One must admit that Homelander's acting skill was top-notch. If he participated in the Oscar, he would definitely get at least one award!
In the end, the spectators didn't push the blame on the superheroes with insults and accusations like in certain other movies that Li Yue had seen. Not only that, some people even began clapping and praising Homelander and Li Yue, who were wearing tattered battlesuits!
The situation made Li Yue feel a deep sense of irony. No matter how good a real superhero was, they would always be criticized by people, while the fake Homelander was always praised!
...
In Madelyn's office, several people were discussing the matter of Translucent's disappearance!
"Vice President, Translucent has been missing for a week! The fans had been anxious to see him. If he didn't appear in public, they would be suspicious! If someone took advantage of public opinion, it would be very unfavorable for us!" Madelyn's female assistant told Madelyn.
The matter had grown outside the assistant's control. She could only ask Madelyn!
"Well... How is Starlight's support rating doing right now?" Madelyn said after thinking for a while. Instead of Translucent, she asked about Starlight!
"The incident last week raised her support rating considerably. She even surpassed some of the official members, such as Deep, A-Train, and Black Noir. However, Starlight was somewhat reluctant to cooperate with our arrangement!"
The female assistant replied!
"How about this? We announce that Translucent had retired, and Vought International had decided to let Starlight take over his seat in the Seven!"
Translucent's disappearance could create a disaster, and delaying to deal with it wouldn't magically solve the problem. It was better to just let Starlight take over his seat. The public might have doubts, but if the operation went smoothly, Starlight's popularity could grow again.
It just so happened that Starlight already surpassed Deep and A-Train in support rating. She even surpassed Black Noir, ranking only a little lower than Thunderclap and Queen Maeve.
It was clear that following Homelander around for the past week had been very effective in boosting Li Yue's popularity. He almost caught up with Queen Maeve. If not for Li Yue's racial identity, he might have surpassed Queen Maeve already.
It couldn't be helped: Li Yue's God of Thunder state was just so cool that loyal fans flocked to him!
...
"But...Vice President, Starlight is still against our arrangements. What should we do?"
The female assistant said in a low voice after hearing Madelyn's decision.
"Let me find a time to talk to Starlight. Just get her character and publicity plan ready as soon as possible. Also, prepare all kinds of emergency excuses. Don't let anything go wrong.
"Now go get the arrangements ready!"
"As you say, Vice President. Please inform me if you need anything else!"
...
Another day had passed. Li Yue had managed to keep his expression calm and natural, but his heart was as turbulent as stormy seas!
He was criticized after saving others. He was obviously upset, and the thought of beating them up even crossed his mind!
But he didn't expect that Homelander would actually go through with killing them. Not only those who criticized him but also the innocent bystanders that happened to witness him!
But what disturbed Li Yue the most wasn't Homelander's cruelty: it was himself. He could have used his superpower to save everyone, yet he didn't do that. He only saved the mother and daughter who were both Chinese!
He had let all the other innocents swept up by the explosion and die under his watch! All because he wanted to hide his ability from Homelander!
Or, to put it more callously, Li Yue was reluctant to lose the opportunity to grow his strength by being on Homelander's side. That's why he had suppressed his power, doing everything to avoid Homelander's attention! Today was no different!
Li Yue discovered that his personality gradually changed after entering this world and joining the Seven. Or perhaps it was after discovering the increase in his strength just by following Homelander around.
Li Yue wasn't a saint in the past either, but if he had seen someone that wasn't his enemy being endangered, he would almost always help them!
But the current Li Yue didn't even feel regret when he let all those people die without doing anything. He even found himself yearning to be like Homelander, who could do as he pleased and kill everyone he disliked!
Li Yue could only reprimand himself in secret. Even if he couldn't be a true selfless superhero, he had to at least keep his conscience clear and not kill the innocent!
...
Satisfied with that thought, Li Yue assessed his body again. After a week, Li Yue's strength had grown by almost 16%. His total strength was now almost 3/10th of Homelander's.
At this rate, Li Yue would become as strong as Homelander in less than a month—though, that was only in terms of physical strength. At that point, Li Yue would no longer be like anything he was now. He would basically be glued to Homelander's butt!
...
Soon, more than twenty days passed, and it had been almost a whole month since Li Yue arrived in this world.
Nothing major had happened in the past twenty or so days. It was unknown if the people from the main lead's group were really abiding by their promise to Li Yue or if they were delayed by an unrelated matter. In any case, they had not made any big moves!
Today marks the day that Li Yue had reached 7/10th of Homelander's strength. But it wasn't all good news. He found that despite still following Homelander around, his growth had slowed down considerably!
Li Yue felt a little depressed. At his estimate, a day with the current growth rate only amounts to less than a thousandth of Homelander's strength. Any progress was good, but such a huge gap was unacceptable!
At this rate, Li Yue would need almost a year to match Homelander!
A year might not sound like long, but Li Yue didn't have that kind of time!