"Lastly, some might worry that once we're both in the Super Seven, you and I will only be pretending to get along—tripping each other up behind the scenes and constantly clashing."
"And your answer to that?"
"I am very, very, very thrilled to be your teammate, Bronze."
"The honor is mine, Starlight."
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap...
Amid thunderous applause, the welcoming ceremony drew to a close.
The moment Qi Li stepped off the stage, the stiff smile plastered across his face finally dropped.
This was without a doubt the day he had smiled the most in his entire life.
"Oh my God! That smile you two shared after the speech—it was so fucking brilliant! So fucking infectious! Sorry, got carried away, couldn't keep my mouth clean."
Before Qi Li could even catch his breath, Pope Fletcher practically zipped over like she was riding a skateboard, blustering in like a whirlwind and bursting with excitement.
She was clutching a tablet, thrusting it eagerly in front of Qi Li and Starlight before she had even come to a complete stop.
"Look! Just look! The internet is completely blowing up over you two right now. Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram... the words 'Bronze' and 'Starlight' are sweeping the charts everywhere! In the single minute since you walked off the stage, that clip of your final smile has been reposted fifty million times! A solid fifty million! And it's still climbing! Unless they've been living under a rock like Neanderthals, everyone in the whole world knows who you are now! They know your smile of the century!"
Fifty million reposts in one minute!
No manipulation!
Zero bot traffic!
At this moment, Qi Li truly felt the sheer clout carried by the Super Seven—the most popular superhero team on the planet.
Soon, however, something dawned on him. He couldn't help asking, "Pope, don't tell me that from now on, Starlight and I have to pull off this 'smile of the century' every single time we appear together?"
Before Pope could reply, Starlight—all too familiar with how Vought operated—threw her head back, wearing a look of utter defeat. "Just shoot me now."
Sure enough, Pope answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "A viral promotional hook this good, unique to the two of you? Of course we have to keep it going! The fans are absolutely in love with you!"
Qi Li muttered, "...Fuck."
Pope continued enthusiastically swiping through the analytics on her tablet. "Look at the curve on this trend line!! I've never seen numbers climb this aggressively! Sidelining Homelander and putting Starlight up there instead—now that looks like an absolute stroke of genius..."
Vought Tower, 99th floor.
The elevator doors slid open to reveal Qi Li and Starlight, their voices carrying out.
"Starlight, do you even remember what that last smile looked like?"
"All I know is that my mind was screaming, *It's finally over,* and I just smiled. What about you?"
"Same here. There's an Eastern saying for it: 'The finest work comes without trying to make it fine.'"
"What?"
"It's an Eastern proverb..."
By the time Qi Li finished explaining, Starlight felt an unfamiliar and oddly refreshing stream of something called "knowledge" seep into her brain, giving her a sudden jolt of alertness. By then, the two had arrived before a set of doors.
As a "veteran" with only a few months more seniority on the team, tradition dictated that Starlight give Qi Li a guided tour of the Super Seven's living and working quarters.
"Here's your private suite at Vought." She pushed the door open and led Qi Li inside, explaining as they walked, "This used to belong to that scumbag, Deep Sea. After he got kicked out, they cleared out all his aquariums and junk. It's been completely renovated according to the specifications you requested in advance."
Qi Li looked around the luxurious quarters that would belong to him for the foreseeable future. At around a hundred and twenty or thirty square meters, the decor had indeed been tailored to his tastes.
Starlight pointed toward the southwest corner. "Also, that partitioned area over there is a small training room. The floor and walls have all been reinforced—again, strictly per your instructions."
"Not bad." Qi Li walked around the place, nodding with reasonable satisfaction.
At least it was far better than his current dorm room.
Still, since he would be living in New York long-term, it was high time he bought a luxury home of his own—a private retreat where he could unwind whenever he had free time.
Midtown Manhattan? The Upper East Side? Long Island? Brooklyn Heights?
Mulling over the options, Qi Li followed Starlight as she showed him through the rest of the communal areas on the 99th floor.
Finally, the two halted in front of a relief mural of the full Super Seven roster spanning an entire wall.
A massive black electronic door loomed before them.
Behind that door was the Super Seven's conference room.
Gazing at the entrance, Qi Li remarked, "I've seen this countless times on TV, but this is my first time seeing it in person."
Starlight's expression darkened slightly, but she quickly managed a smile and turned to him. "I guess I don't need to explain this room."
With practiced ease, she unlocked the door and guided him inside.
What met their eyes was an enormous circular conference hall resembling a Roman assembly chamber.
Stepping inside, Qi Li's gaze immediately fell upon the lambda-shaped conference table dominating the center of the room.
This was where the seven most famous superheroes in the world sat to deliberate on every matter.
All around the table stood stately stone pillars.
A long row of reliefs was carved into the circular walls, interrupted on both sides by twelve seamlessly connected giant display screens.
Right now, they were powered on, streaming rolling updates of breaking news from around the world.
Noticing Qi Li's curious look, Starlight pursed her lips, forcing a dutiful smile as she gave her pitch:
"The Super Seven has two dedicated global surveillance satellites in Earth orbit, capable of reading the license plate of a getaway car from more than six hundred kilometers up. They can also... also..."
The further she went, the slower her voice became, until she couldn't bring herself to say another word.
"I'm sorry."
The forced smile vanished entirely from her face. Murmuring a hasty apology, she quickly turned her back to him, drawing deep breaths as she fought to compose herself.
Qi Li was caught off guard at first, but understanding quickly set in.
Inevitably, it had been at this exact stage of orientation when Deep Sea had brought a rookie Starlight in here and delivered those exact lines.
"You're very brave," Qi Li said, casually pulling out a nearby chair and taking a seat.
Starlight did not look back. "What?"
"I mean it."
Resting his palm against the icy surface of the Super Seven's conference table, Qi Li felt its chill and said, "Not everyone has the kind of courage you had—to stand before the public eye and speak out about something so humiliating. Take me, for instance: you couldn't beat a humiliating secret out of me if you killed me."
Starlight finally turned around, looking at Qi Li. "Are you... really trying to compliment me?"
Qi Li put on a serious face. "Of course!"
He wasn't mocking her in the least.
Women found matters like that agonizingly hard to speak about in the first place.
Let alone someone like Starlight, who had tens of millions of fans worldwide at the time—a true superstar and superhero.
Who wouldn't want to maintain an image of eternal brilliance and invulnerability?
Especially a female superhero.
Regardless of right or wrong, once an assault was spoken of publicly, it subjected their established image to an unpredictable reshaping.
Qi Li remembered the middle-aged man on the rooftop whose idyllic dream of Starlight had shattered.
He thought of the anti-fans online who constantly generated degrading GIFs and memes about oral sex, relentlessly mocking Starlight—a stain that would follow her for the rest of her life.
He didn't know what turmoil Starlight had endured on that stage before finally summoning the courage to confront her own vulnerability.
All he knew was that he could never do it himself.
And for something he could never do, but which someone else had the courage to face head-on...
Qi Li had always held nothing but respect.
Chapter 83