From the moment Ethan learned the current point in time of this universe, he knew the "plot" of this world had already advanced to a stage he was familiar with.
Superman had already grown into an adult. Confused by his own uniqueness, he had learned from his adoptive parents that he was not from Earth. Following his adoptive father's advice, he decided to hide his powers and live as an ordinary person.
Not long after, due to the unexpected death of his adoptive father, Superman, currently named Clark Kent, fell into confusion and began wandering the world, helping those in need along the way.
Once he finds the "inheritance" left by his biological father, the ancient Kryptonian scout ship, the Superman of this world would be officially born.
This wasn't a major event in itself, but shortly after Superman's emergence, another group of Kryptonians arrived on Earth.
Led by General Zod, these Kryptonians were determined to rebuild their homeland, or rather, to create a new Krypton.
Rebuilding Krypton required not only a suitable planet but also people. At the last moment before Krypton's destruction, Superman's father had sent his son away and also sent the Kryptonian Codex with him.
General Zod needed to retrieve the Codex to rebuild Krypton.
Because the Kryptonians had abandoned traditional reproduction in favor of cultivating the necessary people, their talents were also predetermined from the start. Everyone grew in the "correct" direction from the day they were born, and upon reaching adulthood, they performed the work that had been assigned to them long ago.
The Codex sent to Earth by Superman's father contained records of all types of Kryptonian genes.
For this reason, the Codex was something General Zod had to obtain, although he initially didn't know that the so-called Codex was actually Clark Kent, or rather, Kal-El himself.
After notifying Earth to hand over Superman, General Zod launched an attack on Earth, preparing to terraform it into a new Krypton.
To stop General Zod, Superman engaged in an earth-shattering battle with his own people. The casualties and economic losses directly caused by this battle were staggering, which also laid the groundwork for later plot developments.
Broadly speaking, this is what was going to happen next. Ethan wanted to find Superman precisely to prevent that disaster, or rather, to avoid the battle harming innocent people.
It wasn't that he was overflowing with justice and couldn't bear to see the people of this world suffer. It was just that Diana had always protected this world, and the current Diana wasn't like the one in the original story who grew increasingly disappointed with humanity and gradually became less involved. Given General Zod's actions, she would definitely step in to stop him.
While the spectacle of Superman teaming up with Wonder Woman to fight Zod was exciting, if it caused more civilian casualties, Diana would likely be unhappy for a long time.
If Diana was unhappy, Ethan would have a headache. Ultimately, he decided to resolve the issue beforehand to avoid trouble for himself.
"This world is truly plagued by disasters."
Ethan and Diana casually put on some leisure clothes, looking less like they were going out to save the world and more like an older sister preparing to take her younger brother out to play.
"But where do we start looking?"
"Go to the Arctic, or find a place to wait."
He didn't know where Clark had wandered off to at this point. There were two options. One was to go to the Arctic in advance and wait. After Clark put on his blue suit and red cape, he would practice flying over the snowfields. Considering the Arctic was sparsely populated with very few creatures, finding someone flying around wouldn't be too difficult.
Alternatively, they could wait quietly until General Zod arrived outside Earth and issued his "you bunch of scum, hand over the person I want unless you want me to wipe you out" ultimatum, at which point Superman would appear.
"Which do you think is better?"
Diana didn't make a decision immediately. After learning that Earth was about to face alien invaders, she was curious about Ethan's thoughts.
"I don't particularly want to interact with that guy."
In Ethan's opinion, the best approach was to wait quietly for General Zod to appear and then take decisive action.
To do this, he couldn't go see Superman, because Superman's first choice would definitely not be to start a war immediately. Perhaps he would approach Zod with good intentions first. Of course, Zod initially also intended to welcome back his compatriot with good intentions.
However, Clark didn't realize that General Zod didn't consider Earthlings as equal life forms. He simply ignored the lives of billions of Earthlings and immediately began terraforming the planet.
Clark, who grew up on Earth and almost considered himself an Earthling, couldn't accept this, which led to the subsequent great battle—a battle that continued until the sky and earth were dark, reducing an advanced metropolis to ruins, before he finally killed his Kryptonian compatriot.
"If it were me, maybe I'd just kill Zod the moment he appeared." The two had just arrived in a nearby city and were sitting at a street café, discussing what to do next. "But you probably wouldn't agree."
Diana elegantly sipped her coffee and then gave Ethan a beautiful smile, indicating that he was right. It seemed that after so many years, he still hadn't forgotten her character and way of doing things.
Although she trusted Ethan deeply, she couldn't just go along with whatever he said on such an important matter. She had her own code of conduct, and she planned to wait quietly for now.
"According to you, General Zod will definitely attack Earth?"
"That's right."
"Once he appears, I will personally verify it."
She couldn't punish someone for a crime they hadn't yet committed. Only after confirming that General Zod truly intended to harm Earth would she take action.
This seemed very passive, but as a hero of justice, this situation was unavoidable.
However, Diana was ultimately not Superman Clark. She wouldn't wait until Zod had actually committed harmful acts to react. Diana would personally confront Zod the moment he appeared, ascertain their intentions, and if they intended to harm Earth, battle would commence immediately.
Taking the initiative in battle and not being led by the opponent's rhythm were lessons she had learned since she was young. Furthermore, fighting on the opponent's ship could also avoid harming ordinary Earthlings.
"So, we can still enjoy a relatively leisurely time for now..."
After casually fending off another guy who came to hit on them, Ethan felt Diana sitting there drinking coffee was intentional. After all, Ethan was a teenager now, and in the eyes of many men, he was practically invisible. Their eyes were only on Diana.
"I'd rather go to Gotham and see how Master Bruce is enjoying his retirement."
Batman in the DC Universe wasn't some rookie hero. By this time, Batman was already a legend in Gotham and had begun to become less active, appearing less and less in the darkness of Gotham.
According to the later plot of this world, it was Superman's appearance that brought Batman back. By then, the gray-haired Batman's combat ability had long passed its peak. At the same time, this world's Batman no longer adhered to his early no-kill rule. He dealt with villains decisively and ruthlessly, and his overly harsh methods even aroused the dissatisfaction of the justice-filled Superman.
After paying the coffee bill, Diana happily weaved through various shopping malls in her high heels. Although Ethan's body was strong enough, he felt mentally exhausted. Fortunately, Diana didn't buy a crazy amount of things for him to carry, otherwise he would have been even more tired.
Diana was not short on money, but her taste was very discerning. After shopping for most of the day, she only bought a few items, most of which were gifts for others that Ethan was to deliver.
These gifts included clothes, jewelry, perfume, lighters, and other small items. They didn't seem to have much significance for Ethan and their group, but the meaning of the gifts themselves wasn't in that. Ethan carefully labeled them by category and stored them all in his storage space.
After finishing one city, the two continued on to the next. Not long after, the information about Zod that they were waiting for finally appeared.
In an instant, all electronic devices were hacked, and General Zod's "announcement" appeared on every playable instrument.
The message conveyed by this Kryptonian was very clear. Either hand over the person, or this planet would face unbearable consequences.
Diana lay on the bed, quietly watching the static-filled television screen in front of her. She turned her head to look at Ethan beside her.
"It seems you were right."
If they only wanted to negotiate to take away an alien, they wouldn't have been so direct. This situation proved that General Zod had intended to attack Earth from the beginning.
Diana was no longer the naive young girl she once was. Now, she was mature, rational, and capable of seeing through many false pretenses. General Zod was undoubtedly a huge threat to Earth, or rather, to humanity.
As the protector of humanity, she had to step forward.
Soon, the fully armored Wonder Woman appeared before Ethan. Seeing her wearing that familiar battle suit, with a long sword and shield on her back and the Lasso of Truth hanging from her waist, Ethan deeply regretted not having that piece of music ready beforehand.
"Let's go."
"Now?"
"What else?"
Diana looked at Ethan, who was still lying there motionless. She had already changed into her gear. What was he waiting for?
"I was thinking, you could have a rather impactful entrance..."
"I don't need an impactful entrance. I just want to quickly drive away or eliminate these invaders and then continue to enjoy a peaceful life. That way, everyone is happy."
Ethan spread his hands. He had originally planned to have a grand entrance with Diana tomorrow when Superman appeared before the Earth military.
What a pity. He was just about to use magic to extract that BGM from his memory.
(To be continued.)
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