Chapter 100 Power is Power
"Guardian, do you remember those big capitalist sharks who invested earlier? They want to meet you."
Edgar paid a visit early in the morning.
He knew that calling was useless; Guardian usually didn’t answer, and if he did, it was with a thunderous voice.
He handed a list to Lucas, who was only wearing loose shorts, his physique as robust as an ancient Greek sculpture.
A perfect golden ratio.
The list contained only a string of names and titles, but behind every name stood a mountain capable of swaying national policy.
These were the true capitalist sharks who controlled America.
"Not meeting them."
Lucas picked his nose, looking impatient. "They should be coming to see me. Do I look like that lackey of Homelander?"
"Edgar, I am happy that you took the initiative to visit, but I’m not so happy with your attitude!"
"Guardian."
Edgar’s tone was uncharacteristically patient. "You took a full ten billion dollars from them. For the sake of the money, you should at least handle them a bit. Even if it’s just for show, you need to give some kind of commitment."
"When I report a project to the board of directors, I at least know to make a PowerPoint. You can’t just brush them off with a lousy script!"
Lucas turned around to put on some clothes.
Edgar waited honestly in the living room.
No one in Vought Tower had ever made him do this; even Homelander only deserved to wait outside.
"BlackRock, Blackstone, Vanguard..." Lucas flipped through the list. "As expected, the real big shots are all very low-key. I haven’t heard of a single person on this list."
The group of old money controlling the country from behind the scenes, I heard most of them are old Jews.
They usually don’t show their faces, but their hands have long controlled the White House, Congress, and Wall Street.
Stormfront jumps around so happily, wishing she could carve ’I am a Nazi’ on her forehead, yet these people never came out to take action.
Is it because they look down on Stormfront’s limited vision, or is there another reason?
Lucas was purely curious.
"Fine."
Lucas rose lazily. "Arrange a simple meeting. I want to see how many heads these people have."
Edgar breathed a sigh of relief, almost imperceptibly.
He knew the power of this old money all too well; if these people twitched a finger, the whole world would tremble.
Although the young man before him possessed immense strength, in the secular world, their power was surprisingly vast.
... Vought Tower, the private reception room on the top floor.
Not many people came.
But when added together, the wealth they held in their hands was enough to buy half the Earth.
These people were all old men, wearing bespoke suits of unknown brands. None of them wore luxury items, but their aura was such that they didn’t need luxury goods to decorate their facades.
They held red wine, their gazes scanning Lucas back and forth.
As if looking at a piece of cargo.
They had paid ten billion dollars for this cargo.
Lucas also looked at them like strange animals, using his X-ray vision on every one of their bodies.
"This is interesting!"
"Just like the Five Elders, every single one of them has an aura."
"Your bodies are quite healthy too. You’re all at such an advanced age, yet you’re like young men. Your organs don’t look like original equipment, but the transplants are very seamless. Were they specially cultivated?"
Wherever Lucas’s eyes landed, nothing could block them.
"We’ve heard much about you, Mr. Guardian."
An old white man with graying hair and a refined face spoke slowly while holding his red wine.
He seemed to be the leader of this group, responsible for communication.
His tone... was polite enough, but that sense of superiority couldn’t be hidden at all.
"To be honest, our ten billion dollar investment is based more on strategic considerations! A Supe who can influence public opinion and is not completely controlled by any institution in the world is a good hedge for our investment portfolio."
"As for your own abilities..."
"Forgive me for being blunt, your strength seems a bit greater, but compared to Homelander, there is actually no essential difference. Little St. James Island was indeed kicked out of place."
The old man gently swirled the red wine in his glass. "But our nuclear weapons can do such things too. Therefore, we need Guardian to demonstrate corresponding abilities, at least to make our investment worth more than the price."
In the reception room, the other old farts nodded slightly, deeply agreeing.
Military, money, power... they lacked nothing.
In their view, Guardian was just another form of power, one that could be quantified, purchased, and perhaps even... replaced.
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"Nuclear weapons?"
"In your eyes, nuclear weapons are the strongest weapons?"
"Then to put it bluntly, you haven’t seen anything good!"
The old geezer slowly put down his wine glass.
"And..."
Lucas floated in front of the old man, his tone unhurried.
"Don’t compare me to that failed experiment. His abilities rely on compound v, while I have at least nine ways to strip him of his powers—nine!"
Lucas suddenly flashed a "Dragon King" smile. "You want me to demonstrate my strength? Fine! Then I’ll let you old farts open your eyes wide!"
Before the words had even faded.
An invisible Bio-field spread from Lucas, enveloping everyone in the entire reception room, and even the tables and chairs.
The old men hadn’t even reacted yet; they only felt their bodies become light.
The next second.
"Boom!!"
The ceiling of the entire top-floor reception room, the walls, and even the reinforced concrete roof above, were ripped apart by an invisible and majestic force.
The night sky was exposed without reservation.
Those masters who controlled trillions in wealth had never experienced such a situation; they subconsciously opened their mouths wide.
But they discovered with horror that their bodies were still rising.
Manhattan shrank rapidly, soon becoming a matchbox.
The thousands of lights of the entire city became mere ribbons, then turned into dense clusters of light, eventually merging into one.
Clouds swept past them.
Then came the deep blue arc of the atmosphere.
"What are you doing?"
"What on earth are you doing?"
Seeing that they were about to leave Earth, those people finally couldn’t hold it together, and one by one, they panicked.
Whatever dignity of the upper class, whatever experience from seeing the world... all vanished into thin air at this moment.
The ancient darkness of the universe soon surrounded them.
Lucas turned back calmly with his hands behind his back, and those people also turned around.
A blue planet, half hidden in darkness, half lit by the sun.
Earth.
The entire Earth.
Those old men prided themselves on having seen all the prosperity of the world, having climbed to the top by stepping on countless heads, but this was the first time they had looked down at their home from such an angle.
They stared at Earth for a long time, as if feeling the planet breathing, beating powerfully like a heart.
The Overview Effect!
A mortal brain simply couldn’t comprehend this scene.
But a sense of insignificance capable of shattering the soul instantly overwhelmed them; some had trembling lips, clutching tightly to the arms of those beside them.
They saw the scene beneath their feet.
Up, down, left, right, front, back—all six directions were unfathomable darkness.
As long as Lucas let go, these people would fall into the abyss.
"Carsick? Don’t you dare vomit, or I’ll throw you into the sun!"
Lucas turned back and grinned. "Clench your old asses tight; this is barely the beginning. We have more things to see!"
He didn’t use faster-than-light movement, but deliberately maintained a slow speed, letting these old things see clearly what true power was.
Power is power!