Impossible! Absolutely Impossible!

Lu Heng stepped over three corpses and headed deeper into the facility.

"Stay here and wait."

"W-wait a second!" Cate took two steps after him. "Farid is still down there. His ability is geological manipulation; the entire bunker is his weapon..."

"Don't forget that I'm the one who brought you here on this mission. I've known the enemy's background inside and out from the start."

"Then why are you going down there alone?"

Lu Heng glanced back at her, his expression clearly saying, Are you kidding me?

"Just stay here and wait. Daddy is going down to take care of some business; I'll be back to pick you up in a bit."

With that, he kicked off the ground and plummeted into the depths.

His figure vanished into the darkness in an instant.

Cate and Jordan stood where they were.

"He seems to think we're a bit of a nuisance," Cate remarked.

It was their first day on the job, and they had already made a massive mess for their boss.

"We really are a bit weak," Jordan said, leaning against the wall and clutching his abdomen.

Even with his male form's strength of several tons, his punches had felt like tickling that bald guy, yet the Guardian had tossed the man into space in a heartbeat.

"The gap is just..." Jordan closed his eyes.

Cate shook her head. "Don't think about it. You'll get depressed if you dwell on it."

One hundred and fifty meters underground.

Lu Heng pierced through several layers of rock and arrived at the deepest part of the sanctuary.

He stood beneath a massive domed space, thirty meters high and at least several hundred meters wide, resembling a natural underground cathedral.

The surrounding rock walls were smooth as mirrors, covered in the marks of the superhuman's handiwork.

In the center of the space, a man stood waiting.

Behind him, a towering statue loomed, one hand supporting the heavens and the other held across his chest.

Farid, forty-one years old, wore a mustard-yellow robe, his face etched with the wear and tear of a life of hardship.

Beneath his feet, the ground rippled slightly; upon closer inspection, it appeared his feet were hovering just above the gravel, not actually touching the surface.

"Are you with Vought?"

Farid stood with his hands behind his back, radiating an air of self-importance.

He was quite the dramatic one.

"Twenty years," Farid said, his voice thick with a heavy accent.

"Farid, alias Sandstorm, a superhuman from '03. Your ability is geological manipulation. Come to think of it, you're an old-timer," Lu Heng said. "Since no one was bothering you, why did you suddenly pop up and make everyone's life miserable?"

"For justice," Farid replied.

Lu Heng pulled several photos from his pocket and tossed them onto the ground. They were all civilians who had been caught in the crossfire.

"Is this your justice? Which country's justice involves slaughtering civilians and committing terrorist attacks?"

"For the sake of an ideal, these are necessary sacrifices," Farid said. "In the world created by Allah, they have escaped the sea of suffering and will live on in happiness."

"Guardian, I know you. You are the hero who symbolizes the justice of America. You should know that sometimes, for the sake of justice, we must abandon certain things."

Lu Heng tilted his head.

Times had certainly changed; even terrorists were trying to talk to him about justice.

Wait, no—he wasn't in the position of the Rabbit right now; he was guest-starring as the Eagle.

"Let's skip the grandstanding. I have to take your head back to finish the job. By the way, could you fix your sewage system next time? The stench has quite a layered complexity to it." Lu Heng brushed the dust off his clothes.

In reality, there was no dust; his bio-force field repelled it, but the smell was truly unbearable.

"Then you should also know that on my turf, no one can defeat me."

Farid raised a hand.

The entire domed space began to tremble.

The surrounding rock walls, the floor, and the ceiling—all the stone came to life at once.

Countless stone spikes erupted from every direction, dense and jagged, like the maw of a giant beast opening its teeth.

Every single spike was aimed directly at Lu Heng.

"Over the past twenty years," Farid's voice echoed from everywhere, as if the rock walls themselves were speaking.

"The American military has come three times. Each time, it was special forces supported by air power."

"They all died."

"How much better than them do you think you are, all by yourself?"

Lu Heng counted the spikes on the walls; there were roughly several thousand, each as thick as an arm with tips as sharp as spears.

If they were all fired at once, any living creature in this space would be instantly shredded into a sieve.

Clap, clap, clap!

"Impressive, truly spectacular. You remind me of a comic book character—have you ever read One Piece?" Lu Heng exclaimed with genuine admiration.

He truly hadn't expected to encounter someone in reality with abilities like Crocodile, manipulating sand; such a power would surely be rated at least Level 4 at the X-Mansion.

Farid did not hesitate, thrusting both hands forward as thousands of rock spikes launched simultaneously.

The speed was too fast for anyone to react.

Combined with the fact that they were coming from all directions, every angle was sealed off; not even a fly could escape.

He knew the person before him was troublesome. Being able to take out three of his superhuman subordinates in under a minute meant his strength was already in the top tier, even by Vought standards.

But he had mobilized the rock strata of the entire underground city, turning everything within a five-hundred-meter radius into a weapon.

He couldn't lose!

Vought Tower.

On the live broadcast, the cameraman's lens was aimed at the two-hundred-meter-wide crater.

Muffled, thunder-like vibrations rumbled from beneath the ground.

The entire desert was trembling slightly.

"Ladies and gentlemen! It seems a fierce battle is taking place underground!"

The reporter had regained his composure.

"The Guardian has gone deep underground to engage the terrorist Farid! We can feel the vibrations beneath our feet..."

The pilot cooperated by shaking the helicopter violently.

"...Extremely intense vibrations! This indicates that the scale of the battle is beyond imagination!"

Edgar watched the screen, his expression blank.

Lu Heng's strength exceeded his expectations. He had originally thought he was merely on par with Homelander, but now, he feared that even Homelander...

Homelander was only thinking about how much his popularity would skyrocket if he were the one in that position.

One hundred and fifty meters underground.

Thousands of rock spikes slammed into Lu Heng from all directions.

The corners of Farid's mouth curled upward.

This should turn you into a bloody mist, shouldn't it?

Lu Heng stood motionless, even letting out a yawn.

I'm craving Zha Jiang Mian for dinner tonight. I wonder if anywhere in America sells it; the spaghetti here is just too awful.

He thought to himself.

Those spikes struck his body and shattered completely, just like thin chocolate sticks.

Every rock spike that made contact with Lu Heng's body failed to even touch his flesh; they simply disintegrated upon hitting the force field on his surface.

The true strength of a Viltrumite lay in their physical body.

Yet, here was a man who couldn't even tear his clothes, claiming he was going to kill him.

What a delusional, arrogant man!

Can anyone relate to this?!

The spikes turned into powder and fell with a rustling sound.

Farid's expression shifted from calm to shock, and then from shock to disbelief—a complete pie chart of emotions.

"No... impossible..."