Reborn in The Boys

Looking at the unfamiliar ceiling, Li Wei could not help but sink into a string of thoughts.

How had a Qidian writer so unsuccessful he could not even earn the attendance bonus somehow gone to sleep and awakened reincarnated in the world of The Boys?

And his soul had slept for eighteen whole years. Whenever he thought of some of the stupid things he had done before, he was so embarrassed he could curl his toes.

Thinking back on them now, most of those things had indeed felt pretty good, but they were far from perfect. Sometimes, they had even been rather petty.

For example, after seeing so many homeless people defecating on the streets, he had created an app specifically for reporting poop.

Investors would then dispatch cleanup crews to handle it and charge the city government fees. Working together, they had wanted to improve the city's appearance, and he had even received praise from his school for it.

But there was simply too much poop on New York's streets. Within half a month of launch, the app had crashed countless times. In the end, the investors could not hold on either and could only withdraw in dismay.

Of course, Li Wei himself had not lost a cent. He had made a fortune instead.

Another example was how he had copied Momo and Tantan from his previous life to create The Boys, letting many bored people arrange real-life PK matches offline.

He had even disguised himself with a friend and beaten quite a few black people half to death.

He did not know whether any had died, but when he left, they had all still been alive.

Even if they had died afterward, it might have been for other reasons, right?

As for other things, there were too many to count, such as using his superpowers to piss on the heads of some little Japanese punks.

That was right. He was actually a superpowered person too—no, in this world, he should be called a Superhero.

Since 1965, Vought International had begun training Superheroes.

They first injected infants with Compound V to mass-produce superpowered individuals.

Afterward came all kinds of training and tests. Those whose abilities were useless or who could not be controlled were often secretly executed or turned into test subjects.

There was no helping it. What ability each person would awaken was completely random, like opening a blind box.

Li Wei had been rather lucky. Even though his soul had not truly awakened, some subconscious influences had still affected him.

Combined with perhaps the hidden talent of a transmigrator and his mixed Asian heritage, his grades had been excellent in mathematics, geography, history, brand marketing, performing arts, and more.

Thus, last year, he had successfully graduated from Godolkin University at the age of eighteen. With his top-ranked results at Lamp Lighter Academy for Fighting Evil, he had secured a government contract and signed with Vought International, becoming a shining new star.

The government only had around five slots each year for people to become genuine Superheroes. Even if the rest possessed superpowers, most could only sing, dance, rap, play basketball, sell merchandise, and so on for Vought International.

From that perspective, they were not much different from internet celebrities in later generations. They simply possessed greater power.

Li Wei was now the protector of New Jersey. It might have been a small state, but New York lay directly to the north, so its economy could not be too bad. His annual signing fee alone was measured in millions.

Whenever he had free time, he could make a few movies and take on endorsement deals. Though Vought International was greedy as hell and less than half a percent of the money actually reached Li Wei, the base amount was large enough that he still made money extremely quickly. His life was far more enjoyable than in his previous one.

The things he had done before had certainly been enjoyable, but the public safety issues they caused, along with innocent people dragged into them, had also been real.

Before truly awakening, Li Wei might not have cared much, because the Superheroes of this world generally had extremely low moral standards. They did not feel especially guilty about accidentally injuring or killing ordinary people.

The authorities had even given them an acceptable damage rate. It varied from state to state, but it was generally between 3% and 5%.

In other words, if there were one hundred people at the scene when Superheroes carried out an operation, the number of casualties had better not exceed five by the end.

Once living people became cold numbers, no one could expect Superheroes to attach much importance to them.

Even if they exceeded the limit, it was not a big deal. Vought's PR department could handle it by claiming the deceased had overdosed, were criminals, or whatever, then donating some money locally. That usually settled everything.

As for his codename, it was equally embarrassing. It was Angel, a Superhero who did not exist at all in the original The Boys, though his abilities were quite decent.

Ability One: he was extremely hard to hurt. Basically every part of his body was immune to fire from ordinary handguns and submachine guns, and he possessed matching strength, stamina, and regenerative abilities.

His strength was around five tons. He could toss ordinary cars around like toys.

Ability Two: immunity to ordinary diseases and toxins. This was standard equipment for Superheroes in this world. Even normal white powder did not do much to them, so quite a few people tried every possible way to seek stronger stimulation.

Ability Three: firing light bullets. Their power was roughly equivalent to sniper rifle rounds. There was no cooldown, but he needed a charge-up time before firing.

Overall, it was fine for bullying ordinary people and third-rate Superheroes, but it was basically useless against those truly famous figures.

Unlike Marvel or DC next door, all the Superheroes in The Boys had been made by drugs. Their essential baseline ability was physical enhancement, and most had relatively weak offensive power but extremely strong defenses.

Most could ignore handgun fire. Some of the stronger ones could ignore submachine guns. First-rate Superheroes, such as Starlight, one of the future members of The Seven, and the hidden boss Head-popper, could all ignore Barrett rounds.

They would feel pain and could not avoid the impact of an attack, but first-rate Superheroes might not even bleed from it.

As for the strongest ones, like Maeve, Stormfront, Homelander, and Soldier Boy, there was even less need to mention them. They were monsters who could ram buses with their bodies and smash tanks apart.

Of course, compared with DC or Marvel next door, aside from a handful of top-tier powerhouses like Homelander, 99% of Superheroes were merely street-level.

Put them in Marvel, and they would at most be on the level of Daredevil, Iron Fist, or Luke Cage, except their defenses were considerably stronger.

Ability Four: he could condense Armor of Light around his body, strengthening his defenses and reducing impact. After activating it, he could basically ignore heavy sniper rifles and would not be knocked flying by their force.

It was precisely because he possessed this ability that Li Wei could become New Jersey's protector.

Ability Five: he could condense wings of light behind his back. Unfortunately, they were purely decorative. Other than providing illumination, they could neither glide nor fly.

It was precisely because of that final point that the Vatican had breathed a huge sigh of relief. Otherwise, Angel being Asian would have been outrageous. Would that not mean God might be a woman or black?

However, after his soul truly awakened, that might begin to change, because Li Wei had gained a special ability.

It was called the Hero Codex System. After briefly exploring it, Li Wei preferred to call it the Make Friends to Grow Stronger System.

After coming into contact with someone of a certain level of strength, he could try to befriend them and ask, "Are we friends?"

As long as they gave an affirmative answer, he could successfully light up a Hero Compendium based on them. At that point, he could freely choose one thing to copy from them, including but not limited to their strength, physique, agility, defense, and superpowers.

As for whether they were sincere or merely pretending, his cheat did not care.

Therefore, even enemies could theoretically have their abilities copied by Li Wei.

Moreover, if the other party possessed multiple abilities, after copying one, he could continue copying a second.

However, because the system was still at its beginner stage, it had certain limitations.

First, Li Wei needed to remain in contact with the target for a period of time so the system could analyze and copy them. The longer the contact lasted, the faster the analysis would proceed.

Second, copying abilities consumed a great deal of energy. The basic rule was that the stronger the target and the more powerful their abilities, the greater the consumption.

The required time also varied depending on the ability. The basic principle was that the more powerful the ability, the longer it took.

If there was a large gap in strength between both sides, he might be unable to copy it completely. He might only copy a watered-down version of the ability, or be unable to do anything at all.

But if Li Wei became stronger later, he could choose to copy it again without needing to ask that question.

Naturally, the system could be upgraded. As he successfully copied more abilities, these restrictions might gradually be lifted.

Finally, the other party had to be stronger than Li Wei in some aspect for him to copy them. Otherwise, simply lighting up the Hero Compendium would only grant him an extremely slight all-around enhancement.

His strength would increase by roughly 0.1 tons, and his agility and other attributes would improve by around the same level.

Even so, Li Wei was still overjoyed.

Like most Western works, the Superheroes in The Boys were generally as strong as they were when they first gained their abilities, and they remained at that level for the rest of their lives.

They could only decline due to age, physical deterioration, or lack of training. They would not improve, at most compensating through combat techniques.

Moreover, aside from Homelander, most Superheroes had only one ability besides basic physical enhancement.

Given enough time, he would become the only Superhero capable of continuously improving without any weaknesses.

Vought International alone had two to three hundred Superheroes stationed across various states and counties. The number of others who promoted products and performed for Vought International under various identities—nominally Superheroes but actually no different from celebrities or internet influencers—was more than double that.

Yet according to the system's judgment, all of them could light up the Hero Compendium. Even if each gave him only 0.1 tons, the combined total from over a thousand people would be considerable.

When that time came, Li Wei would properly protect his Earth!