Chapter 69: Homelander's Unnerving Smile
Xia Shang drove back to the Villa. After opening the door, he greeted the renovation workers who were filling the swimming pool with water.
The three workers were Asian and worked efficiently. Of course, Xia Shang also paid generously.
"Boss, the water is ready for you. If there are any follow-up issues, just call us, and we guarantee we'll be here within a day."
The workers said with a smile after taking the banknotes Xia Shang handed them.
After they left, Xia Shang took off his clothes, changed into shorts, and dove into the water. The moment his skin touched the surface, a pair of eyes suddenly opened below his neck, near his collarbone.
The eyeballs inside the eyes were very lively, like newborn chicks, curiously looking around.
However, when they closed, they only left two almost imperceptible marks on the skin surface. These eyes were the result of Xia Shang's experiments over the past few days. Because the steps to construct the eyeballs were extremely complex, he had only managed to create one pair. Fortunately, this pair of eyes could appear anywhere on his body.
He had actually tried to modify the eyeballs to be more perfect before, but unfortunately, they were always incompatible with his body.
So, he had to temporarily give up and try again after fusing with abilities related to this aspect someday.
Time came to late night.
Xia Shang transformed into Yuuji's appearance and picked up the express package containing twenty tubes of Compound V from the store.
After absorbing three tubes of it, the Fusion Progress on the Panel finally reached 100%.
...
The next day.
In The Seven's Meeting Room at Vought Tower, Homelander stood with his hands behind his back, facing the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking all of Manhattan.
As a gust of wind struck, A-Train appeared at the Meeting Room door with astonishing speed.
"How did it go?" Homelander didn't turn around, only glancing out of the corner of his eye.
Just a few days ago, he had learned the news that Kimiko had escaped from the Dungeon. The only people who knew the Dungeon's location, besides him and A-Train, were Crimson Countess. So, it was obvious who leaked the Dungeon location.
"Injected an overdose of heroin, died despite treatment." A-Train replied.
Homelander was quite satisfied with his answer. "I'm very sad to hear about this. What about the Compound V?"
"She told a few people about this. I think..."
A-Train was interrupted by Homelander before he could finish speaking. He turned to look at A-Train and said, "No, no, no, I mean you."
"Come on, A-Train, you've been using it for weeks. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"
Looking at Homelander's unnerving smile, A-Train quickly defended himself. "I haven't been using it anymore, man, I really haven't."
"Are you sure?"
"I've completely quit."
Homelander didn't dwell on this issue too much. He pulled up a chair and sat down, saying, "You really messed up this time, kid, but coming to me was the right thing to do. I'm proud of you."
Hearing Homelander's words, the weight on A-Train's mind was finally lifted, because he understood he had gambled correctly. Killing Crimson Countess was the right choice.
"Homelander, thank you for giving me this opportunity, thank you very much." With that, he smiled and prepared to leave.
However, Homelander stopped him.
"Hey, don't be in a hurry, come here." Homelander showed a kind smile, spreading his arms as if to hug A-Train. "Of course, we're a team, we're family." A-Train smiled, walked forward, and hugged Homelander.
"I'll always have your back, remember that, forever."
A-Train only felt like all the bones in his body were about to be crushed by the immense force. A strong sense of suffocation enveloped him, but he still had to force out a smile and pretend to be calm. Fortunately, Homelander let go in time, otherwise, he even suspected Homelander wanted to kill him.
Just when he thought he could finally leave.
He was stopped by Homelander again.
"What about that missing Asian girl?"
"I'll find her." A-Train understood that things were far from over. Only by finding the people Crimson Countess mentioned could he truly escape danger.
So, he went to Crimson Countess's apartment. After a careful search, he finally found a hidden camera in a teddy bear. This teddy bear happened to be exactly the same as the kind sold in Hughie's store.
He took out the hard drive from the bear's belly, plugged it into the computer, and saw the entire process of Crimson Countess killing the Landlord. A-Train's face was very grim. He didn't expect he had been cheated on. No wonder when he asked Crimson Countess at the time, she deliberately avoided his questions.
"Shit." Looking at the steamy scene on the screen, A-Train couldn't help but curse. At this moment, the last trace of guilt in his heart from killing Crimson Countess vanished completely.
A-Train took a deep breath to calm himself down. Soon, at the end of the video, he saw a few people break into the Room. One person's face was clearly captured by the camera. Afterwards, A-Train took a screenshot of this video clip and took it to Vought's Crime Analysis Department.
After comparison by the Crime Analysis Department, they found that the man in the video was named Frenchie.
Meanwhile, Frenchie had no idea his identity had been exposed.
"How does it taste?" Because Billy and the others found that Kimiko was only not aggressive towards Frenchie, Frenchie was left specifically to take care of Kimiko.
Using the few ingredients available in the basement, Frenchie meticulously cooked various dishes for Kimiko, treating Kimiko just like his own daughter.
Although Kimiko remained silent, Frenchie could get a response from Kimiko's eyes.
On the other side, Billy received a text message from Xia Shang.
Meet at the Hospital in half an hour.
By the time Billy and Mother's Milk arrived at the Hospital entrance, they happened to see Xia Shang walking towards them.
"Just the two of you?" Xia Shang looked at Billy wearing a black overcoat and Mother's Milk who was wearing a leather jacket before autumn arrived.
"The fewer people, the smaller the target. The three of us is just right."
It wasn't actually difficult to enter the Hospital; just register your information at the front desk. Of course, none of the three filled out their real information; they basically made it all up. Fortunately, the Nurse at the front desk didn't pay attention. After a casual glance, she continued to look down at her mobile phone.
The Corridors inside the Hospital were very long and quite narrow, like a maze.
It didn't feel like a proper Hospital.
"No, we're looking for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Most of the Rooms here are occupied by regular patients." Billy carefully looked at the Room number signs on each Room, finding there was no intensive care unit at all.
"Turn left up ahead, then go straight."
Xia Shang suddenly said.
"How do you know?" Mother's Milk asked in as low a voice as possible.
"Mother's Milk, please act normal, otherwise people will see you're here to steal something at a glance." Billy on the side complained.
(end of chapter )