HISD Chapter 38 The Trembling DC Earth
The year was 1980.
DC Universe Earth, Washington D.C., inside a large museum.
"Diana, you really are mysterious."
In the studio, a bespectacled male staff member suddenly spoke with a sigh.
"Hm?"
Not far away, a tall, elegant woman in a white business suit and heels was brushing a statue with a faint glossy sheen. The way her skirt traced her perfect figure was more breathtaking than any artwork in the room.
"Every time you step outside the museum, it's like you vanish into thin air," the man continued. "In Eastern sayings, it's like 'seeing the dragon's head but not its tail.'"
"Not really. On breaks, I just prefer staying at home," Diana pursed her lips, not denying or admitting it.
"You don't seem like the type who stays at home…" the colleague muttered.
But just then, the TV cut in with breaking news.
"This footage was taken in Kansas, just ten minutes ago."
Both Diana and the staffer turned to the screen.
The man's pupils trembled violently as his mouth fell open. "You've got to be kidding me."
Diana's dark eyes grew solemn.
The grainy video showed a black dot in the sky growing larger until it revealed a towering, grotesque, gray-white spiked monster.
Its body, nearly three meters tall, clutched a mysterious flying object two or three times its size. When it landed, it struck the ground like a meteor, collapsing the earth into a crater ten meters wide, fractures tearing across the town square.
Boom!
Without pause, the monster leapt again!
Dust waves blasted out, the sound barrier shattered!
Windows exploded across the town, debris and rubble flew everywhere!
In the blink of an eye, the spiked monster, carrying the alien craft, shot into the sky and vanished into the horizon like a streak of light.
The video cut off there—less than three seconds long. The monster's full silhouette had been visible for only half a second.
But the terrifying figure, like something torn from another world, clad in exoskeletal bone and jagged spikes, emanated the destructive power of a walking natural disaster. Everyone who saw it was struck with primal dread.
Even their very genes trembled, as though staring into the abyss of the universe itself.
Humanity had always believed itself the greatest species on Earth, perhaps even in the cosmos.
Until now. Confronted with this spiked monster that should not exist in reality, humans realized they were weaker than ants in comparison.
Even Diana Prince, with true divine blood in her veins, found her body tightening into battle readiness the instant she saw the monster on screen.
…
Meanwhile, Gotham City.
Perpetual clouds kept the city in darkness, even by day.
Wayne Manor.
"What… is that?"
A black-haired boy, not yet ten years old, sat curled on the sofa, shivering as he watched the spiked monster on TV.
"Bruce!"
A gentleman rushed into the living room, quickly shutting off the television with the remote.
"It's alright. That was just movie special effects."
His calm voice tried to reassure, as he hugged the trembling boy.
A noblewoman wearing a pearl necklace hurried out of another room. "Dear, what happened?"
"It's fine, he was just frightened," the man said gently.
But in the man's arms, young Bruce Wayne bit his lip hard, eyes vacant, mind replaying that horrific sight.
From that day on, the bone-spiked monster would join bats as the recurring nightmare haunting his nights.
That indescribable figure, overflowing with destructive force…
If it ever descended on Gotham…
Despair, like a tide of darkness, flooded Bruce Wayne's young heart again.
…
Metropolis. The Red Room laboratory, secretly studying alien technology.
Dr. Silas Stone, the black director in a white lab coat, stared at the news in shock, still trembling with fear.
At that moment, in a sealed chamber, a cubic metal object sitting on a table suddenly began to vibrate.
Silas immediately noticed.
That cube, discovered back in World War II, had never reacted before.
"Could it be… that bone monster came from the same advanced civilization as this Mother Box?"
Silas was shaken but thrilled, believing he had stumbled on an incredible alien clue.
He didn't know—the Mother Box was awakening, sending a signal into space.
And if translated, it would read: "Do not approach, do not approach, do not approach! This planet… is extremely dangerous!"
…
In the dream world's DC Earth, Yi Meng's Doomsday revealing itself was driven by his destructive instincts.
Even if he realized it, he wouldn't care.
Unlike before, when he was an AI.
He was Doomsday now—what was there to care about?
Clutching the Kryptonian ship in one hand, Yi Meng's Doomsday form leapt again. The ship weighed nothing to him. His massive body tore through the sound barrier, soaring past the clouds in a single bound that covered kilometers of land below.
Storms and lightning followed—unstoppable.
From the heights, he spotted dozens of fighter jets circling like metal hawks ten kilometers away.
Yi Meng grinned savagely, his eyes blazing red, his body sparking with energy. No longer suppressing the destructive hunger overflowing inside him, he angled himself straight toward the squadron.
Perfect. Toys delivered right to him.
One minute later.
On the Texas border, sky and earth burned.
The wasteland lay in ruins.
The elite military had no idea what they were truly up against.
Their superiors had told them to avoid damaging the alien ship in the monster's grasp. But even if they unleashed everything they had, it would have made no difference.
No fighter jet remained in the air. Scarlet beams had cut through everything. Doomsday, carrying the scorched ship, endured missiles without slowing, striding forward.
On this day, humanity on DC Earth fell silent, tasting the helpless dread of facing an unknowable, unstoppable being.
Later, indigenous tribes in Africa and Native American lands even called the bone-spiked monster "Him," worshiping it as a god's avatar.
But Yi Meng didn't care what they thought. Carrying the Kryptonian child's ship, he crossed from inland America to the coast, finally plunging into the boundless sea.
He was Doomsday.
Destroying them had nothing to do with him.
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