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"Why are they two here?"
Upon seeing Hughie and Butcher, Kevin frowned and immediately stopped Annie, who was about to enter.
"?"
Feeling the strength on her shoulder, Annie stopped and looked back in confusion.
Kevin gestured towards the hospital entrance, then explained:
"I saw an acquaintance; we'll go in a bit later."
"Acquaintance..."
Annie looked towards the hospital entrance in confusion, and after noticing Hughie's back, she nodded in realization:
"Oh, it's him, your ordinary friend?"
"Sort of, why are they here?"
Kevin was very puzzled.
Although he didn't remember the details from the original work very clearly, Kevin still remembered that the reason Hughie and the others knew about this hospital was because they discovered Kimiko.
Then, by following the clues, they found Ezekiel's charity and, at the charity event, extracted information about the whereabouts of Compound V from Ezekiel.
The plot points were interconnected; without one, they wouldn't have been able to find this place.
But now, Kimiko hasn't contacted them, and they probably don't have much information from Ezekiel.
Yet, they skipped these processes and arrived at the hospital entrance a day earlier than in the original work?
Where did you get your information from?!
Did I miss some crucial plot point?
Kevin was completely bewildered; no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure out where Hughie and the others got their information.
However, since Hughie and Butcher had already gone in, it wasn't suitable for Kevin and Annie to enter right now.
Because, if there were no surprises, their objectives should be largely consistent: they were all there for Compound V.
If they went in now, they might run into each other in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Running into each other was a minor issue; the key was that once they entered, they would quickly trigger the alarm inside, and Vought's security forces would quickly be in position.
It would be troublesome if Vought discovered Kevin and Annie here.
"So, should we wait until they come out before going in?"
Knowing that Kevin had an acquaintance inside, Annie didn't want to force him to go in with her.
She asked tentatively, and Kevin thought for a moment before saying to Annie:
"I'll go in alone."
"What?"
"I said, I'll go in alone."
"I heard you! What I want to ask is, are you just going to leave me here?"
Annie said, looking around.
Although this place was far from the hospital entrance, there were still many people around.
It was fine for Annie to stay here for a while, but if she stayed for a long time, it would definitely attract a lot of attention.
Among so many people, God knows how many would be Annie's fans, and how many would recognize Annie.
"Then why don't you go back?"
Kevin blinked, saying very sincerely.
Annie took a deep breath:
"No way! I think, how about this: you go and attract their attention, and I'll go investigate alone? Anyway, they might not necessarily go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, right?"
"...So you're determined to go, aren't you?"
"Kevin!"
Annie called Kevin's name, then suddenly asked:
"You know, you're very strange today. You seem to keep stopping me, not wanting me to go in. Do you know something?"
I hate guys with keen intuition.
Kevin's actions were too obvious, and Annie wasn't stupid; of course, she could sense something was wrong.
It was just that Annie had been considerate before and hadn't asked, and if Kevin hadn't insisted on her staying outside, she might not have asked this question at all.
Kevin knew he had overdone it; he slowly exhaled, not answering Annie's question, and after a moment of silence, he sighed:
"...Alright, since you insist, let's go in now, but be careful not to be discovered."
"Kevin, you still haven't..."
"Let's go, time is short."
Annie was about to ask more, but Kevin interrupted her and walked directly towards the hospital in front of them.
Hughie and Butcher had been inside for a while now; if Kevin didn't go in soon, he wouldn't be able to participate in this plot that he had already changed.
He couldn't just watch skill points slip away from him.
Kevin walked ahead, and Annie looked at his back, saying nothing, following closely behind.
But now, Annie's expression was no longer as relaxed as it had been at first.
She believed she understood Kevin well, knowing that the more he tried to stop her from doing something, the more dangerous it was.
So, even though Kevin said nothing now, Annie could be sure that she had indeed found a crucial clue.
Were the spinal cord vaccines Ezekiel sent to the hospital problematic?
Did he really dare to tamper with vaccines for children?
Annie immediately thought of these things; she didn't think too far, because simply tampering with vaccines was already an incredibly unbelievable thing.
...
"I still think the information we gathered isn't very reliable."
Hughie followed Butcher swaggering into the hospital's resting area and said to Butcher.
Butcher didn't even look at him:
"No matter what, this is the only clue we can get right now. Even if the end of the clue is a pile of shit, we have to collect it like a treasure."
"Oh, I hope it's not like you said."
Hughie seemed disgusted, his brows furrowed.
Let's explain why the two of them are here first.
Ever since that day in A-Train's lounge, after obtaining a complete Compound V, Butcher excitedly took the Compound V to find an acquaintance in the CIA.
As a result, Butcher went with excitement but returned with anger.
Because, according to him, that 'bitch' from the CIA actually refused Butcher's proposal to deal with Vought, citing insufficient evidence.
Butcher didn't elaborate on the specific process, but he said that to convince that 'bitch' from the CIA, they needed to gather more evidence first.
Useful, he's an old acquaintance; useless, he's a 'bitch'...
Hughie felt like he had already seen through Butcher.
But Kimiko had already been taken away by A-Train, and A-Train had also discovered the listening device they installed in Kimiko's home. The clues here were completely cut off, and to find new clues, they had to find another opening.
Fortunately, Butcher, this guy, was never short of intelligence for dealing with Supes.
He found a video from somewhere of A-Train meeting with a religious leader.
That religious leader was named Ezekiel, the head of the charity 'Samaritan's Embrace.' Hughie had a slight impression of him.
Just not a good impression.
He had once gone to a Supe bar with Butcher and seen Ezekiel messing around with a few boys...
In short, from that video, Butcher learned one thing.
A-Train's Compound V source came from Ezekiel, or rather, he 'stole' the Compound V from Ezekiel under Homelander's instruction.
And... the most recent batch of Compound V was sent by Ezekiel to various hospitals.
The hospital in front of them was one of them.
That's why Hughie and Butcher appeared here.
Incidentally, Mother's Milk Marvin was originally supposed to be with Butcher, but Marvin had something going on at home today, so only Hughie could come with Butcher.
Butcher entered the hospital, looking as if he was an employee there, completely unconcerned, swaggering down the corridor.
He even stole a nurse's ID card along the way.
His proficiency made Hughie wonder if he did this kind of thing often.
It was daytime now, and there were many people in the hospital, but Butcher didn't care at all. He didn't even bother with a disguise and walked directly to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
Hughie didn't understand where Butcher's confidence came from, but since Butcher dared to do it, he couldn't appear too flustered.
That would make it easier for people to notice something was off.
According to the information they obtained, those Compound V were disguised as vaccines and sent to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of this hospital.
Logically, since it was related to Compound V, this place should be heavily guarded.
But the reality was quite the opposite.
There was no one at the entrance of the Intensive Care Unit, and for some reason, there wasn't even a camera.
The corridor was also empty, with few people to be seen.
Hughie and Butcher's progress was very smooth; they encountered no setbacks or obstacles and arrived here.
Then Hughie saw Butcher use the stolen magnetic card to unlock the door of the Intensive Care Unit.
There was no one in the monitoring room; it was extremely quiet, with only two or three infants placed inside specially made glass cradles.
They were sleeping peacefully.
And above their heads, infusion bags filled with blue liquid hung from hooks, and the blue liquid inside the bags was slowly flowing into their bodies through the drip tubes.
That was Compound V.
The hospital here was injecting Compound V into newborns!
"Oh... Jesus..."
Seeing this scene, Hughie subconsciously let out a sound of astonishment.
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