tkworld Chapter 423's title today is just two words: Superman
Chapter 423's title today is just two words: Superman
Chapter 423's title today is just two words: Superman
As the smoke and dust from the explosion dissipated, the scorching energy flickered like a furnace about to burn out, when Killer Croc, piloting a spaceship, arrived carrying William Hand, the ventriloquist Arnold, and several others.
"Atocitas stayed on the scene to maintain order. He is the leader of the Red Light Legion, a position that naturally commands respect from those with yellow and green lights."
Killer Croc crawled out of the spaceship, shook its tail, and floated a short distance into the air, landing directly next to Chen Tao.
"Mm." Chen Tao nodded.
At this moment, he synchronized with Green Lantern Batman and used the power of the Green Lantern ring on his hand to completely eliminate the aftershocks caused by the explosion.
Just like the aftershocks of a nuclear explosion, Chen Tao wasn't sure if the aftershocks of this explosion would affect a nearby intelligent planet. He himself wasn't familiar with this place, so he had to handle the aftermath properly.
He listened to Killer Croc's report, then nodded. "So everyone's here except for Atositas? Uh, wait, who did you leave behind?"
"Atocitas, huh?" Killer Croc seemed a little confused.
Chen Tao looked at him with a hint of pity.
In terms of leadership, Athositas ranks last among the Seven Lamps Legions. When he returns, the two legions might even start fighting each other.
Chen Tao rubbed his temples. Well, it wasn't entirely Robin's fault for making a bad decision; after all, in Killer Croc's eyes, Atositas was indeed the right person.
Chen Tao wasn't in a hurry. While continuing to manipulate the energy of the Green Lantern Ring to slowly eliminate the various effects caused by the explosions, he used the X-ray vision of the high-speed bullet to turn his head and look at all the members inside the spaceship.
"Where is Professor Klein (the scarecrow)?"
"The Scarecrow..." Killer Croc stammered, the large crocodile swaying its tail. "During the fiercer battle, many Yellow Lantern Legion members were killed. Dr. Klein stole a Yellow Lantern ring and fled. He's probably escaped to some remote corner of some star system now."
"..."
Chen Tao remained silent.
The scarecrow, though normally feared, immediately became a threat when he held a yellow light ring. Or rather, a weapon like the light ring is a threat to anyone who wields it, let alone him.
However, Chen Tao doesn't have the energy to deal with this matter right now, so he secretly decided to hand it over to Hal and his Yellow-Green Legion.
He quickly reduced the impact of the violent explosion to a minimum by rapidly dealing with the surrounding area, and then began to fly towards the center of the explosion.
"roar!"
The parallax monster was no longer as smug as before; instead, it drooped there like a wilted eggplant.
Soon, one after another, the lamp furnaces flew out, dividing the Parallax monster, which had been weakened too much by the bombs and heavy cannons of the Cosmic Guardian Little Blue Man, into four parts, which were then sealed into the green lanterns.
This way, even if someone later obtains a furnace, they won't be able to release a complete parallax monster.
William Hand also disembarked from the spaceship and flew to Mongo, who was floating half-dead not far away.
He looked at the deathly palpation on the other man's face, at his rotting, decaying features. Even though the power of the Rotten Black ensured that Mongo wouldn't die, William already felt he was dead just by looking at his face.
How can a face that has lost hope and vitality be considered alive, even if it is barely alive because it has been rejected by death?
"Do you know me?" William asked.
He saw Mongo reluctantly turn his head, glance at him, and then quickly turn his head away again.
His body is still barely intact, partly because the Parallax Monster withstood too much of the explosion's power, and partly because his body was stronger after being shattered and reconstructed.
With these two factors combined, plus Parallax's decision to possess him again in the critical moment, Mongo's body remained mostly intact, even though he wasn't completely destroyed.
At this moment, Mongo just wanted to quietly enjoy his defeat and had no desire to talk to the little brat.
"Do you know what? What you're desperately craving is the very fate I've been trying to reject."
William Hand forcibly suppressed his strange urge to be interested in corpses. This urge stemmed from the Black Death Emperor, and it was unlikely to disappear unless the Black Death Emperor vanished.
William had indulged himself in the past, completely succumbing to such desires, but he is no longer the person he once was.
"Was it really worth it? All of this?"
William Hand asked, "Is victory really that important? Is it worth turning yourself into this?"
Then he saw Mongo's eyes.
"We are all rebelling against our fate," he heard Mongo say.
"It's just that my resistance failed, but you're still trying."
His voice was low and hoarse.
Meanwhile, the ventriloquist had somehow placed the Power Gloves in front of Chen Tao.
This initial green light weapon, crafted by Carona himself, was previously given by Mongo to the corpse Achilo, whom he controlled, to hunt down Killer Croc and his crew in the Red of All Beings. However, with Mongo's defeat, Achilo's pursuit came to an end.
And at some point, this powerful glove fell into the hands of the ventriloquist.
A middle-aged white man dressed as a maid squatted in front of Chen Tao like a dog, and Chen Tao knew that his mental illness had started to flare up again.
He looked at Arnold's eyes, which were contorted with pain but still filled with hope for him.
The hand on which he wore the power ring had veins bulging and was constantly oozing green pus and blood, appearing slightly swollen as if it were oozing pus.
Chen Tao knew that it was a side effect of the power ring; every coward controlled by the ring would gradually rot away.
But Arnold was clearly an accident.
He forced himself to endure the pain caused by the ring with sheer willpower, and then looked at Chen Tao expectantly with his big, kalanz-like eyes, hoping to receive praise.
This inexplicable emotion sustained him, helping him resist the ring's corrosive and controlling influence, both psychologically and physiologically.
The baby bat doll he had been holding was clearly broken, but he had forcibly repaired it using green light energy. It had been floating beside him ever since, constantly whining and complaining.
"Goodness gracious..."
"Am I the best maid in the world?"
"Ah, yes, yes, yes."
"I helped Batman's master, didn't I?"
"Yes!"
"Waaaaah, Batman loves me, yes..."
"Will this ever end?"
Chen Tao stopped comforting his male and female servants, speechless, and then took the Divine Power Gloves in his hands.
However, after taking the gloves away, Chen Tao looked at the ventriloquist's hands and couldn't help but feel a little guilty, even with his usual cold-blooded attitude towards supervillains.
"If it hurts a lot, I'll take the ring off for you when I get back to Earth," Chen Tao said.
"No, no, no!"
But his words were quickly rejected by the ventriloquist.
Ok……
Chen Tao paused, not intending to continue listening to the ventriloquist's endless pleas of loyalty.
He quickly realized that he was dealing with a madman, and that a madman should not be treated with common sense.
But... wouldn't it be a bit unethical of me to tease and take advantage of a madman like this?
Chen Tao suddenly scratched his head, his saintly instincts kicking in.
and so……
"Oh, dear Batman! My dearest Batman QwQ! My beloved sun, Gotham's only..."
Chen Tao, who was trying to speak politely to the male and female servants, was bombarded with trash talk and got a headache. Finally, he said succinctly:
"roll."
The world is quiet now.
"Let's go back to Planet OA and see how Atositasta is doing. And..."
"Super Girl".
……
……
……
Earth.
Kent Farm.
Although Clark Kent had repeatedly hoped that his mother, Martha Kent, would settle in Metropolis after he had established himself there, he had already become a full-time reporter for the Daily Planet. Although his salary as a reporter was not very high, it was enough to rent a place for his mother to live in.
But Martha Kent declined her son's offer. Having lived most of her life in the countryside, she simply couldn't get used to the hustle and bustle of city life. For Superman Clark Kent, however, this wasn't really a big problem.
Before he lost his superpowers, he could have easily made a round trip in just a few minutes.
Even after he lost his superpowers, Batman agreed to lend him one of his spare Batplanes.
This completely invisible spaceship, capable of both takeoff and vertical landing, also greatly facilitated Clark's transportation.
Oh, Clark isn't a pedantic person, although he wouldn't accept money from Batman for no reason—which might make their friendship a little strange.
However, borrowing a friend's car didn't bother Clark at all; in fact, it was proof of their friendship.
Therefore, every weekend, Clark would fly one of these stealth Batplanes from Metropolis back to his Kent, Kansas farm for a vacation with Louis, and then return to Metropolis for work on weekdays.
The farm boys sometimes work in the fields or feed the cattle, sheep, and pigs. For Martha, these jobs, though she is capable of doing them, are too tiring.
Despite not having superpowers, Clark is still a strong farm boy.
So while Batman was busy saving the world, Superman was happily living the carefree life of a country youth on his family's farm... It was a wonderful time that reminded Clark of his childhood.
—At that time, his adoptive father, Jonathan Kent, was still alive, and the world was thriving and full of hope.
But in short, just as everyone knows he will inevitably draw his sword the moment it is sheathed, Clark Kent's heroic career will not end so simply.
So when Clark came out of the cowshed with a pitchfork, he saw General Zod and his two men sitting in a triangular formation on the still-running planter at Kent Farm. His female adjutant, Fiora, had such long legs that they barely touched the ground, creating ripples that attracted attention.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Clark's heart pounded violently. He took two steps back and then threw the pitchfork on the ground.
He immediately sent a message to the Justice Alliance.
Then he heard General Zod's voice: "Karl El."
Clark looked up and saw a red glow in his eyes:
"It's been a long time."
This was a very imposing confrontation. On one side was Clark Kent, dressed in peasant attire, tall and strong, who, despite losing his superpowers, was still a force to be reckoned with; on the other side were the Zod trio, dressed in black, sitting high on a machine, looking down at their old rivals.
Their cloaks fluttered in the afternoon breeze at Kent Farm.
Then Clark heard General Zod's voice: "Anyway, Fiora, water him first and see if it's that unlucky thing from last time."
The female adjutant nodded, and then, with a sharp sonic whistle, Fiora vanished from the spot, creating a shockwave. Before Clark could decide whether to restore his superpowers and fight back, he was drenched in water by a giant bucket that the other party had brought from who-knows-how-many-kilometers away.
Clark: ?
After confirming that the Superman in front of him was not an imposter, General Zod spoke again.
"Karl El," he said.
"Old friend."
His voice was deep: "I came for you."
He looked the other man in the eye: "Forget about Batman. Kal-El, look at you."
His expression held a mixture of disdain and regret.
"If you could barely be considered a soldier when you charged into battle last time we met, now you're nothing more than a dog with a broken spine."
He turned his head, his eyes flashing a faint white light, and Clark knew that the other party was using his farsightedness and X-ray vision.
"Shut up, Zod!" Clark immediately spoke up. Although he knew that once Zod brought up the other's thoughts about his mother Martha and girlfriend Louise, it would be difficult for him to stop them immediately given his current physical condition, he could only try his best to stop them and attract their attention.
General Zod continued:
"He can't come here right now, which is my opportunity. You see, I don't even shy away from admitting it."
Clark's expression turned somewhat grim. He knew very well what General Zod was trying to say.
To put it simply, he's shameless; this time he's determined to succeed at all costs and has chosen the best opportunity.
General Zod said, "You'd better not count on the other trash on this planet either. You know that. Now, it's between us... and you should know exactly what I want."
He stared intently into Clark's eyes, then suddenly bowed deeply to Clark in a very formal Kryptonian gesture.
"You know," he said, "I want you."
(End of this chapter)