Chapter 173: The Deep's Down

"Hey, look, there's a new superhero in New York!"

"It seems he's called the Phoenix."

"Did you see? That villain who beat up Silk Slinger got taken down with just one move!"

"Do you think he'll become a new member of the Seven?"

"I don't know. We'll see."

As people gossiped the so-called Phoenix on the streets of New York, a young man walked by slowly, listening to their comments with a face showing mixed emotions. This was Silk Slinger himself. His superhero career, barely off the ground, had been crushed in an instant.

He was beaten down by a villain, only for another superhero to appear and effortlessly defeat that villain, stealing all the spotlight from him. The new guy had climbed to prominence by stepping over him—an affront he couldn't just ignore.

***

Meanwhile, Jon continued to make appearances as the Phoenix, carefully shaping his image and boosting his popularity. He felt no guilt about usurping Silk Slinger. After all, he knew Silk Slinger and most of Vought's superheroes were no better than villains themselves. If it weren't for the need to maintain his heroic facade, he wouldn't have minded eliminating Silk Slinger and Mech Marauder right then and there.

Jon watched his fan base skyrocket and figured a bit more effort might just secure him a spot in the Seven.

"Next, I need to get a vial of Compound V," he mused, plotting his next move.

There were two places to obtain Compound V: the Vought Corporation headquarters and the Seven headquarters. Both Maeve and Starlight had managed to get it from the Seven headquarters. But compared to the Seven headquarters, Jon felt the Vought Corporation headquarters was safer. If he ran into an antihero group there, his superpowers might reveal his identity, complicating his plans to return.

He could have tried the Boys Squad, the antihero group, to contact Starlight for the compound, but even the antihero groups couldn't find their hideout, making it difficult for him.

***

At the gates of the Vought Corporation, a teenage girl with a refined face and short hair, making her look like a boy, walked out looking disheartened. She held a compensation slip in her hand for a thousand dollars—a huge amount for someone her age—but the sight of the slip brought her no joy. She sighed deeply and walked on, head down.

Suddenly, she bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to!" the girl apologized, looking up.

The man she had bumped into was Jon, who was planning to sneak into Vought. He didn't pay much attention to the girl and just remarked, "Never mind, just be careful."

With that, he walked on, eyeing the towering skyscraper ahead and planning his entry. At that moment, a familiar figure appeared at the entrance of Vought Corporation. It was a somewhat frail man in a green tight suit.

'This psychopath must be the Deep,' Jon immediately recognized him. He remembered Deep as a former member of the Seven, the weakest among them. After a scandal involving the newcomer Starlight, Vought kicked him out of the Seven under public pressure. Now, Deep was likely looking for any chance to rejoin the group.

Deep exited Vought and turned a corner, heading elsewhere. Jon's eyes shifted, and he thought of a way to get into Vought, following him. But Jon hadn't noticed the little girl who had bumped into him was also turning around, staring unwaveringly at where Deep had gone, and decided to follow as well.

Jon followed Deep into a deserted alley.

"You really picked a perfect place to die, huh," Jon thought to himself.

But then, Deep suddenly stopped and coldly said, "Come out, I know you are following me."

Jon was slightly startled. So Deep had noticed him and intentionally lured him here to take him out? But it seemed Deep had overestimated his abilities and instead picked an excellent grave site for himself.

"Wow, wow! Take it easy, fish boy~!"

Jon didn't hesitate; he stepped out from the shadows.

"Who the f*** are you?!" Deep asked, taking a defensive stance.

"Your doom."

With that, Jon became engulfed in hellfire, transforming into the Ghost Rider.

"Holy shit!" Seeing Jon transform, Deep's face paled. Even though superpowers existed in this world, a skeleton engulfed in flames was beyond normal.

But Ghost Rider didn't give him a chance to escape. In a moment of shock, the fiery chain split into three and pierced through his chest.

[Ding! Side quest updated: Judge at least 20 superheroes with bad records. Current progress: 1/20.]

[Ding! Your legendary mission has been updated: Judge a thousand sinful souls across all worlds. Current progress: 81/1000.]

Hearing the quest notification, Ghost Rider reverted to human form, looking at Deep's lifeless body. "Didn't gain any superpowers? Seems like in this world I can't get some of their superheroes through the legendary task."

At this moment, Jon hadn't noticed a petite figure secretly watching everything.

Jon crouched down, plucked a hair from the body, and began to prepare a Polyjuice Potion.

He needed to disguise himself as Deep to get in, as Compound V was a Vought secret, requiring a fingerprint for access. The Polyjuice Potion would make every part of Jon look like Deep.

Previously, making the potion would have taken days, but now, with his mastery of the Darkhold, he could catalyze the potion to completion in minutes.

After preparing the potion, Jon engulfed the corpse in flames, completely burning it, then drank the potion in one gulp.

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