HBWnovel Chapter 112 General Zod vs. Superman's Mother
Chapter 112 General Zod vs. Superman's Mother
Chapter 112 General Zod vs. Superman's Mother
Lex Luthor sat in his old house. It was a more private space than his office.
He did not accept General Sam Lane's invitation to watch the small ceremony at the military base where Superman surrendered to the Kryptonians.
For him, that was more like a personal insult.
He had kept himself locked up in the old house and had never even seen the Superman who voluntarily walked into the cage, nor had he seen Lois Lane who was captured and brought to justice within hours.
There was no one in the house; not even his female secretary was allowed to stay there.
The fire in the fireplace crackled and slowly consumed the coals. Luther sat on the sofa, his eyes glued to the television in front of him.
The ceremony was being broadcast live. It was a live broadcast, and countless dignitaries, scientists, and politicians who couldn't be there in person were watching this contact with extraterrestrials alongside Luther.
Luther hummed softly, tapping his fingers repeatedly on the small coffee table next to the sofa.
Thud... thud... thud...
"The red cape is coming... the red cape is coming..."
He watched as the Superman in the red cape took the initiative to greet the aliens who were coming down from the spaceship.
"Rushing through the streets, warning us... One lamp comes by land, two lamps come from the sky..."
(Adapted from an alarm during the Revolutionary War)
Behind him hung a painting: a perfectly symmetrical depiction of an angel and a devil. This meant that the painting was not hung with a top or bottom distinction.
And at that moment, the painting of the demon hung above. He turned his head, staring intently at the painting, half his face hidden in shadow. He murmured softly:
"The demons don't come from hell... they fall from the sky."
On television, the Kryptonian female lieutenant named Fiora asked Lois Lane to go with Superman into Black Zero, and Lois did as she was told.
Luther poured himself a glass of red wine and swirled it.
With a mechanical whirring sound, the floor behind his sofa suddenly flipped up, and a hidden laser gun emerged abruptly from under the slightly rotten pine planks, pointing directly at the corner next to him.
"Tsk."
Luther exhaled and then placed the glass on the coffee table with a soft thud.
Click, click, click, click!
As he moved, the floorboards were lifted, the vases deformed, and dozens of all sorts of random weapons rose up from the seemingly old-fashioned European-style room, densely packed and aimed at that corner.
The sofa where Luther was sitting emitted a mechanical sound, and then a blue force field shield was placed on his body.
The sofa, which even looked somewhat old, floated up, carried Luther around 180 degrees, and then quickly retreated.
"Breaking into someone else's home is not a good idea."
He said, "If I press this button, you'll be blasted to smithereens by dozens of different weapons."
"So you blew up your own house just to destroy one of my communicators? Give me a break, Luther, I'm here to negotiate."
Luther pursed his lips. He saw fine black dust seeping in through the cracks in the floor.
"Besides, my communicator was originally made of powder dust."
These tiny black dust particles condensed on the ground to form a small car stereo, complete with Batman's iconic pointed ears.
"Some kind of nanobot? Impressive cutting-edge science, Batman," Luther said. "But other than that, we have nothing to talk about. You think we're friends just because we've spoken on the radio together?"
"I demand that you not interfere with our plans to fight Zod," Chen Tao's voice came from the car stereo. "You want to kill Superman, you're hostile towards Superman, OK, that's fine, but not now. Earth needs to defeat General Zod before we can talk about the future."
Before Luther could speak, he continued:
"Therefore, I've come to ask you for a guarantee, Luther. I hope you haven't forgotten Brainiac's existence. Earth needs to unite all that can be united."
"There must be no more internal strife."
Luthor heard the other person say, "At this point, anyone who fights amongst themselves is a traitor. Do you think I don't know about your degraded versions of Parasites? They're a bunch of indiscriminate beasts. You and those guys in the military releasing them will only interfere with Superman."
Luther slowly leaned back, interlacing his fingers.
"Interference Superman?"
He repeated Chen Tao's words, then said, "How ridiculous. Ha, ha, ha."
Chen Tao remained silent. Luther wanted to use the Joker as a sore point to provoke him, but due to incorrect intelligence, this tactic only resulted in him showing off a can of air.
"Ridiculous! Absurd! Foolish!"
Luther angrily rebuked:
"When we feel a crisis, our first thought isn't to save ourselves, but rather 'Superman will definitely come.' How terrifying is that!"
"When the world is truly in crisis, we are powerless to resist, and all we do is look at the sky and shout, 'Look, that's Superman!'" Luther accused.
"Batman, you shouldn't have placed all your hopes on Superman; he's just an alien!"
But clearly, Batman was unmoved by his words.
"Say what you will, Luthor. But Superman will always be the strongest fighter at this stage, and Earth can't give up using his power."
At this point, there was nothing more to discuss. Luther knew the rest of the conversation would be a game of threats and counter-threats. So he took the initiative and said:
"Okay, okay, I promise you, I will never do that."
"I want you to say every single word."
Luther blinked. He sighed again. "Fine. I swear, at least until I've successfully dealt with General Zod, I won't stab Superman or you in the back."
"Absolutely not. Are you satisfied now?"
He heard the small car stereo say:
"Remember what you said, Luther. If you dare to go back on your word, I will come after you."
Then Luther watched as the small speaker diffused back into tiny nanobots, seeped into the floor, and disappeared without a trace.
……
……
……
General Zod couldn't help but recall what his subordinate, Krypton's chief scientist Ur, had said to him just a few dozen minutes earlier.
"We have found Carl's true identity in Louis Lane's memories."
At that time, on Black Zero, Ur showed the screen to General Zod, with the unconscious Clark Kent and Louis Lane, whose memories had been accessed by the machine, standing beside them.
This is also why they specifically requested that Louis Lane accompany Karl El on the spaceship. Karl only allowed this Earthling to take his picture and publish it on their outdated information dissemination medium called a newspaper; there must be some connection between them.
"Karl El—or should we call him by his human name, Clark? I've already broken through the biological veil he left in Louis Lane's memory. By the way, his amazing application methods are something I only just discovered. When we're exposed to the yellow sun, our cells can… I'll get back to the point."
Scientist Ur said, "Based on the name provided by this human named Louis, I hacked into the planet's rudimentary internet and, through investigation, roughly pinpointed the possible crash sites of Karl's escape pod. If you fly around those possible locations, you should be able to detect the escape pod's signal."
"Okay, I understand." General Zod nodded, then asked, "Are there likely enemies around the escape ship?"
Ul said, "I found his family information in the employee information of the newspaper Carl works for, the Daily Planet. He has an adoptive mother named Martha Kent, who is just an ordinary human."
Let's turn back time to the present.
That's right, just an ordinary human being.
General Zod thought to himself.
He's just an ordinary human being, what's so surprising about that?
General Zod slowly descended the stairs. His female adjutant, Fiora, and the burly warrior, Ek, followed on either side of him. Kryptonian reconnaissance aircraft jettisoned fuel behind him, kicking up clouds of dust.
He was wearing a full-body breathing mask, which then became transparent within seconds, revealing his face.
He walked straight up to the Earthling named Martha Kent: "Where is the ship that brought him here?"
But he did not receive the answer he expected.
Martha Kent maintained that twisted smile. She stammered, "Who...who are you?"
A chill ran through the three people present; this creature did not look like a living being at all.
General Zod gave his adjutant a wink.
Fiora walked straight up to Martha Kent, grabbed her by the throat, and lifted her up: "Where is the Codex of Life?"
But the expected suffocation and thrashing of legs did not occur. As Martha Kent was grabbed by the neck and lifted up, her expression suddenly became lively, like a puppeteer who simultaneously manipulates dozens of puppets, suddenly intensifying her control and performance over a specific individual puppet.
Then Fiora saw the woman in front of her with an expression of boundless love in her eyes.
"It's alright... Kryptonians, Earth welcomes you! Earth loves you! I love you!"
?
This neurotic, irrelevant remark caused the female adjutant's super brain to suddenly freeze for a moment.
There is no mother figure in the social structure of Kryptonians. They are produced like worker ants, and from birth, their genes determine the roles they play in society.
However, this social structure of Kryptonians is the result of artificial compilation; they can also reproduce normally, but they have artificially erased the concepts of "father" and "mother."
Therefore, the standard role of "mother" actually left Fiora in a strange state of disorientation.
"Mommy loves you! No matter what you do to Mommy, Mommy will unconditionally forgive you, because that's what a mother is!"
Martha Kent reached out and rubbed her hands directly on Fiora's cold helmet, then looked on with teary eyes:
"Waaaaah, my daughter!"
???
Fiora's mind went completely blank: "What are you talking about??? Do you even understand the situation?"
"Waaah, daughter, you're so unfilial! Why don't you ever come to see me?!"
That's enough.
General Zod spoke directly: "Let me do it."
"I apologize, Your Excellency General."
Fiora put Martha Kent down, lowered her head, and returned to General Zod's back.
General Zod walked up to Martha Kent, who collapsed to the ground, clutching her neck, a strangely gentle smile on her face.
"Where exactly did he hide the Codex of Life?"
General Zod's voice sounded somber and heavy under the ventilator, like a silent volcano, sending a chill down your spine just by hearing it.
He stood there, like a hurricane overturned on the ground, inexplicably inspiring an urge to worship him.
boom!
With a mere flick of his wrist, he tossed Martha Kent's car into the air like a toy car, then crashed like a comet onto the roof of the house, smashing through the second floor before landing on the first, sending rubble flying everywhere.
"Tell me, where is life, where is the law!?"
This should have been a very intimidating threat, but he only received the following response:
"Son! It's here with Mommy! Do you want some ** again?"
"Aaaaaaah!"
Zod kicked the Kent family's harvester away. The machine, which hadn't been used for years, spun around and shattered into pieces mid-air. The remaining parts, like sharp swords, pounded into the Kent family's house, leaving several gaping holes in the poor house.
"Are you really not afraid of dying?!"
"Son, fly high, Mom will always be with you!"
Zod suppressed his anger and controlled the urge to punch his opponent into a pulp.
Humans are far too fragile creatures; their bodies can be torn apart with the slightest carelessness. This psychopath named Martha Kent might be the one who knows the whereabouts of the Life Codex, and Zod must control his temper and not kill her.
He suppressed his anger at being fooled.
"Where exactly is the Codex of Life? If you dare to fool me again, I'll rip out all your internal organs and see what they look like—will you tell me or not!"
"Son, you don't need to pay, Mom can do it herself, yay!"
General Zod paused, the words he had prepared stuck in his throat like a wad of phlegm.
Martha Kent, lying on the ground, exposed her belly, then scratched it with her fingernail. With a "pop" sound as flesh separated from skin, her body split open from her belly to her chest, like a live pig lying on a chopping board waiting to be slaughtered, revealing two ribs that faced General Zod directly.
?
General Zod's mind was also in a state of confusion; he stood there, lost in thought.
Is it possible that humans are creatures that can turn their internal organs inside out?
Martha Kent pulled out her large intestine wrapped around her small intestine, straightened it all out right in front of Zod, and then used it as a rope to start jumping rope.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Every time she jumped, it felt like she was jumping into the hearts of three Kryptonians.
After jumping for a while, she stopped and took out her heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys: "Which organ do you want? Take whatever you want, Mommy loves you—"
Zod numbly took the other's heart, then watched the other hop around, casually opening his own skull and grabbing his brain in his hand, playing with it like a jelly.
"Oh, I almost forgot, if it's this bad, there should be bleeding."
呲!
Blood, like a showerhead, belatedly gushed out from Martha's head, drenching the three Kryptonians.
Martha placed her head in Zod's hand and said, "Oh dear, in this situation, I'm going to die!"
Then, in the blink of an eye, she suddenly lay down on the ground and fell peacefully asleep.
Only three Kryptonians remained, standing there like idiots, looking at each other in bewilderment, questioning the meaning of life.
"So... so what exactly is this?" The big guy Ek looked at Fiora, then at General Zod. Then he looked at the kidney that had been stuffed into his hand, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
General Zod opened his mouth.
"Alright, let's do a thorough search of this place first and see if we can find the Codex of Life. Anyway, let's find the escape pod first, and then—"
Before General Zod could finish speaking, he abruptly turned his head. A violent howling sound came from the horizon, and a figure with a red cloak billowing, accompanied by hurricanes and sonic booms, roared back to Kent Farm like a raging storm.
"Damn it, how could Ur let him get away? Wasn't he supposed to be capturing Karl El and draining his blood?" Fiora said, "He's really going too far..."
But she no longer had the chance to say what followed.
When Clark returned to Kent Farm, he saw Martha Kent lying on the ground, looking like a gutted pig, with the three Kryptonians each holding one of Martha's organs.
Clark's eyes immediately turned red.
Superman is enraged!
(End of this chapter)