CHAPTER 46

"General, you don't need to worry too much. We will definitely retrieve the Codex."

Warship commander Faora spoke to console the frowning General Zod.

General Zod saw no need to hide his thoughts and spoke directly to his most loyal subordinate, Faora:

"No, I'm not worried about that. The Codex will undoubtedly fall into our hands."

"I'm thinking, after obtaining the Codex, where should we rebuild Krypton? In our original star system, or here?"

"Jor-El was one of Krypton's top scientists. I can doubt his loyalty to Krypton, but I will not doubt his talent. He dared to send his child here, which proves this place is very suitable for us Kryptonians to live."

As the leading general of the only surviving Kryptonians, Zod's primary mission now was to rebuild Krypton, so he needed to consider things comprehensively.

But he was also a general; this talent was ingrained in his genes. His way of thinking was fundamentally geared towards warfare.

If you asked him to fight a war, to develop a colony, he would have no problem. But asking him to consider the future of the Kryptonian people, this touched upon his knowledge blind spots.

However, from his perspective as a Kryptonian general, there was now a ready-made planet suitable for Kryptonians to live on. Should he directly develop it as the new Krypton? Or should he bring back the Codex and rebuild Krypton near the debris of the old Krypton?

Faora also frowned. From her warrior's perspective, this was indeed a difficult choice:

"This is indeed a problem. The resources in this star system are not as abundant as those in the subsidiary star systems around our Krypton. It could easily slow down the speed of Krypton's revival."

"Forget it. After we obtain the Codex, we'll create some Kryptonians with leadership talent and let them decide. We are warriors; we only need to fight!"

"Yes, General."

——————

Earth, Metropolis, Daily Planet Headquarters Building.

Lois had been busy all morning, constantly organizing today's new manuscripts:

"Shocking! Frame-up or Truth?", "Shocking! How Dare Superman Do This?", "Dangerous! Beware of Superman!", "The Boys Becomes Reality!"...

These were all drafts from the morning.

The content was generally about:

Early this morning, someone mobilized vast connections to help "whitewash" Superman. However, the "whitewashing" had a counterproductive effect. Now, the resentment of Metropolis citizens towards Superman was about to explode! There were even calls for Superman to get out of Metropolis.

But it was already nearing noon, and the speed of the citizens' protest had rapidly escalated to holding signs and marching in the streets.

Why?

Because it was too similar!

Everyone who had watched "The Boys" felt a sense of resonance!

The current plot was just like Vought Company whitewashing Homelander! This made those who had watched "The Boys" feel as if they were witnessing a prophecy, witnessing history!

Lois felt an immense headache. Yesterday, there were a ton of "Dark Secrets Net" sites about Superman; today, it was all whitewashing and praise. Was this an attempt to "kill with excessive praise" Superman? Or was it the conspiracy of some evil villain?

Jimmy walked over again, carrying another stack of documents.

"Lois, there's more here. My god! It's all my fault for jinxing it, for saying I was too idle. Today has been insanely busy."

...Jimmy put down the documents, complaining. He hadn't stopped all day, busy as a spinning top.

Seeing Lois about to slip away, Jimmy anxiously asked, "Hey, where are you going? I can't handle this by myself!"

"Jimmy, I'm going to gather news material. I'll leave these to you!"

"Hey!!!"

Ignoring the shouts from behind, Lois dashed out the door, leaving a dumbfounded Jimmy. He stared blankly at the piles of data, feeling as if the sky were about to fall.

Lois ran out of the Daily Planet, jumped into her news van, slammed on the accelerator, and headed towards the tallest building in Metropolis.

Yes, she was going to jump off a building to summon Superman!

This method, though an old cliché, was effective enough.

"Aaaah!!!!!"

A scream from the tall building terrified passersby.

Whoosh—

A red figure streaked across the sky. Superman successfully caught her, landing in a princess carry.

Superman said with some helplessness:

"Is something wrong, Ms. Lane? Also, I don't think you need to joke with your life like that; it's too dangerous! If something's wrong, just call out to me. I can hear you."

Lois hugged Superman's neck. Seeing Superman okay, that's truly good.

"Oh, Superman! I want to know what exactly happened this morning! Why were there so many positive reviews in the morning, as if someone deliberately faked them to target you."

Superman put Lois down and said:

"I'm investigating it too! I found out from the gangs that someone is paying people to post positive reviews."

"However, the bounty for posting positive reviews online has already stopped. I'll soon know who's behind this."

Superman had actually just rushed back from the Arctic. He had gone to the Fortress of Solitude to create a little something!

An oval gray ball, the upper half a screen, the lower half metal. The screen displayed a cute, pixelated emoticon.

It was called K-1, a mass-produced small robot made at the Fortress of Solitude, equipped with relatively strong artificial intelligence.

Superman pressed a button beneath the machine. The metal rippled once and then transformed into an interface that could be pulled out for use.

Lois's eyes lit up; this interface was very familiar to her. She asked, "Is this a portable hard drive?"

Superman smiled slightly and introduced, "To be precise, this is an intelligent robot. It will help me find out who is causing trouble on the internet!"

Lois's eyes lit up: "Wow! So cool. Do you need my help? I'll record the entire process; that will definitely be big news."

"Thanks, I need a computer. To prevent it from running wild, I need to supervise its work."

Because intelligent robots grow very quickly, Jor-El's phantom AI had warned Superman to be careful when using it on Earth.

Therefore, this little thing had already been programmed by Superman; it would automatically self-destruct after helping him.

If it accidentally developed self-awareness and feared destruction, then Superman would need to help. So, he needed to keep an eye on it; letting it run wild would be too dangerous.

"My van is over there. It has a laptop; you can use it."

"Thanks, that's a big help."

The intelligent robot connected to the computer port and began searching for people on the internet, prioritizing finding the creator of the "Dark Secrets Net."

...Lois's laptop screen instantly went black. Data streams began to flow across the screen. A few minutes later, a live video feed popped up.

The computer knowledge Super Poopman had learned was, after all, from Earth. Although the AI he wrote was formidable on Earth, it was technologically far inferior to Kryptonian intelligent AI.

Lois and Superman stared tensely at the screen. The "Loading..." text made them excited; they would soon know who was on the other side!

——

An exaggeratedly expressive penguin was dancing in front of the camera, moving far and near, up and down.

"Baldy, can't beat me, can you! Hahahaha, Lex, baldy, boring baldy. I [censored] your [censored]......"

It spewed a torrent of curses with its bird beak, like a telegraph machine.

——

Lois and Superman looked at each other. They wanted to see different reactions on each other's faces, but their faces only showed dumbfounded bewilderment.

Lois asked with puzzlement:

"Is there something wrong with this thing? I'm seeing a penguin engaged in an online flame war. Superman, are you sure this isn't a prank video?"

"It should be fine. That is indeed a penguin."

"K-1, tell me the address. Let's go over and take a look."

Data streams began to flow. A map appeared on the laptop again. The red dot marked Max's location.

It was a five-star hotel, not far from them. Superman picked up Lois, blasted the robot with his heat vision, and then flew towards the target location.

"Ah! Superman, you just destroyed it like that?"

"It's a mass-produced machine. Because it had to deal with network experts, I set its intelligence quite high. A slight lapse in attention could lead to major problems! For safety, I need to destroy it after use."

"So that's how it is. Should I include this in my report?"

"Write it in. It can also serve as a reminder to those trying to attack me online that I can also follow the network cable to find them."

…………………………

After Max suffered the online ban, he created over ten more "Dark Secrets Net" sites.

But Lex Luthor seemed to be feuding with him; no matter how many "Dark Secrets Net" sites he opened, Lex Luthor would blast them all.

This made Max, who wanted to update "The Boys," extremely agitated. He still wanted to finish writing that book.

Thus, Max stopped hiding and confronted Lex Luthor head-on.

At first, the two were neck-and-neck in terms of network technology.

However, Lex Luthor didn't play fair; he used his "money power" to call for help! He called in a team to deal with Max alongside him.

Max single-handedly fought their entire group.

And then, he lost. It wasn't that his own skills weren't good enough, but the other side was too cunning, and they had more people, outnumbering his typing speed!

This angered Max so much that he immediately used his trusty Omnitrix to transform!

He wanted to transform into an awesome character and then go beat Lex Luthor's bald head.

Bang! ...He became a talking penguin.

Oh, mental breakdown. Was he supposed to peck Lex Luthor to death with this bird beak?

The penguin brain told him: It's not impossible, as long as it's planned well!

"What the hell? Am I supposed to write a bunch of plans like Batman?"

...Penguin brain: Yes! You're no ordinary penguin.

"Not ordinary, penguin?"

That penguin face stared at the restroom mirror for a long time. Inspiration struck.

"? Oh, I remember! I remember who you are! Penguins of Madagascar! Named Skipper, or maybe Kowalski."

This penguin's brain was much more useful than Max's own human brain!

In just a few short minutes, the penguin he had transformed into, relying on the sixth sense provided by its brain, managed to upgrade his computer system... It was absurd.

The upgraded intelligent system, with a much stronger posture, crushed Lex Luthor and his team.

This caused Lex Luthor's defenses to break. He immediately demanded a video call, wanting to speak directly.

Coincidentally, the penguin had the same idea!

And then, Superman and the others saw the online flame war where the penguin was taunting right into the camera.

——————

LexCorp's corporate meeting room.

Including Lex Luthor, a total of 136 people were seated in this room. Everyone here was an elite among elites, elites in scientific research, the treasures of LexCorp.

At this moment, their faces were incredibly grim. Anyone taunted by a penguin wouldn't have a good expression.

Especially Lex Luthor; his face was already purplish-red with anger. Even Thanos would have to call him brother.

On everyone's computer was that trash-talking penguin. Its sharp taunts were like daggers to the heart.

Lex Luthor said through gritted teeth:

"Gentlemen, as the research elites of our group, can you tolerate the taunts of a damned penguin?"

An older balding man slammed the table and shot up. Being called bald by a penguin, he had a strong opinion.

"Fuck, I can't stand it! Luthor, tell me who it is, I'll find someone to take care of it."

Beside him, another researcher of similar age had the same reaction:

"It's dead meat! Tonight I'm going to eat penguin meat! I can't swallow this anger otherwise!"

"Oh damn it, where on earth did this Antarctic lowlife come from! Even a good-tempered person like me has been provoked by him!"

The person who had already smashed their computer made this statement.

"It's not necessarily from Antarctica; it could also be from the Arctic."

"Fuck! You still want to argue with me at a time like this!"

"This is what I call being rigorous!"

"...*****......"

...

Seeing that the meeting room was about to turn into a chaotic marketplace, Lex Luthor raised his voice and said:

"Like you, I wish I could chop it up and stew it in soup right now! But, I need to remind you, it is very dangerous!"

"Luthor, it's just a genetically mutated penguin, what's there to be afraid of? I can blow it away with one shot!"

Lex Luthor brought up the projection screen in the meeting room and displayed the photos of that super-fast bird and Super Poopman together.

"Look here! This green symbol, all three of these guys have it. What does that make you think of?"

Everyone sitting below was intelligent. Once Lex Luthor pointed it out, they all understood.

"You mean, they're a team! Fuck, so someone is researching super-genes, and they've already started human experiments!"

"It seems those two birds were the earliest experimental subjects, and that Super Poopman is probably their already successful experimental subject!"

Lex Luthor nodded in agreement:

"Yes, that's exactly what I suspect! Gentlemen, you are the people I have carefully selected. Are you willing to participate in the next project with me?"

"What project?" ×N

Lex Luthor pressed a button on his remote control: "Research him!"

"Holy crap, Superman! Luthor, you're crazy!" ×N

"I still have a pile of projects; I won't research this one." ×5

Lex Luthor said very seriously:

"No! I'm not crazy. If others can succeed, so can we!"

"Look at the achievements of others; aren't you tempted! Don't you want to take another step forward?"

"Rest assured, I will catch Superman! You only need to be responsible for the research!"

Lex Luthor's inciting speech stirred up the ambitions of everyone present!