In the underground garage.
Chen Mo had his hands in his pockets, looking as though he had nothing to do.
The ventilation fans hummed, and the damp air smelled of oil and condensation.
There were footsteps behind him.
They were very light.
But to Chen Mo, they sounded like beating drums.
Less than five meters behind him and to his left, an orange halo was clearly visible.
It was Translucent.
Was this guy following A-Train in the garage instead of peeping into the women's restroom today?
A good-for-nothing who only knew how to hide and peep wouldn't have the guts to provoke him on his own.
Someone had to be pulling his strings.
Homelander?
Or Madelyn?
Whoever it was, Chen Mo first had to find out what they wanted.
Why did they suspect him?
Translucent's carbon metamaterial skin might have been bulletproof, but he was no faster than an ordinary person. Chen Mo would shake him off first.
Chen Mo bent his knees slightly.
His calf muscles bulged beneath his suit, and air gathered around his feet.
"Time for a spin."
The moment he finished speaking.
A blue-and-black afterimage tore through the air.
The violent blast of air set off the alarms on several nearby cars, filling the garage with a cacophony of sirens.
The powerful gust sent Translucent staggering back several steps and blasted dust into his face.
"Cough, cough. Damn it, how am I supposed to follow him?"
A man's curse rang out in the empty garage.
Translucent brushed the invisible dust off himself and came out of his transparent state, his naked body appearing.
He walked up to a red sports car and gave its tire a vicious kick.
"Damn druggie, running around like a lunatic. Why did the captain put me on this bastard?"
Still cursing, Translucent headed for the elevators.
He couldn't catch up to A-Train, so he could only hope the madman came back on his own.
The elevator doors closed, and the floor numbers climbed.
Translucent didn't see an Asian man in a gray janitor's uniform emerge from the shadows in a corner of the garage, pushing a cleaning cart.
Chen Mo pulled his cap low and held a mop in his hand.
He stared coldly at the floor indicator above the elevator.
He hadn't gone far.
The super speed had only been a diversion. He had stopped at the first intersection after leaving the garage.
The Blacklight Virus reshaped the muscles and bones of his body, disguising him as one of Vought Tower's most inconspicuous low-level employees.
Then he doubled back at super speed. The whole thing had taken less than half a minute.
Now the tables had turned, and Chen Mo began following Translucent.
Chen Mo dipped the mop into the bucket and wrung it out, listening to the water splash.
Did he just say captain? So Homelander was behind this.
Apparently, that guy still had doubts about his performance yesterday.
A control freak like Homelander wouldn't allow any variables in the team to slip beyond his control.
Even if all of A-Train's test results came back normal, once Homelander became suspicious, the probing would never end.
Chen Mo pushed the cleaning cart into another elevator for employees.
The Blacklight Virus's emotional perception spread out like radar, locking onto Translucent's orange halo above him.
The seventy-eighth floor.
It was the public office area with the tightest security surveillance.
Chen Mo stepped out of the elevator and pushed the cart between rows of desks with his head down.
Vought's employees were all busy tapping away at their keyboards. None of them gave a janitor a second glance.
His emotional perception told him Translucent was in the storage room at the end of the hallway.
Chen Mo pushed the cart closer.
Faint conversation came from behind the frosted glass door.
Translucent was on the phone.
"Captain, he ran off. He was too fast. I couldn't keep up at all."
"I watched him, and aside from seeming more agitated than before, I didn't notice anything particularly unusual."
"Okay, I'll search his private changing room and see if there's any clue the monster left behind."
Chen Mo took a rag and wiped a mural in the hallway, moving at an unhurried pace.
He was going to the private changing room?
That was a good opportunity.
There were no cameras in the changing rooms. They were the only places where the Seven had any privacy.
As long as Translucent dared to go in, Chen Mo had countless ways to turn him into nourishment for the Blacklight Virus without a sound.
The call ended, and the storage room door made a noise.
The hinges turned, but no one came out.
Translucent had turned transparent again.
Chen Mo turned his head and caught a glimpse of the carpet fibers being pressed down by an invisible weight, leaving a trail of shallow footprints.
With his senses enhanced by the Blacklight Virus, Translucent's heartbeat and breathing sounded as loud as thunder to him.
What a useless piece of trash.
That was Chen Mo's assessment.
He watched the footprints extend across the carpet and turn toward A-Train's changing room.
Chen Mo didn't follow. He turned and walked into an empty break room.
Blacklight churned beneath his skin, swallowing the janitor's uniform as his body grew taller and his muscles swelled.
Within seconds, A-Train was back.
The blue-and-black suit hugged the contours of his muscles, and his goggles gleamed coldly.
Chen Mo rolled his neck, his bones cracking.
"Since you're going to search the changing room, I'll give you a big surprise."
He became an afterimage and reached A-Train's private changing room ahead of Translucent.
The changing room was large, filled with expensive sneakers and limited-edition watches.
The air smelled of expensive cologne mixed with athletic spray.
Chen Mo sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and casually picked up a magazine to read.
Five minutes later.
The changing room's electronic lock beeped.
The door opened a crack, letting in light from the hallway before it was quickly blocked again.
Without looking up, Chen Mo turned a page of the magazine, the paper rustling.
"Haven't you heard you're supposed to knock before coming in, Translucent?"
There was a sharp intake of breath by the door.
Translucent was startled. He hadn't expected A-Train to be in the room.
"Y-you didn't go out for a spin?"
A voice came from the air, tinged with panic.
Chen Mo put down the magazine and raised his head, looking directly at the spot the voice had come from.
"I'm the fastest man around. I can run a lap around New York and get back in the time it takes to have a drink of water."
"But you, sneaking into my changing room like this, what are you trying to do?"
Translucent's breathing quickened.
He took half a step back, trying to put some distance between them.
"I just got the wrong door. There are so many rooms here, it's easy to misread the number."
Chen Mo smiled.
He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"The wrong door? Do you think I'm the kind of idiot who'd swallow a bullshit excuse like that?"
Chen Mo got to his feet and walked toward Translucent, one step at a time.
He walked slowly.
But every step felt as though it were treading on Translucent's nerves.
"You started following me in the underground garage and followed me all the way here. Did you really think I didn't notice?"
Translucent's voice began to tremble.
"A-Train, calm down. We're both members of the Seven. Don't do anything rash."
Chen Mo stopped.
He was less than half a meter from Translucent and could feel the heat coming off his body.
"Members of the Seven? When you were hiding in the dark and watching me like a rat, why didn't you think about the fact that we're on the same team?"
"Tell me, who sent you to follow me?"
A rush of air was his answer.
An invisible fist shot straight toward Chen Mo's face.
The punch was powerful enough to shatter bulletproof glass.
But Chen Mo merely tilted his head, and the fist brushed past his ear.
"Too slow."
Chen Mo reached back and grabbed.
He caught the invisible arm with perfect precision.
His five fingers tightened like a hydraulic press, and the bone made a teeth-grating crunch.
A scream of agony rang out.
Translucent's body was forced out of its transparent state.
His eyes went wide as saucers. He couldn't believe the defense he was so proud of had been breached.
"How can you possibly grab me? That's impossible."
Chen Mo leaned close to his face, a dark red light flickering in his eyes.
"Nothing's impossible. Did you think you were safe hiding in a turtle shell?"
Chen Mo clenched his other hand, hardened it, and smashed it into Translucent's abdomen.
A dull impact echoed through the changing room. Translucent doubled over like a shrimp, vomiting sour fluid in great mouthfuls.
That was with Chen Mo holding back. Otherwise, the blow could have reduced his internal organs to pulp.
"Talk. Who sent you to follow me?"
Translucent was drenched in cold sweat from the pain. No matter how hard his carbon skin was, it couldn't withstand that kind of penetrating shock.
"The captain thought your performance last night was strange. The monster didn't eat you, and you still managed to run back. He thinks you're hiding information."
"He told me to watch you and see if you'd hidden that missing batch of Compound V."
Chen Mo let go, allowing him to collapse to the floor like a sack of mud.
Homelander really was suspicious.
But that very suspicion had become something Chen Mo could use to his advantage.
Translucent clutched his stomach and looked up at Chen Mo, his eyes full of fear.
"I've told you everything. You can't kill me. The captain knows I came to see you. If I die, you'll be the first person he comes after."
Chen Mo looked down at him, the corners of his mouth curving.
"Who said I was going to kill you?"
He crouched and patted Translucent's face, which was contorted with pain.
"Not only are you not going to die, you're going back to report to Homelander. Tell him you checked and found nothing unusual about A-Train. He was just scared out of his wits by the monster."
Translucent froze, then nodded repeatedly, his head bobbing like a pestle.
"Okay, I'll report to him right now. I promise I won't say anything else."
Chen Mo watched him scramble out of the changing room.
This good-for-nothing still had value as a lookout and a mouthpiece, so there was no hurry to eat him.
Sending him back with false information to placate Homelander would buy Chen Mo more time to develop.
As for that skin of his.
He'd leave it with him for now and take it whenever he needed it.
Chen Mo walked over to the mirror and straightened the collar of his suit, looking at A-Train's face in the glass.
"A-Train's credibility isn't great either. Should I turn into Madelyn? Forget it. I don't want Homelander undressing me with his eyes."