Go See DC's God Among Men

At nine that evening, in a high-end apartment in Chiba Prefecture.

Bang! The apartment door was slammed shut in extreme disarray, then locked from within.

Lin Xiao leaned against the door, gasping for breath.

His formerly crisp Sobu High School uniform was now wrinkled beyond recognition, and his collar still bore creases where golden twin tails had strangled it.

"I survived..."

Even as a dignified Light Giant, recalling how Eriri had physically choked him at the barbecue restaurant—and how he had then faced Utaha Kasumigaoka's exceptionally "kind" interrogation—still sent a lingering chill through Lin Xiao.

That had been a hundred times more difficult to deal with than the cosmic battle beast Gobu!

Dragging his exhausted body over, Lin Xiao threw himself onto the sofa, ready to rest for a while.

[ Ding! Group member "Dark Knight of Gotham" mentioned group owner "He Is Simply God"! ]

With a thought, Lin Xiao opened the virtual interface of the Myriad Worlds Chat Group.

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "@He Is Simply God, Lin Xiao, are you free right now? If you're busy saving the world, then forget it."

[He Is Simply God]: "I'm free! Extremely free! Did something happen in Gotham City? Hurry up and let me come over! I'd rather fight Darkseid one-on-one right now than stay in this world for one more second!"

Faced with the group owner's desperate message, as though a vicious ghost were chasing him from behind, Naruto from Konoha and Shirou from Fuyuki City both popped up at once.

[The Underdog Who Wants to Be Hokage]: "Huh? Did Brother Lin Xiao encounter an enemy he can't defeat?! It actually forced you into this state!"

[The Boy Who Wants to Be a Hero]: "Even Mr. Lin Xiao is fleeing in panic..."

Inside the Batcave in Gotham City, Bruce Wayne looked at the screen. Since the group owner was free, the ultimate operation he had planned for two days now had a one-hundred-percent margin for error.

Beyond that, however, he also harbored a private motive.

This warrior of light, whose combat strength defied all measure, had always made him wary. This natural disaster was both an opportunity to save lives and the best chance to test Lin Xiao's true nature and bottom line.

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "Nothing happened in Gotham City, but something happened in Kansas."

Along with that message, Bruce uploaded an ultra-high-definition weather cloud map, captured in real time by a military satellite in space.

On the cloud map, an enormous super tornado system, suffocatingly vast in scale, was gathering above the plains of Kansas in the United States with terrifying violence.

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "According to the meteorological satellite's projections, as well as the DC Universe memory copy you uploaded, an unprecedented F5 tornado will soon sweep across the highway outside Smallville."

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "The farmer named Jonathan Kent—the adoptive father of that Kryptonian boy—is about to die in this storm while trying to save a dog."

Seeing Batman's message, Lin Xiao immediately lost his earlier disheveled expression, his gaze turning serious.

The death of Superman's adoptive father was the most heartbreaking tragedy in Man of Steel, and the crucial turning point that shaped Clark Kent's restrained personality.

Back then, to keep his son from exposing his powers, that father had forcefully raised a hand at his son in the storm, stopping him from coming to save him, before ultimately being swallowed by the tornado.

[He Is Simply God]: "So after watching the copy, your final decision was to save him?"

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "That's right. According to my tactical projections, if his father survives, his humanity will always have its strongest anchor. Therefore, I must reverse this death."

At this point, Bruce's words revealed an exceptionally rare trace of helplessness belonging to an ordinary man.

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "But Lin Xiao, I am only human in the end."

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "Although I spent the night modifying a Batwing capable of enduring extreme storms, in the face of a natural disaster, I cannot guarantee absolute safety."

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "More importantly... that farm boy's current mental state is extremely sensitive. If I cause him to misunderstand while saving his father, or if my sudden appearance makes him feel hostile..."

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "With my current combat reserves, before I have developed a Kryptonite Weapon, all he has to do is breathe on me or glare at me, and I'll be melted into molten iron along with the Batwing."

[Dark Knight of Gotham]: "So I need you. You are the only—and most perfect—trump card against him turning evil in this operation."

"..." Lin Xiao instantly understood what he meant.

As expected of you, Batman! You made it sound nice, saying you were inviting me to save someone with you, but put bluntly, weren't you asking me to be a meat shield—and your "Anti-Superman Noble Phantasm"—for you?!

If Superman really lost his temper, this old bastard would definitely hide behind me and watch Superman and me beat each other up!

Still, Lin Xiao himself was very interested in saving Superman's adoptive father. Besides, how could he miss the chance to witness the first historic meeting between the DC Universe's two great titans?

[He Is Simply God]: "Fine, I understand. Put simply, you want me to be your bodyguard, right?"

[He Is Simply God]: "Send me the coordinates. It's time to see that DC 'God among men' for myself."

Inside the Batcave, Bruce Wayne saw Lin Xiao's agreement, and the heart that had been suspended for two days finally settled completely.

"Alfred, activate the Nightwalker Three Aircraft. Set the engine output to maximum. Destination: Kansas!"

Bruce abruptly rose to his feet, grabbed the Batman cowl from the table, and strode toward the launch platform deep within the Batcave.

Inside the apartment in Chiba Prefecture.

Lin Xiao stood up, rolled his neck, and a glint of excitement flashed in his eyes.

"System, lock onto the coordinates sent by target group member 'Dark Knight of Gotham'! Activate cross-world teleportation!"

[ Ding! Locking onto coordinates: DC Universe · Earth · Kansas... ]

[Cross-world teleportation fee deducted: 1000 points!][Teleportation channel opened!]

Buzz—! A stream of light imperceptible to ordinary people instantly enveloped Lin Xiao, and his figure completely vanished from the apartment.

At the same time, on a highway outside Smallville, Kansas, United States, in the DC Universe.

The gale howled, while piercing air-raid sirens echoed across the entire highway.

"Quick! Get under the overpass! Don't stay in your cars!" Jonathan Kent shouted himself hoarse into the wind, directing the civilians trapped in the traffic jam to retreat beneath the interchange.

On the distant horizon, a horrifying black tornado over hundreds of meters in diameter, reaching from heaven to earth, was barreling toward them like a prehistoric beast devouring everything in its path!

Among the crowd, the tall and burly Clark Kent supported his mother Martha as he anxiously shouted, "Dad! Get over here! The storm is almost here!"

"I'll be right there! You two go first!" Jonathan turned, preparing to rush toward the overpass. But just then, he spotted Hank, the family pet dog, trapped inside a sedan that was swaying dangerously in the wind, barking frantically.

Without the slightest hesitation, the exceptionally kind old father turned around and staggered toward the car against the raging gale.

"Dad!!!" Clark's eyes nearly split apart as he instinctively prepared to rush out.

"No! Clark! Stop!!!" Jonathan yanked open the car door and pulled the dog out, but his own leg became trapped beneath the door.

The black tornado, like the Grim Reaper itself, was already less than a hundred meters away.

Jonathan looked at his son, who was about to use his powers and rush over. He shook his head with absolute determination, then raised a hand in a gesture of refusal.

He couldn't expose himself. This world was not yet ready to accept an alien with the power of a God.

He could not let his son spend the rest of his life under suspicion, fear, and isolation.

Seeing the determined look in his father's eyes amid the gale, and the hand raised to stop him, tears burst from Clark Kent's eyes.

He possessed the power to charge into the storm in an instant. He possessed a Man of Steel body capable of enduring the tornado's tearing force.

But he could only bite down on his lip like an ordinary person, watching in agony as his beloved father was about to be swallowed by the abyss of death.

The violent hurricane had already hurled the cars around Jonathan into the air. Jonathan closed his eyes in despair.

Yet! Just as this epic tragedy of life and death was about to reach its end.

Rumble—!!!!!

From the edge of the sky came an incredibly violent engine roar, completely drowning out the tornado's howl!

A pitch-black supersonic aircraft, shaped like a gigantic bat, tore straight through the edge of the storm and dove down with unstoppable momentum!

Bang! The aircraft hatch opened in midair. A man clad in heavy black armor, gripping a high-strength carbon-fiber rope, leaped directly from the cabin into the gale!

And above the Batwing, a brilliantly crimson pillar of light—so dazzling that it tore open the oppressive black clouds—suddenly crashed down from space!

"That is..." Clark Kent abruptly raised his head, and his eyes, capable of seeing through all things, narrowed to their limit.

Within the descending crimson aurora, he saw... an "Earthling?"

The miracle of Earth, and Gotham's Dark Knight, descended at the same moment!