Annie's Remorse

Under Little Cricket's reluctant gaze, Li Wei left Goda University and rushed to the hospital at top speed.

At the hospital entrance, as usual, a large crowd of fans waited for photos and autographs. After dealing with them, a medical staff member Firecracker had arranged in advance quietly handed Li Wei a carton of milk and a fruit basket—gifts he would later give to A-Train.

Though Firecracker never understood why, since Li Wei insisted on doing this, she made sure everything was set.

Li Wei smiled and nodded his thanks to her. After all, the reason A-Train was in this state in the first place was because of his own handiwork.

Now that the guy considered him a friend, what was spending a few dozen bucks on gifts?

Besides, didn't he understand the concept of ritual? Who visits someone in the hospital without bringing milk?

Finding A-Train's ward with practiced ease, A-Train immediately grinned and congratulated Li Wei, wishing him success in joining The Seven.

Li Wei chuckled: "Did Mr. Edgar tell you?"

Compared to the physically frail Kate, who possessed numerous superpowers herself and had a strong constitution, he was clearly far superior.

This meant that once he acquired a power, he could almost instantly and perfectly control a whole range of abilities except for Fantasy Space.

He could freely and smoothly turn these abilities on or off, and could casually designate one or more targets within a certain range.

For example, right now, with telepathy active, A-Train's thoughts were completely exposed to him.

Even though A-Train was a top-tier superhero, he had zero resistance in this regard.

This also meant that as long as Li Wei wanted, he could communicate amiably with almost anyone, and they would all mistakenly believe they were kindred spirits.

"Yeah, Mr. Edgar personally called a meeting with Homelander, Queen Maeve, Starlight, and Black Noir to give them a heads-up."

The others aside, as the leader of The Seven, Edgar had to show Homelander at least some face.

"The Deep wasn't there?"

As he spoke, Li Wei sat down by A-Train's bed and began using his superpower to treat him as usual.

After these days of treatment, he had successfully acquired all of the other's abilities. Once he got his Super Speed, his overall strength would take another massive leap!

A-Train snorted disdainfully: "That idiot went to some aquarium to steal marine animals again, claiming he wanted to free them, and got caught red-handed by a bunch of media."

"This is the fourth time this month. That moron's clearly being set up, and Mr. Edgar's pissed at him. He shipped him off to New York Harbor last night, said he needs to cool his head there."

Among The Seven, he looked down on The Deep the most. It wasn't about strength—he just thought the guy dragged down the team's collective IQ. He even doubted how The Deep ever graduated from Goda University!

"Haha, I've always suspected The Deep has some intellectual deficiency, and I doubt he graduated honestly."

To be fair, based on Li Wei's recent investigations, The Deep's character was actually pretty decent among superheroes.

He barely had any ordinary people's blood on his hands, and he genuinely tried to save marine animals.

It was just that his methods and direction were all wrong, resulting in almost every animal he tried to rescue dying horribly.

And then there was his little private game with octopuses—but that was a personal hobby, not really a moral issue.

A-Train perked up, feeling he'd found a true kindred spirit: "Exactly! I heard he graduated sixth in his class. That's an embarrassment to The Seven!"

Among The Seven, Homelander was a special case handpicked by Vought, Black Noir was an old-timer from Payback, and Starlight debuted through a talent show. None of them studied at Goda, so they had no rankings.

But Queen Maeve and he were both first in their years, Translucent was second, and even Li Wei, about to join The Seven, was first back in his day. Only that moron The Deep was sixth!

And so, with idle chatter, time quickly passed. Suddenly, Li Wei's whole body trembled slightly.

Finally, he had successfully copied A-Train's Super Speed. In that instant, he felt his body become countless times lighter.

Though copying superpowers before had always affected his body and mind to varying degrees, this was the first time the sensation was so intense that he couldn't fully control it!

A-Train, who had been chatting with him, immediately noticed. He asked with concern: "Li Wei, you okay?"

Li Wei rubbed his brow, putting on a slightly tired expression: "I'm fine, just ran out of energy. Looks like today's treatment ends here."

He'd used the same excuse the past few days, but in reality, the energy he consumed was less than 0.01% of his total.

A-Train felt quite embarrassed: "You've worked hard these days. I think you don't need to come tomorrow. I'll probably be fully recovered in three or four days."

Li Wei heard A-Train's thoughts—he genuinely meant it. He also didn't want to owe Li Wei a favor and felt bad wasting his time.

After all, The Seven's selection process had started. Even though Li Wei was a shoo-in, there was still plenty to do.

Li Wei smiled lightly and nodded: "In that case, I won't come tomorrow. To join The Seven legitimately, I still have a lot of work to do."

Through these days of contact, even though A-Train was still the guy who didn't care about ordinary people's lives, Li Wei felt they might actually become good friends.

Provided Li Wei didn't go head-to-head with Homelander. Under Homelander's past tyranny, A-Train would probably surrender in a second.

A-Train finally relaxed: "Haha, good. Then I'll be waiting for you at Vought!"

Leaving the hospital, Li Wei suppressed the urge to test his new speed.

This was downtown New York. Even ignoring cameras, Homelander or Queen Maeve might be wandering around or looking for fun somewhere. If they ran into him, that wouldn't be pleasant.

Li Wei planned to save this Super Speed as a surprise for Homelander when they eventually had their falling out.

The hospital wasn't far from Vought headquarters. He called Starlight—since she wanted to talk, they'd talk.

Meeting at a café, Starlight was visibly nervous this time, but this matter couldn't be avoided. After a few pleasantries, she steeled herself and asked.

"So, um, Li Wei, is Firecracker your new assistant?"

Li Wei smiled: "That's right. Though she's not famous among superheroes, she's hardworking, diligent, and ambitious. She's been a great help to me lately."

This was his honest opinion—aside from being a bit lacking in combat power, there really wasn't anything to fault about Firecracker.

Biting her lip again, Starlight steeled herself: "Actually, I do know her. We had some history in the past."

Without waiting for Li Wei's response, Starlight poured out everything about how she had once slandered Firecracker.

Aside from a bit of personal emotion, she truly left out no truth, then hurriedly apologized, saying it had been her naivety and foolishness back then, and that her mother had put her up to it—it hadn't been her intention.

Even so, Li Wei's expression darkened noticeably.

He raised a hand to stop her from continuing, his tone very serious: "Annie, maybe you were following orders back then, maybe you regretted it deeply afterward, but the consequences you caused Firecracker are a pain she'll never forget for the rest of her life."

"If that incident had never happened, with Firecracker's learning ability and drive, she would never have ended up at her current level."

Starlight immediately grew anxious: "Li Wei, I—"

Li Wei didn't give her a chance to speak: "What's more, have you ever apologized to her from start to finish? Even sent a single text?"

Starlight instantly lost her composure, and then a stream of tears rolled down her cheeks, "plop," "plop," falling onto the table.

All she could do was repeat one phrase: "I'm sorry, I'm truly so sorry."

Even though both she and Li Wei had changed into casual clothes and deliberately added some disguise, so ordinary people wouldn't recognize their real identities unless they got close, her pitiful crying still drew the attention of many around them.

America was never short of people who liked to join in or meddle, and if a beautiful woman was involved, their enthusiasm usually ran even higher.

Seeing that enough was enough, and also wanting to avoid causing a commotion, Li Wei sighed and used a tissue to gently wipe her face.

"The one you really need to apologize to isn't me, but Firecracker. You should seek her forgiveness."

"But before that, I think we both need some time, okay?"

Looking at Li Wei's expression, Starlight, who considered herself very familiar with him, knew there was no room for negotiation on this matter.

And it truly was her fault; she had to pay the price for it, even if it was many years too late.

Sniffling, Starlight barely held back her tears and nodded firmly: "I understand, Li Wei. Don't worry, I will definitely work hard to earn her understanding and forgiveness. I will try my best to become a true superhero!"