Ruling the World in Progress

Anchorage City.

Against the azure sky above the city, two figures slowly rose into the air, then flew toward the coast.

"I can fly!!!!"

Ciri swam and rolled through the air around He-El like a fish, her lithe body agile as she spun circles and performed all sorts of flips, as flexible as if she truly knew how to fly.

In reality, He-El had merely expanded his bio-magnetic field and linked it to Ciri's, using his immense field to carry her free of Earth's gravity.

She was like a fish in a tank, able to swim only within He-El's bio-magnetic field. It gave her the illusion that she could fly. The moment she left his field, or He-El severed the connection to her bio-magnetic field, she would revert to normal.

He-El brought Ciri back from the city to Anchorage Base.

A huge hole had been blasted through one side of Anchorage Base. Black smoke drifted upward, and the smell of gunpowder and charred debris—the scent of war—still lingered.

The entire base was steeped in an atmosphere of dejection and mourning.

He-El descended from the sky, the black cloak-like trench coat hanging to his heels snapping in the wind before settling behind him. As he entered Anchorage Base, he was met by fearful gazes from the people around him.

"You demon, why did you come back?!" A teenager in a yellow work uniform, filthy and blackened all over, held up a brick with trembling, furious hands as he cursed through tears.

In the merciless battle just now, a girl he liked had been cut in half at the waist by bullets. Then a missile had blown apart her body, scattering her intestines and organs everywhere. He had witnessed the most despairing sight imaginable.

He-El's black cloak-like trench coat made him look utterly cold and domineering. Expressionless, he lowered his gaze upon the brick-wielding boy, a scorching red glow rising in his eyes. The boy's legs shook in terror as he broke down sobbing in grief.

"No, don't. He-El."

Stacker hurried over, his expression tense. He wrapped the boy in his arms, snatched the brick from his hands, and held him tightly as he comforted him.

Using his body to shield the boy, Stacker looked at He-El and said solemnly, "I'll handle it. I won't let anyone disturb you."

He-El slowly withdrew the red light from his eyes and said coldly, "Stacker, you willingly chose to become my subordinate—the buffer zone between humanity and me."

After He-El finished that battle, Stacker had taken the initiative to seek him out. He had said he was willing to submit, obey his orders, and begged He-El not to harm the lives of the base personnel.

He-El had never intended to harm ordinary people in the first place, and he did need manpower to carry out his plans, so he agreed.

"I know. The Pacific Rim Joint Defense Force will follow your command. I know, He-El. You told me what you wanted to do. I will obey your orders, and I will handle humanity's affairs concerning you." Stacker held the boy tightly and lowered his head.

He-El watched him with an emotionless gaze.

He did not truly care about the Pacific Rim Joint Defense Force. He merely needed an initial supply of manpower to carry out his plan to conquer the world and serve his will.

Whether they harbored ulterior motives or not, before He-El, there could be no ulterior motives.

"Three days from now, on February 29, Stacker, gather reporters from around the world and hold a grand press conference."

"As for now... release all surveillance footage from the moment I arrived on Earth through my battle with the U.S. Military. Let the entire world see it."

"No problem. I'll contact every country and obtain the footage. Your image will appear across the world's internet. On February 29, I guarantee that news teams from around the globe will arrive in Anchorage." Stacker gave his firm assurance. Once He-El's existence was exposed, it would create an overwhelming storm. There was no need to worry that this order could not be carried out.

Nations around the world had already become aware of He-El's existence. Before long, the entire online world would realize that Earth was not only being invaded by enormous monsters—there was also a humanoid alien among them.

He-El turned, his black cloak sweeping upward as he strode away.

"Starting on February 29, Stacker, rather than thinking of using me to eliminate the monsters, you should focus on controlling human civilization so it does not clash with me and can survive."

Bitterness filled Stacker's heart. How could he still have any thoughts of using He-El to eliminate monsters? He-El wanted to conquer the world. The monsters would inevitably become bandits deliberately kept alive to preserve his own power.

In truth, He-El had never cared about the monsters at all. The Precursors' genetic technology beyond the wormhole was quite good, capable of creating organisms like monsters. But compared to Krypton's ability to tailor talents through genes, and compared to someone like Doomsday, it was not even worth mentioning.

He had Ciri gather the Precursors' genetic data. Once they returned to the spacecraft, Ciri would focus on studying Kryptonian gene technology, while the Precursors' genetic data would serve as an unconventional supplement.

In the future, He-El would definitely research creatures like Doomsday. He might even have to incorporate it into his own body. He refused to believe that after traveling through countless worlds, he still would not be able to create a controllable Doomsday.

With both hands tucked into the pockets of her green trench coat, Ciri glanced at Stacker as he comforted the boy. As she followed He-El, she swept her eyes over the people nearby and found many with missing arms or legs, sadly bandaging their wounds or receiving treatment where they stood.

"Ciri, intensify your research on my cells." He-El headed toward the command room.

His future rule would certainly be high-pressure rule, allowing no resistance.

He-El had once been weak. He understood the suffocating pressure of such oppression and the dispirited urge to simply lie down and give up. But it did not matter. He-El had all kinds of ways to make them willingly "work hard"!

He did not mind offering humanity a little sweetness.

Superpowers.

That was the reward he had prepared for humanity.

It would also gather all of Earth's humans to collect data for him.

There was no need to fear humanity becoming stronger. No matter how strong humanity became, they could never compare to He-El, who grew stronger every day under the sun.

They still had to obey the laws of physics. Kryptonians, however, simply grew stronger by basking in sunlight, already exceeding the boundaries of physical laws they could comprehend.

"Sure. Also, He-El, can I treat them and regenerate their limbs?" Ciri agreed without objection, while also wanting to research limb-regeneration technology.

Just now, she had seen many ordinary humans lose arms and legs because of He-El's battle, leaving them disabled for life. Their eyes held fear toward He-El, along with deep resentment and hatred.

Ciri knew that He-El did not actually want to involve innocents. But the battle had happened there. He-El would not deliberately involve innocents, but neither would he stop because of them. In the end, if innocents died, all they could do was count themselves unlucky.

If they could return to normal, Ciri thought, humanity's resentment toward He-El would lessen as well.

"Ciri, I never knew you were such a kind person!"

He-El found it quite surprising. He had thought Ciri scorned human deaths, yet she actually wanted to treat the disabled.

Naturally, He-El had no objections if Ciri wanted to treat them. The ordinary people at Anchorage Base had merely been caught up in the conflict, and He-El held no grievance against them.

On the contrary, warriors who stood on the front lines against monsters were worthy of respect.

He had no objection to his subordinate offering them aid, so long as she completed the task he had assigned first.

"After all, He-El bears my sins, so I can spread kindness without reservation," Ciri said as if it were only natural.

He-El burst into laughter. Seeing through Ciri's thoughts, he did not stop her and simply waved a hand for her to deal with it herself.

He then parted from Ciri and headed straight for the command room.

To rule the world, he needed something to monitor it. Any sound system required a strict surveillance network. He-El could not listen to the entire world every day.

Unfortunately, the Zero System from the stellar exploration spacecraft had not come with him. It was a dedicated intelligent system secretly built using the Kryptonian Science Institute's technology, capable of handling nearly any matter. With it, conquering the world would have been ninety percent easier.

For now, he could only hastily cobble together an artificial intelligence as a temporary substitute.