The Protagonist Group: What is a Plan?

The week that followed was just as busy for Li Wei.

Between his daily patrols of New Jersey, coordinating with Vought for commercial shoots, and training his various superpowers, he also had to familiarize himself with the Mesmerizer's combat techniques and truly convert them into his own strength.

As for Firecracker, now that he had fully submitted, Li Wei put in a bit more effort, deciding to give him a little extra exposure as a reward—a few sweet plums, since the cost was trivial to him.

He also assigned Firecracker a task: buy a house in a remote suburban area.

Firecracker mistakenly thought Li Wei was planning a long-term relationship with him, which was why he was going to such lengths.

In reality, Li Wei was just preparing for the future, making arrangements for the Mute Wolf Girl—Kimiko.

Her existence was tied to the secret experiments of A-Train and Homelander, so she couldn't just show up anywhere.

He needed her abilities, and even her as a person, so naturally he had to secure a foothold for her.

In the original storyline, Firecracker had once become Homelander's "wet nurse," so if needed, temporarily looking after Kimiko shouldn't be a big problem.

But Li Wei didn't explain; he let Firecracker keep misunderstanding. It would make him work harder.

In his spare time, he continued screening Vought's superheroes, checking whose abilities were easy to acquire, close by, and best suited for him.

After obtaining Starlight's Super Defense, ninety-nine percent of superheroes seemed lackluster in comparison.

The results weren't bad. He smoothly made contact with several superheroes, not using his Angel identity, but posing as a wealthy second-generation heir worth tens of millions.

Thanks to the success of The Boys and the various payments from Vought and New Jersey, even without considering stock value, his bank account still held over ten million. There was no risk of exposure with this disguise.

To be honest, if he revealed his true identity, efficiency would skyrocket, but he didn't want to attract too much attention.

Maintaining good relationships with other superheroes was something most of them did, but trying to befriend every single one would inevitably draw notice.

Finally, there was the balancing act between Starlight and Firecracker. Starlight, perhaps sensing something, asked him what their relationship was now.

Li Wei dodged the question every time. His principle was simple: no rejection, no responsibility. Wasn't that just adapting to local customs?

After dealing with a few thugs during another routine patrol—fulfilling his duty as the New Jersey Guardian—the phone in his pocket rang.

When he saw the name on the screen, Li Wei couldn't help but laugh. It was Hughie.

If he wasn't mistaken, they had probably found where the Mute Wolf Girl—Kimiko—was being held, and messed things up.

Honestly, back when he watched The Boys in his past life, he'd complained more than once: with the main crew's quality—no planning beforehand, chaotic execution on the spot—they only survived because everyone in The Boys had below-average IQs. They were the tallest among dwarves, barely passable.

If they were dropped into Gotham City from DC next door, their corpses would be rotting and breeding maggots in the sewers within three days!

Complaints aside, Li Wei immediately prepared to head to New York.

But New Jersey was a bit of a distance from New York, and with midday traffic, it took him a while to get there.

When he arrived, he saw Hughie with a long, sour face, clearly just chewed out. He looked stubborn but too cowardly to openly rebel.

Because Hughie had contacted Li Wei privately, without the team's consent.

But what choice did he have? When they tracked down the target, a mute woman had first snapped the neck of a fully armed guard with her bare hands, then disemboweled another, scaring the third guard into shooting himself.

Given the abilities she displayed, she had to be a superhero. He could only rely on Gambit.

Frenchie and Mother's Milk were also at each other's throats, probably fresh off another argument.

Butcher, on the other hand, was all smiles: "Welcome, Gambit. Sorry to trouble you again."

Despite his words, Butcher's suspicion and caution were at their peak.

A few days ago, he had one of his former flings, Susan—the current Deputy Director of the CIA—run a background check. The result? Gambit didn't exist. It was as if he had appeared out of thin air.

But that was impossible. Every Vought superhero had records, even third-rate ones, because they all had to make money for Vought.

There were only two explanations:

One: He was an unregistered civilian superhero, planning to go solo like Superman or Batman from the comics.

Two: He was using a fake identity, deliberately hiding the truth!

Even though Gambit had seemed righteous before, Butcher strongly suspected it was the latter.

But there was no helping it. Hughie had already called him. Butcher couldn't kick him out halfway, and they genuinely needed his strength now. So he'd just have to roll with it.

Incidentally, this could also be a test or a way to earn trust—depending on what Gambit did next.

Li Wei nodded at Hughie first, then deliberately sniffed the air and frowned. "At least three people's blood. What have you done now?"

Butcher spread his hands. "We found Compound V. It was already in a syringe. We suspect A-Train brought it there to experiment on a captive Asian woman."

"As for the blood..."

Butcher's gaze swept over Frenchie. It was his fault for disobeying orders and releasing the woman, creating this mess.

But Butcher didn't let Frenchie speak. Instead, his eyes settled on Hughie. Though he didn't know why yet, he had a sharp sense that this self-proclaimed Gambit had a particular fondness for Hughie.

"Little Hughie, as the witness, how about you explain things to our savior?"

"Can you stop calling me that? I'm at least six feet tall."

Muttering like a bullied kid, Hughie quickly explained the gist of what happened.

It was pretty much the same as the plot Li Wei remembered from his past life. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes. "Their experiment is to create superheroes?"

Butcher shrugged. "And it looks like they've already had some success."

Li Wei took a deep breath. "If A-Train and Vought really are behind this, then every supe in the city is going to be hunting her like mad. And yet you're calling me right now—should I admire your courage, or thank you for your trust?"

Before anyone could answer, he pressed on. "Once you catch that woman, have you decided what to do with her? Keep her locked up, or something else?"

"And what about what happened here? A-Train will probably find out soon enough. Have you thought about what'll happen to our informant, The Mesmerizer? Will A-Train silence her for good?"

Butcher exchanged a glance with the others, and for a moment none of them knew what to say. They honestly hadn't thought that far ahead.

They'd only focused on catching her, on getting leverage over A-Train.

For Butcher, there was also the matter of finding Compound V. With that as physical evidence, he could go to his bit on the side—Susan—and ask the CIA for help and funding.

As for whether The Mesmerizer lived or died, Butcher couldn't care less.

Ever since his wife got taken by Homelander, he'd been dead set on believing all supes deserved to die. The Mesmerizer had no more use to him.

Well, maybe Gambit here was a temporary exception. He still had some value.

Even though he'd already expected this reaction, Li Wei couldn't help but feel a little speechless seeing it play out.

Butcher's ultimate goal was to take down Homelander—a mission so dangerous, and yet they were treating it like a game of make-believe!

Aside from Hughie being a complete deadweight, the other three called themselves elite agents and top-tier killers, but when things actually went down, they still had to rely on plot armor and whoever was dumber—them or the enemy.

Lucky for him, he only wanted to maintain a certain connection with them. That way, when Butcher and Hughie later got temporary powers from a dose of Compound V, he'd have a chance to try and copy it.

He sure as hell wasn't signing up to be their long-term teammate, or he'd die of frustration.

"Is there anything special around that woman? Like, trinkets, cosmetics, or designer clothes?"

Hearing that, Frenchie's eyes flickered. He had actually found something. More than one thing, in fact.

Li Wei noticed and reached out decisively. "Time's tight. We need to find her as fast as possible and move her to a safe location."

After glancing at Butcher and getting a nod, Frenchie pulled out a small bottle. "There's this little thing. But when I found it, there was a thick layer of dust on it. Must've been unused for a long time."

Li Wei took it, gave it a quick once-over, then opened the cap and sniffed lightly. "Faint trace of the hallucinogen LSD. Could be that it's faded over time. This thing's at least four hundred days old."

Butcher frowned immediately. Such an important clue, and Frenchie hadn't noticed it before?

Frenchie looked a bit embarrassed. He'd been too busy checking the label and then tracking the woman's whereabouts. He hadn't actually opened it to examine it closely.

Besides, he had another lead in hand—a mailing address written on something. The Compound V they'd found had been sent by mail.

He'd been focusing on that, so he'd overlooked this.

Butcher didn't press the issue for now. He just cleared his throat. "OI, the situation's clear enough. No surprises here—the Asian woman we've got locked up was drugged by someone she knew. Given how she acted before, she's likely to retaliate."

"Now all we have to do is trace where this little bottle came from, and we might be able to ambush her first!"

Li Wei snorted. "Let's see what you're really made of. Will A-Train get here first, or will you find her first?"