Clashing

It was the first time anyone had dared speak to him like that.

So much so that Homelander did not immediately know how to respond.

The neon lights shone on his handsome face, lending it a faint air of absurdity.

All the onlookers holding up their phones were stunned, too.

Someone dared talk to Homelander like that? And in front of so many people?

What was more, many of them were livestreaming, with the draw of a superhero attracting millions of simultaneous viewers.

A second earlier, comments in the mobile livestreams had been scrolling so fast they blurred. Now they came to an eerie halt.

Then they exploded.

[?????]

[Holy shit hahahahahaha]

[Is he insane??]

[Homelander's face just cracked!]

[He said Homelander looked like a femboy hahahahahaha!!]

[Who's this kinda handsome guy who dares insult Homelander? I'm going to dox him.]

Homelander recovered from his bewilderment, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

Just once.

But countless high-definition cameras still caught it. There was no doubt that his loss of composure would make tonight's headlines.

Then a surge of fury instantly rose within him. No one had ever dared humiliate him like this.

Never.

Especially not in public!!!

The scene was frighteningly quiet. No one dared speak, because this was not a livestream chat. Homelander was right in front of them.

Almost instinctively, Homelander activated his Super Hearing. All manner of sounds flooded in at once.

Clear breaths, the precise workings inside phones, and the changes in the surrounding crowd's heartbeats.

Some were nervous, some were excited, and some were desperately holding back laughter. In particular, the curly-haired young man in the back had an absurdly fast heartbeat.

Homelander could even hear the muffled breaths as the young man's chest vibrated. He could tell the man really wanted to laugh.

But a moment later, Professional-Level Facial Expression Management took over his face again.

"Haha." Homelander laughed. "You're very funny. Just as the rumors say, though, you're not very good with words."

His expression was natural, as though he really were a junior responding to an old veteran's teasing.

But Soldier Boy clearly saw that the depths of Homelander's blue eyes were beginning to glow red.

This son of a bitch wanted to fire his heat vision. He just still had reservations.

After all, there were so many people here livestreaming, and he couldn't be certain of my identity.

In Homelander's worldview, Soldier Boy had long since become a name that had perished with a bygone era.

Homelander slowly walked forward, his cape swaying slightly in the night breeze. The crowd parted on its own. No one dared stand in his way.

He stopped only when he reached Soldier Boy. Barely half a meter separated them.

One old, one new.

The strongest superheroes of two eras.

Homelander looked at the face before him. It was just as handsome as the photographs in the files, and even more imposing in person.

Most striking was his bearing, a blend of gunsmoke, gunpowder, fearlessness, contempt for life, and all manner of complex qualities.

Almost everyone grew instinctively nervous and obsequious when standing before Homelander.

But Soldier Boy did not. He did not even show the slightest emotional fluctuation. At that moment, Homelander distinctly felt the difference between himself and the man before him.

One was a commercially packaged idol. The other was a true superhero.

"You're fucking staring at me like a fag. Looks like you want to fuck me," Soldier Boy suddenly said, taking half a step back in disgust.

Homelander's brow furrowed deeply, but he said nothing. The man's repeated provocations had nearly pushed him to the brink of losing control, and a dangerous aura spread.

Soldier Boy continued as though he had noticed nothing. "I can tell. The way you are, you were definitely raised by a bunch of pussies."

A vehicle's engine sounded. Vought International's people had arrived.

Ashley opened the car door and had just rushed out when she heard those words. Her vision went dark.

It was over.

Completely over.

New York's streets would probably soon become a battlefield. If the pinnacles of two eras fought, the ordinary people caught in the crossfire would be the first to die. Vought International would suffer major losses when that happened.

"Soldier Boy is dead." Homelander still wore his smile, but the look in his eyes had begun to change.

"I think I should test whether you're genuine."

The onlookers erupted.

"What?! He's Soldier Boy?"

"Motherfucker, no wonder he looked so familiar."

"Are you kidding me?"

"I remember now. Someone got footage of Soldier Boy this afternoon. I didn't think it was real."

Soldier Boy.

The pinnacle of the previous era, the origin of superheroes, the hero who had died for his country in the Patriot War!

The radiance of his honors was blinding, but why was he standing here alive?

"You nearly slaughtered that curly-haired kid in the back who wanted to laugh, didn't you?" Soldier Boy exhaled a mouthful of smoke.

The curly-haired young man froze when he was singled out. He opened his mouth to say something, but his throat seemed blocked, and no sound came out.

Homelander's breathing grew noticeably heavier.

"Everyone, back away now."

He deliberately drew out his words, no longer able to suppress his fury. He could tolerate Soldier Boy's abuse, but he could not tolerate someone trying to destroy his heroic image.

How could a hero possibly want to kill an ordinary person?

Now even an idiot could sense something was wrong. The crowd scattered with a roar, fleeing for their lives.

After all, the outer edges of Homelander's irises had already turned red, spilling a scarlet light so bright it hurt to look at.

Blazing red light struck Soldier Boy with unstoppable force amid a humming sound.

Heat sufficient to melt steel instantly burned through Soldier Boy's clothes. The lasers carried an impact, forcing him back two meters despite himself.

Homelander twitched his nose and ended his initial probe. The red light in his eyes slowly faded.

"Fuck," Soldier Boy cursed under his breath, gaining an initial understanding of his own defenses.

Strong. So damn strong!

Taking a laser head-on only hurt a little and reddened his skin. And to think defenses like these were only rated level seven.

How strong would the levels above that be?

Meanwhile, Homelander was shaken, staring at what stood before him in disbelief.

He had just used his heat vision at seventy percent power. That was a cutting beam thousands of degrees hot!

Any member of the Seven hit by that would have been sent straight to "a better place."

"You're real." Homelander had no attention to spare for controlling his expression. "You've got to be kidding me."

Both news reports and Vought International's classified files said Soldier Boy was dead.

As a perfect match for Compound V, Homelander had a more advanced nervous system than ordinary people. His thoughts moved quickly, and he considered many things in an instant.

Vought International had fabricated an enormous lie, and even he had been kept in the dark.

He had been deceived.

Homelander had always thought that he and Soldier Boy were the same kind, Vought's finest products across different eras.

What did it mean to keep the modern product from learning the true fate of the previous generation's product?

And had Edgar and Madelyn known this all along?