Chapter 9: Speed Snatch, Broken Legs
In Popclaw's apartment, rock music was deafening.
Lu Jie sat on the edge of the sofa, slowly buttoning his shirt.
Popclaw slumped to the side, disheveled, gasping for breath, her chest heaving violently.
"You really are a lunatic," she said, biting her lip, her eyes filled with a mix of fear and a strange, deep surrender.
"Only lunatics survive long in this world." Lu Jie looked down, adjusting his cuffs. "Remember your place. From today on, you are my eyes."
"Aren't you afraid he'll suddenly come back?" Popclawpointed toward the door. "He's been using that stuff lately, and his mind is completely messed up."
"I actually hope he comes back right now," Lu Jie chuckled.
Just as he finished speaking, a harsh sonic boom echoed from outside the door.
A flash of blue electricity smashed straight through the solid wood security door!
Wood splinters flew everywhere.
A-Train's eyes were bloodshot, rushing into the living room like a frenzied beast, carrying a strong smell of chemical agents.
"You bitch!" A-Train's eyes nearly split from rage as he took in the scene on the sofa. "You're cheating on me in my own place?"
Popclaw screamed in terror, grabbing a throw pillow to block herself. "Let me explain!"
"Explain my ass!" A-Train turned to glare at Lu Jie. "Who the hell do you think you are, touching my woman!"
"Just a passing cleaner," Lu Jie said, standing up and brushing the dust off his trousers.
"I'm going to run you over and turn you into a pile of mush!"
A-Train roared.
The blue electricity flared again.
With a supersonic dash, the air was violently compressed into a shockwave, shattering all the glassware on the coffee table.
Popclaw closed her eyes, not daring to look at the gruesome sight of Lu Jie being smashed to pieces.
At the exact instant A-Train was about to touch Lu Jie's throat—
Void Boundary, activate.
Lu Jie's body instantly particle-ized, losing its physical form.
A-Train's full-force charge hit nothing but air!
He passed right through Lu Jie's body, moving too fast to stop.
Boom!
The thick, solid load-bearing wall was smashed open, leaving a huge hole with exposed rebar and flying dust.
A-Train crashed onto the floor of the adjacent room, his face covered in blood, completely dazed.
"Good speed, but unfortunately, not much of a brain." Lu Jieturned around and walked slowly toward the large hole in the wall.
"I'll kill you..." A-Train struggled to rise, his leg muscles tensing as he prepared to dash again.
Lu Jie raised his right hand, spreading his fingers.
Blood Control, fully activated.
"You're running too fast. Take a break," Lu Jie said coldly.
A-Train had barely taken half a step when his expression changed.
He felt the blood vessels in his legs expanding frantically, his blood pressure soaring to an extremely dangerous critical point.
"My legs!" A-Train shrieked and collapsed.
The blood completely defied the normal circulatory path, flowing backward from his legs to his heart.
His leg muscles instantly suffered from ischemia.
With a speedster's metabolic rate, even a single second of ischemia would cause widespread necrosis of muscle cells.
A-Train rolled on the ground in agony, his legs looking like two pieces of withered wood stripped of moisture, turning a terrifying purplish-black.
"What did you do to me!" He clutched his legs, tears and snot streaming down his face from the pain.
"Helping you detox." Lu Jie walked over, looking down at this member of The Seven.
"Save me! I'll give you money! Any amount!" A-Train broke down, his high-and-mighty arrogance completely shattered.
Lu Jie stepped on his cheek, grinding his sole down hard.
"I don't lack money. I only lack a little something from your body."
Lu Jie fished a thick blood-collection needle out of his pocket.
The needle plunged unerringly into A-Train's carotid artery.
Light blue, high-velocity active blood flowed through the tube and into a glass vial.
"Ugh..." A-Train's eyes rolled back, his body twitching unconsciously.
After filling the entire vial, Lu Jie pulled out the needle and stowed the vial away.
He turned to look at Popclaw, who was shivering in the corner of the sofa.
"Call the police," Lu Jie said flatly. "Tell them he overdosed and crippled himself."
"Vought will find out!" Popclaw cried.
"He's a useless cripple now. Vought won't waste resources on a cripple." Lu Jie walked over and pinched her chin. "Keep your mouth shut. I will come to check on your 'work' regularly."
Popclaw nodded repeatedly, her tears ruining her makeup.
Lu Jie let go of her, activated Void Boundary, and passed straight through the wall to leave.
As the night wind blew, he mounted his motorcycle and disappeared down the street at the edge of Queens.
Basement level three, safehouse.
Annie sat on the edge of the bed in an oversized white shirt, waiting for the door to open.
Hearing the sound of the key turning in the lock, she immediately went to greet him.
"Are you hurt?" Annie asked, smelling the faint scent of blood on him.
"It's someone else's blood." Lu Jie took off his coat and walked over to the sink to wash his hands.
Annie grabbed a towel and handed it to him. "What happened out there?"
"A-Train ran too fast and broke his legs." Lu Jie dried his hands and turned to look at her.
Annie froze for a moment, then immediately understood the underlying meaning.
"You... you crippled a member of The Seven?" She swallowed hard.
"Homelander is next." Lu Jie walked over, cornering her against the wall.
Annie backed against the cold wall, her breathing quickening.
"What on earth are you trying to do?"
"Take you to the very top of the food chain." Lu Jie leaned down, his lips brushing against her earlobe. "Now, go back to bed. No matter what sound you hear, don't come out."
Annie nodded obediently and crawled under the covers.
Lu Jie walked to the innermost compartment of the basement and shut the door.
He took out the vial of light blue speedster blood, tilted his head back, and drank it.
Mind Furnace, activate.
The extraction of the speedster gene was more violent than any previous attempt.
Lu Jie collapsed to the floor, his body twitching violently at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
His nervous system was being torn apart, his skin cracking open repeatedly only to heal rapidly under his supercharged metabolism.
Sweat mixed with blood drenched the floor.
He ground his teeth to dust, enduring these two hellish hours through sheer force of will.
Fusion successful.
Speedster gene mutation: Void Flash Step.
Supersonic movement speed, with the ability to briefly enter a void state during high-speed movement, ignoring physical collisions.
Lu Jie stood up, and with a single thought—
His body vanished from where he stood, reappearing directly by the wall three meters away in the next second, without causing even a ripple in the air.
"Excellent." Lu Jie clenched his fists, feeling the surging power within his body.
Another piece of the hunting puzzle fell into place.
Pushing open the compartment door, he saw that Annie was not asleep.
She sat on the bed, staring at Lu Jie's bare upper body, which was still stained with wet blood.
"Is it over?" she asked softly.
"It's over." Lu Jie walked over, lifted the blanket, and climbed in.
Annie leaned in of her own accord, her warm, soft body pressing against his cold skin.
"You're so hot," she whispered.
"Then help me cool down." Lu Jie rolled over and pinned her down.
In the cramped space, the temperature rose once more.
Under his absolute control, Annie was completely reduced to his vassal.
A deity without faith could only seek redemption in the mire.
The next day, Vought Tower.
The PR Department was in utter chaos.
"A-Train is ruined!" the director paced back and forth in his office, his fat trembling. "Widespread necrosis in both leg muscles. The doctor says he'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life!"
Lu Jie stood to the side holding his coffee, listening to the lecturing.
"Ms. Madelyn was furious! The Seven only has five members left now!" The director pointed at Lu Jie. "Go prepare a press release. Say that A-Train was severely injured while pursuing a supervillain!"
"Yes, Director." Lu Jie nodded.
"And another thing!" The director lowered his voice. "Flight 37 has been hijacked by terrorists. Ms. Madelyn sent Homelander and Queen Maeve to rescue them. Keep a close eye on the media. Absolutely nothing can go wrong this time!"
Lu Jie's eyes flickered slightly.
Flight 37.
The most critical turning point from the original story had arrived.
"Understood." Lu Jie turned and walked out of the office.
Instead of writing the press release, he walked straight to the technical monitoring room on the bottom floor of the building.
Utilizing Void Flash Step and Void Boundary, he easily bypassed layers of security gates.
In the monitoring room, several technicians were debugging the communication equipment on Queen Maeve's armor.
Lu Jie stood behind them, completely invisible.
He fished a military-grade, high-definition, waterproof micro-camcorder from his pocket, no larger than a button.
Taking advantage of the brief moment when the technician turned around to grab a tool—
Lu Jie flicked his finger, snapping the camera into the hidden clasp on the back of Maeve's armor.
It was completely undetected.
"Homelander, I'll be taking this leverage on you."
Lu Jie sneered, turning to pass through the wall and leave.
A few minutes later, on the rooftop helipad of the building.
Homelander and Queen Maeve soared into the sky, flying toward the Atlantic Ocean.
Lu Jie stood at the edge of the rooftop, watching the two streaks of light disappear into the clouds.
He pulled out his phone and connected to the signal of the micro-camera.
High-altitude footage appeared on the screen, accompanied by the howling of the wind.
The show had officially begun.
Chapter 10: Flight Tragedy, Ironclad Evidence in Hand
Ten thousand meters in the air, inside the cabin of Flight 37.
Terrorists holding guns pointed them at the weeping passengers who were holding their heads.
Bang! The cabin door was violently ripped open.
Homelander floated in with his signature hypocritical smile, his eyes glowing red.
Two laser beams swept across, slicing several terrorists into two.
Queen Maeve followed closely behind, snapping the necks of the remaining men with her bare hands.
The passengers erupted in cheers, thinking they were saved.
Just then, a terrorist who had slipped through the cracks rushed out of the cockpit, aiming his gun at the pilot.
Homelander unleashed his laser eyes without hesitation.
The terrorist was shredded, but the lasers also sliced through the plane's control console.
Sparks flew in all directions as alarms blared throughout the cabin.
The plane lost control and began to plummet rapidly.
"What did you do!" Queen Maeve rushed into the cockpit, her face turning pale as she looked at the ruined console.
"A minor mistake," Homelander shrugged nonchalantly.
"We have to save them! Lift the plane up!" Maeve grabbed his arm.
"Lift it up? In the air? I'll just punch right through the plane," Homelander sneered.
"Then we carry them out a few at a time!"
"Impossible, there's no time. Besides, if we leave any survivors, they'll tell the whole world that I screwed up." Homelander turned toward the damaged cabin door.
"They are innocent!" Maeve pleaded, tears streaming down her face.
"Shut up, Maeve. You either come with me, or you die with them," Homelander said, his eyes cold.
The passengers in the cabin heard their conversation and swarmed over, begging for help.
A little girl grabbed Homelander's cape. "Please, save us."
Homelander shook her off in disgust. "Get back! All of you, get back! Or I'll blast you with my lasers right now!"
Maeve closed her eyes in despair.
Homelander grabbed her by the waist and flew out of the cabin.
Behind them, the plane erupted into a fireball and plunged into the freezing Atlantic Ocean.
The rooftop of Vought Tower.
Lu Jie stared at his phone screen; the footage perfectly recorded everything.
Homelander's cold-bloodedness, his threats, and his refusal to save them were all captured with crystal clarity.
"A perfect performance," Lu Jie muttered, pressing save.
This video footage was the noose to be tightened around Homelander's neck.
He put away his phone and used Void Flash Step to leave the rooftop.
The Atlantic Ocean waters.
The plane wreckage was scattered across the surface of the sea, with thick smoke billowing upward.
The Coast Guard helicopters were still dozens of nautical miles away.
Lu Jie was already standing on the surface of the sea.
Using Blood Control to regulate his internal pressure, he dove headfirst into the freezing seawater.
Underwater visibility was extremely poor, with mangled corpses and luggage scattered everywhere.
Lu Jie activated Void Boundary, ignoring the water resistance as he shuttled rapidly through the depths.
He found the piece of armor wreckage where the video recorder was attached.
He detached the recorder and put it into a waterproof bag.
A few minutes later, Lu Jie burst out of the water, stepping across the waves as he flashed back to the shore.
When he returned to the safehouse, Annie was watching the TV news.
The news was scrolling with breaking reports of the crash of Flight 37.
"Lu Jie!" Annie saw that he was soaking wet and quickly brought a towel. "Where did you go?"
"Just took a bath in the ocean," Lu Jie said, drying his hair.
"The TV says the plane crashed with no survivors," Annie's eyes reddened. "Did Homelander and Queen Maeve not make it in time?"
Lu Jie sat down on the sofa and tossed his phone onto the table.
"They made it."
"Then why..."
"See for yourself." Lu Jie tapped play.
Annie stared at the screen.
On the screen, Homelander sliced the console, refused to rescue them, and even threatened the passengers.
That righteous face of his was contorted into the likeness of a demon.
Annie covered her mouth, her stomach churning violently.
"How... how could he do this?"
"I told you before, there are no heroes in that tower," Lu Jiesaid flatly, leaning back against the sofa.
Annie collapsed onto the floor, her tears bursting forth like a broken dam.
The dream she had once fought so hard for had turned completely into a joke.
"They're all liars," Annie choked out.
"So you're very lucky." Lu Jie walked over and scooped her up from the floor. "You met me."
Annie clung tightly to his neck like a drowning person.
"Don't leave me," she whispered, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
"As long as you are obedient, you will be safe." Lu Jiecarried her toward the bed.
Despair is the best catalyst.
Only by shattering all her beliefs could she completely belong to him.
In this windowless basement, Lu Jie comforted his wounded prey in the most primal way.
The next day, at Vought Tower's PR Department.
The atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.
Madelyn was throwing a furious tantrum in her office.
Homelander sat on the sofa, legs crossed, looking completely unbothered.
"We did our best, Madelyn. The terrorists blew up the console," Homelander lied without even blinking.
Queen Maeve sat to the side with her head lowered, her hands tightly wrung together, her nails digging into her flesh.
Lu Jie walked in carrying two cups of coffee.
"Your coffee, ma'am." He placed the cup on Madelyn's desk.
"Get out!" Madelyn roared.
Lu Jie lowered his head and withdrew. As he passed Maeve, he accidentally spilled a bit of the other coffee.
The coffee stained Maeve's boots.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Maeve." Lu Jie quickly grabbed some tissues to wipe it.
The moment he bent down, he whispered a sentence in Maeve's ear in an extremely low voice.
"I know what happened on the plane."
Maeve's body froze.
She looked at the submissive assistant in front of her in disbelief.
Lu Jie did not linger. After wiping her boots, he turned and walked out of the office.
The hook had been cast; the fish would bite soon enough.
Late at night, on the helipad on the top floor of Vought Tower.
The wind was howling, making it hard to keep one's eyes open.
Queen Maeve, dressed in casual clothes, held a bottle of whiskey, taking large gulps.
The flight tragedy weighed on her chest like a boulder, making it hard for her to breathe.
"Drinking won't solve the problem."
A voice rang out from behind.
Maeve turned around.
Lu Jie emerged from the shadows, wearing a black trench coat.
"It's you." Maeve narrowed her eyes. "What did you mean by what you said earlier today? Are you trying to blackmail me?"
"Blackmail is such a derogatory term. I prefer to call it 'cooperation.'" Lu Jie walked up to her.
"You're just an assistant, and you think you're worthy of cooperating with me?" Maeve sneered, reaching out to grab Lu Jie by the throat.
Lu Jie didn't dodge.
Maeve's fingers passed straight through his neck.
Void Boundary.
Maeve froze. She withdrew her hand and stared at the completely unharmed Lu Jie.
"You're a Supe too?"
"That's not important." Lu Jie pulled out a tablet and handed it to her.
The footage from before the flight crashed was playing on a loop on the screen.
Maeve's hands began to tremble.
"If this gets out, Vought is finished, and both you and Homelander will become the world's most wanted fugitives," Lu Jie said calmly.
"How much money do you want?" Maeve asked through gritted teeth.
"I told you, I don't need money." Lu Jie took back the tablet. "I want you to be my insider."
"You want to go against Homelander?" Maeve looked at him as if he were a madman. "He will burn you to ashes!"
"He doesn't have the ability." Lu Jie took a step forward, closing in on Maeve.
Blood Control, activated.
Maeve felt a sharp spasm in her heart. Her legs gave out, and she fell straight to her knees.
Her proud body of steel was completely defenseless before Lu Jie.
"What kind of monster are you?" Maeve gasped, clutching her chest.
"I am the only one who can help you escape Homelander's control." Lu Jie knelt down and tilted her chin up. "Be my ally, or be my enemy. Choose."
Maeve looked into his deep, bottomless eyes.
She knew she had no choice.
"I promise you," Maeve said, lowering her proud head.
"A wise choice," Lu Jie smiled.
He stood up, looking down on this former queen from above.
"Tomorrow night, come find me on the third basement level. We need to have a good talk about our next plan."
Lu Jie turned and dissolved into the night.
Chapter 11: The Queen's Wings Clipped, Submission in the Basement
It was the middle of the night.
The iron door of the safe house on the third basement level was knocked: three long knocks followed by two short ones.
Annie, wearing that oversized white shirt, was sitting on the edge of the bed, massaging Lu Jie's legs. When she heard the sound, she recoiled in fright.
"Go open the door." Lu Jie leaned back on the worn-out sofa, fiddling with a lighter in his hand.
"Who could it be?" Annie whispered, her eyes filled with terror.
"Our new ally."
Annie bit her lower lip, walked barefoot to the door, and slid back the heavy iron bolt.
Standing outside was a woman wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.
The woman took off her sunglasses, revealing a stunning, fiercely aggressive face.
Queen Maeve.
Their gazes locked, and the air went quiet for a few seconds.
"Annie?" Maeve's eyes widened, her gaze sweeping over Annie's messy hair and the oversized men's shirt. "You didn't leave New York? You've been hiding in this low-level assistant's doghole?"
Annie blushed and lowered her head, not daring to look at her former idol.
"Come in, Ms. Maeve." Lu Jie sat in the shadows, the lighter clicking crisply. "Close the door."
Maeve strode in and locked the door behind her.
She surveyed the crude, damp basement, finally locking her gaze on Lu Jie.
"You turned her into your plaything?" Maeve's tone was filled with anger. "You threatened me with that recording just to satisfy your perverted desire for control?"
"Correction." Lu Jie stood up, walked over to Annie, and placed his palm naturally on her waist. "She chose me of her own volition. By following me, she can survive. If she followed you high-and-mighty gods, she would only end up being ruined by garbage like The Deep."
Maeve was speechless; she had heard about what happened with The Deep.
"You called me here, what exactly do you want?" Maeve asked with a cold face.
"To help you deal with Homelander." Lu Jie pulled over a chair and sat down. "You hate him, you fear him, you dream of getting rid of him, right?"
"You?" Maeve laughed mockingly. "A PR assistant who knows a few invisibility tricks? You can't even breach his defenses!"
"I can do more than just turn invisible."
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Jie raised his right hand and clenched his fingers into the empty air. Blood Control, activated.
The smile on Maeve's face vanished instantly.
She felt her heart being gripped tightly by an invisible giant hand, and in that moment, the blood throughout her body stopped flowing and even began to reverse.
Oxygen deprivation and excruciating pain struck simultaneously.
This veteran of The Seven, who possessed a body of steel, felt her legs go soft and she knelt directly in front of Lu Jie.
"You... what did you do!" Maeve clutched her chest with both hands, gasping for air, her face flushed red.
"Now, do you think I'm worthy?" Lu Jie looked down at her from above.
Maeve tried to stand up, but whenever Lu Jie applied even the slightest pressure with his fingers, a tearing, twisting pain would shoot through her heart.
Absolute suppression of power.
"Stop!" Maeve gritted her teeth, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. "I surrender!"
Lu Jie released his hand.
Maeve collapsed onto the floor, coughing violently, her eyes looking at Lu Jie completely changed.
It was an instinctive fear when facing an unknown monster.
"What on earth are you?"
"Gods are merely products of genetic mutation, and now, gods must learn to kneel before mortals." Lu Jie stood up and walked over to her. "Be my mole; report every move Homelander makes to me. In exchange, I guarantee that the recording won't be leaked, and at the final moment, I will spare your life."
Maeve looked up at this young man.
In this windowless basement, she felt a sense of oppression even purer than what she felt from Homelander.
"Why should I trust you?"
"You have no choice." Lu Jie reached out and gripped her chin. "The flight recording is in my hands, and your life is in my hands too. You have no choice but to take a gamble."
Maeve bit her lip; the long-standing suppression and fear led her to make a decision.
"Fine, I'll help you."
"Verbal promises aren't worth much." Lu Jie released her chin, his gaze wandering over her hot body. "I need a little actual sincerity."
Maeve's expression changed: "What do you want to do?"
"Prove your submission." Lu Jie stepped back and leaned against the table. "Right here, take off your jacket."
"You're crazy!" Maeve glanced at Annie, who was nearby. "She's still watching!"
"She won't mind, right, Annie?" Lu Jie turned his head.
Annie lowered her head and walked obediently to Lu Jie's side, helping him unbutton his shirt: "As long as it's your command, I don't mind."
Maeve looked at Annie's completely fallen state, and a chill went through her heart.
This man is a devil.
He doesn't just want to destroy the bodies of superheroes; he wants to shatter their dignity.
"What? The high-and-mighty Queen can't let go of her pride?" Lu Jie's tone turned cold. "The door is over there; you can leave. Tomorrow morning, the whole world will see your heroic act of watching people die on that flight."
Maeve closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
She stood up, her fingers trembling as she pulled down the zipper of her jacket.
The jacket slid off, revealing the tight combat suit underneath.
"Continue." Lu Jie's voice had no inflection.
Under Annie's gaze, Maeve humiliatingly stripped away all her defenses.
Lu Jie stepped forward and pinned this arrogant Queen against the wall.
The rough movements held no pity, only pure conquest and domination.
Maeve gritted her teeth, not letting herself make a sound, but her body's instincts betrayed her reason.
In the interweaving of pain and humiliation, she completely fell from her pedestal, becoming a trophy for this low-level assistant.
Two hours later.
Maeve finished dressing and stood by the door, pale-faced.
"Homelander has been very irritable lately." Maeve straightened her hair. "Madelyn is trying to find ways to appease him, but he has already started to suspect that Madelyn is lying to him."
"Very good, keep watching." Lu Jie sat on the sofa, with Annie wiping the sweat off his body. "Contact me anytime if there's a situation."
Maeve gave him a deep look and opened the door to leave.
The door closed.
"Are you really going to kill Homelander?" Annie asked softly.
"Not just him." Lu Jie grabbed Annie's hand and pulled her into his arms. "I'm going to uproot Vought Tower entirely."
The phone on the table suddenly vibrated.
It was an encrypted message from Popclaw.
"After A-Train was crippled, Vought shifted their investigation focus to the smuggling gangs in Brooklyn. They suspect it was high-tech weapons in the gangs' possession that injured him."
Lu Jie finished reading the message and deleted the record.
"Smuggling gangs?" Lu Jie rubbed his chin. "Butcher and his band of laborers should have already sniffed them out."
He stood up and put on his jacket.
"Going out again?" Annie looked at him with reluctance.
"Going to harvest some new toys." Lu Jie pushed open the door and disappeared into the darkness.
Chapter 12: Bloody Smuggling Case, Beastly Intuition
Brooklyn, by the Hudson River.
An abandoned meat processing plant exuded a pungent, fishy stench.
This was the secret stronghold of an Asian smuggling gang.
A dilapidated pickup truck was parked two blocks away.
Butcher carried a shotgun, Frenchie held a homemade gas grenade, and Hughie followed nervously behind.
"Frenchie, are you sure the lead on compound v is here?" Butcher spat out the toothpick in his mouth.
"My informant swears this gang has been smuggling some kind of glowing blue serum recently." Frenchie pulled the bolt of his gun.
The three of them used the cover of night to sneak into the processing plant.
The interior of the plant was spacious, with rusty iron hooks and half-carcasses of pork hanging everywhere.
Several armed gang members were playing cards.
Frenchie threw the gas grenade, and white smoke instantly filled the air.
"Cough, cough! What's going on!"
Before the gang members could react, Butcher had already rushed in with the shotgun.
Gunfire erupted.
In just a few minutes, the outer guards were wiped out.
"Hughie, go find the ledger and the safe!" Butcher kicked a corpse aside.
Hughie covered his nose and rummaged through a pile of debris.
Suddenly, he heard a strange sound of clanking chains coming from the deepest part of the plant.
"Butcher! There's a basement here!" Hughie shouted.
The three of them walked down the stairs.
The basement was filled with a thick smell of blood and the stench of excrement.
In the very center sat a huge iron cage.
Inside the cage, a filthy Asian girl with disheveled hair was curled up.
She was crouching on the ground like a beast, watching the three intruders vigilantly.
Kimiko.
"God, they locked a little girl in here?" Hughie felt a pang of sympathy and stepped forward to open the cage.
"Don't go over there!" Frenchie grabbed him.
Just then, another door to the basement was kicked open.
The smuggling gang leader charged in with seven or eight heavily armed henchmen.
"Turn them into Swiss cheese!" the leader roared.
Bullets poured down.
The three of them were forced to hide behind a load-bearing pillar, their firepower completely suppressed.
A stray bullet broke the lock on the iron cage.
The cage door opened.
Kimiko slowly stood up.
A gang member didn't notice and approached the cage.
Kimiko exploded into action, her speed astonishing. She clawed at the man's throat.
His windpipe was ripped out, and blood gushed out.
"Fire! Kill that monster!" the leader turned his gun.
Dense bullets struck Kimiko, leaving blood holes one after another.
But a chilling scene unfolded.
Those bullet holes healed at a visible speed, and the bullets were forcibly squeezed out by her muscles, falling to the ground with a crisp sound.
Super regeneration.
Kimiko let out a beastly low growl and charged into the crowd.
She had no combat training; she relied entirely on instinct to tear and bite.
Severed limbs flew everywhere, and screams merged into one.
In less than a minute, seven or eight gang members were torn into shreds of meat.
The basement had turned into a slaughterhouse.
Butcher poked his head out, watched this scene, and swallowed hard.
"What the fuck is this monster?"
Kimiko turned her head, her blood-stained face looking at the three of them.
The murderous intent in her eyes hadn't faded, and she approached them step by step.
"Don't shoot, she's traumatized." Frenchie put down his weapon, raised his hands, and tried to soothe her with a gentle tone, "We aren't bad guys, we're here to save you."
Kimiko made a rumbling warning sound in her throat, clearly not believing them.
She leapt up and pounced on Frenchie.
Just at this critical moment.
In the ventilation duct above the plant, a figure in a void state watched everything quietly.
Lu Jie.
"Beastly intuition is sharp, but even the fiercest beast must bow to a true predator." Lu Jie sneered in his heart.
He raised his finger and pointed it at Kimiko below from afar.
Blood Control, activated.
Kimiko, in mid-air, let out a pained grunt.
She felt as if the blood in her body had frozen, and the wrenching pain in her heart made her instantly lose her strength.
She fell heavily at Frenchie's feet, clutching her chest, gasping for air.
Butcher and Hughie were stunned.
"What's wrong with her? A sudden heart attack?" Hughieasked.
Kimiko ignored them.
Her wild eyes stared in the direction of the ventilation duct.
Her intuition told her that an extremely terrifying predator was hiding there. That sense of oppression was ten thousand times more terrifying than the guns in the hands of the smuggling gang.
Lu Jie withdrew the pressure of Blood Control.
He did not reveal himself.
Although Kimiko's self-healing genes were decent, it wasn't the time to extract them yet; keeping her as a hitter in The Boys would create more chaos.
Kimiko climbed up from the ground, took a look at Frenchie, did not attack again, and instead curled up in the corner.
"She's calmed down." Frenchie breathed a sigh of relief, "She's a victim, we have to take her with us."
"Take a ticking time bomb back with us?" Butcher frowned.
"She can help us deal with Vought; you saw her power just now." Frenchie insisted.
Butcher looked at the shreds of meat all over the floor and nodded in agreement.
The three of them took Kimiko and quickly evacuated the plant.
After the pickup truck drove away, Lu Jie deactivated Void Boundary and jumped down from the ventilation duct.
He walked to the corpse of the smuggling gang leader and fished out an encrypted tablet from his pocket.
After unlocking it with the leader's fingerprint, Lu Jie saw the transaction records inside.
"Large quantities of compound v being shipped to the Middle East and Asia..." Lu Jie looked at the data on the screen.
This was a little scheme Homelander was pulling behind Madelyn's back.
He was intentionally creating super terrorists to force the Department of Defense to pass the Superhero Enlistment Act.
"The giant baby has finally started playing power games." Lu Jie put away the tablet, "Unfortunately, all your trump cards are within my sight."
Lu Jie walked over to the pool of flesh and blood shredded by Kimiko.
He took out a nano-test tube and collected a bit of blood stained with Kimiko's active cells.
Although the purity wasn't high, it was better than nothing.
After finishing all this, he activated Void Flash Step and vanished into the night.
The next day, Vought Tower.
The PR Department Director's office.
Madelyn was yelling at the other end of the phone.
"What are you people good for! The smuggling gang was wiped out, and our goods are missing!"
Lu Jie walked in with some documents, pretending he hadn't heard anything.
Madelyn hung up the phone and rubbed her temples.
"Lu Jie, go check the recent arrival flight records." Madelynsaid in a tired tone, "There's an Asian man named Kenjiwho might be coming to New York. At any cost, find him before he causes any trouble."
"Very well, ma'am." Lu Jie nodded.
Kenji. Kimiko's younger brother, a super terrorist with terrifying telekinesis.
Lu Jie walked out of the office, a cold arc pulling at the corner of his mouth.
A new prey had delivered itself to his doorstep.
Telekinesis genes; he was determined to get them.
Chapter 13: Intercepting Kenji, Seizing Telekinesis
Lu Jie walked out of the director's office.
The supervisor immediately scurried over, his face plastered with a fawning smile: "What did Ms. Madelynsay?"
"Find someone." Lu Jie tossed the folder onto the desk. "Check all Asian arrivals, especially anyone named Kenji."
The supervisor wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "There are millions of Asians in New York, where are we supposed to look?"
"That's your problem." Lu Jie sat back at his workstation and opened his computer.
He didn't need the supervisor to find him.
His fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard as he hacked directly into the internal surveillance system of the New York port.
A dozen screens popped up.
At Pier 3, a dilapidated cargo ship had just docked.
On the screen, several armed security guards were already lying in a pool of blood.
A young Asian man in a ragged jacket stood in the rain, his hands held in a suspended pose.
Several multi-ton shipping containers were flying wildly through the air.
"Found you." Lu Jie closed the screen and stood up.
"Where are you going?" the supervisor shouted from behind.
"To the restroom." Lu Jie walked into a blind spot in the corridor without turning his head.
Activating Void Boundary, he passed through the wall and left the building.
New York Pier 3.
The rain was pouring down heavily.
Several police cars that had rushed to the scene were overturned, their sirens blaring incessantly.
"Requesting backup! The suspect has superpowers!" a police officer yelled, hiding behind a car door, clutching his radio tightly.
Before he could finish speaking.
Kenji pressed his hands down hard.
A shipping container smashed that police car flat.
The sound of twisting steel was particularly jarring in the rainy night.
"Die, all of you!" Kenji roared in accented English.
He exerted force again, and another container rose into the air, ready to smash into the remaining police officers.
The police officers closed their eyes in despair.
"Came all the way to New York to do some demolition?"
A voice came from mid-air.
Kenji looked up.
Lu Jie, wearing a black raincoat, stood on the edge of the teetering container.
Rainwater slid down his raincoat.
"Did Vought send you?" Kenji rotated his hands.
The container rolled violently in the air, trying to fling Lu Jieoff.
Lu Jie stood in place, not even swaying.
Void Boundary.
His body instantly atomized.
The container lost control, passing straight through his body and slamming heavily into the mud.
Kenji froze in place.
"What kind of monster are you?" Kenji shouted.
"The one here to collect your interest." Lu Jie dropped from mid-air.
Void Flash Step.
In a tenth of a second.
Lu Jie was already standing in front of Kenji, less than half a meter apart.
Kenji reacted extremely quickly, thrusting his hands forward.
Invisible telekinetic power formed a wall, slamming directly into Lu Jie's chest.
Lu Jie raised his right hand, fingers splayed.
Blood Control, fully activated.
Kenji's movements paused.
He clutched his chest, his face instantly turning bright red, the veins on his neck bulging out.
"My heart..." Kenji gasped for air.
The telekinetic barrier instantly collapsed.
The excruciating pain from the blood flowing backward forced Kenji to his knees in the mud.
"Your ability is quite good." Lu Jie took a large blood collection needle from his pocket.
"Let me go!" Kenji struggled desperately.
Lu Jie stepped on Kenji's shoulder, pinning him firmly to the ground.
The needle pierced accurately into Kenji's carotid artery.
Bright red active blood flowed through the tube into the glass bottle.
Kenji rolled his eyes back, his body twitching unconsciously.
"Kimiko is doing quite well in The Boys, you don't need to worry about her." Lu Jie said in a flat tone.
After filling the entire tube with blood, Lu Jie pulled out the needle.
He put the glass bottle away.
"Go to hell and find your new master." Lu Jie clenched his fingers tightly.
Kenji's heart exploded instantly.
He didn't even manage to scream before he collapsed headfirst into a puddle, breathing his last.
Lu Jie glanced at the police in the distance.
The police were still hiding behind scrap metal, trembling, having not seen clearly what happened here at all.
Lu Jie turned around, activated Void Flash Step, and disappeared into the rainy night.
Third underground level, safe house.
Annie was wearing that oversized white shirt, sitting on the edge of the bed reading a book.
The iron door was pushed open.
Lu Jie walked in and took off his dripping raincoat.
"Is it raining outside?" Annie put down her book, walked over, and took a towel to help dry his hair.
"Went to get some new toys." Lu Jie walked to the table.
He took out the tube of active blood containing telekinetic genes, pulled out the stopper, and poured it directly into his mouth.
A roaring sound exploded deep in his mind.
Lu Jie leaned against the wall, his brows furrowed.
His bones made crisp cracking sounds, and his muscles stretched back and forth between tearing and restructuring.
"Are you drinking that blood again?" Annie stepped back, a little scared.
She had seen what Lu Jie looked like when he fused genes; the pain was not something a normal person could endure.
"Don't come over." Lu Jie gritted his teeth, sweat streaming down his forehead.
The telekinetic genes rampaged through his cells.
His nervous system was under immense load.
Ten minutes later.
The pain receded like a tide.
[Fusion successful.]
["Telekinesis" has mutated into "Gravity Control".]
Lu Jie opened his eyes and exhaled a long breath.
He raised his hand and looked at his palm.
Not only could he move objects with his mind, he could also arbitrarily modify the gravitational constant in local areas.
"Is it over?" Annie asked cautiously.
Lu Jie didn't speak, just shifted his thoughts.
Annie let out a cry of surprise.
She felt her body lose its weight, her feet leaving the ground, and she drifted uncontrollably toward Lu Jie.
"What kind of ability is this!" Annie flailed in mid-air.
Lu Jie reached out to catch her and held her on his lap.
"Is it fun?" Lu Jie pinched her cheek.
"Put me down, I'm dizzy." Annie protested, blushing.
"Now, no one in this building can kill me." Lu Jie pressed her into his arms and leaned down to kiss her.
Annie was restrained by gravity, completely unable to move, and could only let him take what he wanted.
Just then.
A knock on the door sounded.
Three long and two short knocks.
Annie was startled, quickly pushed Lu Jie away, straightened her messy shirt, and hid in the adjacent compartment.
Lu Jie stood up, walked to the door, and slid the iron bolt.
Queen Maeve stood outside the door.
She wasn't wearing her combat suit, but a trench coat, and her face was pale.
"Come in." Lu Jie stepped aside.
Maeve walked in and locked the door behind her.
"Something happened." Maeve's voice trembled.
"Did Homelander find out?" Lu Jie sat back on the sofa and poured two glasses of water.
"He knows." Maeve walked to the table, picked up the glass, and downed it in one gulp. "A former Vought scientist told him. Becca is still alive, and she even bore him a son."
"Madelyn has lied to him for so many years; of course he'd go crazy." Lu Jie said in a flat tone.
"He's completely out of control now." Maeve crossed her arms over her chest. "He's going to kill Madelyn! I'll be next!"
"Are you afraid?" Lu Jie stood up and walked over to her.
"He's a lunatic!" Maeve gritted her teeth. "He just used his laser eyes to slice that scientist's head right off in the conference room!"
"With me here, he can't touch you." Lu Jie reached out and wrapped his arm around Maeve's waist.
Maeve did not resist.
She was extremely insecure right now; only beside this man could she feel a glimmer of hope for survival.
"Madelyn won't survive the night." Lu Jie lowered his head and whispered in her ear.
"I don't want to go back." Maeve closed her eyes and took the initiative to wrap her arms around Lu Jie's neck.
"Then stay here." Lu Jie picked her up and walked toward the dilapidated single bed.
Annie, hiding in the compartment, listened to the movements outside, lowered her head, and covered her ears.
In this basement, there were no high-and-mighty superheroes.
Only submission and domination.
On the other side, at Madelyn's luxury villa.
The night was deep.
Homelander landed on the lawn, his red, white, and blue cape snapping in the wind.
His eyes glowed with a dangerous red light as he walked step by step toward the villa's front door.
Chapter 14: Gravity Control, Eve of the Storm
Inside the safe house, the air was filled with an ambiguous atmosphere.
Queen Maeve leaned against Lu Jie's chest, her breathing gradually steadying.
"Are you really confident you can deal with him?" Maeve looked up at Lu Jie's profile.
"He is nothing more than a giant baby starved for love." Lu Jie's fingers wound through Maeve's long hair. "As long as you pinpoint his weakness, he is even more fragile than an ordinary person."
"What is his weakness?" asked Maeve.
"He craves being needed, craves being loved." Lu Jiesneered. "Madelyn has always played the role of a mother. Now that this role has collapsed, he will fall into extreme self-doubt."
Maeve shivered.
"You are even scarier than him," Maeve said softly.
"That is why I can protect you." Lu Jie patted her shoulder. "Get dressed, it's time to go back and keep watch."
Maeve sat up and began to get dressed.
"If Madelyn dies, what will happen to Vought?" she asked while getting dressed.
"Stan Edgar will take full control." Lu Jie stood up. "He is an old fox, much harder to deal with than Madelyn."
Maeve put on her trench coat and walked to the door.
"Be careful." Lu Jie opened the door.
Maeve nodded and walked into the dark corridor.
The door closed.
Annie walked out from the partition, her head lowered, her eyes slightly red.
"Jealous?" Lu Jie walked over and pulled her into his arms.
"No," Annie answered in a low voice. "I just feel like I don't recognize this world anymore."
"You don't need to recognize this world." Lu Jie pinched her chin. "You only need to recognize me."
Annie looked up at him.
"Will you always protect me?"
"As long as you are obedient." Lu Jie lowered his head and kissed her.
Annie leaned into his arms and closed her eyes.
Madelyn's villa.
The front door was rudely pushed open.
Madelyn was sitting on the sofa, holding her newborn baby.
Seeing Homelander walk in, she froze for a moment.
"Why are you here? Didn't you say you were patrolling tonight?" Madelyn forced herself to remain calm.
Homelander did not speak.
He walked step by step to the sofa, looking down at Madelyn.
"Where is Becca?" Homelander asked, his voice icy cold.
Madelyn's expression changed drastically.
"I... I don't know what you are talking about."
"Don't lie to me, Madelyn." Homelander crouched down, looking at the baby in her arms. "You have lied to me for eight years."
"Listen to me!" Madelyn panicked, clutching the baby tighter. "I was doing it to protect you! That child is a monster!"
"He is not a monster, he is my son." Homelander stood up, his eyes beginning to glow red.
"Homelander, calm down!" Madelyn backed away.
Butcher suddenly walked down from the second-floor staircase.
His body was strapped with C4 explosives, and he held a detonator in his hand.
"What a touching scene," Butcher mocked.
Homelander turned his head and looked at Butcher.
"Billy Butcher. You're not dead yet?"
"I've come to send you to hell." Butcher pressed his thumb onto the detonator.
"You think this little bit of explosives can hurt me?" Homelander sneered.
"It can't hurt you, but it can blow her to pieces." Butcherpointed at Madelyn.
Madelyn screamed in terror: "Butcher, you're crazy! Let me go!"
Homelander looked at Madelyn.
"Do you really care about her?" Butcher asked.
Homelander did not answer.
He walked up to Madelyn and reached out to touch her hair.
"I once cared about you very much," Homelander said softly, "but you make me feel disgusted."
Two thick red lasers instantly shot out from Homelander's eyes.
Madelyn's skull was burned straight through; she didn't even have time to scream before she fell into a pool of blood.
Butcher was stunned.
He didn't expect Homelander to do it himself.
"Now, she is dead." Homelander turned to look at Butcher. "What other cards do you have left?"
Butcher gritted his teeth and pressed the detonator.
The countdown began.
"Beep—"
Just one-thousandth of a second before the bomb was about to explode.
Lu Jie, in a void state, activated Void Flash Step and rushed into the villa.
Gravity Control, activated.
He used a gravity barrier to protect Butcher's body and dragged him straight out of the sea of fire.
Boom!
The massive explosion echoed through the night sky.
The entire villa turned into a sea of fire.
Homelander stood in the center of the flames, completely unharmed.
He looked at the empty ruins and frowned.
"Where did Butcher go?" Homelander muttered to himself.
In the woods a few kilometers away.
Lu Jie threw Butcher onto the ground.
Butcher was covered in ash, gasping for air.
"Who the fuck are you?" Butcher looked at the masked man in front of him.
"The person who saved your life." Lu Jie's voice was processed through a voice changer.
"I don't need you to save me!" Butcher stood up. "I'm going to kill him!"
"With just those few bags of explosives on you?" Lu Jiemocked. "You couldn't even scratch his skin."
Butcher gritted his teeth and did not retort.
"Becca is still alive." Lu Jie threw out the bait.
Butcher suddenly looked up: "What did you say!"
"Not only is she alive, but she also bore Homelander a son. She is currently being held in a secret Vought base." Lu Jielooked at him.
"Take me to see her!" Butcher rushed up and grabbed Lu Jie by the collar.
Lu Jie twisted his arm and pinned Butcher against the tree trunk.
"Now is not the time." Lu Jie let go. "Take your people and investigate Vought's Sage Grove Center. There is something there that you need."
"Who exactly are you? Why are you helping me?" Butcherstared at him.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Lu Jie turned around, activated Void Flash Step, and disappeared.
Butcher looked at the empty woods and spat.
"Vought, I'm not done with you."
The next day, Vought Tower.
The news that Madelyn died in a terrorist attack spread across the United States.
The PR Department was busy around the clock.
Lu Jie sat at his workstation, calmly handling various press releases.
Stan Edgar took over the position of CEO.
This old black man was even colder than Madelyn, treating superheroes entirely as commodities.
Homelander sat in the conference room, looking at Edgar.
"Madelyn is dead, and I am now the leader of The Seven." Homelander asserted his authority.
"You are just a product, John." Edgar adjusted his glasses. "The company is the boss."
A flash of killing intent crossed Homelander's eyes, but he held back.
He knew he couldn't fall out with Edgar yet.
Lu Jie walked in carrying coffee.
"Mr. Edgar, your coffee." Lu Jie placed the cup on the table.
Edgar nodded.
Homelander stared at Lu Jie for a while.
"You, look up." Homelander commanded.
Lu Jie looked up, his eyes showing just the right amount of awe.
"I've seen you before," Homelander said.
"Yes, sir. I am a senior assistant in the PR Department." Lu Jie replied.
Homelander didn't say anything else and turned to look out the window.
Lu Jie retreated.
Back in the corridor, the corners of Lu Jie's mouth curled into a cold arc.
A new storm was coming.
Stormfront, that Nazi old hag who had lived for over a hundred years, was about to be parachuted into The Seven.
Lightning genes.
Lu Jie touched the nano-blood collection needle in his pocket.
The hunt had only just begun.
Chapter 15: The Arrival of a New God, Stormfront's Provocation
The first-floor lobby of Vought Tower was bustling with noise, and camera flashes were going off one after another.
Lu Jie stood at the edge of the red carpet, wearing a perfectly tailored high-end suit. As the newly appointed senior executive of the PR Department, he was solely responsible for this welcome event.
In the center of the stage, Homelander maintained his signature fake smile.
"Let us welcome the newest member of The Seven," Homelander said, spreading his arms toward the cameras.
A woman wearing a dark red combat suit strode onto the stage.
Stormfront.
She was holding her phone, live-streaming.
"Hey guys, look at this boring corporate spectacle," Stormfront remarked to the camera.
The chat was scrolling wildly, and the popularity rating instantly skyrocketed.
Homelander's smile froze on his face. He hated it when others stole his spotlight.
"I'm glad you could join us," Homelander said, extending his hand.
Stormfront gave it a perfunctory shake and turned to look at the audience below.
"Where's the microphone? Is Vought's efficiency really this low?" she complained loudly.
Lu Jie picked up a microphone and walked onto the stage.
"Ma'am, your microphone," Lu Jie said, offering it with both hands.
Stormfront took the microphone.
Their fingers brushed in mid-air.
Crackle.
A weak but highly aggressive electric current surged from her fingertips into Lu Jie's forearm.
It felt a bit numb.
Lu Jie remained expressionless, not even blinking.
Stormfront turned off her live stream and looked Lu Jieover with interest.
"You're that newly appointed senior executive?" She leaned in closer.
The distance was very small.
"That is me, ma'am," Lu Jie said, lowering his head.
"Not bad to look at, but you reek too much of a lackey," Stormfront said, patting Lu Jie's chest.
Electric sparks danced on Lu Jie's suit.
This was a blatant provocation.
Lu Jie's tone was calm: "It is my honor to serve you."
"Boring." Stormfront snorted and turned to walk toward the center of the stage.
Lu Jie retreated off the stage.
He calculated the angle and location for drawing blood in his mind.
The lightning gene. This thing would be extremely useful for raising the upper limit of his furnace.
After the welcome event concluded, Lu Jie returned to the safe house on the third basement level.
He pushed open the heavy iron door.
Annie was sitting on the sofa, watching the news broadcast on TV.
The Boys were wanted nationwide, having become the number one terrorists.
Hughie's photo was prominently displayed.
"Will they be caught?" Annie looked up at him, her voice tight.
"Loaches have their own ways of surviving." Lu Jie took off his suit jacket and tossed it onto a chair.
He walked to the sofa and pulled Annie up.
Annie leaned obediently into his arms.
"A newcomer arrived today," Lu Jie said, pinching her chin. "Stormfront."
"Is she strong?" Annie asked.
"Whether she's strong or not, I'll only know after testing her." Lu Jie's fingers slid across her collar.
Annie's breathing became rapid.
She knew what would happen next.
Lu Jie activated Gravity Control.
Annie let out a cry of surprise. She felt her body lose its weight, her feet lifting off the ground as she floated uncontrollably into the air.
"Put me down," Annie protested, her face blushing.
"You're getting more and more skilled at this," Lu Jie said, reaching out to catch her and holding her in his arms.
"I only belong to you," Annie said, biting her lower lip.
Lu Jie lowered his head and kissed her.
A god without faith can only seek redemption in the mud.
The two exchanged warmth in the confined space.
Two hours later, Annie fell asleep from exhaustion.
Lu Jie got dressed and walked out of the safe house.
He had things to investigate.
Deep at night, Vought Tower was silent.
Lu Jie arrived at the classified archives on the fifth basement level.
It had dual fingerprint and iris locks, plus twenty-four-hour infrared monitoring.
Lu Jie activated Void Boundary.
His body turned into particles.
He passed directly through the heavy metal door and walked into the archives.
The surveillance system had no reaction to his void state.
Lu Jie walked to the innermost filing cabinet and deactivated his void state.
He pulled open the drawer and searched through paper files from decades ago.
Digital data was easily tampered with, while paper documents were often more authentic.
A few minutes later, he pulled out a yellowed folder.
He opened it.
Inside were several black-and-white photos and a stack of yellowed record papers.
In the photos was a woman wearing a combat suit.
Her features were identical to Stormfront's.
But the name written below was: Liberty.
Standing next to her was a man in a suit. That was Vought's founder.
"An old hag over a hundred years old," Lu Jie said, looking at the photo with a cold sneer.
She had lived until now by relying on compound v.
Not only was she a Nazi, but she was also the founder's wife.
Lu Jie put the documents into the copier nearby.
He now had the chips for the hunt.
The next day. In the PR Department senior executive office.
Lu Jie sat in a large leather chair, flipping through the copies in his hand.
The door was pushed open rudely.
No knocking.
Stormfront strode in.
She was wearing casual clothes today, but dangerous electric sparks still lingered on her body.
"You have some nerve," Stormfront said, walking to the desk and bracing her hands on the surface.
"This is my office," Lu Jie said, leaning back in his chair.
"Investigating me?" Stormfront lowered her voice. "Who do you think you are?"
"Routine business," Lu Jie said, pushing the copies toward her.
Stormfront picked up the photos.
After seeing the content clearly, her expression changed completely.
"You're courting death," Stormfront said, blue electricity flashing in her eyes.
She raised her hand.
A thick bolt of blue lightning struck directly at Lu Jie's head.
The distance was too close to dodge.
Lu Jie didn't dodge.
Void Boundary.
The lightning passed through his body and blasted the leather chair behind him to pieces.
A burnt smell permeated the air.
Lu Jie stood in place, unharmed.
"Is that all you've got?" Lu Jie's voice was cold.
Stormfront was stunned.
She looked at the completely unscathed Lu Jie and released even stronger lightning from her hands.
The lights in the entire office began to flicker violently.
Lu Jie raised his hand.
Gravity Control.
Stormfront felt the gravity around her increase ten-fold instantly.
Her legs went weak, and her knees slammed heavily onto the floor.
The marble floor cracked from the impact.
"You're not an ordinary person!" Stormfront gritted her teeth, trying to stand up.
But that invisible pressure left her unable to move.
"And you are no new god either," Lu Jie said, walking over.
He crouched down and gripped Stormfront's chin.
Blood Control activated.
Stormfront's heart twisted in severe pain, and her blood began to flow in reverse.
This overwhelming power turned the anger in Stormfront's eyes into shock.
Subsequently, the shock transformed into a morbid fanaticism.
"You are stronger than Homelander," Stormfront panted.
"He is just a defective product," Lu Jie said, releasing his grip.
Stormfront did not counterattack.
She stood up, her eyes becoming extremely aggressive as she looked at Lu Jie.
"A pure Aryan superman," she said, licking her lips.
Lu Jie sneered: "I have no interest in Nazis. But your lightning, I'll take it."
Stormfront approached him proactively.
She unzipped her jacket.
"If you want something, come and take it yourself."
The office door was locked from the inside.
Lu Jie did not stand on ceremony.
He slammed Stormfront onto the desk.
Documents scattered all over the floor.
The static electricity on Stormfront's body stimulated Lu Jie's nerves.
The two engaged in a highly tense confrontation.
There was no tenderness, only pure conquest and submission.
At the moment when Stormfront tilted her head back, sinking into extreme pleasure, a nano blood-sampling needle appeared in Lu Jie's hand.
The needle silently pierced into the back of her neck. He drew blood.
Stormfront let out a high-pitched cry, not noticing the loss of blood.
After filling a vial, Lu Jie pulled out the needle.
He tucked the glass vial into his pocket.
Stormfront collapsed on the desk, panting heavily.
"You're quite good," Stormfront said, looking at him. "We could rule this world together."
"Get dressed and get out," Lu Jie said, straightening his shirt.
Stormfront was not angry.
She picked up the clothes from the floor and put them on.
"I will come find you again," Stormfront said, winking before walking out of the office.
Lu Jie looked at the closed door.
He took out that vial of blood containing electric sparks.
New power.
Meanwhile. On the top floor of Vought Tower.
Homelander stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at his phone screen.
On the screen was Stormfront's live-stream data.
Popularity was skyrocketing. It had even surpassed his.
Dangerous red light welled up in Homelander's eyes.
His twisted face was reflected in the glass.
"No one can replace me," Homelander said, crushing the phone.