Chapter 72 Maeve’s Fury
Star-View tried to run.
Maeve blocked his path, seemingly having guessed something.
"Why are you running? What exactly is down there?!"
"I don’t know, I’m just paid to do a job! I..."
Maeve stepped forward and delivered a punch.
She was being relatively polite; she only gave Star-View a black eye.
"You don’t have a third chance. What exactly is down there?"
Star-View immediately activated his ability.
Maeve felt her body sink, but it was only a slight sensation.
Carrying several times her own weight in gravity, she walked step by step toward Star-View.
Fear appeared on Star-View’s face.
"No, impossible! This is eight times the gravity... You should be unable to move!"
"Answer me! What exactly is down there?"
Maeve grabbed Star-View’s arm and twisted it hard, snapping the bone clean.
Maeve kept applying pressure, seemingly intending to tear his arm right off his torso.
If one mistook the Queen for a saint, they would be sorely mistaken.
Maeve just didn’t really want to kill, not that she hadn’t killed before.
"Don’t... AHHH!!! I’ll talk... There are people down there, men, women, and..."
"And what else?!" Maeve roared, practically through gritted teeth.
"Children... there are children too... dozens of them..."
Rip!
Maeve ripped Star-View’s arm clean off.
She straightened Star-View’s torso, aimed at his chest, and punched right through.
This punch went straight through his chest cavity.
Her hand extended out from his back, clutching a still-beating Supe heart.
Queen Maeve’s expression was terrifyingly cold.
Acid Man was stunned.
His companions had all died in less than a minute, and in such a gruesome state.
He instantly lost all will to fight.
He knelt on the ground, soiling himself, and shouted in terror with his hands raised above his head.
"I surrender! I surrender! Don’t hit me, don’t hit me!!"
Lucas floated in front of him, used his force field to lift the man up, and crushed him tightly in his palm.
"Tell me, how long have you worked here?"
"Th-three years..."
"Three years. That’s not short."
Lucas nodded. "So you know what happened down there."
"I-I’m just a guard... I haven’t touched any of those..."
"Shh, shh, shh. I can hear your heartbeat. You’re lying!"
"...I... I just occasionally go down to play with a couple..."
Lucas looked him in the eye.
"How much pay does it take to make you do something like this?"
"T-two million a year..."
"Not bad. Six million dollars over three years, and you get to play with a couple while on the job..."
"No! It’s not like that! I’m just working for someone else... just like how you work for Vought..."
Lucas placed his other hand over the top of the Acid Man’s head.
Then, he squeezed hard.
The skull shattered in his palm, easier than crushing an egg.
Lucas shook his hand, flicking off all the gore.
"Let’s go. There’s still more down below."
...
Basement Level 1.
A massive banquet hall.
Crystal chandeliers adorned the ceiling, a long mahogany table sat in the center of the hall, and silver tableware was laid out on the dining table; everything was extremely luxurious.
There was unfinished food on the table.
Caviar, truffles, Wagyu beef, lobster... and chunks of meat.
Some were pinkish and tender, others yellowish.
The cross-section of the bone didn’t look like any animal.
White powder was scattered along the edge of the table, and in the corner of the banquet hall, several people were slumped on the sofa, high, completely unaware of the trio’s arrival.
Several disheveled young women and men were curled up in the corner, their eyes exceptionally hollow.
Lucas recognized one of the teenagers as a pop singer who had many female fans.
He didn’t expect him to be subjected to this kind of treatment.
The price of being an idol is, indeed, beyond what normal people can imagine.
As for those guys who were high as kites, both Maeve and Homelander recognized them.
A sitting federal judge, two state senators, and a retired major general who was frequently active in the public eye.
The chairman of the Church of the Collective, Alastair himself, was also there.
"Keep these ones alive. After they confess their crimes, kill them slowly."
Homelander walked over with his hands behind his back, strolling casually, having no interest in these political parasites.
He basically ignored the tortured boys and girls he saw.
But a red light glowed in Homelander’s eyes.
He figured that killing this trash should help boost his approval ratings.
Provided that the events on the island could be successfully exposed.
"Why not just kill this leader of the Church of the Collective? That piece-of-trash The Deep will never be able to taint the sanctity of The Seven again."
"Where’s the fun in that?"
Lucas said, "Nailing The Deep to the pillar of shame forever is more interesting than hitting him directly."
Homelander thought about it, and it really did make sense.
A cruel smile hung on the corner of his mouth.
Only Queen Maeve found a few blankets and covered the boys and girls with them.
The Queen’s fists tightened.
Lucas walked toward the stairs leading to the second basement level.
...
Basement Level 2.
A corridor ran deep into the facility, with countless rooms on both sides.
There were no handles on the doors, only electronic locks.
They could only be opened from the outside.
Lucas used his finger to smash the lock.
The room was furnished very simply.
A single bed, a toilet, and a small lamp.
A girl was curled up on the bed.
She looked very young, blonde, and thin as a skeleton, with numerous ligature marks on her wrists and ankles.
After hearing the door open, she violently shrank into the corner, wrapping herself in the blanket.
Her whole body trembled incessantly.
"No... no... they’ve already been here so many times today... don’t come again..."
Her voice was raspy, as if she had been crying for a long time, or as if...
Maeve’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
She clearly saw that the girl had nothing on her except for a blanket.
The color drained completely from Maeve’s face.
There was no emotion in those eyes other than fury.
"She... how young is she..."
Lucas didn’t speak; he walked up to the girl, using his force field to soothe her emotions.
"It’s okay now. We’re here to save you."
The girl peeked one eye through a gap in the blanket and saw Guardian emblem on Lucas’s chest.
As if she had grabbed onto some hope, tears flooded from her eyes.
"Guardian... and Homelander... Queen Maeve!"
The girl recognized the three people standing in the room.
She lunged forward, clutching Lucas’s leg tightly, and burst into loud sobs.
Homelander stared at the blue blanket on the bed, dazed.
Lucas gently patted her head.
"It’s okay, child, it’s okay!"
Since this girl recognized the three of them, it meant she hadn’t been on the island for very long.
This was already one of the least severe cases among the victims.
Homelander and Maeve moved through the corridor, opening the doors one by one.
In the second room was a boy, also very young, his eyes already numb, showing no reaction to the outside world.
The walls of his room were covered in bloodstains, and there was even dried blood at the corners of his mouth; it was hard to even see his teeth.
The blanket on the bed was also blue.
The rooms further down were much the same.
Two girls were sharing a room, huddled together, their bodies covered in bruises and bite marks; one of them had her head shaved, and there were even cigarette burn marks on her scalp.