Chapter 288: Fighting Poison with Poison

PS: The next update will be a bit later; sorry about that.

Ma Ma Zhaodi wasn't quite sure who the Stranger was, but the guy looked like someone from the magic side—perhaps he could ask Constantine about it next time they met.

In any case, the mysterious man in the blue trench coat charged straight into the storm, while Superman struggled hard to fight against this magical tempest.

Although he couldn't lose, he certainly couldn't win either; the Storm Giant expanded little by little until it grew to an absurdly massive size, and it was predictable that if the Stranger didn't defeat the giant soon, the entire Metropolis would be crushed under one of its footsteps.

Superman tried every trick in the book, and finally, driven to desperation, he even charged up and punched the ground with all his might.

"Boom!"

Devastating power sliced horizontally through the earth, sending soil and gravel from the surface flying into the sky; in merely one second, a trench over a kilometer long and several meters deep appeared in Metropolis's outskirts, exposing the solid rock layer beneath to become an obstacle blocking the storm's advance.

"I hope the Stranger is fast enough."

Superman still needed to pray and wait, but Ma Ma Zhaodi could simply drag the progress bar; he casually pulled it forward to three minutes later—if the Stranger hadn't resolved things by then, Metropolis would pretty much be shattered anyway.

Sure enough, by this time the giant had halted above the edge of Metropolis and begun to collapse and disintegrate—though Ma Ma Zhaodi figured that even if it just collapsed directly, its current size would be enough to cause a terrifying earthquake in Metropolis.

So next came the classic Superman moment.

Through the lens of a dedicated photographer, Superman flew upward, shouldering a huge mass of earth and rock nearly the size of a village, rapidly ascended into the sky, and kept climbing higher until he completely vanished from sight.

"He probably intends to throw this thing straight into outer space," Ma Ma Zhaodi thought; "but considering he's Superman, that actually makes perfect sense."

The video ended right there; he turned off the news report and couldn't help but sigh.

"Metropolis truly lives up to its reputation; the incidents may not be frequent, but their quality is high, and the bosses all love to gang up for relay battles."

Although he could only observe Metropolis's several incidents from an outsider's perspective via video, Ma Ma Zhaodi truly had no desire to learn any more details; in fact, he had already decided to temporarily avoid the city of Metropolis.

"I originally thought that with Superman there, it would definitely be safe enough to go work there," Ma Ma Zhaodi exhaled deeply as if surviving a disaster; "luckily I didn't go."

Drake had included his new phone number in the letter; after finishing gossiping, Ma Ma Zhaodi picked up his phone, intending to comfort his unlucky old friend, but just as he dialed the number, his eyes suddenly caught a headline on today's Daily Planet homepage—one address stood out conspicuously.

"Hm? News from Central City?"

Something was off; very much off.

An ominous premonition surged in Ma Ma Zhaodi's heart.

"Drake couldn't possibly be that damn unlucky, could he..."

He clicked on the Central City news item, and a large headline immediately jumped into view.

"Fiery Light and Thunderous Roar Appear in Central City: Where Did the Explosion Illusion Come From?"

At that moment, the phone beside his ear emitted a "beep-beep" alert tone.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is out of service area."

Ma Ma Zhaodi's vision went black.

By the time Ma Ma Zhaodi boarded the train heading to Central City, it was already afternoon.

Flipping through news reports on his phone, he couldn't help but sigh; although nothing much was happening in Gotham right now, it was at least peaceful, not to mention he had just died once, his vacation had only lasted seven or eight days, and now he had to rush to Central City to find Drake and his family.

The reports described the situation in considerable detail: basically, strange phenomena had appeared in Central City late last night, with towering flames and a terrifying roar emanating from the location of the particle accelerator, a scene as horrifying as if a small nuclear bomb had exploded.

Many people witnessed the event from different corners of the city; some guessed that someone had secretly activated this decommissioned machine and blown it up, while others speculated that certain forces or organizations had actually thrown a super-bomb at the particle accelerator, intending to destroy certain strategic research inside S. T. A. R. Labs; opinions varied widely, but the basic consensus was that such an explosion indeed occurred that night.

However, according to the next day's investigations and reports, that enormous firelight and sound seemed like nothing more than a dream for Central City; the particle accelerator had not exploded, no surrounding buildings were damaged, no personnel were injured or killed, and no tremors or shockwaves were produced at the time of the incident.

In fact, according to extensive police investigations and interviews, the huge firelight and sound that people saw last night lasted only a few short seconds before vanishing without a trace.

With the investigation reaching this point, if not for people seeing the same firelight and if not for some surveillance footage indeed recording the strange scenes from that night, this incident could even be explained as mass hallucinations caused by citizens' collective dreams.

But even though it could be confirmed that what happened that night was not a dream, Central City could do little more about it; internal staff at S. T. A. R. Labs were helpless against this nearly traceless phenomenon, and without any explosion-related samples, there was no way to research or analyze it, so newspapers only gave it a small column, treating it merely as fodder for after-dinner conversation.

But Ma Ma Zhaodi could be certain that the loss of contact with Mr. and Mrs. Drake was definitely related to the situation reported in the news.

Because as soon as he finished reading the Central City news, the system triggered a mission.

【Ding】

【You have a new odd job available; please check and accept】

【Fighting Poison with Poison】

Mission Introduction: As the saying goes, no child cries every day, and no gambler loses every day.

Before moving to Central City, Mr. and Mrs. Drake believed that a person might encounter bad luck once, and there was a small chance of encountering it twice in a row, but experiencing bad luck three times consecutively was something that could only happen in novels or movies; barring unexpected events, this move to Central City would basically become the starting point of their happy second half of life.

Note: Facts proved that Mr. and Mrs. Drake were mistaken; besides novels and movies, the world of comics never lacks consecutive coincidences; therefore, after arriving in Central City, the couple, unsurprisingly, encountered an accident.

But then again, sending a jinx to save two unlucky souls—doesn't that itself count as fighting poison with poison?

Status: Pending completion (0%)

Reward: Intermediate Energy Affinity (increases mana capacity and additionally grants affinity with seven types of anti-crisis energy)】

Ma Ma Zhaodi raised an eyebrow; the price of Intermediate Energy Affinity was one million dollars in asset points, while the mission requirement was merely to retrieve Mr. and Mrs. Drake.

If the system wasn't suddenly starting to give things away for free, then there must be something wrong with this mission itself.

(End of Chapter)