"Human trafficking?" Starlight immediately perked up.
She was currently overflowing with a sense of justice, so naturally, she couldn't ignore something like this.
But Black Noir looked at Fang Yuan with suspicion.
Human trafficking... was there any?
Black Noir had been present when Fang Yuan reviewed the surveillance, but he hadn't noticed any signs of human trafficking.
However, Black Noir's attention had been focused on Fang Yuan at the time, and since Fang Yuan had reviewed a massive amount of surveillance footage, Black Noir couldn't be sure if Fang Yuan was lying.
Still, he waved his hand at the two of them.
Vought Corporation's Superheroes strictly avoided unauthorized actions; no one cared if they went out and indulged, but if they took it upon themselves to execute a Superhero mission, it could easily cause a public relations crisis.
Like what Starlight had just experienced.
Thinking of this, Starlight also hesitated.
"Should we... call the Police?" she asked.
"What good are the Police in this country?" Fang Yuan shook his head and offered a compromise. "We can go investigate the area first, and then decide whether to tell the Police, or if Vought Corporation gets another Superhero mission?"
Starlight nodded; she was already inclined to go.
Black Noir naturally didn't want any extra trouble, but since it was Fang Yuan and Starlight two-to-one, he couldn't refuse.
After all, he couldn't speak, and by the time he pulled out his notebook to write, Fang Yuan had already set off with Starlight.
To monitor Fang Yuan and prevent the two of them from causing any major incident, Black Noir quickly followed.
The three of them traveled all the way to the vicinity of Chinatown.
Pointing at a nail salon run by Asians nearby, Fang Yuan told the two, "I saw people moving sacks in and out of the back. They clearly contained living things. They are likely using the nail salon as a front to conduct human trafficking secretly."
"I'll go in and scout!" Starlight offered.
Since she was the only woman among the three, entering the nail salon would be more appropriate.
However, Black Noir suddenly raised his hand to stop her.
He pulled out his notebook, quickly wrote two sentences, and flipped it over for the two of them to read—
"Let me go!"
"You two stay here and don't move."
Black Noir thought it over and decided that if he went in to scout, he could better control the situation, and if there were any real problems, he could handle them with his extensive experience.
Starlight was a big star now and could easily be recognized.
And Fang Yuan was clearly someone who enjoyed excitement; if a PR incident really broke out, Black Noir would have to take the blame.
Fang Yuan and Starlight had no objection, and after Black Noir left, they waited obediently in place.
Fang Yuan even deliberately exposed himself to Vought Corporation's cameras based on his memory, letting them know he wasn't making any sneaky moves.
His sneaky moves were already complete.
Black Noir returned quickly. He was an experienced infiltrator, and sneaking into an unguarded nail salon was effortless.
He showed them the footage he had taken. The nail salon was indeed problematic; secretly, they were helping people smuggle themselves in from outside, and then packaging and selling the undocumented immigrants to other organizations.
They could earn money twice per person—quite the business acumen.
"Should we call the Police!"
"Or should we rescue the hostages right now?"
Starlight asked Fang Yuan, deferring to him for a decision.
"Let's go back to Vought Corporation first," Fang Yuan said unexpectedly. "If the Police wanted to handle it, they would have done so already. It's better to tell the company and arrange a Superhero mission; that way, all the hostages can be rescued."
Starlight thought about it and agreed that Fang Yuan made sense, and Black Noir nodded vigorously.
So the matter was quickly reported to Vought Corporation. Vought Corporation would assess the risks and expected gains, and if deemed appropriate, arrange for a Superhero service call.
The next day, Starlight's reputation saw a massive turnaround. The girl who had been rescued appeared online, stating that Starlight had intervened to save her from assault, not to deliberately attack her.
This instantly caused Starlight's approval rating to soar, and her fan count rapidly increased.
And at this time, Homelander also returned.
Currently, Fang Yuan was obediently staying at the company, and Madelyn's focus returned to its main track—pushing Vought Corporation to join the Military-Industrial Complex, allowing Superheroes to join the military, and making Vought Corporation rake in the military's gold!
Thus, as Vought Corporation's top influencer, Homelander became Madelyn's most useful tool.
Homelander was taken to various banquets and speeches, beginning to build momentum for Vought Corporation's entry into the Military-Industrial Complex.
So Homelander had been very busy lately, and as soon as he had time, he rushed over to Fang Yuan's place.
He arrived at Fang Yuan's room and knocked, but Starlight opened the door.
Homelander paused, then greeted her warmly, "Hi, Starlight!"
Because of Fang Yuan, his kindness toward Starlight was purely due to loving the house and the crow.
After arriving at Fang Yuan's place, Homelander began to complain, describing how unwilling he was to deal with those deceptive senators and high officials.
Deep down, Homelander believed he was superior to ordinary humans.
Fortunately, although Homelander seemed to be manipulated by Vought Corporation, he was also making his own moves in private, which kept him somewhat satisfied.
"Once my plan is complete, I'll give Gege a surprise!" Homelander thought to himself.
However, before he could deliver his surprise, Starlight gave him a shock first.
Starlight recounted what had happened over the past two days, including their discovery of the nail salon's human smuggling operation, telling Homelander everything.
"I checked with the Intelligence Department. That nail salon has a few regular clients, the closest one being near a shop called Uncle Egg Noodles. None of them are too dangerous, so it should be scheduled as a standard Superhero mission."
Starlight shared the news she knew: "I just don't know who Vought Corporation will assign to go."
Uncle Egg Noodles?
The smile on Homelander's face instantly froze.
He knew that name. It was one of his bases in New York for manufacturing Superhuman criminals, and he had A-Train continuously deliver compound v there.
He had never imagined that the Uncle Egg Noodles location would be exposed because of a human trafficking investigation.
Vought Corporation didn't know about this, so they would treat it as a routine Superhero operation plan, but Homelander knew that if Uncle Egg Noodles was investigated, his private activities would be discovered prematurely, which was not good at all.
"I'll go!"
Homelander suddenly declared.
"What?" Starlight was astonished. "Shouldn't this kind of mission be handed over to A-Train, Black Noir, or Maeve? You're supposed to be attending meetings with high officials right now."
The Seven also naturally knew about the Military-Industrial Complex matter. Madelyn had assigned each of them propaganda tasks in various fields to promote the benefits of Superheroes joining the military, and Homelander had the heaviest workload.
"A-Train needs to prepare for his race against Impact, and Black Noir and the others have their own assignments. It's easiest for me to put in some overtime," Homelander excused himself. "I've been dealing with those pretentious senators for too long; I need to find some criminals to relax."
That kind of talk was very Homelander.
So Starlight easily believed him, and Fang Yuan even looked encouraging: "No problem, John. We should still do things we enjoy."
Hearing his Gege support him as always, Homelander immediately smiled happily.
But he didn't know that everything he encountered before him was a pit dug by his Gege.
Homelander quickly found Ashley and stated that he wanted to personally strike down the human traffickers.
Ashley was in a difficult position. She was genuinely afraid of this 'live dad' now. Last time, when he changed the mission location during a live broadcast, Homelander caused a 'Rescue Gege' Major Incident, which resulted in Madelyn severely scolding her.
Was he doing this again?
Ashley racked her brain for an excuse: "Homelander, you still have a cocktail party tonight, so there might not be enough time."
"Then I'll go this afternoon!" Homelander's attitude was firm. "I'm not some masked Superhero who can only operate at night."
That statement equally offended many people.
Ashley wanted to say more, but Homelander interrupted directly: "I have to deal with those officials every day; I have a lot of pent-up rage to vent now."
"If you won't let me go fight criminals, then why don't you help me vent?"
Ashley shivered. Normally, if Homelander invited her, she naturally wouldn't refuse; in fact, the rougher Homelander was, the more she liked it.
But Homelander was currently angry, irritable, and impatient. Who knew if he would hold back?
If Homelander lost control, she... would probably be shot through?
So Ashley quickly said, "I'll go report this to Madelyn!"
"One hour!"
Homelander shouted with a cold face.
"If there's no response in one hour, I'll go myself!"
Willful recklessness was Homelander's best weapon.
Madelyn quickly learned about the situation and fell into the same dilemma as Ashley: What if Homelander was trying to pull another stunt this time?
But Madelyn also knew that Homelander had expressed dissatisfaction many times about having to socialize with those idiotic officials, so it was reasonable for him to be angry.
She had just calmed Homelander down recently and didn't want to sour their relationship again.
Besides... she was actually afraid of Homelander.
"Let him go," Madelyn finally decided.
"Understood!"
Ashley immediately ran off to make arrangements. With Madelyn's approval, no matter what happened, the blame wouldn't fall on her.
Just as they made their decision, the other side, The Boys squad, also began to move.
"Uncle Egg Noodle Shop? This is our target?"
Frenchie asked, looking at the restaurant in the photo.
"That's right. According to reliable intelligence, there is a secret Vought Corporation research base nearby, and there must be traces of compound v!" Billy Butcher replied.
"Alright, should we move tonight?" Frenchie immediately began preparations.
"No," Butcher shook his head. "We'll go this afternoon."
"Vought Corporation anticipates a Superhero operation in that vicinity tonight. I suspect it's to destroy evidence, so we must move early!"
Frenchie had no objection: "No problem, you're the boss."
But Mothers Milk had some concerns: "Since Vought Corporation intends to destroy the evidence, if we are discovered, won't we be surrounded by Vought Corporation's Superhumans?"
"Good question!" Butcher grinned. "That's why we'll have backup."
"Black King will be following us in the shadows. If any Vought Corporation Superheroes show up, he'll catch them red-handed!"
You will get 90 chapter ahead for this fanfiction.
patreon.com /AZofficial