Body Test

In the secret laboratory at the top of Wayne Enterprises, cold white light fell evenly across the smooth metal floor, and dozens of precision instruments hummed faintly.

Bruce Wayne shed his earlier casual demeanor, donned a white lab coat, and his face took on a sharper, more composed edge.

This was the expression Shane remembered from Batman.

"First item: basic strength test."

Bruce pressed a button on the console, and the load-bearing platform in the center of the lab slowly rose. Behind it loomed a massive, mountain-like buffer structure—hundreds of interlocking piston metal tubes resembling a ferocious beast.

The screen in front displayed the initial parameters.

"Hit the strike plate with full force. Don't hold back."

Shane frowned slightly. Though this metal behemoth looked intimidating, he had dismantled things far more terrifying in his past combat career.

"Are you sure?"

Bruce chuckled twice.

"This is custom-made. Superman tested here too."

That one sentence dispelled all of Shane's doubts, directly categorizing it as incomprehensible black tech.

He nodded and walked to the strike plate.

Shane took a deep breath. The dormant power within him slowly awakened. The muscle lines in his right arm instantly tensed, and his originally well-proportioned limb visibly swelled a few degrees.

The next instant, his fist tore through the air and slammed into the alloy plate. A dull impact echoed in the sealed space.

The machinery behind the load-bearing platform hummed, and many lever-structured piston metal components began moving at a steady pace, dispersing the force.

"Boom—"

The numbers on the console screen jumped wildly, finally settling on a staggering figure.

Bruce's pupils contracted sharply. His fingertips slid rapidly across the screen, repeatedly confirming the data was correct.

"Single impact force: 127,000 tons... Converted, the static load limit is at least 800 million tons."

He muttered to himself, a hint of barely concealed shock in his voice.

"At that magnitude, it's enough to lift a medium-sized island plate—considering the smallest Australian satellite island weighs only 600 million tons. And I hear you haven't fully adapted to your current strength yet."

"Uh, yes. Before I escaped, I probably went through an unprecedented brutal battle. Viltrumites can gain very rational strength growth through combat."

Shane wasn't surprised by this. The Viltrumite physique was inherently strong in power, but he hadn't expected his strength to surge to this level after recovering from such severe injuries.

He flexed his wrist, feeling the surging power within his body.

"I can sense that this isn't my true limit yet."

Next came the speed and neural reaction test.

The track on one side of the lab lit up instantly. High-speed moving targets darted through at several times the speed of sound, leaving trails of afterimages.

Shane's body moved, turning into a blurry black shadow that chased after them. But several times, his strikes were a beat too slow. Once, because of excessive speed, he directly smashed through several targets.

Fortunately, the Viltrumite flight ability was excellent enough to perform high-difficulty curved turns in extremely confined spaces.

This prevented him from losing control mid-flight, crashing through the wall, and flying out.

But it also illustrated that the Viltrumite flight principle differed from Superman's. Superman's magnetic-field-cutting flight method couldn't achieve such flexible curved returns in such tight spaces.

That guy usually flew and landed in a broad, sweeping manner.

But Shane's timely braking after smashing the targets and his arc-shaped rebound within a fraction of a millimeter looked more like an agile sprite.

"Speed test results: Maximum instantaneous speed Mach 5.7, far exceeding ordinary superhumans, but neural reaction speed only matches movement at Mach 3.8."

Bruce analyzed, staring at the dynamic trajectory on the screen.

"Your neural reactions can't keep up with the surging speed. There's an obvious adaptation gap."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shane adjusted his posture and launched again.

This time, he deliberately slowed his starting speed, gradually adapting to his body's limits.

As the test progressed, the deviation values on the screen grew smaller and smaller. After just ten minutes, he could precisely capture all targets at Mach 5 speed, but every time he struck, that target was inevitably obliterated.

The surprise in Bruce's eyes deepened.

"Adaptive growth speed is extremely fast, far surpassing known superhuman races. Is this a Viltrumite talent?"

Shane didn't answer. He just stopped moving and waited for the next test.

He knew very well that this rapid adaptation ability had been forced out of him by life-and-death trials on Viltrum.

Those who couldn't keep up with their enemies' speed had long since become corpses.

For the defense test, after Shane took off his shirt, Bruce first activated a high-energy cannon.

The energy beam struck Shane's chest, emitting a sizzling sound, but didn't leave even a faint white mark.

Next, he brought out an alloy case containing various weapons.

"Next, we test penetration defense. These weapons are all infused with N metal."

Seeing Shane's puzzled expression, Bruce explained.

"N-metal originates from the planet Thanagar, Hawkman's homeworld. This metal possesses properties of anti-gravity, energy conduction, and enhanced penetration, capable of disrupting the bio-force fields of most superhumans and even damaging divine bodies. It's a rare armor-breaking material in the universe."

A mechanical arm rose from the floor, gripping a long blade infused with N-metal, and swung with full force at Shane's arm.

The moment the blade met skin, a harsh metallic screech rang out. A shallow bloody gash appeared on Shane's arm, then healed at a visible rate.

"The blade can break defense."

Bruce recorded the data, then operated the mechanical arm to swap in a custom pistol.

"Now testing N-metal bullets."

"Bang!"

The gunshot echoed as the N-metal bullet shot toward Shane's shoulder at high speed.

The instant the bullet struck its target, it was deflected, smashing a small crater into the wall. Only a faint red mark remained on Shane's shoulder, fading in an instant.

"Strange."

Bruce furrowed his brow, tapping his fingers on the console.

"The blade breaks defense, but the bullet doesn't? Both have the same N-metal content. The only difference is contact area and impact method."

He pondered for a moment, a glimmer of understanding flashing in his eyes.

"Your superpower core might be tied to the Viltrumite's unique microscopic body structure. This structure can disperse point-based impacts but struggles to resist linear cutting force."

This discovery made Bruce more cautious. The Viltrumite body structure was far more complex than he had imagined.

But he didn't delve deeper. Instead, he took out a sterile syringe and said to Shane, "I need a small blood sample for basic analysis. It won't harm you."

Shane extended his arm without resistance.

The specially made needle tip began vibrating at an imperceptibly high frequency as a switch was activated, then pierced Shane's skin with some difficulty.

However, the subsequent blood draw went smoothly.

After the blood was drawn, Shane suddenly spoke.

"Viltrumites have one known weakness: sonic weapons."

Bruce froze for a moment.

Shane continued.

"Excessive sonic energy interferes with and stimulates our eardrums and brain. In severe cases, it can cause loss of bodily control and combat effectiveness."

Bruce was silent for a moment, then looked up at him.

"I know you want to test your limits, but the blade and bullet tests were based on force data to calculate a safe testing range. The goal was to understand your ability boundaries, not to harm you."

"Using sonic weapons would directly inflict serious damage on you, deviating from the test's purpose."

"I need to know where my limits are."

Shane's tone was firm.

"On Viltrum, those who don't know their own weakness limits don't survive their first trial."

Bruce shook his head.

"I don't have any sonic weapons on hand. Their development and storage are in Batman's secret base. If you insist, I can arrange it later, but not now."

Seeing his firm stance, Shane didn't press further.