The Firecracker's Honesty

After a brief discussion, Li Wei and Butcher reached a preliminary agreement: they would jointly investigate Compound V and share relevant intelligence, and when necessary, Li Wei could step in to help them.

But Li Wei knew that with Butcher's black heart, he would absolutely try every way to use him while never revealing anything truly valuable.

This future cuckold was never anything good.

But it didn't matter. Standing from a God's-eye view, he already knew Butcher's real goal—yet how could Butcher possibly know what he wanted?

And the contact method he'd left with Hughie would definitely come in handy someday.

After settling that matter, Li Wei went to meet Firecracker. This time he wasn't wearing his uniform or a mask, just a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

Most Americans thought all Asians looked the same, so even though his strikingly handsome face drew repeated glances from passersby, no one tried to ask for his autograph—because they simply didn't recognize him!

When he arrived, Li Wei found Firecracker had already been waiting for a while, and she'd apparently gone out of her way to prepare several Chinese dishes.

Not American-Chinese food like General Tso's chicken or orange chicken, but authentic Chinese cuisine. She'd really put in the effort this time.

And this kind of upscale takeout was probably a significant expense for her.

Seeing that Li Wei hadn't worn a mask to disguise himself, Firecracker was visibly surprised and delighted.

She hurried over: "Ah, Tianbu—I mean, Li Wei, you're here."

Li Wei smiled. "You went to all this trouble. Thanks."

He casually pulled out a prepared business card. "Coincidentally, there's a small dessert endorsement here. I recommended you to them."

Although the compensation was only a few tens of thousands, for a third-rate bottom-tier superhero like Firecracker, it was a rare opportunity.

And since the other party had a cooperative relationship behind the scenes with The Boys, this was practically a sure thing.

But Firecracker didn't take the card. In fact, the smile on her face turned a bit forced. "Li Wei, you know I'm not doing this for that."

Li Wei knew she was telling the truth—after all, when they first met, what she valued was only his appearance.

And he also knew this might hurt her pride, but he didn't care much. There was no emotional foundation between them anyway, so why make things complicated?

If she didn't want this small money, then she wanted more, right?

He simply forced the card into her hand, sat down, and picked up the chopsticks on the table, ready to refuel.

"Come on, let's eat together. It won't be good once it gets cold."

The extremely high demand for food—or rather, energy—was probably another trait that set all superheroes apart from ordinary people.

A normal adult needed about 1,500 to 3,000 kilocalories per day, while superheroes often required three to five times that. Rumor had it A-Train ate dozens of burgers and drank massive amounts of milk tea every day.

Li Wei was similar, especially since he'd been training hard recently, which drove his energy needs even higher.

This directly made food his biggest daily expense. Since he was too lazy to cook and refused to settle for burgers or chocolate, he constantly cycled through various restaurants.

Firecracker was momentarily awkward, but after glancing at the business card in her hand, she squeezed out a smile and sat down as well.

If she could get an endorsement just by spending a few nights with Li Wei, how much could she get if she became his official girlfriend?

Compared to that, this little embarrassment was nothing!

Not stupid enough to say anything that would upset Li Wei during the meal, Firecracker only made small talk, asking if his work was tiring and so on.

Before they'd revealed each other's identities, their communication had basically been: You free? Wanna meet? When? Where?

Now that Li Wei had taken off his mask, Firecracker felt she could switch to deeper topics.

Li Wei ate while giving perfunctory responses, waiting for her to state her real purpose.

He didn't mind maintaining their current relationship, but if she wanted him to take down Starlight or something, that was pure wishful thinking.

Soon, after eating and drinking his fill, Firecracker proactively leaned in, seemingly ready to get down to business first, but Li Wei pressed down on her restless hand.

"You have something to say today, don't you? Say it first. If it's within my ability, I'll consider it."

Though she couldn't quite read Li Wei's intentions, this opportunity was indeed too rare for her.

So, gritting her teeth, Firecracker told him about the past grudge between her and Starlight.

Just as Li Wei understood, she had lost her chance to debut through the talent show back then because of Starlight. And ever since Starlight slandered and defamed her, she'd spent years trying to re-enter the circle from the outside, but kept failing.

On top of that, she hadn't attended Godolkin University, so she hadn't made any connections. After all these years of floundering, she hadn't even made a splash.

Partly it was because her ability wasn't particularly strong, and she had a so-called "dark history."

Partly it was because too many new superheroes emerged every year.

Self-taught ones, talent show graduates, and Godolkin University graduates—combined, nearly a hundred people each year. But the ones recognized by the government and eventually hired by various states were truly few and far between.

Goda University took five slots, and the rest had to fight fiercely against the accumulated superheroes from previous years, and also wait for a state to have a superhero retire before they might get their turn.

Otherwise, superheroes could only sing, dance, or promote products for Vought.

Take Firecracker—after years in the industry, her total fan count across multiple websites was only a few thousand.

But at the root of it all was Starlight's defamation back then. Otherwise, even if she couldn't become a member of Vought's Seven like Starlight, with her talent, she definitely wouldn't be as miserable as she was now.

Mm, Li Wei believed that. Most superheroes relied on their power, which made them stop using their brains—use it or lose it.

And their private lives were also extremely wild, which affected their brains as well. Especially those fringe superheroes who couldn't even make third-rate—they partied the hardest.

After all, higher-tier superheroes usually carried various endorsements, movies, TV shows, or theme park deals. They weren't stupid enough to mess that up, because it directly affected their money.

It wasn't just their own money—Vought International was taking the lion's share, and they wouldn't allow their superheroes to cause major chaos.

Even though Li Wei looked down on Blue Hawk, the guy's intelligence was actually above average among supers.

As for Firecracker, she had a pile of titles—filmmaker, writer, political activist, critic—none of which had made any real waves, but it showed she had some brains.

After listening to Firecracker, Li Wei nodded to show he understood.

"So, what do you want? For me to break things off with Starlight? You know Madelyn's already invested a lot in pushing our couple narrative."

Firecracker shook her head hastily. "No, I really hate her, but I don't want to affect you."

Li Wei's expression stayed flat. "So?"

Firecracker licked her lips. "You'll probably be drinking with her and going to events a lot from now on, right? I want a chance to get her drunk, then make her kneel down and lick me clean!"

Damn, even Li Wei was a bit shocked.

He couldn't help but mock, "You thought that long and came up with such a low-class revenge scheme?"

Besides, that plan would be hard to pull off. With Starlight's constitution, she'd probably need to down dozens of pounds of booze before feeling anything.

Firecracker looked helpless at that. It wasn't the only revenge idea she'd had, but considering Li Wei's presence and the massive gap in strength and status between her and Starlight, the others were even less feasible.

Li Wei took a sip of his drink. "I can create that opportunity for you, but is that really all you're satisfied with?"

Firecracker sensed there was more to his words and probed, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you want to one day join the Seven and settle the score with her face to face?"

This wasn't a spur-of-the-moment thought for Li Wei. He'd always felt he couldn't fight alone—he needed people to handle the legwork and flexible tasks.

Blue Hawk was his first choice. He wasn't too bright, easy to control, and before Li Wei came along, he'd been New Jersey's superhero, so his combat ability was decent enough to serve as muscle.

Firecracker was his second choice. She fit the secretary role—weak, easy to control, and if he killed her, hardly anyone would truly care.

The mute Wolf Girl—Kimiko—still stuck in some basement somewhere, was his third choice.

She was like a stray dog, wary of everyone she met because of her past, but if someone genuinely treated her well, it was easy to earn her loyalty.

In comparison, Starlight was strong but not a good pick. She had her own independent thoughts, still clung to fantasies about superheroes, and idolized Maeve and Homelander.

She even believed Vought's propaganda about supers being a gift from God.

Li Wei needed obedient tools, and Starlight, as she was, didn't fit his requirements.

Maybe with time and experience, she'd see through Vought's facade and face the harsh reality, but that was a matter for later.

"How is that possible?"

Firecracker's face was full of disbelief. The thought alone was exhilarating, but that's probably all it would ever be.

"Heh, anything's possible. Remember Payback? They're old news now. The Seven will have their day too."

"The question is, are you ready to pay the price?"

Without any visible movement, his eyes began to glow faintly, and the surrounding lights flickered on and off.

Firecracker's eyes went wide, and she froze completely.

She'd studied the abilities of her most hated enemy countless times, and what Li Wei was showing now was almost identical to Starlight's powers!

Though she couldn't figure it out at all, her body acted on instinct. With a thud, she dropped to both knees—a gesture usually reserved for gods.

"As long as you can help me surpass that bitch Starlight in some way, you'll be my lord, my everything. I'll give you my absolute loyalty!"

As she spoke, she tied her shoulder-length hair into a single ponytail, convenient for certain special activities.

Li Wei raised an eyebrow. Well, well—he'd shown his sincerity, and now she was showing hers?

Fine, then. Time for a more candid exchange!