Arena

Jay felt a slight unease as he walked through a city on a planet in some unknown corner of the universe, completely unfamiliar. He had tried so many things he'd never even considered before during this time, fighting mutated monsters, catching falling airplanes, and now chasing his missing dad to an alien city. He hadn't even traveled abroad yet—his transmigration didn't count—and now he had flown to another planet. The leap was truly too great.

He casually glanced at a mushroom-shaped building across the way and saw a green-skinned creature that looked like a seahorse with only arms, smiling at him for some reason and waving—if that thing was its hand. That was at least the seventh alien species they had encountered so far, and Jay couldn't help but wonder how many alien species made up this city. He found the alien's friendly gesture strange, "Is that guy waving at me? What does that mean?"

"It means maybe she likes you," Kara teased with a smile. "Maybe you can try dating her."

"That creature that looks like a seahorse?" Jay's imagination wandered a bit, and a shiver ran down his spine for no reason. "Let's forget it. But speaking of which, how do you know it's a 'she'?"

Kara explained, "That's a Sandoshamian. They're easy to recognize if you know the features."

"You can tell?" Jay was taken aback. "Can you recognize all these alien guys here?"

"Most of them. There are some I haven't seen either."

It was then that Jay realized the girl standing beside him was a truly native alien girl, fundamentally different from him, a "hick" who had lived on Earth for both his lives. Krypton's civilization had also been highly advanced, and Kryptonians, naturally, knew nothing about the world outside of themselves like Earthlings did.

"So what kind of city is this?" Jay finally couldn't help but ask as the eighth different species of alien resident passed them by. "Shouldn't alien cities only be inhabited by their native residents? You know, like Krypton only has Kryptonians, and Earth only has Earthlings?"

"That's usually the case. This is a composite city, and there are many such cities in the universe. People from all corners and galaxies can settle in cities like this, with no racial boundaries. All races are equal," Kara explained, pausing before adding, "If you had paid attention in class on Krypton, your middle school teachers would have told you this."

"Uh, okay, I really don't remember."

Kara smiled slightly, "Actually, I wasn't paying attention either. I might have been goofing off with my deskmate when the teacher got to that part. But once, during a holiday, my dad took me to a composite city like this. It looked very similar to this place."

No wonder she looked so calm and composed, as if walking in a strange alien metropolis wasn't a big deal. Because for her, it truly wasn't a big deal.

The two arrived at the building the black man had pointed to before he died. It was probably the largest building in this city. Its oval, pale white shell was over four hundred meters long, and its highest point was more than seventy meters above the ground. It looked like an oval egg placed in the center of the city, with eight entrances opening in all directions. Each entrance was blocked by a long queue of the city's residents, each line incredibly long, and all entrances were completely blocked by crowds.

Jay couldn't help but recall the scene of people entering a baseball game in Metropolis, except these aliens were a hundred times more fanatical than the baseball fans in Metropolis, and the scale was not even comparable. In fact, compared to the scale of entry at this alien venue, even the Olympic Games seemed like a small event.

The two squeezed into the crowd, surging towards one of the entrances. Jay leaned close to Kara's ear and whispered, "What's going on now? Do other alien cities often have events like this?"

He didn't need to whisper, as the deafening noise almost drowned out everything else. Even if you shouted at the top of your lungs, your voice would barely travel three meters.

"No," Kara shook her head. "Not in my memory. I don't know what this is either."

"Hey, what are you guys doing up there? Hurry up! I don't want to miss the match!"

They both looked back and saw a burly blue-skinned alien impatiently shouting from behind them. He was over two meters tall, wrapped in a rough cloth-like robe, with arms bulging with muscles as if about to explode hidden within his wide sleeves.

When his annoyed gaze fell on Kara's face and he saw that the slowpoke in front was a beautiful and hot girl, his impatience instantly vanished. "Hey, girl, you're a tourist here, aren't you?"

Jay looked at the burly alien with disdain, thinking that some things were the same no matter what corner of the universe you went to. Meanwhile, Kara replied with a smile, "Yes, my friend and I are from Kuntal, here for a vacation."

"Kuntal? That's quite a distance from Warworld," the big guy mused, stroking his chin and nodding. "But you've come to the right place. If you're looking for a thrilling vacation spot, there's no place more suitable than Warworld."

"Warworld?"

Kara seemed unfamiliar with the term, but Jay gasped.

Were they on that "Warworld" now? There shouldn't be another planet in this universe with the exact same name, right?

"Warworld" in DC Comics was less a planet and more a planet-sized mobile fortress, possessing the universe's top weapons and firepower, including powerful weapons capable of destroying planets in a single blow. But this fortress was also a cosmic city, inhabited by a large number of slaves and residents. The people living on "Warworld" never worked; their greatest pleasure in life was watching various creatures captured from all over the universe fight to the death in the arena.

This solved one of countless problems—at least Jay now knew what the building in front of them was for: it was the intergalactic arena.

"This is definitely the biggest arena in the universe, the most exciting matches! It's a place for real men to shed sweat and blood!" The alien friend excitedly raised his massive fist. "This is a battlefield where glory reigns supreme, and to date, Drago is the man at the pinnacle of glory—if he wins today's match, he'll achieve ten consecutive victories! They say Drago's opponent today will be a Smirptian, rumored to be a real killer. But so what? I think Drago will still win—as always."

"Uh, so where do the losers go?" Jay asked.

The alien glanced at him strangely. "Losers? Who cares where the losers go? Most of them die in the arena; that's their glory. But for the few losers who don't get that honor, they're thrown into the garbage recycling station. But they have to get past Trako first. No one can survive Trako, so it's no different from being dead."

Jay raised an eyebrow. "Trako?"

The alien chuckled. "You really are outsiders. Everyone on Warworld knows Trako; it's a big guy. It's as tall as a building, with ten tough and incredibly strong tentacles. They use Trako as the garbage station cleaner; losers are thrown into the station as its food. No creature can survive Trako."

Jay and Kara exchanged a look. He was clearly talking about the octopus-jellyfish hybrid they had encountered in the garbage station. Jay felt a little proud inside, because the guy said no creature could survive that monster, and they had just frozen it into an ice sculpture.

"Alright, we really need to hurry and get inside now," the alien giant pushed forward a couple more steps. "If we delay any longer, we'll miss the match."