44: Despair, Humanity, and Disarmament

Above Metropolis!

The Phantom Spaceship, its propulsion system completely destroyed, was plummeting towards the ground at an alarming speed. From its tail, thick black smoke billowed, looking from the ground like a black ladder extending from the sky.

However, facing this rare spectacle, the people on the streets of Metropolis had no mood to appreciate it. Their scalps felt like they were about to explode. Facing the impending crash of the Phantom Spaceship, the crowd, after a few seconds of silence, finally erupted!

"Oh my God!"

"What the hell is that, God!"

"Is that a meteorite?"

Rumble~

At this moment, the citizens of Metropolis finally reacted and began to scatter and flee. But they didn't realize that by the time they did, it was already too late. A dozen seconds after the citizens noticed, the Phantom Spaceship finally crashed to the ground after colliding with and collapsing numerous tall buildings along its path.

At this moment!

Dust and smoke began to rise throughout the city, quickly surging into every street, completely engulfing and pervading them.

Faced with such a scene, panic spread, and everyone was screaming, uttering desperate and helpless cries.

Beep~

At the same time, the city's traffic also came to a complete standstill. Within the thick, invisible smoke, piercing and dense car horns echoed throughout Metropolis. Red lights rose in the dense fog; these were car owners trying to illuminate the way home.

But reality was desperate and cruel. The moment the Phantom Spaceship crashed, Metropolis's urban power system almost instantly failed completely. And the sky-high dust and smoke stirred up by the crash would not settle easily. But what everyone lacked most now was time.

Thus, a sense of helpless despair began to grow in everyone's hearts. They searched bewilderedly for their loved ones in the thick smoke, but each time they saw someone, they found it wasn't the person they were looking for.

Anxiety! Panic! Despair! Crying!

At this moment, Metropolis was witnessing scenes of true despair.

On the other side!

At the crash site of the Phantom Spaceship, the ground had already been dented. Within a radius of several hundred meters, the ground had sunk at least several meters deep. The Phantom Spaceship, under the immense impact force of its descent, had been smashed into two halves. Various ship components were scattered across the deep pit, and flashes of sparks could be seen from time to time.

Click, click, click~

Just then, strange noises suddenly emanated from within the broken ship's cabin. At first, the sound was faint, then it gradually grew stronger, finally culminating in a loud bang as numerous components were pushed out.

Only then did a figure finally emerge: it was Zod!

The huge commotion caused by the Phantom Spaceship's landing had still affected them. They had almost instantly experienced weightlessness, and then their bodies had uncontrollably crashed into things until the Phantom Spaceship completely fell. The two of them had lost consciousness the moment it hit the ground.

"Damn it, is that human dead?"

Zod stood up, swaying. He looked around with a gloomy gaze, but all he saw was a scene of destruction. Seeing this, Zod's expression froze for a moment, but he quickly recovered and kept reassuring himself.

"It's okay, there's still a chance, there's still a chance."

"As long as the Void Engine is fully activated, and Krypton reappears, then everything is worth it, everything is worth it."

A few seconds later, Zod, his emotions completely calmed, immediately walked outside. He needed to find out what the situation was like out there.

However, just as Zod was about to move, a loud noise suddenly came from his side. Faced with the sudden sound, Zod immediately stopped and turned to look in the direction of the strange noise.

Suddenly, the moment Zod turned his head, a long, thick steel bar suddenly flew towards him, whistling. At this point, Zod also saw the situation there; a figure stood there, drops of blood trickling from his fingertips, but despite being injured, that person's aura was even stronger than before.

Clang!

The moment the steel bar flew, Zod instinctively dodged, narrowly avoiding the incoming attack.

However, the figure showed no reaction as Zod dodged the attack. He simply walked towards Zod. As the figure emerged from the shadows, his identity was revealed: it was Li An.

"Where are you going?"

"General Zod!"

Li An stopped about ten meters from Zod. At this moment, he seemed to feel no pain, instead looking at Zod with a smile.

"Human, fighting you is meaningless now."

"The Void Engine has already activated."

"Don't you feel it? The change in the atmosphere..."

In response to Li An's question, Zod suddenly burst out laughing the next second. He seemed to relax, even having the leisure to chat with Li An.

It turned out that just as Li An spoke, Zod suddenly felt a change in Earth's field, and at this moment, he noticed that many components around them were suddenly rising into the air. It was as if an invisible force in the air was lifting them and sending them upwards.

"Hmm?"

Hearing this, Li An was first startled, then he felt a suction force from above. Although this force wasn't strong, it was frantically pulling at him, seemingly wanting to drag him high into the sky as well.

"Hahahahaha!"

"Do you feel it?"

"Human, you lost. The era of Krypton is coming. It seems Kal-El still made the right decision."

At this moment, a triumphant smile finally appeared on Zod's face. He saw the change in Li An's expression and immediately understood that the other party had also noticed the change in the atmosphere.

Given the situation, Zod clearly believed that Clark had given up on saving humanity. A satisfied smile immediately appeared in his heart.

It seems that even a wanderer far from home still cares about his homeland.

Given Kal-El's cooperation, Zod had already decided that when extracting the codex, he would try to make it less painful for him. After all, Superman had contributed to the emergence of the Second Krypton.

"Is that so?"

"General, you've been high and mighty for too long. I'm afraid you've forgotten the complexity of human nature, haven't you?"

Looking at General Zod, who seemed to be celebrating his success prematurely, the smile that had always been on Li An's face slowly disappeared. Then he looked at Zod with an indifferent expression.

"Human nature?"

"What is that?"

"As a defender of Krypton, that would only be a burden to me. I don't need human nature."

"I only need Krypton to reappear! I want to create the Second Krypton!"

Li An's words almost instantly angered Zod. He first glared at Li An, then clenched his fists and half-squatted under Li An's gaze. Then, a scene from the original story appeared.

The next second after Zod half-squatted, he fully straightened his body, and the armor he was wearing immediately clattered to the ground. Now, looking back at Zod, he was only wearing a tight-fitting combat suit, facing Li An.