I, the anti-superman, have hacked into the chat group.

"Boss, for now, we probably have no choice but to bring Deep Sea into the game early and use the popularity of the Super Seven to boost the ratings."

One of the selling points of this superhero talent show is that the champion has the opportunity to join the Super Seven. Therefore, in the next round of the finals, the show invited members of the Seven, including Deep Sea, as one of the judges.

The arrival of the deep sea was originally supposed to be a bonus scene for the show, but now we can only rob Peter to pay Paul. As for what to do about the climax in the third round? We'll think about that in the third round.

"Oh, dear viewers, our contestants have performed so brilliantly that not only you can't sit still, but even our judges can't sit still. So, the judges will be providing commentary for the next round of the competition."

"You'll never guess who he is! Tell me loud and clear, who is the hero who can command the ocean among all heroes?!"

As the host spoke, the audience shouted incredulously, "Deep Sea! Deep Sea!"

Immediately, a man in a green uniform appeared and took the microphone.

"I am very happy to serve as a judge and commentator for this competition. I am Shenhai, and you should all be familiar with me. I know that a very amazing contestant has emerged in this competition, but please be patient. The choice of a hero must be carefully considered."

"And look, the other contestants are also performing exceptionally well. The flying nightmares and the glittering starlight are truly a dreamlike sight, aren't they?"

Shenhai's appearance temporarily regained the audience's interest, and his commentary was indeed quite interesting. After all, he is someone who makes a living based on his fame, so he is very adept at handling this kind of situation. Moreover, the players other than the group members were also inspired to fight again by Shenhai.

The Super Seven are their idols, and how could they not give it their all when their idols are around? Although the group members couldn't understand what was so admirable about this person, since he hadn't really done anything significant and his superpowers weren't particularly outstanding.

The group members said he was like Aquaman, and he could indeed talk to fish like Aquaman. But Aquaman at least had command authority and could order all marine life around him, while he could only talk to fish. If he wanted marine life to help him, he had to befriend them politely.

The competition went smoothly from there. There were no particularly surprising moments, but there were also no unexpected events. During the competition, the production crew quietly came to see Shenhai again and handed him a note.

"What's going on? The third round is canceled?" Deep Sea received a very unexpected notification that the third round was to be merged into the current round, which meant that a champion had to be selected in a short while.

There's nothing we can do about it. The biggest highlight of the next round, the deep sea, has already taken the stage. Even if things continue smoothly, the final ratings for the show will only be stable.

Instead of doing that, why not move the final highlight of the third round to now and ignite the audience's enthusiasm all at once? That way, we might be able to make more money.

After reading the program team's notification, Shenhai quickly stopped caring. Anyway, his appearance fee wouldn't be reduced by a single penny, so he might as well finish the job as soon as possible and call it a day. In any case, the exposure from appearing on another program was nothing to him.

So Shenhai continued to commentate on the live match, but unlike the previous commentator who was more impartial, Shenhai's attention was mainly focused on the female players, such as Tokisaki Kurumi, Hoshikage, and Spider Girl. However, since he couldn't see Spider Girl's face, Shenhai quickly lost interest.

More than an hour later, the competition was coming to an end, and the contestants were all putting in their best effort to make one last push for points. However, at that moment, the scoreboard outside the arena suddenly shut down.

When the competition ended, players who wanted to check their rankings were met with a completely black screen.

When all eight players gathered together, Shenhai said, "Ladies and gentlemen, you must all be very curious as to why we are closing the leaderboard. This is because a qualified hero should not be measured by rankings."

"Superheroes who can use their power for good are the ones who are truly worthy of respect, and everyone has demonstrated this clearly in the simulation match just now."

"We don't need rankings or to eliminate anyone, because the person who deserves the title of superhero has already naturally emerged."

The audience was a little confused. Did Shenhai mean he was going to announce the champion directly? But after a brief moment of stunned silence, the audience erupted in enthusiasm.

Those who came to the scene felt they had hit the jackpot, as they could watch the whole thing in one go, while viewers in front of their TVs quickly called their friends and family, afraid of missing this important moment when the Super Seven were being selected.

The production team also inserted a commercial break at the right time, giving the audience enough time to build up their enthusiasm. When the program returned, the ratings had doubled.

To put this into perspective, it's equivalent to at least one-third of the population of this country being watching the program, which is an absolute record.

Chapter 89 The Inside Story

"That outstanding superhero is—"

The lights around the eight contestants dimmed, and then a spotlight moved around among them.

In front of Shen Hai was a controller with eight buttons. He was about to decide who to focus the spotlight on.

He immediately ruled out Carl, having already prepared an excuse: although Carl had solved the 'nuclear bomb,' his attitude towards the hostages during the game was too passive, and he failed to save anyone, which did not meet the professional requirements of a superhero.

As for the real reason, it's because Carl and Homelander are somewhat similar, and as everyone knows, putting two people with overlapping personalities into the same team is absolutely a foolish thing to do. If he really did that, Homelander would definitely tear him apart.

Next to Karl is Spider, and moving to the side next to her is Starlight. Beside Starlight is Tokisaki Kurumi, who has now withdrawn her clone and stands gracefully in place, like a young lady.

Deep Sea began to slowly slow the movement of the spotlight, his gaze shifting between Tokisaki Kurumi and Starlight, his two favorite contestants, chosen purely according to his preference.

This is certainly not because he has enough power to decide who can join the Super Seven; on the contrary, he has absolutely no say in this matter, nor does the production team.

The team members are entirely decided by the company, so his selection here has no impact. At most, the company will conduct an evaluation, and the rest is irrelevant to him. Therefore, he can do whatever he wants.

In his eyes, both Tokisaki Kurumi and Starlight were beautiful, making it difficult to choose. Starlight was white, which suited his aesthetic more, but Tokisaki Kurumi had the ability to create clones. If he could have sex with her once, that ability would be absolutely heavenly.

Thinking this, the lights began to move towards Kurumi Tokisaki.

However, at that moment, Akami saw Tokisaki Kurumi's eyes. It was a haughty look that disregarded what was happening around her, and it was the look that Akami hated the most.

Despite being a big star, Shenhai has always harbored a deep-seated inferiority complex, stemming from his physical condition. He can move in the water because he has fish-like gills under his ribs, which has caused him to suffer a lot of prejudice since childhood and prevents him from developing confidence even now.

Rather than saying he hated her, it would be more accurate to say he was afraid of Tokisaki Kurumi's gaze. He couldn't maintain his composure under that gaze, so he decisively gave up on Tokisaki Kurumi.

The spotlight flashed a few times before settling on the starlight.

"That's it, starlight!"

"Me?" Starlight pointed to her nose in disbelief.

Although she had previously said that she would definitely win and show everyone, that was just bravado. Especially after seeing Carl's performance, she lost all confidence and even had thoughts of giving up. It was Deepsea's arrival that made her persevere and finish the competition.

But now she had actually won and taken the championship, which made her so excited that she didn't know how to express herself. In an instant, her muscles were highly tense and she released a lot of energy. The current directly impacted the entire stage and stirred up a whirlwind.

Starlight quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to, I was just too excited, I never thought I could win the crown..."

Before the word "champion" could be finished, the spotlight in the air suddenly shifted.

"It's Spider, the contestant next to Miss Starlight!"

Starlight was stunned: "What?"

Her mind went blank for a moment, and she reflexively looked towards the spider.

At that moment, Starlight felt as if she had seen the legendary goddess of beauty. She had never seen, no, she had never even imagined that anyone could be so beautiful.

Spider-Woman's hood fell down, and her appearance caused a brief moment of silence in the entire arena. Everyone was captivated by her beauty. This might not have been so dramatic elsewhere, but the people who came to watch the game were mostly fervent fans, for whom appearance was of paramount importance.

The moment Deepsea saw Spider-Child's appearance, he declared Spider-Child the winner without a second thought. However, he now needs to add some reasons so that people won't think he chose people based on their appearance, even if that's true.

"People might wonder why I would say Spider-Woman is the most outstanding superhero. It's not because of her appearance, even though she is very beautiful. I value her spirit more."

"I don't know if you guys noticed, but Spider-Girl never killed anyone in the game. She always used her webs to bind the villain models. This kind of compassion for all life is the true nature of a superhero."

After Shen Hai finished speaking, regardless of whether others believed him or not, he himself believed it.

"How could it be like this? It's because I didn't do enough. Yes, that's how it is..." Starlight muttered as she squatted on the ground. After the ups and downs, she could only try to convince herself to accept Deep Sea's excuse so as not to lose too much of her composure.

However, Kurumi Tokisaki walked right up to her and laughed: "Hahaha, now you know how stupid you are, right? The person you admire is nothing but a lecherous eel who will abandon you in the blink of an eye when he sees someone prettier."

"Oh dear, what a pity. If you hadn't gotten so excited that you lifted Spider's hood, the championship would definitely have been yours. What a shame."

Kurumi Tokisaki's actions, like rubbing salt into a wound, mercilessly shattered Hoshino's last shred of illusion, forcing her to acknowledge the injustice she had suffered.

At this moment, a staff member jogged onto the stage and handed a microphone to Spider-Man.

Deepsea asked via live video link: "Spider, what are your thoughts on qualifying for the Super Seven? You know, this bonus must be more tempting than the championship itself."

“No,” said the spider.

“I know you must be very excited, but of course, after all, the Seven are… wait, what did you just say, ‘no’?”

"..." Spider didn't answer at all this time.

At this moment, Carl stepped forward, took the microphone from Spider, and said, "Let me explain."

"Spider-Girl means that she doesn't want to join the Super Seven."

"What! Oh, you must be joking." Deep Sea forced himself to remain calm.

“I’m not joking,” Carl said, as his friends came over and stood with him.

"In fact, we never came here to join anyone. We are already a team, a team that fights for truth and justice—the Justice League!"

"Today we just want to introduce ourselves to everyone, and in the future we will bring you the truth. Just because some things are not mentioned does not mean that no one cares."

As he spoke, Carl kept his eyes fixed on Deepsea's location. Deepsea had a strong feeling that this man was coming for him, no, for the Seven, and even for the entire Vought Corporation.

Chapter Ninety: The Origin of Superpowers

Carl's words put Deep in an awkward position. The other party seemed to keep emphasizing the evil in the shadows, and as one of the Super Seven, he naturally knew that behind the glamorous appearance of superheroes lay a great deal of evil.

Shenhai knew that if these things were exposed, it would definitely cause a storm in society, and countless people would be blown down. Therefore, Shenhai decided to report this matter to the company.

That's right, he won't manage it himself because he's insecure and knows he can't handle it. So, he'd rather let someone taller take the lead.

Deep Sea prompted the production team to immediately cut off the live broadcast and switch to commercial breaks. However, this was only a timely measure to mitigate the damage. The live broadcast content had already been released, and everyone realized that whether Carl and the others cut off the broadcast or not would not have much of an impact.

“Alright, let’s go. We’ve got the initial popularity; it’s time to move on to the next step,” Karl said.

To complete the mission, popularity is only one aspect, targeting the Super Seven's celebrity side. However, they are also superpowered individuals and company employees, so simply suppressing their popularity won't suffice.

At this moment, many reporters held up microphones, wanting to go on stage to interview them, but Carl simply soared into the sky and flew away from the scene.

This is the Vought Corporation's home turf. Even if Carl and others are interviewed, the reporters will only distort the facts by taking things out of context.

Moreover, Carl and the others don't really want to be stars. They don't have the time to take on advertising endorsements or anything like that. They just need to generate more buzz than the Super Seven.

Karl and the others returned to their lodgings. As soon as they entered, Bronya greeted them. During the time they were participating in the competition, Bronya had been holed up in her room browsing online information using her Heavy Bunny app.

“Superman, you guys are back. I watched the live stream just now, and the speech went pretty well, so does that mean we’ve officially joined the Justice League?” Bronya said.

Karl had previously mentioned that everyone was a team, and casually brought up the name of the Justice League, which seemed to have caught the attention of the group members.

"Uh, sorry, I just blurted it out," Carl apologized.

“You don’t need to apologize, this is definitely a good thing, isn’t it?” Bronya said cheerfully. She liked reading comics and had even done some research to find information for her friends in the group, so she had a certain longing for becoming a superhero.

“Now that we’re superheroes too, we should naturally do what heroes do and fight against evil,” Bronya said.

"From what you're saying, have you discovered something evil?" Karl asked.

Bronya nodded: "Bronya has been collecting information on the Super Seven and Vought International these past few days. What they've been doing is absolutely inhuman. Acting like divas is just the tip of the iceberg."

Bronya uncovered a lot of dirt on Vought International, a company with over 200 superheroes across the United States, whose private behavior was simply appalling.

The online information has been under the control of the Vought Corporation. Bronya spent a lot of effort to find some videos that hadn't been completely deleted in the corners of the internet, but there were still quite a few. The content of these videos mostly showed the chaotic private lives of these people, which was extremely disgusting.

The group members only watched part of it and felt that Bronya should turn off the video, as continuing to watch would only be an eyesore.

"This is outrageous! They have absolutely no respect for the law. We have to release these videos so everyone can see what they're really like," the doctor said angrily.

The group members shared his sentiment, but Kurumi Tokisaki poured cold water on the idea, saying, "It's useless. These videos are just found online, nobody cares about them. Even if you rekindle the hype, it won't make much difference. Their company is a professional at handling these kinds of things."

Bronya also admitted, "Yes, these things are probably insignificant. I haven't found the really important information yet. It has been completely deleted. Tokisaki Kurumi is right. With just these, Vought Corporation can easily handle it."