Godolkin University, Academic Building A.
After the morning classes concluded, everyone left the classroom in an orderly fashion.
In the corridor, the commotion had not subsided, and discussions about Translucent and Vought were still brewing.
Wade picked up his backpack, his gaze sweeping over Kate, who was whispering and laughing intimately with Luke ahead of him: 'Vought's fire can burn slowly. The people here need to be dealt with quickly.'
Jordan Li tugged at his backpack strap and said with a heavy heart, "Do you think what we saw during our camping trip has something to do with today's news?"
Wade walked alongside him, descending the stairs: "Don't tell me... it's possible one or two of those drug-making criminals actually escaped that night."
"So, could this be... their revenge?" Jordan Li sighed, turning her head and saying, "Could we also be targets of those people?"
'Such a vivid imagination.' Wade saw Jordan Li's conflicted expression, placed a hand on her shoulder, and comforted her, "We didn't kill anyone that night; Homelander and his team did it. There's no way they can pin it on us... Don't worry!"
Jordan Li stood at the stairwell, her brow unfurrowing: "You're right. I should go to the professor's office for my shift. See you later."
Wade waved goodbye to her and went straight to the sky above The Woods, lying down on the treetops.
He took out paper and pen from his bag, recalling the images of the "Nirvana" project he had seen in The Woods laboratory in the early hours of the morning.
The blood exchange between Luke and Sam, Kate's comforting and suppressing presence, the complex instrument pipes... every detail was etched onto the cardboard with his pencil.
The pen tip slid across the paper, and the images quickly took shape, thoughtfully accompanied by brief textual annotations.
'Mental Control can only selectively make one forget certain things; it cannot completely erase memories. With a strong enough stimulus, memories can gradually resurface.'
He meticulously recorded the connections between plasma replacement, Mental Control, and ability enhancement.
'Am I indirectly helping Luke get rid of that bad woman sooner... Does this count as doing a good deed?'
Ten minutes later, Wade tore off the drawing, tucked it into his pocket, dropped from the treetops back to the ground, and blended into the crowd.
He put on his hood, and the muscles and bones in his face began to shift and reorganize, transforming into a long-nosed European face.
...
Half an hour later, at the stadium, in the strength zone.
Wade, as usual, was training his precise control ability with super-heavy equipment. This time, he was slowly lifting two 1-ton barbells simultaneously with airflow.
"Hey, do you have to push yourself so hard? Don't get hurt." Andre also had a barbell suspended in front of him, but he was using magnetism.
Beside them, Luke, wearing a weightlifting belt, was deadlifting a 3-ton barbell with both hands, panting softly: "Andre, what about you? Aren't you going to add some weight?"
Wade's mind stirred, controlling the two barbells to return to the rack, looking left and right: "What's there to compare? Just do what suits you."
Just then, Kate walked over with a bag of iced drinks, smiling: "Future heroes, take a break and have something to drink."
Before her words finished, a white blur streaked across the track.
Sizzle—
Jade skidded to a halt in front of them, curiously glancing at Luke, and handed him a file bag: "Senior, an unfamiliar student just paid a lot of money for me to give this to you."
Luke put down the barbell, picked up the file bag with a puzzled expression: "Huh?! I didn't order anything."
He casually pulled open the zipper, took out the drawing, glanced at it, and his face changed repeatedly: "This, this is..."
These pencil-drawn images suddenly overlapped with the vague fragments buried in his memory!
Every gentle whisper from Kate, the empty feeling of his power inexplicably increasing, his brother's frantic and painful roars... countless details that had been deliberately ignored and dismissed as trivial now connected to form a horrifying truth.
Jade hopped over to Wade, winking: "Buddy, you've been appearing and disappearing lately. Did you find a good spot?"
"Thanks." Wade took the water Kate offered, his expression calm. "What good things? Just participating in community service to gain some social practice experience."
Kate turned around, saw Luke's strange expression, and leaned in: "Luke, what's wrong? What is that thing..."
Just as her fingertip was about to touch Luke's arm, Luke suddenly dodged, retreating several steps.
Kate's pupils constricted, her arm frozen in mid-air: "You..."
"Still trying to play dumb?" Luke looked at the red gloves on her hands, his eyes filled with scrutiny and furious shock, his tone harsh, "I remember everything you did to me!"
"No, it's not like that, listen to me." Kate took off her red gloves, rushed forward anxiously, tears welling in her eyes, "I did all that for your own good! It was to help you control your power, it was to..."
"For my own good?" Luke interrupted sharply, a golden aura radiating around him, the heat oppressive. "For my own good, you altered my memory again and again? For my own good, you treated me like a lab rat?!"
His voice grew louder, attracting the attention of everyone around.
Andre, seeing something was wrong, quickly stepped between them, took the drawing from Luke's hand, scanned it quickly, and his expression also became serious: "Luke, calm down! Kate, what on earth..."
"There's nothing to say!" The tears in Luke's eyes instantly evaporated. He slammed the drawing into Andre's arms, "You be careful too, lest your memory gets tampered with one day!"
With that, a blazing golden flame erupted around him, and he shot into the sky without looking back, disappearing above the stadium.
"Luke!" Kate cried out, collapsing powerlessly to the ground.
Jade stood dumbfounded, a long face: "This delivery was really exciting... They won't blame me, will they?"
All kinds of shocked, suspicious, and disdainful gazes were cast upon them, and whispers frequently came.
"Memory alteration? Is that true?"
"Using her ability on her own boyfriend? That's terrifying..."
"She must have been caught cheating and erased his memory multiple times. No wonder Luke reacted so strongly."
Unfounded accusations and embarrassing scenes surged like a tide, completely engulfing Kate. She struggled to her feet, covered her face, and ran away.
Wade picked up his backpack, flew into the air, and shouted to Andre: "I'll go check on Luke."
"Okay." Andre responded, then started moving in the direction Kate had run off.
In the air, Wade sped forward at full speed, looking at the increasingly close fiery glow above the campus: "He wouldn't go directly to Professor Brink to confront him, would he? It shouldn't have reached that point yet."
Ahead, Luke felt the air resistance growing stronger as he flew, and he involuntarily stopped.
He hovered in the air, the scorching golden flames slightly receding, suppressing his voice: "Why are you here?"
"Don't be impulsive." Wade flew in front of him and said with concern, "You can tell me anything. It's better than keeping it all inside. If you really encounter a problem you can't solve, we can think of a way together."
The airflow whistled past, and below them was the miniaturized campus landscape.
Luke pressed his head, trying to calm his turbulent emotions: "I've been kept in the dark by Kate all this time. She's in league with Principal Shetty, Professor Brink, and that Dr. Andrew from the lab."
"They said they could alleviate my brother Sam's power out-of-control problem and enhance my strength. I followed their treatment plan... I did it five or six times, and my brother was in great pain, with no signs of mental relief."
"I regretted it and didn't want to continue the treatment... but Kate erased my memories again and again, deceiving me every time!"
"Fake... it's all fake!!"
Wade waited for him to finish speaking and completely calm down before he spoke with a serious expression: "This is not a small matter. Do you have concrete evidence?"
Luke became agitated again, pointing downwards: "Evidence? There's evidence in the lab under the school."
Wade turned around twice, thoughtfully: "With concrete evidence, you have leverage for negotiation... I think you should find a time to discuss it properly with Shetty and Brink face-to-face."
"I don't know." The flames around Luke completely receded, and he looked somewhat dejected. "I, I need to be alone and think things through."
"Of course." Wade patted his shoulder, "It's right to deal with it after you calm down. If you need someone to talk to, I'm always here."
"Thanks, Wade. I'll be by myself for a bit." Luke nodded to him and flew towards the back mountain, his figure exuding loneliness.
'It looks like he won't do anything rash for now.' Wade hovered in place, watching him leave.'Since there's no chance for a good fight for now, we'll plan for the long term.'
Beep-beep—beep—beep—
A short, mechanical telegraph sound suddenly came from his backpack.
Wade's eyes lit up, and he shot out, enveloped in airflow, flying towards the coastline on the horizon.
"That guy Thomas finally called..."
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