Chapter 303: Mental Telepathy
The giant horned T-Rex stood three times larger than Professor Connors's transformed lizard form—only ten feet tall and sixteen feet long.
Size gave the dinosaur an absolute advantage. But the Lizard Professor's eighty-plus tons of strength wouldn't make him a coward. He swung his tail aggressively.
The giant T-Rex watched the Lizard Professor charge straight at it. Something disturbingly human flickered across that massive dinosaur face—contempt. Its own far thicker tail rose high, whipping toward the Lizard Professor as its body twisted.
WHAM!
Flesh met flesh with a thunderclap. Spikes along the Lizard Professor's tail snapped off and flew in all directions. Blood barely had time to spray before the tremendous impact vaporized it.
The giant horned T-Rex's tail fared no better. A series of sharp CRACKS rang out—bones shattering inside from the brutal collision.
Not only that, but thick skin and muscle tore along the giant T-Rex's tail. Large chunks of bloody flesh dropped to the ground.
The primitives had clearly been confident in their giant T-Rex, expecting to watch a good beast-fighting spectacle.
Seeing their leader injured, panic spread across their faces. They shouted incomprehensibly at the Lizard Professor.
Soon—someone started it—one by one, the primitives dropped to their knees with heavy THUMPS, kowtowing repeatedly toward the giant T-Rex.
"ROOOAAR!"
Under the intense pain, the giant horned T-Rex couldn't suppress a howl. That terrified the primitives even more. They prostrated themselves on the ground, arms wrapped around their heads, trembling violently.
The Lizard Professor watched coldly. Unlike Earth's primitive societies where humans domesticated wild beasts, this world seemed reversed.
The giant horned T-Rex appeared to be the leader. The primitives were the domesticated creatures.
This bizarre scene made the Lizard Professor narrow his eyes.
His tail also transmitted waves of intense pain. But rationality and composure kept him silent. Golden reptilian slits locked onto that worshipped giant T-Rex with cold focus.
The next second, the Lizard Professor charged again. Round two began.
---
Meanwhile, at the fire ring.
Batman didn't jump through. Instead, he grabbed the wide cape behind him and yanked it forward.
The fire-resistant, heat-tolerant bat-cape acted like a flexible but resilient shield before him. Then he broke into a full charge, forcibly smashing a gap through the roaring flames.
"Lunella!"
Batman closed the distance to the glowing red T-Rex in three quick strides. While staying wary of the dinosaur, he extended one hand toward the little girl.
"I'm Batman. I'm here to take you home!"
The fire ring's flames rose eight to ten feet high—a wall of fire blocking sight and sound from outside.
Only now did Lunella realize someone had plunged through the yellow-green vortex into this primitive world to save her.
She struggled to reach out. But the T-Rex burned scarlet red—while using its body to protect her—also blocked Lunella's escape route.
Batman didn't hesitate. His arm muscles flexed minutely, controlling the bat-claw on his inner forearm to fire pitch-black webbing.
THWIP!
The web adhered firmly to Lunella's body, dragging her outward.
"Cough! Cough!"
The moment Lunella pressed against Batman's chest, the flames' extreme heat and acrid smoke made her cough violently. Tears streamed down her face.
"Don't be afraid. Close your eyes." Batman's voice was reassuring.
As he spoke, Batman wrapped his cape around Lunella, holding her in one arm.
The scorching air and noxious fumes were blocked by the bat-cape. Lunella wiped her eyes, then looked up at Batman's jawline.
"Don't you need to breathe, Batman?" That was her first question.
"I'm holding my breath, Lunella." Batman said.
"Huh? Why?" Lunella asked, confused.
Abducted by primitives, transported to a world filled with dinosaurs, thrown into a fire pit to huddle with a dying T-Rex...
An ordinary little girl would have fainted from terror long ago. Even if she hadn't, she certainly wouldn't have calmed down this quickly like Lunella.
"Because I removed the air filtration system." Batman explained.
Lunella looked down. Only then did she notice that within the bat-cape wrapping her, an air filtration system connected to the pitch-black bat-suit via tubing was actively working.
"You're really impressive. Normal people talking while holding their breath rapidly depletes their internal air supply. And once they exhale without oxygen replenishment, they'll pass out from hypoxia." Lunella wiped snot with one hand, then smeared it on her own clothes.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Batman's feet pounded the ground as he charged back through the gap he'd created, exiting the fire ring.
"That's right. I'm very strong."
Only after clearing the flames did Batman exhale sharply, then inhale so deeply and for so long that Lunella's eyes kept widening.
At that moment, she felt like she was being held not by Batman, but by a blue whale with astounding lung capacity.
"You really are strong, Batman."
Batman didn't respond further. He nodded while constantly orienting himself, ready to evacuate with the Lizard Professor at any moment.
A question nagged at him. But before Batman could ask, Lunella spoke first.
"I'm guessing you want to know why these primitives only took me, even though Reed was closest to the vortex at the time."
Batman glanced at her. He did have that question, though he didn't know about the second half of what she'd said.
After all, Batman hadn't been at the scene. And after arriving at Baxter Building, he hadn't had time to review the security footage.
ROAR!
The Lizard Professor was locked in savage combat with the giant horned T-Rex. That giant not only far exceeded normal dinosaurs in size—its strength and thick skin's defensive capabilities also vastly surpassed ordinary T-Rexes.
Even with the Lizard Professor's eighty-plus tons of force, he couldn't defeat it quickly.
"I have the answer to that question, Batman."
Lunella poked her head out from under the bat-cape, watching the Lizard Professor pin the giant horned T-Rex to the ground with his claws.
"That dinosaur is this primitive tribe's leader. It has a superpower."
"Like me, and like this T-Rex—a certain degree of mental telepathy."
Lunella pointed toward the T-Rex inside the fire ring whose skin had burned scarlet red.
---
Baxter Building. Tony Stark aimed his palm repulsor at Reed Richards.
"Mr. Richards, I need to warn you for the third time. Do not attempt to approach that full-wave projector."
Reed Richards ignored the warning and ran toward the projector. He even rolled his eyes at Tony.
"Please. I'm a genius under this nation's protection. Pointing weapons at me? Once this reaches the President, even your boss Tony Stark can't protect you."
Behind the metal faceplate, Tony ground his molars. He couldn't actually blast Reed Richards. He couldn't even knock him unconscious—the law wouldn't allow it.
The man was one of America's few strategic-level talents. His value far exceeded the high-end weapons Stark Industries had previously supplied to the military.
But what did that have to do with "Iron Man"? Worst case, he'd just adopt a different identity later. "Steel Superman" or something!
Tony's resolve hardened. The instant Reed lunged near the full-wave projector, Tony's hand swept toward his head.
"Tony Stark, have you thought carefully about what you're doing?"
Just as Tony's hand was about to connect with Reed's skull, Reed looked at him fearlessly and called him by name.
"You think slapping an 'Iron Man' label on yourself fools everyone, but you can't fool me, Tony Stark."
"For the sake of me knowing your identity all along but never revealing it to anyone—let me examine the full-wave projector closely. I promise not to touch it."