138 Do You Think I Care About This?!

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The matter of the alien general Zod leading an alien invasion of Earth has concluded.

Their evil plan to destroy mankind and terraform the Earth was thwarted by the superheroes; the Beyonder, and Superman.

During this time, thousands of people perished in Metropolis, and countless mourned for them.

The global significance of this event, connected to the fate of the entire Earth, brought more awareness to these two superheroes. Everyone talked and debated this fervently, with some expressing gratitude to the Beyonder and Superman for saving the Earth, while others were skeptical and even hostile toward them.

#1: "From the beginning to the end, we only saw a massive battle that endangered innocent lives! 

A few aliens toyed with our buildings as if they were toys. 

Who saw the so-called conspiracy, the plan to destroy humanity?"

#2: "That Zod kept shouting in the city asking Superman to surrender some sort of codex. Could it be that he stole something from his own people and came to Earth to escape, bringing disaster to our planet?!"

#3: "Enough, haven't you seen Zod's attitude during the fight? 

He repeatedly threatened Beyonder and Superman with us over and over again. Can he be anything good? Superman has been saving people since he first appeared! 

The Beyonder, together with Superman, drove off that space monster that was coming to feed on us."

#4: "I don't have any hate towards Superman and the Beyonder. But this time, it's Superman's people who have come. Who's to say the enemies of Superman's race won't come next?"

#5: "Superman can be confirmed as an alien, but does anyone know if the Beyonder is one of us, a human?"

The discussions about the Beyonder's identity and whether people should be grateful to Superman, or let him stay on Earth, raged on online. Numerous TV debate shows were held to address these issues, and various celebrities were interviewed to express their views on the matter.

Among them, the question of the Beyonder's identity was frequently raised, as some proposed that if the Beyonder was a human, Earth could unite and request the Beyonder to send Superman away, allowing our world to be protected by our very own superheroes. This way, everyone could be rest assured!

Clark had long since learned to remain calm in the face of the various discussions on the internet.

On the other hand, David paid no attention to them at all. He was more concerned about which rat had secretly abducted the two Kryptonians while he and Clark were fighting Zod and Faora.

"Check the data of the other mothership?

Just wait a moment."

Inside the Fortress of Solitude, Jor-El listened to their request and manipulated the ship to print out a key-like attachment that looked like a seal.

A floating mechanical guardian extended its steel tentacles, placing the key into Clark's hand.

"Insert the key into the main control room of that mothership, and I will take over its access."

"Alright." "Thanks, Uncle El."

Once the two of them arrived at the mothership and did as instructed, an image of Jor-El appeared in the main control room. He closed his eyes for a second, then waved his hand to display a segment of video.

A familiar bald figure wearing green high-tech armor entered the ship through a hole created by David. After a brief inspection, he made his way to the mothership's main control room, showing amazing strength.

The alloy door of the Kryptonian mothership was as fragile as paper in his hands and was easily discarded to the side.

Upon reaching the main control room, he attempted to steal the technology stored in the ship's computer but failed in all his attempts.

Entering the treasure trove but leaving empty-handed, he slammed his fist hard against the ship's control panel, his face darkened as he turned and left.

"It's Luthor," David said, his eyes turning cold.

"How did he become so powerful?" Clark hesitated. 

"Did he enhance his own androids?"

The appearance of Zero Suit Armor and the armor controlled by Batman suggested that Earth's seemingly backward technology should not be underestimated.

"Scans from the mothership indicate he's an organic being," Jor-El waved his hand, displaying an image resembling an X-ray of a human body.

Clark looked at David in confusion. 

"Could it have been a person with superpowers who took on Luthor's appearance?"

After all, there are precedents for such things, like Tina, who had shape-shifting abilities and once took on Luthor's appearance to rob a bank.

"No need for that,

Why would a person with such power need to frame Luther?" 

David dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "He likely should have biologically modified himself."

After speaking, he stroked his chin, feeling somewhat surprised.

In the comics, Lex Luthor, a staunch human supremacist, had used technology and Kryptonite, and even cloned a duplicate of Clark to fight Superman, but he rarely abandoned his identity as a regular human on Earth. 

However, there have been exceptions.

'In the comics, he once envied the powers of the Kryptonian and proposed a plan for everyone, claiming to genetically modify people to give everyone superpowers. He used innocent people as his test subjects, but later found that the technology didn't suit his genetics and failed.'

It seems that he and Clark pushed him too hard? 

After some thought, Lex Luthor's most important identity was as a billionaire. Preventing him from running his corporate empire in the open was akin to digging into his roots.

To achieve his ambitions and become the most powerful person in the human world, he couldn't do without money.

"Uncle El, I need one more favor," David said.

Having confirmed that it was Luthor who had taken the two unconscious Kryptonians, David looked at Jor-El. 

"Can you find this person on Earth?"

Unlike regular artificial intelligence, as an AI that can think and even react like he did when he was alive, Jor-El guessed his intentions and smiled, saying, "No problem."

He closed his eyes and began to infiltrate the global network in search of Luthor. 

The ordinary Kryptonian intelligence on Zod's ship could already infiltrate electronic display devices worldwide, and now this form of electronic life that was Jor-El only required a little bit of time.

"What is he doing with the unconscious Kryptonians?" 

Clark frowned.

"Experimenting? 

Isn't he afraid Zod's two underlings will wake up and kill him?"

"He probably has already figured out the Kryptonians' weaknesses," David said. 

The last time, Clark got beaten in front of many people, and that abnormal scene couldn't have escaped Luthor's notice. 

Clark has the Green Lantern ring to protect him from Kryptonite radiation, but those two Kryptonians don't. 

It's not a big deal for Luthor to acquire some meteorite by-products.

"Found it," Jor-El said, opening his eyes. A set of coordinates appeared on the Earth's surface, precisely locating a location in the outskirts beneath Metropolis.

"We didn't have time for him before," David said, his eyes cold as he walked outside the ship. 

"This time, let's take care of him once and for all."

This would be fulfilling his promise that if Luthor ever reappeared in the sunlight, it would be his death sentence.

…

In the Underground Lab.

Luthor had brought the two Kryptonians back and placed them on an examination table. He watched as the two of them, injected with a meteorite solution, lay unconscious. A gleam of excitement flashed in his eyes, and a cold smile played at the corner of his mouth.

"With these two biological materials, the plan will undoubtedly progress faster!"

Upon discovering that the meteorites that accompanied Superman to Earth could weaken him, Luthor purchased many remaining meteorite by-products on Earth to use against Superman.

In addition to this, he had initiated another plan for the sake of security and future needs.

On the day when Superman and the Beyonder were taken away by the green energy constructs, he secretly sent people to the scene of the battle to collect a sample of Superman's blood that still retained vitality.

"The Plan called 'Servant Superman'!"

"Cloning is a magnificent technology with unimaginable applications. But because of legal and moral issues, it's banned in the human world. 

These stupid laws and regulations completely stifle humanity's technological potential in this field."

Luthor had always believed that laws and morals only restrained the weak. He intended to use Superman's blood to clone a duplicate of him for his own purposes.

The difficulty in cloning Earthlings and aliens is different, even though he now has extraordinary talent in science and technology research and development. 

"There are too few biological materials for experimentation, which has delayed progress."

But now things were different. Luthor was confident he could complete a plan that was originally expected to take at least three months in just five days.

"After all, cloning isn't such a difficult technology," he mused, his eyes filled with an eerie glint. 

He had already tried this himself, even though the successful results made him uncomfortable.

'Lex Luthor should be unique.'

And he faced the same challenge that anyone researching cloning technology encounters – is the cloned person still him? 

This discomfort forced him to kill someone for the first time with his own hands. The unique identity of the person he killed was enough to let the legal community quarrel over how to sentence him.

'Alexander conquered the world before he turned thirty, becoming one of the most influential and famous figures in human history. 

However, at twenty, before he ascended to the throne and began his journey of conquest, he was just an inconspicuous little prince in the world at that time.'

Luthor, clad in a white protective suit, stared expressionlessly at the two soon-to-be biological materials on the examination table. His fingers grazed the cold edge of the table.

'If Alexander and his father, Philip II, had both been assassinated at that time, would his name still be remembered by the world, leaving a glorious page in human history? The answer is probably not.'

His eyes held a cold, unfathomable expression. He fetched a syringe, preparing to collect the Kryptonian's blood.

Suddenly, Luthor's hand paused, and he frowned. His vision penetrated layers of steel and concrete, seeing through the ground and detecting the strength of the biological magnetic field in a unique gray perspective, two figures descended.

One emitted a radiant and fiery brilliance, akin to a sun, while the other seemed restrained but solid, like a brilliant concentration of light formed into a human shape.

"You actually found me?"

Other people's life magnetic fields were like candles, but these two...

In an instant, Luthor deduced their identities. His face darkened, and he glanced at the two sedated test subjects on the table.

His nails extended, taking on the texture of silver metal, resembling a sharp dagger, swiftly severing the arm of one of the weakened Kryptonians who had been affected by the meteorite solution. In an instant, his palm emitted a freezing aura, freezing the severed limb.

The ground seemed to ripple as it was pushed aside. Having gained powers after completing the Typhon Plan, Luthor clutched the severed arm and prepared to retreat underground and escape immediately.

If it were just Superman, he might have stayed and attempted to fight.

"But now there's a Beyonder."

Luthor had uncovered Superman's true weaknesses, but the same could not be said for the Beyonder. Luthor had speculated that the Beyonder and Superman were of the same alien race, but during Zod's visit to Earth, he never mentioned the Beyonder, had made him doubt this hypothesis.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to turn into solidifying cement, and Luthor's movements became sluggish. With his current strength, he could tear through not just cement but also steel. 

He looked above and…

Crack!

The ceiling of the underground fortress was torn open from above, and two figures descended.

Luthor, along with the ground within several meters of him, was ripped from the ground, floating upward. He applied force with both arms, shattering the dirt wrapped around him by the force field. Since there was no escaping it, he ascended, confronting the two figures who were like evil guests.

"Beyonder, Superman. I never expected you to find this place."

"Do you think you can live for long once your real body appears under the Sun?" 

David's expression was indifferent.

"You took someone you shouldn't have taken from the moon, Luthor," Clark said, using his super-vision to examine Luthor's body, confirming that this was not an android. He had seen Luthor cut off a Kryptonian's arm as casually as plucking a leaf from a plant, showing no regard for life, his voice was tinged with anger.

"Are you referring to the alien war criminal who invaded Earth?"

Luthor tore off his protective suit, revealing a black suit underneath. He tossed the previously eagerly collected severed arm aside, pulling out a handkerchief from his chest pocket to wipe his hands, and threw it away like garbage.

"The Superman who combats crime throughout the city, wanting to take people from here, I wonder which Earth law I've broken?" he asked with a sneer.

"Unlawful detention? Maliciously harming others? Are aliens also protected by Earth's laws?"

"You..."

A series of mocking questions, just asking whether aliens had rights like humans, made Clark clench his fist in anger. However, strictly speaking, Earth's various legal systems only apply to humans. According to legal terminology, Luthor had indeed not 'committed a crime'.

"I'm not here to listen to your sophistry."

David's icy voice broke in. He raised his hand to manipulate the gravitational field, pressing Luthor down from the sky. His voice was like the cold wind that constantly blew in the Arctic, sending shivers down one's spine.

"Do you remember what I said, Lex Luthor?"

Boom!

Luthor was slammed to the ground as if a mountain had fallen on him. The earth cracked with a web-like pattern, and wave after wave of gravitational force pressed down. The ground sank several meters instantly, and the soil and rocks were compacted into something as hard as steel.

Luthor's face twisted in anger. At times, he turned into steel, at times into stone, and at times changed his body size. He struggled to stand up, raising his head to look at the sky.

Damn it, even with hundreds of abilities at his disposal, he couldn't withstand the power of this guy, even when combining them all!

"I haven't committed a crime. Superman, the Beyonder who came with you, is committing a crime. 

He's attacking me, an innocent civilian. Can't you see that?"

Luthor's forehead veins bulged, and he sneered.

"Let me remind you, just when I took out my handkerchief, I activated the miniature camera on my chest with a gesture. 

Now, your every move as the superheroes who just saved the Earth is being broadcast to the entire world!"

A small red light on his button faintly flickered, indicating the camera.

"Wait a minute..."

Seeing the camera there, Clark's face changed, and he wanted to stop his brother. 

They had no legal support in their line of work, and their current actions were on the verge of breaking the law.

"Do you think I care about this, Luthor?"

However, David's face remained devoid of any emotion, and an invisible hand, like catching a small chick, ruthlessly squeezed towards Luthor.

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(~˘▾˘)~Don't forget to send your power-stones!~(˘▾˘~)