Billy Butcher

Nighttime.

Lu Heng finished his daily patrol of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The haul was mediocre: he had only caught two armed robbers and a burglar, and incidentally saved a cat stuck in a tree.

The cat's owner was an old lady in her eighties who was so excited she nearly spat out her dentures.

Naturally, the footage of him doing good deeds was "coincidentally" captured by the media.

He was less than twenty thousand experience points away from reaching Lv.3.

Just as he was about to take flight and head home, his super-hearing picked up an exceptionally familiar sound.

Down in the alleyway, people were talking.

Two of them.

The content of their conversation caught Lu Heng's attention.

"...Are you sure he patrols this area every night?"

"Y-yes, I've been tailing him for three days. His route is basically fixed; he starts over by the Brooklyn Bridge, heads south along Atlantic Avenue, and finally wraps up around here."

"Good boy!"

Lu Heng's mouth twitched.

That dog Billy Butcher had actually sent someone to tail him for three days?

The two people standing in the alley were both familiar faces.

One wore a black trench coat, had a burly build, and a circle of rugged stubble on his chin.

He held an unlit cigar in his hand.

Billy Butcher.

The other one...

Lu Heng narrowed his eyes.

Tall and thin, curly hair, looking nervous and jittery.

Hughie Campbell.

He had clearly already altered the original trajectory of the plot.

Yet these two had somehow ended up together again!

He jumped straight down from the rooftop.

With a dull thud, the concrete ground cracked into a spiderweb pattern.

Both men in the alley were startled.

Hughie fell onto his backside, his face full of terror.

Butcher's reaction was much faster; his right hand instantly reached inside his trench coat.

"Good evening."

Lu Heng glanced at the two, quite satisfied with their reactions.

"Tailing me for three days, don't you intend to introduce yourselves?"

Hughie swallowed hard.

Was the Guardian also the kind of superhuman Butcher described?

He didn't want to accept this reality, because this person had saved him and Robin.

Compared to Hughie's hesitation, Butcher was composed.

He clamped the unlit cigar in his mouth and pulled out a lighter to ignite it.

He took a deep drag.

"Hiss!"

"Billy Butcher!" He grinned. "Friends call me Butcher."

"Alright, Billy, you can tell me now: why were you tailing me?"

Butcher's eyes were like a hungry wolf; an ordinary man, yet he treated a superhuman as his prey.

To Lu Heng, Butcher's threat level was practically zero.

Even if he were to develop a super-virus like in the original series, it wouldn't be able to harm a Viltrumite.

"Hughie, long time no see."

Hughie was stunned for a moment.

"You... you remember me?"

"Of course. You're the guy from the electronics store; I even bought a data cable at your shop last time. Besides, I saved you and your girlfriend, didn't I?"

Hughie clearly hadn't expected a superhero to remember an ordinary shop clerk.

Butcher's gaze darted back and forth between the two of them.

"Looks like you two know each other, so that saves me the trouble of an introduction!"

"Billy, my boy." Lu Heng picked up where he had left off. "You've had people tailing me for three days; surely you aren't looking for an autograph."

"I don't want that useless scribble." Butcher spat out his cigarette butt and ground it out with the sole of his shoe. "I want intelligence."

"About what?"

"Vought."

Butcher was asking him for intelligence?

Lu Heng was a bit confused.

Does he even know who I am?

Is he really this brave?

"Be specific."

Butcher took a step forward, closing the distance between himself and Lu Heng to within two meters.

For an ordinary human to dare face a superhuman at such close range—he was certainly bold.

But Butcher didn't care.

"I know what Vought is doing," Butcher said, deliberately lowering his voice. "They aren't cultivating superheroes; they're manufacturing weapons. Compound V—have you heard of it?"

Lu Heng didn't answer.

"It's a serum. Inject it into an infant, and you can create a superhuman."

"Vought has been doing this for decades. Every superhuman in America, including every single member of The Seven, is a product of Compound V."

"You aren't the chosen ones; you're just products on an assembly line."

As Butcher said this, he was likely thinking of how Homelander had treated his wife, his eyes filled with hatred.

Butcher knew about Compound V. Vought's rivals wanted to use this mad dog to drag the entire company down.

The illustrious CIA, for instance.

"So?" Lu Heng asked. "You're telling me this, but what do you want me to do?"

"I want to know which side you're on."

"Which side?"

Butcher held up both hands. "Vought's side, or humanity's side."

Lu Heng laughed.

"Butcher, there's a logical flaw in your question."

"What?"

"You've set superhumans and humans in opposition, as if we can only choose one side."

"Isn't that the case?" Butcher's tone turned sharp.

"You possess power that ordinary people could never have. You can kill anyone at any time without consequence. This imbalance is, in itself, an opposition."

"And yet, you're standing in front of a superhuman who could kill you at any moment."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Afraid?" Butcher grinned, revealing a set of neat, yellowed teeth. "I've been afraid of plenty of things in my life, but dying isn't one of them."

Truly bold!

No wonder he dared to take on Homelander in the original story with just a ragtag team.

Lu Heng suddenly felt that Butcher might be a very useful tool.

A tool to use against Vought!

"You can't comprehend my existence, but I'm more than happy to cause some trouble for Vought." As he spoke, Lu Heng pulled a flash drive from his pocket.

He had originally intended to leak the contents of the drive quietly on his own.

But now, he might as well let the bad boys draw Vought's fire.

"What is this?" Butcher eyed the small object warily.

"Some internal Vought data. It should be enough for you lot to give them a real kick in the ass."

Butcher didn't reach out to take it; he didn't believe things could go this smoothly.

"You had this ready all along. Even without us, you were planning to leak it secretly, weren't you?"

"You're a smart man, Hughie. You know what should be asked and what shouldn't."

Lu Heng didn't offer an explanation; he simply took flight and left.

"He... he actually left!" Hughie felt as if he had just woken from a nightmare, his trousers damp with sweat.

Then, Billy Butcher walked over and picked up the flash drive.

"Tell me, what if there's a tracker inside this..."

Hughie wiped the cold sweat from his crotch, feeling the relief of a survivor. "I don't think the Guardian is interested in you. Before today, he didn't even know who you were."

Butcher nodded. "Boy, you're really breaking daddy's heart! But I can guarantee you, sooner or later, Vought will remember us."

"Then I'd better buy two life insurance policies in advance."

The two of them disappeared into the end of the alley.

Lu Heng stood ten thousand meters in the air, watching the numbers jump on his interface.

[Key Character: Billy Butcher — Vigilance, Probing, Intent to Cooperate]

[Ability Points Gained: +3,476]

[Key Character: Hughie Campbell — Fear, Confusion, Bewilderment]

[Ability Points Gained: +1,102]

Current Ability Points: 86,917 / 100,000

Butcher alone contributed over three thousand.

He truly lived up to the title of a key character.

As for that flash drive...

It did indeed contain Vought's internal files.

But nothing truly core.

It was just a collection of internal memos from the Vought PR Department regarding the handling of supe scandals.

There were also a few suppressed victim testimonies.

Along with surveillance footage of The Deep and reports on A-Train's drug use.

Only high-level insiders knew about these things.

And everyone involved had signed non-disclosure agreements severe enough to bankrupt them.

But then again, Lu Heng didn't need money; he just needed to stir up trouble.

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