Chapter 74: He's Just an Ordinary Person, Not Even a Supe
Madelyn Stillwell just looked up for a moment before returning to contemplating the candidate for Supervisor. If Xia Shang wasn't President Stan Edgar's man, then without a doubt, he would be the best candidate for Supervisor. After all, even she couldn't deny Xia Shang's ability in public relations.
"I heard you fired Ashley Barrett." Homelander sat casually on the sofa. His powerful vision allowed him to see the appointment/dismissal document on Madelyn Stillwell's desk the moment he entered. "Mr. Jervis is pretty good. I think you could consider him."
Madelyn Stillwell's eyes suddenly sharpened. She said gravely, "I should have thought of it sooner. How could you be indifferent to The Deep's soaring popularity? But how would Mr. Jervis know that Starlight was sexually harassed by The Deep?"
"Who knows? Maybe he just had Starlight make up a random excuse. Anyway, this kind of thing doesn't need proof." Homelander looked indifferent. As long as the effect was good enough, he wasn't interested in the truth of the matter.
Madelyn Stillwell felt a tightness in her chest, angered by Homelander. Sure enough, the most unstable factor in Vought International was Homelander.
"Do you know how much loss your reckless action caused the company? Ashley Barrett was fired because of this incident," Madelyn Stillwell's voice involuntarily rose a few octaves.
"So what? I'm Homelander. I don't allow anyone in the company to be more popular than me. You should be glad The Deep was lucky, otherwise, I can't guarantee if he'll still come to Vought International alive next time." Popularity was Homelander's Achilles' heel, the only thing he was proud of.
"Forget it." Madelyn Stillwell waved her hand, indicating she didn't want to dwell on the matter. She understood Homelander's personality.
His tragic childhood experiences had led Homelander to suffer from severe personality defects. Now, besides craving familial affection, the only things that supported him were more authority and unparalleled honor. As long as it could boost his popularity and gain him more adoration, he didn't care what means he used or who he cooperated with.
"Mr. Jervis is a very smart person, and difficult to control. Plus, he's very close to President Stan Edgar."
"Stan Edgar... he's retiring soon. Madelyn Stillwell, you need to understand this. Even if Mr. Jervis is a pawn Stan Edgar placed in the company, what does it matter? He's just an ordinary person, not even a Supe. If I wanted to crush him, it wouldn't be harder than stepping on an ant," Homelander said with extreme arrogance.
"I hope this is the right decision." Madelyn Stillwell sighed softly and signed Xia Shang's name on the appointment/dismissal document.
...
The next day, Xia Shang received a fax from the President's Office early in the morning. After discussion and decision by Vought's higher-ups, he was ultimately appointed as the Head of Talent and Publicity Department at Vought.
Xia Shang folded the paper without changing his expression and put it into his pocket. With this identity, it would be much simpler to contact Superhero and fuse their abilities in the future. For example, Homelander's super physique required withstanding Homelander's attack for three minutes without dying.
He could completely ask the Marketing Department to prepare a promotional video. Then, he could transform into Yuuji to play the villain. Anyway, the Panel only required him to withstand Homelander's attack for three minutes, it didn't require Homelander to use his full strength.
However, the only difficulty was that Homelander might not agree to the filming.
After all, a villain being able to withstand his attack for three minutes would really damage his image.
Xia Shang came out into the Corridor, preparing to go to Ashley Barrett's Office. To be precise, by the time he received the fax, that place already belonged to him.
"Hi, Mr. Jervis, congratulations on being appointed Public Relations Department Head. I'll treat you to a drink sometime."
"No, no, no, I should be the one treating."
Who said there were no social dynamics in America? Xia Shang felt quite the opposite. One could even say they were more pragmatic. Some people who previously only gave him a slight nod now enthusiastically greeted him, as if they had been very familiar before.
"Good morning, Aersala." Xia Shang's attitude remained as gentle and polite as usual. After greeting everyone, he was led by a staff member to the Head of Talent and Publicity Department Office.
Ashley Barrett's belongings had all been moved out of the Office. He sat in front of the computer and began to familiarize himself with the work process. In fact, the workload for the Supervisor position was far less than that of the Deputy Manager.
It was just that Ashley Barrett liked to do everything herself, which was why she always looked extremely busy.
Xia Shang, on the other hand, preferred to delegate tasks, only needing to guide the general direction himself.
After arranging all the work, Xia Shang got a cup of coffee, summoned the Panel, and checked the Talent Fusion Progress.
[Laser Eye (Blue) Talent Fusion in progress, Current Progress 65%]
Currently, he needed to consume seven doses of Compound V per week to reach his body's limit. The absorption amount was roughly double what it was before. Therefore, his next goal would focus on superpowers related to physique and self-healing. Of course, if any innate ability that caught his attention appeared, he naturally wouldn't let it go either.
Being too picky about everything would only starve oneself.
These past few days, he had searched through the Vought internal system for quite a few Supes' superpowers. It could be said that the vast majority were substandard, with no fusion value whatsoever. Although their superpowers weren't weak, some were even unexpectedly strong.
For example, one of the girls, her superpower was to transform into an intangible ghost that could freely pass through any object.
And she was immune to all physical attacks.
But the most fatal flaw was that she couldn't return to being a normal person.
That is to say, as long as the girl turned into a ghost, it was impossible for her to turn back into an ordinary person.
In addition, there were beastmen who lost their minds upon transforming, a girl who could only control feces, an Acid Spitter who could spit corrosive acid but wasn't immune to it himself... Only a small number of Supes had relatively normal superpowers.
Among those that currently met Xia Shang's requirements, there was only one Supe named Gecko.
His superpower could reduce pain and regenerate limbs.
"It feels somewhat similar to Enhanced Self-Healing. I wonder if it can be fused repeatedly?" Xia Shang guessed it should be possible. Based on his understanding of the Panel, unless two superpowers were completely identical, they could definitely fuse with each other, thus becoming more perfect.
On the other side.
After Billy and the others discussed and decided, they planned to have Mesmer use his superpower to read Kimiko's mind. Otherwise, waiting for Kimiko to speak herself would take who knows how much longer, and they didn't have this much time to waste.
So Mother's Milk came to the Hero Autograph Session and saw the chubby and fair-skinned Mesmer.
Because Mother's Milk knew quite a few people in the social work industry, he said to Mesmer, "I can let you see your daughter once a month, although it's only for five minutes. The price is you just have to help me with one thing."
Being able to see his daughter was a long-cherished wish for Mesmer. He agreed to Mother's Milk without hesitation.
(end of chapter)