Nick Fury sent a message: "Hill, add Homelander to Project Insight. I want to know what brand of toothpaste this Anthony Starr uses to brush his teeth."
After leaving, Homelander did not head straight to his apartment.
He circled above the city.
He could hear his name everywhere.
The giant screens in Times Square repeatedly showed footage of him lifting the nuclear missile, charging into the portal, and finally saving those hundreds of children.
"...Tonight, we witnessed a miracle! A mysterious hero calling himself 'Homelander' saved Manhattan!"
"...Sources say that 'Homelander's' true identity may be Anthony Starr, a Columbia University student who disappeared in a shipwreck a year ago?!"
"...Though the Avengers are powerful, Homelander was the true MVP tonight! He turned the tide all by himself!"
"...Oh my god, he's so handsome! I want to have his babies!!"
"Ding! Popularity Points gained: +120!"
"Ding! Popularity Points gained: +88!"
"Ding! Popularity Points gained: +205!"
Though the system notifications were no longer surging as explosively as before, they still continued to chime steadily and endlessly.
He landed at an intersection, and the crowd immediately swarmed around him, calling out his name.
Smiling, he shook their hands, embraced the crying civilians, and kissed the children on their foreheads.
"Don't be afraid. It's all over."
"With me here, New York is safe."
He enjoyed it all, every adoring gaze.
At that moment, the news was playing on the giant screen in Times Square.
"...We interrupt our broadcast with a discovery made by our reporter amid the battlefield ruins..."
A reporter stood in front of a half-collapsed luxury apartment building.
"This was where the fighting was most intense. A nine-year-old girl, Kate, was trapped here. Her father... tragically died."
The camera shifted to the little girl.
She was frail, wrapped in a blanket, her face covered in dust. Yet in those large eyes flickered an unusual light.
The reporter held the microphone out to her. "Child, were you scared at the time?"
Little Kate nodded, then shook her head.
"I... I thought I was going to die. An alien... it wanted to kill me..."
"What happened?"
Kate's eyes lit up. "It... it was Homelander! He... he flew down from the sky and used... light from his eyes! One zzzt! That bad guy was cut in half!"
"He saved you?"
"Mhm!" Kate nodded vigorously. "He... he was so tall. He smiled at me, then... then flew away! To save more people!"
In the footage, Kate clutched a half-burned... Superman comic tightly against her chest.
"He... is a real hero."
Wu Yanzu did not hear this small interlude.
Only after enjoying a full hour of cheers did he finally shake off the enthusiastic crowd and fly toward the apartment address S.H.I.E.L.D. had given him.
The apartment was near Columbia University.
He landed on the fire escape and swept the place with X-Ray Vision.
"Empty. Covered in dust."
He pushed the door open.
A long-sealed smell washed over him.
This was the home of "Anthony Starr."
A guitar, a basketball, scattered textbooks, and... a photograph.
In the photograph, "Anthony Starr" had his arms around his parents, smiling without a care in the world.
"Anthony... Anthony..." Wu Yanzu picked up the frame and looked at the identical face in the mirror.
"Your life really was... pathetic."
He casually tossed the photo frame aside.
"But it's fine..."
He walked to the window, pulled back the curtains, and looked down over the city he had just saved.
"Your life is mine now."
The next month was the most comfortable period of Wu Yanzu's life.
In his previous life, even as a Best Actor, he had fought desperately and schemed against others, only to remain a plaything of capital.
But now, he was capital itself.
Starr Group was an old New York conglomerate involved in real estate, energy, and biotechnology.
Anthony's parents, Edward and Martha, had both died in a plane crash three years ago, leaving their vast estate, along with a trust fund, to their only son.
Now, this "resurrected" heir had returned as the hero Homelander. The drama of it was enough to make it into textbooks.
Manhattan's Upper East Side, the Starr family's duplex penthouse.
It occupied three entire floors, complete with a helipad and an outdoor swimming pool.
Wu Yanzu stood before the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at Central Park bathed in the morning light. He wore only an expensive silk robe and held a glass of priceless Romanée-Conti.
"This is what the fucking good life looks like," he murmured.
A few days earlier, Starr Group's legal team and the trust fund's executors had lined up to meet him.
"Mr. Anthony... these are the documents for your inheritance after taxes. Since your identity was previously declared deceased, you will need to sign here again..."
Scratch, scratch, scratch—his body's instinctive, natural handwriting.
From that day onward, Wu Yanzu formally took control of everything this body could inherit—tens of billions of dollars in personal assets and absolute controlling interest in a conglomerate.
"System, I feel... fantastic right now." He flashed a brilliant smile at his reflection in the floor-to-ceiling window.
Current Popularity Points: 7,982,301 Global Popularity Rank: Rising Fame Ability Enhancements: Steel Body (Planetary Level), Heat Vision (4,000°C), Super Speed (Mach 15)...
"Not enough." Wu Yanzu narrowed his eyes.
The benefits from the Battle of New York were nearly exhausted.
The growth of his Popularity Points had changed from an "explosion" into a "trickle."
As a Best Actor in his previous life, he understood hype all too well.
Without a steady stream of work and exposure, audiences would quickly forget about you. Popularity was the sort of thing where standing still meant falling behind.
"Looks like it's time to make some appearances."
He set down his coffee cup.
The next second, the red-and-blue uniform with its stars-and-stripes cape had already covered his body.
Over the next half month, New York City residents truly had their eyes opened.
What the fuck was a "sense of security"?
This was a sense of security!
"Look! It's Homelander!"
"Oh my god, he's here again!"
Midtown Manhattan.
An out-of-control bus was screeching toward the sidewalk, its driver clearly unconscious.
Pedestrians scattered in terror.
At that critical moment, a red-and-blue figure appeared in front of the bus as though he had teleported.
There was no flashy technique.
Wu Yanzu simply stood there and held out one hand.
Boom—!!!