The Internet Age

At dawn.

A streak of orange appeared on the horizon, heralding a pleasant day ahead.

Before long, the orange grew brighter until the piercing sun suddenly emerged, illuminating the clear blue sky and casting its light upon a modern city—

Seattle.

As the industrial hub of the American Northwest, Seattle led the way in fields such as aerospace, computer software, biotechnology, and medical equipment. Its GDP in 1990 reached 414 billion dollars, accounting for 7% of the total U.S. output that year.

From the ubiquitous apartments, office buildings, and neatly planned street blocks to the infrastructure hidden underground—the water, gas, and power systems—Seattle was, in terms of urban development, second to none.

Facing the warm sun, the mist lingering inside and outside the city gradually dissipated, and traffic began to surge on the main roads leading from the suburbs to the city center.

Among the flow of traffic was a motorcade consisting of seven black SUVs.

Four patrol officers on high-displacement motorcycles cleared the way, allowing the motorcade to move unimpeded through the increasingly crowded streets, soon passing Seattle's landmark, the Space Needle.

Yet, the logo on the tower bore a striking red "Λ".

The ability to use patrol officers to clear the path, the "Λ" logo printed on the corners of the SUV windows, and the fact that their route into the city was Highway 5, which connected to Tacoma International Airport, all indicated that this was Sui Yang's private motorcade.

As for the motorcade's destination, it was the Atlas Headquarters, a 400-meter-tall landmark located just two kilometers from the Space Needle.

This was the birthplace of Atlas. Furthermore, the "harmonious" relationship between Atlas and the local officials and factions over the years...

Or rather, it should be said that the others were forced to maintain a friendly attitude, and the generous, no-strings-attached investments in infrastructure had placed Seattle at the top of the living index not just in the U.S., but globally—calling it the best was no exaggeration.

It formed a sharp contrast with New York, which was equally prosperous but where one had to worry about being robbed whenever stepping outside, and which also served as the headquarters for Vought International.

At this moment, inside the second SUV of the motorcade.

"Alright... I understand. I will notify him." Arthur, sitting in the passenger seat, spoke to his headset as if talking to himself.

Immediately after, this leader of the Hunter squad turned his head slightly, using his peripheral vision to look at the back seat and ask, "Boss, Mayor Harleden Bruce is requesting an appointment for 2:00 PM on July 15th. He says he wants to discuss something in detail. What do you think..."

"What is the topic?" Sui Yang, leaning against the back seat, did not look up, his gaze never leaving the physical book in his hands titled The Absorbent Mind.

This book, written by Dr. Maria Montessori of Italy, mainly discussed concepts such as "what the teacher does" and "the environment changes the child."

As a "senior" nearly 150 years old, his knowledge of child-rearing was only average, mostly acquired from his parents before he transmigrated.

Therefore, whenever he had free time, he would read such books to ensure that his education of Sanguinius and Roboute did not deviate.

Not long ago, right after the plane landed, Sui Yang had arranged for a team of Hunters to take the two primarchs out for some leisure—whether they chose to visit a shopping mall or the zoo was up to them.

In fact, whenever he was free, Sui Yang would personally accompany them, such as watching gunfights, action movies, or horror films together. At the end of last year, while on a business trip to the north, he had even teamed up with them and the Hunters for a "massive" snowball fight.

To avoid unnecessary trouble and attention, Sanguinius would wear a specialized backpack to conceal his snowy-white wings whenever they appeared in public.

Arthur, completely unaware of what Sui Yang was thinking, replied, "The other party claims it relates to the Superhero Security Act, but he insists on discussing it in person."

?

Hearing this, Sui Yang finally looked up and closed the book he was halfway through.

The Superhero Security Act...

Because the assistance of Compound V during World War II, along with some private deals that would never be voluntarily disclosed, had successfully allowed Vought to sign a bill with the federal top brass: the Superhero Security Act.

Once this act was announced, it allowed the superheroes launched and packaged by Vought to become law enforcement units like the police—or even units with far greater power than the police.

In theory, every city and town was supposed to have at least one superhero to assist local police in fighting crime.

However, every state under federal rule possessed a certain, or even significant, degree of autonomy; it was as if every state were a "country."

Therefore, the Superhero Security Act was not well-received in the American West and South. After all, for a local city government to sign a contract with Vought International to bring in a superhero to maintain order, it cost at least 40 million dollars, with no upper limit.

Most importantly, the contract had to be renewed upon expiration, and Vought would hike the price, citing that "crime rates have shown a clear downward trend, and our product is very effective."

At this point, most mayors and governors, for the sake of their own careers, to avoid a "resurgence" in crime rates, and to cover up some shady dealings, had no choice but to bite the bullet and "pay up," falling into a vicious cycle.

In contrast, in the "simple-minded" American South, there was no need to expose Compound V; the locals viewed superheroes as clowns, and the people there trusted the weapons in their own hands more.

As for the towns in the West, because the public security was relatively good and due to regional differences, the speed at which Vought International could "sell its products" was relatively slow.

But as an ambitious arms dealer that wanted to bypass Congress, directly intervene in the military, and even control the political scene, Vought naturally would not give up easily.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, they had increasingly used shapeshifting or invisible superhumans for infiltration.

The simplest, yet most successful, method of infiltration was to have these superhumans sneak into homes, secretly photograph the scandalous photos of officials, and then use coercion and bribery to force the officials to approve the signing of contracts.

At this stage, Vought was not yet rampant and had never attempted to touch the cities of major arms dealers, such as Seattle, Chicago, or Bethesda.

But since the Mayor of Seattle had proactively mentioned the Superhero Security Act and wanted to discuss it in person, Sui Yang knew that the day Vought publicly unveiled Homelander was fast approaching.

After a moment of silence.

Noticing through the window that the motorcade was about to reach its destination, Sui Yang raised his hand to straighten his collar and said, "I'm busy on the 15th. The 16th is fine."

"Understood, I will pass that on."

Screech—

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, a jolt occurred.

The motorcade had already pulled up in front of the main entrance of the headquarters building.

He opened the door and stepped out of the car.

Flanked by Arthur Morgan and a group of Hunters clad in black suits, Sui Yang walked into the lobby of the headquarters building.

As one of the public faces of Atlas, the floor was paved with marble tiles so polished they could serve as mirrors. The decor was minimalist and classical, with a forty-four-meter-high ceiling in the front section featuring an artistic, open-work design that connected several floors.

"Boss..." At this moment, Arthur asked, sounding puzzled again, "Is a new smartphone launch—one that supposedly has a camera and can connect to the mobile internet—really worth you flying all the way back from Ghana for?"

"..." Sui Yang stopped himself from speaking.

Perhaps realizing he couldn't explain the significance of 3G networks or the fact that the internet age was being ushered in by Atlas itself, he simply made up an excuse.

"I just wanted to join in on the excitement."

"Fair enough. There's nothing interesting over in Africa anyway. I'll have to stock up on more cigars before I head back; I feel restless if I don't have something to chew on." Arthur took him at his word.

Everyone, I've changed the plot of the second chapter. The protagonist never fathered any offspring who died young; after all, the protagonist was in a period of turmoil during his early development, unable to settle down or find the time to have children.

By the time he realized he was an Immortal, he had already established his estate, so he made a point to avoid spending long periods with any female companions to prevent his identity from being exposed.

The protagonist will certainly educate the Primarchs in the "correct" way, which will not affect the reading experience moving forward.

As for the theories some friends mentioned about "the protagonist's deceased child being snatched away to Warhammer 40,000," the author can only say that when the protagonist was living a life of debauchery, he never knew if his partners were pregnant, nor did he know if any offspring were born or died. He only knew that by the time the 20th century rolled around, no former partners had come looking for him to collect on his "romantic debts."

In short, feel free to let your imaginations run wild, hahaha.

The revised content is as follows:

Immortality.

That's right, his appearance seemed to be frozen at the age of twenty-five.

It wasn't that he hadn't had female companions; he even had many romantic escapades during his "cowboy days."

But as he gradually came to understand his unique constitution, he chose to refuse marriage and minimize the possibility of exposure, which in turn meant he never had the opportunity to father any biological offspring.

Fortunately, this didn't cause him much distress, as Sui Yang wanted to solve the mystery of why he had transmigrated here and where the voice in his head was coming from.

As for those who knew the secret of his "immortality," at first, there was only Arthur Morgan, the group of orphans he had taken in, and their direct descendants, who also formed the foundation of the mercenaries belonging to Atlas.