Chapter 38 Girls! You are the real heroes!!
Cate Dunlap was close by, her voice trembling, while Jordan stood beside her, its legs beginning to weaken.
"Jordan?"
Cate Dunlap reached out to grab Jordan. In its female form, tears streamed from Jordan’s eyes uncontrollably.
"This... is so magnificent!"
"Cate Dunlap, I want Guardian!"
Cate Dunlap: "???"
...
The beams continued for several minutes before Lucas retracted his power, slowly hovering at the edge of the massive crater.
His cold figure stood with its back to the vast desert, cape fluttering in the wind, the V-shaped emblem glowing.
The afterglow of the setting sun hit him, making him appear like a deity.
Lucas turned around slowly, the red glow deep within his eyes gradually fading. He looked at the camera and said calmly.
"Mission accomplished. Farid has been eliminated, and the terrorist stronghold has been completely destroyed."
"I am Guardian."
"I am not a partner of justice! I am justice itself!!"
...
Vought Tower.
Homelander’s expression was not as calm as it had been initially.
Lucas had stolen the spotlight too much this time. Homelander could imagine with his eyes closed the kind of reception Guardian would receive upon returning home.
Public approval ratings would instantly surpass his own; the limelight of The Seven had been completely stolen by one person.
And he wasn’t even a member of The Seven!!
Starlight couldn’t get through to Lucas on the phone. Upon returning to the office, what she saw was Lucas’s Omega Beams instantly destroying the terrorist bunker.
"Fuck Jesus!"
Annie January exclaimed subconsciously.
Edgar turned around and silently adjusted Guardian’s internal threat rating from A to SSS.
One had to know that Homelander was only rated A.
Edgar’s female secretary wet herself again.
She really deserved to die!
How could she dare to boss Guardian around?
...
Meanwhile.
The Pentagon.
A piece of satellite footage was urgently delivered to the National Security Advisor’s desk.
The content of the footage was consistent with Vought’s live broadcast, but the satellite’s perspective was more shocking, recording the entire process in full.
Lucas stomped and shattered the surface, and the Omega Beams melted the entire underground city.
The President, deep within the White House, also saw this footage.
"Where did the Middle East get nuclear weapons?"
"Could the Russians have illegally exported them?"
"Quick, call a press conference. We must strongly condemn this behavior!"
The Secretary of Defense’s voice was dry. He swallowed hard before speaking, "Sir, that wasn’t destruction caused by nuclear weapons, but by a Supe."
The President: "???"
The expression on the President’s face was entirely, "Are you fucking kidding me!"
"Could it be Homelander from Vought International?"
"Get Edgar for me. What on earth is he trying to do?"
"I told him to kill Farid, meaning I wanted the person to disappear quietly, not in such a high-profile way!!"
The President was furious.
What was Edgar trying to do, flex his muscles for him?
Did he not want to stay in America anymore?
"Uh, Mr. President, you’ve misunderstood. The one who caused this destruction wasn’t Homelander." The Secretary of Defense wiped the sweat from his forehead.
"Not Homelander?" The President realized belatedly, "Did Vought release a third generation of Supes?"
"I... I’m not sure, but the one who caused the destruction is a Supe named Guardian."
The Secretary of Defense played the second half of the video. On the screen, a black figure hovered at the edge of the massive crater.
He turned around slowly, the red glow in his eyes still burning fiercely, like two stars with immense destructive power.
"His destructive power..."
"According to initial assessments," the Secretary of Defense opened the report, "the energy output of this attack is equivalent to more than thirty times that of a GBU-57 bunker buster bomb."
"The GBU-57 is our strongest conventional bunker buster in service, with a penetration depth of sixty meters of reinforced concrete."
"And this person used only Heat Vision to penetrate two hundred meters of natural rock, melting the entire underground space within a one-kilometer radius."
"With a sustained output lasting several minutes, if this ability were aimed at a city—"
The Secretary of Defense didn’t finish, but everyone in the Situation Room understood what he meant.
The President leaned back in his chair.
"Get Edgar on the line."
...
On Lucas’s side.
The panel popped up a notification.
[Side Mission Completed: Desert Storm]
[Eliminated Target: Sandstorm (S-Class)]
[Eliminated Subsidiary Targets: Supe Guards × 3]
[Mission Reward: Evolution Points × 15,000]
...
[Bonus Objective Completed: Team Members Cate Dunlap and Jordan Li Survived Safely]
[Bonus Reward: Evolution Points × 3,000]
[Global Live Broadcast Bonus: Audience Emotional Climax × 2.4x]
[Additional Evolution Points Gained: +8,600]
...
[Key Character: Cate Dunlap — Emotional Shift: Faith]
[Evolution Points Gained: +4,892]
...
[Key Character: Jordan Li — Emotional Shift: Absolute Submission]
[Evolution Points Gained: +4,107]
...
Current Evolution Points: 55,055 / 250,000
Lucas looked at the panel.
A single trip to the Middle East earned nearly 50,000 Evolution Points.
...
On the way back.
Cate Dunlap hugged Lucas’s arm, rubbing softly against the man’s arm.
Jordan did the same, deliberately shifting into its female form.
But Lucas had absolutely no interest in it.
Viltrumites liked strong women, even if it was a Viltrumite queen, but it was impossible to like an intersex person.
"Guardian," Jordan called out in the wind.
"Hmm?"
"I want to stay at your place tonight. Staying with Starlight is fine too."
Lucas had a face full of black lines. "If you say one more word, I’ll throw you down from here, and you can just turn to ash on the spot!"
Jordan stopped talking.
Cate Dunlap didn’t dare to bring up this topic at all. She was a Supe, true, but her physical strength wasn’t as exaggerated as Jordan’s.
She would die!
She would definitely die!
One minute later.
Vought Tower rooftop helipad.
The three landed steadily. Homelander was already waiting on the roof. As soon as Lucas landed, he enthusiastically grabbed Lucas’s shoulders.
"My good bro, you totally stole the show today!"
Homelander was insincere.
But Lucas was clearly not a character he could manipulate, so he also had a kind of respect for Lucas.
Jealous, yet respectful.
"Homelander!! Even Homelander came to greet us personally!!!"
Jordan and Cate Dunlap were very excited.
Their idol during their student days was The Seven.
Seeing Homelander in person now, they were beyond excited.
"Oh, Guardian’s subordinates are actually my fans?" Homelander’s attention was drawn to the two again.
"Yeah, we are your fans! Can we take a picture together? We haven’t even taken a picture with Guardian yet!!"
Haven’t even taken a picture with Guardian yet?
Hearing this, Homelander’s jealousy faded quite a bit.
It seems that even if it’s Guardian, not everyone likes him!
"Although Guardian is strong, you two daring to face a Supe stronger than yourselves is already great!"
"You are the true heroes!"
"Because true heroes dare to rise to the challenge!!"