The Boys: Viltrumite Evolution Panel

A-Train once said in an interview that the person who truly influenced him the most was his brother, Nate.

That was from his early debut days.

Later, Vought PR blurred this person out.

I heard that in A-Train’s latest biographical film, the person who truly influenced him the most will be revealed.

"You mean... Nate?"

"Nate?"

A-Train looked surprised. "You weren’t a hardcore fan of mine, were you? Not many people know these things!"

Hughie didn’t deny it.

"Alright, thanks for having liked me in the past. I’m not talking about Nate, but Guardian."

"Nate is my brother, my family! But Guardian..."

A-Train weighed his words carefully. "He... is the true hero!"

"Us, The Deep, Homelander—to put it bluntly, we’re just ordinary Supes wearing the skin of superheroes. We do drugs, we get scared, we even stab each other in the back for rankings."

"Only he is different."

Hughie was completely speechless.

He came to Vought with a mission: to expose the hypocritical faces of the superheroes.

Butcher had brainwashed him all night, telling him not to trust the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism—they’re all lies!

There isn’t a single good thing among Supes; they are all mad dogs raised by Vought.

Guardian is especially suspicious; his abilities are ridiculously strong, and his growth trajectory is outrageously strange.

But now, a Supe who nearly killed him and his girlfriend was standing in front of him, telling him in a very sincere tone that Guardian is the true hero.

This is f***ing unscientific!

Just as he was thinking this, a cold voice came from behind him.

"Hughie, right? The boss wants you to go to the big conference room." Jordan glanced at him. This guy looked like a loser, but the boss seemed to value him.

"Hurry up, Guardian and Homelander are both there."

Hughie swallowed hard and followed.

...

The big conference room.

The moment Hughie pushed the door open, he almost peed on the floor in fright.

The entire room was full of Supes.

Pairs of eyes shot toward him simultaneously.

At the head of the table was Guardian, with Homelander sitting next to him. Counting down, there was Queen Maeve, Starlight, A-Train, Black Noir, and also a Vought PR representative, Ashley.

Any one of them, taken out individually, could make national headlines.

And now, they were all looking at an ordinary person.

Hughie’s back was instantly soaked, and he found a spot in the furthest corner to shrink into.

What a joke!

What kind of bullshit spy mission is this? I’m going home tomorrow!

I quit!

Whoever wants to do this can do it!

Hughie roared in his heart.

Ashley cleared her throat, not letting the small interlude interrupt her topic, and continued her report.

"...In short, after the Little St. James Island incident, the overall favorability rating of The Seven skyrocketed from 72% to 91%! The phones have been ringing off the hook with brand collaboration inquiries, and the pre-orders for merchandise this week alone have exceeded the entire total of last year!"

"Homelander’s personal approval rating has rebounded by eight percentage points."

The slide flipped.

"Guardian’s personal approval rating... 94%."

Homelander’s hand, which was flipping through the documents, suddenly stopped.

Ashley quickly continued, afraid to linger on that number for too long.

"Next is the CP strategy. After calculations by the marketing department, we believe we can operate on two tracks simultaneously."

She pulled up two posters.

"One side is Starlight and Guardian, a match made in heaven, overflowing with positive energy. We’ll push the ’hero couple’ persona, targeting the young female market."

"On the other side..."

She quickly glanced at Queen Maeve. "Queen Maeve, unrequited love, loving someone you can’t have, older woman... this can attract the older female market."

Queen Maeve raised an eyebrow.

Interesting. I’ll have a private chat with Ashley after work.

"The benefit of this direction is that it can boost the approval ratings of all three people simultaneously. Queen Maeve usually has a strong ’Queen Maeve’ persona; we can use this narrative to interpret the unrequited love, letting everyone see that she also has a feminine, vulnerable side."

"It can win a lot of sympathy and expand your Hollywood acting range. It’s killing two... no, three birds with one stone!"

Queen Maeve crossed her arms, a half-smile on her face.

I wonder whose idea this PR strategy was; it’s so hard to guess!

Homelander, on the other hand, hadn’t said a word from start to finish, sitting there with a dark face.

Still gloomy.

Still dissatisfied.

Still making others guess his mood.

Lucas nudged him with his elbow.

"Hey, why aren’t you breathing today? You’re not allowed to sleep here!"

Homelander turned his head, his eyes resentful.

"How is my approval rating so much lower than yours?"

"Because I’m a handsome hunk, and you’re a middle-aged blonde gay man!"

Lucas answered righteously.

Homelander: "..."

"Then... how can I improve my approval rating?" Homelander was now somewhat immune to Lucas’s bluntness.

"Simple, get bundled up with me!"

Homelander’s brows knitted into a knot. He scooted to the side, looking physically repulsed.

"No."

He said firmly, "It is impossible for me to fake a relationship with you. I am a straight man."

Starlight: "!!"

Queen Maeve: "!!!"

A-Train: "!!"

Black Noir: "..."

Hughie: "???"

...

[Homelander — Emotional Change: Vigilant, somewhat offended, self-defensive, awkward]

[Obtained Evolution Points: +6,720]

...

Lucas looked at his expression, as if he were facing a great enemy, and felt speechless.

"F***! You dead gay, it’s hard to say you don’t have homosexual tendencies! I’m talking about chasing clout, what the hell are you thinking?"

Homelander flinched.

When Guardian said "bundled up," he thought it meant the kind with ropes.

"Chasing clout isn’t great; recently, people have been scolding me, saying I only know how to chase clout!" Homelander frowned.

"Then change the method. You publicly announce that you’re donating a large sum of money to Guardian’s charitable foundation. Who would have the right to criticize you then?"

"Spend a little money to achieve big things! Then get the media to report it extensively, and your approval rating will naturally rise continuously."

Homelander was stunned; this was also a way.

He almost thought this guy was going to have ulterior motives toward him.

A false alarm!

Whew!

"Then... how much is appropriate to donate?"

Lucas didn’t answer. Instead, he turned his head to look at that ordinary person.

"Hughie, you are the supervisor, what do you think?"

The room full of Supes all looked over in unison.

Hughie felt that the sweat on his shirt could be wrung out.

"From your perspective as an ordinary person, how much do you think it’s appropriate for Homelander to donate?" Lucas asked with a smile.

"Twenty million." Homelander answered quickly, his tone full of bravado.

Lucas looked at him with disdain.

"Twenty million? That’s not even enough to build a crappy toilet."

Homelander: "..."

A twenty-million-dollar toilet? Are your toilet bowls rimmed with gold?

Hughie’s brain was spinning at high speed.

On one side is Homelander, on the other is Guardian.

As an ordinary person, he was under a lot of pressure!

"T-Twenty million... is also a lot!"

He could feel his voice trembling. "Really, it can do a lot of good, save many families, let many children go to school... Twenty million is enough to operate a decent foundation!"

Hearing this, Homelander nodded with rare satisfaction.

"I like this young man."

He pointed at Hughie. "He’s an honest person!"

"That’s perfect."

Lucas continued unhurriedly, "Hughie usually likes to play with something exciting."

Homelander’s face fell again. Why is it that everyone around him is either intellectually stunted or gay?

Hughie: I’ll never hear the end of this!

Lucas continued on his own.

"However, twenty million is indeed too little. Sometimes, donating too little can have the opposite effect."

"Think about it, when I, Guardian, make a move, I put up 300 million."

"You, the dignified Homelander, leader of The Seven, the strongest Supe in the US, only cough up twenty million."

"What will the public think?"

Homelander: "..."

Here it comes, it’s here again! This familiar tactic!