This is the thing that created the Superhuman; this is the thing that trampled physics underfoot.
Physicists would talk about the conservation of energy, and it would say, “Fuck you.” Biologists would say genetic mutation takes millions of years, and it would say, “I can’t wait that long.” This isn’t evolution; it’s cheating.
Nature took three billion years to let fish crawl onto land, and Compound V took three seconds to let the land crawl back into the fish’s body.
It lay in the bottle, flowing as Chen Mo turned his wrist.
He closed his eyes and scanned it with his Psychic Power, but all he saw was emptiness; the bottle was completely void.
He opened his eyes, and there it lay quietly in his hand.
The pale blue liquid shimmered slightly in the sunlight.
His face was reflected on the bottle, and the reflection wavered on the surface of the liquid, as if he from another world were greeting him.
Why couldn’t his Psychic Power detect Compound V, but his eyes could see it?
It seemed Compound V wasn’t so simple; a creation produced by individuals in a laboratory that could directly overturn the definition of physics was absurd no matter how you looked at it.
Thinking this, a thought stirred in Chen Mo’s heart.
He remembered that in the original series, there was a Supe who could see Compound V with their eyes; could he try it himself?
If he wanted to do it, he would.
He channeled his Psychic Power out from the sphere and focused it onto his eyes.
Chen Mo blinked, and the world turned blue.
He saw the Compound V, pale blue, with what looked like stars flowing inside—exquisitely beautiful and deadly.
Looking down at himself, he could see the pale blue fluorescence flowing rapidly inside his body; it seemed this was the Compound V that The Deep had originally injected.
Watching the liquid flowing rapidly inside his body, Chen Mo focused his mind, wanting to lock onto a section to test it, but he found that his Psychic Power had absolutely no effect on the Compound V, as if he were grabbing at air.
Chen Mo couldn’t help but feel a wave of disappointment.
If he could extract Compound V from his body, that would truly count as a trump card.
Apart from Soldier Boy, he didn’t know of a second entity capable of purging superpowers.
Shaking his head, Chen Mo closed the box.
He wasn’t planning to take it all; one was enough for experiments.
Walking out of the guest bedroom, Chen Mo deliberately held up the Compound V to show the camera.
Under the lens, a vial of Compound V floated out of the guest bedroom out of thin air, then inched toward the door, and finally disappeared.
“Hmph, Translucent, you’re definitely taking the fall for this.” He didn’t deactivate his invisibility until he was far away from the apartment and confirmed there were no pedestrians or surveillance around.
He wasn’t in a rush to use it; Compound V would have a very obvious reaction after use, and Chen Mo planned to use it at the safe house after he finished dinner that night.
Jumping into the sea from the pier, ignoring the stunned passersby, Chen Mo dived straight into the water.
An old man fishing on the shore rubbed his eyes, decided today wasn’t suitable for fishing, and packed up his rod to go home.
Chen Mo wrapped the Compound V in a waterproof bag and hid it, instructing his friend, a porpoise, to guard it.
Then he rushed quickly toward Vought Tower.
The schools of fish had already told him that an orange sphere was floating at the pier on the other side; that was Madelyn Stillwell summoning him.
Meanwhile, over at The Boys.
Butcher and Frenchie were arguing; Butcher had dragged a former team member into the mess again.
The two were discussing how to kill Translucent, whose skin was made of carbon metamaterials.
Beside them, Hughie still couldn’t accept it; yesterday he was a good citizen, and today he was becoming an accomplice to the murder of a superhero.
“You’re the one who brought this trouble over, you asshole.
You still owe me forty thousand dollars!” Frenchie was furious; working with Butcher was the biggest stain on his life.
“Oh, oh, don’t get excited, brother.
Are you sure you want me to take him away?
He has seen your face, and I can’t guarantee what will happen then,” Butcher said with a laugh, spreading his arms.
He always had a way to handle these former teammates.
“F—u, you, Butcher!” Frenchie wanted to step forward to fight, but he was stopped by his girlfriend.
“You help me kill him, and then I’ll leave.
We’ll act like we never met, and you can continue your business, okay?” Butcher didn’t dare to go too far; he still needed Frenchie’s help.
“Translucent’s skin is harder than diamond; what are you going to use to kill him?
Plus, he has a tracking chip inside him.
If it’s not dealt with immediately, Vought International will be here right away.
Do you want to get into a fight with Homelander, huh!?” As for the option of killing, Frenchie had already decided on it the moment Translucent saw him.
For Frenchie, who dealt in all sorts of gray-market business, killing someone wasn’t a big hassle, but failing to kill them would be a huge problem.
Beside them, Hughie heard this and, for some reason, thought of what The Deep had yelled at him yesterday: “You’re just a turtle.
No matter how hard a turtle’s shell is, the inside is still flesh and blood.” “Turtle,” he muttered to himself.
“It’s just like a turtle.” “What did you say?” Frenchie, standing nearby, thought of something, but felt it was still missing a little something.
“Oh, oh, nothing, I just…
I just thought of a turtle.” Hughie certainly wouldn’t say he had been cursed out by The Deep.
“I think it’s very similar, just that Translucent’s skin is like a turtle shell, you know, it’s a bit funny.” Hughie, being stared at by both of them, was a bit nervous and stammered.
“That’s it!
My God, you’re a genius!
How did I not think of that?
No matter how hard the outside is, the inside is still human flesh and blood.
Put a bomb inside the body, boom!
Isn’t that solved?” Frenchie clutched his head with one hand, as if he had discovered a new continent, and laughed out loud.
Butcher stepped forward, grabbed Hughie’s head with both hands, and planted a firm kiss on it.
“Boy, you’re the real hero.” Immediately, the two of them—one preparing to make a bomb, the other grabbing a stun baton to give Translucent another round of electro-therapy.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you doing?
Hey, hey, don’t be like that.
You’re not really going to kill Translucent, are you?” Only now realizing what was happening, Hughie felt like the sky was falling.
He hadn’t expected that it was his own idea to kill Translucent.
He clutched his head in his hands, unable to accept it.
“Don’t worry, Hughie, we won’t forget your contribution.
If Vought International finds out, Frenchie and I will both confess that you were the mastermind,” Butcher, finally relaxing, cracked a rare joke.
“Yes, boy, we will say you deserve the most credit.” Frenchie, standing nearby, said while mixing the explosives.
“Oh, Your Honor, you don’t know, we were completely helpless at the time.
Translucent’s skin was indestructible, but our leader told us we could stuff C4 into his—well, I swear, if it weren’t for him, we would never have been able to finish this!” He made a surrender gesture, acting it out vividly.
“NONONO, it’s not like that, I don’t want this…” Hughie sat down on the floor with a thud; the continuous blows left his legs too weak to stand.
Butcher and Frenchie looked at this rookie, exchanged glances, and laughed out loud.
Half an hour later, with a “Boom.” The face of Vought International, a member of The Seven, the Bathroom War God, the Peeping Tom Translucent, officially went offline.
The red on the ceiling and the floor was the only trace he left in this world.