Plunder, Research, Night Scene

To guard against the various superpowered individuals under Vought, Wang Zhaofeng and his team developed numerous products for Atlas.

For example, Translucent, who would eventually become a member of The Seven but was currently used by Vought merely to spy on the private lives of officials, could turn his skin into a carbon metamaterial. This allowed light to "bend" around him, achieving optical camouflage for invisibility, while his skin hardness rivaled that of a diamond.

However, Translucent could not truly disappear in the literal sense; at best, he could infiltrate areas with standard security and surveillance, posing no threat to hardened facilities.

Yet, the guy from the opening of the first episode of The Boys Season 3, who could shrink to the size of an ant and enter a partner's eye, was one of the best superpowers for infiltration, reconnaissance, or assassination.

But Atlas had installed motion sensors on every floor of its domestic factories, overseas bases, and other critical facilities, such that even the movement of a crawling cockroach would trigger a response.

Furthermore, Wang Zhaofeng's team had input feedback data for nearly ten thousand insects and other animals into the monitoring screening program to avoid placing an excessive burden on the system.

In other words, unless Vought's superhumans could perfectly disguise themselves as insects or animals—matching their weight, appearance, and behavior—before infiltrating these vital facilities, they had almost no chance of getting inside.

And this was merely a fraction of the Atlas monitoring system.

Coupled with Vought's over-reliance on so-called superpowers and their neglect of training, most superhumans were unable to effectively utilize their own abilities, making them no different from giant infants.

Soldier Boy, who had been betrayed by Vought and handed over to the former Soviet Union for research, possessed a considerable degree of combat, marksmanship, and counter-reconnaissance skills; his only weakness was that he could be sedated by a nerve agent known as Novichok.

Fortunately, Vought seemed aware that their superhumans lacked military discipline, so prior to the 90s, they only pressured federal officials or ordinary corporations, not daring to provoke their peers in the arms industry—after all, the United States was a military-industrial complex.

But Vought had begun to overstep, forcing many cities in the American Midwest and West to sign the Superhero Security Act within the last two years. This was precisely what the Mayor of Seattle, Harleden Bruce, was worried about and wanted to discuss with Sui Yang.

However, the fact that Vought dared to extend its "black hand" directly into Seattle to test Atlas's bottom line suggested that Homelander's impending adulthood had given Vought considerable confidence.

To say that Vought did not know Harleden Bruce was a puppet supported by Atlas would be as ridiculous as assuming the personality of the Homelander in this world was similar to the Superman played by Henry Cavill.

Vought certainly had not anticipated, nor could they have known, that for the sake of security, Sui Yang had installed dynamic detection and a series of other monitoring systems in the residences of all his puppets "without exception."

After all, with superhumans scattered across the United States and before Homelander had established an image of being "absolutely invincible" in the public eye, Vought did not yet have the guts to burn bridges with both Atlas and the entire arms industry simultaneously.

Although Vought was only engaging in "petty theft"—spying and intrusive acts they believed had gone unnoticed—in Sui Yang's eyes, it already constituted an act of provocation.

It seemed he could not let Vought feel too comfortable.

Gazing at the holographic screen, Sui Yang pondered for a moment before deciding to arrange for Arthur and his most elite Hunters to head to Russia in two days to secretly seize the sedated Soldier Boy.

Sui Yang felt a deep aversion toward Compound V.

He had watched all of The Boys television series, including the spin-off Gen V.

At the final moment of the last episode of Gen V, Homelander said to the female lead, "What kind of animal are you? You like attacking your own kind?" Coupled with the fact that the entire show constantly revealed how the vast majority of superhuman students were arrogant, believing they were not the same species as humans but a higher-level existence, which only exacerbated conflict and division...

If he were an outsider, watching as a mere spectator, Sui Yang would have felt that Antony Starr's performance as Homelander was explosive, finding even the villain charismatic, and watching the mutual slaughter between the protagonists and the superhumans with a sense of amusement.

But he was living in this world where everything was real, and in Sui Yang's eyes, superhumans were a group of mutants, a "filthy stain," and Compound V was a serum capable of drastically altering the human genetic map.

Still, when it came time to research, it had to be studied.

Sui Yang had maintained a harmonious relationship with Vought for nearly half a century, refraining from sending Hunters to seize samples of Compound V primarily to avoid drawing unnecessary attention, and because his own strength at the time had not been sufficient.

Now, having achieved leapfrog growth in both physique and psionic power, and possessing the [Reset] ability, he believed it was time to take action and seize Soldier Boy, who could currently restrain Homelander.

He could also have Alexia and the Bioengineering Department begin refining Compound V for research; perhaps they would obtain some unexpected results.

Having finalized his thoughts and prepared to arrange a detailed plan for the plunder tomorrow, Sui Yang turned his gaze to another holographic screen.

Stumbling gait, bleeding from the nose and mouth, dull expression—there were many illnesses that fit these three characteristics, such as the Ebola virus, but the eerie atmosphere in Lojia Town made him think of "zombies."

However, Leon was not the first to investigate the trouble in Lojia Town; it could only be said that Leon had stumbled into it by accident.

As for the various images of serums and experiments that flashed through his mind, they indicated a connection only to the Kenya base and the Congo.

Although he did not yet understand exactly why, there was no need to guess. The ARS company deployed at the Kenya base was already prepared to air-drop into Lojia Town at any moment; for now, he just needed to wait calmly for the results of the investigation.

The rest were minor matters, such as the Titan 3G sales far exceeding expectations, leading to a shortage in inventory that required another batch to be manufactured and assembled, or the construction of base stations capable of providing 3G services being obstructed on the U.S. East Coast.

This was because local news media there were using exaggerated headlines like "3G radiation exceeds standards" and "3G causes cancer."

But what those media outlets did not know was that Atlas had already completed upgrades to all base stations during the five-year period from 1988 to 1993; the only things being obstructed were the new base stations.

Except for the fact that the space gate would finish cooling on July 23rd, which required special attention, everything else was running normally according to plan.

Finally able to pull his thoughts away from work, Sui Yang stood up, unbuttoned his shirt collar and cuffs, and walked slowly to the floor-to-ceiling window facing north.

Looking out at the still-bright Seattle nightscape and sensing the emotional feedback from the city through his psionic perception, he always felt a sense of "satisfaction."

It was just like playing SimCity all night, finally building the city into the initial image he had envisioned.

After enjoying the night view for a while, a much more cheerful Sui Yang turned and walked out of the office, seemingly preparing to go home to see if those two Primarchs were behaving themselves.