Trump Card

He-El took a moment to catch his breath and clear his throat. The flush in his face faded slightly. After wiping the saliva from his lower lip, he broke into a grin and picked up the "fish bladder." "During the Algal Ocean Period of Ancient Krypton, the stomach of the Three-Headed King Octopus had a special property."

"Its stomach could isolate the radioactivity of various metals and prevent chemical reactions." Joe-El's expression was extremely ugly. He clearly remembered that this had been He-El's graduation project in biology.

The stomach of the Three-Headed King Octopus, which could block metal radiation, was of immense significance to Krypton's radiation-proof outerwear. It would allow the Science and Technology Institute to conduct further research into underground, deep-sea, lava, and outer-space exploration.

It was a discovery that could be widely applied to various forms of radiation protection.

Thanks to this, He-El had risen to become a star of the Science and Technology Institute. Joe-El had even updated his family's battle suit with the finished product He-El had gifted him.

But who could have imagined that He-El would force himself to swallow the stomach of a Three-Headed King Octopus and hide it inside his own stomach, passing the physical examination before boarding the spaceship?

Under Joe-El's ugly gaze, He-El tore open the white stomach of the Three-Headed King Octopus. Pinching it between two fingers, he took out a key with an S symbol engraved on its tip.

"Even if you format me and take control of this spaceship, it's already too late."

Joe-El's expression was complicated. He realized that he had reached the end of the road.

The consciousness he had uploaded and the execution commands at the lowest level had already finished running. He no longer had any trump card capable of stopping He-El.

At the same time, he did not understand why He-El was still struggling.

In deep space, the spaceship had no energy. It could not reach any yellow sun, and death was inevitable.

This was outer space!

Vast, empty, cold, and dark, it offered no hope at all.

The stars one saw were only afterimages. Distances of tens or hundreds of millions of light-years would plunge anyone into solitude and madness.

This struggle was destined to be futile.

With the key clasped between his fingers, He-El walked toward the main control console. He inserted it into the keyhole, pressed the S-shaped mark at its tip with his index finger, and pushed the key all the way into the console, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Too late? Joe-El, you know nothing about me!"

"But I know that before I boarded this spaceship, you had already been keeping an eye on the Codex."

"The Codex is Krypton's most fundamental treasure. I believe you would carry it with you and flee to a planet with a yellow sun."

"Our battle isn't over yet."

"I will obtain the Codex. I will rebuild Krypton."

He-El understood the future completely. He swept out a hand, his eyes sharp, and shouted.

"Zero, format him!"

At once, Joe-El's projection began flickering with static. At this final moment, a gloomy cast appeared on his face, and his eyes held an indescribably complicated unwillingness.

"He-El!"

"Even if I lose to you at this moment, that does not prove you can defeat me."

"I don't want you to find me, and I don't want you to start another war with me."

"I can send you into this desperate stretch of space right now, and I can also make every preparation to plunge you into an irreversible hell."

"I hope this starry sky becomes your burial ground!"

Joe-El's eyes held both reluctance and ruthlessness as he stared deeply at He-El.

This deep space was far too lonely. He had calculated that He-El had no way to survive. The spaceship's Crystal Core Engine also lacked enough energy to make a jump. He did not believe He-El had any chance of survival.

But He-El's struggle still left a shadow in his heart.

Could He-El have another trump card in this deep space?

"Arrogant nonsense. Joe-El, even with your high status and power on Krypton, I forced you to let me board the spaceship. Every word and action of yours followed my plan. What ability do you have to face me again?"

"Today's desperate situation is merely what I made you bring about."

A cruel smile formed at the corners of He-El's mouth as he looked coldly at Joe-El's projection.

On Krypton, under Joe-El's command, He-El had been completely unable to retaliate. His only option had been to plan an underground revolution and attempt to replace the upper leadership, forcing Joe-El—who understood his ambitions despite having no evidence—to willingly "let" him board the spaceship and leave Krypton for the sake of Krypton's stability.

"Joe-El, every action you took was something I wanted you to do."

Joe-El's projection darkened. It flickered several times, then ceased responding and vanished from the starry projection of the main control room.

"Formatting complete, Master. Zero has officially activated and taken control of the Kryptonian Science Institute's Star Explorer."

He-El nodded with a smile. Having eliminated Joe-El's final hidden threat, he was now truly free.

Joe-El controlling the spaceship and flying it into the desperate depths of space to make him wait for death was not particularly difficult for him to accept.

Compared with all the people on Krypton who had exploded and died, he was still alive. That was already far better.

He had anticipated his current predicament long ago.

"I look forward to defeating you again."

He-El was already looking forward to the day he found Earth and personally met the younger brother of the Man of Steel. He also believed that his adoptive father, Joe-El, would perform this consciousness-uploading trick again and remain by his younger brother's side.

He would take back everything that belonged to Krypton.

I will create a new Krypton.

A Krypton ruled by me!

Joe-El.

Our battle isn't over yet.

"Bring up the star map. Calculate the distance to the nearest planet."

"How long can the Crystal Core Engine's energy last?"

"How far away is Earth?"

He-El issued his commands. Zero was an intelligent system he had secretly created for himself, specifically to erase the influence Joe-El had brought and take control of the spaceship.

He-El's trump cards were far from limited to these.

He was not afraid of becoming lost and being exiled into space at all.

Even in the lonely, freezing depths of space, he still possessed the ability to travel between worlds.

Within his consciousness was a vortex capable of traversing worlds.

The reason He-El had never traveled to another world was that the Kryptonian physique could be considered among the highest level of physical constitutions in countless worlds.

Why could it be considered among the highest level?

Because it required no effort and no cultivation. As long as one basked in sunlight, one possessed the power to destroy stars.

Few powers could be obtained more easily than the strength of a Kryptonian.

Faced with the unknown dangers of an unknown world, mastering the power of the Kryptonian physique first was the correct choice.

Besides, when his consciousness traveled to other worlds, his body would remain on Krypton. He had been afraid that his consciousness might not return in time and that Krypton would explode, directly killing his physical body.

Therefore, from the moment he boarded this spaceship and left Krypton, He-El had already won.

He had not died in Krypton's destruction. An infinitely wonderful future had already opened its arms to him.

"Lower the spaceship's internal defenses. Switch to the minimum life-support level. Stop operating the engineering machinery. Proceed along a safe drifting route. Reaching the wandering planet temporarily designated MT745 will require 61,320 hours and consume 1.7526% of the Crystal Core Engine's energy."

"Earth is approximately 2.94 million light-years away."

He-El's brows furrowed deeply.

Joe-El had used the Crystal Core Engine far too recklessly, specifically jumping to this deep-space region, where wandering planets were scarce and resources were lacking.

2.94 million light-years. That distance was far too great.

With no energy and no resources, it was no wonder Joe-El had chosen this starry region.

"First, head to the wandering planet MT745 for repairs and search for former Kryptonian colony planets."

He-El issued the command.

Krypton had once colonized vast regions of the universe. During that unknown era, the entire starry sky had sung of the Kryptonians' honor and fame while fearing their warships and military might.

It had been an era that could never be forgotten, an era when merely mentioning Kryptonians filled the starry sky with fear.

But later... According to the ancient history He-El had studied, Krypton in that ancient history had seemingly been attacked by the entire universe, triggering a great cosmic war to exterminate Krypton.

For a period of time, Krypton had fought the entire universe alone. He-El could sense the suffocating frustration of that era, when Krypton had been targeted by the entire universe and forced into a difficult war. This had enraged the proud Kryptonians, who had once ruled vast stretches of the universe, prompting them to begin researching Doomsday.

Whether the Doomsday research had succeeded was not recorded in detail. It had merely been passed down as a supreme terror, an invincible legend.

He-El felt that the research had probably produced results. However, that result—Doomsday, an uncontrollable destroyer—had directly harmed Krypton at the time, causing Krypton to lose the war against the entire universe.

Krypton's ancient history had been passed down in the form of mythology. No one knew whether it was true, but combining it with the information he knew, He-El could still make a chilling guess about Krypton's former glory in the universe.

It had been an age of supreme honor, an age that made the starry sky tremble with fear.

The name of that era was—Krypton!

But now, too much time had passed, so much that the universe itself had forgotten the Kryptonian race. Only Krypton remained isolated from the outside world. He-El did not know whether he could find the planets Krypton had once colonized, but it was ultimately a direction in which he could seek resources and energy.

This deep space was simply too lonely.

The probability of He-El dying in this deep space was 99%. That was also what Joe-El wanted.

"Shut down all life-support devices. Retain only the basic life support in the meditation room."

He-El's brows settled with determination. He decided to travel to another world.

Otherwise, he could only slowly wait for death in this starry region.

He turned and left the main control room, arriving at the meditation room. He dropped onto the meditation seat, entered the dark expanse of his consciousness, and plunged into the Traversal Vortex.

But He-El had never imagined that the vortex in his consciousness would drag his physical body in as well.

He suddenly understood, then was overjoyed. So he could travel through worlds together with his physical body!