CHAPTER 43

"Tch, Lex, you're being really perfunctory."

Lena pouted, feeling a distinct lack of accomplishment.

What she wanted to see was Lex Luthor admitting defeat sincerely, acknowledging that he was not as good as his younger sister, rather than this kind of patronizing praise one would use to humor a younger sibling.

Watching Lex Luthor, who was seriously examining the images and completely engrossed, he had no time to pay attention to Lena Luthor.

His mind was currently full of: This thing? What on earth is it? Can it be dismantled? How to dismantle it? Why not catch one and try taking it apart?

Lena Luthor prompted:

"What do you think that thing looks like? A corporate logo? A laboratory icon? Or... some kind of external stabilizer?"

Lex Luthor's brow furrowed deeply. He had already enlarged that hourglass icon considerably. Amidst the blurry pixels, he could only guess that the material of the object was likely metallic.

"A metallic object appearing on the surface of a biological entity, besides bio-modification, what else could it be?"

"My guess is, that bird is very likely a human who has undergone experimental modification. And that Super Poopman, he might have been created using Superman's genes!"

"Interesting, truly interesting! Could there be scientists in Metropolis who are smarter and more capable than me?"

"Hahaha, what's even more interesting is that they actually dare to come and trouble me! Trouble me, Lex Luthor!"

Lena rolled her eyes at Lex Luthor, who was suddenly muttering to himself and then chuckling foolishly.

She pointed at the debris scattered all over the floor and delivered a blow: "Heh, clever baldy Lex, the world doesn't lack smart people. If I hadn't reminded you, you'd still be smashing up your office! Look at all this, tsk tsk tsk, what a waste."

Veins bulged on the baldy's forehead again. Lex Luthor knew he couldn't win an argument with her, so he changed the subject:

"For the next month, I'll be in the laboratory conducting research. During this one-month period, you will be the CEO of LexCorp! I will not interfere in the company's affairs. Hmm, don't say I didn't give you a chance. If you can't manage the company well, you are not allowed to mention the 'baldy' matter ever again."

"Deal!"

Lena Luthor was very satisfied with Lex's proposal.

She believed she had the ability to manage LexCorp, and moreover, with the vast resources of LexCorp, a little maneuvering would allow her to develop her own company more quickly.

Lex Luthor, on the other hand, had thought of a way, figured out how he should deal with that hourglass-symbol organization. Because he felt that those capable of genetic technology couldn't rely on an individual; it absolutely had to be a team!

He needed to go to the laboratory and manufacture the weapons he had envisioned!

………………

In a junkyard in the suburbs, Max finally endured the incomparably painful brain enhancement.

Enduring the aftershocks of the headache, he immediately activated the dragon tooth key, teleporting himself and the supercomputer he had hand-built away.

Whoosh—

He returned to his "Tomb of the Living Dead," instantly feeling a great sense of security. Exhaustion and fatigue swept over his entire body.

He fell flat on his back, truly having no strength left to stand up. However, in his own alternate dimension base, there was absolutely no fear of others taking advantage of his weakness.

Next, lying down to meditate, he needed to start processing the vast knowledge in his brain. If he didn't process it soon, he would start to forget.

...Memory is divided into two types: one is short-term memory, and the other is permanent memory. He needed to sort out this knowledge, keep what was useful, and forget the unnecessary information.

"Apart from knowledge about computer systems, computer games, and information encryption technology, the most abundant memories in my brain are actually... lewd stuff..."

"Damn it! Super Poopman's other nickname, 'Yellow Joke Superman,' is truly well-deserved. This is definitely not what I wanted to see; it must be Super Poopman's goofy personality that influenced me."

To prevent accidental deletion, he carefully reviewed the "study materials" once more.

By the time Max had finished organizing all the knowledge in his memory, he already had a Memory Palace in his mind.

A Memory Palace is an ancient and practical mnemonic method; it's not a real palace. A Memory Palace is a method of stuffing memories into "rooms." When needed, one can open that room to search for the memories inside. Countless such rooms can exist, therefore, many, many memories can be stored.

To put it simply, it's like a computer's C drive. All memories in the human brain can be sealed in the form of folders. If there are too many files, they can also be made into compressed packages, which can be decompressed and viewed when needed.

Of course, the Memory Palace also has its drawbacks; amnesia is not suitable for this method. Using an amnesiac mind to open a Memory Palace is equivalent to all memories being hidden files with passwords. If you can't remember the password, you can't open them; they can only occupy memory space and serve as decorations.

Ahem, digressed, back to the main topic.

This time, it was mainly Max's own doing. The Super Poopman form itself was a body without any inherited knowledge.

However, Max used its super brain for learning, and the amount of things he learned was simply too much.

After he deactivated the transformation, all that literal knowledge he had learned, those memory images, all rushed into his brain in one go, making him feel impacted by a vast flow of knowledge!

However, Max did not possess a super brain like Super Poopman's; it was impossible for him to bear all that knowledge.

Therefore, he could only try his best to strengthen his own brain, to increase the number of brain nerves and neurons so that he could store more knowledge. Thus, he endured a period of brain restructuring.

Playing like this carried great risks, such as amnesia, mental disorders, idiocy, and a series of other risks. But fortunately, he was fine. He was still young, still within the "novice protection period"; unruly kids are hard to kill.

As the saying goes, to forge iron, one must be strong oneself. This operation of trying to exploit a bug, which almost caused his own brain to crash, could not be played again.

"This time, it serves as a reminder to myself. I need to be careful next time. Although the Omnitrix won't directly kill me, it won't have any reaction to my own self-destructive actions either."

"Suffering setbacks is inevitable, but one must suffer setbacks in a safe area."

"A situation like today's, once is enough. In future battles, this situation absolutely cannot occur again!"

However, everything has its silver lining. As the saying goes, if you survive a great disaster, future blessings are sure to follow.

After practicing magic meditation, Max's brain had already been strengthened to a certain extent. In addition, he had mobilized all the energy in his body to perform Electric Current Propulsion, and the electrotherapy effect on his brain was also very potent. He had even endured this kind of situation that could lead to brain death.

...Spiritual power and the electricity from Electric Current Propulsion, these two forces, under the oppressive impact of the vast memories, were forced to merge!

Max's spiritual power broke through once again!

Spiritual power materialized.

Simply put: psychokinesis!

He could now lift himself up using his spiritual power.

Furthermore, he could also feel the electric current within his body and make it usable at his will. This wasn't about controlling them through the martial arts in the secret manual, but through spiritual power.

Electric Current Propulsion allowed the body to generate electricity; that set of fist techniques was a method for channeling this electricity! At that time, spiritual power only played a guiding role and could not completely control the current.

But now, he could use his mind to command the current!

He could raise his hand and, relying on psychokinesis, condense a thunderball out of thin air above his hand, maintain it without dissipation, and control it for ranged attacks.

This time, it allowed him to be even more able to do as he pleased, dammit!

…………

Bustling Metropolis.

Three days had passed since the restroom explosion incident.

The matter of Super Poopman had not subsided; on the contrary, it was escalating.

The most frustrated person was actually Superman. He felt his reputation had been damaged, and he couldn't even prove his own innocence.

During these three days, he still went about his daily routine of saving people.

But every time he saved someone, they would subconsciously ask him, "Did you wash your hands?" And some would ask him, "If you get constipated, can you still turn into Superman to save people?".

At first, Superman would still smile and explain that the Super Poopman in the newspapers was not him. But after being asked too many times, he became very agitated; their questions gave him a headache!

So, gradually, Superman's attitude became somewhat cold. It wasn't that he could be blamed for being cold; it was just that there was really no way to talk about it. He could see that some people were deliberately trying to disgust him, just wanting to see him made a fool of.

Some even deliberately tried to die by jumping off buildings just to see him, just to disgust him a little.

Superman's enthusiasm for helping others was being rapidly suppressed and worn down.

Superman even wanted to find that Super Poopman from before, to have a good chat with him, to see if he could help out and cover for Superman for a couple of days.

Let Superman rest for a few days, go see a psychologist, and relieve some psychological pressure.

But that guy, it was as if he had vanished from the face of the earth; he couldn't be found anywhere.

Even with Superman's Kryptonian physique, tanned by the sun, and his terrifying bio-field that covered the entire city, he couldn't find that Super Poopman.

………………

Superman's recent high-flying activities seemed too arrogant in the eyes of some people. Just because you have power, you can do whatever you want?

Some high-level officials in Metropolis felt that those superhumans needed to be restricted!

Lex Luthor had already found a way to deal with Metropolis's Superman, which increased their confidence.

Furthermore, it also served as a signal, telling everyone that as long as humans found the right method, superhumans were also very easy to deal with.

But that Super Poopman was dangerous! Dangerous in every sense. He appeared to be as powerful as Superman, but he was even more... mischievous than Superman!

People who love mischief are prone to being unpredictably unstable, and instability represents danger!

Of course, the reason for troubling superhumans wasn't important. What was important was being able to restrict their power, or the power to eliminate them!

...Thus, the collaboration between the Metropolis higher-ups and Lex began just like that!

…………

During these few days, Max hadn't been idle.

While training his psychokinesis, he was also spreading public opinion about Superman on the internet in Metropolis.

Relying on his newly acquired network knowledge, the term "online keyboard warrior" perfectly described him.

He even set up a website.

The theme of the website was simply: Superman's Dark Secrets.

He wrote out Super Poopman's speech from in front of LexCorp and posted this speech, which was full of吐槽点 (points to complain about/roast), online.

Also, he uploaded "The Boys," from his memories, to the website in the form of a novel. The cover art for the book was even a smiling picture of Superman.

There was also another book, "108 Ways to Target Superman." This book was his painstaking work; he had basically written down all the PUA tactics and moral blackmail lines that could be used against Superman!

It could be said that most of Superman's unhappiness these past few days was thanks to him.

Although this website wasn't particularly hidden, for Superman, who was a decent person who either went to work or saved people, it was as good as hidden.

Moreover, there were quite a few similar "Superman's Dark Secrets" websites. The one Max had created, which had only been around for a few days, was really inconspicuous.

After updating today's chapter of "The Boys," writing Homelander's famous scene of "strolling with his bird out under the moon," Max felt refreshed all over.

"Hehehe, Superman, oh Superman, I really hope you can see this soon. Hahahaha, this is all to temper you!"

Max's line of thought was to let Superman experience all the setbacks he was supposed to in life, to make his pitiful super brain start working!

Those books were written to bully honest people. Only if Superman started using his brain would he not be so easily set back!

………………

"Well done, Lex Luthor. I've always had high hopes for you. I didn't expect you to act so quickly, hahahaha!"

General Lane, Lois Lane's father, was also currently the number one hater of Superman.

His reason for targeting Superman was also very simple: Superman was too close to his daughter, Lois Lane!

This made this old father's fists constantly clenched.

The handguns and army he could command were no match for Superman, so he came to Lex Luthor for cooperation.

Lex Luthor, who was busy with research, originally didn't want to accept any orders. But when he learned it was General Lane wanting weapons to deal with Superman...

He agreed without any hesitation! He even upgraded the Kryptonite guns he had previously manufactured and sold them to General Lane.

Looking at the twenty high-tech Kryptonite weapons, General Lane simply couldn't put them down!

"Don't be anxious, General Lane. I actually want to discuss another collaboration with you. Please follow me!"

General Lane nodded, gave a look to the soldiers under him, telling them to take these Kryptonite weapons back first.

He then followed Lex Luthor to his laboratory.

The 800-square-meter large laboratory was filled with things.

Lex Luthor led him around a few times before they finally got inside. Then, General Lane saw something that made his heart pound with excitement.

"This is what I want to collaborate with you on: multi-functional drones!"

"They can be equipped with various weapons, can be remotely controlled from a long distance—the current maximum distance is three thousand meters. Safe, reliable, energy-efficient!"

"A single drone's combat power might be limited, but, General Lane, when you have a combat cluster, all attacking together! That's a different story!"

"A battle formation composed of hundreds of drones can surround, suppress, and if necessary, even initiate remote self-destruction!"

Although General Lane was very tempted, he always felt that this kid was just trying to fool him!

He nitpicked, "These things are very effective against ordinary people, but how do you plan to deal with Superman? He can just blow them away with a puff of breath!"

"Hahahaha..." Lex Luthor was amused, laughing for five minutes before he finally calmed down.

He said, "Superman is even easier to deal with than ordinary people! You just need to load these drones with Green Kryptonite. As long as Superman gets close to them, he'll turn into a soft-legged crab!"

"This is enough to deal with Superman. My goal is, relying on these things, to capture that bird or that Super Poopman!"

General Lane frowned. He had also heard of those two, but they were just a flash in the pan, having not appeared for three days: "Those two are not as easy to deal with as Superman."

"So, want to cooperate with me? I can help you deal with Superman first."

"Deal!"