Chapter 182: Retrieve All Information About Mr. Jervis
"Who else could it be but them? The FBI?" Homelander said, somewhat irritated.
As soon as this incident broke, his fan count would drop again. If this continued, his approval rating might fall below 90. Thinking of this, Homelander looked at Xia Shang anxiously: "How do you plan to resolve this? Should I come forward and apologize, or use some other means?"
"I know you're anxious, but hold on. Stormfront's situation is much more serious than yours right now."
Xia Shang looked at Stormfront, who was leaning against the headboard reading a newspaper. The paper in her hand was the New York Daily News that Xia Shang had just handed her.
On the entertainment section to the right of the New York Daily News, a striking headline appeared before Stormfront's eyes: Unbelievable! A certain superhero under a certain international company is actually a racial discrimination supporter! Below the headline was a blurred poster. Although blurred, anyone with working eyes could definitely recognize the superhero in the poster as Stormfront.
After all, this poster was cropped from Stormfront's promotional image.
Stormfront's face revealed a cold sneer.
"Heh, so they had no evidence from beginning to end. The only somewhat convincing thing was what I said during the livestream. But they can't take me down with just that. I can completely say it was unintentional at the time, or even that someone maliciously misinterpreted what I said.
Mr. Jervis, this is already malicious defamation. Didn't you sue them?"
"That's why their report didn't name names. I think you should look at the next article," Xia Shang said calmly.
"Explosive Information: Stormfront Suspected Death. Since the Philadelphia meeting, she has completely vanished as if evaporated from the face of the earth."
"This report is the main event. Someone online is claiming you're dead. If I'm not mistaken, these people should be the accomplices of those who attacked you. Since they can't know your current specific situation, they want to use public opinion to confirm their suspicions.
And in your current state, you're clearly not suitable to show your face, unless you can regrow your lost left arm. Perhaps you could also adopt another plan: get a prosthetic limb. I personally recommend the latter, otherwise you'll be confined behind the scenes, never able to return to the Public Stage."
Xia Shang stated that Stormfront and Vought's fans would never tolerate a superhero becoming disabled. Their conviction would collapse, and Vought International's stock price would collapse along with it.
After hearing Xia Shang's words, Stormfront's complexion was incredibly grim. Crackling electric light occasionally appeared on either side of her face.
"I will definitely tear them limb from limb and stuff them into dog food to feed the dogs."
Her voice was chilling, as if the temperature in the entire room had dropped several degrees.
"Come with me."
Homelander's face was ashen. He patted Xia Shang's shoulder.
After walking out of the Hospital Room and taking him outside the Base, he finally spoke: "Didn't Billy contact you?"
Xia Shang took out his phone and scrolled to the text message section.
"He called me once four days ago, but I didn't see it. After that, he called me three or four more times intermittently and sent over a dozen text messages. At first, the wording was quite polite, asking if Stormfront was really dead and when I could fulfill my promise to have Becca move out of the Secret Base.
But the situation was special, so I didn't reply to him. Therefore, the subsequent text messages were all cursing you and me. The curses were a bit harsh, do you want to see?"
Saying this, Xia Shang prepared to hand the phone to Homelander.
As he expected, Homelander had no intention of taking the phone. "Find them as soon as possible, then take them out. You should understand the principle of murder to silence," Homelander said indifferently, with his hands behind his back.
The Female hiding in the gutter, daring to negotiate with him! Doesn't know what's good for her! "As for Stormfront's matter, you'd best keep it buried. Otherwise... I've always appreciated you, Mr. Jervis, but anyone can be Vice President. For example, Peter from the Marketing Department, and Ashley Barrett. Her performance has been quite good recently." Homelander's words subtly revealed a sense of threat.
It's just that the effect was unsatisfactory.
"Is that so? Then I'll do my best. As for the outcome, nobody knows. Perhaps you can pray for God's blessing."
Xia Shang, who was about to leave, suddenly said: "Oh, right. I think you should focus on how to resolve the current public opinion issue, because your approval rating is very dangerous right now. If this continues, your Co-Captain position might be replaced by Mr. Stan Edgar. The most likely candidate to become the next Co-Captain is The Deep."
His words made Homelander's complexion even uglier.
At the same time, he realized that Xia Shang wasn't so easy to control. So he took out his phone and dialed Ashley Barrett's phone number.
A few seconds later, Ashley Barrett's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Homelander, is there something you need?"
"Help me retrieve all information about Mr. Jervis, including but not limited to where he lives, if he has family or a girlfriend. In short, tell me all the information you can find." Since he couldn't control Mr. Jervis, he would start with his family. Homelander already had ample experience with Queen Maeve, because that's how he was controlling Queen Maeve.
"What... I'm sorry, I didn't hear clearly. You want to investigate Vought Vice President Mr. Jervis? I didn't mishear, did I?"
Ashley Barrett on the other end of the phone was dripping with cold sweat. She couldn't help but swallow and subconsciously clutched her long golden hair, constantly praying that she had misheard. Otherwise, even with three times her courage, she wouldn't dare to investigate her own superior.
"You didn't mishear, it's Mr. Jervis."
Snap! A large clump of hair was pulled out by Ashley Barrett. She looked at the golden hair between the fingers, wanting to cry but having no tears, and asked in confusion: "Mr. Jervis is the Vice President of Vought International. How do I have the authority to investigate him?"
Hearing Ashley Barrett's trembling voice, Homelander was furious. He wished he could shoot heat vision at Ashley Barrett's face. He must have been blind to bring Ashley Barrett back to the company. He originally thought this person would find ways to compete for power and profit from Mr. Jervis, but she got scared like this just hearing the name.
"I don't care what means you use. In short, I'm giving you half an hour."
After the phone call ended.
Ashley Barrett slumped in her office chair. She still held the plan regarding The Deep in her hand, preparing to show it to Vice President Mr. Jervis. Now, what was she supposed to do?
"Forget it, I can't afford to offend Homelander either. I'll just search online casually." Ashley Barrett brushed the hair from her hands, clicked on Google, and searched for information about Mr. Jervis. Soon, she found Xia Shang's personal profile below the Vought official website.
But Xia Shang's profile was even shorter than hers. Forget family, she couldn't even find any useful information. Finally, she found someone on a certain forum who claimed to be Xia Shang's high school classmate. After transferring twenty US dollars, she learned some of the situation.
After getting the information, Ashley Barrett immediately dialed Homelander's phone number.
"Mr. Homelander, as far as I know, Mr. Jervis immigrated to the United States with his grandpa fifteen years ago. After his grandpa passed away, he has been living alone. He has no other relatives in the United States. As for a girlfriend, I couldn't investigate that, but I infer he probably doesn't have one. Otherwise, the paparazzi all over the streets would have exposed this long ago..."
Beep beep beep!!! The phone was hung up directly. Ashley Barrett blinked, somewhat bewildered.
(End of Chapter)