Confession

A few hours later, the sun had long since set. Soaked in sweat, Kate stared blankly at the ceiling of her private dorm room, her soul seeming to have drifted somewhere far away.

The moment she felt Li Wei's hand begin to roam over her body again, she jolted and hurriedly begged, "Li Wei, I really can't do it anymore. Let me rest for a while. I still have two very important events to host tomorrow."

Li Wei gently kissed her forehead. "Baby Kate, you've already done very well."

His attitude toward Kate was exceptionally gentle, not merely because he had gained a pile of superpowers from her, nor simply because of her beauty or figure. More importantly, he had been delighted to discover that she was factory-fresh.

Perhaps many people did not care about that at all, and might even dislike it. After all, being factory-fresh meant she basically had no experience.

But for Li Wei, who was somewhat conservative deep down, it was a huge bonus—so huge that he had even decided to make a few adjustments to his original plans.

If Kate was willing, he would not mind developing a long-term relationship with her, even becoming boyfriend and girlfriend.

And honestly, among The Boys' World, Kate's many superpowers definitely ranked in the top ten—or even the top five—in terms of overall strength and future potential. Li Wei was absolutely not losing out.

Her greatest problem now was that her physical strength was insufficient. Excessive use of her superpowers could very likely harm her.

Well, Li Wei had personally confirmed that over the past hour or so.

Compared to Starlight or Firecracker, Kate's physical condition truly was lacking. She was even further behind Maeve, who could get up and kick around whenever she pleased.

Like that, the two held each other and exchanged sweet nothings. Although they had only met for the first time today, their relationship had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Kate could not even be bothered to ask how Li Wei knew about her or why he had fallen for her at first sight. That was no longer important.

Now, she only wanted them to understand each other better. She even told him without hesitation about how her superpowers had once gone out of control and caused her younger brother to disappear completely.

She could not read Li Wei's mind, nor did she need to consider whether he might have any unpleasant thoughts after hearing this.

She could understand his thoughts and attitude through verbal communication, just like a normal person!

Naturally, Li Wei kept comforting her, saying that it had merely been an accident. If she had been given another chance, he believed she definitely would not have made the same mistake again.

Li Wei also told Kate many things about himself. By comparison, he felt that his own story was rather ordinary.

He was an orphan who had grown up in Vought's subsidiary, Red River Orphanage, before being adopted by a childless couple.

Unfortunately, the couple later died together in a plane crash, and he became an orphan once again.

Fortunately, by then, he had already demonstrated considerable ability at Goda University. Coupled with his inheritance, supporting himself was more than easy.

Later, he became the New Jersey Guardian and opened The Boys, among other things. In a sense, he had turned his life around.

Hearing this, Kate could not help feeling sorry for him. "I've heard of Red River. It seems to be an orphanage specifically for superpowered babies."

Li Wei nodded indifferently. "That's right."

In truth, Compound V—or rather, using special methods to grant ordinary infants superpowers—had long ceased to be an absolute secret.

Many people had signed special confidentiality agreements with Vought and allowed their children to be used in experiments.

A small number of parents hoped their children could gain a head start from birth, but most did it for vanity or wealth.

Starlight was the most typical example. Her mother had known long ago that her powers were not a gift from God. Recently, Starlight had been struggling over how exactly to discuss this matter with her mother.

But her situation was already a very good one.

When superhumans were still young and living with their parents, they would often begin displaying their various superpowers.

But what happened when parents discovered that their children did not possess admired powers such as flight or laser eyes, but instead had ordinary powers—or even powers with severe negative effects?

Most of them abandoned their children.

Those children, already registered in the records, would then usually be taken in by Red River Orphanage in exchange for a certain amount of money and other benefits.

So none of the children Li Wei had known at the orphanage were normal.

Unfortunately, compared to Li Wei, their fates were far more miserable. They became Vought's test subjects.

After becoming the New Jersey Guardian, Li Wei had deliberately investigated. Of the friends he had met at Red River, only a handful survived to adulthood, and he was the only one who had become a true Superhero.

After hearing that, Kate felt even more heartbroken. Although her parents had been very cold toward her after her brother disappeared, and she had felt resentment and even hatred toward them, they had still loved her as their daughter.

Li Wei, however, had lost his biological parents early on. After finally gaining adoptive parents, he had lost them too.

Still, the matter of Red River Orphanage was connected to what she knew about The Woods.

After hesitating slightly, Kate gritted her teeth. "Li Wei, I actually have another secret, but I'm not sure whether I should tell you. It could very likely put you in tremendous danger."

Here it comes. Li Wei had originally thought Kate would not tell him so quickly. He had not expected that after only a few hours together, she would already be so deeply attached to him.

Eileen Chang's saying that the road to a woman's heart ran through the narrow path below her navel was perfectly embodied in her.

His expression immediately turned serious. "So you're currently in danger because of this secret?"

Kate hesitated before ultimately shaking her head. "I'm not in danger, because Principal Intralla still needs my superpowers to help her."

Since she had started talking, Kate no longer hid anything. She told Li Wei the entire story from beginning to end.

At first, her superpower—telepathy—had been a passive ability that she could not control. Because of that, she had shut herself away in a room for a full nine years.

Later, Principal Intralla gave her a special medicine. Taking it every day turned her telepathy from a passive ability into an active one; she had to touch someone in order to hear their thoughts.

That finally allowed her to move through society with relative freedom and even make friends.

As an exchange of interests, a price, or repayment for the favor—whatever one called it—she had to do some dirty work for Principal Intralla.

Golden Boy had a younger brother named Sam. His strength and physique were both exceptional, but he had no other special superpowers. His mind was also somewhat unstable, making him unfit to become a qualified Superhero.

By chance, Goda University had unexpectedly discovered that transfusing Sam's blood into Golden Boy could enhance Golden Boy's abilities in every respect.

That was when Kate's assignment came. She erased and rewrote nearly everyone's memories of Sam, including Golden Boy's. In their memories, Sam had never existed at all.

Sam was currently imprisoned in the underground laboratory at Goda University—The Woods—where he served as both a lab rat and a blood bag.

On one hand, he underwent all kinds of experiments. On the other, he regularly donated blood to Golden Boy.

Naturally, Kate also had to regularly meet with Golden Boy, control him into accepting the transfusions, and erase the relevant memories afterward.

Originally, Golden Boy had liked her quite a bit, so it had been easy for her to do those things. But now that she was in this kind of relationship with Li Wei, she naturally could not continue.

Moreover, she vaguely felt that Golden Boy would discover the truth sooner or later. Her ability was still far from truly perfect.

There was also the fact that Sam was not the only test subject in The Woods project. There were other superpowered people similar to him, though Kate did not yet know where they came from or whether their circumstances were similar to Sam's.

After hearing it all, Li Wei pondered for a moment. "Leave this matter to me. You've done so much for Principal Intralla that you've already repaid everything you owed her."

"Besides, I don't believe suppressing your powers with medicine is the correct way to develop them. Have you ever heard of any other Superhero doing that?"

"Think again. Ever since you began taking the medicine, have your powers been weakening or growing stronger?"

Other than A-Train taking Compound V as a stimulant, Li Wei had never heard of anything similar. He seriously suspected that Intralla had viewed Kate as nothing more than a tool from beginning to end and had never seriously considered her future.

Perhaps, in Intralla's eyes, Kate and Sam held similar positions: they existed to make Golden Boy into a stronger Superhero.

But perhaps because she had stayed shut indoors for too long and become severely disconnected from society, or because her powers had exposed her early on to too much darkness and evil in people's hearts—

In any case, she did not seem to care much about those people being used as test subjects.

In Li Wei's view, that was not a flaw or a bad thing. He had no desire to find some saintly woman as a girlfriend.

Li Wei's three consecutive questions immediately left Kate stunned. It was not as though she had never considered these questions before, but she had never truly thought deeply about them.

Kate bit her lip and said somewhat self-deceptively, "But Principal Intralla has treated me very well."

Li Wei kissed her. "Kate, you've only just entered society. How could you possibly see through the heart of an old fox like Intralla? I don't think you've ever used your powers on her, have you?"

Kate nodded obediently. "That's true."

"Then I need you to seriously think about this. Was it that you never considered the question, that she never gave you the chance, or that you were actually afraid of the answer and subconsciously chose to avoid it?"

Kate fell silent. After thinking carefully, she had to admit that Li Wei was right.

Principal Intralla might have treated her quite well, but her actions were not as kind as her words. She had always been wary of Kate!

Li Wei rubbed her head, making her already rather messy, slightly sweaty blonde hair even messier.

"All right. If you want to know the truth, then give it a try. Leave The Woods to me."

Kate's Mind Control was indeed extremely rare, but it was not completely irreplaceable.

Mindstorm from Payback could basically achieve similar results. As an old man who had been retired for years, long stripped of his Superhero halo, and probably had not saved much money, he would surely be more than happy to get back to work.

As for his moral standards, there was even less need to worry. Payback was an old team founded decades ago, back when America had no cameras or internet. They had been far more unscrupulous than people were now.

The most crucial step was how to make Intralla—or rather, the Vought behind her—accept this method of handling things.

Kate understood this as well. Anyone with mental or psychic superpowers was rarely truly stupid; if anything, they were more likely to go insane.

So she looked at Li Wei with considerable concern. The only reason she did not say anything outright was that she did not want Li Wei to misunderstand and think she doubted his abilities.

Li Wei chuckled and held this clever, considerate little darling even tighter.

"I was originally planning to give you a surprise, but to keep you from worrying, I'll tell you in advance."

"I'll be taking Translucent's place and becoming Vought's newest member of The Seven. Vought will definitely be willing to give me that much face!"

Of course, that depended on the person. If trash like The Deep dared make such a request, Edgar would probably tell him to get lost.

Still, Li Wei would probably need to pay a small price as hush money.

Li Wei thought he might use his superpower on Edgar once, making his tadpoles multiply at superspeed so the old man could experience that full, heavy feeling below the belt.

He just did not know whether the old man could still get it up. Otherwise, this move could not be used as bargaining leverage.

Kate was immediately overjoyed. Soon, her eyes became far more watery as she looked at Li Wei. "Li Wei, I feel like I've rested enough already."

Li Wei could not help teasing her. "Oh? You're not worried about tomorrow's events anymore?"

Kate pounced directly on him. "What events? To hell with them!"