First Meeting

"Lin Mo also happened to be able to meet that emotional need. Whether it works or not, why not try it with Lin Mo, who's already close to us?"

"At worst, we can treat Lin Mo better afterward and let him go aboveground more often." Vogelbaum spoke last, making the decision final.

"But..." Barbara parted her lips slightly, then chose to remain silent. She stood and left the lab.

"I hope I haven't made the wrong choice. Otherwise, Joanna might..." Vogelbaum watched Barbara leave and muttered to himself.

The meeting experiment was scheduled for two days later.

The researchers did not let the two children meet immediately. Before the experiment officially began, they subjected Lin Mo to several additional examinations.

Physical endurance, bone strength, and most importantly, an emotional assessment and psychological conditioning.

Those measures made Lin Mo realize at once that the Vought researchers did not simply want him to meet Homelander. They probably hoped to use him to control and guide Homelander indirectly.

Sure enough, they had even brought in a psychologist.

Lin Mo watched the psychological researcher in front of him, who kept drilling the idea of American supremacy into him, and put on a practiced smile. Unfortunately for them, he had awakened his Super Brain a year ago. It was still in its early stages, but it was more than enough to fool this researcher.

Before this, the researchers had never planned to brainwash him. They had largely left him alone.

Now they were even asking whether he was afraid of the blond girl.

Lin Mo showed the hesitation expected of a three-year-old. In short, he played the innocent child.

He did not immediately say he was unafraid. That would have made him seem too mature. Instead, he looked down and fiddled with the toy car in his hands for a while before asking softly:

"Will she hit me?"

The psychological researcher questioning him said reassuringly:

"She might just have trouble controlling her strength."

"Will it hurt?"

"It might."

Lin Mo made a show of touching his arm.

The researcher by the door wrote a line on the record sheet.

[SOL-0 understands the potential risks but shows no strong resistance.]

Then she said to Lin Mo:

"If you can, you should tell her we're her family..."

Lin Mo found that rather ironic, but he obediently agreed on the surface.

Watching the pen move steadily across the record sheet, Lin Mo felt a faint stir of unease.

Vought wanted him to act brave, but not so brave that he no longer seemed like a child. They wanted him willing to approach HL-01.

They also needed to confirm that this willingness came from the company's guidance, not from an independent mind of his own. Here, even a single word or expression would be picked apart and analyzed.

When the day of their first meeting arrived, Lin Mo was taken into a reinforced room.

The room was large. A soft, colorful carpet covered the floor, while children's tables and chairs, picture-book shelves, and blocks of different shapes lined the walls.

On the surface, it was just an ordinary Game Room.

The reality was entirely different.

Every piece of furniture was made from high-strength composite materials. Metal frames were embedded inside the tables and chairs, and the picture-book pages had been specially treated to resist tearing. Lin Mo glanced over them. They were mostly albums about Vought's heroes. Very American.

Beneath the carpet lay a cushioning layer designed to absorb impacts. Lin Mo could even hear the low hum of equipment running inside the walls.

Anesthetic gas was connected, and sonic weapons were on standby.

At least six or seven people stood behind the Observation Window.

Most were researchers. Security personnel stood little chance against Homelander, even as a child, so there were fewer guards present.

Vogelbaum and two representatives from Vought management were there as well. All this elaborate preparation was just to let two three-year-olds stay in the same room.

Lin Mo was seated in the center of the Game Room. As soon as he entered, he acted as though the toys had caught his attention.

A staff member placed several boxes of blocks in front of him.

"You can play for a while."

Lin Mo did not refuse. He was a child, after all. He would have preferred to play online games, but that was out of the question. Mobile phones had only just come out. He picked a few blocks from a box and slowly built a crooked little house.

Just as he usually did in his room, he placed a red block on top.

Then he looked up at the closed metal door on the far side of the room. He could hear breathing beyond it. As expected, Homelander was there.

He looked away and went back to fiddling with the blocks.

Behind the Observation Window, Vogelbaum confirmed that all the equipment was ready.

"Open HL-01's isolation door."

Barbara hesitated before asking:

"Aren't we sending a caregiver in with her?"

"There's no need."

Vogelbaum watched the monitor.

"A caregiver in the room would only add another source of stimulation."

To put it more bluntly, no one was willing to bring her in personally.

The staff assigned to HL-01 had been replaced several times over the past year. They could hardly be called caregivers: Vought had ordered that Homelander have no contact with anyone else. Even so, staff still had to collect data and deliver nutrients.

Some had been scratched by her. Others had suffered broken bones after she pushed them over. One staff member had tried to take her blue blanket by force, and she had flung him against the wall. He was still undergoing rehabilitation.

She had not meant to kill anyone. But to a superhuman child who did not understand her own strength, ordinary human bodies were far too fragile.

Children were often careless with their strength, and she had never had anyone to teach her.

The metal door clicked softly, and the isolation passage slowly opened.

Lin Mo did not turn around right away. He kept playing with the blocks in front of him.

There were no footsteps in the passage. If his Super Hearing had not been close to awakening, he might not have heard her coming at all.

The girl stepped onto the floor barefoot, moving lightly.

She stopped behind the door for a moment, seemingly observing the room.

Only then did Lin Mo look up. His eyes widened as he studied the wildcard in this world.

After a moment, he reached a verdict in his mind: a perfect little porcelain doll. Or perhaps a Western doll was a better comparison.

The blond girl stood at the entrance. She still wore the white hospital gown, but she was not holding her blue blanket.

Clearly, Vought did not want a familiar object affecting the experiment's results.

Without her blanket, she kept both hands clenched around the hem of her gown. Her whole body was visibly on guard.

She did not cry or make a fuss. She probably thought she was being taken to another experiment. In the past, whenever they took away her blanket, they made her endure painful procedures.

She did not ask where she was. Nor was she drawn to the toys scattered around the room like an ordinary child would be. She had never played with anything like them.

She glanced first at the Observation Window. Then her gaze settled on Lin Mo.

Everyone in the Observation Room tensed.

Someone immediately called out, "HL-01's heart rate is rising."

"Keep the sedation system on standby."

"Don't activate the sonic weapon early."

Vogelbaum stared at the screen and swallowed.

"Let's observe what she chooses to do."

The blond girl stood in the doorway, watching Lin Mo for a long time.

Lin Mo did not approach her either. He still could not tell what she saw him as.

A stranger, a new caregiver, or perhaps a toy sent in to test her.

Any sudden movement might seem like a threat to her.

The two watched each other across half the room.

In the end, the blond girl moved first.

She did not hide in a corner, head for the shelves full of toys, or attack the equipment in the room.

She walked straight toward Lin Mo. Her bare feet crossed the soft carpet almost soundlessly.

She was not moving fast, but she still made the people in the Observation Room nervous.

A researcher in the Observation Room quickly made notes.

"HL-01 approached voluntarily."

"No signs of rejection."

"Gaze remained fixed on SOL-0."

The girl stopped in front of Lin Mo and looked down at the block house he had built.

More precisely, she was looking at the red block on top.

Lin Mo was silent for a moment. Then he reached out, took the red block off the house, and spoke to her for the first time.

"Want it?"

At that, the girl raised her eyes to his face but did not answer.

Lin Mo held the block out to her. She still did not take it.