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Kevin fell silent, looking at Emma's slightly aged appearance.
After a while, he asked, "May I ask how old you are this year?"
"How old? Maybe thirty-four, maybe thirty-five. Who remembers their age since this world became like this?"
Emma said casually, sitting on the worn-out sofa in the room, then asked Kevin, "You don't mind me getting smaller, do you?"
...Whatever.
With Kevin's consent, Emma's body rapidly shrank before his eyes, and the clothes she was wearing fell off as she became smaller.
Soon after, Emma's body crawled out of the pile of clothes.
However, she wasn't naked; she was wearing a simple dress, which looked like it was made from a handkerchief.
Kevin, witnessing this, was slightly surprised.
Emma Meyer, one of the important characters in Gen V, has the ability to shrink and enlarge.
However, in the show, Emma needed to vomit when she shrank, which made every instance of shrinking painful for her.
Conversely, if Emma ate more, her body would become enormous.
Before Kevin's abilities had evolved much, he once encountered a teenager in The Woods whose physical prowess far exceeded most Supes; his name was Sam, Luke's younger brother.
His physical strength was immense, and Kevin judged that he might even be stronger than Stormfront.
Yet, even such a strong Sam was pinned to the ground by an enlarged Emma with a single slap.
Although part of it was Sam's reluctance to harm Emma, as they were a couple in the show, this was still enough to prove Emma's potential.
However, due to the flaw in her ability, Emma usually didn't enlarge or shrink.
Having to vomit every time she used her ability, who could endure that…
But that was the Emma in the show; the Emma here used her ability without vomiting.
Had her ability evolved?
Or had she found a way to control her ability?
Kevin recalled that in the final episode of Gen V, Emma did indeed shrink to be shorter than a chair without vomiting, and he had a rough guess in his mind.
As Kevin recalled the plot of Gen V, the shrunken Emma, pulled out a mini cigarette case from somewhere, took out a cigarette slightly larger than her current arm, and put it in her mouth.
Then Emma skillfully opened the electric lighter, lit the cigarette, and happily took a puff:
"Oh… after shrinking, this cigarette hits harder. In a world like this, I guess I'm the only one who can enjoy the taste of cigarettes now."
Emma sighed while exhaling smoke.
Kevin remembered Emma's earlier mention of 'conserving resources' and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Is this how you usually conserve resources?"
"Of course." Emma exhaled smoke, "After shrinking, one cracker is enough for me for a day. As long as I carefully preserve food, a day's harvest is enough for me to not have to go out and find food for half a year."
She paused here, then continued: "Oh, the only worry is that this state is very dangerous. If I'm not careful, ants and cockroaches could kill me… But it's okay, in this state, I have a safe house. Do you see that iron box over there?"
Emma pointed to an iron box on a nearby table. Kevin leaned in to look at the iron box and through a small hole in it, he saw a bed and cabinets inside.
Emma continued, "I usually sleep there, and from that angle, I can see the monitor perfectly."
Opposite the iron box was a relatively intact display screen.
The display screen showed several different views, one of which was directly facing the spot where Kevin had just been.
This was likely why Emma had discovered Kevin.
She had been watching outside.
"Your ability is really convenient in the apocalypse."
Seeing that Emma had arranged everything, Kevin couldn't help but exclaim.
Emma grinned and said, "Yeah, that's why I'm still alive… Like a damn bug, still alive."
"At least you're still alive."
Kevin said, not very good at comforting.
...
Emma was silent, took a deep drag from her cigarette, slowly exhaled, and then said to Kevin, "By the way, didn't you want to know what happened to this world? Ask away. I'll answer whatever I can, but you also have to answer my questions. Exchanging questions for questions, fair enough, right?"
"Fair. So, do you ask first or do I?"
"You go first, you're the guest."
The tiny Emma pulled a simple recliner from the table, lay down on it properly, and spoke in a drawn-out tone.
Kevin didn't stand on ceremony either. He pulled over a chair, straddled it facing Emma, and asked, "First, tell me, why did this world become like this?"
"Of course, it's because of that damned Vought. They're a bunch of lunatics; they actually injected Compound V into animals, but they didn't know that this stuff's effect on animals was even stronger than on humans."
"Why did they do that?"
"Who knows what Homelander was thinking? Oh, you probably don't know, but at that time, Homelander was in charge of Vought, and he, along with a crazy woman, released Compound V all over the world, and then… the war began."
...Crazy woman? Stormfront?
"That Nazi bitch? Not her, she died long ago. It was a Supe named… named 'Firecracker,' she was Homelander's new mistress."
Emma recounted the events that had transpired in this world.
The development of this world was generally similar to the plot after season three that Kevin knew.
At the end of the third season, after a big battle between the main characters and Homelander, Soldier Boy was taken away by Vought, Maeve had one eye blinded by Homelander, and then lost her Supe abilities due to Soldier Boy's power, becoming a normal person and living in seclusion with her girlfriend.
Starlight completely left The Seven and joined The Boys.
Homelander took his son and completely took control of Vought.
Then came the story of Gen V, where Emma and her friends learned the truth about Godolkin University, and Cate and Sam released the Supes held captive in The Woods, those Supes then went on a rampage harming ordinary people within Godolkin University.
The spin-off protagonist Marie and her companions prevented this tragedy from happening.
Then Homelander came looking for them, questioned Marie about why she harmed her compatriots, arrested her and the others, and pinned the blame on them.
Cate and Sam, who caused the chaos at Godolkin University, became heroes instead.
The plot up to this point was basically the same as Kevin's understanding, the original plot without his involvement.
The crucial part was what happened after this.
The conflict between The Boys and Vought intensified, and Homelander became increasingly dissatisfied with only controlling Vought, attempting to get involved in politics.
To gain support, he began to spread Compound V throughout the world, even turning animals into 'Super Animals'.
To deal with Homelander, The Boys obtained a virus targeting Supes from The Woods.
That virus was highly contagious and could spread through air and droplets.
After being released by The Boys, it infected a group of Supes in no time.
Then…
This world began to spiral completely out of control.
Due to the existence of Super Animals, Vought also loosened its control over Compound V, leading to more people having no choice but to become Supes, because only then could they protect themselves.
But becoming a Supe also meant getting infected with the virus targeting Supes, and from then on, the relationship between humans and Supes became a war of attrition.
Either remain human and be killed by Supes or Super Animals, or become a Supe and eventually die from the virus.
Under these circumstances, where death was inevitable regardless of the choice, the world gradually headed towards its demise.
Many of Emma's companions died in this apocalyptic crisis, including her former boyfriend Sam.
However, she heard that the spin-off protagonist Marie was still alive. According to Emma, it seemed to be because Marie's ability was related to blood, which allowed her to isolate herself from virus transmission to the greatest extent.
"So, Vought still exists now?"
After listening to Emma's account, Kevin raised an eyebrow and asked.
Emma finished smoking a cigarette, threw it onto the metal floor, lay back on the simple recliner, and slowly said, "Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't, but it's definitely not here anymore. It's probably on some small island."
"Are the leaders of Vought still Homelander… and that… what was her name, Firecracker?"
"They… hehe."
Emma laughed mockingly twice when she mentioned this, for some unknown reason. She didn't answer Kevin's question but pointed to a simple bookshelf in the corner of the wall and said:
"Go look there, you should still be able to find newspapers from before civilization collapsed."
After Emma said that, Kevin roughly guessed what was going on.
He walked to the bookshelf and pulled out a newspaper from 2026, which seemed to be the last one Emma had collected.
Kevin didn't need to look at anything else; just by reading the front-page news, he could understand Homelander's final fate in this world.
The front-page news of the newspaper mentioned that Homelander and Mysterious Man contracted a virus after their battle and eventually died.
And that Mysterious Man, judging by the blurry photo, should be Butcher.
But the reason it was 'should be' was because Butcher's face was covered in large patches of disgusting, rotting pox.
Butcher… he also contracted the virus.
Did Butcher and Homelander in this world perish together…
As Kevin flipped through the newspaper, Emma lit another cigarette and asked Kevin:
"You've asked your questions, now it's my turn, right?"
"Of course, we agreed on that."
"Alright, first question, you… what era is your world in?"
"2021."
Kevin replied indifferently.
Hearing this year, a hint of nostalgia appeared in Emma's eyes.
"21, huh? At that time, I should still be working hard to get into Godolkin University… That's good, your world still has hope."
Emma, at her current age, was very mature and intelligent.
She understood that once Kevin, this visitor from a parallel world, saw what had happened in this world, he would surely prevent it from happening again when he returned to his own world.
Their world was destined not to become as despairing as Emma's, and that was what Emma envied.
"If you don't mind, I could actually take you to live in my world."
Kevin said to Emma, remaining silent.
Through the experiment of bringing Barry to the The Boys world, Kevin had confirmed that if a plot character left their original world and went to Kevin's world, it would not continuously consume skill points.
Or rather, the impact of taking a plot character from their original world was enough to offset the cost of one skill point that needed to be paid daily.
So, if Emma was willing, Kevin could take her.
Anyway, this world seemed utterly hopeless.
But who knew Emma would shake her head:
"No need… After all, I don't know if I'm carrying the virus. What if I was actually infected long ago, but just haven't shown symptoms because I have some immunity? Then your world…"
Emma stopped speaking there.
There was a type of infected person called an 'asymptomatic carrier,' meaning they carried the virus but didn't show any related symptoms after infection.
The existence of such carriers was actually more dangerous, as they themselves would become mobile sources of infection.
It was fine for Emma to move around in this world, as the air here was probably already filled with the virus targeting Supes.
But if Kevin dared to take her to a pure land that hadn't been infected by the virus…
Emma couldn't guarantee what that world would become.
The conversation paused here, and Emma was silent for a moment before asking again:
"Then what is your purpose in coming to this world?"
"I just ran into the wrong world."
"I see… Then if you can go back, go back quickly. This world has nothing you need."
Emma flicked off the ash from her cigarette and said softly.
Kevin also nodded.
Indeed, this world was many years after the plot of the story, with plot characters either dead or missing. The fact that he could meet Emma here was because her ability was very suitable for survival.
At least, it was very suitable for survival in an apocalypse lacking food and water.
Kevin wasn't sure if he could meet other plot characters after leaving here.
Without meeting other plot characters, Kevin couldn't gain skill points from them. Perhaps playing a 'great flood submerges the world' scenario at sea could earn him skill points.
But since this world was already like this, Kevin didn't need to add fuel to the fire.
Moreover, that would be too troublesome, and the skill points gained might not be much, not worth it.
Unless…
Kevin looked at the surroundings, sensed a bit, and suddenly asked:
"This city is empty, right?"
"Yes, probably. Except for the Supe beasts that sometimes come here to forage, no one else will come, which is why I ran out when I saw you. After all, I haven't seen anyone in a long time."
"Then why do you still stay here?"
"…"
Kevin's question stumped Emma.
Seeing Emma not answer, Kevin looked around again and added:
"Still in Vought's underground experimental base."
"…"
Emma and Kevin looked at each other, both speechless.
Finally, Emma helplessly extinguished the half-smoked cigarette butt in her hand, carefully saved the rest, and then sighed:
"…Alright, there's nothing to hide. Down from here, there are some experimental devices that Vought didn't take away. I want… I want to see if I can research a vaccine against the virus."
As expected.
Hearing Emma's answer, Kevin wasn't surprised at all.
He had found it strange ever since he entered. With Emma's ability, she could stay anywhere she wanted; there was no need to specifically choose Vought's underground base.
To say it was because of the outdoor disinfection equipment, Kevin didn't think so.
That disinfection equipment looked like Emma had assembled it herself. If that were true, Emma could assemble a set of disinfection equipment elsewhere too.
But Emma still chose to stay here.
And although Emma hadn't shown Kevin, it seemed like there was only a small room here, but Kevin's perception was extremely strong. With a slight active perception, he could tell that there was more to it beyond this small room.
The small room was just the outer layer; there was a larger space inside.
What that larger space was for was easy to guess.
This was also the 'unless' Kevin mentioned earlier.
If he could help Emma complete the vaccine against the virus, he might truly gain a large number of skill points.
But Kevin was still a little curious:
"Just you? How will you develop a vaccine to solve the virus?"
"I have the research materials and original virus samples that Marie left for me… she brought them from The Woods… I think I should be able to, or rather… I'm the only one who can do this research now."
Emma gave a self-deprecating smile.
Vought had long since disappeared to who knows where, and The Boys, who had always opposed Vought, were also nowhere to be found.
Now, Emma could only rely on herself.
"Perhaps I can help you."
Kevin said with a smile.
Emma instantly looked at him, stared at him for a long time, then shook her head and said:
"Forget it, you should go back to your world… Don't speak yet, listen to me. I know your world is still normal, and there might be a possibility of developing a vaccine, but this world already…"
Caw— Caw— Caw—
Emma hadn't finished speaking when suddenly, sharp crow cries came from the surveillance camera.
Kevin and Emma simultaneously looked at the surveillance camera, and in one of the distant views, they saw a dark, swirling mass flying in the distant sky.
From the video feed, Kevin saw that the black mass was made of crows.
A flock of red-eyed, zombie-like crows.
"They are…"
"It's a crow tide… They must have been attracted by the wild dog's scent of blood."
Emma explained calmly, as if she was already used to all this.
Then she said to Kevin:
"See? Even without the virus, this world still has these monsters imbued with Supe abilities, which is why I said this world is beyond saving… This is impossible!"
Emma had only just said this when she suddenly stood up from her seat, her eyes fixed on the surveillance camera, as if she had seen something incredible.
And seeing Emma's reaction, Kevin understood what was happening without her needing to explain further.
Because in Kevin's perception, while some of the crows landed on the wild dog's corpse to feast, even more crows were flying towards Emma's secret base!
They…
Had found Emma!
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments