Vought Tower, top floor.
Madelyn, the executive of Vought International, was reporting the latest investigation progress to Homelander.
On the holographic screen behind her, a bottomless, pitch-black crater occupied the entire frame.
"We tried sending down our most advanced deep-earth probes," Madelyn's voice carried an uncontrollable trace of exhaustion. "But after descending twelve thousand meters underground, they completely lost contact due to the unbearable pressure and heat."
She paused and added, "Now, that tunnel... has completely collapsed under the terrifying pressure of the planet itself."
The geological department's expert team had worked through the night to model and analyze the on-site data.
Vought's chief analyst stared at the data listed on the screen, his eyes full of horror behind his glasses.
"Based on the speed and depth of the crater's formation, combined with A-Train's medical report detailing 'seventy percent comminuted fractures across his entire body'..."
He swallowed hard, his voice dry.
"We have reached a... disturbing conclusion."
"This mysterious Asian male, the strength, defense, and unknown drilling capabilities he displayed... have far exceeded all upper limits of our current understanding of Supes."
"He might even surpass..." He suddenly realized what he was about to say and quickly covered his mouth.
Madelyn transferred an encrypted file to the terminal in front of Homelander.
The screen lit up, revealing a slightly blurry Eastern face captured from a street corner surveillance camera.
This face had zero matches in Vought's proud global citizen database.
Homelander stared at the unfamiliar face. His signature, sunny, and gentle fake smile did not fade.
However, the temperature in the conference room seemed to plummet by over ten degrees.
An invisible pressure made it difficult for everyone present to breathe.
Jealousy and unease caused red lasers to brew deep within his azure eyes.
"This person has an Eastern face. Could it be..."
A veteran Vought executive stared at the screen, his brows furrowed tightly.
"Madelyn, pull up Soldier Boy's files. Especially... the records regarding his disappearance in Nicaragua."
Everyone present felt a sudden chill in their hearts.
Soldier Boy, the legendary superhero.
A legend who was supposed to have died in a nuclear power plant accident decades ago.
There had always been rumors within Vought that Soldier Boy didn't die, but was captured by an enemy nation, with constant speculation pointing toward Eastern factions.
...
Earth, the core.
Amidst the golden-red molten ocean, Ian completed the initial loading of the Superman template.
The Kryptonian bloodline within his body yearned for a true sun.
He could clearly sense the direction of the most abundant energy on this planet—the East, where the sun was rising.
He lingered no longer.
His body transformed into a streak of red-gold light.
Two beams of blazing red light erupted from his eyes.
Heat Vision directly melted through tens of thousands of kilometers of the mantle and crust.
It was the planet's toughest barrier, but before him, it was sliced apart as easily as butter.
Boom—!!!
Somewhere in the Gobi Desert of western China, the ground violently exploded without warning.
A figure bathed in flying sand and rocks soared into the sky.
The rising morning sun cast its first rays of light upon him.
Warm, powerful.
Ian hovered in mid-air, closed his eyes, and stretched his body to his heart's content.
The Kryptonian physique gave him an unprecedented sense of fulfillment, as if a wanderer who had been away from home for years had finally returned to his mother's embrace.
Every cell in his body cheered and leaped for joy under the sunlight, greedily absorbing the energy.
Sweeping his super vision across the surroundings, he quickly locked onto a remote camp.
A moment later, when he reappeared, he was wearing a green military overcoat, matching combat boots, and a military cap.
The oversized clothing and the brim of the hat perfectly concealed most of his facial features.
Meanwhile, inside the camp, a 100% pure gold ingot lay quietly in the morning light, shimmering with an alluring gleam.
Having done all this, Ian no longer hid his presence.
He raised his head, looking at the star hanging high in the sky, a fanatical smirk curling the corners of his lips.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
With an incredibly exaggerated posture, he launched himself straight up from where he hovered.
The air beneath his feet was instantly compressed and detonated, creating layers of white sonic booms that bloomed like lotus flowers.
His speed grew faster and faster, breaking through the first and second cosmic velocities in an instant.
He charged straight into the deep blue upper atmosphere, flying toward the sun.
At this moment, the sharpest alarms blared in the military command centers of every nation on the globe possessing space monitoring capabilities.
On the radar screens, an unidentified, ultra-high-speed target was directly breaking free from Earth's gravity at a terrifying pace.
"God! What is that thing?!"
"A missile? No! No missile has that kind of speed and maneuverability!"
"Could it be Homelander?"
"The target is accelerating! It's going to fly out of detection range!"
Inside Vought Tower's monitoring center, there was a similar dead silence.
Everyone, including Homelander, stared fixedly at the increasingly fast red trajectory on the screen.
They couldn't see the exact appearance of the entity, but through the blurry images captured by high-powered satellites, that striking green military overcoat became his only identifying mark.
"He's Eastern. How could they possibly have this kind of technology?" Madelyn muttered in disbelief.
The murderous intent in Homelander's eyes almost solidified into something tangible.
But he quickly reined in all his emotions.
A few minutes later, he straightened his Stars and Stripes suit and, in front of countless media cameras, revealed his signature, highly approachable "America's Sweetheart" smile.
"Just now, we all witnessed a miracle together."
His voice spread across the world through the live broadcast.
"A brand new hero has shown us his existence, and the power he possesses is almost catching up to mine."
"I, Homelander, along with all the members of The Seven, extend our most sincere invitation to this mysterious hero."
"The doors of The Seven are always open to the truly strong."
His speech was impassioned, full of anticipation and welcome for a "new companion."
But deep in his heart, that mysterious man in the military overcoat had already become the number one threat he had to personally eradicate.
He would absolutely never allow an existence in this world that was stronger, more highly regarded, or closer to a god than himself.
Meanwhile, in space, hundreds of millions of kilometers away.
Ian's figure was just an insignificant speck against the vast backdrop of the universe.
He crossed planetary orbits, ignoring the vacuum and bitter cold of space.
Finally, he plunged headfirst into the boundless sea of coronal fire, churning with temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees on the sun.
Ian's figure was instantly swallowed up.