An Archaeological Adventure

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Over the past three days, every channel had been flooded with talk of Homelander being sued.

From major news broadcasts to small talk shows, television and the internet had discussed the matter almost nonstop, twenty-four hours a day.

For three straight days, the topic had occupied the top spot in online searches.

Its popularity left second place far behind.

Today, the Supreme Court would convene at one in the afternoon.

According to the rules, Homelander had to arrive before one o'clock.

Yet by morning, the vast plaza outside the Supreme Court had already been packed with people, forcing the NYPD to deploy more than half its force to maintain order there.

The onlookers in the plaza held up all kinds of signs.

'Homelander, you're my idol! I'll support you forever!'

'Homelander, don't you dare let me down!'

'Homelander, I love you!'

'Homelander is a demon! Wake up, you idiots!'

'Homelander should be burned to death! He's a heretic!'

All kinds of slogans and opinions filled the plaza.

Someone had even brought a Homelander doll and set it on fire, though the police quickly arrested them.

Now, the attention of all New York—and even the entire country—was fixed on the Supreme Court.

People waited eagerly, but even by 12:30 in the afternoon, Homelander was nowhere to be seen.

Seven Tower.

Ashley let out a scream, threw her phone onto the sofa, and clutched her hair as she cried out in panic.

"How would I know where he went? I'm not his babysitter!"

"I'm just doing a job! Stop calling me!"

Since this morning, Ashley's phone had practically been ringing off the hook.

Reporters, media outlets, online influencers, company executives, and more.

Everyone was looking for Homelander, hoping to find out in advance whether he would attend the hearing.

But Ashley had not seen Homelander since morning. His phone had been left in Seven Tower, while he himself had vanished without a trace.

Just moments ago, Edgar had ordered her to get in touch with Homelander immediately and ensure that he attended the hearing.

Otherwise, she would be sued for breach of contract. If things got serious, Ashley could face an enormous payout!

Strands of hair fell out one by one as Ashley hugged her head and screamed, "God, please, let Homelander show up!"

Meanwhile.

Azu's nose itched, and he sneezed.

He rubbed his nose, then looked down at his feet. Beneath him stretched a highland.

The Balka Highlands!

After breakfast that morning, he had left Seven Tower and flown across nearly half the globe to central-western Jordan, arriving at these highlands.

Annika had said that the two violent criminals Vought wanted released both came from this place, from an ancient town in the highlands.

Oster.

Vought had shown up time and again, and Azu had no interest in playing their game of killing the son and waiting for the father to come calling.

He had decided to destroy their nest directly and settle it once and for all.

Besides, he had no intention of attending the hearing. Whoever wanted to go could go.

What a joke. What right did a bunch of white pigs have to interrogate him?

If those mortal insects were dissatisfied, then they could meet him on the battlefield.

Of course, Azu was not a war maniac.

He preferred the pleasures brought by abundant material wealth, so as long as he could avoid violence, he had no intention of tearing off all pretenses.

Otherwise, he would have gone to meet the leaders of those insects long ago.

At that moment, Azu looked down upon the land and soon found a town.

The next second, he was already inside it.

It was noon, yet there was not a single soul in town.

The crumbling buildings bore the marks left by time. Lush weeds and wildflowers grew amid the ruined walls.

The wind blew through the town, carrying an air of emptiness and deathly silence.

Azu scanned the surroundings. Other than animals, he found no humans.

That made it clear.

This place had long been abandoned.

"If this is where Vought originated, there should be some clues left behind."

Azu floated into the air and used his special abilities to scan the area, not even overlooking the ground beneath the town.

A moment later, he let out a soft "Huh." At the foot of a mountain outside town, Azu detected the shadow of what seemed to be a structure.

It was only a shadow rather than a clear image because the area appeared to contain zinc, the only substance capable of blocking Azu's scanning ability.

Even so, judging from the outline of that shadow, it seemed to be a Pyramid.

"Since when did they start building Pyramids here? The Egyptians really are something."

Azu flew over to the foot of the mountain. His eyes lit up, then became two golden beams that radiated scorching heat and blazed with fierce light as they blasted into the ground at a thirty-degree angle.

At once, vegetation turned to ash and the soil melted, swiftly creating a passage leading underground.

Two thousand feet below ground lay a vast open space. It was perfectly level, with obvious signs of human construction.

Darkness was the theme here, but today, that theme was broken.

As sunlight-like golden radiance tore through the earth and shone into the space, a gust of wind entered the underground chamber, which had not received fresh air in who knew how long.

Then Azu flew in. His eyes shone brightly, piercing the darkness.

They allowed him to see clearly that a Pyramid indeed stood on the floor of the enormous, sprawling space.

He scanned the Pyramid and discovered that the portion above ground was merely its tip.

The Pyramid was buried deep within the earth. Its scale was so immense that it was practically a maze.

Azu studied the structure, thoughts rising one after another in his mind.

"Could Vought be connected to this Pyramid?"

As he thought that, Azu suddenly discovered several living creatures deep within the Pyramid.

Judging by their proportions, they were roughly human-sized, but their body temperatures were incredibly high, far beyond those of humans.

And on the Pyramid's lowest level, in a central room, Azu also found a Visual Blind Spot.

Something in that room appeared to have been constructed from zinc. It sat at the center of the chamber, and he had no idea what was stored within it.

Looking at that blind spot, Azu's lips curled upward. "How about an archaeological adventure?"

But just as he was about to act, a dull explosion suddenly sounded from below, followed by flickering light.

Azu immediately flew toward the Pyramid and landed atop its tip. Then he looked toward the explosion and heard voices coming from there.

"We broke through."

"We finally opened up a passage."

"This took us three months. It wasn't easy."

"Look, just like the professor said, the ground is level. These are clearly signs of artificial polishing."

"Looks like we've made a major discovery this time!"

Azu stared into the distance. After scanning the area, he discovered what appeared to be an Archaeological Team.

Seven or eight men were now carrying various supplies inside, setting up instruments, and excitedly taking all kinds of measurements.