Ruler

Utah Desert.

General Simon Hilson had told Jay he could find a very well-hidden base here, and he had not been exaggerating. The base was by no means small, yet it was superbly concealed. Hidden amid desolate valleys filled with blowing yellow sand, it enjoyed excellent natural cover. An ordinary reconnaissance plane passing overhead would have had a ninety percent chance of overlooking it.

But it could not escape Jay's super-senses.

If Helena had come, she might have had the professional infiltration skills to silently slip into this heavily guarded base. Unfortunately, Jay did not know much about that sort of thing, so he chose a simpler and more direct approach. He dropped vertically from a thousand meters above, landing in the middle of the base. The instant he touched down, yellow sand surged outward like a tsunami, triggering a sizable earthquake throughout the valley.

Such a high-profile entrance naturally drew plenty of attention. Soldiers in camouflage immediately raised their guns and unleashed a barrage at the mysterious intruder, naturally doing nothing but wasting bullets. Jay had intended to ignore them, but the incessant gunfire was far too irritating. He turned around and took a deep breath, sending layered waves of yellow sand rolling forth under the force of his Freezing Breath. The sand rose into a curtain dozens of meters high and scattered the soldiers in every direction.

The base was quite large and packed with facilities, but Jay did not hesitate before pinpointing his target. It was strange—ever since he landed, he had felt as though something had appeared in his mind, as if a route had been drawn deep within his brain to guide him forward, calling for his arrival.

Instinctively, he headed toward a hemispherical building at the very center. Along the way, he inevitably encountered more gunfire. But he let the bullets raining from every direction rattle against his steel body and crumple harmlessly, marching straight toward the building. He even flipped over a tank firing at him with one hand—he had not used Heat Vision to blow it up only because he did not want to hurt the soldiers inside its cabin.

That hemispherical building appeared to be the most technologically advanced facility in the entire base. A triple-layered composite metal door stood before Jay, its lock requiring multiple forms of authentication: a password, fingerprints, and a keycard. Even Jay had to admit it was the toughest door he had seen so far. After taking one of his punches, it had merely caved in deeply. That alone proved it possessed at least missile-grade defenses.

But it could not withstand a second punch. The moment the heavy door panel fell, the entire hemispherical building seemed to shudder violently. Jay strode inside, and the first thing that filled his vision was a small, exquisite spacecraft. It was a white-gray ship shaped somewhat like a bullet, with dark black lines painted across its hull and characters printed all around it that Jay could not understand, yet instinctively found familiar. Perhaps they were Kryptonian script.

He could clearly feel that this ship was calling to him.

The instant he entered the room, the ship activated on its own. Pale blue fluorescence shone through the cockpit's transparent glass, while green light spilled from the engines with a humming sound like an idling motor. A translucent image formed in projection before Jay, taking the shape of a virtual figure with a blue face. Judging by its build, it might have been female.

"Welcome!" she said in a crisp voice like tinkling silver bells. "Star Child, son of the great star and the bright moon."

Jay pointed at himself blankly. "You mean me? Who are you?"

"I am Hygeian, the artificial intelligence of the ship that brought you to this planet," she said in a perfectly even yet incomparably gentle voice. "I have connected to all data within the local human network. I can answer any of your questions."

This was entirely beyond his expectations. Jay had never imagined he would encounter the Kryptonian spaceship that had brought him here in a place like this, and he could not help feeling especially close to it. Countless questions flooded his mind in an instant, but he forced himself to set the less important ones aside for now—he had not forgotten what he had originally come here to find out.

"The project codenamed S.D.E. Project," Jay asked tentatively. "Can you look it up?"

"Of course." Hygeian seemed not to need any time to search before answering directly. "It was originally a human project launched to explore extraterrestrial lifeforms. But in response, we followed the clues to Earth. The project was then placed under General Sam Lane's authority, and its nature changed into a top-secret project intended to use Kryptonian children as secret weapons. The project was terminated six years ago after Apocalypse's army invaded."

That sounded just like what General Simon Gilson had told him, but it did not answer all his questions. Jay frowned and pressed on. "Is that all? Is there anything else?"

"That is the entirety of the S.D.E. Project's records," Hygeian said. After a brief pause, she added, "However, two years later, S.D.E-NEO. Project was developed from that project. Would you like an explanation?"

Jay's expression shifted. "Yes."

"Many years ago, during the S.D.E. Project, humanity launched rockets beyond Earth and transmitted a large number of signals inviting extraterrestrial visitors to come to Earth. Those signals were received by another alien as well. But he did not arrive on Earth until one year after the Apocalypse invasion ended. That alien's name was Mongor."

Jay's heart lurched. He had already begun to vaguely anticipate that what he was about to hear might be very difficult to accept.

"Mongor is an alien tyrant, the ruler of the mobile fortress Warworld."

"Skip that part. I know who Mongor is," Jay said urgently. "Tell me what happened next."

"Understood," Hygeian said. "When the alien monarch Mongor followed the signals to Earth, this planet was in a state of total chaos. Apocalypse's invasion had devastated Earth, setting the entire world's economy back by decades. Heroes had vanished into the darkness, institutions had fallen into disorder, and humanity's morale had generally sunk to an unprecedented low. That gave Mongor an opening.

Mongor secretly promoted the formation of humanity's World Federal Government and turned all of its upper ranks into his puppets. He hid behind human society like an invisible shadow, yet in reality held supreme authority over it. He turned human society into an appendage of Warworld. Over the years, he plundered vast quantities of resources and energy from Earth for Warworld's use, while also taking humans to Warworld as slaves for labor or transforming them into enhanced monstrosities to participate in Warworld's gladiatorial battles."

"Stop, stop," Jay hurriedly cut in. Before Hygeian could continue, he had to make sure this was not some absurd dream. "You mean an interstellar tyrant has ruled our world for all these years, and none of us knew about it?"

"Yes," Hygeian said calmly.

Jay felt a little dizzy, and no one could blame him. This was simply too much to process—almost disheartening. He was beginning to feel afraid. He had expected the enemy might be extremely powerful, but he had never imagined anything this outrageous. If what Hygeian said was true, then what he had to fight was not merely Mongor, but the entire world under his rule.

Maybe, maybe this was already beyond his capabilities. For a rookie-level superhero who had only just started out—he did not even think he qualified as a superhero yet—taking on an alien with resources on this scale seemed far too difficult. This should have been left to the real heavyweights.

Then he quickly realized there were not many heavyweights left.

Superman was gone. The Justice League was gone too. This world had lost those it relied upon.

Maybe he could try to find Batman, but Helena had said Batman's mindset had changed drastically. He was completely indifferent to anything beyond Gotham, and Jay was not sure Batman would make an exception for this.

Maybe if even he did not do something, no one would.

Just then, what seemed to be a heavy tank shell struck the roof of the building. The ground beneath Jay's feet shook violently, and nearly invisible dust fell from the ceiling. Outside, a bright, clear voice boomed through a loudspeaker: "Listen up, whoever's in there! Drop your weapon, put your hands on your head, and come outside! Otherwise, we won't be so polite!"