Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 595 Edgar's Despondency
"You are not the first people to underestimate me."

Clark told Edgar, "But that doesn't matter; that's not the main reason you failed."

Edgar did not reply; in his view, Superman's answer was nothing but sarcastic remarks.

Without his exceptional combat skills, Homelander would have always been able to keep the CIA from making a move against him, and Vought's "Heroes in the Army" plan would have been virtually impossible to fail, not to mention the series of butterfly effects that followed.

When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Even without Superman, Voughty could still hold Homelander firmly in his grasp, and Homelander would remain as solid as a rock.

Forget about moles, betrayals, media condemnations, or firefighters. In Edgar's view, none of these things would ever come to pass.

"I still didn't expect that."

Edgar sighed: "Since your body hasn't shown any abnormalities yet, it means the Soldier Boy's laser isn't working on you, right?"

"You are so special that you surpass all previous users of Compound V, Storm, Homelander, Soldier Boy. Your strength, speed, hearing, vision, and so on almost completely overwhelm them, not just beating them. Even your mind is so normal. You are so perfect that you are not human, more like— than Homelander."

"A god among men?"

Clark laughed: "I think people have called me that before, I didn't expect to hear it here too—but you shouldn't try anymore, I'm not going to work with you; remember? I made a vow to you just now, and I will keep it."

"Is there absolutely no room for negotiation?"

Edgar looked at Clark: "You're one of the eight, you know the power of Wot, right? Whether you want to be a real hero or reform the current hero system, I can get Wot to fully cooperate with you. We're not just a star company that can only make money. As long as you're willing to cooperate, we can do a lot of things."

"And there's Compound No. 5. You should be able to see its potential, right? If it continues to be perfected, it can truly help humanity continue to evolve—think about it, treating congenital diseases in infants, helping disabled people regenerate severed limbs, and even stopping the aging process of the first few people in the initial experimental project. It's a treasure for humanity!"

After Superman admitted that he was a member of the organization that was secretly targeting Wot, he stopped hiding it altogether. He knew that the other party had investigated almost all the dirty work Wot had done in secret, and even left witnesses or physical evidence for each one, so he simply told everything directly.

In response to his candid suggestion, Superman asked, "Then, how many people will die if we let Wot continue to perfect it?"

When faced with Superman's question, Edgar paused, then fell silent.

“I know it can do a lot of good, but you also know how high its mortality rate is, don’t you?” Clark’s gaze swept over Edgar’s somewhat aged face: “What is the mortality rate of those experimental infants? What is the mortality rate of those adult experimenters? How many of them can still retain a clear mind?”

"You have been pushing this research in such a cruel way for decades, and you are still using living people as fuel to accelerate this kind of research. But we are human beings, and human beings have a bottom line."

Superman shook his head: "The wheels of history always roll forward. A second Hero Corporation, or even a second pharmaceutical company that researches Compound V, can be built on the ruins of Vought, but I will never allow you to continue to exist."

"You've done so much, you have to pay the price."

Edgar fell completely silent for several minutes before letting out a long sigh.

"In that case, I have a few questions I'd like to know the answers to. If you tell me, I'll fully cooperate with your investigation."

"Please say."

"Why are you so powerful? The superpower intensity of an infant injected with a permanent Compound V shouldn't be as strong as the mutants from Project Odyssey and the original Compound V."

"Because I wasn't the one who injected compound five at all."

Edgar's expression immediately darkened.

"That answer isn't funny."

"Haven't you ever wondered why the lab couldn't detect anything special in my blood and hair? Why did the report look like it came from someone with superpowers?"

Clark countered, "Have you considered the possibility that my friend might have manipulated the results? Just to prevent us from seeing your real data?"

"It's so that you won't discover that my genes are different from those of humans."

"?"

"I am an alien."

"???"

When Ma Zhaodi arrived at the sanatorium after receiving a call from Superman, there was an ice sculpture of Soldier Boy and the corpse of Homelander on the open ground outside, while Edgar lay listlessly on the ground, looking like he had dementia.

“What’s wrong with him?” Ma Zhaodi asked Clark.

“The blow was too great,” Clark replied. “He never imagined that his decades-long legacy would be destroyed by aliens.”

"Oh, your kind of deus ex machina situation is indeed very discouraging."

Ma Zhaodi expressed his understanding, saying that the previous riddle solver had the same experience, with an apple rolling into the well-arranged chessboard, which was really frustrating.

Did he say anything?

"He said there are many versions of compound 5, one temporary, one permanent, and one original."

Superman replied, "The first generation had the highest mortality rate, but also the strongest effect. Soldier Boy and Storm were both adults at the time, and they survived after being injected directly and stopped aging."

Where are the Homelanders?

"It's still the first-generation compound, but it was injected into in vitro fertilized babies at the blastocyst stage—Vought calls it Project Odyssey."

"Is a blastocyst considered an infant? It's only a few days older than a fertilized egg, right?"

"After the injection, the blastocyst will not die immediately. It will continue to develop until it grows into an embryo. Only after the mother gives birth can we know whether it is a stillbirth, a mad birth, or a sick birth."

"Isn't Water Corporation afraid of divine retribution?"

"He didn't seem too afraid. Not many people survived; according to him, only two did."

"Besides Homelander, there's another one?"

"Yes, her name is Mary—but Ryan inherited Homelander's abilities, so Walter didn't go looking for her, which will probably be a headache for the CIA later."

"It's alright, she didn't grow up in a lab, she shouldn't be as crazy as Homelander."

"Anyway, Edgar has already agreed to cooperate with our investigation. He knows that many people in Congress and the military have long disliked Walter, so he has no choice but to confess now."

"How did Homelander die? You've never killed anyone before."

"He shielded me from a laser beam from the Soldier Boy."

Ma Zhaodi didn't say anything more after hearing this, but simply patted Superman on the shoulder silently.

(End of this chapter)