104. Chapter 104: I am the Greatest Superhero in the World
After seeing Sheffield off, Xia Shang opened the black box in his hand. The contents were simple: just a high-end watch and a check for two hundred thousand US dollars.
Don't think two hundred thousand US dollars is a lot. For Sheffield's Restaurant, it was just a few days' revenue.
You should know that Xia Shang's fee for this single order alone was as high as four thousand US dollars.
Moreover, this was just the small part; the real major part belonged to Vought International. With The Deep's current popularity, inviting him to be a Spokesperson would require at least a million US dollars.
Without Xia Shang's help, Vought wouldn't necessarily agree to The Deep cooperating with a Restaurant.
The next day.
As soon as Xia Shang arrived at Vought Tower, he was called over by Madelyn Stillwell.
In the Vice President's Office, Madelyn Stillwell asked with a frown, "What are your thoughts regarding the matter of The Deep and Translucent?"
"The Deep publicly apologizes, and then Starlight comes forward to forgive him," Xia Shang sat upright on the sofa, a cup of water placed in front of him.
"Will Starlight agree? She refused when I asked her to film a reality show segment before. It seems she doesn't want to appear on screen with The Deep." Madelyn Stillwell had a bit of a headache. For Vought's stock price, it was impossible for her to actually fire Starlight.
"Leave this to me. Changing The Deep's current public opinion is simple. We just need to shape a lovestruck image for him. Say that the moment he first saw Starlight, he fell uncontrollably in love with her, which is why he did what he shouldn't have done.
Now he has realized his mistake and is begging everyone for forgiveness. I believe everyone will forgive him. After all, The Deep himself is handsome, and add a lovestruck image, soon people will treat his sexually harassed incident as normal courtship.
Furthermore, doing this has another benefit."
Xia Shang picked up the water cup on the table and continued, "The benefit is, it can attract the attention of most netizens. At that time, they will only care about whether The Deep truly likes Starlight, and whether anything happened between the two of them. After all, everyone loves gossip, and peeking into superheroes' private lives will definitely excite them.
By then, who will still care how Translucent actually died? Anyway, the person is already dead, his popularity will only continue to decline until he sinks into the sea and is forgotten."
After hearing Xia Shang's answer, a smile reappeared on Madelyn Stillwell's face. She smiled and looked at Xia Shang and praised, "This method doesn't even require Starlight's consent. As long as we muddy the water, who will really care whether Starlight was truly sexually harassed? Maybe it was just a small misunderstanding between two lovers."
It can be said that with this handling method, only Starlight is the sole victim.
Think about it, The Deep clears his title of being a pervert, Vought will gain a huge wave of popularity from this incident, and Translucent's cause of death will no longer be paid attention to. It's simply the most perfect result, aside from Starlight.
And if Starlight herself doesn't care, her popularity can also rise simultaneously.
"Giving you the position of Public Relations Department Head, you really haven't disappointed me," Madelyn Stillwell said with satisfaction.
Just then, Homelander, who had just finished The Seven Meeting, walked into Madelyn Stillwell's Office.
"I have something to ask you," Homelander looked solemnly at Madelyn Stillwell.
Seeing this, Xia Shang sensibly put down the glass cup in his hand, turned and left the Vice President's Office.
After he left.
The phone behind Madelyn Stillwell rang. "Sorry, one moment."
After speaking, Madelyn Stillwell picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Really? Thank you so much. I knew you'd vote according to your conscience, Senator. I hope you can attend Vought's party in a week. Okay, see you then."
Clearly, her proposal for the military bill had received preliminary approval with the help of the Senator.
Initially, the Senator didn't want to agree, but who would have thought he was set up and tricked by Madelyn Stillwell? Now, when he thought about sleeping with a man who could transform instead of a Woman, he felt a bit nauseous.
Of course, Madelyn Stillwell only cared about the result. As for the Senator's feelings, she didn't care.
After hanging up the phone, the smile on her face became even brighter. She said excitedly, "Three more votes. Insiders say The Pentagon is supporting the purchase of three hundred and fifty billion US dollars worth of low-end weapons. This gives us an advantage over Lockheed Martin Corporation."
"That's great, that's incredible!" Homelander praised falsely.
To be honest, he didn't care about any of this at all.
"Do you remember that girl from the Marketing Department?"
Homelander asked her about what happened with Becca back then, but Madelyn Stillwell's gaze flickered. She just repeated Mallory's investigation results from back then and also tried to use other things to steer the conversation.
Homelander could tell at a glance that Madelyn Stillwell was lying, so he turned and left directly and found Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum, who had been retired for many years.
Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum was previously the main researcher responsible for raising Homelander.
When Homelander saw him again, his hair was completely white. Although the doctor's eyeballs were cloudy, he still recognized Homelander immediately.
"Hi, Dr. Jonah Vogelbaum, I was thinking of coming to see you. You look well," Homelander showed a genuine smile, with his hands behind his back, looking at Vogelbaum, who was feeding a dog.
"How long has it been, John?"
Although he was already old, he still remembered Homelander's name. "So long that no one calls me John anymore."
Seeing the imposing Homelander now, Vogelbaum felt quite emotional inside. To be honest, he had always regretted the past, regretted taking Homelander away from his parents when he was little, and then locking him in the Laboratory and raising him like a lab mouse. Over the years, Vogelbaum felt deep guilt about this.
"You must have something you need when you come to see me," Vogelbaum led Homelander to his Room.
When Homelander asked about Becca from eight years ago, he sighed softly. He told Homelander that a month after Becca disappeared, Madelyn Stillwell suddenly found him and told him extremely shocking news: Becca was pregnant, with Homelander's baby.
Because he had examined Becca's abdomen back then, through the skin of Becca's abdomen, he could see the fetus inside emitting a red light.
"Pregnant?" After hearing this, Homelander's expression became very complex, with unconcealable surprise in his eyes. "No, I thought I couldn't..."
"I thought so too, but clearly, nature is very resilient."
Afterward, Vogelbaum told him that after confirming Becca's pregnancy back then, Vought International signed a non-disclosure agreement with her and then transferred her to a safe and well-equipped place to await delivery. Unfortunately, Becca hadn't reached her due date yet when the baby in her abdomen tore her uterus, causing Becca to die from excessive blood loss, and the baby didn't survive either.
Upon hearing this news, Homelander instantly froze, his gaze instantly became incredibly lost.
"Was it a boy?"
"Does that matter?" Vogelbaum said.
Homelander frowned slightly. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"To protect you, that's always Vought's top priority, isn't it? Protecting our most important asset."
Vogelbaum got up and walked towards the window.
"Then why are you telling me now?" Homelander demanded.
Vogelbaum turned to look at Homelander. "You don't understand. The interesting thing about hybrid dogs is, if the gene fusion is right, you can get a perfect creature. But no matter how perfect they are, it's not enough. Experimental subjects who grow up without their Mother become violent, aggressive, and full of hatred."
As he spoke, his gaze gradually softened. He said guiltily, "You should have grown up in a family with loved ones, instead of in a cold Laboratory."
"I'm sorry."
Facing his apology, Homelander shook his head with anger in his eyes. "Fuck you, I don't need your apology."
"This is all my fault."
"What do you want? My forgiveness? Now?" Homelander turned. After taking a deep breath, forcing back tears, he turned his head to look at Vogelbaum. He shook his head. "When you treated me like a lab mouse back then, why didn't you think like this? Now you come seeking my forgiveness? No.
Repentance isn't enough, and it's too late."
Vogelbaum lowered his head slightly. "I don't want anything from you, John. I'm just an old man reflecting on my mistakes."
Homelander stared intently at Vogelbaum and said word by word, "I am the greatest Superhero in the world."
Unexpectedly, Vogelbaum said that Homelander was his greatest failure.
After hearing this, Homelander's eyes welled up again. He didn't say a word, his figure disappeared directly from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was already high above New York. He raised his head and flew straight up until frost gradually covered his cheeks. Only then, from ten thousand miles high, did he spread his arms, close his eyes tightly, and let his body continuously fall downwards! On the other side.
Xia Shang returned to his Office. He had just approved a sum of funds, which he would use to sponsor Environmental Action.
Only the more radical those young men were, the more The Deep's commercial value could be reflected.
Afterward, he received Sheffield as agreed. Initially, Sheffield wanted to sign a monopoly contract. His requirement was that The Deep could only be the Spokesperson for his Restaurant and could not continue to endorse other Restaurants.
Xia Shang refused this unreasonable request without hesitation.
"Impossible. Unless you can pay a corresponding price. Usually, for this kind of industry monopoly contract, Vought's asking price is over one hundred million US dollars. As your friend, I must advise you, this is not cost-effective.
I can have The Deep create a ranking list for Environmental Restaurants. I guarantee you'll be in the top three. Furthermore, those Environmentalists will no longer patronize your Restaurant. At the same time, you will also have The Deep's endorsement.
Most importantly, you only need to pay a friendship price of one million US dollars. Believe me, this price is impossible for anyone else."
Xia Shang's words were very tempting, especially the last sentence.
"Pleasure working with you."
"Pleasure working with you." Sheffield couldn't refuse Xia Shang's terms.
At this moment, Xia Shang seemed to sense something and looked out the window. He saw a sesame-sized black dot appear on the horizon.
"It looks like he's not in a very good mood."
(End of Chapter)