What Bad Thoughts Can Batman Have 107

## Chapter 107: General Zod Arrives

“What is this, Doctor? A comet or an asteroid?”

General Lane strode into the observation room, and Dr. Hamilton responded rapidly, “Comets don’t correct their course, General.”

“I want you to take a good look at this before some amateur stargazer sees it and causes a panic.”

“I don’t know why, but this ship seems to have sent itself into lunar synchronous orbit.”

“Have you tried contacting them?” General Lane asked.

“They haven’t responded yet.”

“But my personal guess is that whoever’s piloting this ship wants to make a spectacular landing.”

…

…

…

Early morning.

Clark appeared on the small hill next to his farm, his blue suit reflecting his red cape.

He raised his head, letting the moonlight caress his chiseled face, handsome like a Greek demigod.

He activated his bio-field, shielding himself from all perception. If anyone looked from afar at this moment, they would only see a blurry mosaic, like a wisp of fog floating about two feet off the ground.

He drifted to a tombstone.

It read: “To Jonathan Kent, Beloved Husband and Father.”

Clark slowly landed, then sat cross-legged on the grass like a normal Kansas boy.

The night wind rustled the tall grass beside him, creating waves like a tide.

The wind saw the moon, the tide was silent.

“Hey, Dad.”

He forced a smile at the tombstone, then waved, as if someone was really sitting there responding to him.

The young Superman was talking to shadows left behind by the dust.

“I just got back from the North Pole, Dad. The team from the Daily Planet just got back to Metropolis this morning, and I just put my luggage down.”

“Sorry for coming so late, you’ve always been more of an early to bed, early to rise kind of guy. But… I… I wanted to talk to you, I just wanted you to know.”

Superman covered his face.

“I’m so sorry, Dad. I don’t think I can do it.”

“I know what you and Mom expect, and I understand your intentions, but I can’t do it.”

He didn’t say what exactly he couldn’t do, nor why. He just kept repeating, “I can’t do it,” venting his long-suppressed fear and pressure to a lonely grave.

The god among men was immersed in negative emotions, completely unaware of the fine black sand drifting down the slope behind him.

Only in front of his father’s grave did he want to be an ordinary person.

Chen Tao carefully moved his body, which was stuck to the ground like a giant burrito.

He used satellite tracking to follow Clark Kent all the way, and after searching the entire state of Kansas, with its sprawling countryside and countless towns with the same name, he finally found Superman’s old home. If he was discovered now, all his efforts would be in vain.

He checked the place just now and found that Alfred had been right to not find it. This was indeed the Kent farm, but that was nearly ten years ago.

After Jonathan Kent passed away, they transferred most of the land in the farm, keeping only a small piece around the house.

Although it was still called Kent Farm, in the city hall records, this farm had been renamed and connected to a larger farm, you couldn’t find this place on a map.

Chen Tao guessed that this must have been Jonathan Kent’s arrangement for his own affairs before his death.

This Kansas farmer hid his family in the vast farmlands of Kansas, and then, using unknown methods, made his and his family’s addresses disappear from census records.

More than ten years later, this father’s meticulous planning for his son really worked, blocking a traveler named Chen Tao’s first investigation into him.

Perhaps this feat by a farmer without even a college degree is moving.

“…I’ve always been lonely, I’ve been lonely since I was a child, because I don’t know how to disguise myself and blend in with the crowd, no matter what I do, they can tell I’m different, I have no choice…”

Clark Kent muttered:

“…But now I can choose, now I know how to fit into society, how to disguise myself as an ordinary person, this is the dream I’ve always longed for…”

He looked at his suit with confusion, then at the “S” logo on his chest, and continued:

“If my identity is exposed, if people see my abilities, I’ll have to flee society forever…”

Behind him, Chen Tao carefully held his breath. Thankfully, he now had the Batmobile, a sync with the Batmobile, and no longer needed to breathe—

This greatly enhanced his infiltration abilities, preventing him from being discovered by the Kryptonian with his keen hearing right away.

He made his body roll across the grass as quietly as possible, making the sound like the wind carrying fine dust.

“…What’s worse is, that I’ll be forced to choose loneliness, I was powerless to choose before, but now I can, I should have chosen to be happy and enjoy life, isn’t that what you wanted? Wanted me to be happy?

“But I just don’t want to, don’t want you to think I’ve forgotten everything you taught me.”

“I can do more to help people, whether publicly or not, I can cure diseases, expose corruption, and lend a helping hand to ordinary people in times of crisis.”

“These things are as meaningful to me as they were back then, they mean as much to me as they did to you, I won’t let you down, Dad, I swear.”

Superman turned towards his back.

This action almost made Chen Tao’s heart skip a beat.

But he was just looking at the glow of the sky.

“Looks like it’ll be a good day today, I wish you could see it, I wish you were still here.”

“I love you, Dad.”

He whispered:

“I love you, and I miss you. Mom loves you too.”

“We’ll talk again later—”

Then the next second, the young Kryptonian heard a voice by his ear.

“Earth needs your help, Clark.”

The voice was light, yet like thunder in his ears.

Clark shuddered. Who could approach him so silently? Who could deceive his super senses?

Since he first awakened his abilities in elementary school, no one had ever been able to come up behind him without being noticed!

Superman’s eyes flashed red for a moment, then vanished instantly under the influence of his reason.

He slowly turned around, doing his best to activate his bio-field to its maximum.

“Who are you?”

Then he saw those pointed ears.

“You’re Batman.”

He answered himself.

That Gotham City tycoon Bruce Wayne had left a deep impression on him, Lois had always hoped to dig up some insights about Batman, the vigilante of Gotham City, from him, and Clark Kent, who hadn’t paid much attention to Batman before, also knew him inside out—

Wait.

It was like a bolt of lightning struck Clark Kent’s head.

“…I’m from Gotham, what, you asked about Batman…”

“…A minute ago, Clark Kent was stuttering with milk stains on his mouth…”

“…Batman is awesome! Because I am…”

“…You’re a contradiction, Clark…”

“Mr. Wayne? Why are you here?”

“…I came here to check out the alien spaceship…”

“Because I am Batman!”

Boom!

It was like an electric current surged from the soles of his feet to his brain, making Clark Kent shiver instantly!

Those expressions Bruce Wayne had revealed, which he had overlooked, or had noticed but had never paid attention to, reappeared in his mind, and he instantly activated his x-ray vision, but still couldn’t see through the other’s mask.

“I guess you’re using x-ray vision now.” He heard the person claiming to be Batman say from the other side, his voice sounding like a frog in his throat: “Give up, I’ve studied you, your x-ray vision can’t penetrate lead. And the inside of my mask is lined with a lot of lead.”

Then Chen Tao continued, “Don’t think about seeing through other places, this suit I’m wearing is all shielded with lead. My butler stitched my name on my underwear, but your x-ray vision can’t see it.”

“Okay, Mr. Bruce Wayne.” Clark said, “What exactly do you want from me?”

Clark said, “Are you willing to expose your true identity for this?”

“Tsk tsk.”

Chen Tao slowly took off his helmet. “Really, if it’s just a guess, don’t be so sure, Clark.”

Under the morning light, he tilted his head back, and Clark Kent saw the familiar face.

His voice softened.

No matter who it was, if you got over $500,000 in a week, you wouldn’t be able to be tough in front of him.

Although he had his suspicions, seeing the other confirm them personally still made Clark a bit hard to accept.

Chen Tao said, “It’s good to guess right like this, what if you guess wrong, wouldn’t it be a loss of face?”

“So, Clark Kent, as the basis of our mutual trust, shouldn’t you also drop the mysterious veil you have on?”

Clark deactivated the bio-field he had on his face.

He heard the Gotham tycoon say to him, “Yes, that’s right, my extraordinary friend. I hope you’ll help save Earth, Clark. Of course, thank you for the contributions you’ve already made.”

“Contributions I’ve already made?” Clark felt his brain was still a bit messed up, he said, “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been in that fortress of yours in the Arctic before.” Chen Tao told him, “As I told you and Lois before, I stole a lot of alien technology from there.”

Clark looked at the guy who nonchalantly used the word “steal” and said with confidence, “It was all necessary. It was all for humanity. By the way, I don’t understand some of the stolen things, do you have a manual for me to look at?”

“It turns out you were the one who stole so many parts from the spaceship earlier… Forget it.” Clark said a couple of words, then quickly fell silent: “Never mind. You said—”

“I know. You want to ask me about saving Earth? Oh, Clark, you don’t think you’re the last son of Krypton, do you?”

Batman’s words made him forget about the theft in an instant, his heart pounding.

“I’ll give you a name, General Zod. You can ask your father… I’m talking about your biological father, the projection on that spaceship—”

…

Ten minutes later, Chen Tao was walking on the path leading away from the Kent farm.

He stopped in front of a small mound of earth.

“Baso Caro! Mud-faced? Get up, stop pretending to be a small mound of earth.”

Chen Tao said, “Superman’s mom is found, and there are so many ordinary people around his town. Superman will probably be busy and won’t have time to pay attention to what’s happening around his old home.”

“So it’s time to work, time to use the same trick!”

The Mud-faced Man gurgled up from the ground.

After getting rid of the Mud-faced Man who was like a blob of slime, Chen Tao made a phone call to Poison Ivy. “Ivy, I want you to practice with me.”

“On how to control metal objects like you control plants.”

…

…

…

Bang! Bane fell to the ground.

Lady Shiva stepped on him, symbolically pulling out the tube that was stuck in his back.

“I, Bane… I’m not a…”

“Stepping stone!”

Bane hadn’t finished his words, his mouth spewed out a large amount of foam, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness. “Roar!”

But his roar only got halfway out before Lady Shiva stepped on his neck, and he just fell limp, lifeless.

Shiva gracefully jumped off him. “Little Jason, I’m so disappointed. I thought I would be facing a martial arts expert, but instead, I had to face a muscle-bound beast. It’s not challenging at all.”

Jason wiped the sweat off his forehead. Although he was wearing a red hood, even if he reached out, he could only touch the smooth front of the hood.

“Bane abused Venom too much. After being defeated by Batman, the injuries and after-effects of Venom had severely damaged his brain.”

He explained:

“Even though we used Lazarus Pit water to heal his spine, it didn’t completely eliminate the withdrawal symptoms from Venom.

This withdrawal reaction, combined with the bloodthirsty side effects of the Lazarus Pit, has completely destroyed Bane’s brain. If we want to cure him, we have to—”

“In short, Bane is useless now.” But before Jason could finish, he saw Lady Shiva lift her foot without hesitation, then kicked Bane hard in the back of the neck. With a crisp crack, Bane fell limp, lifeless.

Jason felt a chill in his heart.

He’s dead?

He wasn’t sure, nor did he want to confirm.

He was no longer the Robin who adhered to the no-kill rule, but he wasn’t a killer like Shiva who killed people without hesitation.

“You said Batman is in Metropolis? Jason? This is probably your last chance, let’s go to Metropolis.” He heard Lady Shiva say, her voice unwavering. “I’ve had enough of this childish play for so long.”

(End of chapter)

Previous Chapter | TOC |