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"What do you want to talk about?"
After closing the door, Kevin was the first to ask Annie.
Annie paused slightly, standing with her back to Kevin for a while, as if struggling with something.
A moment later, she turned around and said, "First... tell me about yourself. What do you want to tell me?"
Kevin narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at Annie for a few seconds, then after a while, he pointed at Kimiko, who was watching TV: "Of course it's her. You're not really planning to leave her here with me indefinitely, are you? No matter what, I'm a man."
"Are you saying you won't be able to resist acting like a beast towards her?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. Have some consideration for the difficulties of a single man, Miss."
Kimiko had good features; she was a beauty. Although she wasn't within Kevin's hunting range, having such a beautiful woman living in his house still made it hard not to have certain thoughts.
After all, Kevin had been a single dog in both his past and present lives, with only his right and left hands for company...
Kevin felt he made a lot of sense, but he didn't expect Annie to suddenly burst out laughing after hearing all this: "Pfft."
"?"
"Ah, no... don't misunderstand, I'm not laughing at you. I just think you're not the kind of person who would do something like that."
Annie said with a smile.
She seemed to trust Kevin greatly, believing he wouldn't do the things he mentioned, but Kevin felt Annie was underestimating him.
"So you think I can't do it?"
"No, how could I! Why would you think that...?"
Annie instinctively retorted, then immediately realized the topic was veering into inappropriate territory and quickly said, "OK, let's put that aside for now. I came here today to talk to you about Vought."
"Finally ready to talk business?"
Seeing Annie become serious, Kevin stopped joking. He gestured for Annie to follow him to the kitchen and had her sit at the dining table by the kitchen.
After pouring Annie a glass of juice, Kevin sat across from her and said, "Let me hear what you're thinking."
Annie placed her hands on the table, her fingers intertwined, hesitant to speak, then wanting to speak, repeating this several times before slowly saying, "I... I don't think this is right."
"What's not right?"
"Turning a blind eye to what Vought, A-Train, and Homelander are doing, that's not right."
"Don't interrupt me. I know Vought is powerful, and I know Homelander is powerful. Just as you said, the waters are very deep in this matter."
"If we get too involved, our outcome might not be very good. You've told me this many times, and I understand it all, but..."
Annie looked up, her gaze meeting Kevin's sincerely: "But if I truly turn a blind eye to this, I'll feel uneasy."
"Kevin... my dream since childhood was to become a Superhero, and turning a blind eye to those suffering, allowing perpetrators to act with impunity, I don't think that's what a Hero should do."
When Annie said these words, her eyes seemed to glow.
Kevin's gaze met hers, sensing the sincerity hidden within.
The The Boys world might not be such a good world; most of the Superheroes in this world are actually scumbags. But even so, there are still Supes here who truly want to be Heroes.
Starlight Annie is such a person.
Regardless of her background, and regardless of whether her mother injected her with Compound V for honor or money, she was cultivated into a Superhero with a dream of justice.
Such a person is an extremely rare existence in the The Boys world.
Kevin even thought that Annie shouldn't actually be in the The Boys world; the Marvel World, the DC World, those were more suitable stages for her.
It's just a pity that she is in The Boys.
But even so, Starlight is still working hard for her dream, fighting for her future.
"I understand."
The young girl in front of him was incredibly serious. Kevin pondered for a moment, sat up straight, and said to her very seriously, "It seems you've thought everything through."
"Mm."
"Then you won't regret it later, right?"
"I don't know..."
Annie was very honest: "I don't know if I'll regret it in the future, but what I'm sure of is that if I turn a blind eye to this, I will definitely regret it in the future."
That sounds good.
Kevin complained inwardly, but Annie's choice was something Kevin had anticipated a long time ago, and he had prepared for it.
"Alright, since you've made up your mind, then from now on, no matter what you do, you must listen to me."
After a long pause, Kevin said seriously.
Annie nodded repeatedly, having no objection, and asked, "Do you have a plan already?"
"Actually, before you came, my plan was always to just coast along in Vought, so if you ask me if I have a plan? Sorry, I really don't."
"..."
"Don't make that face. Although I don't have a plan, I do have some ideas."
"Vought using human bodies for experiments definitely didn't happen overnight. And what we need to do now is first find the serum that A-Train injected into Kimiko."
"A drug that can turn humans into Supes!"
"Right, we need to at least figure out what that serum is exactly, and then understand why they are creating Supes."
Kevin spoke clearly and logically.
Although he already knew what the serum was, his current persona was that he was unaware of these things. Since Starlight liked to play the Hero game, Kevin would cooperate with her and play this game out.
Gaining skill points while extending the time before confronting Vought.
Vought has means to deal with Supes, and their 'The Woods' facility at Godolkin University will later develop a virus specifically targeting Supes.
No matter what, Kevin is also a Supe. Vought is actually a threat to Kevin, and this is not something that can be resolved by him simply obeying.
Since they will eventually confront each other, it's better to use Starlight and Black Robe to cause some minor trouble for Vought first.
Hearing Kevin's plan, Annie's expression clearly brightened. She asked quite excitedly, "Do you have any targets now?"
"Coincidentally, I do have one target."
Kevin said, taking out his phone and pulling up a person's profile picture.
This was a photo found on Wikipedia. The person in the photo was also a Supe, and also considered a Superhero, but his area of work was different from typical Superheroes.
He was a preacher.
"He's—Ezekiel?"
Annie asked in surprise after seeing the person in the photo.
This quite surprised Kevin: "Huh? You know him?"
"Of course, you haven't forgotten what I believe in, have you?"
"Oh, right, you're Catholic... Hmm, that's perfect. You can investigate this guy."
Recalling Annie's family, Kevin suddenly understood and promptly assigned this task to Annie.
Annie hesitated for a moment and asked, "Is he related to this serum?"
"I don't know, but that day in the basement where Kimiko was held, in the waste bin where the serum was injected, I found an address related to him. All in all, he definitely has clues, the difference is how many clues there are."
"I understand. I'll take care of this. Coincidentally, he has a Faith Expo in half a month, and I'll be attending then."
Annie was a Catholic, and a very devout and traditional one at that.
Because of this identity, Annie needed to attend Ezekiel's Faith Expo as a guest in a while, to benefit Vought.
And this was a good opportunity for Annie to get in touch with Ezekiel.
After discussing the general process, the matter that had been bothering Annie was completely put to rest. She appeared quite relaxed in front of Kevin, even in the mood to joke with him: "You just came up with the idea, and you already threw out a clue. You weren't secretly investigating behind my back, were you?"
Kevin: "?"
I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense!
Seeing Annie's half-smile, Kevin knew this guy must have misunderstood something again and quickly explained: "No such thing. I just slightly... um, slightly checked what kind of person this guy is, that's all. If you hadn't come, I would have definitely kept this information to myself."
"Mm-hmm, let's just say that's how it is."
"What do you mean 'let's just say that'..."
Ding--
Kevin was trying to appeal to Annie's emotions and reason, explaining his 'salary thief' nature, but at this moment, the timer alarm from the kitchen interrupted their conversation.
It was the food Kevin had put in the food processor earlier; it seemed to be ready.
This sound caught Annie's attention.
She first looked at the kitchen in surprise, confirmed what was in the kitchen, then turned to Kevin and said incredulously, "Wait a minute, you actually cook with a food processor?"
"Technology changes life, is there anything wrong with that?"
"Don't you think food made by a food processor is really bad?"
"Uh... I don't think it's that bad..."
Kevin recalled the difference between food processor meals and regular dishes, stroking his chin as he replied.
Annie rolled her eyes at Kevin, stood up, and rolled up her sleeves, saying, "It seems I need to show you the difference between manual and machine."
...The food processor's meal is already done."
"No, you don't want me to eat that awful machine-made stuff, it doesn't even have a door!"
Annie was strangely firm on this point. She said this and then plunged into the kitchen.
Seeing Annie busy in the kitchen, Kevin found it hard to persuade her further. Just then, Kimiko walked over from the living room, and Kevin directly complained to Kimiko, "Don't you think she's making a bit of a fuss?"
Kimiko didn't answer, but simply picked up a nearby whiteboard and held it up to Kevin.
--I'm hungry.
That's what it said.
Kevin blinked, about to reply, when he saw Kimiko quickly erase the writing on the board, write a new line, and hold it up to Kevin again:
--But I also don't want to eat bad food.
Kimiko said, her gaze turning to the food processor.
Kevin: "..."
Alright.
Kevin, understanding what Kimiko meant, sighed helplessly. He looked at Starlight busy in the kitchen and said very reluctantly, "...Alright, I'll help."
Not only was Kimiko hungry, but he was also hungry. To get dinner quickly, it seemed he had no choice but to help.
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