Although that Super Speed was somewhat different from what he had expected and actually had an upper limit, ignoring that RAP, none of the other special abilities were useless. Li Wei wanted them all!
The reason A-Train now had to constantly pop pills to maintain his Super Speed was entirely because his heart could no longer bear the strain of his powers.
But if it were Li Wei, he could definitely unleash even greater speed.
The only problem was that the time needed to copy it was a little long, almost second only to Otherworld Teleportation.
And the first ability even carried A-Train's nickname. Did that mean it possessed some kind of special quality?
Just then, Butcher's slightly urgent voice suddenly came through Li Wei's earpiece. "Gambit, Homelander just left Vought Tower and is flying in your direction. You need to get out of there as soon as possible!"
As one of the people involved, Hughie was definitely going home to see A-Train.
Li Wei was merely helping out of friendship, but Butcher and the others could not simply sit around watching. They were monitoring several locations throughout New York, ensuring Li Wei would receive a warning the moment Homelander set out.
Li Wei immediately gritted his teeth. Damn it, Homelander had to cause trouble at a critical moment like this. Looks like this wouldn't work after all.
Homelander had been able to fly at supersonic speeds when he was ten years old. Everyone had known that for a long time, and after all these years, he could only have grown stronger.
However, Homelander did not possess abilities like A-Train's Accelerated Perception. His straight-line speed was immense, but his turning speed in complex terrain was not particularly impressive.
But Vought Tower was less than fifty kilometers away in a straight line. At most, he only had a minute or two left—there was simply no time to copy anything.
In that case, he would activate the backup plan and approach A-Train under a different identity!
With that thought, Li Wei did not waste any time. "Fine, since we're already friends, I definitely won't keep attacking you. You won't hold a grudge over the injuries I just gave you, right?"
A-Train hurriedly shook his head. "Of course not! It was just a misunderstanding before. We're friends!"
Li Wei paused slightly, immediately changing his attitude as he asked with concern, "Good. You can notify Vought to send someone to pick you up later, right?"
A-Train finally relaxed a little. "No problem. My hands are still fine."
"Alright, then let's leave it at that for today. I'll treat you to a meal sometime."
"Oh, right. Remember one thing: I hate it when someone attacks my friends, but what I hate most are traitors!"
Seeing the seriousness on Li Wei's face, A-Train, who had still been thinking about how to retaliate later, was startled again.
He nodded guiltily. "Don't worry, I promise I won't betray you. We're friends!"
Only then did Li Wei nod in satisfaction. "Good. Translucent is dead, so there's an opening in The Seven."
"Maybe in a few days, I'll officially register a nickname with Vought and become one of The Seven. Then we'll be colleagues."
"I'll look out for you. Even Homelander won't be able to bully you whenever he feels like it!"
Gambit spoke so boldly, as if joining The Seven would be effortless for him. A-Train instinctively felt somewhat disdainful. Heaven knew how much effort he had put in to reach his current position.
Yet for some reason, when he recalled Homelander's attitude toward him in the past—especially the increasingly undisguised contempt and almost Tyrant-like cruelty he had shown ever since Translucent's death and all the recent chaos—
If this hotheaded fool Gambit truly joined The Seven, perhaps it would not be entirely a bad thing.
If Gambit stood at the front and went head-to-head with Homelander, his own situation would definitely improve considerably!
And compared to the strength Gambit had displayed, the small trouble he had caused Vought did not seem like such a big deal.
Many second-tier Superheroes knew that Superheroes did not receive their powers as gifts from God, but from Compound V. Gambit had not exposed that secret, so it had no real impact on Vought.
The only one who might be unhappy about it was probably Homelander, who had grown accustomed to acting with impunity—
Still thinking about it, A-Train unknowingly slipped into a daze. When he came back to himself, Gambit had already vanished without a trace.
He became even more troubled. Damn it, he really needed to get a thorough physical examination again. His heart problem seemed to be affecting his brain now!
Meanwhile, after briefly controlling A-Train's mind, changing disguises at top speed, and running into a café, Li Wei had not even settled into his seat before he heard a piercing shriek of air tearing apart outside.
Without a doubt, it was Homelander.
Li Wei had to admit that although he had seen Homelander several times when he went to Vought Tower to find Starlight, Homelander in his usual fake-smiling-boy state and Homelander in combat mode were completely different!
Unfortunately, he had still arrived too late. Other than A-Train lying there with both legs broken, he could not find a damn thing.
Li Wei leisurely drank his coffee, then watched without the slightest surprise as Homelander quickly flew back toward Vought, leaving the severely injured A-Train all alone.
When there were no cameras around, he really could not be bothered to pretend at all.
However, it was time to deal with the protagonist group.
Because Li Wei had intervened, Starlight had, up to this point, probably only met Hughie and the others through photographs.
Kimiko had been snatched away by him directly. Now she spent her days indoors, eating chips and watching television, living quite comfortably.
If she did not spend so much time every day practicing martial arts with Firecracker, Li Wei would have suspected she was turning into a shut-in.
Without support from those two, the current protagonist group did not have a single capable fighter. If Li Wei had not been there today, Hughie would probably have been the first to suffer. The others were all in the same boat—whether they died sooner or later was the only difference.
To prevent Homelander from wiping them all out at once, he might as well give them some intelligence in advance.
Otherwise, once Homelander had free time, he would definitely come looking to cause trouble for Li Wei.
After spending a little time, Li Wei arrived at Butcher and the others' base.
Besides the protagonist group and Hughie's father, there were also two Black women, one adult and one child. They were presumably Mother's Milk's wife and daughter.
The moment he entered, Hughie was the first to rush over, eagerly thanking Li Wei.
Perhaps he was a weak, pathetic loser, but he was definitely someone who repaid kindness.
Mother's Milk followed close behind. Because of the surveillance footage from that children's hospital, he had also been exposed.
Because Li Wei had warned him in advance, he had kept his guard up at the time and successfully avoided a dangerous situation similar to Hughie's.
Likewise, the looks Frenchie and Butcher gave Li Wei had clearly changed.
No matter how many suspicions or prejudices they had previously held toward Gambit, he had still chosen to go despite knowing A-Train was there and that Vought Superheroes like Homelander would very likely serve as backup. That was enough to earn their trust.
Li Wei, however, did not care. None of them had any superpowers now, and they were all broke. They were not of much use to him. What he was investing in had always been their future.
He casually brushed off their thanks, then looked around. "You're planning to hide from Vought's Superheroes in an abandoned factory like this? Looks like your talks with the CIA fell through."
At that, nearly everyone instinctively looked toward Butcher, especially Mother's Milk and Frenchie.
They did not know exactly what had happened, but they knew their situation was extremely dire. Without the CIA backing them, they did not even know how many more days they could survive.
At this point, Butcher knew he could no longer hide it. He said bluntly, "The CIA can't deal with Homelander, so yes, our talks fell through."
As soon as he said that, Frenchie and Mother's Milk understood. Butcher's goal had always been Homelander. If not for his hatred of Homelander, he would never have gotten involved in all this mess.
Since the CIA was unwilling—or rather, did not dare—to go after Homelander, there was no way the talks could continue.
Hughie beside them frowned. "What about that bottle of Compound V?"
"It's still with me, for now."
Li Wei gave a short laugh. "I thought you'd always be a cold-blooded Butcher, ignoring your friends and family just to achieve your ultimate goal. Apparently, that's not the case."
Mother's Milk was immediately delighted. "You called Susan Raynor again?"
"That's right, boys. Uncle Billy said he'd take care of you."
Frenchie and the others could not help showing joy. Unless they had no other choice, they truly did not want to live such a displaced life, constantly on edge every day.
Li Wei said leisurely, "But running away forever is not a solution."
Butcher immediately felt a pain in his ass. Whenever he got even slightly pleased with himself, Gambit always seemed to step forward and smack him over the head, as though he were his natural nemesis.
But at the same time, he had to admit that Gambit had never been wrong. He must have something very important to say.
"What do you mean?"
"Two pieces of information."
Li Wei swept his gaze around the room before finally stopping on Mother's Milk. "First, Soldier Boy is still alive."
"What?!"
Mother's Milk immediately sprang forward. "How could he still be alive? Didn't Vought say he died decades ago?"
Soldier Boy was the nightmare of his childhood, because during one of his fights with others, Soldier Boy had casually killed his family!
Butcher, meanwhile, noticed another issue. Sure enough, Gambit knew everything about all of them. Did he know the truth about Becca's disappearance as well?
His heart began to race. Even though his fingers had dug into his palm from how tightly he clenched his fists, he did not notice at all.
Li Wei snorted. "Vought has done so many bad things. What does lying matter to them?"
He was very interested in Soldier Boy's powers. Though they required a long charging time, once they hit, they could directly neutralize the Compound V inside a Superhero's body, turning them from a Superhero back into an ordinary person.
Such a special superpower was unique in all of The Boys' World.
But he had neither the time nor any relevant leads, so he might as well let Butcher's group do the legwork.
Mother's Milk was nearly glaring so hard his eyes split. "Gambit, please tell me where he is!"
Li Wei answered readily, "The Northern Ice Kingdom. I guess they intend to use him as an experiment to create Superheroes of their own."
"But Vought not only concealed the matter and made no attempt to rescue him, they publicly declared that he had died in battle. What do you think Soldier Boy's attitude toward Vought would be if he managed to escape?"
"And after being used as an experiment for so long, it's hard to say whether his mental state is still normal."
Li Wei decided to point them down a clear path. Since they had little strength themselves, they should borrow someone else's.
Butcher understood again. Gambit wanted them to rescue Soldier Boy and use him as a weapon against Homelander!
He had to admit, he was truly tempted.
Soldier Boy had been the undisputed trump card of Payback, while Homelander was the leader of The Seven. Even if there was some gap between them, Soldier Boy could definitely put up a fight.
Besides, if those two dogs tore each other apart, no matter which one died, it would count as vengeance for their side!
Before you continue