Chapter 36: Leverage
The heater in the car was still running, making one feel drowsy.
Butcher adjusted the seat back to a more upright position, pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, extracted one, and placed it between his lips, but he did not light it.
"The address Victoria Neuman gave you," Lu Ren said, "are you planning to go?"
"Of course I am."
"When?"
"As soon as the sun comes up."
"Alone?"
Butcher took the cigarette out of his mouth, squeezed the filter, and put it back.
"Becca is my wife. She's not yours. I'm going alone."
Lu Ren was silent for a moment.
"Why would Victoria Neuman tell you Becca's address?"
"Because she wants me to owe her. She gave me the address, so I owe her a piece of information. If she asks me to do something in the future and I don't do it, I'd be breaking my word."
"So even though you know she's using you, you're still going?"
Butcher finally lit the cigarette. The flare of the lighter illuminated his face—eyes sunken, cheekbones prominent, the stubble on his face like weeds on a salt flat.
"Do you know what it feels like to have someone taken away from you?" He didn't look at Lu Ren, but stared into the darkness outside the windshield. "It's not a breakup, it's not a divorce. It's that person vanishing, and you spend five years searching for her, thinking day and night about where she is, if she's dead, if she's suffering. Then one day, someone tells you where she is. So you go. It doesn't matter who that person is, or what she wants."
He took a drag of the cigarette, the smoke drifting through the car, dispersed by the heater.
"That is how it feels."
Lu Ren didn't say "be careful" or "stay safe." Those words meant nothing to Butcher. Butcher didn't need anyone's concern; he needed a result. For five years, he had been waiting for this result, and now that result was at an address in Virginia; he couldn't wait.
"As for things at the base," Lu Ren said, "who's in charge?"
"You are," Butcher flicked the ash. "MM will help you. Soldier Boy will listen to you. Dr. Vogelbaum is tied up in the corner; don't let him die, he's still useful. As for Victoria Neuman—don't contact her for now. Wait until I get back."
"What about Translucent? How do we explain that to Vought International?"
Butcher finally turned his head to look at Lu Ren.
"After you go back, pretend you don't know anything. Translucent going missing is their business, not yours. If anyone asks, just say you were in New York watching the aurora."
"You can't watch the aurora in New York."
"Then say you were sleeping." Butcher stubbed the cigarette out on the dashboard, leaving a charred black dot. "You have to learn to lie anyway. In a place like Vought International, people who can't lie don't last long."
He started the engine.
"Get out."
Lu Ren pushed the door open and stepped onto the roadside. Butcher shifted into reverse, backed the car out of the base entrance, made a U-turn, and the headlights illuminated a stretch of potholed road ahead.
Then he drove away.
The taillights grew smaller in the darkness, like two falling red stars.
Lu Ren stood where he was, watching the taillights vanish around a bend in the road. A cold wind blew from the east, carrying the fishy scent of the Hudson River and the smell of sulfur from a factory chimney in the distance.
He turned and walked into the base.
In the warehouse, MM was sitting in front of the computer, rows of data displayed on the screen. He turned to look at Lu Ren without speaking, but that look said everything—Butcher is gone, you're in charge now.
Soldier Boy was sitting in the corner chair, not sleeping. An unopened beer bottle sat in front of him, the cap still sealed; his fingers traced the cap, round and round.
"He's gone," Soldier Boy said. It wasn't a question.
"Gone."
"To find his woman?"
"Yeah."
Soldier Boy placed the beer bottle on the floor, stood up, and walked over to Dr. Vogelbaum. The old man was tied to a metal chair, head tilted to the side, drooling, asleep. Soldier Boy looked down at him for a few seconds, then reached out and pinched Dr. Vogelbaum's nose with two fingers.
Dr. Vogelbaum jolted awake, gasping for air, his eyes full of terror.
"Don't sleep," Soldier Boy said. "I have questions for you."
Dr. Vogelbaum swallowed, a dry, gurgling sound emanating from his throat.
"That woman named Neuman," Soldier Boy squatted down, level with Dr. Vogelbaum, "who is she?"
"Victoria Neuman... Congresswoman..." Dr. Vogelbaum's voice was intermittent. "She... she is also..."
"Also what?"
"Also one of our creations," Dr. Vogelbaum said. "1987, the second batch of test subjects for the improved version of compound v. Her ability is to remotely rupture blood vessels inside the human body—primarily cerebral vessels. It looks like the head explodes, but it's actually caused by a sudden increase in internal pressure of the organism."
"How many of these did you make?"
"Hundreds. Most failed. Fewer than twenty survived." Dr. Vogelbaum's eyes glinted in the darkness. "Homelanderwas the first batch. Neuman was the second. Soldier Boy—you were batch zero. You were the beginning."
Soldier Boy stood up and turned to look at Lu Ren.
"Did you hear that? This woman isn't with the government. She's with Vought International. There isn't a word of truth in her mouth."
"I know," Lu Ren said. "But she has what Butcher wants."
"So she's got leverage on him," Soldier Boy walked back to his chair and sat down. "Just like how Vought Internationalused to have leverage on Crimson Countess. Threatening you with family to make you do things you don't want to do. Forty years later, they're still using the same old tricks."
"Because these tricks work," Lu Ren said.
Soldier Boy picked up the beer bottle from the floor and flicked the cap off with his thumb—the cap flew off, hit the wall, bounced, and landed on the floor.
"They work," he took a swig of beer. "They'll keep using tricks that work."
Outside, the sky was about to brighten.
The sky in the east shifted from deep blue to grayish-blue, then from grayish-blue to a pale violet. Birds began to chirp on the roof, and the first garbage truck drove along a distant street, emitting a low rumble.
Lu Ren didn't go to sleep. He sat next to MM, looking at the data on the computer screen—files Frenchie had scraped from Vought International's servers before the Translucentincident. Most were trivial emails and reports, but a portion was encrypted, with filenames consisting of strings of numbers and no file extensions.
"These encrypted files," MM pointed at the screen, "we can't open them. Frenchie tried three different cracking programs and none worked. It's probably top-level encryption from inside Vought International."
"Who can open them?"
"The person who built this encryption system. Or—" MM glanced at Lu Ren, "—someone with authorization. Like Stan Edgar, like Homelander, like Victoria Neuman."
Lu Ren stared at the string of numeric filenames for a few seconds. He had an intuition—what was hidden inside these files might be more important than what Dr. Vogelbaum had said.
He took out his phone and checked the time. 6:40 AM. Starlight's message thread was still on yesterday's "Good night," which he hadn't replied to. She was probably still asleep—the apartments in Vought Tower had excellent soundproofing, and once the curtains were drawn, there was no difference between day and night.
He opened the chat window with Starlight, "Are you free today?"
Chapter 37: Soldier Boy and Starlight
After sending the message, he placed his phone face down on the table, not wanting to stare at the screen waiting for a reply.
However, the phone vibrated immediately.
Starlight: "I'm free. What's up?"
Lu Ren: "I want you to meet someone."
Starlight: "Who?"
Lu Ren typed "Soldier Boy," then deleted it. He changed it to: "Someone who came from a very far place."
Starlight was silent for a few seconds, then sent an address—not Vought Tower, but an apartment building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Starlight: "This is a friend's place, it's empty. Vought International won't find it. Three o'clock in the afternoon."
Lu Ren: "Okay."
He put his phone in his pocket and stood up.
"I'm heading out," he said to MM.
"Where to?"
"Back to Vought Tower first. Then—" He didn't finish, because he wasn't sure what would happen next. Putting Starlight and Soldier Boy in the same room was a scenario with countless possible outcomes.
Soldier Boy stood up from the corner, placed his empty beer bottle on the table, and straightened the wrinkled military coat he was wearing.
"I'm going with you."
"No need. Stay here for now."
"I'm sick of waiting," Soldier Boy said, his tone brooking no argument. "You told me to meet someone, so I'm going to meet them. You tell me to wait here, and I can't do it. I've been waiting for forty fucking years, that's enough."
Lu Ren looked into his eyes—those gray-blue eyes, worn down by forty years of time but still sharp.
"Once you go," Lu Ren said, "you listen to me for everything."
"Why should I?"
"Because I'm the one who got you out of that freezer."
Soldier Boy stared at him for three seconds, then smiled—the corners of his mouth curling up to reveal a row of neat but dull teeth.
"Fine. I'll listen to you."
Kimiko had opened her eyes at some point, stood up from the corner, slid her kryptonite knife into the sheath at her waist, and walked over to Lu Ren.
She took the small black-covered notebook from her pocket, flipped to a blank page, wrote a few words in pencil, and then turned it around for Lu Ren to see:
"I'm going too."
"We don't need that many people."
Kimiko flipped to the next page and wrote: "You owe me one. That time in Russia, I carried him for four hundred meters."
Lu Ren glanced at Soldier Boy.
"What did she say?" Soldier Boy asked.
"She said she carried you for four hundred meters in Russia."
Soldier Boy was silent for a moment, then nodded at Kimiko.
"Thanks."
Kimiko didn't smile or nod; she just put the notebook back in her pocket.
The three of them walked out of the hideout.
It was raining outside. It wasn't the kind of downpour common in New York, but a fine, dense rain like mist. It felt cool on the face, not like autumn rain, but more like a rehearsal for winter.
Lu Ren stood in the rain, the water hitting him and being deflected by the electrostatic field on his skin, forming an invisible barrier. Soldier Boy didn't have that luxury; the rain fell on his hair, shoulders, and military coat, quickly soaking him.
"You're not blocking the rain?" Lu Ren asked.
"No need." Soldier Boy tilted his head back, letting the rain hit his face. "I haven't seen rain in forty years. What's wrong with getting a little wet?"
Kimiko pulled a plastic bag from her backpack and put it over her head—her method was more practical.
The three of them walked into the rain, followed the road for a while, and then turned into an alley. Lu Ren stopped in the alley to confirm there were no surveillance cameras around.
"I'm taking you there by flying," he said to Soldier Boy. "It might be a bit uncomfortable."
"How uncomfortable?"
Lu Ren didn't explain. He grabbed Soldier Boy's wrist with one hand and Kimiko's arm with the other, his body turning into a bolt of silver lightning.
The lightning darted out of the alley, streaking across the sky of Queens, crossing the East River, and heading straight for Manhattan.
Soldier Boy didn't scream. As he was carried by the lightning at supersonic speeds through the city sky, he simply closed his eyes. Lu Ren felt his wrist tense up—not out of fear, but that subconscious muscle tightness when facing the unknown.
They landed on the rooftop of that apartment building on the Upper West Side.
Soldier Boy opened his eyes, released Lu Ren's wrist, and stood there for two seconds.
"Not bad," he said, though his face was a bit pale.
Kimiko pulled the plastic bag off her head; her hair underneath was still dry. She looked at Lu Ren and gave a thumbs up.
The apartment building was a pre-war structure with red brick exterior walls, wrought-iron fire escapes, and a lobby paved with black and white marble tiles. The apartment Starlight mentioned was on the sixth floor, unit 6B.
When they arrived, Starlight was already there.
She was standing in the corridor, leaning against the doorframe of 6B, wearing a dark blue trench coat, her hair loose, no makeup, holding a cup of coffee. Seeing Lu Renwalk out of the stairwell with two people, her expression shifted—not surprise, but that resignation of "you really brought me another surprise."
"This is the person you wanted me to meet?" She looked at Soldier Boy.
"This is Soldier Boy," Lu Ren said.
The coffee cup in Starlight's hand nearly dropped to the floor.
She steadied the cup, but couldn't steady the expression on her face—shock, confusion, disbelief, fear; four emotions flashed across her face in less than a second.
"Soldier Boy?" Her voice tightened. "The Soldier Boy from World War II? The Soldier Boy who died decades ago?"
"Not dead," Soldier Boy walked up to her, looking down at her, "just old."
Starlight looked up at him. His hair was graying, his face lined with wrinkles, his military coat soaked with water, but he stood there like a wall.
"You really are—"
"I really am."
Starlight turned to Lu Ren.
"You went to Russia just to find him?"
"Yes."
"You brought him back from Russia?"
"Yes."
"Does Homelander know?"
"No."
Starlight closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened them.
"You're crazy," she said. "You're fucking insane. Do you know who Soldier Boy is? He is Homelander's—"
"Father," Soldier Boy took over. "In a genetic sense. Not a real father. But I am indeed the source of his blood."
Starlight looked at Lu Ren, her lips trembling.
"You're having me meet someone whose existence Homelander doesn't know about, someone who can threaten Homelander's position. Why are you letting me know all this?"
Lu Ren looked into her eyes.
"Because you said you didn't want to stand outside the wall. Now I've torn a piece of the wall down. Do you want to come in?"
Starlight didn't speak.
She opened the door.
"Come in. Don't stand in the corridor, there's surveillance in the corridor."
The apartment was bigger than Lu Ren expected. Three bedrooms and two living rooms, the decor was very simple but clean—white walls, light-colored wooden floors, a gray fabric sofa set and a glass coffee table in the living room. There were a few potted plants on the windowsill; they probably hadn't been watered in a long time, and the leaves were a bit yellow.
Starlight closed the door, pulled the curtains, and turned on the living room lights.
Chapter 38: Return to New York
"This is my college classmate's place," she said. "She works in London and only comes back once a year. Sometimes—when I want to be alone—I come here."
"Is it safe?" Lu Ren asked.
"Safe. It's not within Vought International's surveillance range. I've checked."
Soldier Boy paced around the living room, looking here and there. He picked up a small white ceramic sculpture from the coffee table—a cat—turned it over to look at the bottom, then put it back.
"This is a nice house," he said. "Better than mine. My house is in Virginia; I haven't been back in forty years, so it's probably been demolished by now."
"You have a house in Virginia?" Starlight asked.
"Vought International assigned it to me." Soldier Boy sat on the sofa, the cushions sinking under his weight. "Just a place to stay after missions. It's not a home; it's just a hole."
Kimiko stood at the doorway, not coming in. She leaned against the doorframe, pulled a small notebook from her pocket, wrote a few lines, tore the page out, and handed it to Lu Ren.
Lu Ren took it and read it.
"She asks: Now that he knows Homelander is his son, what will he do?"
Lu Ren read the contents of the note aloud.
Soldier Boy leaned back on the sofa, hands crossed over his stomach, staring at the chandelier on the ceiling.
"I want to see him. Not to kill him—at least, not right now. I want to see what he looks like, what his voice sounds like, and if he smiles like his mother."
"Who is his mother?" Starlight asked.
"A woman I can't quite remember." Soldier Boy's voice dropped. "A surrogate mother Vought International found. I only saw her once. She looked terrified. I asked her what she was afraid of, and she said she was afraid of me. Not because I looked scary—but because she knew what I was."
"What are you?"
"A weapon." Soldier Boy closed his eyes. "A weapon that didn't know why it was created."
The room went quiet.
Rain tapped against the window, making a faint, pitter-patter sound.
Starlight sat on the other end of the sofa, hugging a cushion, watching Soldier Boy. Her expression shifted from shock to something else—something indescribable, complex, a mixture of sympathy and wariness.
"When do you plan to see him?" she asked.
"Soon." Soldier Boy opened his eyes. "But not now. Right now, I don't know what to say when I do see him. 'Hello, I'm your father'? Too fake. 'I'm your genetic donor'? Too stupid."
He sat up straight and looked at Starlight.
"You're in The Seven?"
"Yes."
"Have you seen him?"
"Every day."
"What's he like?"
Starlight was silent for a few seconds.
"He's lonely," she said. "Very, very lonely. He stands in a crowd, and everyone looks at him, but the way he looks at everyone is the same—like he's looking at objects, not people. He doesn't know who he is, and he doesn't know who he wants to be. He's just... there."
Soldier Boy nodded, as if he had heard an expected answer.
"Just like me," he said.
"Like you?"
"I was the same when I was young. Standing in a crowd, feeling like I didn't belong anywhere. The difference is, I knew why. He is who he is. He doesn't know."
Outside the window, the rain stopped. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, casting a golden reflection on the wet streets.
Lu Ren stood up, walked to the window, pulled the curtain open just a crack, and looked at the street below. There weren't many pedestrians, and occasionally a car would drive by, tires splashing through puddles.
"Starlight," he said.
"Yeah?"
"I need you to do me a favor."
"What kind of favor?"
"Help me keep an eye on Homelander. Every move he makes—where he goes, who he meets, what he says. Tell me about anything unusual."
Starlight looked at him.
"Are you going to go after him?"
"Not me. He will himself." Lu Ren turned around and looked at Soldier Boy sitting on the sofa. "He will walk to the edge of the cliff on his own. We just need to wait."
Starlight put down the cushion and stood up.
"Fine," she said. "I'll keep an eye on him for you."
She walked to the door, picked up the trench coat hanging on the rack, put it on, and tied the belt.
"But you owe me an explanation," she said, looking back at Lu Ren. "Not today, not tomorrow, but you owe me one. About everything—why you know so much, where you come from, what you're actually trying to do. One day, you have to tell me everything."
"Okay," Lu Ren said.
Starlight opened the door and walked out.
Her footsteps echoed in the hallway, growing fainter, followed by the sound of the elevator door opening, and then silence.
Soldier Boy stood up from the sofa, walked to the window, stood beside Lu Ren, and looked at the street outside.
"That girl is alright," he said.
"Yeah."
"Don't drag her into this. A girl like that shouldn't be in the world of people like us."
"She's already in it," Lu Ren said. "I didn't drag her in. She walked in on her own."
Soldier Boy didn't say anything, just watched the golden sunlight outside.
Kimiko wrote a new note at the door and walked over to hand it to Lu Ren.
The note read: "Becca. Butcher went to find her. If he can't find her, or if he finds her and it's not what he expected, what will he do?"
Lu Ren looked at the note and was silent for a long time.
"What will he do?" Soldier Boy leaned over to take a look.
"I don't know." Lu Ren folded the note and put it in his pocket. "But I suspect he'll do something none of us want him to do."
---
On the way back from Virginia, Butcher didn't say a word.
He was driving, Lu Ren was in the passenger seat, and Kimiko and Soldier Boy were in the back. The car radio was off; there was only the sound of wind and tires mixing together, like a layer of White Noise covering the car.
Lu Ren closed his eyes, pretending to doze, but his mind was running through the events of the last few days. Translucent was dead, Victoria Neuman had gotten the medical report, Butcher had seen Becca but nothing had changed, Soldier Boy's memories had been wiped, and Abigail said there was a locked door in his mind.
Then—
[Ding.]
A familiar yet strange voice exploded deep in his consciousness.
[System reboot complete. Task progress during sleep mode has been cleared. Current host status detected: Healthy. Abilities: Rumble-Rumble Fruit (Merged), Superman Serum (Basic). Current Hero Points: 6800.]
Lu Ren opened his eyes abruptly.
The system was back. After disappearing for over a dozen chapters, it had suddenly returned.
He kept his composure and closed his eyes again.
[Detected that host has deviated from the original plot line. Resynchronizing with The Boys world line... Synchronization complete.]
[New main quest released: The Stage at Madison Square Garden. Quest description: During Friday night's public appearance, make at least 80% of the audience believe you are a "True Hero." Reward: Hero Points × 10000, Superman Serum (Intermediate) × 1. Failure penalty: Vought International trust level resets to zero, will be kicked out of The Seven.]
[Side quest released: Starlight Night. Quest description: Engage in an "intimate interaction" with Starlight before or after the performance and let the media capture it. Reward: Hero Points × 2000, Special item "Starlight's Popularity" (Topic engagement doubles within 24 hours).]
[Side quest released: Homelander's Gaze. Quest description: Demonstrate your strength in front of Homelander and make him feel an "undeniable sense of threat" from you. Reward: Hero Points × 3000, Achievement "Homelander's Complex."]
[Hidden quest triggered: Becca's Secret. Quest description: Find Becca Butcher and earn her trust. Reward: Unknown.]
Looking at these tasks, Lu Ren cursed inwardly.
The system was still the same. Starlight Night? Intimate interaction? Isn't that just making him and Starlight fake a relationship? Vought International was already good at this, and now the system was joining in on the fun.
Chapter 39: Short Skirt
He opened his eyes and glanced out the window. They had already entered Queens; the streetscape had changed from highways to dilapidated factories and storage yards.
"Almost there," Butcher said. His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper grinding against sheet metal.
"Mm."
The car stopped at the entrance of the hideout. Butcherkilled the engine but didn't get out. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands, staring at a dead bug on the windshield.
"Becca won't come with me," he said.
"I know."
"It's not 'won't come with me.' It's that she won't let me get close. She's afraid I'll hurt the kid."
Lu Ren didn't respond.
"She's right," Butcher finally turned his head. His eyes weren't clouded by alcohol, but held a kind of parched, burned-out clarity. "I really would hurt him. Homelanderwould find the kid through me. Victoria Neuman would use me to control Becca. I'm just a live wire—whoever touches me gets shocked."
"You're not a wire," Lu Ren said. "You're a bomb. Whoever touches you, blows up."
Butcher froze for a moment, then laughed. It was a short, sharp laugh, like a cough.
"Fuck you," he said. He pushed the car door open and got out.
Lu Ren followed him out.
Inside the hideout, MM was looking at the computer, and Frenchie was munching on a sandwich nearby. Hughie sat in a chair in the corner, holding a comic book, but he wasn't flipping through it; he was just staring blankly at the cover. He had been like this since the Translucent incident—he didn't say anything, but he couldn't move past it either.
Abigail wasn't there. She had gone back to the warehouse.
Soldier Boy was sitting on the sofa; the TV was on, but he wasn't watching it. He was staring at the ceiling, chewing on something—maybe gum, maybe a piece of hard bread.
Kimiko walked to the corner, put down her backpack, and then used sign language to gesture something to Lu Ren.
Lu Ren didn't understand, only recognizing two of the gestures: "You" and "What."
Kimiko rolled her eyes, took out her phone, and typed a line for him to see.
"You look terrible. Have you slept?"
Lu Ren shook his head.
Kimiko typed another line: "You have to go on stage in three days. You need to rest."
She was right.
Lu Ren walked to the back room, collapsed onto the cot, and stared at the ceiling.
[Ding. System notification: Host's current fatigue level is 87%. Rest is recommended. Hero Points can be exchanged for "Rapid Recovery Serum" (50 points/vial) to eliminate fatigue.]
"No need," Lu Ren said in his mind.
[Cancelled.]
He closed his eyes.
His phone vibrated again. A message from Starlight—not text, but a video.
He opened it. Starlight was wearing a white short-skirt uniform, sitting in a makeup room at Vought Tower, smiling at the camera.
"Lu Ren, what are you doing? I'm trying on my performance outfit for Friday." She pulled the camera back and spun around. "Does this look good? Or is it too short?"
The skirt was indeed short; when she spun, the edge of her white leggings was visible.
Lu Ren closed the video and typed two words: "Looks good."
Starlight replied instantly: "Just two words? How perfunctory."
She sent another photo. A selfie in front of the vanity mirror, her hand resting on her chin, lips slightly parted, eyes half-closed, blonde hair spilling over her shoulders. There was a small mole below her collarbone.
Lu Ren stared at that mole for two seconds.
[Side mission "Starlight Night" countdown: 72 hours. It is recommended that the host communicates the specific form of "intimate interaction" with Starlight in advance.]
"I don't need your advice." Lu Ren placed his phone face-down on his chest.
He needed to get some sleep.
Friday night, Madison Square Garden.
All eighteen thousand seats had sold out two days in advance. Scalper tickets were being resold for eight times the original price, and social media was flooded with the "Silver Lightning" tag. Vought International's propaganda machine was running at full speed; on TV, the internet, and outdoor billboards, Lu Ren's photo was everywhere—dark blue suit, Silver Lightning pattern, deep eyes, and a slightly upturned corner of his mouth.
Ashley sent Lu Ren the detailed performance schedule on Wednesday afternoon.
7:00, red carpet. 7:45, backstage interview. 8:00, opening performance (Homelander). 8:15, Lu Ren takes the stage. 8:30, "interaction segment" with Starlight. 8:45, joint performance. 9:00, conclusion.
The specific content of the interaction segment wasn't written down; it only had one line: "To be improvised live by Starlight."
Lu Ren frowned as he looked at this line. Improvise? Starlight?
He sent a message to Starlight: "How do you plan to improvise the interaction segment?"
Starlight replied with a winking emoji. "Secret."
She sent another one: "Are you scared?"
"Not scared."
"Then we'll see when the time comes."
Thursday night, Lu Ren tested his abilities for the last time at the hideout.
He stood in the open space of the abandoned factory and raised his right hand. Silvery-white lightning coalesced at his fingertips, growing from small to large, from a mass into a sphere, and from a sphere into a pillar. The pillar of lightning shot into the sky, piercing the factory roof and blooming into a silver-white flower in the night sky.
[Ability output detected: Current peak power is approximately 3.2 megawatts. Superman Serum (Basic) provides physical enhancement, and the Rumble-Rumble Fruit provides energy output. Synergistic effect is stable.]
"What is the concept of 3.2 megawatts?" Lu Ren asked in his mind.
[Approximately equal to the instantaneous power of a destroyer. Can instantly melt one ton of steel. Against Homelander: Can cause minor surface burns; not recommended as a primary attack method.]
"Fuck."
[It is recommended that the host completes the main mission as soon as possible to obtain the Superman Serum(Intermediate). At that time, physical defense will be upgraded to a level capable of briefly resisting Homelander's laser eyes.]
Lu Ren retracted the lightning.
The factory quieted down, leaving only the sound of debris from the roof hitting the ground and the faint sound of traffic from the distant highway.
He turned and walked into the hideout. Everyone was there.
Butcher sat at one end of the long table, with a blueprint of Madison Square Garden spread out in front of him. MM was marking camera positions and security deployments nearby. Frenchie was typing on a keyboard, accessing the venue's surveillance system permissions. Hughie was sitting in the corner; he wasn't reading comics anymore, but was instead reading a book on the law concerning Supes. Kimiko was wiping the kryptonite knife, the blade glowing with an eerie green light under the lamps. Soldier Boy was still sitting on the sofa, the TV off, resting his eyes.
"For Friday's security," Butcher looked up, "Vought International has arranged three hundred security guards, and there are The Seven's own people inside the venue. Homelander will be on standby backstage the entire time."
"What are you worried about?" Lu Ren asked.
"Victoria Neuman," Butcher said. "Translucent died by her hand, which means she isn't afraid of getting blood on her hands. Her people could mix into eighteen thousand spectators, and no one would be able to find them. If she wants to make a move that day—whether against you or someone else—that is the best opportunity."
"Why would she make a move against me?"
"Because you have Soldier Boy." Butcher glanced at the old man on the sofa. "Victoria Neuman doesn't know Soldier Boy is with us, but she will sooner or later. She thinks you're a threat."
Lu Ren was silent for a few seconds.
[External threat analysis detected. It is recommended that the host keeps at least one member of The Seven by their side as a human shield during the performance. Recommended candidate: Starlight (higher favorability, and her abilities can assist with defense).]
"Can you say something fucking useful?" Lu Ren cursed in his mind.
[Recorded. Optimizing response strategy.]
Chapter 40: Brought Someone
Lu Ren couldn't be bothered to pay it any mind.
Friday, 5:00 PM, Madison Square Garden.
Lu Ren stood in the backstage dressing room, facing a mirror surrounded by lightbulbs. This was the third makeup artist—this time a Latina woman in her forties with rough fingers, but she was quick.
"Your skin is so easy to work with," she said. "Unlike Homelander; he needs three layers of foundation every time, or his face looks blotchy on camera."
"Homelander wears makeup?"
"You think he's just naturally that good-looking?" The makeup artist laughed. "He takes longer than you. At least an hour before every show. He doesn't let anyone see him without makeup."
Lu Ren imagined Homelander sitting in front of the vanity mirror applying foundation, finding it both absurd and oddly reasonable.
The makeup artist stepped back and looked at Lu Ren in the mirror.
"All done. You look incredibly handsome today. If you go out there, you might give every woman in the audience a heart attack."
Lu Ren stood up and rolled his shoulders. The suit was new, fitting better than the last one, the deep blue a darker shade, with Silver Lightning patterns extending from his shoulders to his waist, and a small lightning emblem added to his chest—Vought International's marketing department had added it after all.
Someone knocked on the door.
The door wasn't closed, and Starlight walked straight in.
She was wearing her performance outfit—not the white skirt, but a new, sexier white and gold bodysuit, with a low neckline and cutouts at the waist revealing a patch of skin. Her blonde hair was styled in big waves draped over her shoulders, her makeup was heavier than usual, and her lips were bright red.
"Does it look good?" She spun around.
Lu Ren looked at her.
"It looks good."
"Just 'good'?" Starlight took two steps closer, standing in front of him, looking up with a sparkle in her eyes. "I spent two hours picking this out. Ashley said it was too revealing, and I told her, 'If it's not revealing, who's going to look?'"
"Ashley is right."
"Well, are you Ashley?" Starlight raised her hand and adjusted the lightning emblem on his chest. "You're Silver Lightning. Your lightning is on me."
Lu Ren looked down at her hand. Her fingertips traced a small circle over his emblem.
"Are you ready for the interaction segment?" he asked.
Starlight pulled her hand back and smiled.
"I'm ready," she said. "You're going to like it."
The door was pushed open again. Homelander stood in the doorway.
He was wearing his full uniform, red and blue, with his cape draped behind him and his signature fake smile on his face. But his eyes weren't smiling; those blue eyes were fixed on the spot Starlight had just touched—the lightning emblem on Lu Ren's chest.
"New guy," Homelander walked in. "Forty minutes until showtime. Nervous?"
"Not nervous."
"Good, that's good." Homelander stood in front of Lu Ren, half a head taller, looking down at him. "The first time I performed at the Garden, I was so nervous I almost threw up. Later, I learned one thing—those eighteen thousand people in the audience aren't here to see you; they're here to watch you perform. You can make them laugh, make them cry, make them scream. But never let them think you're better than them."
"Why?"
"Because they'll be afraid," Homelander's smile widened slightly. "People who are afraid will do terrible things."
Starlight stood to the side, arms crossed over her chest, watching Homelander.
"Homelander," she said, "you should go get ready."
Homelander turned to look at her, his gaze landing on her neckline for a second before moving away.
"You look very beautiful today, Starlight."
"Thank you."
"I'm serious." Homelander reached out and touched the blonde hair on her shoulder. "You should dress in this style more often."
Starlight didn't flinch, but she didn't respond either. Her expression was calm, as if she were waiting for a guest to leave.
Homelander pulled his hand back, turned, and walked out.
The door closed.
Starlight let out a breath.
"What were you thinking when he touched your hair?" Lu Ren asked.
"I was thinking," Starlight said, "that his fingernails are cut quite neatly."
Lu Ren couldn't help but let out a laugh.
Starlight laughed too.
"Let's go." She grabbed his wrist. "It's time to go on stage."
7:00 PM, the red carpet.
A three-hundred-meter-long red carpet was laid out outside Madison Square Garden, crowded on both sides with reporters and fans. Flashes popped incessantly, and screams rose in waves.
When Lu Ren stepped out of the black SUV, the sound of shutters exploded.
"Silver Lightning! Look over here!"
"Lu Ren! Lu Ren! Over here!"
"Are you and Starlight for real?!"
He didn't answer, just smiled and waved, his pace steady. Silver arcs of electricity danced at his fingertips, each flash triggering a new round of screams.
Starlight walked behind him, a few paces back. She was walking the red carpet alone; this was Ashley's arrangement—"Separate first, then reunite to create buzz."
Lu Ren walked to the end of the red carpet and turned to wait for Starlight.
When Starlight walked over, he reached out. Starlight took his hand, their fingers interlacing.
The reporters went crazy.
"They're holding hands! They're holding hands!"
"Got it! Got it!"
Starlight turned her head, her lips close to Lu Ren's ear, and said in a voice only the two of them could hear: "The first part of the interaction segment, complete."
Lu Ren glanced at her.
"There's a second part?"
"We'll talk about that on stage."
Backstage interview, 7:45 PM.
The reporter was a blonde woman with a professional smile and a sweet voice.
"Mr. Lu Ren, tonight is your first performance at Madison Square Garden. Is there anything you'd like to say to the audience?"
"Thank you for coming," Lu Ren said to the camera. "I won't let you down."
"Ms. Starlight, you and Mr. Lu Ren have been very close lately. Are you dating?"
Starlight glanced at Lu Ren, then smiled at the camera.
"Guess."
The reporter paused for a second, then laughed.
The backstage staff laughed too.
Lu Ren didn't laugh.
8:00 PM sharp, the lights went out.
Madison Square Garden plunged into darkness. Eighteen thousand mobile phones lit up at once, like a sea of stars.
On stage, a beam of white light shone down.
Homelander rose from the center of the stage.
He hovered in mid-air, his cape fluttering behind him in the wind from the blowers, hands on his hips, chin slightly raised, wearing that signature smile that made people want to punch him.
"New York—" His voice wasn't loud, but it carried through the sound system across the entire venue. "Your hero is back."
The whole arena screamed.
Homelander spun around in the air, his laser eyes sweeping across the ceiling, burning a shimmering "V" into it. Sparks fell onto the stage, which he brushed away with his cape.
"Tonight, I didn't come alone." He landed in the center of the stage. "Tonight, I've brought someone. Someone you—no, the whole world—is talking about."