Chapter 48: Public Relations Incident, Public Opinion Explodes
Starlight looked at the barely suppressed smile on Xia Shang's face and said helplessly, "Alright, I admit my superpower isn't as cool as Laser Eyes or Super Speed, but it's still better than The Deep, that fish-person."
"I'm curious, if you absorbed a massive amount of electrical energy, could you turn yourself into light?" Starlight's superpower might have a low floor, but that didn't mean its ceiling was low. If she could transform herself into light, that would be quite terrifying.
However, Starlight shook her head. "No, my body can't handle that much electrical energy."
"Okay, that's a bit of a shame."
As the two were chatting, Starlight unexpectedly saw two hooligans bullying a girl in the distance.
"Two bastards." According to The Seven's rules, Starlight was absolutely forbidden from acting alone, but she couldn't hold back. She walked towards the two men. "Someone needs to teach them a lesson."
Starlight was already suppressing her anger from being stalked by The Deep earlier; those guys just happened to walk into the line of fire.
Xia Shang silently took out his mobile phone and filmed Starlight using her superpower to teach the men a lesson.
"How was it?"
After saving the girl, Starlight returned to her seat.
"Just a bunch of hooligans who pick on the weak."
"Oh, it's getting late, I think I should head back." Starlight glanced at the time on her phone and said apologetically.
Actually, she was still worried about what The Deep had said earlier. She was a member of The Seven, and if a dating scandal broke out, it could potentially ruin everything for her.
"Would you like me to walk you back?" Xia Shang asked very gentlemanly.
"Thanks, but I don't think that's necessary."
Starlight smiled as she looked at the hooligans lying on the ground.
After Starlight's figure disappeared from view, Xia Shang continued to drink his coffee. His raised corner of his mouth gradually disappeared, and under the dim light, his face twisted and transformed into the appearance of another person.
"It seems you're really infatuated with everything you have now. How about I give you a hand?"
The next day.
Just as Starlight woke up and was brushing her teeth, Ashley Barrett from the Public Relations Department rushed to find her.
Ashley Barrett held her mobile phone screen towards her. The video on it was exactly the scene from last night where she used her superpower to teach the hooligans a lesson.
"This is bad." Starlight immediately realized the problem seemed a bit serious.
"It is bad. Thank goodness you were wearing civilian clothes at the time, so the netizens could expose your secret identity. Listen to this." Ashley Barrett said with sarcasm as she clicked on the comments section of the video.
"Oh my god, I recognized Starlight, it's Annie January! I was her classmate at Hoover High School, she has an eating disorder."
Ashley Barrett read the comments with sarcasm. To be honest, she was quite annoyed with Starlight. She raised her hand and pointed at Starlight, lecturing, "First, this behavior is stupid. Second, doing something like this and getting filmed is even stupider. Remember to always find the camera's location."
"They were about to rape a girl at the time," Starlight tried to argue, but Ashley Barrett interrupted her.
"What girl? There's no girl in the video. Do you know her name?"
"No, she ran away."
Ashley Barrett continued, "Great, she ran away. Do you know her name? Can you find her among the millions of people in New York?"
"You know what? Those guys you knocked out insist they were just drinking on the roadside until you knocked them unconscious."
Facing Ashley Barrett's accusations, Starlight was speechless for a moment.
The video online was clearly maliciously edited. "Someone is deliberately framing me. As long as we find out who accessed the roadside surveillance camera footage, we can find the mastermind," Starlight's mind flashed with inspiration, and she quickly said.
"Do you think we're the FBI? That we can investigate anyone we want?" Ashley Barrett didn't expect Starlight to be so naive.
"Listen, this matter is spreading very quickly online. Now public opinion has exploded. I don't know what you planned to do on this beautiful day, but you must cancel all your activities. You need to have meetings, meetings with the Risk Assessment Department, the Crisis Management Department, and the Legal Department."
"I'm going to go crazy, shit." Ashley Barrett was so angry at the foolish Starlight that she started swearing.
...
In the Security Department Office on the first floor of Vought Tower, Xia Shang was holding a cola and leisurely watching an American TV series playing on the computer screen.
"Oh man, you're slacking off again. Believe me, even Jesus would envy your life right now." Baruch pushed open the door and sat down next to Xia Shang.
"I think the old man should envy you more."
"Did you hear? The whole Internet is exploding right now, tsk tsk tsk. Starlight, who just joined The Seven, is abusing her superpower to arbitrarily beat up ordinary people. The title of that video is absolutely brilliant. Ashley Barrett must be going crazy busy." Baruch bent down and picked up a can of cola from under the office desk, saying gleefully.
"The speed at which public opinion spreads online is really fast."
Xia Shang picked up his mobile phone and opened Twitter. He saw Starlight's followers had dropped from the original 18.63 million to the current 15.42 million, a drop of over three million. Furthermore, Starlight's comments section had been overrun, mostly with accusations of her abusing her superpower.
He then checked Homelander's account. Currently, Homelander had 72.31 million followers.
Homelander's comments section, on the other hand, was peaceful.
Ding! Homelander just posted his first Twitter post of the day, a selfie with a sunny smile.
"Who says it isn't? Looks like I need to be more careful when I go out in the future."
Baruch sighed.
"Who are you? A Diplomatic Hero?" Xia Shang's words made Baruch laugh heartily.
Just as the two were chatting, Starlight called.
"Hi, I saw that video online. I know you're being framed, and I completely understand how you must be feeling right now."
"Oh, God, I need you to testify for me right now. Last night, I used my superpower to teach those hooligans a lesson because I was saving a girl," Starlight said anxiously. She was very afraid that Vought International would fire her because of this incident.
Xia Shang remained calm, even taking a moment to clink his cola can with Baruch next to him.
"But the netizens all know I'm an employee of Vought International. What I say has no credibility in their eyes."
Xia Shang's words made Starlight feel despair.
She leaned against the restroom wall and slowly slid down until she was sitting on the floor.
"Are you still listening? Maybe I have a way to solve this. Because I saw someone taking pictures at the time. If I can get the video from their phone, then the truth will be revealed."
"That's great! Where is that person?" Starlight's tone became excited, like a fish seeing the coastline, she said excitedly.
"I'll help you look for them through my connections. It shouldn't take long."
"Thank you, I'm really troubling you."
Starlight sat on the restroom floor, holding her mobile phone, and let out a sigh of relief as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
(End of Chapter)