Although A-Train noticed something off about the little girl, he did nothing and merely watched to see what would happen. Homelander did the same.
The little girl was adorable and looked so pitiful that the civilians could not bear it. They all gathered around her.
A civilian named Bao took the matches and smiled. "Little girl, how much are the matches? I'll buy them all for you."
"You want all of them?"
The little girl's eyes widened as if they were glowing. Everyone's hearts melted, and they nodded one after another. "That's right, we'll take them all."
"Wonderful."
The little girl trembled with excitement. She raised her basket, lifted the cloth covering it, and shouted, "I'm selling all these explosives to you."
"Sure—wait, explosives?"
Bao nodded at first, then asked in shock.
Homelander and A-Train both realized something was wrong and tried to stop the little girl. But at that moment, everything around them slowed down, while only the little girl continued moving normally.
The little girl flung the contents of the basket at the crowd. They were bundles of old-fashioned explosives tied together, every fuse already lit.
The little girl said happily, "Thank you, big brothers and sisters, for buying my explosives. I'll serve you even more diligently from now on. This time, it's explosives; next time, it'll be cannon shells.
Then it'll be C4 explosives, and after that, missiles. One day, I'll become the Little Girl Who Sells Nuclear Bombs. Hahaha, I'm going to become the King of Arms!"
Amid the little girl's laughter, she vanished. Everything around them returned to normal, and the explosives all detonated with a thunderous boom.
"Fuck."
Homelander was not Skyfather now, so he had no way to protect everyone.
He grabbed several people beside him and flew out, while A-Train did the