Zzzzzzt—!!!
The giant screens flickered repeatedly, and tens of thousands of gazes focused blankly on the three large screens on the stage.
The next second, the images lit up.
What appeared was an elaborately crafted dynamic image: Homelander was suckling breast milk like an infant, and the nursing figure had been photoshopped with Madelyn's face, with a glaring red cross marked over it.
A line of text scrolled below: Deep-sea Iceman—time to wean, good baby!
In the crowd, Homelander's pupils constricted, and the smile on his face was replaced by rage and panic: "It's that damn ugly freak from the deep! Oh no, Madelyn!"
He shot straight up into the sky, turning into a blurred red and blue afterimage; after a deafening sonic boom tore through the clouds, he vanished from everyone's sight.
Tens of thousands of fanatical people began to discuss:
"Where is Homelander going?"
"He must have received an emergency mission to fight criminals."
"He really is my idol!"
At this moment, at the edge of the stage.
"Ho-, Homelander?!" Ashley looked at the sky, then glanced at the screen, and immediately snapped back to reality.
She hurriedly took out her phone and tapped the screen quickly: "This is obviously a trap! I must contact the CEO quickly."
Ezekiel walked off the stage and arrived at the backstage equipment area, shouting as he walked: "Cut the power! Pull the plug, quick! What are you idiots doing?!"
"Okay, okay, pulling it now!" The dozen or so flustered staff members had just begun to act when they fainted to the ground one after another for no apparent reason.
"Ene..." Ezekiel had just tried to shout when his figure flickered and vanished from where he stood.
On the stage, the pitch-black screens lit up once again.
The footage showed the interior of a swaying cabin; the sounds of chaotic pleading and cursing from the people emanated from the speakers. Homelander's eyes glowed red, and he ruthlessly swept his Heat Vision beam across, slaughtering the passengers on the plane.
"My god, he really..." Annie quickly covered her mouth, her face turning pale as she vaguely understood something.
Beside her, Mother's Milk and Standard exchanged a quick look.
Mother's Milk forced a look of shock onto his face, picked up the microphone, and shouted: "This is a fabricated, fake video. Please stay calm, everyone; we will handle this immediately."
Standard was full of rage and shouted loudly: "Please trust the official authorities. Hackers are interfering with the normal operation of our gathering; we cannot let them succeed!"
The tens of thousands of spectators below the stage were stunned by these successive shocks, and intermittent sounds of agreement arose:
"Exactly, Vought officials have already debunked it, it must be fake."
"Homelander has protected us for over twenty years; he would never do such a thing!"
Whoosh—Bang!
At the back of the venue, a gust of wind struck, and a low humming sound rang out.
Everyone looked toward the sound, only to see a figure with glaring red eyes hovering silently at the top of the tent.
"It's Homelander! He's back? What speed!"
Without any warning, Homelander's eyes shot out two beams of crimson light, beginning to strafe the dense crowd below.
"Ah—we're going to die, run!"
"He's crazy, Homelander is crazy!"
"Oh God, how could this happen?"
The crowd, having just witnessed the power of the Heat Vision, immediately crowded and scattered, panic spreading like a plague.
Screams, cries, and sounds of pushing interwove, and blood mist exploded within the crowd, like a painting of hell.
In the chaos, Wade followed the crowd to take cover, hiding under a table with his head in his hands.
His fingers stopped twitching, and he watched all of this with a calm expression: 'We worked well together.'
The "blood mist" was merely animal blood bags that Butcher and his team had planted in advance last night; that "infrared ray" was just thickened and focused to appear thicker and more conspicuous.
The Homelander hovering over the tent was a puppet that MM had created using the "Shadow Bug" serum, temporarily combining a Homelander cosplay suit with projection imaging and driving the flying insects to fill the interior and keep it afloat.
This was completely a play meticulously planned by him and The Boys, just to create panic.
Only when people realize they were deceived will they start to question, and subsequently, their anger will burn even brighter.
This was the strategy he and Butcher had discussed in advance.
They weren't so depraved as to launch a massacre against innocent people; the people being scared into hiding was just them scaring themselves, combined with herd mentality.
At this moment, the three large screens on the stage began to switch images.
Clear investigative footage began to play.
Children with hollow eyes mechanically reciting scriptures; pregnant girls kept in luxurious prison cells with their hands covered in needle marks; young mothers dying tragically in pools of blood because super-powered babies had burst out of them...
Father Raf's tearful and snot-filled confession served as the voiceover, exposing every dirty detail of the "Seed of Holiness" project nakedly to the public.
The tens of thousands of people, still shaken, hid behind tables, chairs, and buildings; some bolder individuals were the first to notice the anomaly.
"Wait... there are no corpses on the ground!" A young man wearing a studded leather jacket pointed at the venue in front of the stage and shouted, emboldened, "Only pools of red... blood?"
His words quickly sparked discussion, and more and more people poked their heads out, observing cautiously.
"It's true! Same here, only splattered red liquid; it smells like... spoiled livestock blood?"
"Homelander... he strafed for so long, how could not a single person have died? There isn't even a wounded person!"
"We... we were played by a fake?!"
Panic receded like the tide, replaced by a sense of shame and anger at being fooled, and a deeper chill.
If the "massacre" just now was fake, intended to scare them, then what about these things playing on the screen now?
Annoyance, regret, and the anger of being double-deceived erupted like a volcano.
The loyal believers who were just defending Homelander a moment ago had now turned into the fiercest critics.
"Oh God! Those children... those girls... could these also be fake?"
"My money! I've donated money for over a decade, just to nurture these devils? And they used a fake massacre to scare us."
"Liars! Complete and utter liars! Executioners! You will go to hell!"
The crowd, like a burst dam, surged back to the venue with even greater fury than when they were panicked, pointing their spears completely at the stage.
Crowds of media reporters stationed at the scene ran toward the front row: "Shocking reversal! Fake massacre covers up real evil."
"Quick, keep the cameras on it. Winning the Pulitzer Prize starts today!"
At this moment, the stage was already in complete chaos.
"Someone, hurry up and smash these screens! They can't keep playing." Ashley had her phone clamped to her ear, constantly directing everyone at the scene, her lips moving so fast they were almost smoking. "CEO, I'm at... hurry and have Homelander come back."
Starlight neither helped nor said a word, standing silently in place.
Mother's Milk and Standard looked at the screens tremblingly, exchanged a look with bloodless faces, and walked toward the stage steps in unison.
In the cursing crowd at the back, Wade, wearing a black robe, twitched his fingers.
Snap—Boom!!!
Above the stage, the metal structure supporting the heavy lighting rig groaned, then suddenly twisted and snapped.
Steel, lights, and audio equipment poured down toward both sides of the stage like a landslide.
"Watch out!" In the chaos, Starlight instinctively pulled Ashley, who was closest, away from the danger zone.
Meanwhile, Mother's Milk and Standard, who were preparing to flee, were engulfed by the pile of steel falling with precision.
Bang bang—splat—
"Ah—!"
A twisted steel bar, like a spear of judgment, pierced through Standard's thigh, pinning him to the stage, screaming incessantly: "I, I can't move... who, someone save me!"
Another heavy steel beam smashed onto Mother's Milk's waist and abdomen; he lost the ability to move and reached out his arm, groaning in pain: "Sister Annie, please..."
Starlight, who had just saved several people in succession, wore a look of unbearable pity; looking at the swaying steel frame, she still rushed forward.
"Annie!" Vivian followed closely behind, leaping onto the stage.
A triangular metal plate with sharp edges was spinning, flying toward Starlight as she entered to rescue.
Time seemed to be stretched out.
In the reflection of Starlight's terrified, dilated pupils, Vivian used all her strength to shove her away violently.
"No—!" Starlight stumbled backward, and in the instant she turned, she saw a sight she would never forget for the rest of her life.
Splat—Thud!
After a few muffled sounds of flesh being torn.
That sharp metal plate—Vivian hit the metal pillar and slid helplessly to the ground.
Her body was completely sliced open, bringing up a spray of blindingly bright blood that flowed continuously, spreading rapidly across her pale yellow dress.
"Vivian!!!" Annie rushed into the ruins, desperately pushing aside the scattered metal frames.
Her hands trembled, not knowing where to touch, tears blurring her vision: "Look at me. Please... hold on!"
The face that had smiled at her not long ago was now pale as paper, and blood foam kept bubbling out as her lips moved.
Vivian's eyes were full of reluctance, and she coughed twice: "I'm sorry... I can't... stay with you anymore."
"No... don't say that, look at me, it's okay..." She tried in vain to cover that horrific wound with her hands, the warmth soaking through her fingers.
Vivian struggled to lift her arm to caress her cheek: "You can't defeat... Vought, remember to take... Auntie... and run..."
"I'm listening! I'm listening!" Annie brought her ear close to her lips, tears streaming down constantly.
Vivian suddenly grabbed her hand, and her unfocused pupils lit up with radiance: "the nutcracker, don't forget... to be yourself..."
As her words fell, the hand that had been gripping her tightly suddenly let go, falling limply to the ground.
The radiance in her eyes was extinguished completely.
The world went completely quiet in Annie's ears.
She rocked the gradually cooling body in her arms back and forth, sobbing uncontrollably, choking out: "Vivian! Wake up... please... look at me one more time..."
There was no response, only a cold, desperate silence.
The steamy mist in the bathroom, the trembling back under her fingertips, the pouring out of hearts by the creek, the indulgence of cuddling in warmth... all reality and warmth were completely crushed by reality at this moment.
"Ah—!!!!!"
The suppressed fear, sadness, and anger in her heart turned into a heart-wrenching howl; the light around her body exploded out of control, illuminating the surroundings in a deathly pale light.
In her mind, scenes flashed by: the letter from when they met, their first encounter in Central Park, the patient guidance in the gymnasium, the heart-to-heart reconciliation on campus, the warm and intimate entanglement of these past two days... beautiful memories turned into rage and resolute hatred at this moment.
Just then, a furious roar came from outside.
"Damn ugly freak! How dare you play me!"
Homelander landed in mid-air with a boom, scanning the scene, his face a mix of annoyance at being toyed with.
Below the stage was the surging cursing of the crowd; on the stage were Standard screaming while pinned to the wooden board, Mother's Milk groaning in a pool of blood, and also...
His gaze landed on Starlight, who was holding the corpse of an ordinary girl and crying heart-wrenchingly, but he swept past without pausing.
The life or death of civilians was not even as important as a wrinkle on his suit; the completely out-of-control situation at the Believe Expo was the top priority.
Red light lit up in his eyes; thinking of how he had just been lured away like an idiot, a surge of rage burned in him, and he couldn't wait to vent it.
Zzz—Boom! Boom! Boom!
The three pitch-black large screens on the stage, along with the equipment area behind them, became objects for him to vent his anger; Heat Vision swept across, blasting up towering flames and flying debris.
The flames roared, illuminating Homelander's cold, stern face and the countless people in the crowd fleeing in panic, their faith collapsed.
Above this stage of flames, blood, and collapse, a devastated Annie walked out holding the corpse, her face covered in tear stains.
She only knew... her unconditionally supportive loyal fan, the understanding Clara, her most beloved "Vivian", had died.
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