The Deep crawled out of Queen Maeve’s office.
After crawling for a dozen meters, his body’s regenerative abilities finally allowed him to stand up.
He leaned against the wall and limped his way back to his own office.
Upon entering, he saw a pair of golden boots resting on his desk.
Based on the color, it was easy to guess who they belonged to—Starlight.
“What are you doing here?”
The Deep stepped forward and saw Starlight lounging in his office chair, feet up on the desk, eating potato chips and scrolling through TikTok.
Seeing the owner of the room return, Starlight was momentarily flustered.
She muttered, “The Deep, you destroyed my office.
I have nowhere to stay.”
“I destroyed it?
Starlight, lying like that will send you straight to hell.”
After the initial panic, Starlight’s confidence grew.
Facing The Deep, she no longer felt the terror of confronting a nightmare; instead, she felt she had a grip on his unrequited longing for her.
She rose from the office chair, tilting her small head up, a touch of girlish arrogance crossing her delicate features.
She replied stubbornly, “You did destroy it.
If you hadn’t made me angry, I wouldn’t have fired light blasts at you.
Besides, you said you’d help me redecorate my office, so where else am I supposed to live?”
“What?
You’re planning to move into my office?”
“Yeah!
Hotels outside are 200 dollars a night, and look at how much I make.” Starlight huffed, becoming increasingly bold.
“If you won’t let me stay here, I’ll just go stay at my boyfriend’s place.”
Before he could respond, Starlight turned to leave.
As she passed him, her wrist was suddenly seized by The Deep’s tight grip.
The Deep’s voice sounded beside her ear, sounding helpless.
“Just stay here.
Don’t go to that kid’s house.”
With her back to him, Starlight wore a triumphant smile.
As for this so-called boyfriend, she didn’t even have his phone number, let alone his address.
Starlight knew The Deep would never agree to her staying at another man’s house.
*Amateur.
I’ve got you figured out!*
Starlight sneered inwardly, believing she had him completely under her thumb.
She spun around with a girlish twirl, looking at The Deep with growing smugness.
She knew he liked her; and for him, liking meant possession.
He would never allow her to spend the night at another man’s place.
*The Deep, I’ve got you right where I want you.*
Pushing her luck, she added, “Then I get the bed, and you get the sofa.”
“Starlight, don’t push it…”
“Oh!
You don’t want to?
Then I’m going to my boyfriend’s.”
Starlight immediately turned to leave again, only to be yanked back by the wrist.
“Fine, fine, fine.
You take the bed, I’ll take the sofa.”
The Deep’s indulgence only fueled Starlight’s arrogance.
The man before her was no longer terrifying; in fact, his pitiful, aggrieved expression actually seemed a little cute to her.
Just as Starlight was wondering how else she could bully The Deep, she noticed the way he limped.
Her brow furrowed instantly.
“Are you hurt?”
The Deep limped over to the office chair and sat down.
“Yeah.”
Starlight looked shocked.
“You actually went to train with Maeve?”
“Yeah.”
“Is she really that strong?
I remember she’s the second most powerful supe after Homelander.”
“Hah!” The Deep gave a contemptuous laugh.
“I think she’s mediocre.
She gave it her all and couldn’t kill me in three punches.
Not that impressive.”
Starlight nearly choked with laughter.
She lightly tapped him with a fist.
The Deep let out a cry of pain.
“Don’t touch there!
Maeve broke my ribs here.”
Starlight pulled down the zipper of his combat suit.
Sure enough, there was a deep fist print on his ribs, though it was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
“The Deep, if your strength were half as tough as your mouth, you wouldn’t have been beaten like this by Maeve.”
“Hah!” The Deep sneered.
“Whether my strength is tough or not, you already know…
a-a…”
It was as if The Deep had touched a live wire; he nearly passed out from the sudden shock.
Having thoroughly lectured him, Starlight finally let go, having nearly exposed The Deep’s secret.
“The Deep, if you dare mention last night again, I swear I will never speak another word to you for the rest of my life.”
What a truly terrifying and soul-shattering threat!
The Deep picked up the desk phone and called Ashley.
“Ashley, go to the Chuan Shu restaurant and get ten servings of spicy crayfish, a roast suckling pig, and some slivered pork intestines, twice-cooked pork, pickled fish, Mao Xue Wang, Dongpo pork knuckle, steamed pork with rice flour, and ten cases of ice-cold beer.
Qingdao brand…”
“What?
You’ve never heard of Qingdao?”
“I want Qingdao.
Otherwise, I’ll punch your big blood—”
After hanging up, The Deep looked at the speechless Starlight and shrugged helplessly.
“You know, sometimes this kind of language is the most effective method.”
Starlight nodded blankly.
She didn’t understand, but she felt the power of it.
She even looked at her own fist, wondering if she should start using “language” with Ashley next time.
Having arranged dinner, The Deep returned to his bedroom, stripped off his combat suit, grabbed a bottle of whiskey, and soaked in the bathtub.
The warm water cleansed his pores and eased the soreness in his muscles.
His broken ribs had already fused back together, and as the water washed over him, his displaced internal organs began to slowly heal.
This beating had not been in vain.
The Deep could clearly feel that the bone density of his healed fractures had increased by a level.
Including his physical toughness, it was like a piece of steel being tempered; as Maeve hammered him, the amount of punching force he could withstand grew larger and larger.
It was just that the process was too inhumane.
As everyone knows, humans are not super-beasts; humans feel pain.
Even now, recalling the agony of bones breaking and flesh tearing, his muscles twitched.
But there was no other way.
If he wanted to survive in the universe of The Boys, if he wanted to live until the finale by Homelander’s side, he had to push himself to the brink.
That was the only glimmer of hope.
The Deep drank a glass of whiskey, lay in the temperature-controlled tub, closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.
When he woke up, it was because Starlight called him.
“The Deep, your dinner is here.”
“I’m coming out,” The Deep replied.
Rising like a dragon emerging from the sea, the fist prints left by Maeve had completely vanished.
He stretched his limbs, clearly feeling that his physical strength had hardened further.
“15%.
Tomorrow, I want to handle 15% of her punching power.”
After drying himself, The Deep stood before the mirror.
He looked at his thick beard, frowned, grabbed a razor, applied foam, and shaved it clean.
He then donned a gray bathrobe, loose and casual, and strolled out of the bathroom into the dining area.
“The Deep, dinner—”
Starlight stopped mid-sentence, frozen on the spot.
The Deep frowned and waved his hand in front of her eyes.
“What?
Red light, green light?
Starlight, I’m not playing childish games with you.”
*Slap!* Starlight brushed his hand away, but a blush involuntarily rose on her pretty face.
She had actually been stunned into silence just by looking at this “stinky fish.”
The Deep with a beard and the Deep without a beard were two completely different species.
With the beard gone, his three-dimensional features were perfectly revealed: a sharp, well-defined jawline, a profile that made the heart flutter, a straight and prominent nose, deep-set eye sockets, and a pair of captivating crystalline blue eyes, as clear and pure as the waters of Lake Baikal.
His slightly curly hair was damp and messy, falling loosely around his face like the plush toys she loved most—fluffy and soft, making her want to reach out and ruffle it.
The loose bathrobe formed a V-neck, revealing the slight swell of the man’s muscles.
Starlight couldn’t help but breathe heavily.
She could clearly feel her own breathing becoming heated because of him.
She even found herself recalling last night.
*The Deep, you stinky fish, why didn’t you shave sooner?
You tasteless animal, you had no idea what your biggest advantage was.*
“Let’s eat.” The Deep had no idea what was going on in Starlight’s head.
He simply plopped down in a chair and, looking at the dazzling feast, invited Starlight to join him.
“The Deep, are you sure you can finish all this?” Starlight looked at the massive spread of food with some doubt.
But by this point, The Deep was famished.
Whether human or superhero, one must obey the law of conservation of energy.
He had consumed an enormous amount of energy today to restore his body, and he naturally needed a massive intake of calories to replenish it.
Starlight sat down beside him, but seeing the chopsticks, she was momentarily unsure of how to use them.
As for The Deep, he simply reached for a bowl of spicy crayfish with his hand.
He grabbed one, twisted off the head, peeled the shell, and first fed a piece of shrimp meat to Starlight, then let her suck the shrimp brain from the head.
Half-doubting, Starlight leaned in and gave the shrimp head a sharp suck.
Her pupils dilated in shock; her face was full of wonder.
“The Deep, this…
what is this delicacy?”
*I love it when you’re this sheltered.*
The Deep also grabbed a crayfish, peeled the meat, sucked the head, and downed a gulp of Qingdao beer, letting out a loud burp.
“I declare that Chinese food is the best food in the world, bar none.”
Starlight, with shrimp meat in one hand and a shrimp head in the other, nodded vigorously.