Lois Lane

Lois Lane

Fire soared into the sky.

The massive amount of gunpowder exploded, making the ground rumble.

In an instant, the air filled with the pungent stench of saltpeter and gunpowder. Even the slightest twitch of the nose brought tears from the choking, burning irritation.

The humanoid Cricket flying overhead was hit hardest by the violent blast wave, sent tumbling far through the air.

The explosion was like an ancient god stomping down upon the earth. When the gunpowder smoke and dust cleared, only a vast abyssal crater remained.

The enormous blast had punched through two nearby underground rail lines, digging up a corner of the city hidden beneath the earth and laying it bare before them.

The woman with snow-white wings, the leopardess-like woman, and the female warriors clad in heavy armor had all been charred black and collapsed within the pit, impossible to distinguish from one another.

The sight made the fleeing resistance fighters breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"Where's Penny Black?"

The resistance leader, Trickster, asked Li Zu, "They only sent you?"

Though the man in the green suit behaved strangely, his abilities could not be underestimated. That explosion had just resolved their crisis.

Li Zu slowly walked forward. Blood dripped from the tip of his nose, and his legs shook, but that did not stop him from descending into the crater.

Under the resistance fighters' watchful eyes, he crouched before the winged woman and gently stroked her forehead, his voice tender. "Sweet dreams~"

"What a gentle man."

The blonde woman whose hair floated through the air as though alive sighed in admiration. Yet the next moment, the peculiar emotion vanished from her face, replaced by twitching features and fear.

Under Li Zu's palm, the dying Hawkgirl became a toy!

A toy no larger than a pinky finger.

A question arose in everyone's hearts.

If living people could be turned into toys, were their souls freed once they became toys? Or would they be sealed within them forever?

The wooden box that had appeared from nowhere was like the bizarre treasure of an old god from legend. Whatever it contained would surely drive people mad. In truth, merely witnessing Li Zu turn a person into a toy was enough to inflict a tremendous shock upon their minds.

"How terrifying~" Monster Hyde said in a muffled voice, patting his thick chest.

The others nodded.

No one wanted to be turned into a fragile plastic toy forever.

"We should withdraw first!"

As the leader, Trickster said, "Before even greater danger appears, those crazy Amazonian women definitely won't stop pursuing us."

When facing Amazonians and Atlanteans, even the most terrifying power could become an asset to them.

Humans were far too fragile before Atlantis and the Amazonians.

"Hey!" Trickster waved at Li Zu in the crater. "We're preparing to retreat now! Let's go!"

"We have a mole feeding our enemies information. It's too dangerous to keep moving now!"

Li Zu stood up. This time, he did not continue acting on his own. Instead, he broke into a run and sprinted all the way to the front of the group.

"He really is a strange guy!"

Cricket beat the wings on his back and followed close behind Li Zu.

The others exchanged looks, shrugged, and followed after them.

It was time to retreat.

The resistance moved through London.

To avoid running into troublesome Amazonians, they still traveled through underground passages.

The subway tunnels leading who knew where, bats clinging to the darkest corners overhead, and the dull thud of footsteps all blended together, making the place seem eerie from every direction.

It felt as though ambushers could leap out from any corner.

This was a desperate escape route. None of them spoke to one another... and that silence had created such a strange atmosphere only because Trickster had tried to speak with Li Zu and been rebuffed.

Li Zu clearly had no intention of showing the resistance leader any respect. His mind seemed to be occupied with something else, and he kept drifting off.

No one knew how long it had been.

Li Zu went from running at the front to falling to the back, then farther and farther behind the others—nearly fifty meters, sixty meters, seventy meters...

Light shone ahead, guiding them as they ran to the end.

"We finally made it out!"

Monster Hyde let out a long breath. Escaping the Amazonians' layers of encirclement had not been easy.

"Wait, I think we're missing someone." Cricket flew high overhead and looked down at them. "Where's that weird guy in the green suit?"

"Did he get left behind?"

"Cough, cough~"

Li Zu waved a hand before his face in distaste.

Only after leaving the underground railway and entering the sewers did he truly reach a blind spot in the Amazonians' surveillance. Those brutes, so strong they hardly seemed like women, still had a woman's particular aversion to filth.

"Help, help..."

A voice came from deep within the sewers.

A bedraggled woman, her lower body submerged in filthy water, stretched a hand toward Li Zu and begged for help.

Li Zu did not hesitate to offer assistance. He walked over and helped the woman up.

"I'm Lois Lane. Are you with the resistance?" She looked at the ribbon on Li Zu's arm.

"That's what the group I'm with calls themselves~" Li Zu opened his eyes wide, pinched his chin, and examined the woman before him as though she were an interesting toy.

Lois shifted uncomfortably.

Her entire body was soaked in sewage, her underwear clinging tightly to her skin. The eyes of the man in green seemed able to see through her clothes.

The feeling made her deeply uncomfortable.

"That's great. Before today, I was at a training camp in Britain. Cyborg was responsible for contacting me, but he hasn't contacted me in weeks." Lois forced herself to keep her spirits up. "Before we lost contact, he told me I could find the resistance if I was in danger. I brought information from the training camp!"

Lois Lane pulled out a device from her person. It looked like some sort of high-tech data storage device, complete with a holographic projector.

"This information will definitely be useful. Avenger Goddess is hunting me down. She'll soon eliminate every possible escape route and find this place!"

After saying that, she opened her eyes wide and waited quietly for Li Zu's response.

Li Zu showed no interest in the information.

"Not soon. They're already here~" Li Zu pointed behind Lois.

Splash~

Footsteps sounded through the filthy water behind them.

More than a dozen armored women moved through the sewage, slowly approaching.

They finally stopped over ten meters away.

"There's actually a man here?" The leader was likely the "Avenger Goddess" Lois Lane had mentioned. She looked at Li Zu with disdain.

Amazonian matriarchal society made them look down on men.

"It's over..."

Lois was overcome with despair.

She even spotted several "friends" she had once known among the group. She had not expected them to take part in this pursuit.

Or perhaps they were the reason she had been caught in the first place.

This chase had ended before it even began.

Facing the dozen fully armed women before him, Li Zu calmly pulled that plastic meat saw from his pocket.

With a light flick, the plastic meat saw transformed into steel.

Its heavy weight pulled his body slightly to one side.

"Will you scream?" he asked Lois.

(End of Chapter)