Did She or Didn't She?

She was a young female reporter wearing thick-framed glasses.

"Homelander, please answer one last question."

She took out her phone, opened a video, and played it in front of everyone.

"What do you think of this video?"

A surveillance recording played on the phone screen.

The footage was not particularly clear, but its contents were explosive.

It was internal surveillance footage from Vought Tower. In The Seven's sacred conference room, The Deep was getting handsy with Starlight.

Starlight looked terrified, but under pressure from a veteran member's lecherous intimidation, she had no choice but to comply with his demands.

As for what The Deep intended to do, it was obvious without saying.

The moment the video began playing, the entire venue fell silent.

Holy shit!

How could The Deep dare?

She was America's most beloved sweetheart superhero!

Her popularity had been unrivaled lately.

Yet after joining The Seven for such a short time, she had already suffered such severe bullying?

This was no longer simple sexual harassment!

The reporter deliberately did not play the part where Guardian saved Starlight.

She intentionally left it blank, giving the other reporters plenty of room for imagination.

With just this footage, those unscrupulous reporters could come up with countless clickbait headlines.

For example: <Starlight Cried! America's Sweetheart Suffered Sexual # Just 72 Hours After Joining the Team—The Culprit Was Him?>

<She's Only Nineteen! What Did America's Most Popular Heroine Experience at Vought Tower?>

<Internal Housecleaning or Emergency Damage Control? All of America Understood Homelander's Press Conference>

Lu Heng watched the press conference live on his new phone.

The moment the reporter brought out that video, he knew Billy was making his move.

But that bastard was way too underhanded.

He had deliberately left out the later footage. Otherwise, the scene of Lu Heng saving America's sweetheart would have become a symbol of justice, harvesting a massive wave of public emotion.

After the brief silence, the reporters at Vought Tower exploded.

Everyone surged forward, their microphones practically jabbing into Homelander's throat.

The cameras began filming him from every possible angle. As long as Homelander showed the slightest microexpression, they could make a huge story out of the photos.

"Is this video real?"

"Did The Deep assault Starlight?"

"Did Vought know? Why didn't it report this to the police?"

"Homelander! You just said The Deep was leaving because he was unfit for duty, but now it seems the real reason was sexual assault! Are you covering for Vought?"

"What about A-Train? Did he do it too?"

"Is this press conference internal housecleaning, or emergency damage control for a PR crisis?"

Homelander stood on the stage, his smile frozen.

His brain raced as he tried to understand what had just happened.

He vaguely knew that The Deep had assaulted Starlight and been stopped by Guardian.

After The Deep was beaten up, he had come to Homelander to complain, and Homelander had flown over to demand an explanation.

Of course, he had not been standing up for his lackey.

He had wanted to condemn Guardian for interfering in The Seven's internal personnel matters.

But he truly had not known there was internal footage of The Deep assaulting Starlight.

Faced with the reporters' questions, Homelander could not say a word.

But it was easy to imagine that after this press conference, his personal approval rating would not rise. It would drop instead.

Homelander's temples throbbed.

Every sound from below poured into his ears, and the reporters' interrogating faces looked utterly repulsive!

A scorching heat surged up in an instant.

He wanted to burn these pieces of trash to ash.

All they had to do was report his glorious image. Why did they have to cause so much trouble?

Fuck reporters! Fuck the news media! Fuck The Deep!

Homelander's last shred of reason suppressed his impulse.

He had at least some common sense. If he acted here, he would become a public enemy.

"Let me make this clear first..." Homelander kept himself as calm as possible, refusing to let the media hear the tremor in his voice.

"I knew nothing about this video, nor did I know anything about The Deep's actions. But if this is true, it only further proves that what I did today was correct!"

"The reason I am cleaning house is precisely because I will not allow scum like this to exist in The Seven."

"The Deep's actions shock and anger me. I will demand that Vought conduct a thorough investigation and cooperate with the relevant authorities in handling this according to the law."

After years of speaking in PR platitudes, Homelander had developed decent improvisational skills.

But there was no way the reporters would let him brush it aside.

They seized upon the key issues and bombarded him with questions, hoping to provoke Homelander into blurting out the truth in a fit of emotion.

Did the video really have nothing to do with this press conference?

Anyone with a brain would assume Homelander had known from the start, which was why he had been so eager to kick The Deep out.

He wanted to distance himself before the scandal came to light.

If that was true, then Homelander was no saint either!

What had begun as internal housecleaning had turned into on-the-spot crisis PR.

Even Madelyn had not expected something like this to happen.

She turned to look at the reporter, only to discover that she had already vanished.

Ashley Barrett was gasping for breath backstage, nearly fainting. She frantically sent Madelyn messages, but Madelyn had no time to look at her phone.

The press conference ended hastily amid chaos.

Security personnel went to verify the press list for the event, while Homelander headed backstage with a blank expression the entire way.

His presence was sinister to the extreme.

Lu Heng had returned to Vought early, and his super-hearing caught Homelander's heartbeat.

He was on the verge of fury.

By the time Lu Heng returned to his office, Homelander was sitting in his chair.

His eyes stared straight at him.

Everyone else was gathered on the sofa except for A-Train and The Deep.

Even Ashley Barrett and Madelyn were there.

"Ah, Guardian is back!"

Homelander said with a cold sneer.

"The press conference didn't go too well, did it?" Lu Heng poured himself a glass of whiskey, completely ignoring the suffocating atmosphere in the room.

Homelander rose to his feet and walked over to the bay window, his fists already clenched.

"Tell me what happened with that video. Do not lie. I can hear your heartbeats!"

The moment he said that, everyone's expressions changed.

Madelyn's heartbeat sped up.

She had personally buried that video. Only a few people in all of Vought knew about it.

Guardian, Ashley Barrett, and herself.

Even Edgar did not know. He could not be bothered to handle such a trivial matter.

Yet that trivial matter had ruined today's press conference.

"You suspect there's a spy inside Vought?" Lu Heng directly exposed Homelander's thoughts.

Maeve was the first to state her position.

"Homelander, you know me. Even though we broke up, I would never use something like this to frame you."

Homelander glanced at her and nodded.

Maeve had no reason to lie.

What about Black Noir?

Black Noir shook his head at Homelander.

[You know me. I'm mute.]

"Black Noir cannot betray me." Homelander nodded.

"Then what about Starlight?" She was the one he suspected most.

Starlight had a direct conflict with The Deep. She might not frame Homelander, but she definitely had a motive to ruin The Deep.

"It wasn't me!" Annie shook her head like a rattle. "Homelander, you know me. If I wanted revenge on The Deep, I would have posted the full video. As it is, that video has hurt me a second time."

She showed Homelander her phone.

It was open to her personal page.

The comments below were all asking whether Starlight had actually given it to The Deep.

She really had not!

Even though The Deep had insisted, she had not!