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Starting in 'The Boys' to Become the Ultimate Lifeform_chapter_0382_en
Chapter 382
**Chapter 382: Hank: He's the Real Hero!**
Upon hearing this, Camille's mouth twitched slightly. He then lowered his voice and leaned his head towards Xia Shang's ear.
"Mr. Jervis, there are some things we really can't write about anymore, especially those related to Mutants. Look, the Mutant Weekly just came out, and it caused such a huge stir. There were even Police officers who died right outside our Newspaper Agency. If the authorities investigate, our Newspaper Agency might have to close tomorrow.
In my opinion, we should lie low for a while and wait until things calm down before considering publishing the second issue of Mutant Weekly. It wouldn't be too late."
"You want me to wait and see the US Government's attitude towards Mutants before making a decision?" Xia Shang saw through Camille's little scheme with a single sentence.
Camille, exposed, wasn't embarrassed. He just chuckled and continued, "I'm doing this for the good of our Newspaper Agency. After all, you can't fight city hall. Based on my years of experience in the industry, Newspaper Agencies that go against the Government generally don't end well. Of course, big Newspaper Agencies are an exception, like The Washington Post, which is relentlessly pursuing the Water Faction incident.
If it didn't have the support of large financial groups and certain political parties backing them, it wouldn't dare to keep hounding President Nixon, even if you gave it three times the courage. But we're different. Our foundation is shallow, and we don't have big figures backing us. We must be extremely cautious, otherwise, one big wave could mean catastrophe for our Newspaper Agency."
There was no lack of bitterness in Camille's voice. All he said was just to protect the Newspaper Agency. Although the Newspaper Agency now belonged to Xia Shang, he still retained over forty percent of the Shares, making him the undisputed second-largest Shareholder. And after some maneuvering by Xia Shang, the Shares he held had increased in value by more than four or five times.
Putting aside the matter of profit, The Providence Journal, the predecessor of Weiss Newspaper Agency, was an industry that Camille had painstakingly built up over half his life. Naturally, he had deep feelings for it.
No matter what, Camille didn't want to see Weiss Newspaper Agency go bankrupt under Government suppression.
"I already said I'll handle all the trouble. Do you really think I'm joking?"
This wasn't like when he first went to The Boys. At this moment, Xia Shang had power, wealth, and even influence supporting his social standing. To speak without humility, if he wanted to, he could completely find a financial group and make them serve him.
However, Xia Shang weighed the pros and cons and felt it was completely unnecessary. Besides the fact that financial groups involve too many people, making it difficult to alter everyone's Memory, there was another point he had to consider: Psychic Ability users like Professor X. Although they might not be able to completely counter his ability, they could still find clues from it.
Once the information about altering others' Memory leaked out, it would inevitably cause panic among high-level officials in various governments and lead to government intervention. At that time, they would definitely mobilize the strength of the entire nation and invest in the research and development of Sentinels. If the Sentinels were developed ahead of time, even a Prototype with Mystique's Gene could potentially cause the timeline to collapse.
Of course, he could also target those high-level Government officials, but there was a variable in the middle, which was Professor X. As everyone knows, this guy is a purely good person, and a good person with astonishing power. It's possible that with just one look, this guy could restore the Memory he had altered.
Based on Professor X's performance in the series, Xia Shang believed he could do it.
It wasn't that Xia Shang hadn't thought about getting rid of Professor X beforehand, but Professor X's Ability was simply too tempting.
Moreover, he was worried that after Professor X died, someone would use Days of Future Past to revise the timeline, thus disrupting his Plan.
Furthermore, controlling those high-level officials was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. After all, he couldn't completely erase a person's Memory; he could only modify or overwrite it. The original Memory wouldn't disappear unless he repeatedly used his Ability to constantly reinforce the Memory he had altered.
Just like Camille now, otherwise, there was still a risk of recovery.
It could be understood that the duration of his Ability was limited. Under the repeated erosion by the original memory, the altered Memory would only become weaker and weaker. This explains why Cate needed to repeatedly use her Superpower on Golden Boy.
But unlike Cate, Xia Shang's Superpower combined Memory Storm and Cognitive Intrusion. Not only did it last longer, but it was also more stable and wouldn't cause problems like mental disorder.
"Alright, go get me two cups of coffee. We have distinguished guests arriving soon." Xia Shang decided to proceed according to the original Plan. First, change humanity's perception of Mutants, then rescue Mystique, and finally force the Government to abandon the Sentinel Program. Only with this combination of actions could he ensure the timeline he was in was foolproof.
"Distinguished guests?"
A hint of confusion flashed in Camille's eyes, but he still obediently went to the coffee machine and poured the coffee beans into the grinder.
On the other side, outside Weiss Newspaper Agency, Homelander, who had blocked all the fireballs, walked towards an injured person on the ground. "Close your eyes. I'll take you to the Hospital now."
Immediately after, he bent down, lifted the injured person with his arms, and with a whoosh, flew into the sky, quickly turning into a black dot and disappearing.
"He's the real hero," Hank, witnessing this scene, couldn't help but exclaim.
A few seconds later, Homelander reappeared, repeatedly performing the same action until all the injured were transported away. Only then did he sigh in relief as if a burden had been lifted.
"Are there any more injured people?" He walked into the crowd and asked with concern.
"Sh-should be none left." The white person who had led the protest earlier now had a red face and was so ashamed they wished they could crawl into the Underground.
"I'm sorry, I still came too late. Otherwise, perhaps this tragedy could have been prevented," Homelander said self-reproachfully.
Facing the sincere Homelander, the white person slightly opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, only feeling a burning pain on his face.
"By the way, is that Weiss Newspaper Agency, the one that publishes Mutant Weekly?"
Homelander turned his head and asked.
"Yes, Mr. Homelander." Unconsciously, the white person's attitude towards Homelander had become much more respectful.
"Thanks."
Noticing the change in the white person's attitude, Homelander's mouth slightly lifted the moment he turned around, and he walked straight towards the Newspaper Agency.
"Wait a minute." Hank, in the crowd, shouted loudly.
Seeing that Homelander didn't stop walking, he hurriedly chased after him, because he knew very well that if he missed this opportunity, it would probably not be so easy to see Homelander again in the future.
When Homelander stepped into the Newspaper Agency's main entrance and passed through the Corridor, many employees looked at him through the glass with the eyes of fanboys and fangirls. Even more so, some grabbed the paper and pen from their desks and rushed to Homelander.
"Could you give me an autograph?" A male employee with freckles on his face asked, his voice trembling from nervousness.
"Of course, no problem." Homelander took the paper and pen from the male employee's hand, while revealing a radiant smile. "May I ask which Office your boss is in? Could you take me there?"
"Y-yes, please follow me."
The male employee excitedly took the blank paper with Homelander's signature, then carefully folded it and put it into his pocket. He then turned around to lead the way for Homelander.
Due to acquiring multiple newspapers, Weiss Newspaper Agency's Office location had changed from the original first floor to three floors. Xia Shang's Office was the innermost one, turning right at the third floor stairwell.
"Mr. Jervis." The male employee stood in front of the door, reservedly raising his hand and gently knocking on the door.
"Please come in."
After getting permission, Homelander gripped the doorknob, pushed the door open, and walked in.
"Wait, I haven't gone in yet." Hank, like a loach, squeezed into the Office through the door gap that was about to close.
Homelander glanced at him, didn't pay attention, and instead smiled at Xia Shang. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jervis."
Xia Shang, sitting behind the Office desk, swept his gaze over the two of them and smiled, nodding. "Please sit. I just happened to prepare coffee for the two of you. It's purely hand-ground, with some milk and sugar added."
Unexpectedly, Hank felt a burst of disbelief after hearing this.
"You knew we would come here?"
Inside the Office, there was a sofa specifically for receiving guests. As soon as Hank sat down, he noticed that on the coffee table in front of him, there just happened to be two cups of hot coffee.
"Just a guess. I was just lucky to guess correctly."
Actually, centered around Weiss Newspaper Agency, spreading to the surrounding five kilometers, was all within Xia Shang's Parasyte Sensing range. In this regard, Mutants and Supes were no different; they all had brainwaves that were different from ordinary people.
Precisely because of this, he had discovered Hank hidden among the crowd early on.
*Yeah, right,* Hank thought to himself. *You're probably a Mutant too.*
"May I ask what brings the two of you here?"
Xia Shang took the initiative to ask.
"Cough." Hank lightly coughed and said, "This should be the first official meeting between me and the two of you. First, let me introduce myself. I am Henry Philip McCoy. You can call me Hank.
I was previously a researcher at the CIA. Later, I resigned from my job and joined the X-Men founded by Professor Charles. I currently live in New York, USA. My purpose in coming here is actually to talk to Mr. Homelander about Mutants."
"Professor Charles?" Homelander pretended to look confused, indicating that he had never heard this name before.
"Alright, I don't know if you've read the first issue of Mutant Weekly. In fact, besides Magneto, there was another person who stopped the Cuban Missile Crisis."
While speaking, Hank glanced at Xia Shang out of the corner of his eye. If the newspaper was written by the other party, then this Newspaper Agency boss in front of him was very likely like him, having once worked for the US Government, and his position was not low. Otherwise, it would be impossible to know the truth of what happened back then.
"This person couldn't be the Professor Charles you mentioned, right?" Homelander picked up the coffee and took a sip, pretending to ask curiously.
"That's right, it is precisely Professor Charles."
Hank then roughly explained the course of events at that time.
(End of Chapter)
Upon hearing this, Camille's mouth twitched slightly. He then lowered his voice and leaned his head towards Xia Shang's ear.
"Mr. Jervis, there are some things we really can't write about anymore, especially those related to Mutants. Look, the Mutant Weekly just came out, and it caused such a huge stir. There were even Police officers who died right outside our Newspaper Agency. If the authorities investigate, our Newspaper Agency might have to close tomorrow.
In my opinion, we should lie low for a while and wait until things calm down before considering publishing the second issue of Mutant Weekly. It wouldn't be too late."
"You want me to wait and see the US Government's attitude towards Mutants before making a decision?" Xia Shang saw through Camille's little scheme with a single sentence.
Camille, exposed, wasn't embarrassed. He just chuckled and continued, "I'm doing this for the good of our Newspaper Agency. After all, you can't fight city hall. Based on my years of experience in the industry, Newspaper Agencies that go against the Government generally don't end well. Of course, big Newspaper Agencies are an exception, like The Washington Post, which is relentlessly pursuing the Water Faction incident.
If it didn't have the support of large financial groups and certain political parties backing them, it wouldn't dare to keep hounding President Nixon, even if you gave it three times the courage. But we're different. Our foundation is shallow, and we don't have big figures backing us. We must be extremely cautious, otherwise, one big wave could mean catastrophe for our Newspaper Agency."
There was no lack of bitterness in Camille's voice. All he said was just to protect the Newspaper Agency. Although the Newspaper Agency now belonged to Xia Shang, he still retained over forty percent of the Shares, making him the undisputed second-largest Shareholder. And after some maneuvering by Xia Shang, the Shares he held had increased in value by more than four or five times.
Putting aside the matter of profit, The Providence Journal, the predecessor of Weiss Newspaper Agency, was an industry that Camille had painstakingly built up over half his life. Naturally, he had deep feelings for it.
No matter what, Camille didn't want to see Weiss Newspaper Agency go bankrupt under Government suppression.
"I already said I'll handle all the trouble. Do you really think I'm joking?"
This wasn't like when he first went to The Boys. At this moment, Xia Shang had power, wealth, and even influence supporting his social standing. To speak without humility, if he wanted to, he could completely find a financial group and make them serve him.
However, Xia Shang weighed the pros and cons and felt it was completely unnecessary. Besides the fact that financial groups involve too many people, making it difficult to alter everyone's Memory, there was another point he had to consider: Psychic Ability users like Professor X. Although they might not be able to completely counter his ability, they could still find clues from it.
Once the information about altering others' Memory leaked out, it would inevitably cause panic among high-level officials in various governments and lead to government intervention. At that time, they would definitely mobilize the strength of the entire nation and invest in the research and development of Sentinels. If the Sentinels were developed ahead of time, even a Prototype with Mystique's Gene could potentially cause the timeline to collapse.
Of course, he could also target those high-level Government officials, but there was a variable in the middle, which was Professor X. As everyone knows, this guy is a purely good person, and a good person with astonishing power. It's possible that with just one look, this guy could restore the Memory he had altered.
Based on Professor X's performance in the series, Xia Shang believed he could do it.
It wasn't that Xia Shang hadn't thought about getting rid of Professor X beforehand, but Professor X's Ability was simply too tempting.
Moreover, he was worried that after Professor X died, someone would use Days of Future Past to revise the timeline, thus disrupting his Plan.
Furthermore, controlling those high-level officials was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause. After all, he couldn't completely erase a person's Memory; he could only modify or overwrite it. The original Memory wouldn't disappear unless he repeatedly used his Ability to constantly reinforce the Memory he had altered.
Just like Camille now, otherwise, there was still a risk of recovery.
It could be understood that the duration of his Ability was limited. Under the repeated erosion by the original memory, the altered Memory would only become weaker and weaker. This explains why Cate needed to repeatedly use her Superpower on Golden Boy.
But unlike Cate, Xia Shang's Superpower combined Memory Storm and Cognitive Intrusion. Not only did it last longer, but it was also more stable and wouldn't cause problems like mental disorder.
"Alright, go get me two cups of coffee. We have distinguished guests arriving soon." Xia Shang decided to proceed according to the original Plan. First, change humanity's perception of Mutants, then rescue Mystique, and finally force the Government to abandon the Sentinel Program. Only with this combination of actions could he ensure the timeline he was in was foolproof.
"Distinguished guests?"
A hint of confusion flashed in Camille's eyes, but he still obediently went to the coffee machine and poured the coffee beans into the grinder.
On the other side, outside Weiss Newspaper Agency, Homelander, who had blocked all the fireballs, walked towards an injured person on the ground. "Close your eyes. I'll take you to the Hospital now."
Immediately after, he bent down, lifted the injured person with his arms, and with a whoosh, flew into the sky, quickly turning into a black dot and disappearing.
"He's the real hero," Hank, witnessing this scene, couldn't help but exclaim.
A few seconds later, Homelander reappeared, repeatedly performing the same action until all the injured were transported away. Only then did he sigh in relief as if a burden had been lifted.
"Are there any more injured people?" He walked into the crowd and asked with concern.
"Sh-should be none left." The white person who had led the protest earlier now had a red face and was so ashamed they wished they could crawl into the Underground.
"I'm sorry, I still came too late. Otherwise, perhaps this tragedy could have been prevented," Homelander said self-reproachfully.
Facing the sincere Homelander, the white person slightly opened his mouth, not knowing what to say, only feeling a burning pain on his face.
"By the way, is that Weiss Newspaper Agency, the one that publishes Mutant Weekly?"
Homelander turned his head and asked.
"Yes, Mr. Homelander." Unconsciously, the white person's attitude towards Homelander had become much more respectful.
"Thanks."
Noticing the change in the white person's attitude, Homelander's mouth slightly lifted the moment he turned around, and he walked straight towards the Newspaper Agency.
"Wait a minute." Hank, in the crowd, shouted loudly.
Seeing that Homelander didn't stop walking, he hurriedly chased after him, because he knew very well that if he missed this opportunity, it would probably not be so easy to see Homelander again in the future.
When Homelander stepped into the Newspaper Agency's main entrance and passed through the Corridor, many employees looked at him through the glass with the eyes of fanboys and fangirls. Even more so, some grabbed the paper and pen from their desks and rushed to Homelander.
"Could you give me an autograph?" A male employee with freckles on his face asked, his voice trembling from nervousness.
"Of course, no problem." Homelander took the paper and pen from the male employee's hand, while revealing a radiant smile. "May I ask which Office your boss is in? Could you take me there?"
"Y-yes, please follow me."
The male employee excitedly took the blank paper with Homelander's signature, then carefully folded it and put it into his pocket. He then turned around to lead the way for Homelander.
Due to acquiring multiple newspapers, Weiss Newspaper Agency's Office location had changed from the original first floor to three floors. Xia Shang's Office was the innermost one, turning right at the third floor stairwell.
"Mr. Jervis." The male employee stood in front of the door, reservedly raising his hand and gently knocking on the door.
"Please come in."
After getting permission, Homelander gripped the doorknob, pushed the door open, and walked in.
"Wait, I haven't gone in yet." Hank, like a loach, squeezed into the Office through the door gap that was about to close.
Homelander glanced at him, didn't pay attention, and instead smiled at Xia Shang. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jervis."
Xia Shang, sitting behind the Office desk, swept his gaze over the two of them and smiled, nodding. "Please sit. I just happened to prepare coffee for the two of you. It's purely hand-ground, with some milk and sugar added."
Unexpectedly, Hank felt a burst of disbelief after hearing this.
"You knew we would come here?"
Inside the Office, there was a sofa specifically for receiving guests. As soon as Hank sat down, he noticed that on the coffee table in front of him, there just happened to be two cups of hot coffee.
"Just a guess. I was just lucky to guess correctly."
Actually, centered around Weiss Newspaper Agency, spreading to the surrounding five kilometers, was all within Xia Shang's Parasyte Sensing range. In this regard, Mutants and Supes were no different; they all had brainwaves that were different from ordinary people.
Precisely because of this, he had discovered Hank hidden among the crowd early on.
*Yeah, right,* Hank thought to himself. *You're probably a Mutant too.*
"May I ask what brings the two of you here?"
Xia Shang took the initiative to ask.
"Cough." Hank lightly coughed and said, "This should be the first official meeting between me and the two of you. First, let me introduce myself. I am Henry Philip McCoy. You can call me Hank.
I was previously a researcher at the CIA. Later, I resigned from my job and joined the X-Men founded by Professor Charles. I currently live in New York, USA. My purpose in coming here is actually to talk to Mr. Homelander about Mutants."
"Professor Charles?" Homelander pretended to look confused, indicating that he had never heard this name before.
"Alright, I don't know if you've read the first issue of Mutant Weekly. In fact, besides Magneto, there was another person who stopped the Cuban Missile Crisis."
While speaking, Hank glanced at Xia Shang out of the corner of his eye. If the newspaper was written by the other party, then this Newspaper Agency boss in front of him was very likely like him, having once worked for the US Government, and his position was not low. Otherwise, it would be impossible to know the truth of what happened back then.
"This person couldn't be the Professor Charles you mentioned, right?" Homelander picked up the coffee and took a sip, pretending to ask curiously.
"That's right, it is precisely Professor Charles."
Hank then roughly explained the course of events at that time.
(End of Chapter)
