An Encounter in the Elevator

Stan Edgar, the Vought CEO, was ultimately responsible for all Vought superhero operations.

A boss-level figure like that had personally called to invite him, so Li Wei naturally could not refuse to show him respect.

After spending a little time getting there, Li Wei arrived at Vought Tower and prepared to take the elevator to the ninety-ninth floor.

There had clearly been a crowd lining up outside the elevator, but the moment they saw Li Wei, they all voluntarily made way for him, and no one attempted to ride with him.

Experiencing this for the first time, Li Wei could not help secretly finding it strange. Vought had trained these employees quite well.

Or was it Homelander?

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a sharp female cry suddenly came from outside. "Wait!"

In less than a breath, accompanied by a gust of wind, a strikingly heroic beauty dressed like an Amazon warrior ran inside.

Li Wei immediately smiled and greeted her. "Hi, Queen Maeve."

Starlight had formally introduced the two of them before. As the member of The Seven whose combat power ranked only below Homelander's, Maeve possessed quite a few things that interested Li Wei greatly.

More importantly, according to his system, these things did not seem to involve any special superpowers, so they would not take long to copy!

Codename: Queen Maeve

Type: Power type

Special Ability 1: Super Strength. Can exert up to 20–65 tons of force. Affected by factors such as physical constitution. Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 13 minutes.

Special Ability 2: Super Defense. Can ignore impacts from ordinary trucks and explosions from normal bombs, while possessing strong resistance to energy attacks and the like. Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 11 minutes.

Special Ability 3: Super Agility. Can run at high speed to temporarily overcome gravity, allowing the possibility of running along walls.

Possesses exceptional jumping ability, balance, reaction speed, perception, physical coordination, and more. Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 10 minutes.

Special Ability 4: Martial Arts Master—Queen Maeve. Nearly proficient in the use of all conventional cold weapons and unarmed combat, particularly skilled in throwing weapons and swordsmanship. Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 12 minutes.

Special Ability 5: Drunken Fury. Greatly raises alcohol tolerance and makes drunkenness less likely, but when truly drunk, may enter a berserk state, temporarily increasing strength at the cost of reduced cognitive ability, physical coordination, and more. Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 1 minute.

Special Ability 6: Path of Alcohol Abstinence. Through prolonged abstinence and continuous training, constantly accumulates special power. Once actively activated, can temporarily increase strength and explosive power.

The longer the abstinence lasts, the greater the increase and the longer it lasts. Can increase strength by up to 50 tons. Accumulation must begin anew if interrupted or after active activation. Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 3 minutes.

Special Ability 7: Intermediate Horsemanship. Can be fully copied. Estimated continuous contact required: 3 seconds.

All those abilities combined would only take around half an hour. Li Wei felt that if he could find an opportunity to get it on with her, he would have more than enough time!

Yet even Queen Maeve was filled with fear and vigilance toward Homelander. One could imagine just how terrifying Homelander's true strength was.

According to Vought's public boasting, Homelander could ignore every kind of attack in modern society, including nuclear bombs.

Though that had been exaggerated considerably, Li Wei felt Homelander should still be capable of wielding several hundred tons of force with a swing of his arms.

Maeve smiled. "Hi, Li Wei. Just call me Maggie. Are you here to see Starlight again?"

She had a fairly good impression of Li Wei, not merely because Starlight, Annie, had said a great many good things about him around her.

It was also because, through repeated observation, she had basically confirmed that Li Wei and Annie were somewhat alike. They both seemed to still harbor ideals about the special identity of being a superhero and were willing to work for them.

Among a group of morally corrupt superheroes, that was simply far too rare, rare enough to remind her of her former self.

She could no longer become a true hero now, but she was very gratified to see such a special pair appear.

That was also why she had been willing to look after Starlight in quite a few ways.

Besides that, she was a little curious.

When she had privately chatted with Annie before, Annie had once said that Li Wei seemed extremely fierce in that regard, so fierce that even Annie, a superhero herself, could barely endure it. Annie had practically been stuffed into a cream puff.

She truly could not imagine that a woman could lose to a man in that regard.

When she had been with Homelander, she had never felt there was anything she could not endure. Could Li Wei be even stronger than Homelander?

If Li Wei could hear Maeve's thoughts at that moment, he might smile and tell her that this was a special application of his superpower.

Since he could heal wounds by stimulating cell proliferation, he could also use it to drastically accelerate the regeneration and maturation of male sperm cells, ensuring that he would never fire blanks!

The consequence was that those sperm cells would enter a state similar to overload, making women unable to become pregnant.

To Li Wei, that did not count as a negative effect at all.

With the system at his side, he could fully foresee that he would definitely have intimate contact with many women who possessed both beauty and strength in the future. He did not want to get all of them pregnant.

Li Wei chuckled and shook his head. "Maggie, you guessed wrong this time."

Queen Maeve's real name was Margaret Maggie Shaw, but within Vought, everyone generally only called her Queen Maeve. There were only a few people qualified to call her Maggie.

As for Margaret, sorry, but up to this point, there had not been a single one, not even Homelander.

So at that moment, Li Wei felt somewhat flattered.

Still smiling, Li Wei gestured for her to look at the elevator buttons.

Following his gaze, Maeve was immediately startled. "Mr. Edgar asked for you? Why?"

Then she immediately realized her mistake. "Oh, Li Wei, sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

Edgar had been a hands-off boss for many years and normally did not concern himself with superhero matters. Even Homelander only saw him a few times a year.

It was said that Edgar had previously wanted to hand Vought over entirely to Madelyn and directly announce his retirement, but Madelyn's unexpected murder had disrupted his plans.

But no matter what, Edgar personally summoning Li Wei in private now had to concern something extremely important or confidential. Perhaps it had something to do with a new candidate for The Seven?

Though Vought had previously announced to the public that it would conduct a fair, just, and open selection among all superheroes across America.

In reality, everyone who understood knew that was just fooling idiots. If Edgar wholeheartedly wanted Li Wei to join The Seven, no one else's opinion mattered.

"It's fine, Maggie. If it's you, I'm willing to tell you everything."

"I heard a new restaurant opened nearby. Do you have time tonight?"

Maeve was startled again. Of course, she was not stupid enough to miss the implication behind his words, especially when Li Wei was looking at her so affectionately.

While she felt slightly pleased with her extraordinary charm, she also faintly experienced a forbidden thrill like an affair. Still, Maeve refused very decisively. She did not want to betray the little friend she had only recently made.

"No, I think you should take Annie with you instead."

"Is that so? What a shame. As for Annie..."

Li Wei deliberately let out a heavy sigh, his face full of conflict and unspoken complications.

That immediately piqued Maeve's curiosity. "What, are there problems with your relationship?"

Since the place they were headed was eighty or ninety floors up, they had plenty of time to talk.

Li Wei immediately began pouring out his grievances. "To be honest, she's far too naive in many ways, naive to the point of stupidity."

"And actually, we aren't really a couple. I never confessed to her. I thought that night had merely been our hormones acting up."

Then his tone shifted, and he looked at her with blazing eyes. "Besides, compared to a little girl like her, I prefer mature women like you, Maggie."

If one looked only at her appearance, Maeve was merely an ordinary beauty. But paired with her identity and numerous superpowers, her appeal to Li Wei instantly soared.

And that truly was how he felt. Firecracker and Blue Hawk could both testify to it.

Faced with Li Wei's sincere confession, along with the stimulation of that forbidden feeling, Maeve immediately wavered somewhat.

She had once had a girlfriend, but later, forced by Homelander's threats, she had broken up with her. After that, she had not sought another partner, only occasionally fooling around with a few muscular fitness trainers.

But the difference between ordinary people and a frontline superhero like her was simply too obvious. Not once had she been able to enjoy herself fully.

Yet he was someone even Starlight could not endure, which held no small appeal for her.

However, after a brief moment of wavering, she still decided to refuse.

She had basically had no friends before, and now that she had finally just become friends with Starlight, she did not want to do such a thing behind her back, even if Li Wei claimed they were not a couple.

But before she could refuse, Li Wei, who had already anticipated her reaction, immediately continued.

"Besides, I can tell you about my conversation with Edgar later. What we're discussing isn't about The Seven. Aren't you curious?"

Maeve immediately wavered again. Since it concerned Edgar, she truly was very curious.

She lowered her head and thought carefully for a few seconds before giving a slight nod. "All right. Since you're being so enthusiastic, I'll accept. But let's make this clear first: we're only having dinner. I don't want Starlight to misunderstand."

Li Wei readily agreed. "Of course, just dinner!"