The Critical Point

Static...

The sound in the walkie-talkie cut out.

Staring at the device in his hand, General Lane irritably snatched off his cap and scrubbed hard at his sweat-drenched scalp.

"What rocket, what kind of rocket, what rocket? Does he think I was the one who launched that missile!"

At this, the veins on General Lane's forehead bulged, and he hurled the walkie-talkie away!

"Damn it, I should be the one suspecting him of slaughtering my men and kidnapping my daughter, yet he's the one smearing shit on my head! He's already been hit by an air-to-ground strike once, why the hell won't he just go die already!!!"

As his voice trailed off, General Lane tilted his head back in agony.

Beside him, his adjutant gave a light cough and spoke up.

"General, theoretically speaking, the party that kidnapped your daughter should be an unknown third party. Furthermore, based on our investigation into Downton, he lacks the capability to assemble a team capable of deploying air-to-ground strikes and wiping out our special forces elites in the blink of an eye. Therefore..."

"I know, I know!"

Before the adjutant could finish, General Lane interrupted him in frustration.

"I know it wasn't him, and I know it was aimed at me. You don't need to play mouthpiece for me right now. A mere Downton, whose intelligence hasn't even been widely disseminated yet, isn't worth any organization going to such lengths. And I, at the very least, am a General! I suspect this is an internal issue within the United States; it must be some of my political rivals, perhaps that trash at the CIA."

At this, General Lane's eyes lit up, and he continued, speculating aloud.

"That's right, even if it isn't the CIA, it must be my other old rivals! Whether it's sabotaging my plan to capture Downton to lower my standing in the defense hierarchy, or kidnapping my daughter. Their actions might even disrupt the cooperation between the military and LexCorp. Looking at it this way, besides my rivals, this group of mysterious people today could also be enemies of LexCorp—maybe they're here to snatch the orders away from them!"

The more General Lane spoke, the more confident he became, feeling his logic grow clearer. He balled his right hand into a fist and slammed it hard into his left palm.

Slap!

After the sharp sound, General Lane concluded.

"That's exactly it. So it won't be long before they contact me to discuss the conditions for trading my daughter. If nothing goes wrong, the experimental equipment I'm accepting from LexCorp is their target! But they don't know that those pieces of gear are useless to me. If we don't procure them, they remain mere prototypes, and LexCorp's equipment has highly sophisticated anti-reverse-engineering systems! So, I just need to wait for the call, and in the meantime... deal with that damn Downton!"

General Lane immediately took a new walkie-talkie from his adjutant and roared at all the tactical teams in Smallville Town.

"All units, listen up! Kill Downton at all costs. Once he's killed, he'll be forced to teleport away. Don't let him be a nuisance to us anymore. He is no longer worthy of being our target!"

"Oh, what the hell?"

No sooner had General Lane finished speaking than Downton's flippant voice suddenly came through the walkie-talkie.

Downton pointed his rifle at the soldier at his feet while speaking into the radio.

"Are you looking down on me, you son of a bitch?"

On the other end of the line, hearing Downton's words, General Lane's face turned a sickly shade of green.

"All units, switch to channel six!"

As he spoke, General Lane threw the walkie-talkie away with a bitter smile and took the earpiece from his adjutant.

Meanwhile, having confirmed that no more sound would come from the walkie-talkie, Downton aimed his gun at the soldier beneath him.

Rat-tat-tat!

After sending the two soldiers on their way, he rummaged through their gear, stripped off a tactical vest to put on himself, and fished out seven magazines to stuff into the pouches.

Downton then hoisted his Harley up with one hand.

Vroom!

As the Harley's engine roared to life, Downton grinned with excitement.

Although he didn't know exactly where that General was, Lois Lane, that reporter, had to still be at the café. He knew Lois; that reckless woman would never easily leave the place they had agreed upon. Even if he had been bombed or Smallville had turned into a battlefield, the only thing on that woman's mind would definitely be the big scoop!

If she weren't so recklessly bold, she, the future wife of Superman, wouldn't be constantly teetering on the edge of being kidnapped.

Downton immediately drove toward the cafe.

However, the soldiers who had died not long ago had already reported Downton's location, which meant that after riding for only one street, Downton was blocked head-on by three soldiers rushing toward him.

Although not everyone General Lane brought along was a special forces operative, the ones blocking Downton's path right now were indeed members of the Navy SEALs.

After confirming Downton's identity from a distance, two of them immediately dove into cover by the side of the street and began suppressive fire against him.

At the same time, the third soldier raised an RPG at Downton.

Facing the hail of bullets, Downton fired back with one hand until he had emptied his entire magazine.

Unfortunately, not only did the bullets miss the enemies, but the closing distance also resulted in Downton getting hit.

Bang!

Downton felt a tightness in his chest, and his entire body was sent flying backward off the motorcycle.

After rolling twice on the ground, Downton stood up with a frown and pressed a hand against his chest.

Damn it, that accurate? Aiming straight for the heart—that has to be a coincidence, right?

As he spoke, Downton tore open his undershirt, exposing the wound completely.

The bullet had indeed struck his chest, but the sensation of pain told him that even though the skin and flesh on his left chest were torn open, his heart was perfectly fine; instead, it was his ribs that might have been broken!

After pressing lightly on his wound and letting out a muffled grunt, Downton suddenly laughed.

"My physique is improving rapidly; it seems I'm nearing a qualitative change."

After muttering to himself with a smile, Downton gripped his gun and charged directly toward the soldiers.

Watching Downton charge, the soldier holding the RPG frowned, then fired the rocket with a deep look of contemplation.

Whoosh!

Amidst the sound of the explosion, Downton transformed into flames and vanished once again.

At the same time, the three soldiers in the distance reported the kill on Downton over their communication channel.

However...

After they made their report, the three of them couldn't help but exchange glances, seeing expressions of confusion in each other's eyes.

"Did you notice that guy's speed?"

"You noticed it too!"

"Yeah, that guy... he was shockingly fast, like a cheetah!"

"That's right, his speed was truly incredible, and I should have hit his heart—his left chest looked like it was about to explode!"