On October 15, 1993, the small town of Smallville, Kansas, was struck by a terrifying natural disaster: a meteor shower formed from enormous chunks of rock. Even though friction with the atmosphere reduced their size, the meteors were still huge. More than a hundred people were killed or injured, and the economic losses came close to ten million dollars...
Twelve years later, fifteen-year-old Dilos Sullivan picked up the newspaper. Recalling what had happened back then still sent a chill through him.
"I actually survived that... Does every transmigrator have a ridiculously lucky life?" Dilos chuckled nervously, making a dry joke.
That was right. In his previous life, Dilos Sullivan had been an orphan from China on Earth, and he had died in an accident. Then he transmigrated into the body of a three-year-old boy who had drowned in this world. But before he could celebrate getting another chance at life, he was caught in a meteor shower. Seeing the buildings around him pockmarked by meteor strikes and the people smashed to pieces, Dilos had nearly thought he was going to die too.
The disaster came and went in a flash, ending in less than a minute. Dilos hadn't been hit by a single meteor. Even so, he didn't think he was some chosen child of destiny. He'd simply been lucky enough to be reborn in someone else's body and fortunate enough not to die in the meteor shower. That didn't mean he could act recklessly and expect to survive.
The boy's parents had died in a car accident a few months after he was born. He'd survived because his birth parents had shielded him with their bodies. By law, he was adopted by his biological father's younger brother. Then, when the original owner of the body was three, he drowned while playing in the water. That was when Dilos had taken over the body and been reborn.
In his previous life, Dilos would have mocked such a melodramatic and unbelievable story. But when something so absurd happened to him, all he could do was accept it with a helpless sigh—and feel grateful.
After all, not everyone got the chance to live again, right?
But Dilos's gratitude didn't last long. It wasn't long before he read in the newspaper about Captain America, the American hero from World War II; Bruce Wayne of Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City; Tony Stark in New York; and the Brotherhood of Mutants. Then, in his everyday life, he kept running into his strangely behaved classmate, Clark Kent. That was when he realized this world would soon become anything but safe.
Dilos was a huge Marvel superhero fan and didn't pay much attention to DC's heroes, but that didn't mean he didn't know that DC's most famous heroes, Superman and Batman, were Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. He didn't understand how DC and Marvel's superheroes could exist in the same world, but he knew he had to survive in this dangerous place!
You had to make your own opportunities. If he wanted to find a place for himself in society, he needed strength. Strength could mean both influence and personal power.
Building up influence was far too complicated, and Dilos had no interest in it. That left him with only one option: improving his own abilities. He had trained in Guoshu in his previous life, but Guoshu alone wouldn't be enough. Even the strongest Guoshu practitioners could only push the human body's potential to its limits. They could certainly beat Spider-Man in a fight, but they'd be hopelessly outmatched against godlike monsters.
Guoshu was impressive, no doubt, but the limits of the human body ultimately held it back.
As Dilos understood it, the Super Soldier Serum, the Mutant Spider that gave birth to Spider-Man, and biochemicals like the Extremis Virus could all evolve the human body and break through its natural limitations. Just imagining what he could do by combining those things with Guoshu training filled Dilos with excitement.
Those powerful organizations weren't going to hand him such things for no reason. If he wanted to get them, he'd have to do it himself!
To make it on his own, he needed more than Guoshu training. He also had to build up a broad base of relevant knowledge. So, for the past twelve years, he had been studying biology and physics. Biology was his main focus, of course. Mastering Guoshu and two major fields of study in such a short time was more than he could manage. He was still only human, after all.
"Dilos, hurry down and eat! Dad's already driven off to work. The school bus will be here soon, and I don't want to miss it and have to walk to school." A pleasant girl's voice pulled Dilos out of his thoughts. He smiled at her words and headed downstairs.
There he found a pretty young girl with neat, short blond hair. She was about five foot five, with a lovely figure and a sweet, pleasant face—not a rare beauty, but cute and easy on the eyes. Most of all, her smile was as radiant as sunlight. It was hard for anyone to dislike her.
She was his cousin, Chloe Sullivan. She was a month younger than him, and they were both freshmen in high school. She was lively and adorable, but had an almost excessive interest in gossip. At school, she was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper.
"Don't worry, Chloe. I timed it perfectly." Dilos patted Chloe on the head, ignoring her annoyed look as he grabbed the bread, eggs, and milk from the table and wolfed them down.
He ate incredibly fast, finishing the whole breakfast in less than thirty seconds.
As soon as he finished eating, Chloe hurriedly pulled him to his feet. They grabbed their backpacks and headed out.
Their trip on the school bus went smoothly, but even after it dropped them off at school, Chloe's cute face still showed a trace of worry and disappointment.
Looking at her, Dilos rolled his eyes and thought, Ah, youth. Then he said, "Don't worry, Chloe. So you missed the school bus. Your beloved Clark Kent should be here soon."
Chloe spun around like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and stared at him. Her tense, slightly flushed face seemed to say, How did you know I like Clark?
"I'm your cousin, I'm in your class, I live in the same house, and I spend more time with you than anyone else. Besides, you're not exactly subtle." Dilos rolled his eyes. Chloe looked around awkwardly, as if worried the people nearby would realize she liked Clark.
"But I'm telling you, don't get too close to Clark. It's better to keep your distance. Besides, isn't Clark completely hung up on Lana?" Dilos said after thinking it over. Clark Kent was Superman; Dilos had figured that out years ago. As Superman, Clark was a trouble magnet. Even if he didn't attract trouble at this stage, his desire to protect world peace would inevitably draw plenty of it in the future.
Dilos didn't want his cousin getting hurt because of the trouble Clark brought with him.
"But Lana doesn't like him that way! I still have a chance." Chloe clearly had no intention of giving up. Dilos could only sigh inwardly.
Clark was Chloe's secret crush, and had been since they were children. Meanwhile, Clark had always been in love with Lana Lang, but Lana already had a boyfriend. Whenever Dilos saw this complicated love quadrangle, he was at a loss for words.
Dilos, with his sharp eyes, spotted Clark Kent—the good-looking young man who was secretly rich—right as he appeared at the school entrance. He couldn't help marveling at how fast Clark had traveled.
Clark's home was eight or nine kilometers from the school. If he missed the school bus, walking there would take far too long. But the young Superman had managed to keep up with it using his super-speed.
That's right: he'd kept up with it. The others might not have noticed, but while the bus was moving, Dilos had spotted some unnatural movement in the tall cornfield beside it. It looked like something had sped through the corn.
Dilos knew it was Clark, the survivor from Krypton. He was still a fifteen-year-old boy, so his powers were relatively weak and incomplete. Even so, Clark was already strong enough to beat Dilos by dozens of miles.
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