Chapter 33: Manipulating Ezekiel, Establishing the Secret Funding Chain
On the dark, damp carpet of the late-night club, Ezekielknelt, powerlessly and desperately.
His knees sank into the sodden wool, which was soaked with spilled champagne, sticky and thick.
Lin Yuan slowly withdrew his tablet and pulled a document stamped with the Vought emblem from his suit's inner pocket.
A secret agreement regarding the establishment of the "Star Alliance Charitable Trust Fund" slid gently onto the red carpet in front of Ezekiel.
"Sign it, my great saint, alright."
Lin Yuan's voice was low, sounding as if he were ordering a servant at home, leaving absolutely no room for negotiation.
Ezekiel tremblingly grabbed the agreement paper, which was stained with a bit of dirt from the sole of a shoe, and after a quick glance, his face turned even paler.
"A trust fund? You want me to funnel ninety percent of the church's donations into this private account?"
He screamed.
His neck was slightly deformed from the strain, as thin as a withered vine.
"That's impossible! The IRS is watching our church's tax-exempt books every single day!"
"If they discover large sums of money flowing into unknown sources, we'll all end up in prison in New Jersey, really!"
Lin Yuan patted the wrinkles on his suit and casually wiped a smudge of lipstick from the tip of his shoe onto the carpet.
"The IRS? Assistant Hughie will go to the Public Relations Department first thing tomorrow morning to stamp those books with the tax-exempt seal, that's for sure."
"In North America, as long as you pay enough hush money, those tax officers won't even remember who their own mothers are."
He took a step forward.
The powerful Viltrumite aura instantly turned into a hard wall, forcing Ezekiel's breath back into his throat.
"You just need to be responsible for shouting about miracles in front of the camera and letting those mindless fans obediently take the dollars out of their pockets."
"As for the rest, the Star Alliance Foundation under my name will naturally cover for it, understand?"
Ezekiel rubbed his reddened eyes, tears mixed with dirty snot dripping onto the paper, blurring a small patch of black ink.
"Then... what about the PR promotion fees Vought gives me every month? That's my only private vault!"
He wailed, like a three-year-old giant baby whose lollipop had been stolen.
"PR fees? Reggie has been discharged from the hospital, and Ashley will cut your budget tomorrow, that's for sure."
The cold sneer on Lin Yuan's lips was filled with utter disdain.
"Listen to me, I can not only help you launder that black money, but I can also let you continue to be a saint on television."
"If you don't listen..."
Lin Yuan silently clenched his right hand at his side, his bones cracking.
"The photos of you rolling around naked in the pool with young men will be in the hands of every worshiper attending Sunday service by tomorrow morning."
This threat was as heavy as a piece of pig iron, smashing down on Ezekiel's head.
He knew the faces of those believers too well; once an idol is shattered, they could stone him to pulp on the spot.
"Don't... I'll sign! I'll sign immediately!"
Ezekiel broke down.
He frantically grabbed the plastic ballpoint pen, tilted his head on the last page of the agreement, and wrote his real name stroke by stroke.
His hand was shaking violently; the pen tip tore several holes in the damp paper, and ink smeared all over his fingernails.
"Pick up the pen from the floor and stamp the contract properly; don't act like a dying, resentful woman."
Lin Yuan tapped on the table, looking somewhat impatient.
"I'll sign! I'll sign! I'll stamp it right away, please don't make this tablet public, really."
Ezekiel tremblingly grabbed the ballpoint pen from the floor and wrote on the agreement stroke by stroke.
"Write it neatly. If the handwriting looks like a dog's scratching, that woman Ashley will nag again, that's for sure."
"Yes, yes, yes! I will write it neatly! I won't delay your business, alright."
Ezekiel wiped his nose and rubbed the pen tip on the red carpet.
"Really, the handwriting looks like a sea crab climbing a tree, it's pathetic."
Lin Yuan bent down and, like picking up a rag, took back the agreement stained with tears and snot.
He folded it carefully and tucked it back into his inner pocket.
"Great saint, wash your face and go back out to continue hosting your debauched party."
Lin Yuan patted Ezekiel's limp shoulder with such force that his skeleton rattled.
"Remember, starting tomorrow, the deacon who serves you tea and water will be a new eyes-and-ears for me."
Ezekiel knelt on the ground, dazed, the flesh on his face slightly distorted under the lights; he could only nod in despair.
"I remember... I will listen to everything you say..."
Lin Yuan sneered, turned around, and strode towards the side door.
The door pushed open.
The dry, cold wind from the bay outside rushed in, instantly blowing away the turbid stench of alcohol and meat in the room.
The sea fog grew thicker, and the distant buildings of New York looked like gray building blocks in the night.
"Boss! Ezekiel's black card has already been transferred to Hughie's account, the first installment of twenty million has been laundered clean, really!"
In the earpiece, Timothy's excited mental waves sounded right on cue.
"Alright, Timothy, have the crabs sweep all the cigarette butts left by the SWAT team on the scene into the sea to feed the fish."
Lin Yuan's feet left the ground, a Gravity Field silently expanded, wrapping around him and lifting him into the air.
"Boss, are we really going to the biochemical vault under the building tomorrow morning? Seagull says the defense there is extremely tight, really!"
"Tight defense? In the face of absolute power, those few combination locks are no different from paper, that's for sure."
Lin Yuan traveled through the wind, the loose thread on the back collar of his suit scratching him and causing some irritation.
He scratched it with his finger, scraping off a bit of dried blood scab, and flicked it into the clouds and mist below.
"With this endless stream of black money from Ezekiel, I can exchange for more purification reagents in the system store."
"Once I steal the second-generation stock solution from under the building, my Omni-Man battle body will be fully upgraded, really."
A flash of red, like that of a predator eyeing its prey, flickered in Lin Yuan's eyes.
Vought's old building would soon become his possession.
And those two big shots, Madelyn and John, were probably busy suspecting each other right now, unable to attend to any other intersections.
"Boss, Great White Shark says they have already completely surrounded Ezekiel's yacht, which is loaded with smuggled gold bars, under the harbor!"
Timothy claimed credit.
"Alright, tell them to keep their mouths shut and not to surface and scare the mortals, it's pathetic."
"Boss, that Starlight chick changed into her new uniform with great fanfare early this morning, really."
Timothy was scratching at a small piece of coral stone at the bottom of the fish tank.
"Changing clothes? She still has the heart to change clothes, that's for sure."
Lin Yuan walked to the table and casually splashed some warm water into a flowerpot.
"She sees me as a big Buddha now; tomorrow morning, she will be very willing to speak for me in front of the camera, alright."
"As long as she speaks, all the mindless fans across America will follow suit and shout 'Long live The Deep', really."
"What about Mothers Milk? Can his shotgun really break through the skin of a supe? I find it doubtful, that's for sure."
Timothy said with some disdain.
"It can't break the skin, but it can break their courage. Reggie has been discharged, and those guards are already on edge."
"As long as Mothers Milk fires the first shot into the air, those heroes will go crazy and retaliate with heavy firepower, really."
"By then, the only things left at the scene will be the cigarette butts dropped by Butcher and a blood-stained warning letter, alright."
Lin Yuan pointed at the screen.
Lin Yuan landed silently on the balcony of his large office.
He pushed open the deadbolt of the floor-to-ceiling window, stepped inside lightly, and casually threw his dirt-stained leather gloves onto the table.
The room still retained the faint smell of alcohol left by Queen Maeve just now, which was very unpleasant.
He walked to the washroom and turned on the faucet.
"Swish—"
The warm water washed away the bit of fake stamp ink on his fingers, turning into a pink stream as it flowed away.
Tomorrow morning, the books of Vought International will be decided by me alone, alright.
Lin Yuan turned off the faucet and pulled out a clean tissue to wipe his hands carefully.
In his mind, the crisp sound of the system's gold coins arriving rang out again.
"Ding."
[Successfully trapped and controlled the church religious force: Ezekiel.]
[Main storyline deviation has increased significantly, reaching forty percent.]
[Obtained a huge amount of evolution points: 16,000 points.]
This move not only secured a large sum of funds but also planted a sharp thorn in Vought's religious backing; it was truly worthwhile.
He tossed the paper ball into the wastebasket, expressionless.
"Timothy, tomorrow morning, go and make sure the fins of those Great White Sharks are fixed properly; don't let them surface, it's pathetic."
"Understood, Boss, I have already had the sea crabs completely merge Ezekiel's black card into the Star Alliance Foundation, really!"
Timothy rolled over at the bottom of the water.
Lin Yuan looked at the foggy New York outside; rain hit the glass, sliding down in dirty streaks.
"Madelyn, the path has been paved for you."
Lin Yuan stared at the bill on the corner of the table and spat out a sentence coldly.
"When you cry tomorrow morning, make sure your voice is loud and clear, alright."
"Boss, that old woman Madelyn is rushing to the top floor right now; Seagull saw her car, really!"
Timothy reported again.
"Let her rush. Once she pushes open that door, she will find that a completely insane monster is waiting for her."
"She thinks she can soothe John like coaxing a pet, but she doesn't know she has already handed him an empty gun herself, really."
Lin Yuan twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling that this play of using someone else's knife to kill was indeed well-staged.
"Boss, do we need to leave The Boys' footprints at the scene? Butcher and the others threw a few cigarette butts on the beach just now, it's so dirty, that's for sure."
"If they threw them, leave them there. If there are no traces of the resistance force at the scene, how can the police make a big deal out of it, alright."
Lin Yuan pulled at the back collar of his suit.
"Point all traces to Butcher, let Vought and that bunch of rats fight to the death, and I'll just happen to close the net, really."
"Understood! Boss! Great White Shark has already opened its big mouth under the bay, ready to dine at any time!"
He turned and walked towards the bed leading to the inner room, unbuttoning his bathrobe.
"Boss, Ashley is holding a senior management meeting tomorrow morning; are you going to attend?"
Timothy reminded him in the earpiece in a low voice.
"Go, of course, I'm going."
Lin Yuan stuffed the mask into his pocket.
"If Madelyn dies tomorrow, this Vice President position will open up, and I can just use my shares to swallow it whole, right?"
"By then, this skyscraper, shining with golden rust in the sunlight, will be decided by me alone, really."
Lin Yuan tossed the half-moldy orange from the desk into the wastebasket, expressionless.
"Alright, Timothy. The money has arrived; tonight we'll go to the core biochemical vault under the building and see if that pile of blue liquid is sweet or not, really."
Chapter 34: Vought Laboratory, Lin Yuan Secretly Steals compound v
The ink on the secret agreement had barely dried, and Lin Yuan had already changed into that unmarked, matte black combat suit.
The zipper on the suit was a bit stuck, and the plastic teeth scraped against his collarbone, itching terribly.
He spat out a mouthful of smoke-flavored saliva and, under the cover of night, descended slowly on a Gravity Field to the back door of the lower level of Vought Tower.
Using the secret funding channel just established through Ezekiel, he easily bribed a peripheral researcher at the Vought underground laboratory.
"The Deep... no, Boss. I've got the money, but if I get caught, they'll throw me into a liquid nitrogen tank, really."
A fat researcher wearing a greasy lab coat with hair as messy as a chicken coop was hiding behind a dumpster, his palms covered in oily sweat.
His collar emitted a moldy, pickled cabbage smell, and his fingernails were stained with blue residue from compound v—disgusting.
Lin Yuan reached out, grabbed him by the collar, and forcibly pulled that fat face in front of his own.
"With this fifty thousand, you can buy plenty of flour and go live in Texas for the rest of your life, right?"
Lin Yuan's voice was low, and a cold, threatening gleam flashed in his eyes beneath the mask.
"Give me the backup magnetic card and the password for the purification room, got it."
The fat man tremblingly handed over a blue magnetic card covered in fingerprints.
"Here... here. The inner door will have a Gravity Fieldsensor calibration at 12:30, and there will be a ten-second vacuum period then, really."
Lin Yuan took the card.
The card was slippery, sticky, and smelled of moldy machine oil.
"Very good. Take your money and get out of New York."
Lin Yuan patted the fat man's cheek, the force so great that his bones rattled.
The fat man didn't dare say a word, clutching his cardboard box and scrambling into the thick fog by the Hudson River.
Lin Yuan took a deep breath of the damp, cold air.
He flashed forward and silently pushed open the iron gate to the laboratory's underground passage.
The passage was pitch black, and the air was filled with the stench of battery acid and heated cables—it was awful.
He utilized the infrared blind spot map that Hughie had previously obtained from the Public Relations Departmentbuilding.
He moved silently through the maze-like underground passage like a large cat.
His soles slapped against the leaking concrete floor, but under the shielding of his Gravity Field, they didn't produce any unnecessary sonic booms.
"Boss, Boss! I've had the crabs clog the two cameras in the security hall with dust from the exhaust fan for two seconds, really!"
Timothy's wet, sticky voice boasted in the earpiece.
"Got it, Timothy. Keep an eye on the perimeter, and sound the red alert as soon as there's any sign of a helicopter, okay."
Lin Yuan swiped the card lightly through the slot of the third alloy door.
"Beep."
With a faint, crisp sound, the thick, explosion-proof steel door slowly slid open.
Inside was the core biochemical warehouse of Vought International, with cold, white sterilization lights flashing on the walls.
The security system here was like a fortress; the explosion-proof floor tiles were all equipped with micro-Gravity Fieldsensors, and even a mouse stepping on them would trigger an alarm.
But with Lin Yuan's fully formed Viltrumite microscopic perception.
These defenses were useless; the slight heat emitted by the infrared emitters in the air was as obvious to him as flashlight beams.
He took a deep breath.
His body shrank slightly, and his muscle fibers tightened in an instant.
With an unprecedented, high-difficulty posture, his body floated diagonally through the air.
His feet were half an inch off the ground.
The Gravity Field perfectly supported his body, reducing his weight to zero in an instant.
The bulletproof glass grille glowed blue under the high temperature, and the infrared beams grazed his nose and the back of his clothes without triggering any alarms.
Lin Yuan landed in front of the high-pressure refrigerator at the very back.
A large cloud of white mist billowed from the refrigerator, bone-chillingly cold.
Inside were two blue test tubes contained in explosion-proof lead boxes—the "Blue Devil" compound v stock solution, of extremely, no, exceptionally high purity.
The potion emitted an eerie blue fluorescence at low temperatures, and its cloyingly sweet scent even penetrated the glass stoppers, shooting straight into his nostrils.
"This is the treasure, right."
A fierce and fanatical red light flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes.
With extremely fast and precise movements.
He opened the lead boxes in an instant and silently tucked the two test tubes into his tactical belt.
Then.
He pulled out two identical test tubes from his pocket, filled with blue, specially prepared chemical liquid of the same weight and density.
He safely and precisely placed them back into the original slots.
The sweet smell of the potion was instantly covered by frost again, and the cabinet door closed silently.
The entire replacement process took less than five seconds.
Even the Gravity Field calibration scale inside the explosion-proof cabinet didn't shift in the slightest.
"Boss! Hurry! The footsteps of the patrol SWAT team are echoing around the corner of the corridor! There are three of them, carrying shotguns, really!"
Timothy roared in the telepathic link.
"What's the rush, Timothy? I was just complaining that these pants are a bit tight, got it."
Lin Yuan sneered.
He stepped on the edge of the explosion-proof cabinet, pushed off with one hand, and his body, like a black swallow, silently flipped onto the rusty exhaust vent above.
The iron grille on the exhaust vent was covered in sticky grease and black soot.
He applied a little force with his five fingers.
"Click."
The rusty screws were snapped off by his bare hands, and the iron grille was pushed open just enough for one person to squeeze through.
Lin Yuan's figure flickered as he slipped inside, then he pushed the iron grille back into place behind him.
"Step, step, step."
Three SWAT officers wearing black Vought executive uniforms, holding shotguns leveled in their hands, walked in with heavy rubber-soled boots.
The friction of their soles against the hard, explosion-proof tiles made a teeth-grinding, rustling sound.
The lead SWAT officer pushed up his sunglasses and carefully scanned the hall with a flashlight.
"Everything is normal, the lead lock on the second refrigerator hasn't been tampered with."
He pressed his headset and reported in a gruff voice.
"Madelyn is pushing for the stock solution, so lock it up as soon as you're done checking, really."
Another security guard yawned and scratched his scalp.
Lin Yuan lay in the narrow, dark exhaust duct, which was full of rat droppings, watching the three idiots below.
A look of unbridled, mocking amusement hung on the corner of his mouth.
"Boss, they're locking it up now. These people are really clueless, right!"
Timothy chuckled in the earpiece.
"Boss, that girl named Annie is currently hugging a big, thick Bible and crying there, really."
Timothy swam rapidly, stirring up large white waves.
"Crying? She still has the heart to cry, huh."
Lin Yuan leaned back on the sofa, and the itching from the suit's loose threads had completely vanished.
"She treats me like a savior now; tomorrow morning, she'll be very happy to speak for me in front of the cameras, got it."
"As long as she speaks, all the mindless fans across the country will shout 'Long live The Deep', really."
"What about Mothers Milk? Can his shotgun really break the skin of a super-human? I'm doubtful, really."
Timothy was somewhat disdainful.
"It won't break their skin, but it can break their nerve. Reggie has been discharged from the hospital, and those guards are on edge."
"As long as Mothers Milk fires the first shot into the air, those 'heroes' will go crazy and retaliate with heavy firepower, really."
"By then, the only thing left at the scene will be the cigarette butts Butcher dropped and a bloody warning letter, got it."
Lin Yuan pointed to the screen.
"I want them to be confused. When the potion is delivered to Madelyn tomorrow, she'll definitely be in a hurry to inject that idiot John, got it."
Lin Yuan gently wrapped his body in his mental field and slid silently outward like a snake through the narrow iron duct.
"By then, those two red beams will completely melt the top floor of this golden building, really."
He tugged at the back collar of his suit.
Although the suit was chafing the back of his neck, the thought of the two cases of stock solution in his hands filled him with an endless, violent energy.
"Boss, that Swiss black card of Ezekiel's just laundered another ten million, and those soldiers moved the gold—it went so smoothly!"
Timothy reported the good news.
"Let them keep moving it; the foundation under my name is currently short on liquid assets, right."
Lin Yuan flipped out from the side opening of the exhaust duct.
The thick fog on the Hudson River rolled in again, shrouding the Vought headquarters helipad in a gray mist.
He landed on top of the titanium alloy load-bearing pillar on the outside of the building.
The sea breeze made his hood flutter wildly, carrying away the stench of acid from his body.
He reached out and touched the two cold, hard blue test tubes in his pants pocket, his eyes as cold as a stagnant pool of water.
"Boss, the Great White Shark found the shattered bones of two Vought bodyguards in the harbor, and they said tonight's midnight snack tasted great, really!"
Timothy asked for approval.
"Once you're full, dive back to the bottom of the sea for me; don't leave any traces on the beach—it's pathetic."
Lin Yuan pressed his wrist, and his bones let out a series of crisp, popping sounds in the cold wind.
Madelyn, the path has been paved for you.
Next time you cry, make sure your voice is loud and clear, got it.
His figure flickered, and his Gravity Field expanded silently, enveloping him and instantly vanishing into the vast sea fog.
"Boss, you really went and snatched Vought's most precious marrow tonight, that's a real bargain!"
Timothy's mental fluctuations were somewhat excited in the micro-earpiece.
"This is just the first step, Timothy. Once I absorb these two cases of Blue Devil, my Omni-Man combat body will be able to fully upgrade, really."
"Boss, that old woman Madelyn is rushing to the top floor right now; the Seagull saw her car, really!"
Timothy reported again.
"Let her rush. Once she pushes open that door, she'll find that a completely insane monster is waiting for her."
"She thinks she can soothe John like she's coaxing a pet, but she doesn't know she has already handed him an empty gun, really."
Lin Yuan curled his lips, thinking this drama of using someone else's blade to kill was indeed set up beautifully.
"Boss, do we need to leave footprints of The Boys at the scene? Butcher and his crew dropped a few cigarette butts on the beach earlier, it's so dirty, right."
"If they dropped them, leave them there. If the scene doesn't have some traces of the resistance, how will the police make a big deal out of it, got it."
Lin Yuan tugged at the back collar of his suit.
"Point all evidence toward Butcher, let Vought and those rats lock horns, and I'll just happen to close the net, really."
"Understood! Boss! The Great White Shark has opened its big mouth at the bottom of the bay, ready to feast at any time!"
Lin Yuan looked down, staring at the golden headquarters towering into the clouds in the night, murmuring with a cold sneer.
"Alright, Timothy. The money has arrived. Tonight, let's go to the core biochemical warehouse at the bottom of the tower and see if that pile of blue potion is sweet or not, really."
Chapter 35: Panel Upgraded Again, Primary Flight Unlocked
Outside the ventilation duct was the bone-chilling night wind of New York, feeling like double-edged dull knives slashing fiercely against Lin Yuan's face.
He took a deep breath of the thin, cold air at high altitude, a taste of musty rust and cold dust rising in his throat.
With a leap, he landed lightly on the rooftop of a nearby towering skyscraper.
The lightning rod emitted a faint "buzzing" vibration in the strong wind.
Lin Yuan pulled the two heavy, explosion-proof lead boxes from his tactical belt, which contained the two vials of compound v stock solution emitting a faint blue fluorescence.
"Boss, Boss! Seagull says you've reached the rooftop. Did you get those two blue potions? Is it done?"
Timothy's squelchy, watery voice rang out in the earpiece instantly, sounding very anxious.
"Got them, Timothy. Two 'Blue Devils,' not a single drop leaked. It's done."
Lin Yuan wiped his face, rubbing the black grease from the ventilation duct onto his pant leg.
"System, stop the chatter and absorb these two boxes of stock solution for me. Let's do it."
He thought silently in his mind, his fingers suddenly crushing the metal latch of the lead box with force.
[Detected 99% pure compound v stock solution. Beginning absorption and purification.]
Accompanied by the crisp upgrade notification sound in his mind.
The blue liquid in the two test tubes instantly turned into two beams of blue light, seeping directly into Lin Yuan's skin through his fingers.
"Ugh... Ha!"
Lin Yuan gasped sharply, his body trembling violently, and he fell to one knee on the mossy, muddy ground.
A warm and violent energy surged from his lower abdomen and fingertips, like molten lava, rushing frantically into every cell in his body.
The temperature was terrifyingly high.
It scorched his black tactical suit, emitting a strange smell of burnt wood mixed with sweat. It was foul.
"Boss! Are you okay? Seagull says you're emitting white smoke, like a boiler about to explode. Is it done?"
Timothy shouted at the top of his lungs in the earpiece.
"Shut up, Timothy. I'm burning up right now, don't make a fuss. It's done."
Lin Yuan gritted his teeth.
A warm, sweet taste filled his mouth; this was the physiological reaction caused by his Viltrumite genes violently devouring and purifying the compound v.
"Crack!"
"Snap!"
His entire body's bones and cells emitted a crisp sound like popcorn in an instant.
Bones shattered and reformed, and muscle fibers were rewoven under the pressure of the gravity waves, becoming as hard and solid as titanium alloy cables.
[compound v absorption and purification complete.]
[Current Viltrumite gene deviation: 45%, critical threshold crossed.]
[Viltrumite evolution panel officially upgraded.]
[Unlocked new abilities: "Primary Flight", "Gravity FieldControl".]
Hearing the crisp sound in his mind, Lin Yuan felt the heat in his body fade away in an instant.
Replacing it was an indescribable sense of lightness.
It was as if gravity had become a joke in an instant.
Lin Yuan's feet slowly left the ground.
He realized he was no longer bound by gravity.
He could float in mid-air as he pleased; it was truly effortless.
"Boss! Oh my god! You're flying! You're actually flying! Is it done?"
Timothy screamed in the earpiece, spinning wildly in its fish tank, stirring up large patches of white bubbles.
"Stop howling, Timothy. My ears are about to go deaf from you. Let's do it."
Lin Yuan did a somersault in mid-air, looking relaxed.
He tried twisting his neck, his cervical vertebrae emitting two crisp cracking sounds.
He discovered that as long as he moved his mind slightly.
The gravitational microwaves within his body could, like ripples in water, spread out an invisible layer of air steps beneath his feet.
He could walk in the air, hover upside down, and even the hem of his coat no longer drooped downward.
"This Viltrumite body is truly extraordinary. It's done."
Lin Yuan grinned, pulling down his black tight mask to reveal a row of stark white teeth.
"With this Primary Flight, I won't even need to use the elevator when I go to the docks to 'pick up goods' in the future."
"Then... what about that red-eyed giant baby named John? If he sees you flying, will he be so angry he wets his pants on the spot?"
Timothy laughed viciously in the mental link.
"Let him wet them if he wants. Once I upgrade my body another level, his laser pointer will only be good for lighting my cigarettes. Is it done."
Lin Yuan turned his head.
Looking down at the golden headquarters towering into the clouds in the night, his eyes were as cold as ice shards.
The lights in the windows flickered yellow through a layer of mist.
But in his eyes, those were nothing more than a pile of rotten building blocks that could be dismantled at any time.
"Boss, that girl Starlight changed into her new uniform with great fanfare this morning. Is it done."
Timothy was scratching at a small piece of coral at the bottom of the fish tank.
"Changing clothes? She still has the heart to change clothes. It's done."
Lin Yuan stopped in mid-air; the itchiness from the loose threads of his suit had completely disappeared.
"She treats me like a big Buddha now. Tomorrow morning, she'll be very happy to speak for me in front of the cameras. Let's do it."
"As long as she speaks up, all the brain-dead fans in the US will join in shouting 'Long live The Deep'. Is it done."
"What about Mother's Milk? Can his shotgun really break the skin of a Supe? I have my doubts. It's done."
Timothy sounded somewhat contemptuous.
"It can't break their skin, but it can shatter their nerves. Reggie is out of the hospital, and those guards are on edge."
"As long as Mother's Milk fires the first shot into the air, those 'heroes' will go crazy and retaliate with heavy firepower. Is it done."
"By then, only the cigarette butts dropped by Butcher and a bloody warning letter will be left at the scene. Let's do it."
Lin Yuan pointed to the high altitude beneath him and sneered.
"Boss, Assistant Hughie just sent a text. He says Madelynhas already smashed three teacups in her office. What a troublemaker!"
"Let her smash them. Tomorrow morning, I'll go to the Public Relations Department to properly greet her. Let's do it."
Lin Yuan straightened his clothes, brushing away the scraps of the trademark tag from his collar.
Because of the muscle expansion just now, the clothes had split in several places, revealing the hard, bronze-colored muscles underneath.
"Boss, Great White Shark says they have already taken complete control of that yacht full of smuggled gold bars belonging to Ezekiel under the harbor water!"
Timothy reported the latest victory.
"Got it. Tell them to keep their mouths shut. I'll go get the keys tomorrow morning. It's a good deal."
Lin Yuan took a deep breath of the high-altitude air, his lungs feeling invigorated.
This Viltrumite intermediate form of breathing made him feel like he could stay at ten thousand meters for days and nights without running out of oxygen.
Lin Yuan traveled through the wind; the buildings of New York in the night looked like a miniature set of Lego bricks beneath his feet.
He grinned, looking down at the golden building flashing with golden rust in the night, whispering a cold sneer.
"Done. The preparations for the first stage are all complete. It's done."
He accelerated again.
Gravity control surged silently beneath his feet, propelling him into the vast high-altitude stratosphere.
"Boss, are we really going to go see that girl named Starlight tomorrow morning?"
Timothy sounded a bit curious.
"See her? Of course I'm going to see her."
Lin Yuan turned around in the air, hovering upside down with his head facing downward.
"She is my cleanest signboard in front of mortals right now. Let's do it."
"Tomorrow, I'm going to take her to the biochemical repository under the building and place those experimental reports in front of her with my own hands. Is it done."
"If that girl sees those chopped-up homeless people, she'll probably lose all faith in Vought International, right?"
Lin Yuan laughed, his voice instantly blown away by the strong winds at ten thousand meters.
He enjoyed this god-like feeling of transcending mortals and being above gravity.
"Boss, 30 million from the soldiers' money laundering just hit Ezekiel's black card. It went through smoothly!"
Timothy was claiming credit.
"Boss, that old woman Madelyn is rushing to the top floor right now. Seagull saw her car. Is it done!"
Timothy reported again.
"Let her rush. As soon as she pushes open that door, she'll find that what's waiting for her is a completely insane monster."
"She thinks she can soothe John like coaxing a pet, not knowing that she has already handed him an empty gun. Is it done."
Lin Yuan tugged at the corner of his mouth, feeling that this act of borrowing a knife to kill was indeed staged beautifully.
"Boss, should we leave The Boys' footprints at the scene? Butcher and the others threw a few cigarette butts on the beach just now. It's filthy. It's done."
"If they threw them, leave them there. If we don't leave some traces of the resistance at the scene, how are the police going to make a big deal out of it? Let's do it."
Lin Yuan pulled at the back collar of his suit.
"Point all evidence toward Butcher, let Vought and those rats lock horns, and I'll just happen to reel in the net. Is it done."
"Understood! Boss! Great White Shark has already opened its big mouth under the bay, ready to feast at any time!"
"Let them launder as much as they want; I have plenty of places to spend money. Let's do it."
"Once I upgrade my body to high-level Viltrumite, John and Stan Edgar will both have to kneel on the ground as my stepping stones. Is it done."
Lin Yuan turned his head.
Looking at the heavy sea fog beginning to blanket the docks on the Hudson River below, his eyes were cold and devoid of even a trace of warmth.
Everything was perfectly closing in accordance with his plan.
The Boys had regrouped, A-Train and Crimson Countesshad been manipulated, Starlight had submitted, Homelander was insane, and Ezekiel had surrendered.
He pressed his wrist, his bones emitting a series of crisp, popping sounds in the dark night.
He let out a laugh that was both the most arrogant and the coldest toward the little octopus in the earpiece.
"Let's do it, Timothy! I'm flying! Tell the Great White Sharks that the brightest meteor at the bottom of the Atlantic tonight is me. Is it done."
Chapter 36: Crossing the Void in the Flesh, Lin YuanExperiences Extraordinary Speed
The strong winds at an altitude of ten thousand meters whipped Lin Yuan's tattered black combat suit, making it flap wildly with a "whooshing" sound.
The torn edges at the hem of his clothes fluttered violently in the air, as if several black hands were tugging at his thighs.
But his newly upgraded Viltrumite combat body meant he couldn't feel even a hint of the cold.
A thin layer of frost had formed on his lips; he licked it with his tongue, tasting salty—it was all the flavor of cold high-altitude dust.
The vast, white sea of clouds beneath his feet looked like a giant, trampled cotton candy, retreating at a speed that would make one's scalp tingle.
"Boss, Boss! The sonar shows you've already flown out of New York Harbor. Just how fast are you going? Incredible!"
In his earpiece, Timothy's sticky, watery voice sounded somewhat unclear amidst the howling of the cold wind.
"How fast? How fast can Reggie run? One Mach? Two Mach? Something like that, right?"
Lin Yuan was upside down in the void, his toes feeling a bit numb, but he felt fantastic.
"The Great White Shark says the clouds in the sky have been sliced in half by your butt, and they're getting dizzy from looking up. Incredible."
"Tell them to shut up. The winds in the upper stratosphere are strong, and I'm just about to step on the gas."
Lin Yuan flipped over in mid-air, and a Gravity Fielderupted beneath his feet with a silent, invisible roar.
"Boom—"
His body instantly transformed into a black meteor, plunging straight into the depths of the thinner stratosphere.
"One Mach, two Mach... three Mach, Boss!"
Timothy shouted in the telepathic link.
Lin Yuan only felt the surrounding air like a hard wall, slamming crazily into his face.
The airflow passed through the zipper of his combat suit, tugging at the plastic zipper until it clicked and rattled, nearly snapping right there.
"Damn it, the quality of this suit is really trash. The collar is chafing the back of my neck until it hurts. Incredible."
He scratched his neck with his right hand, scraping off another piece of dried dead skin from under his fingernails.
"Boss! Faster! The Seagull says there's a circle of white mist following behind your butt right now, it's so beautiful!"
"That's a sonic boom cloud, you brainless feathered beast. You don't even understand the principles of what you're watching. Something like that, right?"
Lin Yuan sneered, leaning his body slightly forward, with his Gravity Field control output at full power.
"Boss, if you hit the sea surface with your Gravity Field, those Great White Sharks will be belly-up by tonight. Incredible!"
Timothy blew bubbles anxiously in his fish tank.
"The sea surface is my backyard; I don't need to go crashing into it. Damn it."
Lin Yuan replied indifferently in the telepathic link.
"The sea crabs on the dock say there's a big black bird in the sky speeding at five times the speed, and it scared their claws right off. Something like that, right?"
"Tell those brainless sea crabs, whoever dares to blab, I'll boil them all into fragrant oil tomorrow. Incredible."
"Don't do that, Boss! The sea crabs are our most capable informants in the shallows; they're really clever!"
Timothy pleaded, his tentacles twisting wildly in the water.
"If they're clever, make them keep a close eye on that Russian ship and report to me at the slightest sign of movement, understand?"
"Understood! They've already chewed up all the truck tires underwater; it's so convenient!"
The airflow rubbed violently against his carbon-fiber combat suit.
Instantly emitting a pungent, weird smell of burnt plastic mixed with ozone.
Because of the ultra-high-speed friction, a faint white light lit up on the surface of his body.
In the pitch-black, towering night stratosphere, he was like a black comet traveling against the current.
"Four Mach! Five Mach, Boss! My God, you're faster than lightning now. Incredible!"
Timothy's voice became slightly distorted from over-excitement, like an octopus that had its tentacles stepped on.
Lin Yuan enjoyed this extreme thrill of crossing the void with his own physical body.
The sound of the wind degraded into a sharp, metallic buzzing in his ears.
He tried to open his super-hearing and could even faintly hear the faint sound of waves hitting the beach on the Bermuda Islands hundreds of kilometers away.
"Exhilarating! Absolutely fucking exhilarating!"
He couldn't help but let out a roar in the strong wind, his hoarse voice instantly blown to shreds by the gale.
He passed through a thunderstorm cloud area that was flashing with lightning and thunder.
Countless purple lightning bolts jumped crazily around him, lighting up his black combat suit, making it flicker on and off.
A bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket struck his shoulder directly, but it couldn't even melt the buttons on his suit.
It only left a tingling static electricity, making his hair, full of hair gel, stand straight up. How funny.
"Boss, a Great White Shark says it smelled a burnt, salty fish odor in the bay. Did you get cooked by lightning?"
Timothy asked cautiously in the earpiece.
"You're the salty fish. What the hell do Great White Sharks know? That's static electricity. Damn it."
Lin Yuan made a sharp turn at an altitude of ten thousand meters.
His body pulled a nearly ninety-degree straight dead-angle turn in the air, and the airflow was instantly torn, emitting a dull sonic boom.
"Boom—"
The sound was as dull as a muffled thunder, rolling and dispersing over the ocean.
After experiencing the thrill of extraordinary speed, his body tilted slightly downward, like a meteorite carrying high heat.
Straight, he plunged back into the thick, black rain cloud layer over New York City.
A thick fog rolled in, covering the large cranes at New York Harbor in a gray-white haze.
Lin Yuan silently decelerated in the sea fog and finally landed lightly on the open-air balcony of his large office.
"Boss, you're back. You're so warm; you've even warmed up the water in my fish tank. Incredible!"
Timothy swam fast in the water.
Lin Yuan unlocked the window, stepped into the office, and casually pulled off his charred gloves and threw them onto the desk.
"If it's warmed up, consider it a hot spring. Enough nonsense. Hughie didn't notice anything unusual today, right?"
"No, that little guy Hughie is busy photocopying documents in the Public Relations Department. He spilled coffee on Ashley's wig; it was hilarious."
Timothy scratched at the pebbles at the bottom of the fish tank.
Lin Yuan took the teacup and took a sip; the water had long since gone cold, carrying the taste of overnight moldy tea leaves. It tasted terrible.
And at this moment.
In the center of New York, many citizens hurrying through the deep night looked up in confusion.
They heard a deafening, muffled thunderclap in the clear sky, rolling and dispersing at an altitude of ten thousand meters.
But they only saw a strange black shadow flash and disappear in the thick, black clouds, not even leaving a tail behind.
"God, what was that sound just now? Was it an earthquake?"
A homeless man at the street corner eating a moldy sandwich muttered incoherently.
"Who knows? Maybe it's that bunch of Vought gods taking a dump in the sky again. How pathetic. Let's get out of here."
The homeless man next to him spat impatiently.
In the most luxurious executive lounge on the top floor of the Vought headquarters building in New York.
The air was filled with a rotten smell of high-end rose perfume mixed with yogurt.
Homelander John was curled up on a large red leather sofa.
He was clutching an empty milk carton in his hand, his eyes full of scarlet red veins.
His freak-level super ears.
In that instant just now, suddenly caught an extremely dull supersonic roar coming from the high-altitude stratosphere.
"Hum—"
The vibration even penetrated twenty layers of reinforced concrete, causing a slight stinging pain in his eardrums.
His heart beat violently three times in his chest, and a layer of cold sweat instantly seeped out on his forehead.
"Who... who is flying in my sky?"
John sat up straight from the sofa abruptly, his face as pale as a sheet of freshly pasted white paper.
That sound was too fast.
It absolutely exceeded Reggie's limit, and even faintly carried a familiar pressure that made his back go cold.
Was it The Deep?
No, it couldn't be that loser who only knows how to sleep with sea fish; that's absolutely impossible.
But his intuition was like a cold little hand, tightly gripping his neck.
"Fuck! What the hell is going on!"
John punched the sofa armrest in a rage, tearing the tough leather into a pile of shredded scraps.
Wood splinters pierced his red leather gloves, and a drop of sweet-smelling blood flowed out, but he didn't care.
Ashley had even lost one of her shoes while running, clutching a tablet in her hand, and stumbled into the hallway.
"John! John! What happened? My God, why are your eyes so red!"
Her wig was blown to one side by the wind, revealing a small, reflective patch of scalp underneath. How funny.
"I'm asking you, who the hell was that guy flying in the sky just now!"
John grabbed Ashley by the collar and lifted her into the air.
Ashley screamed in terror, and the tablet in her hand dropped straight onto the floor, shattering the screen.
"I... I don't know! There's nothing on the radar! It might have been a meteorite!"
"A meteorite? Do you really take me for an idiot, Ashley? Something like that, right?"
John was furious and threw her hard onto the ground.
Ashley rolled twice on the ground, groaning in pain, but didn't even dare to cry out loud.
"Go find out! Pull up all the surveillance and radar data for me!"
"If I haven't seen the report by tomorrow morning, I'll melt your stupid skull into molten iron with my lasers. Incredible."
John stood at the door, his chest heaving violently, his whole body radiating a violent red light.
"Boss, A-Train was banging his head against the railing in the ward just now; he seems to have been scared crazy by you. Incredible!"
Timothy said softly in the earpiece.
"Let him go crazy. I want to see his pathetic, broken-legged state with my own eyes in the office tomorrow morning. Something like that, right?"
Lin Yuan tossed the empty paper ball into the wastebasket, expressionless.
"Go clear the accounts on Ezekiel's black card. The profits from the soldiers' money laundering must be merged into the Star Alliance Foundation before tomorrow morning. Damn it."
"Alright, Boss, the sea crabs have already dug up all the gold bars on the beach; it went very smoothly!"
Timothy boasted about his work.
"Do things cleanly, don't be like those clumsy mortals. How pathetic."
Lin Yuan opened the door to the inner room and walked in with big strides.
He turned around.
Looking at the explosion-proof floor-to-ceiling window that was dead-bolted, outside, the sea fog and heavy rain were swallowing the entire city completely.
He pressed his wrists, and his skeleton let out a series of crisp, bean-popping sounds in the dark night.
Lin Yuan swirled the red liquid in his wine glass, overlooking the brightly lit night view of New York beneath his feet, and whispered softly.
"What was that sound just now? Who is flying in my sky? Ashley! Get in here and find out!"
Chapter 37: Shocking the City, a Mysterious Shadow Sweeps Across the Sky
The lingering flashes of lightning in the clouds gradually faded, and the air was thick with the scent of damp rain and heated earth.
Yet, the muffled sonic boom sent subtle ripples across the glass windows of the skyscrapers throughout New York.
"Clang, clang."
The plastic-steel windows of many old apartment buildings were warped by the shockwave, shattering glass all over the ground.
"Boss, Boss! The servers of hundreds of news stations across the country have been crashed, for real!"
In the earpiece, Timothy's squelchy, watery voice shrieked with excitement from the bottom of his tank.
"The videos online are everywhere! The seagulls say those people aren't even wearing pajamas; they're just holding their phones up and filming the sky!"
"Did they get my face?"
Lin Yuan shifted into a more comfortable position in his leather chair.
He took a slow, leisurely sip of his black coffee.
The coffee was stone cold, carrying the acrid, stale burnt taste of a plastic cup; it tasted terrible.
"Nope! They can only capture a blurry black shadow, looking like a deflated black balloon, for real."
"Alright, let them guess then, you bet."
Lin Yuan casually set the empty coffee cup on his desk.
The corner of the desk was still stained with a dried-up coffee ring from earlier this morning, sticky and tacky.
The stain reflected a sticky, oily sheen in the sunlight.
Lin Yuan picked at the rusty red-copper rivet on the desk with his fingernail, making a harsh, grating sound.
"Boss, Assistant Hughie bought you a white shirt downstairs; it's a huge size, for real."
Timothy was playing with a soda can in the water.
"Huge size? My shoulders have been broadened by the Omni-Man physique; I'm just in need of a larger shirt, you bet."
Lin Yuan straightened his clothes.
He casually pulled off the last stray thread from his collar.
He had already changed into a neat, clean gray casual suit, the tag fragment on the back of the collar already picked off by his fingertips.
There was only a small, slightly red mark on his skin that felt a bit itchy when scratched.
"Ring-ring—!"
The red internal phone on the desk suddenly began to jump and vibrate violently, like a madman.
It was Ashley.
Her sharp, slightly cracking female voice exploded directly through the receiver and into the hall.
"The Deep! Pick up the phone! Where the hell have you been!"
"The media across the country has gone insane! They're saying aliens are invading New York in spaceships!"
Ashley screamed, crying on the other end of the line; it sounded like the wig she had just put on had probably been yanked off by her again.
"Stop freaking out, Ashley. I'm sitting right here in my office drinking coffee, for real."
Lin Yuan held the receiver a bit further away, digging at his ear in disgust.
"Drinking coffee? You actually have the nerve to be drinking coffee!"
Ashley was so frantic she was slamming her desk, with the rapid clatter of typists' keyboards audible in the background.
"The Public Relations Department's phones are ringing off the hook! President Stan Edgar just called personally to demand why we didn't receive a radar alert beforehand!"
"I'm frantically calling all the media bosses to get them to take down all those 'Black Meteor' videos!"
"Alright, Ashley, go ahead and take them down then, and don't forget to stuff those bosses with plenty of black cards, for real."
Lin Yuan hung up the phone unhurriedly.
"Boss, Ashley was crying so hard on the phone she even tore the skin off her bitten thumb, for real."
Timothy gloated.
"That brain of hers, besides worrying about her wig all day, it's useless for anything else, you bet."
Lin Yuan spat impatiently.
"Any movement from Reggie? He hasn't rolled out of bed to bark like a dog, has he?"
"No! He's just shivering on the bed, clutching his broken leg; he doesn't even dare make a muffled sound, for real."
"As long as he stays put, I'll go to the Public Relations Department tomorrow and cut his benefits by another twenty percent, alright."
Lin Yuan sneered, gripping his teacup tighter.
"Boss, Great White Shark says the sailors on that Russian freighter in New York Harbor have already moved the crates off the deck, you bet."
"Butcher and his pack of mad dogs have also started crawling forward; their bellies are covered in wet mud, so dirty."
"Let them bite away. I'm sitting right here in this building, and nobody will ever guess it's me, alright."
Lin Yuan twisted his neck.
His bones let out a series of crisp, popping sounds, and his body was filled with power.
He turned on the small crystal screen on the desk, which displayed a live broadcast of the streets of New York.
On the screen, a bespectacled female anchor with a greasy, sweaty face was shouting loudly into the microphone.
"Citizens! Just ten minutes ago! A strange black shadow swept across the sky above the Empire State Building!"
"Its speed exceeded human limits! There are rumors that this is a new superhero from Vought International!"
"Some experts also speculate that it's a hypersonic aircraft left over from the Soviet Union, for real!"
Watching the anchor's lips tremble from nervousness, Lin Yuan laughed disdainfully.
"Experts? Those idiots don't even have the brains of a Great White Shark, you bet."
He closed the screen and tossed it casually onto the desk.
"Boss, John is smashing tables on the top floor; his heart rate has hit one hundred and eighty, like a pocket watch about to explode, for real!"
Timothy's sonar detection alarmed again.
"Let him smash. The more he smashes, the faster that old woman Madelyn will die, alright."
Lin Yuan had just stood up and smoothed the back of his suit.
"Clang!"
In the hallway outside.
A heavy, muffled thud suddenly echoed.
It was as if a thousand-pound iron weight had smashed straight from the ceiling onto the concrete floor.
The marble floor shook violently, sending ripples through the celadon teacup on the desk.
No need to open the door.
Lin Yuan's freakish super-hearing had already precisely locked onto the familiar sound of breathing outside the door, currently on the verge of a rampage.
John.
His cape fluttered wildly in the hallway's air conditioning, creating a series of harsh, metallic screeching sounds.
Every step he took left a deep, heavy footprint on the alloy floor.
"Boss, John smashed three large trash cans in the hallway; the waste paper and leftover food inside splashed all over his cape, for real!"
Timothy reported again.
"Let him stomp. The harder he stomps, the more of a madman Madelyn will think he is when she sees him tomorrow, you bet."
"She thinks she can control this giant baby, but she doesn't know she's walking step by step into the abyss, alright."
Lin Yuan curled his lips, feeling that this play was being choreographed more and more beautifully in the shadows.
"Boss, should we leave footprints of The Boys at the scene? Butcher and his crew threw a few cigarette butts on the beach earlier; so dirty, you bet."
"If they threw them, leave them there. If the scene doesn't have some traces of the resistance, how are the police going to make a big deal out of it, alright."
Lin Yuan pulled at the back collar of his suit.
"Point all evidence toward Butcher, let Vought and those rats tear each other apart, and I'll be ready to close the net, for real."
"Understood! Boss! Great White Shark has already opened his big mouth under the bay, ready to feast at any time!"
That violent aura, filled with burning, restless anxiety and rage.
Was approaching Lin Yuan's office frantically from behind that pure copper door.
"Boss! He's here! He's clutching red light in his hands; it looks like he's about to melt your door into mush, for real!"
Timothy was so scared he retracted his eight tentacles tightly behind the coral stone.
Lin Yuan's eyes flickered, and that playful yet cold, hard, mocking smile appeared on his face once again.
He let go.
He slowly and deliberately tucked the black leather tactical glove, stained slightly with sweat, into his inner trouser pocket.
"Stop freaking out, Timothy, pull your tentacles back into the tank, you bet."
He tilted his head and whispered instructions to the little octopus via the mental link.
"Boss, Ezekiel's black card just laundered another ten million; those soldiers are in a hurry to transport the gold bars to New Jersey, it's going so smoothly!"
Timothy boasted again.
"Let them transport as much as they want. The Star Alliance Foundation under my name is short on liquid funds right now, alright."
Lin Yuan replied indifferently, casually splashing the moldy tea from his cup into the dead potted plant nearby.
A sour, foul odor rose from the soil, smelling terrible.
"Boss, are we still going to attend the emergency high-level meeting called by Ashley tomorrow morning?"
"Go, of course we're going."
"If Madelyn dies tomorrow morning and this vice president position opens up, I can just use my shares to swallow it whole, you bet?"
Lin Yuan watched the pure copper door distort slightly under the immense pressure, his eyes as cold as a stagnant pool of water.
"Alright, Timothy, shut your mouth."
"Alright, that brainless giant baby is at the door. Timothy, pull your tentacles back into the water; our grand finale for tonight is about to begin, for real."
"What was that sound just now? Who is flying in my sky? Ashley! Get in here and find out!"
Chapter 38: Homelander's Anxiety, the Sky Is No Longer His Alone
"Bang!"
The solid wood door was forcibly kicked open by a violent, immense force, and the door hinges let out a teeth-grinding screech.
Wood shavings flew everywhere, and the plaster on the door frame rained down in clumps.
Homelander John was like a mad bull.
His cape fluttered, and his eyes were blood-red as he charged directly to Lin Yuan's desk.
That face of his, which usually wore a hypocritical, fake smile,
Was now twisted out of shape, and the veins on his forehead were throbbing like earthworms.
The scent of high-end wood floor wax in the office
Was instantly completely overwhelmed by the restless and violent aura radiating from him.
"Who the hell was that guy in the sky just now!"
John pressed his hands firmly onto the mahogany desk.
The force in his fingers was so great that he directly gouged several deep indentations into the expensive wood.
Wood shavings pierced into his red gloves, but he didn't care about the pain.
He stared fixedly at Lin Yuan, who was sitting in the large chair; his gaze looked like he wanted to eat someone.
"Who is flying in my sky? Huh? Speak!"
He roared, his spit spraying onto the glass pad on the desk, leaving sticky spots.
Lin Yuan sneered in his heart.
He shrank back, pressing his entire body tightly against the back of the chair.
The expression on his face instantly turned into one of terror and confusion, and even his two hands were rubbing together nervously.
"Jo... John, what are you talking about? What guy in the sky, really."
He stammered, his voice carrying a flawless tremor.
"I... I have been in the office looking at the aquarium reports the whole time, how would I know about things outside, really."
Lin Yuan reached out and groped on the table, seemingly trying to find something to cover up his panic.
His fingers accidentally touched the celadon teacup stained with tea residue, and the cup rolled around on the table.
"You don't know? Do you think I'm blind!"
John grabbed the teacup and squeezed it hard.
"Crack."
The celadon teacup instantly turned into powder in his hand, and white porcelain shards fell onto Lin Yuan's trouser leg.
"That sound, that speed, it definitely exceeded Mach 4!"
John panted heavily, his chest heaving violently.
"In this entire New York, even the entire United States, besides me, who else has the right to fly in the sky!"
The sky.
Had always been the forbidden territory at the bottom of his heart that no one could touch.
It was his absolute domain as a "god," his privilege to look down upon these mortal ants.
But just a moment ago, some unknown high-speed monster.
Had brazenly created a sonic boom cloud in the airspace he was so proud of!
This made him feel even more panicked and uneasy than when Lin Yuan had withstood his heat vision on the rooftop earlier.
"John... you... don't get excited yet, really."
Lin Yuan hurriedly patted his trouser leg, brushing the porcelain shards onto the carpet.
"I'm just a loser who can control water; I've never even flown up two stories in my life, why are you suspecting me, really?"
Lin Yuan swallowed his saliva, deliberately making his voice sound dry and weak.
He looked at John's bloodshot eyes, his heart already blooming with joy.
"If you ask me... this matter might have something to do with Ms. Madelyn, really."
Lin Yuan lowered his voice.
As if telling a huge, shameful secret, his eyes scanning outside the office door with a guilty conscience.
"Madelyn?"
John's pupils contracted sharply, and the red light in his eyes flickered violently.
"Her? How could she do this kind of thing behind my back?"
"How is it not possible, John, think about it, really."
Lin Yuan leaned forward half his body.
The light from the desk lamp hit his face, making him look mysterious.
"A-Train that kid broke his leg, and Translucent is missing; our The Seven's combat power is greatly reduced, really."
"That old woman is thinking all day about how to stabilize the stock price and how to please those soldiers at the Pentagon."
"Who knows, she might be secretly using compound v to cultivate some new weapon, really."
Every word of Lin Yuan's speech poked at the heart of John's extremely sensitive, giant-baby psyche.
John's face changed again and again in an instant.
One moment red, one moment white.
Like a clown that had rolled in a palette.
In his mind.
He instantly remembered the forged recording he had overheard in the cracks of the sofa in the lounge earlier.
"He is just a giant-baby test subject that can be discarded at any time..."
Madelyn's cold, dismissive voice echoed in his mind again.
That's right!
Madelyn, that bitch, she has long wanted to abandon me!
She must have created a faster monster behind my back to replace me!
John gritted his back teeth.
The muscles on his cheeks bulged high, and his teeth ground together with a clacking sound.
"This liar... this old bitch full of lies..."
He growled.
His fingers clawed hard at the mahogany desk, tearing off two more sharp wood splinters.
Lin Yuan watched his behavior, which was bordering on madness.
He picked up the glass with half a cup of cold water left at the corner of the table, took a sip to cover up, and hid the sneer at the corner of his mouth.
"John, this is just my guess, you must not go and make a scene with Madelyn, really."
Lin Yuan advised him, pretending to be kind.
"She holds the company's purse strings; if you fall out with her, our future days won't be easy, really."
"Purse strings? What does she think she is!"
John kicked the desk in a rage.
The heavy solid wood table was kicked half a meter away, with a "screech," leaving a deep black mark on the carpet.
"She thinks that by making a fast-running monster she can ride on my head? In her dreams!"
He panted heavily.
He turned around, his bright red cape whipping an intense arc through the air.
He didn't even look at Lin Yuan again, striding out the door while cursing.
"Madelyn, you wait for me; I'll dig up all your secrets today, fuck!"
"Bang."
The office door was slammed shut by him, and the cold air in the hallway was mercilessly cut off by the door.
The footsteps faded away outside the door, carrying a tone of extreme frustration.
Lin Yuan sat in the big chair.
The weakness and terror on his face vanished completely the second the door closed.
He unhurriedly brushed the wood splinters he had just clawed out into the wastebasket.
"Boss, John that idiot really believed it! He's currently searching the whole building for Madelyn, really!"
In the fish tank, Timothy excitedly spat out a long string of white bubbles.
"Of course he would believe it. A giant-baby's brain can only hold paranoia and suspicion, really."
Lin Yuan stood up.
He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the foggy streets of New York below.
Rain hit the glass, sliding down in dirty streaks.
He knew.
After tonight, Madelyn, that self-righteous woman, her good days would be completely over.
"Boss, what are we doing next? Are we still going to get that batch of potion, really?"
Timothy pawed at the coral reef in the water.
"Get it, of course we have to get it."
Lin Yuan pulled at the back collar of his suit, his eyes cold and devoid of any warmth.
"When that 'mother and son' pair are tearing each other to pieces on the top floor, I'll just go and absorb all those blue potions; it's a great deal."
He pressed his wrist, his bones making a series of cracking sounds like popping beans under the cold air vent.
"Alright, Timothy. The show is about to start. John that red-eyed sicko could tear half this building down by tomorrow morning, you believe it?"