"Clatter."
John casually let go, tossing the charred, dead Hector onto the nearby rotten ground.
"Casual..."
Speechless, John dusted off the soot from his hands, looked Lois up and down, and then said sarcastically:
"But you, the great journalist... weren't you going back to the Metropolis to publish your front-page feature?"
"How did you end up being tied up and brought here by these soldiers?"
It would have been better if we hadn't brought this up.
Lois would explode at the mere mention of it.
She glared resentfully at the man before her, and said through gritted teeth:
"How dare you ask that?!"
Lois pointed to the bluish-purple welts on her wrists from the handcuffs:
"Isn't it all your fault for forcing me to write that garbage report?!"
These investigators didn't even have a warrant; they just shoved me into their car on the street!
I was locked in an interrogation room by these idiots and interrogated like a spy for a whole afternoon!
John shrugged, showing no sympathy whatsoever, and instead added insult to injury with a touch of malice:
"This isn't my fault... you big reporter."
"I was just reminding you... and as I mentioned before, it can be placed in the astrology section..."
"You insisted on writing it in your column yourself; isn't it reasonable that you'd be targeted?"
"You...!"
Lois was so angry she almost choked, her chest heaving violently.
He pointed at John for a long time without saying a word.
However, before she could vent her anger, John's face suddenly turned serious.
He turned his head slightly, his gaze passing over the abandoned railway bridge and looking at the boundary marker beside the highway, which had been blown in half.
"... They were lucky; they just happened to stop right next to this old bridge."
John stared at the boundary marker and said coldly:
"This is the border between Smallville and the neighboring town. What if this group drives all the way into Kansas..."
He paused, a dangerous glint flashing in his eyes:
"At that point... things would be difficult to handle."
Lois looked at John's serious profile and swallowed back the sarcastic remark that was on the tip of her tongue.
She knew John was absolutely capable of doing it.
With his invulnerability to blades and spears, and his speed so fast that he leaves afterimages.
A person whose eyes can shoot lasers like Metahuman in a science fiction movie.
They certainly have the right to speak.
Just then, a cold wind blew by, Lois involuntarily shivered.
She subconsciously touched the pocket of her trench coat, and her expression changed:
"Damn it... all my personal belongings and spare phone were taken by those special agents in the escort vehicle."
"They didn't seem to bring them either."
Thinking of this, she raised her head and looked at John with her big eyes:
"Hey, can I borrow your phone for a second?"
John glanced at her silently, saying nothing.
Then he pulled an old, black flip phone from inside his jacket and tossed it to her.
Lois caught the phone, quickly dialed an encrypted number from memory, and pressed the call button.
"Beep... beep..."
The phone rang only twice before being answered instantly.
Immediately, a strong, yet agitated and furious voice came through the receiver:
"I'm Ryan! Lois?! Is that you?!"
"Dad, it's me."
Lois took a deep breath.
" God, where are you?!"
On the other end of the phone, Lieutenant General Sam Ryan's voice echoed throughout the office.
Lois could even hear the adjutant's hurried footsteps in the background.
"Those mad dogs from the Bureau of Extranormal Affairs overstepped their authority and locked down your apartment first thing this morning..."
I just received emergency authorization from the Department of Department of Defense and am now heading to their headquarters with my guards.
I want to see what that bastard Walker is up to—"
"Dad, don't go to headquarters."
Lois glanced around at the wreckage and scorched earth scattered everywhere.
And those special operations soldiers lying haphazardly in pools of blood, their fates unknown.
She helplessly held her forehead.
"I'm not there now... and almost all of their people are dead."
Sam was unusually silent on the other end of the phone.
It's worth noting that the Bureau of Extranormal Affairs last experienced such a large-scale casualty incident.
It was Constantine, that idiot who ruined his team, who caused the " Newcastle incident."
Lois waited a full half minute before his voice rang out again:
Where are you now?
"Under the abandoned Redstone Railroad Bridge on the Kansas state border highway."
Lois bit her chapped lips:
"Let the medical team and the recovery troops come over, but don't make too much of a commotion... the scene will be a mess."
"You stay where you are. I'll take a helicopter there myself. Wait for me for twenty minutes."
"Click."
The call ended.
Lois had grown up with her father's decisive and efficient manner, and she was not dissatisfied with his lack of consideration for her.
She gripped the flip phone, her fingers flying across the plastic buttons, skillfully creating a new contact in her phonebook.
Then I entered my personal number.
After doing all this, she casually handed the phone to John:
"My father is coming in person... The Black Hawk Rescue Team will seal off this airspace within twenty minutes."
The Pentagon's satellites will soon be pointing their cameras in this direction.
Lois raised her head and haughtily wiped her face:
"You can leave now."
"You can rest assured... I promised you I wouldn't reveal your true identity."
"Whether it's the Pentagon's investigation team or the congressional inquiry committee... I will not betray you."
John took the phone and casually swiped his finger across the buttons.
A newly created contact named " Lois Ryan " suddenly popped up on the screen.
He put his phone back in his pocket, tilted his head with interest, and sized up this woman who was so obsessed with saving face:
"He selflessly kept the secret for the mysterious person, even forgoing an exclusive Pulitzer headline..."
This isn't like you at all, big-time reporter.
Lois was taken aback by his retort, and turned her head away in annoyance and embarrassment.
"Damn it, take it or leave it! If you get caught by a satellite and die under a missile... don't blame me for not warning you!"
John chuckled softly and didn't reply.
missile?
... Only hydrogen bombs and nuclear bombs would work.
He then turned around and walked straight to Hector was lying paralyzed in the mud.
At this moment, Hector's emaciated body was still twitching weakly, and his chest was charred black.
Seemingly sensing something, John frowned and squatted down.
I was about to extend my index and middle fingers, but I pulled them back because I felt nauseous.
"Hmm... I'll use this one instead... Hopefully it'll work now."
Next second.
There was a "buzzing" sound.
A familiar green light suddenly appeared on John's fingertips.
Tiny streams of light flowed from the ring, quickly condensing into a long pair of tweezers.
"Oh... how come it's working again now? Intermittent sheep tail?"
Using his X-Ray Vision, John roughly inserted the tweezers into Hector's chest cavity.
Soon, a small clump of viscous, wriggling, dark yellow light was forcibly pulled out from it.
At that moment, the entire Green Lantern Ring suddenly began to tremble on its own.
As the host, John could clearly perceive...
Inside the ring, the tiny green shark was thrashing about, seemingly quite interested in the disgusting thing on the tweezers.
"Wait... this thing even comes with a virtual pet? Fine, take it."
John reluctantly hung the yellow blob above the ring.
Just as they were getting close...
The little shark inside the ring couldn't wait to leap up and transform into a slender wisp of green light.
Then he swallowed the dark yellow light in one gulp.
Then, after a few more flicks of its tail, it happily tucked back into the ring.
John looked down at the green pool.
Inside the little shark's translucent belly, there was a small, swaying yellow ball.
"Finally, I feel better... From now on, I'll call you Cornetto..."
John immediately stood up and kicked Hector's emaciated body to the side of the road.
"By the way, big reporter... these yellow things are poisonous; they reproduce specifically by feeding on fear."
John flicked his hand, turned his back to Lois, and said calmly:
"Once your support arrives, it would be best to find a lead box to completely isolate him."
Don't let anyone touch his body directly, especially his head.