Secret History 4

After the power trial ended, Aeo was taken back to the Zod residence on Krypton. It was a building filled with alien style and technology. At first glance, it looked like a gigantic pot lid clamped over the ground—ugly as hell by Earthling standards. But once inside, he discovered that every kind of futuristic technology he could have imagined in his previous life was on display here.

Holographic projections, harmless renewable energy, Smart Butlers, cleaning robots—everything was available, allowing one to handle every aspect of daily life without ever leaving home.

In short, when he experienced these things for the first time, the impact on his worldview was immense. It was then that he truly realized he had indeed arrived in a world of civilization beyond imagination.

"My son, go home and get used to this power first. Your father still has military affairs to discuss with the council and the Science and Technology Institute, so I won't be going in with you." General Zod said this aboard the spacecraft.

Aeo nodded indifferently. Just as he had said before, as the supreme Military Leader of an empire, it would have been abnormal for his father to constantly cling to his son's side. So he decisively gave General Zod a slightly unsteady yet resolute retreating figure.

General Zod smiled faintly, then straightened his expression and ordered, "Let's go. To the Council Hall!"

"Yes, General!"

Back at his home in this life, Aeo first dropped onto the sofa in the living room—its purpose was more or less the same—and rested for a while. Only then did he say to the personal terminal silently following behind him, "Eiffel, pull up detailed information on Death Titan and the Northern Milky Way. Now!"

Eiffel, the Smart Terminal, replied in an emotionless female electronic voice, "173,624,980,000 related entries found. Excluding restricted and unverified information, Master, you may access..."

"Damn it!" Aeo knew he had asked a stupid question. He narrowed it down. "Only retrieve the Empire's assessment of Death Titan's strength and danger level!"

Eiffel did not pause in the slightest. "Would you like visual materials?"

"Mm."

"Understood." In the next instant, the home's Smart Butler and holographic projection system sprang into action. Files made up of pale blue light screens filled the entire living room.

"This really is impressive!" Aeo exclaimed. He grabbed a virtual image and pulled it open, and a familiar yet unfamiliar blue giant appeared before him.

"..."

Half a day later, Aeo murmured, "Should I say he truly deserves to be the super boss from my previous life, one who slaughtered gods and Buddhas alike? These stats..."

"Do Kryptonians stand any chance of winning against him?"

"Sorry, Master." Eiffel sounded puzzled. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing. Continue." Aeo waved a hand.

"Yes, Master." Eiffel continued, "The most recent report concerning Death Titan states that two years ago, he disappeared for a period of time. No one knew where he had gone, including the forces under his command..."

Aeo frowned. "There wasn't even a trace of news? Didn't the Empire's spies notice anything...?"

"No. It was as though he had vanished into thin air. It was only when the leader of the Chitauri Empire went to pay him homage that they discovered Death Titan had disappeared. This caused internal chaos among them for a time... It was not completely calmed until Death Titan reappeared two years later..."

Aeo frowned again. With that level of control, Thanos truly deserved to be one of the overlords of the universe. He asked, "So he's back at his lair now?"

"Yes."

No matter how long he thought about it, Aeo could not figure out what Thanos had been doing. After all, whether in comics or movies, they would hardly account for every single detail of every character's daily life. Based on the intelligence currently available, Aeo simply had no idea what stage he was in.

Besides, even if he did know, Aeo would not dare place complete faith in the "plot" he knew from before. The experiences of the past five years had taught him that a plot was a plot, and reality was reality. The difference between them was like heaven and earth. If he truly followed the plot blindly, he would not even know where to cry when the time came.

Aeo's silence made Eiffel unable to resist prompting him, "Master?"

"It's nothing." Aeo shook his head, deciding not to think about Thanos for now. Instead, he asked another question. "Forget that for the moment. Eiffel, Father said today that the Empire hid a secret on Krypton. What is it?"

As expected, Eiffel replied, "Sorry, Master, your clearance is insufficient!"

"..."

"Is there anything else you would like to know?" Eiffel asked, needling him.

"Change your voice to that of a cute girl!" Aeo snapped, issuing an order he would soon deeply regret.

"No problem, Master. Do you have any other orders, orders, orders, orders, orders~~~"

"Damn it! Eiffel, if you don't change your voice back to normal, I'll take you apart!" Aeo shouted furiously.

After a burst of deliberately exaggerated calibration sounds, this highly intelligent Kryptonian personal terminal finally returned to its previous emotionless female voice. "I was merely following your instructions, Master!"

"Shut up! I don't believe you couldn't tell I was joking!" Aeo casually grabbed a glass from beside him and hurled it, knocking the damned sphere away.

But before long, the thing came spinning back. "Master, I advise you not to be so irritable next time. Though you do not need to pay repair fees, life will be very inconvenient without a personal terminal..."

"..."

Unable to do anything about his thick-skinned, black-hearted Smart Butler, Aeo could only change the subject and ask his third question of the day.

"How is the monitoring of Jor-El and Linda El of House of El going? Do they still have no intention of naturally conceiving and giving birth to descendants?"

Only then did Eiffel helplessly answer the question of its incomprehensible Master. "Sorry, not at the moment."

After a pause, it reminded its Master for the nth time, "Sorry, Master, but I must remind you that monitoring an Imperial citizen violates—"

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it!" Aeo impatiently cut it off. "Just honestly help me monitor them and see whether they have any plans to naturally conceive and bear children. I have my own arrangements for everything else!"

With two beeps, Eiffel replied helplessly, "Understood."

Aeo knew Eiffel's warning made sense, but although he no longer dared to fully trust the knowledge from his previous life, his mind could not help drifting toward terrifying chains of events. He feared that once something happened, it would trigger a series of tragedies beyond his control—though in his current state, even if he knew, he could not stop much. But Aeo was worried. Worried...

Superman...

Especially after Aeo learned that House of El's emblem really was that damned S, his heart could no longer remain calm. Not only had he been subtly asking Zod about House of El since two or three years ago, but after obtaining Eiffel recently, he had directly ordered it to monitor Jor-El and Linda El. His purpose was simple: even if he could not prevent it, he had to be prepared!

I don't want to become some unlucky bastard who dies without ever knowing why! Aeo clenched his fists. No amount of obstacles can stop me from confirming whether this is truly the world I know!