The Flight 37 Incident

It turned out that despite lacking tactical finesse, Butcher and his crew were still professionally competent—it didn't take long for Mother's Milk to successfully find a lead.

"Roberta Chu, female, of Mexican descent. On the surface, she runs a nail salon in Pennsylvania, but secretly she's been smuggling large numbers of illegal immigrants across the Pacific from all over."

Li Wei tapped the ground lightly with his long staff: "So if, in the process, she wanted to traffic some live people, organs, or blood, that would also be very convenient."

Hearing Li Wei's words, even Butcher hesitated to pick up the thread for a moment, mainly because this matter was far too sensitive.

In recent years, the related news that had been exposed mainly involved prisons, but everyone knew that as the world's largest country for immigrants and illegal immigrants, those without papers were the biggest victims.

A considerable portion of prison inmates were Americans—aside from making them screw in bolts, the prisons at most extracted some blood. But those illegal immigrants didn't even have an official identity. If they died or went missing, no outsider would truly care except their families.

Many illegal immigrants wanted to chase the American Dream, coming here to pan for gold, unaware that in many people's eyes, they themselves were the gold.

Sometimes, the dead were even more valuable than the living.

So it wasn't particularly strange that every year, quite a few illegal immigrants suddenly disappeared after completing their medical checkups.

Likewise, Frenchie and Mother's Milk stayed silent, with only Hughie looking clueless, not yet fully grasping what Li Wei meant.

Seeing their reaction, Li Wei couldn't help shaking his head in disappointment. Even if they just shot their mouths off a little? This was way too cowardly!

Frenchie scratched his head and pulled a smoke-stained scrap of paper from his pocket: "I think after getting her revenge, she might take a bus home."

Li Wei snorted, casually twirling his staff into a flourish: "I understand. Then we'll split up—I'll go to the nail salon, you all head to the train station."

"And have you figured out what to do with her once you catch her?"

Butcher spread his hands: "I think we might not have enough energy to deal with that problem right now. I just tracked down the mailing address for Compound V—it's 'Samaritan's Embrace.'"

Li Wei frowned again: "Ezekiel?"

Ezekiel wasn't a real name, but the codename of a superhero, derived from a prophet in the Bible. He chose that name to ride the coattails of Christianity and biblical buzz.

As for himself, he was a rubber man. Though he couldn't activate Gear Sixth, he could stretch his body parts fairly freely—including his hands, feet, and that—which earned him a private following among superheroes who played a little wild.

And Li Wei also knew that publicly, Ezekiel preached against homosexuality, citing the Bible and all that. But in private, he was a universal adapter—truly a case of work is work, life is life, the two never interfering.

The 'Samaritan's Embrace' he founded was a charity organization that did some good on the surface. At the same time, he was solidly a second-tier superhero. That had little to do with his combat ability; mainly, Vought needed him for charity fundraising and the like—it was an excellent PR method, just like how The Deep handled marine animal environmentalism. So Vought would definitely prop him up.

"That's right. So this isn't just A-Train's affair. Think about it—who could get both of them to do their dirty work?"

Though Butcher didn't finish, everyone present understood: it could only be the leader of The Seven—Homelander.

At that, Butcher's breathing grew heavy—from excitement. He was once again certain his direction was right. No matter what scheme Homelander was cooking up, as long as he kept digging, he'd eventually uncover the truth. And when that happened, it would be a bombshell like the Watergate scandal!

Li Wei was about to say something when suddenly, nearly every TV channel around them broadcast a major news alert.

"We have unfortunately learned that Flight 37, an overseas flight from Paris to Chicago, has been hijacked. Authorities have lost its radar satellite imagery and are preparing for the worst."

Given the U.S. government's track record, if they were willing to release a statement like that, the plane's fate was practically already sealed.

Li Wei couldn't help slamming his staff into the ground with force, shattering the floor tiles for several meters in every direction.

The people around him jumped in fright. Perhaps because he'd always acted so friendly and approachable, they sometimes forgot he was also a superhero!

Before anyone could say a word, Li Wei spoke with some bitterness: "Damn it, what is Homelander doing?"

Hearing Li Wei's tone, Butcher's eyes lit up. In fact, during their last meeting, he'd already vaguely suspected that this Gambit had a strong dissatisfaction with traditional superheroes. Now he was almost certain!

Actually, Li Wei had some idea about this incident.

Vought's Vice President, Madelyn, had originally wanted Homelander to save the passengers to push forward the bill allowing superheroes into the military. But Homelander screwed up—one blast of Heat Vision took out the hijacker, the pilot, and a bunch of the plane's delicate instruments.

Whether his strength could lift a plane was debatable, but he didn't have Superman's bio-field. If he tried to forcibly lift the plane, he'd pierce through it like a needle. As for flying back and forth, ferrying passengers to the ground one by one, that wasn't realistic either. First, the passengers' fragile bodies couldn't withstand the pressure of high-speed flight. Second, how many passengers were on that plane? How many trips would he have to make? If he flew slowly, there was no way he'd have enough time to save everyone. But if he only saved a portion, the rest would become a problem, inevitably damaging his and all other superheroes' public image.

So he simply chose the easiest solution: let everyone on the plane die!

As for Queen Maeve, one of The Seven who went with him to assist in the rescue, she couldn't fly at all and was useless. If she disagreed, Homelander might even leave her on the plane to die.

Even knowing this in advance, Li Wei could do absolutely nothing. Not to mention this wasn't his jurisdiction as the New Jersey Guardian—he couldn't fly, had no bio-field, and couldn't save anyone.

But that didn't stop him from putting on a little show in front of Butcher and the others to perfect the image he was deliberately crafting.

However, this plane crash wasn't over just yet.

If things didn't change, two passengers on that plane had special identities: the husband and daughter of Intiara Shetty, the female president of Godolkin University.

Given her position, it wouldn't be particularly difficult for her to uncover the truth afterward.

At that point, a mother and wife consumed by grief and rage—what kind of power could she unleash, driven by hatred?

She wasn't a superpowered individual, unable to personally take revenge on Homelander, but she absolutely wouldn't let the matter rest.

She knew it was Compound V that gave the supes their extraordinary abilities, so if she could just turn the research around and target Compound V, the hope for revenge would naturally emerge.

Coincidentally, beneath Godolkin University lay a place Vought used for human experimentation, called "The Woods."

Its original purpose was to study the weaknesses of supes and how to control them, which handed the female principal a golden opportunity.

But that wasn't something that could be accomplished overnight; before then, Li Wei had plenty of time to develop.

And to be honest, with his current strength, taking out the female principal in secret would be a trivial matter.

Before Butcher and the others could say anything more, Li Wei let out a grunt: "Fine, after we catch that Asian woman, I'll handle the follow-up. You guys go investigate Ezekiel's matter. Deal?"

"Deal!"

With the plan set, everyone immediately set off for Pennsylvania. As a supe, Li Wei was responsible for Kimiko, while the others handled the station.

Originally, Frenchie had wanted to tag along too. Somehow, beneath that filthy clothes and bloodstains, he'd taken a shine to Kimiko at first glance.

But Li Wei didn't give him the chance. The future underling I've got my eye on—ah, no, little sister—you'd better not butt in.

He only had Butcher, Mother's Milk, and Frenchie head to the station as a second line of defense, while also searching online for any suspicious leads.

According to Frenchie and the others, when Kimiko escaped, she was in dirty clothes, didn't even have shoes, and certainly had no wallet or anything. An ordinary driver wouldn't pick her up looking like that.

She wasn't the type to kill innocent people indiscriminately, so she probably wouldn't rob or murder for a ride. She'd likely be running the whole way, meaning they still had some time.

Hughie was to act as his sidekick. Butcher's idea was that he'd handle communication and intelligence sharing.

But for Li Wei, if all he did was that kind of grunt work, what was the point? Wouldn't that make him a glorified overseer?

Since he was here, he might as well work for him properly!