Chapter 194: Guess if I'll Pull Out Your Spine?
Annika walked up to the coffee machine and skillfully brewed a cup of coffee.
She couldn't help it. As an employee of the Crime Analysis Department, which was sometimes busier than the Public Relations Department, she survived solely on coffee.
"Mr. Jervis, did you need something?" Annika handed the freshly brewed coffee to Xia Shang.
Xia Shang smiled slightly. "Could you please pull up Starlight's movements from last night?"
Clearly, Starlight had been targeted by Stan Edgar. If it was confirmed that Starlight had indeed left Vought Tower last night and appeared near Sage Grove, she would be in danger. Stan Edgar would likely clean house. However, he probably wouldn't directly kick Starlight out of The Seven. According to the normal procedure, he would first sideline her, letting her gradually fade from public view, and then find an opportunity to announce Starlight's departure.
"Mr. Jervis, according to the tracker's tracking data, she stayed in her room all night and didn't go out," Annika said, looking at the tracking map on the computer screen.
"Print it out and give it to me." Xia Shang narrowed his eyes slightly, raised his hand, and took a sip of coffee.
It seemed Starlight was smarter than he thought. She likely had Billy and the others remove the tracker from her body.
...
In the blink of an eye, it was the following Monday. Four days had passed since Senator Neuman's livestream was attacked.
New York had changed quite a bit in these four days. Firstly, thanks to Victoria Neuman's relentless promotion, the sales of all gun stores saw a surge. She had publicly stated that the United States' immigration system had huge loopholes, leading to more and more illegal immigrants entering the United States, including some extremist super terrorists with superpowers.
For a time, people across the United States were in a state of panic. Some fanatics even began slaughtering Supes. They acted as if they had paranoid delusions; as soon as they saw someone with superpowers, they suspected they were a super terrorist, and without a word, pulled out a pistol and shot them dead.
This led a portion of Supes to move to Manhattan, New York overnight. In their view, The Seven lived in Vought Tower in Manhattan, so those lunatics wouldn't dare launch attacks so recklessly.
However, the reality was the exact opposite of what they expected. In just four days, Manhattan's crime rate soared, turning it into a Little Gotham.
Just moments ago, when Xia Shang went downstairs to shop, he saw a white fat man disregard the cashier's pleas and directly pull the trigger. The only reason was that the white fat man seemed to see the cashier's eyes glowing. Bang! After a gunshot, the cashier fell to the ground. Blood gurgled from the bullet hole on his cheek.
There were many incidents like this.
Xia Shang, unfazed, walked out of the supermarket with his shopping bag.
Currently, mainstream public opinion was divided into two factions. The right-wing hoped for more Superheroes to resist the threat from super terrorists, while the left-wing claimed this was a Vought International conspiracy, that Vought had colluded with some officials connected to their interests to deliberately introduce super terrorists into the United States.
Victoria Neuman was a leader of the left-wing. She spared no effort to discredit Vought International to gain more votes.
But no matter what, Stan Edgar was the guaranteed winner. The right-wing were his people, and Victoria Neuman of the left-wing was also his person. As long as no fatal evidence emerged that could threaten Vought, Stan Edgar could sit back and watch the drama he had meticulously arranged.
Now, public opinion concerning Homelander had crumbled under Vought's Public Relations Department's marketing. Not only that, but Homelander's popularity had also soared due to the appearance of super terrorists, successfully suppressing The Deep and others. So, his mood had been excellent these past few days, and the smile on his face hadn't disappeared.
[Homelander Incident ended, gained 500 fantasy value]
[Current fantasy value: 3050]
Returning to Vought Tower.
In the elevator, Xia Shang coincidentally met Starlight. "Are you going to the 99th floor too?"
"Homelander called me for a meeting." Starlight seemed calm facing Xia Shang's question.
"Then you better be prepared," Xia Shang said with a meaningful smile.
Beep! The elevator doors slowly opened. Standing on either side of the doors were two guards with live guns.
Starlight looked at Xia Shang with some confusion. She didn't understand what he meant.
"Let's go, don't keep Homelander waiting."
Arriving at the Supe Conference Room, a glance revealed that all the Superheroes, including Stormfront, were present. On the large screen on the right side of the Meeting Room, surveillance footage was playing.
Seeing the familiar scene on the screen, Starlight felt a sense of dread, but she still pretended to be calm and sat down in her seat. "What is this? A scene from a new movie?"
"Starlight, your acting skill is really good."
Stormfront, standing nearby, clapped her hands and sneered.
"I don't understand what you're talking about?" Starlight continued to play dumb.
She didn't believe that a surveillance video where the face couldn't be clearly seen could prove that the person releasing the golden light beam in the video was her. Moreover, the video was very short; the scene of her releasing the golden light was less than a second.
"The location in the video is Vought Secret Base. It was attacked recently. According to the Crime Analysis Department's investigation, the people involved in the operation perfectly match the names on the terrorist list Vought released. If I remember correctly, you seem to have a good relationship with them."
Homelander walked up to Starlight, his hands behind his back.
"That previous operation, you also let them go, the time The Deep's pet whale was killed. You haven't forgotten, have you?"
"First of all, it wasn't my pet. Secondly, it had a name. Its name was Lucy," The Deep said sadly.
Homelander shook his head. "That's not important. What's important is how I should deal with Starlight now."
He placed his hands on Starlight's shoulders, then slowly moved them towards her neck. "Where are they now?"
"I don't know. I have no idea what you're talking about."
Starlight tried to ask others for help, but except for Queen Maeve who responded, everyone else avoided her eyes.
"I think this might be a misunderstanding. After all, you can't see the person's face clearly in the video." Queen Maeve, as Homelander's former girlfriend, knew his personality well. Although Homelander's expression was calm now, his heart was filled with killing intent. If nothing was done, Homelander might snap Starlight's neck.
"Maeve, you better shut your mouth!"
Homelander gripped Starlight's neck tightly. He clenched his teeth, the muscles on the sides of his mouth bulging, looking slightly menacing.
"Guess if I'll pull out your spine? Hmm."
(end of chapter)