Cold Light Laser Eyes

About fifteen minutes later, even though they had anticipated it beforehand, Mother's Milk still couldn't help but stare blankly when he saw the baby being injected with Compound V like an IV drip.

Butcher, however, was brimming with excitement: "I think we hit the jackpot!"

Only Li Wei smiled as he pulled out a lollipop: "Hey, little guy, you're adorable. Do you want this?"

The other snacks had either been eaten along the way or thrown away; he was sure no one could trace where he bought them from the packaging. The few lollipops left just happened to come in handy here.

As soon as he spoke, Butcher and Mother's Milk exchanged bewildered looks. What was going on? Gambit actually liked kids that much?

Though still unsure what he was thinking, Mother's Milk instinctively said: "He's too small, only a few months old. He can't even eat a lollipop."

Li Wei shot him a sidelong glance: "You're talking about an ordinary human baby. Do you think this little cutie is an ordinary baby?"

Of course not, because Li Wei's system had already given him a prompt!

Codename: None

Type: Energy Type

Special Ability 1: Primary Cold Light Laser Eyes—can project sapphire-colored impact beams from both eyes with strong offensive power. Their width, power, range, etc., can be adjusted relatively freely, with energy consumption changing accordingly. The eyes will also be reinforced to adapt to this superpower without self-injury. Fully replicable, estimated to require 13 minutes of continuous contact.

Even though it was primary, judging by the replication time, this ability was still quite formidable. More importantly, it looked incredibly flashy! For now, he just didn't know how it compared to Homelander's Heat Vision—which was stronger?

Thinking this over, Li Wei continued to play with the little baby.

Whether it was an unexpected affinity with Li Wei or genuine curiosity about the lollipop's taste, the little guy soon grinned and even reached out his tiny hands. Then, right before everyone's eyes, his eyes quickly turned blue and shot out two sapphire-colored beams, firing off before Butcher and Mother's Milk could even react.

Fortunately, the glass shield covering the baby seemed specially made, causing his Cold Light Laser Eyes to quickly refract, scatter, and absorb without endangering anyone. Still, Butcher and Mother's Milk broke out in a cold sweat.

"Fuck!"

"God!"

"This is a super-powered baby!"

When their gazes shifted back to the nearby Compound V, they immediately realized something.

"Fuck God's Chosen. Vought's supes are all bred in labs!"

Then they both looked at Gambit. If that was the case, he was certainly no exception!

Li Wei grunted: "I knew it would be like this."

Butcher narrowed his eyes slightly: "You don't seem particularly surprised by this?"

Li Wei sighed: "Let's set these experiments aside. Have you noticed that since the first supe—Soldier Boy—appeared, over the next half-century, supes have been appearing more and more frequently, and their total numbers have been growing? And they share one common trait: they radiate outward from New York as the center, mostly discovered within America's borders. Only in recent years have foreigners gradually emerged. By now, the number of officially registered and still-living supes at Vought has long surpassed three digits. And quite coincidentally, Bear Country and that mysterious Eastern great power have never had any supes at all. The Arabian region has only a handful. Does that seem normal?"

Mother's Milk immediately caught his meaning: "You're saying Vought's technology keeps improving, and their success rate for creating supes with Compound V keeps rising?"

As for those few countries and regions without supes, that was easy to understand. First, Vought had little influence there, making control inconvenient. Second, aside from the current CEO, almost all of Vought's top brass were white. It was only natural they harbored malice toward those regions.

Li Wei nodded bluntly: "Exactly. And over ninety percent of supes share another trait: they usually come from extremely poor families or are outright orphans."

Butcher followed his lead: "That means they're easier for Vought to exploit. Hell, some desperate parents might even cooperate with Vought willingly."

As a former agent, he had seen too much darkness. You never knew how low some people could stoop for money. No, maybe they had no bottom line at all!

Sighing again, Li Wei opened the glass shield, pulled the super-powered baby into his arms, and casually stuffed the lollipop into his mouth. Watching the baby's smile grow even brighter, he couldn't help but smile too.

"Looks like you really like the taste. So, are we friends now?"

Li Wei acted as if nothing was wrong, but the two beside him were visibly tense. Mother's Milk even instinctively reached for his pistol. Though he didn't know if he could pull the trigger on this innocent super-powered baby in a critical moment, at this special juncture, it might be the only thing protecting him.

Butcher didn't reach for a gun—he knew ordinary firearms were useless. Instead, he quietly pulled out a special chemical agent Frenchie had painstakingly developed. It was originally meant for that Asian girl in the basement, but Gambit had taken over that matter, so it went unused. Frenchie had since optimized it in his spare time. Even against Gambit himself, it should work... probably.

Li Wei's smile only grew brighter; he didn't even glance at Butcher, yet he had already noticed the man's subtle movements.

"Relax, he's just a baby—no malice or threat to you. And if I really wanted to kill you, I wouldn't need him."

"We might have some minor disagreements and personal goals, but overall, our aim is the same: to rip open Vought's shroud and let the world see the rot, darkness, and evil hidden beneath."

His experiment had succeeded. Even the Super-powered Baby, who couldn't speak, could express agreement in his own special way. Now the replication had begun!

Butcher was momentarily speechless. He had to admit the other man was right.

Aside from their costumes, over ninety-nine percent of Vought's superheroes didn't carry any weapons. There was no need—against ordinary people, their fists and feet were enough.

A-Train had turned Hughie's girlfriend into a pile of shredded flesh. The scene was horrifying enough, but in truth, almost any superhero could achieve a similar result with just their bare hands.

With a silent sigh, Butcher put away his little gadget and picked up the needles and other items from the table beside him.

"I get it. I need to extract some Compound V here and take it back to the CIA."

Li Wei had already mentioned this last time, so Butcher saw no point in pretending anymore.

Li Wei continued soothing the Super-powered Baby while casually snapping a few photos, even perfectly capturing one moment when the baby used Cold Light Laser Eyes on the glass cover.

"Right, evidence is necessary. Draw a vial for me too."

"But before things succeed, you'd better keep her low-key. If Vought finds out about this, I don't think they'll just sit back and do nothing."

Maybe at the very beginning, Vought was just a simple pharmaceutical company, but somewhere along the line, superheroes had gradually become Vought's most important public symbol. Many people even thought Vought was specifically in the business of training superheroes.

Vought CEO Edgar's method was to have his adopted daughter enter politics.

Vice President Madelyn, on the other hand, wanted to integrate superheroes into the military. To that end, she had used every dirty trick in the book and already bribed several powerful figures.

For both of them, they certainly wouldn't want it to become public knowledge that Vought was using Compound V to experiment on babies.

Because that would severely damage Vought's reputation and stock price—hitting them right where it hurt most: their money!

What else could Butcher say? He felt like Gambit was his natural nemesis. Even though their investigation had made astonishing progress since meeting him, Gambit always managed to outclass him from every angle.

Thankfully, so far, there was only one superhero like this. Otherwise, their hope of revenge might never be realized!

Mother's Milk was still puzzled. "Then what about the Asian woman in the basement? She's an adult."

Li Wei said darkly, "Have you seen any of Vought's superhero movies?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"The enemies of those superheroes in the movies aren't just ordinary people—that'd be too unchallenging. And don't you think her aggression is a bit too strong?"

Mother's Milk gasped sharply. "Fuck, is she a Ninja from Japan? After taking Compound V, could she turn into some kind of Supervillain?"

Butcher couldn't help cursing too. "Damn it, if that's the case, once she's released and brings panic and death to society, Vought's superheroes can conveniently step in to clean up the mess!"

Li Wei nodded slightly. "Exactly. And coincidentally, Madelyn is trying to get superheroes into the military system."

Butcher couldn't help slamming the table. "So now we have to make sure those bastards join the army!"

"Oh, Gambit, I wasn't talking about you."

Even though Butcher apologized quite sincerely, Li Wei knew full well that the guy had been mocked by him too many times before and was just taking the chance to mutter that little jab.

He couldn't be bothered to respond—it was far too petty.

"So you still have a tougher mission ahead. Right now, we only know about one, but God knows how many more there are."

"Vought lost her, so they'll definitely try to find more substitutes."

"The good news is, they might not keep chasing after her forever."

"As for the bad news..."

Li Wei deliberately looked at Butcher and Mother's Milk with a hint of malice. "That depends on how much you two can actually do for this country from now on."

These bastards were always causing him trouble. He needed to point them in the right direction and get them to use the Temporary Compound V as soon as possible.

Once they had outlived their usefulness, he would make sure to give them a proper beating!