The Mutant God in American Comics.

Chapter 125: First Seeing the Starlight (4K Large Chapter)

Super seven-man tower.

Photo studio on the 35th floor.

The photographer of Vought Group is shooting the latest promotional poster of Richard who is wearing the same black windbreaker as Sephiroth.

Although Richard's external publicity has just begun, promotional materials must be prepared in advance.

In addition to various promotional posters and short films, the marketing and promotion department of the Water Group also developed a series of follow-up promotion plans for him.

These include but are not limited to participating in interviews, guest appearances in superhero movies currently being filmed, shooting personal promotional videos, planning hero events, etc.

From a personal perspective, Richard doesn't really like this kind of marketing promotion that's similar to that of celebrity artists.

But in order to complete this world challenge and become the most well-known superhero in the universe, he needs to participate in these marketing promotion activities even if he doesn't like it very much.

Otherwise, even if he saves people all over the world, he won't be able to become a household name superhero in a short period of time, let alone become the most famous superhero.

After shooting the latest set of promotional posters and magazine cover posters, Madeline and Homelander, vice presidents of the Water Group, who had been in the studio for a while, walked towards him with professional smiles on their faces.

“Are you used to filming?”

Vice President Madeline asked Richard with a smile on her face.

"good."

Richard replied casually.

Although he was answering Madeleine, his eyes were not on Madeleine, who was already a middle-aged woman, but on his fellow countryman.

Whether in appearance or clothing, the people of his motherland were exactly the same as he remembered.

In addition, the motherland also has that carefully trained professional smile on his face, which does not represent his true thoughts at all.

"I heard from Ashley that you were shooting your latest poster here, so I brought Homelander over to meet you."

"Even though you're not teammates yet, it never hurts to get to know each other in advance."

Madeline continued.

As soon as she finished speaking, the voice of the Homelander rang out.

"What is your relationship with Edgar?"

"Why did he arrange for you to join the Super Seven?"

Although there was still a smile on his face, the motherland's tone was not as friendly as his facial expression.

If it were anyone else, they would definitely answer all the questions from their motherland in detail.

But it was clear that Richard was no one else.

He didn't take the threat in Homelander's tone seriously at all, and said casually: "If you are so curious about this question, why don't you ask Edgar directly?"

After hearing Richard's answer, the smile on Homelander's face immediately disappeared. He looked at him with a cold expression, and his eyes flashed a faint red light.

Heat rays, huh?
I have it too!
After seeing Homelander's eyes glowing red, Richard also used his heat ray power and his eyes glowed the same red.

"Are you sure you want to fight me here?"

Richard said to his fellow countrymen.

Although he has not yet demonstrated his super powers in front of other people, in order to facilitate publicity by the marketing and promotion department of the Water Group, he briefly revealed some of his super powers.

All the super powers of Homelander!
And also the super powers to control fire, lightning, hurricanes, ice, gravity, and magnetic fields!
To put it simply, the superpowers he has revealed to the public now can be simply understood as a fully enhanced version of Homelander.

After hearing Richard's words, the red light shining in Homelander's eyes became even brighter.

Although before coming to the studio, Vice President Madeline had reminded him not to have a direct conflict with Richard for the time being.

But to Homelander, Richard's actions and responses were a provocation to him.

Just as Homelander was about to release the heat ray to teach Richard a lesson and let him know who was the boss, Madeline patted him on the shoulder and shook her head at him.

After seeing Madeline's signal, Homelander's eyes returned to normal.

"We won't bother you from continuing to shoot the poster."

After that, Vice President Madeline took Homelander out of the studio.

After coming out of the studio, Homelander said seriously: "I can beat him. He can't be my opponent. I have absolute confidence."

Although Homelander's expression was serious, Madeline was not as optimistic as he was.

As a strong woman who has been working in the business world for decades, she could easily see that the calmness and composure Richard just displayed were not fake.

In addition, she also saw in Richard his disdain for his fellow countrymen.

Where did he come from?
Why have I never heard of him before?

Was it Compound No. 5 that Edgar provided him?
……

One guess after another kept flashing through Madeline's mind.

She didn't know Richard's true origins, so she thought he was a person with super powers who used Compound No. 5.

She would never have imagined that Richard was a mutant from the Marvel Universe.

After Madeline left the studio with Homelander, Richard continued shooting the posters and cover.

time flies.

Three days passed before I knew it.

During these three days, apart from cooperating with the Water Group's packaging and promotion, Richard's main task was to bring the beauties he had picked up back to the hotel for fun.

Although doing so will bring certain negative effects, he will not live a boring life like a monk just to complete the world challenge.

The rewards for World Challenges are indeed important.

But it is equally important to live happily.

Ten o'clock in the morning.

The annual shareholders' meeting of Water Group is being held in the Super Seven Tower.

In addition to introducing the gains and achievements of the Water Group in the previous year to all shareholders, this year's shareholders' meeting also has an additional process.

That was to solemnly announce that Richard and Starlight would become new members of the Super Seven.

The public had known for a long time that Starlight had joined the Super Seven.

After all, Xingguang won the Most Popular Award in the talent show.

And Richard is still just a stranger to most people.

In the past ten days, the Water Group has spared no effort in promoting and packaging Richard.

But because Richard rarely appears in public and lacks sufficient exposure to heroic activities, he is still a stranger in the hearts of ordinary people.

To be precise, the vast majority of ordinary people only know his name and what he looks like, and are far from fanatically supporting and admiring him.

According to a survey by the marketing department, his current support rate among adults aged 18-49 is a pitiful 0.36%.

Among them, the support rate among adult women is 0.35%, and the support rate among adult men is 0.01%.

This support rate is far inferior to Homelander and Queen Maeve, let alone the third-rate heroes in the Vought Group.

Today, the Vought Group probably has 280 superheroes.

If we only look at the approval rating, Richard would now be ranked in the bottom three.

Although the public support rate was not very good, and was even pitifully low, Richard did not take it too seriously.

His approval rating is not high now only because he has not started his activities yet.

As soon as he starts to take action and demonstrates his strength that far exceeds that of his fellow countrymen, his support rate will immediately soar.

With his strong strength and handsome looks, if he still cannot gain the fanatical support of the people, then he would be too useless.

On the red carpet outside the Super Seven Tower, two black Rolls-Royces were parked one after the other in front of the red carpet.

The surrounding streets and squares were packed with fans from all over the place.

To be precise, it is a gathering of star fans from all over the world.

In addition to these fans, there were also a large number of reporters and photographers gathered around the red carpet.

When the first Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the red carpet, Xingguang, who was wearing a platinum uniform, had long golden hair, fair skin and delicate looks, walked down from the back row.

Coming down with Xingguang was her mother.

As soon as Xingguang got out of the car, the fans around her started screaming.

At the same time, flashes of light kept going off, and reporters and photographers around the red carpet were frantically shooting at the stars.

Although he had dreamed of joining the Super Seven since he was a child and had been a street hero in Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, for several years, the scene before him still shocked Starlight.

Iowa's sweetheart, Des Moines' keeper!
This is the label before Starlight.

However, starting today, her label is no longer the sweetheart of Iowa and the guardian of Des Moines, but the star of the Super Seven!

After Xingguang got off the car, Ashley quickly came to Xingguang, stretched out her right hand towards her, and said:
“Welcome to New York, I’m Ashley, Head of Talent and Relationships.”

After shaking hands with Ashley, Starlight asked incredulously, "Are all these people here just for me?"

"Who else would they be here for, dear?"

Ashley asked Starlight back with a smile.

After hearing Ashley's answer, Starlight's smile grew even wider.

Although she had some fame in Des Moines before, this was her first time experiencing such a superstar-like welcome.

Just as she was fantasizing about her bright future after joining the Super Seven, a second Rolls-Royce stopped in front of the red carpet.

As the rear door opened, Richard, with long flowing silver hair and wearing a black windbreaker, walked out of the car.

Compared with Xingguang's getting off the bus, his getting off the bus was not greeted with any cheers.

Not only that, even the flashing of flash lights has been significantly reduced by more than half.

Such obvious difference in treatment immediately caught Xingguang's attention.

Because she just arrived in New York today, she has not seen the various packaging and promotions of Richard by the Water Group in New York City.

To put it simply, she had never seen Richard, didn't know what Richard's name was, and didn't know that Richard would join the Super Seven with her.

"he is?"

Starlight asked Ashley after seeing Richard.

"Richard Wesley, codenamed 'Silver Angel', will also join the Super Seven. You will become teammates in the future."

Ashley replied quickly.

Then, he came to Richard with a respectful face, as if facing a superior, and said respectfully: "Mr. Wesley, the shareholders' meeting has started for a while. I will take you to the backstage of the venue."

Richard first glanced at the starlight beside him, then slowly said, "Lead the way!"

His tone was calm, as if Ashley's respect was a matter of course.

Of course, from his point of view, this is indeed a matter of course.

However, for Starlight and her daughter, there was something wrong with Ashley's behavior.

Although they had never known Richard before, they could clearly see the respect Ashley showed to Richard.

Under normal circumstances, Ashley, as the head of talent and relations at the Water Group, would not need to be so servile to Richard, who had just joined the Super Seven today.

But the result now is that Ashley did just that.

Speaking of this, we have to talk about Madeline, the vice president of the Water Group.

Ashley was so respectful to Richard, on the one hand because she felt a stronger sense of oppression from Richard than from her homelander, and on the other hand because of Madeline's instructions.

After hearing Richard's reply, Ashley took Richard and Starlight and her daughter to the backstage of the shareholders' meeting without any hesitation.

On the way to the backstage of the venue, Xingguang unconsciously looked at Richard.

Although she had never seen Richard before, there was one thing she was sure of, that was that Richard was indeed very attractive.

Handsome looks, tall figure, flowing and smooth silver hair, and a black windbreaker with a retro feel...

As a normal young woman who was just 23 years old this year, Richard's appearance and dress left her with a very deep first impression.

Not long after, they arrived backstage at the venue.

As soon as they arrived backstage, the makeup artists gathered around them, ready to help them touch up their makeup.

Xingguang did not refuse the makeup artist's touch-ups, and allowed the makeup artists around her to apply cosmetics on her face.

But Richard is different.

Before the makeup artists could make a move, he said, "Stay away from me. I don't like makeup."

After hearing his words, the makeup artists around him were stunned for a moment and turned to look at Ashley.

"I was negligent. Mr. Wesley has never liked to wear makeup. You can go down now."

Ashley said quickly.

Whether in the past or now, Richard doesn't like to wear makeup.

In addition, he doesn't think that his current appearance needs to be compensated by makeup.

While Xingguang was putting on makeup, Madeline, the vice president at the venue, also introduced the performance of the Water Group in the past year. Standing on the stage, she continued, "I have a great surprise for everyone. The members of the Super Seven and the fastest man in the world are here in person."

"Now, let's welcome the locomotive!"

As soon as Madeline finished speaking, the circular spotlight focused on her moved to the entrance next to the venue.

Under the gaze of the crowd, the locomotive, wearing a blue and white tight uniform and goggles, came onto the stage.

After a brief hug with Madeleine, the engine took the microphone and said: "After many years of service and outstanding achievements in the Super Sevens, my good friends 'Lamplighter' and 'Deep Sea' have retired."

……

(End of this chapter)