Countdown

As Mongor was proudly recounting his perfect backup plan to Jay, the computer mainframe in the underground facility of the government building was telling Helena the same story. The mainframe's screen displayed a flashing red countdown, and the interface was covered in alien text she couldn't understand. However, the graphical interface and the countdown also informed her that a super mobile fortress, loaded with interstellar weapons, was approaching Earth.

Helena tried to stop it, but she couldn't read the alien interface, and even the computer terminal on her wrist couldn't recognize the mainframe's code. However, she discovered that although the mainframe system was entirely alien technology, it was still connected to the internal network of the building above her. This meant that if she could access the building's main server, she could cut off the resource supply to the underground mainframe and thus stop its ongoing work.

But as mentioned before, the security system of the World Federal Government building was as impenetrable as an iron barrel, not even a mosquito could fly in. How could she bypass the heavy obstacles to reach the main server on the top floor?

The elevator hidden within the walls of the room flashed into her mind.

As long as she remembered the approximate location of the elevator hidden in the wall, it wouldn't be too difficult to find. Helena quickly felt for the mechanism embedded in the inner wall panel. As the mechanism was triggered, a small combination lock dial popped out from behind the wall panel. The lower part was shaped like a palm print, requiring palm vein verification, while the upper part was a retinal scanner.

This lock was definitely directly connected to the government building's system. Even if she had the ability to crack it, it certainly wouldn't be a quick process. Fortunately, she didn't need to worry about this mere electronic lock anymore. She returned to the previous room, casually grabbed a high-ranking official who looked important from the seat at the base of the "Black Benevolence" plant, and dragged him to the combination lock dial. She lifted the limp official by his collar and brought him to the lock dial. The official still had a foolish, blissful smile on his face, with drool hanging from the corner of his mouth.

Both verification methods were successfully passed, and the hidden elevator door opened with a "ding" in front of her. Helena said thank you to the official, then casually threw him aside and entered the elevator herself.

In the government building, on the top floor corridor, three men in black suits were waiting side-by-side in front of the elevator doors. The floor number on the electronic display quickly climbed without obstruction, and in a moment, it stopped at the number of their floor. The elevator doors opened with a pleasant "ding-dong" chime, and no one was inside.

As the three men walked into the elevator while discussing work matters, the Huntress suddenly dropped from the ceiling the moment the automatic doors closed. With a flying knee strike, she hit one of the men in black squarely on the forehead, knocking him unconscious. The other two reacted quickly enough. The moment the incident occurred, they attacked almost without hesitation. Helena leaned back to avoid a punch from one of them, and her arm coiled around the opponent's arm like a flexible water snake, pressing down on the back of his head. She let out a clear shout, exerted force, and slammed the man in black to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw. Before the opponent had any chance to react, she delivered a kick to his head, using just the right amount of force to knock him out.

Only one of the three men in black remained. But he was quite resilient and completely unfazed by the situation. He pulled out a dagger from somewhere, spun it expertly in his palm, and swung it at Helena with a whistling cold wind. Helena dodged two blows, seized an opportunity, and blocked the opponent's knife-wielding arm with one hand, while striking the opponent's nose with her elbow. The man in black's head involuntarily tilted back slightly, his movements momentarily paused. Helena spun around and kicked, rotating 360 degrees, and fiercely kicked him in the chest. The man in black grunted and crashed heavily against the back wall of the elevator.

The elevator doors opened again. She stepped over the men in black lying on the floor and was about to leave when she instinctively felt something was wrong. When she looked back again, she saw that the three knocked-out men in black had all gotten up again, mechanically moving their joints, their bones making an uncomfortable "crackling" sound.

Helena watched as their faces rapidly deformed, their skin quickly wrinkled, and two snake-like bones emerged from their cheeks to their heads. Their pupils turned green, evoking images of extremely deadly poisons.

Three shapeshifting aliens. This might suggest a worse outcome – perhaps there were more in this building.

Helena pressed her utility belt and instinctively took two steps back: "Uh, is it too late to say sorry now?"

At this moment, in the urban area of New York.

The collateral damage from the battle between the two aliens was rapidly expanding, with more and more areas becoming disaster zones. Reinforced concrete buildings were as fragile as building blocks in front of the ruler of Warworld and the Kryptonian. They could leap from one end of a street to the other with a single jump, and a single punch could send the opponent crashing across Manhattan.

James Jerome was a veteran pilot in the Air Force. He had been a vanguard in resisting the Apocalypse army six years ago and had survived that hellish battlefield. He seemed to be the only survivor among pilots of equivalent qualifications.

He hadn't received a similar mission in many years. Aliens were rampaging and demolishing in the urban areas of New York. He thought such times had long since disappeared into history, which reminded him of when he first started flying fighter jets.

Back then, he was a rookie who had just joined the Air Force not long ago. The mission target was an alien causing trouble in Metropolis, perhaps named Kadom or from some planet; he couldn't remember clearly. He only remembered that the guy was huge and his body was as hard as rock. He mustered the courage to fire two air-to-ground missiles at the thing, but the effect seemed to be no more than a scratch to the guy.

Then, the alien monster spewed a high-concentration energy beam. He tried to evade, but his wing was still hit. Unfortunately, the damn ejection lever on his seat got stuck, preventing him from parachuting to safety before his burning fighter jet made intimate contact with the ground.

That should have been the end of his short flying career, if Superman hadn't appeared at that moment.

James could still clearly recall the day he first saw Superman, including every detail, all of them etched into his mind as clearly as if they were branded there. He remembered Superman, like a god descending, catching up to the diving fighter jet at an incredible speed and supporting the fuselage with his hands to help it land smoothly. Then he lifted the cockpit canopy, looked at James with his seemingly magical smile, and said, "Are you alright, sir?"

He would never forget that day, never forget that moment. He should have died there; it was Superman who allowed him to fly for so many more years.

So when he flew his supersonic fighter jet to New York again and saw the blue figure confronting Mongor, the red cape flying like a flag, he was overwhelmed with emotion for a moment, as if he had returned to that day and become that new rookie again.

"Damn it," he couldn't help but mutter to himself, "I knew you'd be back. You always come back."

He said through the intercom, "This is Owl, target sighted! Repeat, target sighted! Requesting orders!"

"This is White Wolf. Target identified as wearing a blue bodysuit and red cape. Target confirmed to be highly dangerous. Use of destructive weapons is authorized. Over."

James froze, his brain seemingly unable to process the command for a moment.

"What did you say?"

(Thanks to book friends Solitary Black Feather and Wan Shui Shu Ren for the 100 Qidian coins, and book friends kabuto555, Enchanting Bitch Pure and Not Affected, and Idle Person in This Life for the 500 Qidian coins!)