Chapter 283: A Little Numerical Shock for Metropolis

After reading the first two paragraphs of the letter, Ma Ma Zhaodi already understood who had written it to him.

He involuntarily curled his lips; receiving a letter from an old friend after a long separation was truly a wonderful thing. In fact, he thought of this friend from time to time; going out for so long without a single word was indeed somewhat worrying.

And when he saw the line "Metropolis is now crazier than Gotham," he immediately widened his eyes.

"Holy crap, is there a problem with Metropolis and Superman in this universe?"

Countless image fragments flashed through his mind: the Man of Steel who slaughtered his way through the Injustice League, the Supreme Superman who went mad and frenzied after his dreams shattered, the steel-and-bone Mechanical Superman Hank Henshaw, and the pale-skinned clone zombie Superman Bizarro.

There are many versions of the mad Superman, but their only common trait is pure strength and stats, along with terrifying combat records of slaughtering everywhere. In other words, there is no negotiating, and one must fight for one's life, yet victory is still not guaranteed.

"Don't mess with me..."

Ma Ma Zhaodi's heart rate and blood pressure spiked rapidly at this moment; his vision went slightly black. After covering his head and calming down for a few seconds, he continued reading the letter.

"Back when we were in Gotham, we heard news reports that an alien had appeared in Metropolis, and it sounded like he was a hero, so Camilla and I didn't dislike him. We thought that after moving back to Metropolis, having a powerful superhero to protect us would be very reassuring."

"But we were wrong. After Superman appeared, Metropolis became very strange. We could see all sorts of inexplicable superpowered individuals flying around the city with him every day, fighting and demolishing buildings at the same time."

"There was also a rich madman named Lex Luthor, who kept shouting about the Superman threat theory, but that bald guy looked exactly like the rich villains in Gotham, so I simply didn't believe him."

"Until three days ago, Superman went completely mad and almost demolished every skyscraper in the entire city. Damn it, can you imagine a person firing lasers from his eyes? Buildings in a whole area slid down from high up like butter cut by a hot knife with a 'slish' sound, and the crash when they hit the ground made us think an earthquake had occurred."

We couldn't hold back anymore; we moved to another city with a reputation for safety, Central City."

"We don't know if you are still in Gotham City, still in that small rental room, so we wrote this letter and sent it to the landlord, hoping it will eventually reach your hands."

"Friend, if you are coming to see us, do not come to Metropolis, do not come to Metropolis, do not come to Metropolis! We are heading to Central City right now!"

"Missed by your old friend — Drake Lane, and Camilla."

Ma Ma Zhaodi, with a dazed expression, held the letter paper and walked step by step back into the small house; he examined the words on the paper repeatedly, confirming he hadn't misread them.

"It's over, it's all over." He murmured blankly: "Superman really went mad — which timeline is the Superman in my world from?"

"It's been three days, and Metropolis hasn't been destroyed yet? Why hasn't Batman gone out to handle things? What about Luthor? Luthor, save us! If Superman turns bad, shouldn't you turn good?"

After a brief moment of despair, Ma Ma Zhaodi's gaze refocused; he suddenly thought of a logical loophole.

"This is a letter Drake sent to me, and it was even handed over by someone else; in other words, Batman must have been the first to read it."

"Since Batman hasn't made a move today, that means, in his view, this matter has already been resolved, or simply doesn't need worrying about."

Having figured this out, hope reignited in Ma Ma Zhaodi's heart; he immediately sat at the desk, turned on the computer, and searched for news about Metropolis over these three days — sure enough, two messages popped up consecutively on the search page.

"Metropolis Suffers Shocking Change! Superman Reveals His True Face?"

"A City Plagued by Calamities — An Inexplicable Terror Storm"

The publication time of the first news article was exactly three days ago, while the second was published yesterday. As for Drake's letter, it was also written yesterday.

"Two disasters in three days," Ma Ma Zhaodi's lips twitched slightly: "Life in Metropolis is indeed fast-paced."

He clicked into the first news article, which even included a video, appearing to be the news report from that day.

"Viewers, autumn has arrived in Metropolis."

The blonde female host holding the microphone spoke to the camera, a smile on her face: "I am news reporter Carol Samuels, and in today's program, I will take you to see the beautiful scenery of this great city."

"A city famous around the world; you may have heard songs about Metropolis, or stories about Metropolis. In any case, I once believed that Metropolis, this city, is more bustling than ten cities combined — therefore, I will be very honored to introduce it to you, my hometown Metropolis."

"Look at these bustling streets, look at the people here." She introduced with a touch of pride: "The residents of Metropolis are the friendliest people in the world; they will lend a hand to any tourists from out of town. They live here with ideals, grounded, carrying the unique Metropolis attitude of remaining calm in both prosperity and adversity —"

"Holy crap! What is that thing!"

A cry of shock came from beside them; then, the camera lens immediately whipped around, sweeping past the blonde reporter's stunned face, and then pointed at the sky.

"Look, in the sky!"

"Is that a bird?"

"No, it's an airplane!"

"No," the female reporter murmured to herself, her voice trembling slightly with fear: "That is — Superman!"

Boom!

The lens suddenly began to shake violently; as the red-and-blue figure flew over the city, skyscraper after skyscraper collapsed with a thunderous crash.

"Oh my god!" Camilla, in front of the TV, screamed out: "Drake! Come look! Superman has gone mad!"

"What?!"

Drake jogged into the living room: "Has he finally gone mad? Oh my god, he was already very destructive when fighting criminals usually; he's demolished half the houses in Metropolis one after another. If he unleashes his full power now..."

Boom!

Before he could finish speaking, the ground began to tremble slightly, causing his body to sway a bit; then, a huge sound rang out from outside the window.

"God, I shouldn't have lived so close to the city center."

Camilla watched the images on the TV with a trembling heart, listening to the huge noises outside the window, feeling the change in this city once again.

She looked at the Man of Steel flying through the sky and diving underground on the TV with a face as pale as earth; at this very moment, his divine power seemed to have lost control.

On the TV, the screams of the citizens overlapped in a cacophony.

"What on earth is he doing!"

"He smashed through all the buildings!"

"He's mad! Superman is mad!"

PS: Lately, I've been stuck on which work to choose next, so I can only update once tonight. I need some time to prepare for the next dungeon tomorrow, so I'm taking a day off. Friends, sorry.

(End of Chapter)