Outside the tent where a silhouette portrait of Standard stood.
There were both men and women waiting in line, their expressions much more solemn than elsewhere.
At the entrance, two staff members in red vests stopped over a dozen people, including Butcher.
One of them pointed to a nearby rubber basket and said with a smile, "Gentlemen, the ceremony must remain private. To protect your personal privacy, please hand over all electronic devices."
Butcher watched the crowd ahead being checked one by one with handheld scanners and cursed inwardly, 'The hacking device Babyface gave me can't get in at all, and neither can the phone. How am I supposed to communicate?'
He stepped forward, pulled out his phone, and tossed it into the basket, muttering hesitantly, "Hey man, this out-of-print vintage MP3 is really expensive. Can I bring it in? What if it gets lost?"
The staff member glanced at it and waved him off impatiently, "No! I said all electronic devices!"
"Then I can give it to a friend to hold, right?"
"Suit yourself."
Butcher shrugged and turned away helplessly.
He went to the back of the line to find MM, put his arm around him, and slipped him the MP3 while giving him a look. "Hold this for me."
"Oh, okay." MM used his body to shield the movement and handed over a miniature Bluetooth earpiece.
Butcher nodded, quickly palmed it, and walked toward the tent entrance. 'Whether I can get it in depends on my sleight of hand.'
MM tucked away the MP3 and continued waiting in line with his phone, quickly tapping the screen: [Hughie, what should we do? We can't get the stuff you gave us inside. Butcher only took one earpiece.]
Meanwhile, on the steps in the distance of the park, Hughie sat on the ground with a laptop, typing furiously: [It's fine, it's the same if you hold it. As long as someone in the tent acts as my eyes. Execute Plan B.]
Whoosh—Bang!
A sonic boom echoed from the sky as Homelander suddenly soared into the air and disappeared.
Hughie looked up, felt the Temp V injection hidden in his pocket, and then let go of it.
Even if Homelander was gone, there were still other Supes and Vought Security present. They were supposed to catch Ezekiel tomorrow; right now, they were just doing a small task assigned by Chameleon. They couldn't cause a scene.
So, to be safe, they chose to use hacking techniques to steal data from Standard's electronic devices.
The original plan was for Butcher to enter the tent and get close to Standard, hacking into the electronic device he carried for a quick and direct result.
Now they had to use the hard way, testing the tents and surrounding electronic devices one by one to find the target's phone.
Hughie checked the time on his watch and murmured, "It's up to our 'eyes' now. I hope we're in time."
...Inside the tent, it was pitch black.
A tall figure in pure white priest robes stood on the pulpit, surrounded by a faint shimmer, his face appearing exceptionally solemn in the dim light.
Butcher stood before the pulpit with the crowd and lowered his head to pray.
"Lost lambs..." Standard waved his hand on stage, his voice possessing a strange piercing quality.
Butcher felt his voice, with its strange piercing quality, trying to burrow into his head.
"We are born in sin, raised in sin... Desire is the spark of original sin, igniting greed, envy, sloth..."
Standard's words were like a tide, and along with the spreading shimmer, the entire tent was filled with a holy radiance.
Butcher felt a slight dizziness, and an involuntary urge to confess welled up inside him. He quickly bit the tip of his tongue, using the pain to stay conscious.
Standard said compassionately, "Look, in the Light of the Lord, your sins have nowhere to hide... Acknowledge it! Face it! Only then can your soul be purified and reborn!"
The power of verbal persuasion was amplified by the enclosed space and the group effect.
Soon, low sobs and confessions began to echo through the crowd.
"Lord, I've been stealing my neighbor's underwear and wearing it..."
"I... I've become a furry, and I've even gone to Denmark for extensive practical experience..."
"I accidentally got dozens of female members of the support group pregnant..."
The voices echoed one after another in the shimmering space, weaving into a bizarre symphony.
Butcher gritted his teeth, the veins in his temples throbbing slightly as an inexplicable force pulled at his memories.
'No... Get out!'
Several fragmented images flashed uncontrollably through his mind.
Lenny hiding in the closet, blue eyes full of fear, tiny hands clutching his shirt... and later, the cold corpse when he heard the news.
Why did he just leave back then? Why hadn't he beaten that alcoholic, abusive bastard of a father to death? Endless regret gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake.
The fury, guilt, and despair that nearly burst from his chest were forced back by Butcher. 'Not here, not in front of this hypocritical Supe charlatan...'
He opened his mouth and, with all his willpower, twisted the confession about to escape: "I confess... I took my dog to pee next to the statue of Jesus..."
As this crude joke fell, he relived the self-reproach and regret of abandoning Lenny once more in his mind.
Butcher clenched his fists, peeking at the light on the stage, pricking up his ears, and concentrating to distinguish every subtle sound.
Outside the tent, phone ringtones, video playback, and vibrations sounded one after another, yet there was no sound from the stage.
'That's impossible. In a session for confessing secrets like this, shouldn't there be a recording device? Is Standard so cautious he doesn't even carry a phone?'
A few minutes later, a low vibration came from the stage, and the light suddenly contracted.
"I confess... I ordered my dog to poop at someone's door..." Only then did Butcher open his mouth, his fingers tapping rhythmically against his thigh.
Outside the tent, in the basket where the phones were kept, the series of ringtones and notification sounds all ceased.
MM's earpiece received this Morse code representing "Target confirmed, initiate action," and he sent a message to Hughie.
On the hillside steps, Hughie's hands flew across the keyboard. Code scrolled continuously in a black pop-up window. From the hundreds of device IDs listed on the screen, he selected a highlighted ID string.
"Found it! Just hold on a little longer, don't disconnect..."
Infiltrating... 10%... 30%... 50%
"Ah—I'm in!" Hughie let out a low growl and began a frantic data copy.
On the other side, inside the tent, Standard stopped preaching, the light on his body gradually receding. "Today's guidance ends here... The sins you have confessed have been washed away. May the Lord bless you."
He stepped down from the pulpit, a strange unease lingering in his heart. "Why would a harassment call come through? Looks like I need a new device."
People made gestures across their chests and bowed to the pulpit. Butcher followed suit and quickly left the tent with the flow of people.
As soon as he stepped out of the tent and retrieved his phone, Butcher dialed a number, the sadness on his face vanishing instantly. "How's it going?"
Hughie's voice came through the receiver: "Got it. This 'Priest of Holy Light' has a lot of juicy secrets hidden in his phone."
"He sells information about valuable confessors to third parties and uses it to extort massive hush money. He also established a 'Youth Moral Training Camp' to help the church and desperate parents mentally control rebellious boys and girls, brainwashing them into faithful church believers."
"Wait! I also found encrypted chat logs between him and someone named 'Eva Lake'. They mention 'cargo', 'Seeds of Holiness', and the 'Church of St. John's Gospel'... Butcher, we might have hooked a big fish."
"We'll talk when I get there. Those damn scumbags..." Butcher ended the call and put a cigarette in his mouth.
He tried to light it with a lighter, but his hands were shaking so badly he couldn't aim it properly after several tries.
MM walked up to him, put an arm around his shoulder, and took the lighter. "You okay?"
Butcher took a deep drag and exhaled slowly. "Let's go. Let's pull this fish out and see what else is hidden under the mud."
The two walked side by side and disappeared into the crowd.
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