Chapter 100: World Engine

In Gotham, in a remote corner, a dimly lit room seems to be perpetually shrouded in shadows, as if light itself cannot penetrate it.

The Joker stares intently at the television screen before him, watching the man he has been obsessing over fighting another man, looking extremely close.

One cannot help but say the Joker is feeling jealous!

"Batman, the one you love most should be me, how could you betray me?"

The Joker's lips curl into a manic grin, his smile growing wider until it becomes a maniacal laugh.

He knows he must take action to reclaim Batman from Superman!

---

Opening a portal, Alex returns to the seaside villa.

This seaside villa is located in the coastal area and was purchased by Selina not long ago.

Although Selina's little nest is decent, the lingering scent of dna over time is hard to shake off, so having a comfortable, well-ventilated villa is still necessary.

Several people walk out of the portal. Alex takes out two symbiotes and merges them with two Kryptonians, trying to replicate their ability to grow stronger under sunlight using the symbiotes.

The Kryptonians' abilities are highly unscientific; just exposure to sunlight allows them to grow to the point of moving planets, something even his current level 5 energy absorption cannot achieve.

Using a distorted force field, he binds the two Kryptonians, making them float like kites in the sky, exposed to the rays of the yellow sun, while Alex and Catwoman lie on sun loungers soaking up the rays, with a continuous flow of energy generated within the Kryptonians and then absorbed by Alex. The energy within him finally begins to stabilize and increase.

Faora stares intently at the Earthling before her. Logically, her physical prowess should be growing stronger under the sunlight, but she feels increasingly weak instead; the energy that had just formed within her suddenly vanishes without a trace.

Faora knows this is because all the energy generated within her has been absorbed by the man before her.

She tries to probe for some information about her enemy. The current foe is too powerful, and she has even lost confidence against General Zod, who is invincible in battle:

"I never expected such a being to exist on Earth!"

Alex takes a sip of expensive red wine, then casually says,

"Of course, besides me, there are other powerful beings, like Martian Manhunter or Shazam. They are all extremely strong warriors."

Faora absorbs the information from Alex's words and then looks at the black goo writhing over her body. This goo is very unruly, making her feel itchy:

"What is this black goo you placed on us?"

Alex doesn't hide it, yawning and speaking casually:

"Your Kryptonian abilities are quite interesting; I'm trying to replicate them, so Kryptonian batteries will no longer be necessary."

Kryptonian batteries?

Faora's forehead veins pop out in anger; this man actually sees the supreme Kryptonians as batteries!

Though she feels furious inside, Faora suppresses it. She is not the enemy's opponent to begin with, let alone in her weakened state now.

Alex swallows a cherry that Catwoman fed him, then continues,

"That's a symbiote. It can replicate the host's abilities, though there is an upper limit. However, I believe I can replicate the abilities of ordinary Kryptonians."

He makes Faora float before him and tightly pinches her face, looking into her terrified eyes:

"I forgot to mention, I can produce symbiotes almost infinitely. Soon, there will be a large group of superheroes with Kryptonian abilities on Earth. Don't you think that's interesting?"

Faora: "…"

No, she has to find a way to convey this message to General Zod. Earth is so dangerous; they should invade other planets instead.

---

Meanwhile, aboard a distant spaceship, General Zod realizes his officer Faora has disappeared and looks at his subordinates with a questioning expression. One subordinate immediately responds:

"General, two powerful warriors have suddenly appeared on Earth and captured the deputy commander alive."

General Zod falls silent. The emergence of other warriors who can resist Kryptonians on Earth surprises him, but it is merely a surprise.

Faora and the others have only been exposed to the yellow sun for a few hours; their powers are far from their limits. Defeating the current Fiora is not a big deal.

General Zod gives the order: "After a few days of exposure to the yellow sun, we will invade Earth!"

Days later, the Kryptonian ship splits, with one part heading towards the Indian Ocean and the other landing in Metropolis.

With General Zod's command, the World Engine activates!

This scene also catches Alex's attention at the seaside villa. He turns to look at Metropolis, grinning; the Kryptonians have indeed not disappointed him—new energy is emerging!

Beside him, Faora grows increasingly anxious as she sees the Earthling's devilish smile, constantly praying to Rao for General Zod.

The American laboratory also discovers the World Engine and formulates a plan with the arriving Superman to destroy it.

Kryptonian double agent Clark is sent to handle the ship in the Indian Ocean, while the Americans prepare to collide the ship that carried Clark to Earth with Zod's ship, creating a black hole, drawing all Kryptonians on the ship into it.

Thus, the double agent rushes straight towards the Indian Ocean, battling the defenses of the World Engine. Even at the risk of being entangled and toyed with by nano-tentacles, he must destroy Krypton's hope.

To protect humanity, Clark continuously fights against the nano-tentacles. After great hardship, he finally shakes off the tentacles that had been entangling him and reaches the underside of the World Engine.

The environment below the World Engine is already very close to Kryptonian conditions. Superman's strength is somewhat weakened here, but even so, he uses all his power to charge up, trying to destroy the World Engine.

Whooosh!

Amidst the powerful energy beams, Clark finally rushes up!

Seeing victory in sight, Clark reveals an excited expression; Earth is finally saved!

But just as Clark is about to destroy the engine, a figure suddenly appears before him, ignoring the far more terrifying energy surrounding him and the energy beams above capable of reshaping planets, standing steady in the void.

Facing Clark, who is rushing towards him at high speed, the figure looks at him with eyes as deep and calm as a still sea, extending a finger towards him.

In the next moment, Clark's fist collides with that seemingly delicate finger...

Clark had thought he would injure this figure, but to his utter disbelief, his strong body cannot suppress its halt against a single finger, and then a terrifying repulsive force emanates from that fingertip, acting upon him and sending him flying away at dozens of times the speed of sound!

Boom!

A massive explosion resonates for tens of kilometers around as Clark slides across the sea surface, the powerful force acting on him making it nearly impossible for him to resist.

Eventually, his body flies for over ten kilometers before stopping, and at that moment, he finally sees the figure's true appearance: the Dark Knight—Batman—who had helped him a few days ago!

"Why?!"

Clark questions, bewildered. Batman is obviously an Earthling, and he had once helped him, so why is he now stopping him from destroying the World Engine?

Indeed, the person before Superman is Alex, disguised as Batman. He waited for days without capturing more Kryptonian batteries just for the energy from the World Engine at this moment. This is one of the few chances to gain energy before obtaining the Mother Box; how could he let Superman destroy it?

Facing the questioning Superman, Alex shows a kind smile:

"You cannot destroy the World Engine; it is useful to me."

But Superman obviously ignores Alex's goodwill, angrily replying:

"No matter what use you have for it, it should be destroyed immediately, because people are dying every moment because of the World Engine!"

Alex laughs lightly and casually says,

"Don't worry, I will stop it."

As long as Alex starts using energy absorption to continuously absorb the World Engine's energy, they will not be able to continue transforming Earth, but Superman clearly no longer trusts Alex. "No, I must destroy it myself!"

Being continuously rejected makes Alex a bit displeased. If this Superman before him were the Silver Superman or the Golden Superman, he would leave immediately, agreeing to whatever they said.

But you are just a small movie version of Superman

Facing Superman rushing towards him, Alex grins and manipulates the surrounding vectors, a terrifying red and white singularity forming on his fist, emanating infinite repulsion. Using energy absorption to enhance his body to its limit.

In an instant, the two clash, the sound of bones shattering echoing like thunder!

"Ah!"

Under Clark's incredulous gaze, the bones in his arm are instantly shattered by the terrifying impact!

His body is thrown back, colliding with the sea surface at hundreds of times the speed of sound, creating towering waves from his impact point, and his figure is submerged by the seawater.

Alex is not surprised by this outcome. Under the current Kryptonian environment, Superman's strength is significantly weakened, and he masters vector manipulation skills, which inherently counters Superman. Hitting Superman with a single punch is not a difficult feat.

Ignoring the silent Clark submerged in the water, Alex shifts his gaze to the World Engine in the sky.

The world engine in the sky continuously emitted intense light and heat as Alex fully activated his energy absorption. The immense energy twisted around his body and then entered his being.

The system prompts kept ringing:

[Energy Point +1]

[Energy Point +1]

[Energy Point +1]

...

The energy capable of transforming planets visibly dimmed, and within just a few minutes, it was completely devoured by Alex.

At this moment, the template fusion degree had reached 57%!

Using the limitless technique, he opened the door of his pocket space and stuffed the world engine inside.

The already small pocket space was immediately filled with the world engine.

After resolving everything, Alex wore a wicked smile and said to Clark, who had fully recovered from his injuries underwater:

"Hurry up, or that girl named Lois will be killed!"

With that, he opened a portal and stepped through, returning to Metropolis.

°°°

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