After mulling it over for a long while, Alex still couldn’t come up with any clear answer.
He could only set it aside for now.
After all, Homelander wasn’t Superman—he possessed super strength, but no super intellect.
Still, since the Vought Corporation had already begun taking notice of his changes, and so long as he had no intention of suckling at Madelyn’s old teat—
then these changes would only grow more and more obvious.
A confrontation with the Vought Corporation was only a matter of time.
And if that was the case, he might as well prepare early.
For now, the other side still wasn’t planning to do anything to him, their company’s golden signboard—they merely wanted to tighten their control.
The inexplicable child Edgar had mentioned could be set aside for the moment.
Right now, the most important thing was to get his hands on the original compound first.
With that, he’d have nothing to fear from the Supe virus, and at the same time he’d gain a life that was all but immortal.
There was no better bargain than that.
And along the way, he could also test out the effects of his golden finger.
Thinking of his golden finger, Alex stirred a thought, and an illusory panel appeared before him.
This was the system shop.
Inside, items were divided by value into several tiers—Wolf, Tiger, Demon, Dragon, and God.
Much like the monster rankings in One Punch Man.
The low-grade things he naturally skipped right over; what truly interested Alex were the Dragon and God tiers.
In terms of Homelander’s strength, he sat roughly between low and mid Dragon.
Things that were too low-grade wouldn’t do much to boost his power.
He swept his gaze over the Dragon-tier exchange list, its dazzling array of items enough to make one’s eyes swim.
Things like Tornado’s telekinesis, Black Sperm’s cell division, Phoenix Man’s resurrection…
Every single ability filled one with longing.
It was no exaggeration to say that, of the abilities on this list, obtaining any one of them—
would make him even more invincible than Homelander in this world!
As for the higher level—the God tier.
That went without saying.
The Limiter Release was naturally the most expensive thing among them.
Wanting to exchange for the Limiter Release, Alex took a glance at the price.
Converted roughly, it would require all of America to maintain a certain degree of peace for several full decades.
Looking at that string of numbers, Alex scratched his head.
He rather doubted that even if he tossed a few hundred Spider-Men into America, whether they could pull it off was still questionable.
Beyond that, there remained things like some kind of explosive spatial power.
Though it couldn’t compare to the Limiter Release, the Hero Points needed to exchange for it were still an astronomical figure.
At the very least, there was absolutely no getting his hands on it in the short term.
By comparison, those Dragon-tier abilities clearly held more promise.
Gazing at these exchange options, Alex’s heart stirred restlessly—a pity that the current him was ‘penniless.’
‘Better to settle the original compound first.
Only then can I completely tear off the mask with the Vought Corporation and seize better control of it!’
Thinking this, Alex turned and left the lounge.
According to the plot in the original work—
of the original compound, only one or two doses remained in existence today.
And one of those doses was on Blast Vision, who had once been Soldier Boy’s original teammate.
Only this fellow had lived under an assumed name for many years, making finding him all but impossible.
In the original work, in order to obtain this dose of the original compound—
they had even kidnapped Blast Vision’s old flame, the Golden Geisha, to force him out of hiding.
To obtain the original compound, there was no better method than to proceed the way it had been done in the original work.
As for the Golden Geisha’s whereabouts, that part was simple.
As a former superhero, the Golden Geisha now resided in a Supe nursing home under the Vought Corporation’s umbrella.
He’d simply spirit her away, then wait for Blast Vision to come looking, and snatch the thing from him.
Blast Vision was no match for even Soldier Boy one-on-one, let alone for him.
The moment he stepped out of the lounge, Alex saw a figure leaning against the wall off to the side.
A combat suit, a short skirt, long boots, and that head of fiery, passionate dark-red hair.
Queen Maeve!
“Why aren’t you going in?”
Looking at this ‘former’ ex-girlfriend, Alex tossed out a casual greeting.
Queen Maeve held a slender lady’s cigarette between the fingers of her right hand, brought it to her lips and took a drag, a trace of mockery playing at the corner of her mouth.
“Go in so you can take it out on me?”
“You even drove Madelyn out—I’d rather not be alone with you at a time like this.”
Among The Seven, Queen Maeve was one of the few who dared to tease or talk back to Homelander.
After all, the two of them had once shared a so-called relationship.
“That’s a truly heartbreaking thing to say.”
Alex shrugged.
“That’s just a stereotype, isn’t it?”
Hearing this, Queen Maeve’s brows knit together, her right hand trembled slightly, and a length of ash dropped away.
“Are you high?”
“No—you know I never touch that kind of thing.”
“Compared to all that, I’m still more partial to this.”
Alex casually plucked the cigarette from Queen Maeve’s hand, took a deep breath, and expertly exhaled the smoke through his nostrils.
Seeing this, Queen Maeve’s eyes went wide, her face filled with utter astonishment.
She could never have imagined that the Homelander she knew would actually do something like this.
You had to understand—Queen Maeve knew Homelander exceedingly well.
Aside from his many perverse, or even more perverse, flaws—a twisted personality, an extreme need for control, and the like—
compared to other superheroes, Homelander touched neither cigarettes nor alcohol, and those addictive drugs he wouldn’t so much as lay a finger on.
If you looked only at this one aspect, he was absolutely the model of all superheroes.
After all, who knew how many superheroes, relying on their physiques being stronger than ordinary people’s, indulged without restraint in the thrills such things brought them.
But after a brief moment of shock, Queen Maeve quickly came back to herself, staring at Alex’s face for three full seconds.
Trying to find even the faintest trace of that familiar ferocity or paranoia in his expression.
But—
there was nothing.
The man before her was simply far too calm.
He looked nothing at all like the lunatic from before, the one who would threaten to blow up her apartment just because she replied to a message ten minutes late.
Queen Maeve fell silent, instinctively patting herself down, as though wanting to fish out another cigarette.
But who’d have thought—Alex once again pressed the cigarette to her lips.
Faced with the cigarette brought to her mouth, Queen Maeve didn’t take it.
On the contrary, she even instinctively took two steps back, her eyes full of suspicion and wariness.
“You didn’t take your anger out on Ashley, you drove Madelyn out.”
“And now you’re acting like this.”
“What are you trying to do?”
“It’s not April Fools’ right now—there’s no need to put on display that so-called sense of humor of yours.”