134. Chapter 134: My Superpower is Time Stop
From how he interrupted Xia Shang's remarks during the meeting earlier, it was clear that Stan Edgar didn't want to focus his energy on cultivating Supes.
To him, Supes were merely experiment subjects for Compound V. The reason Vought wanted to transmit large amounts of Compound V to the Outside World was simply to test the drug's effect and obtain corresponding data.
Vought wasn't an entertainment company; it was a pharmaceutical company. The Supe industry was just a subsidiary.
Ever since Stan Edgar took over Vought from its founder, Frederick Vought, he understood Vought's ultimate goal: to develop a truly stable Compound V.
That's why the Laboratory researching Compound V had the highest security level. Even Xia Shang would need to notify Stan Edgar to enter.
Besides.
He was already utterly disgusted with those Superheroes. These guys had no bottom line and only knew how to cause trouble for the company. Moreover, every time they made a big mess, he had to clean it up.
What's more, the profit they could generate in a year was only tens to hundreds of billions of US Dollars, far less profitable than the pharmaceutical and arms industries.
"If I could fully excavate the potential of Compound V, I wouldn't have to keep tolerating those idiots." Stan Edgar picked up Vought's five-year plan, got up, opened the safe next to him, and put it inside.
If the time was right, Stan Edgar would abandon the Supe industry without hesitation and have Vought cut ties with it directly.
Therefore, Xia Shang's plan seemed like a waste of time to him.
He didn't want Vought's future successor to invest too much energy in the Supe industry, which was why he repeatedly emphasized in front of Xia Shang that Compound V was Vought's foundation. As long as they had stable Compound V, whoever Vought wanted to become a Supe could become a Supe.
......
Meanwhile.
Xia Shang hesitantly asked, "Your webbing isn't shot out from... that place, is it?"
He had to admit, at this moment, an image even appeared in his mind of the little boy swinging between tall buildings with his butt naked. That image was simply too beautiful, making it unbearable to look at.
"How did you know?" The little boy sniffled.
"I'll demonstrate it for you."
As soon as the little boy finished speaking, he was interrupted by Xia Shang.
"Never mind, I already have the image. Which of these action figures do you like? I'll give them to you as a reward for participating in the event." Xia Shang said, pointing at the action figures of Starlight and others on the table.
"Can I have them all?!"
The little boy impatiently ran up to Xia Shang, looking at the action figures on the table with eyes full of longing.
"Here's a Homelander for you. Hurry and go down, don't make your mom wait anxiously." Kids want everything; adults know it's impossible. Watching the little boy, holding up his pants with one hand and hugging the action figure with the other, trotting happily towards offstage, Xia Shang secretly sighed in relief.
"Next one," Xia Shang said to Pete beside him. Pete was one of the selectors for this event.
Soon, another boy was escorted by staff members to the stage.
"Tell me about your superpower."
This was only the second one. Xia Shang still had high hopes for the upcoming participants.
"My superpower is time stop!" The boy showed a confident expression.
The audience offstage burst into an uproar. They had never heard of this superpower before. When Xia Shang heard the words time stop, his heart also skipped a beat. Was his luck this good? Although some Supes' superpowers weren't included in Vought's database, it couldn't be that the second one was a trump card, could it?
However, he asked warily, "Does your superpower have a flaw?"
The boy nodded.
"It's normal to have a flaw. Please describe your superpower," Xia Shang said with his fingers intertwined, full of anticipation.
"My superpower can make everything around me stop for ten minutes."
At this moment, the public offstage couldn't stay calm. Being able to pause time was simply a dream superpower for the vast number of guys. Looking at the person on stage who possessed this perfect superpower, who was actually a little kid who didn't understand anything, they almost gritted their back teeth.
"What about the flaw?" Xia Shang asked, strongly suppressing the surprise in his heart.
To be honest, even if the flaw was a bit big, he could tolerate it. After all, this was a time-based superpower.
However, the boy's next words almost made Xia Shang directly lose it.
"If I make time stop for ten minutes, then I will also be stopped for ten minutes."
"Give him a gift and take him down. Now, immediately, right away!" Xia Shang said through gritted teeth.
Just then, a staff member from the Backstage hurried to Xia Shang's side and apologized.
"Mr. Jervis, I'm really sorry, this child isn't on the list. He ran up himself."
"I understand. Take him down," Xia Shang said dejectedly, waving his hand.
The superpowers of the next few participants who came onstage were all very odd. There was Cruz, who could cause rapid hair growth, but only on himself, and Invisible Boy Tino, who could make his arm invisible. The only one of note was the boy Owen, who could control emotions.
As soon as he came onstage, he used his superpower on Pete.
The result was that the two of them held their stomachs and laughed wildly on stage for ten minutes. In the end, Xia Shang couldn't stand it anymore and had someone call an ambulance to send them to the hospital.
"Next," Xia Shang said weakly.
Only now did he understand how rare lucky people like Starlight were.
However, this was also related to the number of Supes. After all, Compound V hadn't been fully released, and the number of Supes was still too few. Even though Vought had operated for over half a century, the number of Supes was still not many.
"Isn't that Vought's Vice President, Mr. Jervis?" Ever since The Female died, Billy had temporarily put away his thoughts of searching for his wife, while Kimiko washed her face with tears every day, with Frenchie beside her responsible for comforting her. Mother's Milk was more of a homebody and didn't like going out much.
Only Hughie wore a fake beard all day and wandered around aimlessly when he had nothing to do.
His purpose for coming out this time was to see Starlight. After all, in the Drainage Channel a week ago, it was she who persuaded Homelander not to act and let the law punish Hughie, which saved Hughie's life.
So Hughie wanted to buy her a gift, but being short on cash, the things in the stores in Manhattan were too expensive. Having no other choice, so Hughie took the bus and came to Queens.
Unexpectedly, he actually met Vought's Vice President here.
"What the hell is this guy doing?" Hughie pulled down his hat brim and immediately squeezed into the crowd.
(End of this chapter)