The mansion's hall was spacious. The evening breeze blew in through the windows, swept across the hall, and brushed past Arnold, who stood amidst a floor littered with corpses, sending a chill down the spine of the president of Olga Corp.
He had originally hoped that the people around him would make Homelander think twice before acting recklessly.
But he never expected that the man across from him seemed utterly indifferent to them.
In his eyes, human lives were like ants.
If he wanted to kill, a casual pinch would suffice.
Of course, Arnold couldn't understand.
To those Homelander didn't care about, they were indeed no different from insects in his eyes.
Ordinary humans were merely Level 2 lifeforms, and superhumans were only Level 4.
Originally, Homelander was already a Level 5 lifeform, and now he had reached Level 6.
That was a full four levels above ordinary humans.
In Homelander's eyes, whether it was the president of Olga Corp or the federal defense forces,
they were no different from homeless people on the street.
In the eyes of a higher lifeform, all beings were equal.
They were all creatures who could be killed or spared at will.
There was simply no distinction of high or low, noble or humble.
Just like humans to an ant colony.
If you were to burn down an anthill, would you care which ant was the queen and which was a worker?
Of course not.
Unless Homelander had marked them in his heart as people he cared about,
he might pay them a bit more attention.
As for the bodyguards and supermodels around Arnold, Homelander didn't know any of them, nor did he care.
How could Arnold possibly use these people to threaten him?
By now, Arnold also understood his situation. His legs trembled as he barely managed to sit down on the sofa beside him.
He said dejectedly,
"I'm sorry, sir."
"I shouldn't have lied to you."
"Yes, I know about Zero."
"It's an extraterrestrial lifeform."
Seeing Arnold choose to cooperate, Homelander finally nodded.
"Where did you find this thing?"
"In the polar regions, sir."
Arnold no longer dared to hide anything.
"I previously funded a team to conduct research in the polar regions."
"They accidentally discovered a spaceship."
"Zero was found inside that spaceship."
Homelander let out an "Oh" and asked, "What about the spaceship?"
"It sank."
Arnold placed his hands on his knees, clenched into fists due to tension.
"After the Manhattan incident, I wanted to regain my footing."
"I planned to extract more knowledge from Zero."
"Yes, the technology for the combat armor was obtained from Zero."
"But this time, Zero woke up."
"Then, it parasitized me, killed everyone, sank the spaceship, and followed me back to New York."
Homelander chuckled. "You were parasitized by it, yet you didn't die. Seems it took a special liking to you."
Arnold hurriedly explained, "That's because I still had value to it."
"It wasn't accustomed to modern human society."
"It needed a guide."
"That's why it spared my life."
"Did you teach it to join the Seven Tower?" Homelander narrowed his eyes slightly.
Arnold shivered. "Yes, sir."
"At the time, it had parasitized one of my bodyguards—my strongest one—but it still wasn't satisfied."
"It wanted a stronger body. It... it wanted you, sir."
Homelander smirked. "You're quite honest, much more so than Fury."
"Fury is Zero. That's its real name."
"And, reportedly, it has many more of its kind."
"Moreover, it has already sent a signal to its kind. Soon, a large number of lifeforms like Fury will appear."
Arnold gave a slight nod.
Homelander said, "You're not surprised at all. So, you knew this all along?"
Arnold replied, "Zero—no, Fury—"
"it showed me some things."
Homelander scoffed. "Seems you two have reached some kind of agreement."
"What, you help it invade Earth,"
"and it promises to spare your life or something?"
Then, without waiting for Arnold to answer, Homelander skipped the question.
"Even if Fury parasitized Supersonic, with Supersonic's abilities, it wouldn't have been so easy to join the Seven Tower."
"You used your connections to help Supersonic join the Seven's reserve team?"
Arnold's Adam's apple bobbed. "Yes, sir."
"I contacted Ms. Ashley."
"Ashley."
Homelander nodded. "That makes sense."
"Alright."
"Let's get down to business."
"Because of you, Fury caused me some trouble."
"Though I've resolved it all, don't you think you should do something about it?"
"For example, convene a board meeting and announce that Olga Corp will now become a subsidiary of Vought, directly under my control?"
Arnold shuddered and looked up sharply.
Staring at the man with a faint smile, Arnold now understood why he was still alive and not among the corpses on the floor.
Two days later.
Morning arrived as scheduled.
Today, New York was bathed in brilliant sunlight.
Ashley was in a cheerful mood as she kicked her boyfriend, who was clinging to her, off the bed.
After showering and changing into fresh clothes, she tossed some money onto the bed for last night's enjoyable experience and left home.
As usual, she bought a cappuccino from her favorite coffee shop and headed to the Seven Tower.
Now, although Vought's CEO, Edgar, had mysteriously disappeared,
the company's business was thriving.
Especially after Homelander became an official in the Department of Defense and was given the rank of "Colonel."
The federal government had rolled out the red carpet for Vought's operations, and the company's competitors were dwindling.
After the Manhattan incident, Vought's stock prices had remained high.
Now, every shareholder's wealth had nearly doubled.
Even employees like Ashley saw their quarterly bonuses more than double compared to last year.
And as Homelander's assistant, directly interfacing with the "Seven,"
Ashley's status had risen significantly.
This brought her many intangible, implicit benefits.
Every time she entered the Seven Tower, Ashley felt deeply grateful for the opportunity to work there.
And all of this was thanks to Homelander!
Just as she stepped into the Seven Tower's lobby, the receptionist hurriedly informed her, "Ms. Ashley, Homelander instructed that you report to the command center immediately upon arrival."
"Got it," Ashley replied, though she wondered why Homelander wanted to see her now.
As she stepped into the elevator, her phone buzzed.
She had received a news alert.
After a quick glance, Ashley nearly dropped her coffee.
The headline read:
'Shocking Turn at Olga Corp! President Arnold Announces Olga Will Merge with Vought, with Homelander Taking Control!'
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