With Vought's full support, Jupiter's approval rating continued to rise!
"Although Compound V from Vought can grant people tremendous power,
"Compound V is mostly used on children. When given to adults, there are serious problems. First, we can't guarantee that adults will definitely gain superpowers from Compound V. Second, we currently don't know what side effects adults who gain superpowers through Compound V might suffer. If we want to use it on adults, we need to improve our product. But improving Compound V would require a considerable amount of funding, and success wouldn't be guaranteed."
Starlight explained softly while facing Jupiter.
"There's no need to improve it. If someone uses our Compound V and fails to gain superpowers, just blame it all on that old man God!"
Jupiter spoke softly with his hands behind his back.
"Good idea."
Starlight was stunned when she heard this, then nodded lightly. Blaming God when something went wrong—*Fck, that was such a damn good idea!**
"Mm, what else is there?"
Jupiter continued asking questions with an utterly calm expression. This wasn't the DC Universe, after all, so there wasn't really an omniscient and omnipotent, invincible God. Even if there was, Jupiter believed that after seeing what he had done and realizing that he was pursuing the evolution of the species, God wouldn't blame him...
"There's also the matter of The Seven. Homelander is dead, and The Deep went to Huodao Island to rescue the dolphins, so he won't be coming back anytime soon. As for A-Train, we followed your instructions and made his actions public. The judge convicted him of negligent homicide and sentenced him to five years in prison, sending him to Black Prison. At present, only Queen Maeve and Starlight are holding The Seven together. It's really not enough..."
Starlight opened the documents in her hands and read aloud.
"What about Black Noir?"
Jupiter was stunned. Homelander was dead, The Deep was rescuing dolphins, and A-Train was in prison. Besides those three, there should still have been Queen Maeve, Starlight, and Black Noir, right?
"Black Noir..."
Starlight frowned, looking somewhat helpless.
"Black Noir went to the supermarket this morning to buy milk and accidentally bought a can of almond drink..."
"He's currently in the ICU, but the good news is that he's temporarily out of danger."
Starlight finally told Jupiter.
"F*ck..."
Jupiter was speechless. Black Noir really was an idiot.
"So, to fill the vacancies in The Seven, the company recruited two new superheroes. They are Storm and Shockwave. They will replace Homelander and A-Train."
Starlight flipped through the documents in her hands and explained.
"All right. Have them come see me in The Seven's hall."
Jupiter nodded lightly. He was still somewhat interested in the new superheroes the company had sent over. Storm—or Liberty, as she was also called—f*ck, someone who shared his name, and a filthy bitch at that. Most importantly, that bastard possessed Compound V that adults could adapt to. Jupiter hoped Storm wouldn't be foolish enough to provoke him. Otherwise...
"All right."
Starlight nodded lightly without thinking much of it.
"Knock, knock, knock..."
Half an hour later, someone knocked on the door of The Seven's meeting room.
"Come in..."
Jupiter heard the knock and spoke without turning around, his hands behind his back.
"Hey, Free Man..."
As Jupiter's voice fell, the meeting-room door was forcefully pushed open.
Storm and Shockwave, who often competed with A-Train for the title of the world's fastest person, entered The Seven's meeting room together.
"Welcome, Storm and Shockwave."
Only after hearing them enter did Jupiter turn around. Facing Storm and Shockwave, he revealed a sunny smile.
"Bro, I saw the livestream of your fight with Homelander. You're unbelievably powerful. I dare say you're definitely the strongest superpowered person in the world—without a doubt!"
Shockwave immediately began showering Jupiter with praise.
"Heh, I'm just average. It's not that I'm too strong; Homelander was just too weak."
Jupiter chuckled lightly and spoke honestly. He himself wasn't all that powerful right now. The Homelander he had killed was simply even weaker.
"Uh..."
Yet Jupiter's honest words sounded completely different to Shockwave. Homelander had already been terrifyingly powerful and seemingly unbeatable. But in Jupiter's mouth, the supposedly invincible Homelander had been called too weak?! What did that make all of them, who couldn't defeat Homelander?
"He really was too weak. Whether in mind or ability, he was insignificant compared to you~"
Storm extended her tongue and lightly licked the corner of her mouth. She walked toward Jupiter with a catlike gait, then placed both hands on his full chest muscles and began touching him without restraint.
"Shockwave, could you step outside for a while?"
Storm turned and looked at Shockwave, her gaze seeming to hint at something.
"I just..."
"All right! Sure, no problem."
Shockwave was somewhat speechless. He had only just come in, and now she wanted him to leave?! Damn these unspoken office rules. To hell with them!
"..."
Jupiter silently watched everything before him until Shockwave walked out of the meeting room.
"Now let's discuss things between the two of us. I mean, the kind of negotiation that involves only you and me~"
Storm gently caressed Jupiter's chest and revealed an ambiguous smile.
"How do you want to negotiate with me?"
Jupiter looked at Storm with eyes as cold as ice and asked.
"I know you need Compound V that adults can use. I have all of that. If you want it, though, you have to satisfy a few conditions of mine~"
Storm revealed a seductive smile and spoke softly.
"Satisfy a few of your conditions?!"
At Jupiter's words, a smile appeared on his face even as tense veins bulged across his forehead.
"There are no free lunches in this world~"
"Of course. I only need you to share a tiny bit of your insignificant authority with me, and you can have everything of mine—including this body~"
Storm still had no idea what she had provoked. She looked at Jupiter with a smug expression, as though she were saying...
Look! Even the strongest person in the world could still be tamed by her.
"What if I don't want to share anything with you?"
Jupiter did his best to maintain his composure.
"Then you get nothing~"
"Neither me nor the perfect Compound V. You won't get any of it~"
"I think you're a smart man. You should choose the right option."
Storm was brimming with confidence. She believed that neither her personal charm nor the advantage of possessing perfect Compound V usable by adults was something Jupiter could refuse.
"Can I take that as a threat?"
Jupiter smiled as he spoke.
"You can see it that way, but I'd rather call my demands the terms of cooperation. They're necessary for us to achieve a win-win situation..."
Storm smiled faintly and spoke softly.
"Very well."
Jupiter nodded lightly. He raised his hand and swung it at Storm. The next second, a watermelon shot into the air.
In midair, Storm looked at her headless body. Confusion identical to that of Immortal's appeared in her eyes. "Am I dead?!"
She didn't understand. Perhaps people who never seemed to die and possessed powerful regenerative abilities would never imagine that they, too, might someday die! They naively believed that they had defeated death, when in truth, death had simply been too busy and temporarily forgotten them. Once death remembered them, they would still die...
"Why is there always someone who doesn't understand that I don't like being threatened?!"
"And as for you wanting to negotiate cooperation with me—who gave you the courage to think so highly of yourself that you believed you could negotiate with me? Take a good look at yourself. Do you really think you're worthy?"
Jupiter held a tissue in his hand and gently wiped the blood staining his glove. He couldn't understand why there were always idiots in this world who tried to threaten people who absolutely must not be threatened. Didn't they know that the price of provoking a beast was usually their own life?
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