Above the Moon (Seeking Collection, Seeking Follow-up Reads)

The vast, boundless cosmos now welcomed a God Among Men.

Crossing the universe in physical form—within humanity's worldview, this was an absolute impossibility.

"Hm? This version of the Hulk can barely withstand the harsh cosmic environment?"

Looking at the Hulk he held in his grip, after reaching space, the creature had merely grown extremely weak but hadn't fully fallen unconscious.

What's more, at the torn stump of the arm he'd just ripped off, strands of flesh were writhing and twitching, seemingly undergoing self-repair.

"As expected, he really is the most tenacious bastard alive."

Seeing that the Hulk hadn't been completely subdued by the harshness of space, Peter's gaze slowly shifted toward the moon, a full 380,000 kilometers from Earth.

The next moment, he hurled the Hulk in his hand straight toward the moon with brutal force.

And he himself suddenly accelerated, almost instantly catching up to the Hulk he'd thrown.

Then, with a single vicious punch, he slammed directly into the Hulk's body.

Instantly, the Hulk—already moving faster than sound from Peter's casual toss—had its flight speed multiplied dozens of times over.

Peter accelerated again, and with Super Strength awakened, a punch thousands of times more powerful than before hammered into the Hulk once more.

Thus, punch after punch, Peter drove the Hulk from Earth's outer space all the way to the moon.

The moon—which human probes took days to reach.

Under Peter's relentless acceleration, it took only about twenty minutes to arrive near the lunar surface.

By now, the Hulk's speed had reached an incomparable level.

Peter finally stopped his pursuit, his figure halting instantly in space over a hundred kilometers from the moon's surface, watching calmly as the Hulk hurtled toward it.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, the satellite feed aimed at the lunar surface had finally been calibrated.

But even with multiple top-tier military satellites trained on the moon, the image remained blurry.

All they could see was a tiny black speck, like a mosquito, hovering above the silver-white moon—its movements unclear.

Still, after fine image processing, everyone present could make out that the black dot above the moon was their "hero"—Superman.

"What is our hero doing right now?"

Watching the satellite feed, everyone felt a flicker of confusion.

But the next moment, the scene that unfolded answered their questions in the most shocking way possible.

The once-calm lunar surface suddenly erupted in an immensely violent explosion, kicking up moon dust into a colossal mushroom cloud dozens of kilometers high.

The terrifying shockwave spread outward at visible speed, whipping up an apocalyptic dust storm across the moon.

Within mere seconds, the shockwave had swept across the entire observable lunar surface and continued spreading toward the far side.

Even from Earth, the shockwave's expansion could be faintly seen with the naked eye.

"What... just happened?"

Witnessing such a horrifying spectacle, the Vice President—who had just been dismissed and still felt resentful—went almost limp on the spot. His eyes bulged as he stared in disbelief at the appalling scene on the moon.

Nearly ten minutes passed before the dust stirred up on the moon finally began to settle.

And at that moment, almost everyone gazing at the moon's surface wore expressions of utter shock.

Because there, on the lunar surface, was a massive crater nearly a thousand kilometers in diameter.

"How is this possible?"

Countless people couldn't believe what they were seeing.

The Vice President who had just proposed nuking Superman was now nearly deranged, muttering under his breath, "This can't be... absolutely impossible..."

The meeting hall fell silent for nearly three minutes.

"Have we estimated the specific yield of that explosion?"

Even as a high-ranking official, the government officer's gaze couldn't stay calm.

"Hiss..."

At that moment, General Ross took a preliminary report on the explosion. The instant he read it, even as a general, he couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.

"Mr. President, based on our team's preliminary estimates, the explosion on the lunar surface created a crater roughly 800 to 900 kilometers in diameter—about a quarter of the moon's diameter."

"Of course, that's due to the moon's unique environment; the loose surface soil makes it easier to form larger craters."

"If this same explosion occurred on Earth, the resulting crater would be about ten times smaller."

"Hah... that's a relief."

Hearing this explanation, the President let out a deep sigh of relief. But General Ross's next words made his heart clench again.

"After simple calculations, the explosive yield is equivalent to hundreds of millions of tons of TNT—several times more powerful than the Tsar Bomba the Russians dropped last century."

"If such an attack landed in the center of New York City, the entire city would be wiped off the face of the Earth..."

Taking a deep breath, General Ross finally managed to shake off some of the shock from reading that report.

At this moment, he truly understood what it meant to be a God Among Men.

"The entire New York City... will cease to exist?"

Muttering the predicted outcome under his breath, the President couldn't keep his expression calm.

Suddenly, his face turned extremely grave, and he stood up directly.

"From now on, no organization or intelligence department is to investigate any information regarding Superman without authorization."

"Also, organize disaster relief efforts as soon as possible to minimize the damage that monster caused to New York City, and complete post-disaster reconstruction at the fastest pace."

"Hmm... in that case, let's establish a new department dedicated to disaster relief from now on. Call it the Damage Control, abbreviated as DC."

"Finally, starting from the end of this meeting, the military and government will jointly dispatch personnel to monitor all media outlets and newspapers across the country."

"I don't want any media or newspaper to smear the hero of all humanity tomorrow..."

Meanwhile, above the moon, Peter calmly watched the terrifying scene he had caused.

Once everything gradually settled, his figure instantly accelerated, rushing toward the center of the Deep Pit on the lunar surface.

Arriving at the center of the Deep Pit, he looked at Hulk, whose entire body had been ravaged by the horrific impact, not a single patch of skin left intact, and who had fallen into a deep coma.

A faint smile finally appeared on Peter's face.

At the same time, a system notification sounded in his mind.

Congratulations, Host, for successfully completing the "Subdue the Rampaging Hulk" mission. Reward "Kryptonian Technology: Doomsday Creation Chapter" has been successfully issued...

Hearing the prompt of the reward being issued after the mission was completed, and looking at the severely injured Hulk in the Deep Pit, a satisfied smile curled at the corner of Peter's lips.