The Big Trouble After the Truth is Revealed

Azu's move was the very last thing Ryan had expected to happen.

He had considered that Azu might pretend nothing happened and retract his hand, or that he might brazenly tear off his hero mask and force someone else to take the canister of virus.

The least likely possibility was exactly what was happening now.

A soft, trembling, "Give, give it to me... son!"

Had his fatherly love for me finally surpassed the cowardly instincts and fear of death buried deep within him, things he might not even be aware of himself?

Azu, you damn bastard, you've moved me again!

Ryan felt his eyes sting for a moment. He maintained his expression of waiting for praise while casually lowering his arm.

The canister containing the virus remained firmly in his grip.

Only then did he grin, suppressing his emotions as he said, "Dad, let me hold onto it. This is my war medal, after all!"

Without waiting for Azu to ask for the virus again, Ryan immediately changed the subject: "These are students from this school. This is Jordan, he..."

After finishing the introductions, Ryan immediately brought up the issue Azu cared about most.

Namely, the reason Ryan appeared at this school laboratory and the full sequence of events!

"So, Maeve will drag that wretched principal here in a moment, and then, Dad, you..."

Zzzzt!!!

Before Ryan could finish, scarlet Heat Vision erupted from Homelander's eyes.

Before the smell of burning flesh could even spread, Dr. Cardosa, struck directly in the forehead by the heat, collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.

"Ah—"

After a few short gasps of shock in the lab, the room fell deathly silent the moment Homelander turned his still-glowing red eyes toward them.

A terrifying, oppressive atmosphere spread unchecked.

Azu's expression had turned completely cold. Lingering fear and rage boiled within him as he squeezed out through gritted teeth: "Son, the person Dad killed was a bad man who wanted to hurt you!"

"Dad."

Ryan reached out and gripped Azu's large hand with his small one.

His hand was tiny, but he only wanted to convey his belief that he understood him.

He also wanted to tell him: "Because you, Dad, are also a supe!"

"Regardless of whether this man was truly forced by orders or lying, he is the one who developed this virus capable of killing all supes."

Ryan looked at the people in the lab, who were shivering with sweat: "I know you're worried about me, but you're going to scare them like this."

Azu glanced sideways at the people in the lab, not bothering to remember a single one of their names.

It didn't matter!

He reined in his oppressive aura slightly and asked in a deep voice: "Is this the only canister?"

"Yeah, Cardosa said all the virus prototypes were only enough to make this much."

Nodding, Ryan suddenly added: "Oh, right, he also said this virus isn't in its final form, but its properties have already shown it can kill..."

"Bang!"

Before Ryan could finish, the partially closed door of the lab was kicked open by Maeve.

She strode in aggressively, her eyes sweeping the room before landing on Ryan: "I'm glad you're okay, Ryan. I heard Ashley's report; you were far too reckless, kid."

"Hmph! Maeve, watch your place. Ryan is my son."

Seriously? You're acting like a child, getting jealous over this?

Maeve looked at Homelander in astonishment.

Then, she lowered her head to look at the unharmed Ryan once more.

Finally setting her heart at ease, she gave Homelander a subtle eye-roll.

Turning around, Maeve pushed Principal Shetty, whom she had been dragging along the way, forward: "I asked her on the way here, but she claims she knows nothing and never issued any orders to develop a virus."

"It's true, I'm telling the truth."

Principal Shetty stumbled from the push, yet she remained composed.

Even facing Homelander's terrifying gaze, this ordinary female principal possessed more courage than most, for she dared to meet his eyes directly.

"Whatever that virus is, it was Dr. Cardosa's own private undertaking!"

"The Woods laboratory conducts all projects in strict accordance with corporate strategy and regulatory procedures. All filings and approval records are complete and verifiable. From start to finish, this matter has nothing to do with corporate policy."

Azu frowned. His Super Hearing told him that the woman's heartbeat and pulse were perfectly normal.

She... was telling the truth?

Just then, among the people in the lab who were too terrified to breathe due to Homelander's aura, Cate stood up, her face streaked with tears.

"You... Shetty, so you've been lying to me all this time!"

As soon as Cate's choked voice rang out, Shetty's heart skipped a heavy beat.

She knew Cate's superpower all too well.

If erasing and modifying someone's memory was delicate work that allowed for not even the slightest error, then Cate's forced command implantation was like a heavy club smashed directly into your skull.

You clearly knew it hurt, and you knew exactly what was happening, yet you were powerless to resist; you were forced to endure that agony.

In other words, when Cate used her compulsion ability on someone, your brain was fully aware that you were being controlled.

But the result remained the same: regardless of whether you were aware of it or not, you had to act according to her commands.

Shetty panicked on the spot, hurriedly turning around to make amends. "Cate, I didn't see you were here too. How are you? Are you alright? I've been so worried about you."

"You're lying to me! You said this would be good for Golden Boy, you said Sam was schizophrenic and had to stay in the lab! But all of this..."

Cate shook her head and stepped forward, reaching her hand out toward Shetty. "I want to hear you tell the truth!"

By now, Azu had long since lost patience with this useless drivel.

Just as he prepared to kill the headmistress regardless of whether she was the one who issued the orders, Ryan tugged on his cape.

"Dad, we have to find the real mastermind, otherwise another virus will appear."

Ryan's concern was logical; since the first virus capable of killing all supes had appeared, if they didn't cut off the source, who knew when another one might pop up.

Although he was a natural-born supe, he didn't want to use his own body to test the potency of that virus.

But no sooner had Ryan stopped Azu than he immediately regretted it.

Because of the truth that suddenly spilled from Shetty's lips...

"Yes! I was the one who ordered the development of the virus to exterminate supes; the company didn't know! I did this for revenge!"

"Hahaha, Homelander! Why didn't you save that plane? Why did my husband and daughter have to die? Why wasn't it..."

Zzzzt—

The temperature spiked, and the searing Heat Vision instantly melted away another life.

But this wave of heat could not extinguish the heart that turned cold within Ryan in an instant.

He didn't even glance at the dead Headmistress Shetty; his entire focus was on Maeve, whose expression had become visibly dazed and filled with uncontrollable pain the moment the words "that plane" were uttered.

Oh no.

The root of Maeve's pain was precisely that plane she had watched crash with her own eyes.

And now, it had been detonated by the truth in a situation that caught him off guard, before he had even had a chance to think things through.

What should he do?

Urgent!