Su Kai did not speak.
On the other end of the line, a faint crackle of static came through first.
Immediately after, a cold, visibly impatient male voice rang out.
“Stone Armor?”
Su Kai remained silent.
“Speak!” The voice on the other end grew noticeably heavier, barking with a commanding tone.
“I know you’re listening.
Explain why you didn’t act according to the pre-planned script?
Homelander is already at the scene, but where are you?”
Su Kai’s eyes narrowed slightly.
A pre-planned script?
Homelander at the scene?
He understood instantly.
The bank robbery was indeed a play directed and acted out by Vought International.
“Stone Armor” was the “black glove” arranged by Vought International, responsible for playing the robber and creating a crisis.
Then Homelander would “timely” appear, “heroically” subdue the robber, and save the hostages.
A standard superhero marketing process.
It could both enhance Homelander’s image and public support and create momentum for Vought International to push the “Superhero Intervention in Law Enforcement” bill.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Unfortunately, this play seemed to have been completely ruined by him, an unexpectedly intruding “audience member.”
Su Kai sneered in his heart but still didn’t make a sound.
He wanted to hear what else the other party could say.
“Listen, Stone Armor.” The man on the other end of the phone, seeing that “Stone Armor” kept not speaking, became even more severe in tone.
“We pay you, not to let you do whatever you want.
You must act exactly as the script is written!
Also, what about the money from the bank?!”
The man suddenly changed the subject.
“Did you take the money in the bank vault?
I’m warning you, you’d better spit out every cent of that money, or you can just wait for death!”
Su Kai almost laughed out loud.
“Stone Armor, I’ll give you one last chance.” There was already a threat in the man’s voice.
“Report your location immediately, bring the money back, and then honestly hide in the safe house we designated.
“Otherwise…
you should know what the consequences of going against Vought International are.
“We can bring you over from Eastern Europe, and we can also make you disappear without a trace.”
Vought International.
The other party finally revealed their identity.
Su Kai had already obtained the information he wanted and immediately hung up the phone.
Beep, beep, beep…
A busy signal came through.
On the other end of the line, in a windowless secret room at Vought International headquarters, a middle-aged man in a suit with a gloomy expression looked at the hung-up phone in his hand, his face becoming incredibly ugly.
“Fuck!”
He slammed the phone onto the table hard.
“This death-seeking Eastern European bastard!
He actually dared to hang up on me!”
A young assistant wearing glasses next to him asked cautiously, “Supervisor, what should we do now?
‘Stone Armor’ has lost contact, the money is gone, and as for Mr.
Homelander…”
“What else can we do?” The supervisor pulled at his tie irritably.
“Immediately activate the backup plan, push all the responsibility onto the police for their slow response.
“Contact the PR department and have them release a more aggressive press release, focusing on highlighting that ‘if Homelander could have intervened earlier, the tragedy would not have happened.'”
“Then ‘Stone Armor’…”
“Find him!” The supervisor’s eyes were cold.
“Mobilize all our informants.
Dig three feet into the ground if you have to, but find him for me.
“He took Vought International’s money but ruined Vought International’s business.
“I want him to know the consequences of a dog not listening.”
“Yes!”
On the other side, in Ohio.
After Su Kai hung up the phone, his fingers exerted a little force.
Crack.
The shell of that old-fashioned phone shattered instantly, and the internal circuit board was directly crushed into a lump of waste plastic and metal.
He threw it away casually, the wreckage tracing a parabola and landing precisely in the trash can in the corner.
“Vought International…
Special Operations Department?”
Su Kai leaned back on the sofa, recalling the information from the phone call just now.
It seems that inside Vought International, there really is a department specifically for handling these dirty jobs.
Responsible for contacting smuggled Supes like “Stone Armor,” arranging various “scripts,” and creating opportunities for the superheroes of The Seven to farm reputation.
At the same time, it is also responsible for cleaning up when the “props” don’t listen.
“They really have turned the superhero business into an assembly line.” Su Kai curled his lips.
However, this also made him see Vought International’s hypocrisy and filth more clearly.
The superheroes who seem glamorous and world-saving on the surface are all puppets controlled by capital behind the scenes.
Even a “hero saves beauty”…
ah, no, “hero saves hostages” scene was a pre-written script.
“Boring.”
Su Kai muttered, turning his gaze to the pile of loot.
Besides the money, there was also that USB drive taken from “Stone Armor.”
Very ordinary, without any markings.
He picked up the USB drive and weighed it in his hand.
“What could…
be inside this?”
Records of communication between “Stone Armor” and the Vought International Special Operations Department?
A list of the smuggling network?
Or…
information on other shady “cooperative projects” of Vought International?
Su Kai suddenly became interested.
He walked to the bedroom and opened the old laptop.
He turned it on and inserted the USB drive.
The screen flickered, and a window requiring a password immediately popped up.
“It’s encrypted?” Su Kai raised an eyebrow.
“Jellyfish, handle it.”
The necklace around his neck became slightly warm.
A translucent blue-white jellyfish phantom appeared in front of the screen, extending several tiny tentacles and gently placing them near the USB port.
[Attempting to crack…
Encryption method is 128-bit spin algorithm…
Cracking…]
[Cracking successful.]
The password window on the screen disappeared instantly, and the file list on the USB drive was immediately displayed in front of Su Kai.
There wasn’t much inside, only three folders.
One named “Contacts.”
One named “Mission Records.”
The last one named “Payment Records.”
Su Kai first clicked on the first one, “Contacts.”
Inside was a simple address book, recording several codenames and their corresponding encrypted contact methods.
Besides the “Vought International – Special Operations Department” that had just called, there were several others.
“Gray Wolf – Transport Line.”
“Viper – Entry Docking.”
“Black Market – Drug Channel.”
After each codename, there was a string of complex numbers and letter combinations, looking like some kind of dark web or encrypted communication address.
“He really was a middleman.” Su Kai rubbed his chin.
In the eyes of Vought International, smuggled Supes like “Stone Armor” probably didn’t even count as “partners.” At most, they were “temporary workers” to be discarded after use.
Responsible for doing dirty work for some blood money, and once something goes wrong, they are the first to be abandoned.