Trump Card

He-El caught his breath, cleared his throat, and the redness in his face faded somewhat. Wiping the saliva from beneath his lower lip, he grinned and picked up the "fish bladder." "During Ancient Krypton's Algal Ocean Period, the Three-Headed King Octopus had a very special trait in its stomach sac."

"Its stomach sac can isolate various metallic radiation and chemical reactions." Joe-El's expression was terrible. He clearly remembered that this had been He-El's biology graduation project.

The radiation-shielding stomach sac of the Three-Headed King Octopus held immense significance for Krypton's radiation-proof outerwear. It would allow the Science and Technology Institute to further explore underground regions, deep seas, lava, space, and more.

It was a discovery with broad applications in all kinds of radiation protection.

With this, He-El had become a star of the Science and Technology Institute in one leap. Joe-El had even upgraded his family's battle suits with the finished research He-El had given him.

But who could have imagined that He-El had forcibly swallowed a Three-Headed King Octopus stomach sac and hidden it inside his own stomach, evading the physical examination before boarding the ship?

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

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

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

The consciousness he had uploaded, along with its underlying execution commands, had already completed their task. He had no more trump cards left to stop He-El.

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

In deep space, the ship had no energy. It could not reach any yellow sun. This was a death sentence.

This was space!

Vast, empty, cold, and dark. There was no hope to be seen.

The stars you saw were merely afterglow. Distances of tens of millions of light-years would drive anyone into loneliness and madness.

This struggle was destined to be futile.

With the key pinched between his fingers, He-El walked to the control console and inserted it into the keyhole. He pressed the S symbol on its tip with his index finger, pushing the key completely into the console as a smile curled across his lips.

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

"But I know that before I boarded this ship, you had already been watching the Codex."

"The Codex is the foundation of everything on Krypton. I believed you would carry it and flee to a planet with a yellow sun."

"Our battle is not over yet."

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

He-El understood the future as clearly as the palm of his hand. With a sweeping gesture and sharp eyes, he shouted.

"Zero, format him!"

At once, Joe-El's projection began to flicker with static. At this final moment, a trace of gloom surfaced on his face, his gaze filled with indescribable unwillingness.

"He-El!"

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

"I do not want you to find me. I do not want us to begin another war."

"If I could send you into the desperate void of space today, then I can also make full preparations and cast you into a place beyond all redemption."

"I hope this starry sky becomes your grave!"

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

This deep space was too lonely. He had calculated it: He-El had no way out. The ship's Crystal Core Engine lacked sufficient energy even for a jump. He did not believe He-El had any chance of survival.

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

Could he still have another card to play in this deep space?

"What arrogant nonsense. Joe-El, even you, a man of high rank and power on Krypton, were forced by me to let me board this ship. 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 allowed you to accomplish."

A cold smile formed on He-El's lips as he mercilessly watched Joe-El's projection.

On Krypton, under Joe-El's control, he had had no way to fight back. He could only attempt to launch an underground revolution and replace the upper ranks, making Joe-El—who had no proof but understood his ambitions—willingly "allow" him onto the ship for Krypton's stability, letting him leave Krypton.

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

Joe-El's projection darkened, flickered several times, and then stopped responding altogether. It vanished from the starry backdrop of the Main Control Room.

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

He-El nodded with a smile. With Joe-El's final hidden danger resolved, he was finally free.

Joe-El controlling the ship and flying it into this dead end in deep space, leaving him to await death, was not particularly difficult for him to accept.

Compared to everyone on Krypton who had already died in the explosion, the fact that he was still alive was far better.

He had long anticipated his current circumstances.

"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 god among men. He also believed that his adoptive father, Joe-El, would certainly use the same trick of uploading his consciousness again to watch over that younger brother.

He would reclaim everything that belonged to Krypton.

I will create a new Krypton.

A Krypton ruled by me!

Joe-El.

Our battle is not over.

"Display the star map. Calculate the distance to the nearest planet."

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

"How far away is Earth?"

He-El issued his commands. Zero was an intelligent system he had secretly created for himself, precisely to eliminate the effects of formatting Joe-El and seize control of the ship at this moment.

He-El's trump cards went far beyond this.

He was not afraid of getting lost or being exiled into the stars.

Even in the lonely, frigid void 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 other worlds was because Kryptonian physiology could be considered among the highest tiers in countless worlds.

Why was it considered among the highest tiers?

Because without any effort or training, merely basking under the sun granted one the power to destroy stars.

Few powers were easier to obtain than being a Kryptonian.

When facing the unknown dangers of unknown worlds, mastering the power of a Kryptonian body first was the correct choice.

Besides, when his consciousness traveled to other worlds, his body remained on Krypton. He had feared that his consciousness might fail to return before Krypton exploded, getting his body killed outright.

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

Having avoided death in Krypton's destruction, an infinitely wonderful future had already opened its arms to him.

"Reduce internal ship protection. Adopt minimum life-support limits. Halt engineering machinery operations. Drift along the safe route. Reaching the next temporary marker, rogue planet 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 drained the Crystal Core Engine too severely, deliberately jumping into this resource-poor region of deep space where even rogue planets were scarce.

2.94 million light-years was simply too far.

No energy, no resources. No wonder Joe-El had chosen this region of space.

"First, go to rogue planet MT745 to regroup. Search for colonial planets once occupied by Krypton."

He-El issued the command.

Krypton had once colonized vast regions of the cosmos. In that unknown era of the universe, the entire starry sky sang praises of Kryptonian glory and might, fearing Kryptonian warships and military power.

It was an era impossible to erase, an era when the mere mention of Kryptonians filled the stars with terror.

But later... according to the ancient history He-El had investigated, it seemed that the Krypton of old had been besieged by the entire universe, triggering a cosmic war of annihilation intended to exterminate Krypton.

For a period, Krypton had fought the entire universe alone. He-El could sense the humiliation of those years, when Krypton had been jointly targeted by the whole universe and forced into a bitter struggle. This enraged the proud Kryptonians, who had once ruled vast stretches of the cosmos, leading them to begin research into Doomsday.

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

He-El felt that it must have produced results, but that Doomsday—uncontrollable after its creation—had directly harmed Krypton, causing Krypton to lose its war against the entire universe.

Krypton's ancient history had been passed down in the form of myth, its truth impossible to verify. Yet combined with what he knew, He-El could only draw a sharp breath as he guessed at Krypton's former glory in the universe.

It had been an era of supreme honor, an era that terrified the stars.

That era had a name—Krypton!

And now, too much time had passed. So much time that the universe had forgotten the Kryptonian race. Only Krypton remained closed off from the outside world. He-El did not know whether he could find worlds once colonized by Krypton, but this was ultimately a direction through which he could obtain resources and energy.

This stretch of deep space was simply too lonely.

The chance of He-El dying in this deep space was 99%. That was what Joe-El had hoped for.

"Shut down all life-support systems. Retain only the meditation room's basic life support."

He-El's expression steadied as he decided to travel to another world.

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

He turned and left the Main Control Room, arriving at the meditation room. He sat down heavily on the meditation seat, entered his dark consciousness space, and plunged into the Traversal Vortex.

But He-El had never imagined that the vortex in his consciousness space would pull even his physical body inside.

In a flash of realization, he was overjoyed. So I travel with my body too!