The water was up to his ankles, and the rain washed away the bloody flesh on the ground.
John knelt in the muddy water and carefully arranged the collar of Lynn's windbreaker with both hands.
He stretched out his thumb and wiped away the muddy water splashed on Lynn's cheek little by little.
His movements were very light, as light as handling a piece of porcelain that would break at the touch of a touch.
After doing all this, John slowly stood up.
He turned around and looked at the people behind him.
The madness, distortion, and anger that made one's scalp numb all disappeared from his face.
At this moment, John is as calm as a glass of boiled water without any impurities.
His chest rose and fell evenly, not a single tear could be seen in Azure's eyes, not even any fluctuations in emotion could be found.
But it was this ultimate calmness that instantly made the hearts of everyone present shrink into a ball.
We are not afraid of a monster going hysterically crazy, but we are afraid that a god with the power to destroy the world will become as quiet as a stone without temperature after losing the only bottom line.
Black Noir put away his swords and stepped forward through the puddles.
This scavenger, who had always been taciturn and murderous without blinking an eye, knelt down on one knee in front of Lynn's body.
John bent down, lifted Lynn firmly and put it into Black Noir's arms.
"Take him home."
John looked at Black Noir, his voice was smooth and without any ripples, "Walk slowly, don't bump him."
Black Noir nodded heavily through the black mask.
He held Lynn in his arms like he was holding the heaviest faith in the world, stood up and retreated to Benjamin and the children.
"John!"
Reggie took a step forward with red eyes, his green eyes filled with bloodshot eyes.
He clenched his fists tightly and dug his nails into his flesh, "Where are you going? No matter what you want to do or who you want to kill, we will follow you!"
"Yes! Let's go together!"
Raphael The iron ruler in his hand was still bleeding. He gritted his teeth and roared like a beast in his throat, "Kill these bastards completely!"
Annie and Tommy didn't speak, but their actions of taking a step forward showed everyone's attitude.
Although they are children, they are the most ferocious monsters in Long Island Estate.
Lynn is gone, and the home in their hearts has collapsed in half. At this time, no one wants to stay and watch.
John looked at these companions covered in blood.
He was not moved or angry, he just shook his head slightly.
"Please return Long Island."
John's tone was still calm, just like Lynn, "That's Lynn's house. The carpets haven't been washed yet, and the firewood in the fireplace has almost burned out. You have to go back and guard that home."
"But..."
Reggie still wants to argue.
A rough big hand pressed on Reggie's shoulder, interrupting his words.
Benjamin walked forward and looked at the blond boy in front of him with a complicated expression with his weathered eyes.
Physiologically speaking, he is the father of John.
But he never fulfilled his responsibility for a day.
And now, he watched this boy transform overnight from a child who was attached to his father to a man who had lost Shackles.
Benjamin did not preach any great truths, nor did he try to dissuade.
He just raised his thick arm and patted John hard on the shoulder twice.
"Whatever you want to do, just do it boldly, man."
Benjamin looked into John's eyes and said in a rough and low voice, "No matter how big a trap you make, remember, we will always stand behind you."
John did not avoid the sight of Benjamin.
He looked at the veteran, his eyes moved slightly, and then he nodded gently.
No goodbyes, no unnecessary nonsense.
John's feet lifted off the ground, and his body slowly rose into the air in the heavy rain.
The next second, a violent sonic boom cloud exploded over Pentagon.
The golden afterimage tore through the clouds and headed straight in the direction of New York.
A private villa in the suburbs of New York, Westchester County.
The wind and rain outside were still fierce, but in the spacious underground conference room of the villa, there was a scene of distress.
Seven or eight middle-aged men in suits and ties were gathered around a long table. The table was filled with more than a dozen laptops running at high speed. The paper shredder next to it was making a harsh roar, devouring piles of paper documents.
They are the only remaining senior management directors of Vought International.
When Stan Edgar cut off all communications and completely disappeared from everyone's sight, this group of capitalists with a sense of smell more sensitive than dogs had already smelled the putrid smell of the building that was about to collapse.
And when the news of Madelyn's death reached their ears through internal channels, this uneasiness completely turned into actual panic.
Even the first deputy next to the president has been cleared, Vought International is obviously finished.
No one in this group of executives chose to stay in Manhattan's Vought Tower to wait for death. They immediately took away all the keys and hard drives they could get, ran away collectively, gathered in this secluded private villa, prepared to divide the last bit of Vought International's liquidity, and then flew overnight to overseas island countries that had no extradition clauses.
"Why haven't the transfer channels for overseas accounts been opened yet? Are the people at the Legal Department just doing it for a living?"
A finance director with Mediterranean hair banged the table and yelled.
"Edgar has locked the highest authority! We can only use the backup backdoor to wash into Cayman Islands's account little by little!"
Another supervisor was sweating profusely while typing on the keyboard.
Just when this group of people were fighting for the final benefit.
Boom!
Basement The explosion-proof safety door, which weighed half a ton and was made of solid steel plates, dented inward without warning, and was then blown away along with the wall tiles by a terrifying brute force.
The strong wind mixed with the smell of rain and earth in the corridor instantly filled the entire room.
Everyone stopped what they were doing in horror, and the roar of the shredder was particularly harsh at this moment.
The dust disperses.
The boy with blond hair, wearing a hoodie soaked by the rain, stepped on the remains of the blast door and walked in quietly.
He put his hands in his pockets, glanced at the bright computer screens on the table, and finally walked slowly to the head of the long table.
He pulled out the swivel chair and sat down in it.
"Ancestor...Homelander..."
The financial director trembled with his lips, his legs softened, and he fell directly against the edge of the desk.
John ignored him.
He leaned back casually on his chair and looked at the Vought International decision-makers who were once aloof.
"From now on."
John's voice was not loud, but it was clearly audible in the closed Basement, "All assets, overseas accounts, laboratories and channels under the name of Vought."
He leaned forward slightly.
"I'll take over."
This light sentence was like a depth bomb that exploded in the crowd.
After a brief period of fear, arrogance and greed made the most senior executive director grit his teeth and stand up.
"Take over? Why do you take over?"
The executive director pointed at John with a stern look, his voice trembling but he tried to regain his confidence.
"You are just an asset on the company's books! A product grown in a laboratory! Now that Edgar is dead, Vought's core password and financial network are all in our hands. Without us knocking on the keyboard, you won't even get a dime..."
Zhi--!
He didn't even have time to finish his words.
Two dazzling red lasers shot out from John's eye sockets without any warning.
Just a moment Cleansweep.
The executive director's head was like a ignited watermelon, vaporizing and exploding directly on his neck.
The charred headless corpse shook twice and hit the laptop computers that were transferring money. Blood and brains splashed on the faces of several supervisors nearby.
The pungent smell of burnt meat instantly filled the entire room.
The screams were stuck in everyone's throats.
Those executives who had just tried to use passwords and money as bargaining chips were now so frightened that they peed their pants and knelt on the carpet with weak legs.
John slowly looked away, and the red light in his eyes gradually extinguished.
He pulled a piece of blank printing paper off the table, wiped a few drops of blood on the back of his hand, and then threw the ball of paper on the headless body.
"I say it again. Anyone who disobeys will die."
John leaned back in his chair and looked at those people who were shaking like chaff, his tone still calm.
"Now, who has any objections?"