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In fact, whether Homelander was telling the truth or not, as long as Vought Group could transfer the funds to her account on time, there would be no loss for Alex Wesker.
Perhaps she could even take the opportunity to get more test subjects from Vought Group!
So this was a sure-profit, no-loss business.
Thus, the cooperation between the two was successfully reached amidst their mutual scheming.
However, what Alex Wesker could never have expected was that Homelander saying he could resolve the side effects of the [T-Fear Virus] was absolutely not baseless talk.
Because the great [Lord of Pleasure, Slaanesh] would absolutely not let Its followers feel fear!!
"Alright, I believe everyone has some understanding of the specific situation now."
Homelander spoke up at the right time, his gaze sweeping over each figure in front of the conference table one by one, and said in a deep voice:
"Next, I will initiate the first phase of technical testing in New York. I trust You will fully support me then, right?"
"Th-that's natural!"
"That's right, we'll listen to everything You say, Homelander."
"Exactly, we all firmly support every decision You make."
Seeing the executives scrambling to pledge their loyalty to him, Homelander couldn't help but show a smug smile on his face. "Very well, this is the team I want."
Just then, his phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and glanced at the number; it was Victoria Neuman calling. So Homelander waved his hand at the attendees, signaling that they could leave.
Only after everyone had left did he press the answer button!
Homelander said in his usual arrogant tone, "Neuman, I didn't expect You to make up Your mind so quickly. I originally thought You would pretend to resist for two or three days before deciding to compromise with me in a humble manner?"
"No, Homelander, You guessed wrong."
Although Victoria Neuman's voice on the other end of the phone sounded a little shaky, she continued with full courage:
"I just want to tell You that I've had enough of Your anti-human willful actions. I don't want to continue going crazy with You anymore."
"What did You say?"
Homelander simply couldn't believe his ears. He hadn't expected the other party to dare to speak to him like this, so he asked angrily:
"Are You fucking kidding me? If so, I can tell You, this joke isn't funny at all."
"No, I'm serious."
Victoria Neuman said firmly, "Homelander, You've gone too far... Even if I agree to Your request this time, You will definitely make more and more excessive demands again and again in the future!"
"I know Your type too well. Once I compromise, there will never be an end."
"Homelander, Your infinitely expanding desires have made You completely lose control. Sooner or later, You will be destroyed because of this... I don't want to be implicated with You, so I won't become Your puppet."
"Next, I will voluntarily resign from my position at the [Bureau of Superhuman Affairs] and start an ordinary life as a regular person."
"Please don't harass me and my daughter anymore. If You dare to lay a hand on Zoe, even if I die, I will expose all the despicable and shameful acts You and Vought Group have committed over the years!!"
"Wait a minute, are You threatening me?" Homelander asked with a gloomy face.
"Listen, Homelander, the point is that You attacked me first, and I was forced to retaliate... And a cyclical war game like this will never end."
Victoria Neuman seemed to have made up her mind. There was no longer any sign of trembling in her voice as she slowly said:
"Besides mutual destruction, the only way to win this game is... for one side to choose to forfeit and exit the game!"
"In the past, I thought the future I wanted was to enter politics, not for Edgar, not for Zoe, but simply because I wanted to, because it would make me feel more secure and stop me from recalling the timid, crybaby I was at the Red River Collective Home as a child!"
"But recently, Your series of actions have truly made me feel no sense of security at all. This makes me very scared, and I don't want to cause my daughter's death because of me... So, quitting is the best way!"
"No." Homelander suppressed the anger in his heart and retorted word by word, "In my opinion, the best way to end this game is to kill all of You!"
"Homelander, You'd better not mess around."
Victoria Neuman's slightly nervous voice came from the other end of the phone, "Otherwise, I will really make the materials I have public."
"Then You can try it."
Homelander said indifferently, "I will first kill everyone who sees the revelation, and then, in front of You, I will dismember Your daughter piece by piece."
"Neuman, I can give You one last day to reconsider. If You agree to my request, I will be very magnanimous and let bygones be bygones. But if You continue to act stubbornly and want to oppose me... I will find You and do the things I said before!"
After saying that, Homelander directly hung up the phone.
"Are You sure this will work?"
In a certain abandoned warehouse, Victoria Neuman turned her head to look at Stan Edgar, asking with a look of unease:
"Why do I feel like Homelander didn't fall for it at all, aside from getting angry?"
Obviously, those words were taught to her by Stan Edgar.
As for the purpose, Victoria Neuman could only guess one thing, which was to first provoke Homelander and make him lose his usual rationality.
"Don't worry, he will definitely find his way here... If he can't find it, then we'll actively notify him to come here!"
Stan Edgar put on a confident look and said, "If we don't use this method to provoke him now, he probably won't leave Vought Group at all, because he's certain You absolutely wouldn't dare to reveal his and Vought Group's secrets!"
"Otherwise, he will no longer be restrained by any laws or anything else, and he will go on a killing spree without any scruples."
"Then let's give it a try." Starlight nodded resolutely, "If we don't succeed, we become benevolent. If we're going to die no matter what we do, then since we're dying anyway, we might as well go all out and fight for it!"
"So..."
She turned her gaze to Stan Edgar, "What should we do next?"
"Very good."
Stan Edgar said with great satisfaction, "Listen, over the next day, I will find someone to try and turn A-Train."
"Don't look at me like that... He should be considered the easiest one to control among The Seven."
"As for the newly joined Spider-Woman and [Lizard Warrior], I will also find a way to have someone hold them back."
"This way, the members of The Seven we need to deal with will only be the four, including Homelander... And among them, [The Sage] can be ignored, because I know her weakness better than anyone!"
Listening to Stan Edgar's explanation, the expression on Victoria Neuman's face gradually changed from doubt to hope, and she couldn't help but interject:
"So, in the big battle a day from now, we only need to deal with Homelander, The Deep, and Queen Maeve?"
Unexpectedly, Stan Edgar smiled mysteriously and immediately corrected her, "No, child... The one we need to deal with is only Homelander."
Then he stopped explaining to the others and turned to look at Starlight, "Now the only key point that can determine victory or defeat rests on You. Can You use Your abilities to blind Homelander when the battle enters the heated phase, and then inject him with the virus?"
"I will do my best." Starlight said with a determined look.
"Very good, that's enough. Later, I will have someone give You a modified rifle specifically designed to fire drug needles. As for whether You will need it then, You can decide based on the situation."
Stan Edgar didn't say much more. His gaze swept around, looking over each young supe who had come to help, "If anyone wants to back out now, there is still time. At least we will absolutely not slaughter the innocent like Homelander."
One of the young men with brown curly hair and a sturdy build raised his hand and said, "Excuse me, if we successfully take down Homelander, will You really keep Your promise and let us become members of the new The Seven?"
The other supes all cast eager glances at Stan Edgar, who nodded without hesitation, "That is natural, I never break my word..."
"What's more, if You really successfully dealt with Homelander, it proves that You are stronger than him. Isn't it a very normal thing to join The Seven?"
A hint of excitement flashed in the eyes of several young supes, and they said in unison, "Mr. Edgar, we are at Your command at any time!!"
...
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
A figure wearing a star-spangled cape descended from the sky and landed in front of a certain abandoned warehouse.
Homelander pushed open the door and swaggered in. He was met by Victoria Neuman, who had been waiting there for a long time, and Starlight, who was standing beside her, glaring at him.
"Tsk tsk, I didn't expect You to wake up?"
Homelander looked at Starlight and said with a malicious smile, "Actually, while You were in a coma, I visited You in the hospital once. I originally planned to blow Your head off right there, but the Doctor told me You might never wake up... Also, Your hospital fees were only enough to last until the end of the month, so that's why I spared Your little life back then."
"Now it seems someone paid Your remaining hospital fees?"
As he spoke, his gaze turned fierce towards Victoria Neuman, clearly seeing her as the one who paid Starlight's hospital fees.
"Enough, I didn't call You here to argue."
To prevent Starlight from disrupting the original plan due to anger, Victoria Neuman quickly stepped forward and said, "Homelander, I called You here this time simply to make things clear face-to-face."
Homelander held up a finger and roughly interrupted, "No, I remember we already made it very clear during our last call."
"You either surrender to me and become my puppet completely... or You and Your daughter become a corpse."
"It's that simple!!"
"You..." Victoria Neuman said with some disgust, "You know what, Homelander, this is precisely the fundamental reason I am unwilling to cooperate with You, because You will never learn how to respect others, and at the same time, You must make others worship You like a God!"
"That's right." Homelander spread his hands with an arrogant look, "I am God!!"
Σ(°△°|||)︴
Victoria Neuman was instantly dumbfounded.
Are You fucking crazy?
I wasn't praising You!
Why are You getting proud?
"But honestly, I originally thought You would secretly choose to run away?"
Homelander's gaze contemptuously swept over Victoria Neuman and Starlight in front of him, then he glanced at the mountain of iron barrels piled up on one side of the warehouse and said with a sinister laugh:
"Actually, You really should have escaped. That way, I would at least need to spend a few days searching for Your whereabouts and Your daughter's, but now... it seems I don't need to waste time!"
"What, are You not going to call out all Your friends hiding behind those iron barrels? You couldn't possibly think this little trick could fool me, could You?"
As Homelander's words fell, several young figures slowly emerged from behind the iron barrels piled up on one side of the warehouse. They were all students from Godolkin University.
Among them was a Mute girl with dreadlocks past her shoulders. Her name was Mary Moreau. Her supe ability was somewhat similar to Victoria Neuman's, both involving blood manipulation, but she couldn't yet achieve the precise 'head explosion' like the latter.
Another short-haired girl standing very close to Mary Moreau was named Jordan Li. Her supe ability was quite special; she possessed the ability to rapidly change gender at any time and place, meaning she could become male when she wanted to be male, and female when she wanted to be female.
Furthermore, in both different gender forms, she possessed completely different supe abilities.
In his male form, his body possessed incredibly strong durability and unparalleled reaction speed.
While in her female form, she could release energy Impact waves with vibrational properties from her palms, which looked somewhat similar to the pulse energy cannons Iron Man released from his palms!
The third person was a sturdy teenager with short golden hair. His name was Luke Riordan, but at Godolkin University, everyone preferred to call him 'Golden Boy'.
His supe ability was somewhat similar to Human Torch's; he could release streams of scorching flame from his entire body and also release jet-like flames from his feet, using the propulsion created by high temperature for high-speed flight.
However, unlike Human Torch, his body's durability was also outstanding.
The last one was a Mute teenager with a popcorn-curl hairstyle. His name was Andre Anderson. His supe ability was [Magnetic Manipulation], allowing him to control magnetic force and fields with his hands and change the shape of metal. However, the weight limit for his magnetic manipulation had only been developed up to 12 tons, making him a young, counterfeit, colored, and heavily nerfed version of Magneto!