Shipping a Couple?

"Alright, baby, see you tonight~"

Early that morning, Li Wei received a call from Firecracker. She said she missed him and had even dreamed about him last night.

Li Wei didn't really believe her, but that didn't stop him from having some fun with her.

As a Superhero, he had an astonishing amount of energy. Beating up ordinary Old Blacks barely let him vent at all. He could finally understand, at least a little, why the other Superheroes were all so depraved.

But he suddenly felt that he might have too many things to do lately. Besides the filming assignments Vought International gave him, his routine patrols in New Jersey, The Boys for entertainment, building a relationship with Starlight, optimizing his abilities as Angel, and so on, all of it took up some of his time.

That wasn't even counting his trysts with Firecracker, watching the movements of Hughie and the other original-story protagonists, and attending The Boys' Summit.

The problem was that none of those things could easily be put aside or have their time reduced. It was a real headache.

After thinking it over, Li Wei felt that if he truly wanted more free time, there was probably only one path: become one of The Seven, like Starlight!

Unlike the other two or three hundred active Superheroes, The Seven would not be sent elsewhere. They only stayed at Vought headquarters.

But that meant he would have to go before that giant baby, Homelander. That was quite a headache.

If he wasn't strong enough, blindly sucking up to Homelander wouldn't guarantee his safety either.

In the original story, The Deep had practically sucked up to him from beginning to end. What did he get in return? During a Seven meeting, Homelander made him blow A-Train.

That was right. Even though they were both members of The Seven, and both grown men, Homelander never truly cared about them.

Not to mention, Li Wei couldn't go as far as The Deep. The odds of a direct conflict breaking out would undoubtedly rise drastically.

So, after thinking it over, he still needed to improve his strength as much as possible!

Just then, a news report on television caught his attention.

Baltimore's mayor, Steve, his son, and all the other crew members had unfortunately died in a plane crash.

Li Wei immediately realized that Homelander had made his move.

This Steve had somehow learned about Compound V and wanted to use it to negotiate with Madelyn, asking her to lower the signing fees for Superheroes in his city.

By all rights, he was a pretty good mayor. The higher the signing fees, the more kickbacks Vought International would give him.

After a round of verbal sparring, Madelyn agreed.

Unfortunately, Homelander, that giant baby, noticed their negotiation.

Homelander had lacked maternal love since childhood and liked drinking milk. Before Madelyn had even said anything, he took it upon himself to stand up for her—and in such an extreme way.

Not only did the mayor die, but everyone on the plane became collateral damage as well.

This incident showed that Homelander simply didn't see most ordinary people as human. Even a mayor could be killed whenever he pleased.

After sighing over it briefly, Li Wei first attended an event organized by Vought, then helped the city capture several bank robbers.

This time, they were actual robbers rather than actors arranged by Vought.

Li Wei didn't just play house with Vought every day. Every now and then, he still had to genuinely help the government solve some problems.

The same was true in all the other states and cities. Otherwise, wouldn't all the money local governments spent every year simply go into Vought's and the officials' pockets for nothing?

Even if some places had both sides tacitly working together to scam government money, they at least had to keep up appearances.

After taking care of all that and chatting with Starlight online for a while, Li Wei waited for nightfall so he could go see Firecracker.

He hadn't asked her out solely to improve his abilities. He was busy every day and had built up plenty of stress. Finding a chance to let it out was perfectly normal, wasn't it?

Just then, he suddenly received a call from Ashley.

Ashley got straight to the point. "Angel, what do you think of Starlight?"

With just that one sentence, Li Wei had a rough guess, but he remained cautious. "In what sense?"

"Yesterday, obviously. Oh my God, didn't you go online today?"

"As of now, the views for the video of you saving those civilians have already surpassed one hundred million. You can both use the power of light, and it was your first time working as a team. People love teamwork!"

"Starlight is hugely popular with conservative Christians, while many of your fans are Asian. Those have always been target demographics we wanted to win over!"

Even over the phone, Li Wei could completely guess how excited Ashley was right then. She was probably practically dancing with joy.

"So, you mean you want us to fake a relationship? But she's one of The Seven. Isn't that against the rules?"

Members of The Seven only faked relationships with other members of The Seven. There had first been Soldier Boy and Crimson Countess from Payback, and later Homelander and Maeve.

And honestly, Li Wei was a little resistant to the idea.

It might help bring him closer to Starlight and let him copy her abilities afterward.

But he didn't want to give up an entire forest for one tree, especially a dry little twig like Starlight.

At the same time, he had to consider Firecracker's feelings.

When Firecracker was thirteen, she and Starlight competed in the same regional round of a nationwide pageant. Starlight accused Firecracker of letting the judges take turns fucking her ass in exchange for a chance to enter the finals.

Spreading a lie was easy, but clearing it up was much harder.

And honestly, few people truly cared about the facts. Onlookers only enjoyed the gossip itself, just like no one cared how many bowls of noodles were actually in Liuzi's stomach.

With such rumors going around, Firecracker naturally lost her chance at that crucial competition, and the rumors continued to follow her.

Her fall to the bottom rung of third-tier Superheroes was directly related to that incident.

In terms of ability, quite a few third-tier Superheroes were weaker than Firecracker.

That was precisely why Li Wei felt absolutely no guilt about wanting to have some fun with Starlight.

If she could spread that kind of rumor as a teenager, how could her heart possibly be truly innocent and pure? None of them were good people.

"We're evaluating it, so we've decided to have Starlight make a guest appearance in your next solo film. It'll also serve as groundwork for launching her own movie."

Ashley did not deny her intentions. And honestly, this wasn't a decision she could make alone. It was also the will of her immediate superior, Vought Vice President Madelyn.

Li Wei understood that as well. Since he had no good excuse to reject it, he simply let things take their course.

Homelander hadn't been that insane at first. At least, he wouldn't casually kill other Superheroes. It would take him personally killing Madelyn, the old woman he was obsessed with, before his personality gradually began to change.

"Understood. I'll cooperate!"