The 110-inch television flickered on, offering an immersive, bezel-free picture.
Directly across from it, the sofa exclusively designed by a French master and worth three hundred thousand dollars had now welcomed a new owner.
Qi Li sat down as he pleased and turned on the TV. The screen happened to be on Vought TV, which was airing an interview.
"I was born with superpowers. My mom was so happy when she found out—she took me to every Little Miss Hero pageant..."
So that was who the bitch Monica kept saying deserved to get shot was.
Starlight. A superhuman who had been on screens since childhood—or rather, a child star.
What was her power again? Electricity?
Qi Li had forgotten.
He wasn't close to her.
The only connection between them was that as a teenager he had been invited to join a superhero team called the Young Patriots.
Starlight had been a member of that team at the time.
He had turned it down without a second thought.
Young Patriots?
The name alone sounded like a flop.
On top of that, the teen superhero team leaned conservative, holding up "patriotism" and "traditional American values" as its cause.
That made him even less interested.
With that kind of time, he might as well have worked solo.
Qi Li kept watching.
"...During the Q&A, they always asked me what my dream was. My answer was always the same: to save the world."
Qi Li raised an eyebrow.
On the screen, Starlight sat before the camera in a white-and-gold battle suit of a very old-fashioned cut that didn't even show any cleavage, and she looked utterly sincere.
She went on, her face carrying both bewilderment and conviction:
"The judges all laughed when they heard it, as if they thought my answer was naive. But I meant it."
"Since when did having a dream and being naive become the same thing? If it wasn't to save the world, why else would I have joined this industry? This is what I've always wanted to do."
"So I've always hoped to join the Super Seven."
The interview ended there.
"You saw that, right! This bitch! Hypocrisy written all over her face, lies pouring out of her mouth, dressing herself up as a virgin—the kind of bitch who screams for Jesus while she's getting fucked! She stole your thunder! The momentum that should have kept climbing after the memorial service!"
On the other end of the line, Monica was furious, cursing without pause.
Watching the host and guests of the Vought program take turns praising Starlight's remarks, Qi Li shrugged.
"Maybe she was telling the truth?"
"The truth? Saving the world?"
Monica let out two dry little laughs, the mockery practically spilling out of the phone.
Qi Li cleared his throat. He had the feeling she had lumped him in with the scolding.
Fine. He had only said it offhandedly.
If even Steelclaw Man could play the good guy on camera, anyone could.
Whether Starlight meant what she said didn't matter. The problem now was...
Qi Li asked, "So Starlight is now the hottest candidate for the Super Seven?"
"That bitch!"
Monica had by now made Starlight the living embodiment of the word "bitch."
After cursing out of habit once more, she frowned and said, "I can't believe so many blind people listened to her nonsense and now like her so much more. My latest information: among Midwesterners aged eighteen to forty-nine and among conservative Christians, her approval rating has already risen two point five percent."
"Of course! Her supporters are all a bunch of low-IQ inbreds in jeans!"
Uh... Monica was from a blue state, so it made sense that she would say something like that.
Qi Li silently gave her a thumbs-up and asked, "So the gap doesn't look that big."
Monica shook her head. "That's only the new gains. She was already popular with teenagers, middle-aged and older women, and people of color—she has a big base. And the especially fierce wave of feminism in recent years has given her a big boost. Plenty of people have started attacking the Super Seven for having only one woman, calling it discrimination against women."
As the birthplace of the feminist movement, America—a land already blessed with outstanding people and fine scenery—was practically the final-boss version of it.
Qi Li knew all too well how powerful that was.
By contrast...
Monica analyzed, "Qi Li, you've already proven your excellent commercial value with your first movie. Your looks are better, too, and your approval rating among young girls has stayed high, but among other groups it's much worse. Especially among Chinese people."
"Qi Li, you're one of them. How is your approval rating lower than Starlight's? It's strange."
Strange?
Not strange at all.
Qi Li waved a hand. "It's completely normal."
Ever since he had gotten a clear look at where America's Chinese population actually came from, he had been grateful enough that these people didn't drag him down.
"Fine."
Monica didn't understand, but she didn't ask further.
Anxiously, she said, "The Steelclaw Man memorial should have boosted your approval rating, but of all times, this bitch Starlight had to turn up. Outside Los Angeles and California, what people discuss more is still that idiotic speech of hers."
In the end, it came down to Steelclaw Man's low influence.
If it had been the memorial service of a member of the Super Seven, the ratings would have exploded.
Steelclaw Man, why couldn't you have worked harder while you were alive!
If you had made a bit more effort, Monica wouldn't be this troubled now.
Qi Li himself was quite calm.
Unlike certain superheroes with their obsessive fixation on personal approval ratings, he wasn't nearly as eager for the Super Seven as outsiders assumed. He had become famous from one movie, his income had soared, and he had no messy expenses to speak of.
He was too young.
Only eighteen. Even in today's superhero circles, seniority mattered.
A-Train, equally young and the first Black member of the Super Seven in history, had only joined six years ago.
Qi Li's Asian identity was sometimes an advantage and sometimes a disadvantage.
As for the new Super Seven slot opened up by Lamplighter's retirement, he hadn't been expecting much to begin with.
It was just that Monica still wanted to try, so why not try? It didn't cost anything either way.
Only now it looked as though the draft result was already settled.
Watching the Vought program on TV, Qi Li said flatly, "Vought TV is already giving Starlight unreserved positive coverage—not just in prime time, but on rotation at other hours and in other programs too. That already tells us one thing, Monica."
Monica was silent for a moment, then finally said, "Fuck! They've already picked Starlight behind closed doors!"
At that pace, they were clearly building her up.
"Wait for next time," Qi Li said with a light laugh.
Compared with joining the Super Seven right away, he was more interested in the university where superhumans gathered.
There he would not only meet all kinds of bizarre superpowered people.
More importantly, there was plenty of promising material there.
When it came to American youth—and especially superhuman youth—Qi Li had never once doubted their talent for causing trouble or the speed at which their thinking slid downhill.
Chapter 6