I Have an Idea

Walking toward you now is the legendary stress-resistance champion of The Boys—Ash! ley! Barrett!

Ryan, having arrived at The Seven's grand conference room for a tour, was screaming in his heart.

Zhao Zilong was all courage, and Ashley was all Zhao Zilong.

As an ordinary person with zero abilities, it was nothing short of a miracle that this sister could survive by Homie's side.

Just look at her workplace environment.

A moody, murderous, giant-baby boss, colleagues who had racked up a mountain of murder charges outside, a company riddled with leaks like a sieve, and a career where you could be silenced the moment you resigned.

Most people would worry about getting their shoes wet while walking by the river, but Ashley would tell Homie directly: I can go down and take a swim.

As long as you say the word, I'll even do the backstroke naked—loyalty!

"Homelander!"

Ashley, who had rushed into the conference room with her heart and eyes set entirely on Homelander, was flustered yet trying to appear composed as she shouted, "Emergency situation! Sir."

"My god, have you seen it?"

"The video uploaded to YouTube last night was taken down by the cybersecurity department seventeen minutes later, but..."

"Ashley!"

Homelander suddenly spoke up to cut her off.

His reason was the same as when he chased Stormfront out of his room earlier; he absolutely did not want his son to know about him accidentally killing civilians.

The little guy trusted him so much that he had even fallen out with his own mother to be with him. If Ryan found out about this, how disappointed would he be?

At the mere thought of it, Homelander's mood began to tense up.

No, he had to find a way to keep Ryan away from the internet for a while; he couldn't let that chaotic information outside mislead him.

But how was he supposed to say that?

He had only just brought Ryan back last night, and he was going to send him away today?

The problem was that Homie himself couldn't bear to do it...

"Thud—"

Just as Homelander was distracted, trying to think of a solution, the already nervous Ashley was startled by his shout and accidentally pressed the play button.

As the Senior Vice President of Hero Management, the tablet Ashley Barrett carried was automatically connected to the company network. Ever since she had rushed back, her tablet screen had already been synced to this grand conference room.

And the reason her tablet was ready to play the event footage at any moment was so that Homelander, who might be unaware, could understand the situation immediately.

Ashley was absolutely loyal and dedicated.

Furthermore, this was the exclusive meeting hall for The Seven, and the projection equipment had been on standby for years.

The moment Ashley pressed play, the screens in the conference room lit up instantly, and the footage was exposed to everyone present without any obstruction.

The conference room fell into an instant, deathly silence.

But Homelander, reacting immediately, unleashed scarlet heat vision from his eyes. With just a horizontal sweep, the set of displays playing the footage was instantly destroyed.

"Ashley!!"

Homelander was furious, his glowing red eyes staring straight at her.

"No, no, no, I, I, I..."

Ashley was terrified and confused; she didn't understand why he reacted that way.

But at that moment, Ryan, who had been watching from the sidelines, had to speak up.

Ever since Stormfront's sudden arrival that morning, he had been guessing what major event had occurred, and for that reason, he had even used his super-hearing to eavesdrop on the conversations of Vought Tower employees.

The matter was simple, but it had to be traced back to the source.

Vought International's original foundation was as a company deeply rooted in pharmaceutical research and development.

However, with the stable production of Compound V leading to the successive birth of super-powered individuals and the gradual formation of the superhero system, the company's focus had continuously shifted, and its original pharmaceutical core had gradually been relegated to a supporting role.

To this day, when the outside world spoke of Vought, the first impression that came to mind was no longer a pharmaceutical company, but an entertainment giant with unparalleled influence.

Creating superhero idols, managing hero IPs, and undertaking commercial performances and film production had become the core labels of this company in the public eye.

A group of senior executives led by Stan Edgar had never been willing to let the company completely deviate from its original intent.

They had successively launched various plans and utilized resources from multiple parties to maneuver and operate, striving to reverse the development trend and pull Vought back onto its original course.

Yet, many of these measures ended up getting stuck in the White House.

Under the compromises of the elite, cooperation, and the game of political stances, the company's most important plans were delayed and could not be implemented.

Then came Homelander's power struggle. To prove that he could lead this massive enterprise, he had directly and secretly gifted Compound V to those small nations and organizations hostile to the United States, thereby spawning a terrorist group of super-villains.

Homelander's childish behavior not only planted a huge security risk within the United States but also completely disrupted the original layout of Vought's top management.

The company had no choice but to go with the flow and attempt to make amends for the wrong actions.

By taking advantage of the situation, it became politically correct for The Seven to strike down super-villains.

The momentum of the event successfully diverted attention from the Compound V leak scandal, and even unexpectedly advanced Walter's plan to extend his reach into the military.

One could call that a stroke of blind luck.

However...

Nothing involving Homie could ever be called an accident.

The company's correctness—or rather, Stan Edgar's correctness—represented his own incorrectness. How could he tolerate that?

He certainly couldn't!

And so, our dear Homie once again shocked everyone by frantically showing off his presence.

He frequently took action, crossing borders to strike down the super-villains he had birthed himself, but even the best make mistakes.

And just like that, following the "Flight 37 Incident," Homie had once again managed to capsize in a way that everyone loved to see.

During an unauthorized operation to strike down a super-villain in the Middle East, Homie accidentally killed civilians, and the act was secretly filmed.

The news exploded across the internet at one o'clock yesterday morning.

The above was the full picture of the situation, summarized by Ryan based on his memory of the plot and the information he had gathered.

In truth, he wanted to play deaf and dumb regarding this incident; after all, his influence over Homie had not yet reached the point where he could make him obey every word.

Furthermore, his age was a major handicap. With his current level of experience, he couldn't provide reasonable explanations for many countermeasures—it wasn't a matter of intelligence, but rather that his growth trajectory hadn't reached that stage yet.

Therefore, when Homie became so enraged that he nearly killed Ashley on the spot, Ryan cried out in shock: "Daddy, you, you killed someone!!"

The crisp, terrified child's voice struck like a thunderbolt, slamming into Homie's teetering sanity.

The glowing red heat vision vanished, replaced by the embarrassment and panic of a child caught red-handed by his teacher after making a mistake.

"I didn't!"

Homie denied it hastily, but he immediately remembered that the short video clip playing just now was exactly the footage of him accidentally killing the civilians.

Since his son had already seen the video, his denial was useless.

Thinking of this, he immediately changed his tune: "That person wasn't a civilian, he, he... he was an accomplice of that super-villain!"

As Homie spun the lie, his eyes began to brighten.

He turned his head directly toward Ashley: "This idea of mine... ahem! Ashley, shouldn't you go investigate and verify this right now?"

"That person, he must be an accomplice of the super-villain, right!"