While Fang Yuan's artillery raged, the outside public opinion also erupted into a barrage of criticism.
Backed by senators, high officials, and various capital interests, Pioneer Company quickly set the stage and put on a show; after lavishly throwing money around, its momentum nearly caught up with Vought Corporation.
Among the Awakened, Vought's reputation is overwhelmingly dominant, but reputation can't be a meal; ultimately it must return to personal profit.
Vought does benefit most Awakened, yet some are left uncared for or receive only minor gains, giving Pioneer Company an opening.
It shouted slogans of no review and high benefits, swiftly attracting a flood of Awakened.
Although during the Kuba Crisis Fang Yuan reached an agreement with the authorities granting Vought certain privileges, this was never written publicly.
Moreover, the founding of Pioneer Company does not violate the official‑Fang Yuan agreement; after all, no rule said only Vought could be a company centered on the Awakened.
But Fang Yuan had actually anticipated all this.
Everything must progress step by step; the earlier oral agreements were because the authorities were still assessing whether the Awakened posed a threat, and Fang Yuan couldn't press too hard.
Now the Awakened have proven at Vought that they are not a threat at all, but a huge profit source, so inevitably someone will think about picking the peaches and stealing the cake.
Any enterprise's development will encounter competitors.
Either the competitor kills you, you share the cake, or you kill the competitor.
Fang Yuan naturally chose the path of killing the competitor.
And because of the Awakened's special nature, Fang Yuan intends to solve the problem once and for all, eradicating any future trouble.
So that when he later boosts his employees' reputation, no other company can jump in and snatch business.
Thus, even though Charles and his crew are anxious, Fang Yuan still plans to let Pioneer Company bounce around.
The higher you jump, the harsher the fall.
Fang Yuan even felt Pioneer's progress was too slow, so he decided to act himself.
Fang Yuan descended from the twins' apartment, handling a pair of twins with ease.
"These people are so dithering, even their scheming is this slow."
He muttered, returned alone to the top of Vought Tower, and shook his head at the hidden shadows of Pioneer Company outside.
Warm‑up complete, time to act.
A ripple of blue washed over Fang Yuan, instantly turning him into a middle‑aged white man wearing glasses.
"Hmm, the glasses can even be taken off, not bad."
His voice also completely changed, pleased with Mystique's ability.
He then teleported to an underground garage in New York, where someone had been waiting for a while.
"Senator Lance, this way, please."
The security staff in formal attire hurriedly opened the door for Fang Yuan, daring not to delay, because Lance, like Patrick, is a high‑ranking senator.
Fang Yuan made no extra movements and simply got into the vehicle.
Disguising oneself as a high official has this advantage: no need for many words.
The convoy arrived at another Villa, where Fang Yuan met the key figures of this trip.
Senator Patrick, along with other officials and capital representatives, and even Bolivar Trask were present.
Of course, the place was equipped with numerous devices that, when powered, can shield against mental abilities.
Since Professor X's sudden emergence, such gear has become standard for big‑shots.
This is a gathering of Pioneer Company's behind‑the‑scenes supporters!
Everyone assembled to discuss how to extract even more profit from Vought.
Toppling Vought is impossible; after all, both the X-Men and Hellfire are extremely powerful.
Moreover, given the current stance of the Awakened, openly attacking them no longer serves their interests. Vought has already created a great situation; now they should simply pick the peaches.
Capitalists are very familiar with this.
But if these people learn that the Vought boss, who is currently fiercely debating how to deal with Vought and the Awakened, is being targeted, they might start doubting their own lives.
Because Fang Yuan isn't quietly making a fortune like other infiltrators; on the contrary, he's extremely proactive.
His disguised Senator Lance at the meeting turned into a full‑blown conservative, crazily voicing his opinions.
Oh right, a note: Fang Yuan's "conservative" stance is that he finds everyone else's views too conservative.
"Attracting the Awakened is fine, but we can't just keep them as decorations. When interest wanes, send the useless Awakened to the lab!"
"The most valuable thing about the Awakened is their genes, right? Just have a few as celebrity faces; send the rest for slicing!"
Senator Lance's words made many people swallow their saliva; most of these people gathered for monetary gain, and some covet the Awakened's abilities, otherwise they wouldn't support the Awakened Act.
But Senator Lance clearly doesn't see the Awakened as humans, shocking everyone.
Even some supporters of Awakened research wouldn't dare speak so bluntly.
Fang Yuan had specifically investigated that Senator Lance himself acts very aggressively; otherwise others would suspect he's on drugs.
Meanwhile, the low‑profile Trask watched Senator Lance's eyes light up, as if he'd found a kindred spirit.
"Ahem."
At that moment Senator Patrick quickly spoke, cutting off Fang Yuan's enthusiastic speech.
"Lance, if you do that and get caught, the negative fallout will be huge."
Hearing that, the light in Bolivar Trask's eyes dimmed rapidly; Patrick is the leader among them, and his remark clearly rejected Fang Yuan's proposal.
"Alas!" Fang Yuan sighed in frustration, "How can you chase profit while being so overly cautious!"
Looking at his expression, he was almost about to say, 'A petty youth is unworthy of counsel.'
So Fang Yuan pretended to compromise and suggested, "Then why not try poaching Vought staff? If their key employees come to us, whether it's Pioneer Company or the Awakened Act, it would bring massive benefits!"
The suggestion instantly seemed like a good idea to everyone present, and even Patrick nodded, "Exactly, feasible."
Compared with Lance's earlier proposal to slice the Awakened, poaching Vought's talent is extremely mild.
Since everyone agreed it's feasible, they need to pick a target.
The group first ruled out Angel, Professor X and Magneto – all three are famous but have no chance; however, members of the Hellfire team seemed promising.
After all, the X-Men already have a team series, but there's still no news on Hellfire, so people might feel it's unfair.
So Fang Yuan mentioned this name, and everyone found it reasonable.
"What about Salvador?"
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
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