On the top floor of Vought Tower.
The elevator doors opened, and an ordinary security guard in uniform stepped out, his name badge crooked at the edge of his pocket and a half-finished cup of coffee in his hand.
At the end of the hall, the secretary looked up at him.
"Hey, didn't your supervisor tell you? You can't just come in here."
The guard smiled at her.
"It's fine. I'm just looking around."
The secretary froze. She was about to call someone to take the guard away when she suddenly forgot what she was doing, her fingers suspended in midair.
The guard walked past her and pushed open the doors to the CEO's office.
Inside, Edgar sat behind a broad mahogany desk.
Several reports lay open in front of him, and red figures flickered across the screen beside him. The assessment of the losses from the fishing incident, the public relations risks facing The Seven, fluctuations in the company's stock price-the situation was going straight, straight, straight downhill.
Hearing the door open, he looked up.
An unfamiliar guard stood in the doorway.
He had neither an appointment nor an announcement.
And no employee would have dared enter his office at this hour, in this manner.
Edgar looked at him without the slightest change in expression.
"Good evening, Mr. Blood Angel."
The guard raised an eyebrow and shut the door behind him.
"You recognized me anyway?" He glanced down at his uniform. "I thought this outfit was pretty generic."
"That man isn't on the security roster for the top floor of Vought Tower."
Edgar closed the file, his voice steady. "Besides, a real company guard wouldn't look at my chair that way."
Chen Mo followed his words and looked at the chair behind Edgar's backside. It was indeed a nice chair.
Solid and steady, with mahogany detailing, it looked expensive and imposing.
"Even your company's chairs have presence." Chen Mo clicked his tongue. "Sit in one long enough and you start getting a boss complex?"
At that, Edgar stood up.
He neither pressed the alarm nor backed away. He simply straightened his suit cuffs, came around the desk, and stood to the side like a secretary.
"Please."
Chen Mo paused.
Edgar raised a hand, inviting him to take the seat at the head of the desk.
The office fell silent for two seconds.
Chen Mo looked at the old man and suddenly laughed.
"Old Ai, you really are interesting."
With that, he walked over, plopped into the CEO's chair, and leaned back.
"I have to say, it really is comfortable."
Edgar stood on the other side of the desk, his hands resting naturally at his sides, as if the office had always been arranged this way.
A monster who could smash the entire Vought Tower to pieces sat in the seat of honor.
Vought's boss stood on the guest's side, playing secretary.
It was quite an absurd sight, but Edgar showed no discomfort whatsoever. He was perfectly composed.
Chen Mo stared at him for a while.
The next second, he quietly released his Emotion Sensing.
Through it, he sensed that the old man wasn't afraid. What he felt more was confidence and excitement. Excitement?
Chen Mo was even more interested now.
"Do you know how close I am to you right now?"
"I do."
"And you still let me sit here?"
Edgar looked at him and said calmly, "If you wanted to kill me, distance wouldn't matter. If you're willing to sit down, there's no need to be afraid, however close you are. We still have room to talk."
The corner of Chen Mo's mouth twitched.
"Are you capitalists all this good at saving face?"
"To be precise, it's judgment."
Edgar picked up two thick files.
"Your coming here today shows you don't reject cooperation in itself. All I need to do is find a way to make it happen."
Chen Mo leaned back in the chair and tapped the armrest lightly.
"So how are you planning to do that?"
"With gifts."
Edgar pushed the first file to the center of the desk.
"This isn't an offer to bring you under our control, nor is it a cooperation agreement. I give you what you need, and you decide whether the gift is worth allowing me, and Vought, to continue to exist."
Chen Mo glanced at the file's cover.
There was no elaborate title, only a name.
Samaritan's Embrace.
Of course he remembered the place. The mess that had come to light through the group in the parking lot was connected to the Compound V black market.
"How thoughtful." Chen Mo smiled. "You even know I'm sentimental about old acquaintances."
"There are twenty registered superhumans, thirty-seven security personnel enhanced with the compound, and two undisclosed underground storage sites."
Edgar stood beside the desk, briefing Chen Mo like a secretary.
"On the surface, they're a church. In reality, they've long been involved in human trafficking and illegal drug trials, and they launder money through donations. Vought has used and enabled them in the past, but they no longer provide any positive value."
Chen Mo looked up at him.
"So you're packaging them up and giving them to me?"
"Yes."
Edgar pushed the second file over.
"The second is a private island. Outsiders call it a resort island, but internally, it's more often called Superhuman Orgy Island."
Chen Mo's brow twitched.
Superhuman Orgy Island? Wasn't that from the comics?
"What's on it?"
"First-, second-, and third-tier heroes from various regions, washed-up idols, underground sponsors, compound buyers, and a batch of bad products the company would rather not keep on record."
Edgar paused.
"If you need it, the company can gather them on the island at a time of your choosing, under the pretext of a charity party or a private retreat."
Chen Mo didn't reach for the file.
He simply sat in the CEO's chair, giving Edgar a somewhat odd look.
This old man seems a little different from how he was in the show.
He's way too accommodating.
"You're not even going to dress this up? Something about purging evil or delivering justice on heaven's behalf?"
Edgar gave a slight nod.
"If you'd like."
Chen Mo fell silent for two seconds, then suddenly laughed out loud.
"Vought's corporate culture really is something," he said. "Your ambush fails, and the next thing you do is put together a buffet menu for me."
"It's the most efficient way to make a correction."
Edgar looked at him. "You need resources to evolve, and Vought needs to dispose of uncontrollable assets."
"You make me sound like your company's new garbage disposal department."
"If you don't like the analogy, we can use another."
Edgar said calmly, "You occupy a higher position on the food chain. We're merely acknowledging that and learning how to rebuild the commercial order around you."
Chen Mo: ...
The way he put it, it was practically like issuing a business license to a monster.
He looked down at the two files.
Samaritan's Embrace.
Superhuman Orgy Island.
One was an old score, the other a new meal.
Edgar didn't rush him.
He stood across the desk, patiently waiting for Chen Mo to judge their value.
His posture made it look less like he was begging a monster for mercy and more like he was presenting a project to the board of directors.
Chen Mo suddenly felt like laughing.
"Aren't you afraid I'll eat my fill and go back on my word?"
"Being afraid serves no purpose."
Edgar answered quickly. "Fear won't change your decision. All I can do is use mutual benefit to increase the chances of you keeping me alive."
"That's pretty blunt."
"Because you don't need to be appeased."
Edgar looked at him, his tone still steady. "You're smarter than Homelander, and you have a clearer idea of what you want. Using applause, flowers, and media mythology to influence you would be highly inefficient."
Hearing that, Chen Mo leaned back in the chair and clicked his tongue softly.
If Homelander were here, he'd probably be seeing red already.
"Then what do you think I want?"
"Safety, resources, and control."
Edgar said, "And a position that won't force you into an open war with the entire world."
The smile on Chen Mo's face faded a little.
Edgar continued, "You can kill many people, but you don't spread disaster pointlessly. You devour your enemies, but you also spare ordinary employees who have no value. You saved a plane, and you didn't turn the survivors of Flight 37 into propaganda tools."
"You've looked into me pretty thoroughly."
"This isn't an investigation," Edgar said. "It's a risk assessment."
Chen Mo looked at him without speaking immediately.
In the office, the red figures on the screen continued to flicker silently.
"So you're trying to feed me until I'm full?"
"Not until you're full."
Edgar corrected him. "No company could ever feed you enough. What I can do is make feeding easier for you, while also causing less unnecessary harm."
Chen Mo's mouth twitched at that.
"The way you put it, you'd think I have to file an expense report every time I eat someone."
"If a procedure can reduce costs, it has value."
"Old Ai, you're a genius."
"Thank you."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I know."
That left Chen Mo at a loss for a moment.
The biggest problem with talking to someone like this was that he didn't play along with jokes.
Or rather, he caught them and then buried them very politely.
Chen Mo looked down at the two files and tapped the armrest, but still didn't open either one.
Edgar noticed.
"You don't need to give me an answer now."
"Oh? That generous?"
"The gifts are already on the table. You can verify them, enjoy them, and then decide whether to accept more next time."
Edgar's tone was flat. "I only need you to understand that making enemies for you isn't all Vought can do. We can also set the table for you."
Chen Mo leaned back in the chair and suddenly smiled.
"The table."
He repeated the words.
Then he slowly sat up straight.
The ordinary guard's face changed slightly under the light. Something seemed to swim beneath his skin before quickly settling down again.
Edgar watched without any change in his eyes.
Chen Mo propped his legs on the edge of the desk, pressing his soles against the Vought CEO's desk.
"Nice gifts."
He pointed at Edgar, his tone casual.
Edgar watched him quietly.
The smile on Chen Mo's face slowly widened.
"But I have a question. If I twist your head off right now, I can still swallow Vought whole."
Chen Mo looked at Edgar, a cold black-and-red light gradually appearing in his eyes.
"Why should I keep an eyesore like you around?"