Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4483 - 567: The Study of Cats and Dogs (78)

Under the dim light in the room, a man in a checkered shirt and black-framed glasses was busy. He hastily marked up a document, then moved on to another.

"Knock, knock, knock."

"Come in."

"Dr. El, you need to see this." Another person, also looking like a researcher, walked in and handed the man a document.

The man, called El, took the document. In an instant, his eyes widened.

"How could this happen?! How could the geothermal reaction suddenly...?"

"We found over 160 probes within a 200-kilometer radius around the detection point. This proves that the number of energy pumps has not decreased at all. Such frequent energy activities are making the underground thermal reactions of the planet increasingly intense. If we don't take action, the planet will disintegrate!"

El's fingertips trembled slightly as he held the document. He took a deep breath and said, "Does Ratasa know?"

"They have been working here all along; it's impossible they don't know. But they said it's orders from above."

"From above? Which above? Lao?!"

El angrily threw the document onto the table beside him.

At that moment, there was another knock on the door, and a black-haired woman dressed in combat gear walked in. She appeared taller and more muscular than El, like a born warrior.

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"Mr. El, your geothermal research investigation report has been delayed for two weeks. If you don't submit it soon, I'll forget why we're here."

"Ussa, you should know better than I why I've not submitted the report. They don't want the real data; they just want a satisfying number. How do you expect me to fabricate that out of thin air?"

"What's so hard about that, just fill in some numbers. You scientists are a headache."

"Then take a look at this!" El threw the document towards the woman called Ussa.

Ussa glanced at it but clearly didn't understand. She sighed and said, "You don't need to show me that. Just tell me when you can submit the report."

El gave a fake smile and said, "You don't want to look, right? Then let's all wait and see what happens in three months."

"What do you mean?" Ussa frowned.

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand, I'll explain," El snatched the document back and said, "Do you see this number? If this number exceeds 50,000, the entire planet will shatter into 16 pieces in three months. Got it?!"

"What the hell!" Ussa grabbed the document back and said, "Are you trying to tell me the planet beneath our feet is going to blow up? How could that be, why would..."

"Why?!!!" El roared at her, "At least 160 giant thermal energy pumps are running at full capacity to draw geothermal energy, just to power the indoor greenhouses and gardens for those council lords. Do you call this fine?!"

"Hiss..." Ussa took a light breath and said, "But the news reports from some time ago said they had already removed more than half..."

Before she could finish speaking, another piece of paper was thrown over. This time Ussa could understand it because it was a picture—dense probes, almost turning the planet's core into a porcupine.

Ussa threw the paper aside, crossed her arms, and said, "Aren't you scientists supposed to have a way to change all this?"

"Haven't I tried?" El sneered sarcastically, "I gave them the real data. I emphasized countless times that this was unsustainable. What did they do?"

"They issued hundreds of reports, claiming that the geothermal anomalies were due to faulty instruments, and that the energy shortage was a rumor spread by revolutionaries."

"Now, within the area of my home and lab, an average of over 20 people patrol daily. I can't even buy a newspaper without going through three checks. What can I do?"

Ussa averted her gaze. She took a deep breath and then said, "I will report this truthfully to the General. Perhaps he can persuade the council members... perhaps."

El moved a large pile of documents from a nearby table and patted the top of the pile, saying, "I believe your General can find scientists more professional than me to verify if what's in the documents is true. I can only tell you, if we can't solve this problem within a month, we will no longer have a home planet."

Ussa's face turned grim. She had the documents taken away. Before leaving the room, she turned and said, "Joe, we know you are an excellent scientist, and your data is likely correct. But perhaps you also know..."

She didn't continue, but El understood what she meant. Of course he knew. Nothing would change.

After Ussa left, El slowly closed his eyes, then turned to look out the window. His reflection on the glass seemed to float in the blue sky, merging with the clouds.

That ordinary glance was, in his nostalgic eyes, like a farewell kiss.

"So, you led the army to besiege the council?"

"Did I have any other choice?"

Oliver remained silent. He didn't know how to evaluate all this.

He even began to feel a bit grateful for humanity's technological backwardness.

Because if Earth were to disintegrate in three months, the human race would undoubtedly unite like never before—because without Earth, no amount of money could keep anyone alive.

But he also knew Krypton was different. They were a high-tech civilization; even without their planet, they had space stations, spacecraft, and other colonized planets.

The rich could all move away, go to the next planet, and exhaust all its energy in the same way before moving on to the next.

And the poor could only wait to die in despair.

Even though the physical qualities of the Kryptonians were indeed much stronger than those of humans, how long could mere physical strength sustain in the dark cosmos when all resources were controlled by the upper echelons?

Feeling a bit stifled, Oliver sat back down. He looked at Zod and asked, "So why did you fail?"

"It was inevitable," Zod said, "The Forbidden Army controlled by the council had all genetic restrictions removed. They felt no pain and had no fear; they would always charge forward, fearless of death."

"Furthermore, the council has a breeding center. In times of crisis, they can directly hasten the growth of infants and deploy them to the battlefield, which essentially means they have an endless supply of warriors. Not to mention even more advanced weapons and equipment."

"I knew from the start I couldn't win this battle. But I still had to do it."

"Why?"

"Didn't you want to know why I came to Earth? There's no harm in telling you." Zod shook his head lightly and said, "It's for the 'Central Treasure'."

"Central Treasure? What's that?"

"The Kryptonian gene library. You can understand it as the complete set of materials we need for breeding."

"Alright. Is this thing on Earth?"

"This thing is now inside Clark Kent."

Oliver was slightly stunned, unable to react immediately. Zod continued: "Back then, I launched that offensive to force the council to mobilize all their power to protect themselves. This way, Joe El, the father of Carl Ai'er, had the opportunity to steal the Central Treasure."

Zod's tone was filled with helplessness as he said, "We all realized that the council is beyond saving. The civilization led by the council is beyond saving too. Its destruction is only a matter of time."

"But, the Kryptonians cannot just go extinct. As long as there's any hope, we have to fight for it."

"Fortunately, we don't need to reproduce like humans through primitive mating. As long as we have the right instruments and materials, Kryptonians can reproduce again."

"I deliberately let them convict me of exile. This way, I could secretly transport two instruments for incubating embryos through my battleship, while El was responsible for preserving the breeding materials."

"No matter if the planet gets destroyed or the civilization goes extinct, as long as we have these two things, we can rebuild."

"Unfortunately, we didn't anticipate that the council would ultimately meet their own demise. The workers they mistreated launched a genetic extinction attack before our planet disintegrated. El didn't have time to transfer the materials, so he had to place them inside his son and send them to Earth by spaceship."

Oliver fell silent for a while, realizing that Zod might be even more courageous and cunning than he had imagined.

Many people ponder what the hardest step in a revolution is. Some say it's finding the right ideological guidance, others say it's seizing the right moment, and some say it's first grasping the gun.

But having personally experienced it, Oliver knew that the hardest step in a revolution is "abandoning illusions."

Intelligent life has a certain inertia. If life can go on, they'll just get by; if it becomes unsustainable, survival is enough; if survival becomes impossible, as long as they can cling to life, they might not choose to resist.

Under such circumstances, it is incredibly hard to abandon illusions about the oppressors. The awakened ones are always a minority.

However, Zod and El have abandoned their illusions very thoroughly. They even planned to abandon their entire civilization and planet.

Of course, this might also be because they had been tormented by the council for too long, reaching a point of "tired, let it be destroyed."

Understanding this, Oliver had new doubts. He looked at Zod and said, "I have a question. To obtain this Central Treasure, does Clark need to pay any price?"

"Pay any price?"

"I mean, will he die?"

"If extracting the Treasure would cause his death, how would his father put the Treasure inside him?" Zod countered.

Oliver was also speechless, then he quickly asked, "Since no price needs to be paid, why don't you just ask him directly for it?"

"I need to find him first, don't I?" Zod said, "Malafax told me Clark is Superman, and Superman is in the Justice League—so I ask you, is he in the Justice League?"

Oliver opened his mouth, unable to answer.

In theory, Clark is certainly in the Justice League, but in practice, he rarely comes to the Justice League.

"Then you... then you..." Oliver gestured with his hands for a long time before squeezing out, "Then you could have asked us."

"And how would I ask?"

"Don't you have a phone?"

"No, but I have much more advanced communication equipment than a phone. Guess where that equipment is now?"

"You're not referring to the spaceship, are you?" Oliver held onto a sliver of hope, but seeing Zod's face dark as the bottom of a pot, he could only nervously look away.

"So what's up with Malafax?" Hal asked persistently.

"I meant to ask you that," Zod said, "He claimed to have found a Divine Artifact with you and entered some Mysterious Space, described Krypton's history clearly, and provided me with information about Clark and the Justice League."

"He said I am the arch-enemy of the Justice League and they would never allow me to operate on Earth. To find Clark, I must first deal with the Justice League."

Hal also felt uneasy because he had learned from Shiller that Malafax had taken Ron's invitation to enter the Battleworld, where he obtained so much information.

Although much of the information was wrong, the details thrown out were enough to be convincing. For Zod, who was coming to Earth for the first time and had no understanding of the situation, it was indeed very useful.

"This is all a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding," Oliver said, rubbing his hands. "Regardless of your motives, you indeed tried to resist, and we greatly admire your actions. We didn't intend to be your enemy."

"Then return my spaceship."

"Well... Due to the insufficient technological level of humans, your spaceship was damaged during transport, and it might take a little time to repair it."

Oliver pinched his fingers together, leaving just a tiny gap.

But Zod already saw an entire cosmic view from there.