensuring that this giant baby wouldn't attack him, Kevin didn't want to offend Homelander over this.
After all, when you're not strong, it's better to be cowardly when you can.
Being a little cowardly isn't embarrassing.
Moreover, Kevin and Homelander's goals don't conflict.
One wants to earn enough money to live a laid-back life, and the other wants to gain the love of people worldwide. Kevin doesn't need to provoke Homelander's trouble.
Although Homelander's methods are indeed a bit problematic...
"But Madelyn is the top boss…"
Offending Homelander is certainly not good, but offending Madelyn doesn't seem good either.
Madelyn is Kevin's direct superior, responsible for paying Kevin's salary and various other bonuses.
If Kevin concealed the information, Madelyn could easily manipulate the finances, and Kevin would be in trouble.
Oh my god, this affects my career!
He couldn't offend either side for now, so what should he do?
Simple, just tell half the story.
Although this might offend both sides... but given his value, Madelyn shouldn't give him a hard time over this.
As for Homelander, as long as Kevin doesn't explicitly say he did it, Homelander won't come looking for trouble with Kevin.
If there's trouble to be found with Kevin, wouldn't it be better to do a few more live streams to boost popularity?
Thinking this, Kevin returned to report to Madelyn and presented his investigation report:
"The mayor of Baltimore's plane did indeed crash due to engine damage, but… the engine was shot down."
"Shot down?"
Madelyn, who was writing a report, looked up at Kevin.
"Yes, shot down, but other than that, I found nothing else. I don't even know who the culprit is."
Kevin said seriously.
Madelyn listened to this, looked deeply at Kevin, and asked:
"Are you sure you don't know who the culprit is?"
Kevin said jokingly:
"Boss, I'm not a detective. How could I possibly deduce who the culprit is just from plane wreckage?"
"Hmm, you're right."
Madelyn didn't dwell on the matter too much.
Perhaps she already knew who did it and just wanted to get confirmation from Kevin.
Now that Kevin said he only found traces of an attack on the plane wreckage, that was already enough for Madelyn.
She didn't keep Kevin there any longer and instead assigned him his next task:
"Go find Starlight directly and discuss tomorrow night's patrol. This is Starlight's debut, so remember to help her out a lot."
"Okay, I will."
Nodding to Madelyn, Kevin and Madelyn ended their conversation.
Leaving the office, Kevin finally exhaled.
He had done everything he could for now; all he had to do was see if Homelander would come looking for him.
If Homelander didn't come for him, then this matter wouldn't be a problem in the future.
"Oh, right."
Leaving the office, Kevin casually opened his skill tree to check the number of skill points.
And to his surprise,
The number of skill points had now changed from 2 to 3.
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