30: Zod Arrives

“Then let me see what you're truly up to.”

“But no matter what you do, you will ultimately not escape my grasp.”

Finally, Lex looked at Li An's retreating figure on the screen, a sinister smile playing on his lips.

One day later!

Somewhere in the Indian Ocean.

As a passenger plane streaked across the sky and finally landed at the airport, Li An at last stood on this land. Soon after, LexCorp employees who were there to pick him up met Li An. Without any delay, Li An headed directly to his next destination.

Because the location where the kryptonite was found was very remote, he still needed to make a second transfer. This time, he had to take a helicopter to reach the beach where the kryptonite was located.

The journey was uneventful.

When Li An arrived at the beach where the kryptonite was, it was precisely noon. As soon as he disembarked from the helicopter, Lex employees, who had been waiting by the helipad for a long time, immediately stepped forward and placed a huge wooden crate, which required four people to lift, in front of Li An.

“Boss, this is what you wanted.”

Then, a Lex employee immediately spoke.

This employee was a member of Lex's security department, so calling Li An “Boss” was reasonable.

“Well done.”

As a superior, Li An naturally had a good grasp of human psychology, and immediately began to encourage them.

“Hey! You guys, why aren't you moving?”

“Boss, please wait.”

Faced with Li An's sudden encouragement, the employee was greatly pleased. After a complimentary smile towards Li An, he immediately turned to look at the four people behind him, signaling them to open the wooden crate.

At this point, Li An also walked to the wooden crate, watching as the four men worked together, and the sealed wooden crate was dismantled in just a few tens of seconds.

“Is this kryptonite?!”

With a rumble, the last heavy wooden block was laid on the ground, and a massive crystal emitting a green light immediately appeared before Li An, casting a vivid green glow on his face. He touched the enormous green crystal in front of him, feeling its real texture.

Only at this moment did a hint of excitement show in Li An's eyes; he knew his mission was finally secure.

The next second, to everyone's dumbfounded expressions, Li An actually broke off a small piece directly from the large kryptonite, and then calmly put it into his clothes pocket.

“Load this thing up. I need to return to Metropolis this afternoon.”

Only after doing all this did Li An look at the stunned crowd beside him. They had all tested the hardness of kryptonite; ordinary iron tools couldn't even chip off a small fragment, yet Li An had broken off a piece with his bare hands in front of them.

How astonishing was this!

“By the way, what's your name?”

“Boss, my name is Gavin, it's a pleasure to meet you.”

Although Gavin paused for a second at Li An's sudden question, he quickly reacted and answered.

“You come along too, Gavin.”

The next second, Li An directly waved, signaling Gavin to follow.

Lunch at noon was a typical Western meal. Li An wasn't particular; after a simple lunch, he was just about to head to the helipad when an unexpected event occurred!

The television in the restaurant was broadcasting today's news one second, and the next second it interrupted with breaking news, saying that citizens had discovered an unidentified flying object in the sky.

Seeing this sudden scene, Li An, who was about to move towards the helipad, stopped in his tracks.

Buzz buzz buzz ~

Just then, the image on the television screen changed again. First, a block of text appeared, followed by a blurry figure composed entirely of digital pixels on the TV screen.

“I am General Zod, from the distant world of Krypton.”

“I hear that on this planet, there is still one of my people, who does not belong to Earth...”

“24 hours. I demand that you hand him over. His name is Kal-El!”

“Kal-El...”

As Zod's voice faded, almost all electronic devices worldwide played the final sound at the same time. This sound pierced people's hearts, shocking everyone across the globe.

Of course, this did not include Superman Clark of Metropolis, or Batman Bruce Wayne of Gotham City!

“Clark.”

Only then did the television suddenly return to normal. Clark's adoptive mother, Martha, also came back to her senses at this moment. She looked at Clark with immense worry, knowing very well that the person on TV was looking for her son!

Clark Kent, or rather, he should be called Kal-El!

“Zod...”

Clark said nothing, only gently held his mother, Martha, in his arms. At this moment, where Martha couldn't see, a hint of determination flashed in Clark's eyes. He had to resolve this matter quickly, so it wouldn't affect his mother.

At the same time!

Somewhere in the Indian Ocean!

Li An also reacted at this moment, retracting his somewhat surprised gaze. He hadn't expected Zod to arrive so abruptly!

“No, I must first ensure I have enough strength to cope.”

“Gavin, find me a room, and bring that thing to the room. No one is allowed to enter without my instructions.”

In an instant, a myriad of thoughts flashed through Li An's mind, giving him an idea. He immediately turned to Gavin, who was beside him, and said.

“No problem, Boss, I'll arrange it right away.”

“In this area, coincidentally, there's an abandoned military zone with a nuclear-proof fortress inside.”

Almost without hesitation, Gavin immediately spoke after hearing Li An's request.

Li An truly hadn't expected that such a level of fortification existed in this seemingly backward land.

“That's for the best. Hurry up, I need to get there as soon as possible.”

Upon hearing this, Li An immediately nodded, indicating for him to make arrangements quickly. Zod's appearance had clearly disrupted his plans, so he had to quickly master a method to counter him.

Half an hour later!

Inside a military fortress that looked incredibly dilapidated from the outside, Li An closed the door from the inside, then walked directly to the kryptonite that had been carried into the fortress.

“Then let's begin.”

“Let's see if you can be the key to victory!”

In a whisper, the glowing green light of the kryptonite reflected on Li An's face, immediately followed by a slowly rising crimson, in which the glowing green light was gradually enveloped and devoured.

Absorbing kryptonite and making it his own was Li An's key idea to deal with Superman and all Kryptonians. Furthermore, kryptonite itself inherently possessed a certain amount of energy substance, which he could absorb to enhance his strength.

The reason he could have such an idea was largely thanks to Li An's physique completing a further transformation in the Paradise, becoming a Devourer!

Otherwise, if he were still the previous Evolved Body, he would probably only be able to absorb energy by devouring powerful life forms for combat, making it impossible to absorb the energy of kryptonite!

But fortunately, his current physique had already transformed, becoming an even more terrifying Devourer!

[Source · Devourer Lv.3: Can devour any target and convert it into evolution energy. Evolution level is unlimited. Can absorb 2% of the devoured target's total attributes to strengthen itself, and cell activity will also be in a highly active state. After devouring a certain amount of targets, physical strength will receive an additional boost.] (Unawakened State)