Dilos and Superman

On October 15, 1993, the town of Smallville in Kansas was struck by a terrifying natural disaster: a meteor shower composed of massive space rocks. Although the friction of the atmosphere had reduced their size, the meteors were still enormous, causing hundreds of casualties and nearly ten million dollars in economic losses.

Twelve years later, fifteen-year-old Dilos Sullivan picked up the newspaper, and the mere memory of that scene sent shivers down his spine.

To think I actually survived that... should I say that every transmigrator has a charmed life? Dilos chuckled with lingering fear, cracking a dry joke.

Indeed, in his past life, Dilos Sullivan had been an orphan from China on Earth who died in an accident. He then transmigrated, possessing the body of a three-year-old toddler who had drowned in this world. However, before he could even celebrate his second chance at life, he was met with the meteor shower disaster. At the time, seeing the buildings cratered by impacts and the people pulverized into gore, he had nearly thought he was going to die right then and there.

Yet, the disaster came and went in a flash, lasting less than a minute. Dilos hadn't been struck by even a single pebble. Even so, he didn't consider himself a "child of destiny"; he simply felt he had been lucky to transmigrate and even luckier not to be killed by the meteor shower. It didn't mean he could act recklessly without consequence.

The parents of this body had died in a car accident a few months after his birth, and the child had survived only because his biological parents had shielded him with their own bodies. By law, he was adopted by his biological father's younger brother. Later, the original owner of this body had unfortunately drowned while playing in the water at age three, which was exactly when Dilos had transmigrated and taken over.

Had he encountered such a story in his past life, he certainly would have ranted about how cliché and fake it was. But now that such an absurd thing had happened to him, he felt helpless and could only accept it with a sense of relief.

After all, not everyone gets a second chance at life, right?

However, Dilos's relief didn't last long. It wasn't long before he, with his excellent English, read news reports mentioning Captain America from World War II, Bruce Wayne of Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City, Tony Stark in New York, and the Brotherhood of Mutants. Combined with the strange behavior of his classmate Clark Kent, whom he encountered in daily life, he knew this world wouldn't stay safe for much longer.

Although Dilos was a Marvel superhero fan and didn't pay much attention to DC heroes, that didn't mean he was unaware that the most famous ones, Superman and Batman, were Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne. He didn't understand how DC and Marvel heroes could exist in the same world, but he knew he had to survive in this dangerous reality!

Opportunities are earned. To establish a foothold in this society, one must possess formidable power. Power can be categorized into external influence and personal strength.

Influence was far too complicated a matter, and Dilos had no interest in pursuing it. Therefore, he could only focus on breaking through his own limits. Although he had practiced Baguazhang in his past life, relying solely on that was certainly not enough. Even the most powerful martial artists could only push human potential to its absolute limit. While they might be stronger than Spider-Man in a fight, they were far too restricted when facing god-like monsters.

Baguazhang was powerful, certainly, but the limits of the human body ultimately constrained its development.

As far as Dilos knew, the Super Soldier Serum, the Mutant Spider that created Spider-Man, the Extremis Virus, and other biochemical products in this world were all excellent tools that could evolve the human body and shatter its shackles. If he could combine these with his martial arts training, Dilos felt incredibly excited just imagining the possibilities.

Those organizations wouldn't just hand these things over to him for no reason, so to obtain them, he would have to rely on himself!

Relying on himself meant that, in addition to practicing martial arts, he needed to accumulate a vast amount of relevant knowledge. That was why he had spent the last twelve years studying biology and physics. Of course, his primary focus was biology; he admitted that he was still only human and not capable enough to master both major scientific fields while also perfecting his martial arts in such a short time.

"Dilos, hurry down for breakfast! Dad has 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 sweet female voice pulled Dilos from his deep thoughts. Hearing this, he couldn't help but smile as he walked downstairs.

A beautiful young girl with fresh, short blonde hair came into view. She was 1.65 meters tall with a well-proportioned figure. While her face wasn't breathtakingly beautiful, she was delicate, cute, and pleasant to look at. Most importantly, her smile was as bright as sunshine, making it difficult for anyone to harbor any ill will toward her.

This was his cousin, Chloe Sullivan. She was a month younger than him and in the same first year of high school. She had a lively and cute personality, though her penchant for gossip was off the charts; she served as the editor-in-chief of the school paper.

"Don't worry, Chloe, my timing is precise," Dilos said, patting Chloe's head. Ignoring her disgruntled look, he grabbed the bread, eggs, and milk from the table and began to eat rapidly.

He ate with lightning speed, finishing the breakfast in less than thirty seconds.

As soon as he finished, he was rushed out the door by Chloe, who grabbed her backpack and headed out.

The bus ride went smoothly, but by the time they reached school, that cute little face of Chloe's still bore a trace of anxiety and disappointment.

Looking at her, Dilos couldn't help but roll his eyes, sighing inwardly, 'Ah, youth.' Then, he said to her:

"Don't worry, Chloe. It's just a missed bus, right? Your beloved Clark Kent should be here soon."

Chloe turned around abruptly as if a cat had stepped on her tail, staring at Dilos. Her tense, slightly blushing face practically screamed, "How did you know I like Clark?"

"I'm your cousin, we're in the same grade, we live in the same house, and I spend the most time with you. Besides, you're far too obvious." Dilos rolled his eyes. Chloe looked around awkwardly, seemingly worried that those around them would realize she liked Clark.

"But I suggest you don't get too close to Clark; it's best to keep your distance. Besides, isn't Clark's heart set on Lana?" Dilos said after a moment's thought. Clark Kent was Superman; he had confirmed this over the years. As Superman, he was a magnet for trouble. Even if he wasn't attracting trouble now, Clark's desire to maintain world peace would eventually draw in a massive amount of it.

Dilos didn't want his sister to encounter danger because of the trouble that followed Clark.

"But Lana doesn't like him back, so I still have a chance!" Chloe clearly didn't intend to give up, leaving Dilos to sigh internally.

Clark was Chloe's crush, the kind she had harbored since childhood. And Clark's own lifelong crush was Lana Lang, but Lana had a boyfriend. Every time Dilos saw this complicated love square, he was left utterly speechless.

Dilos's sharp eyes spotted the hidden "tall, rich, and handsome" youth named Clark Kent appearing at the school gate. He couldn't help but inwardly marvel at how fast the guy could move.

Clark's home was eight or nine kilometers away from the school; if he missed the bus, walking would take far too much time. Yet, this "young Superman" had managed to keep up with the bus using his own super speed.

That was right, he had kept up. Although others might not have noticed, Dilos had spotted unnatural movement in the tall cornfields beside the road while the bus was moving. That was what happened when an object rushed through the cornfield at high speed.

Dilos knew it was Clark, the survivor from Krypton. Although he was still a fifteen-year-old teenager whose powers were weak and incomplete, his current strength was already enough to crush Dilos dozens of times over.