Chapter 3542: Interstellar Speed (Part 2)

Helen was stunned, and H'el was stunned too.

But Helen sobered up faster. Taking advantage of H'el not having reacted yet, she flew toward the other side of the sun at the fastest speed and soon found Bruce, who was meeting her. The two turned to the other side of the sun together.

H'el still stood blankly in place, seemingly unable to believe what he had seen.

But just as he struggled to free his mind from his memories, reality struck him like a heavy hammer.

A figure flew out from Krypton.

H'el suffered another heavy blow.

His lips moved, and a syllable full of complex emotions was spat out, but it dissipated in the noise of the universe. Except for himself, no second person heard it.

"Father..."

Half an hour ago, two incomparably small figures stood in front of the massive machine. Clark took out the box he had found in his home.

"Oh my god, this is the Medal of Distinguished Science. I know Uncle Jor had one, so Aunt Lara had one too," Kara said, looking at the contents of the box.

"This is currency from Krypton," Kara said, picking up several coins nearby. "This side is printed with the amount. This is one dollar, this is five dollars. The other side is the emblem of the High Council. Doesn't look like much, right?"

"This thing... this is a portable storage device. But it doesn't look like a civilian version; it might be something Uncle Jor took back from the lab. He should have stored something inside."

"Let's take a look," Clark said.

He picked up the small storage device. Kara found a port on the operating panel on one side of the machine. She said, "Come here. Just put this thing in here."

Clark walked over and placed the storage device into the port. A blue light flashed, and a holographic projection popped up above the machine. Clark stood there in shock.

"Hi, little Kal. It makes me happy to be able to talk to you this way," the man in the holographic projection said with a smile. "Perhaps you don't know yet. I am your biological father, Jor-El. This is your mother, Lara."

Clark, of course, knew who they were; what surprised him was that the man in the holographic projection looked very much like him. The two were practically cut from the same mold.

"The letter you asked your companion to write was a bit short. You must still have many doubts, but that's okay; I can tell you now."

"The Kryptonians of the previous era knew that stellar radiation was always a big problem for them, whether it was being able to draw power from a star or dying from stellar weakness. Our evolutionary path has to take most of the blame; is the star entirely innocent?"

"For this reason, they never gave up on the dream of finding a perfect star. So the question is, what is the best way to move?"

"You might think that moving all the furniture onto a spaceship and taking it to a new home is simple enough. But no, Kal. They came up with a more convenient way—moving the house directly."

"As early as the Krypton era, the House of El had already developed a faster-than-light engine. This is the foundation for two generations of civilization to roam the sea of stars. However, there are differences in faster-than-light engines. The engines currently used on Kryptonian ships are only civilian versions; both energy consumption and propulsion are very average."

"To move your entire house, you naturally need an engine with greater output. Through the efforts of hundreds of generations of the House of El spanning two generations of civilization, we did it."

"The god Rao gave us a seed, we let it flourish, and finally it blossomed and bore fruit. What is in front of you now is a true planetary-level faster-than-light engine. It can directly allow the entire Krypton to jump."

"The key you got in my lab is used to start this big guy. For safety reasons, only the bloodline of the House of El can control the planetary engine."

"Come, my little Kal." Jor-El and Lara both laughed. El said in a rather spirited voice, "No time for sadness. You will be the operator and witness of this miraculous journey. Let's start a true interstellar speed run together!"

With a "zzzt," the holographic projection disappeared. Clark looked down at the key in his hand, the red liquid flowing slowly. Clark seemed to see Jor-El manufacturing the key with full concentration in front of the lab bench.

"I found it," Kara said, standing on the other side of the operating panel. "This seems to be the place to insert the key. However..."

Clark walked over. There was a cylindrical platform with a threaded keyhole that matched the key in his hand perfectly.

But Clark didn't rush to insert the key. He looked up and examined the surrounding environment again.

Opposite, he saw a door, so he walked over and, as if having a feeling, pushed the door open slowly.

A small office, with only a desk and a stool, plus a lamp overhead.

Clark walked in and saw a set of clothes neatly placed on the table, folded perfectly without a single wrinkle.

Kara followed him in, and when she saw the clothes, she suddenly thought of something.

"This is the dress uniform for the award ceremony," Kara said. "The Medal of Distinction is the highest honor every Kryptonian can receive. Your biological father was the youngest recipient of the Medal of Distinction. When he wore this suit, he should have been about your age."

Clark picked up the clothes gently.

He recognized this suit because in that family photo, Jor-El was wearing the dress uniform, standing tall and looking spirited.

"Perhaps you can wear it," Kara said with a smile. "There is no one left to award you, but you can award yourself."

Clark thought of the message Schiller had sent him not long ago, and then thought of his own face, which looked just like the young Jor-El.

This might be fate, but it was more like El had planned everything long ago—a pair of brothers, a new home, a new sun.

Clark went to change into the dress uniform. The suit looked a bit like a British military uniform on Earth, with a straight cut, clean shoulder lines, a stand-up collar that made one look spirited, and cuffs that carried a bit of a refined temperament.

"It suits you very well," Kara evaluated.

"Then let me award myself the Best Driver Award," Clark said with a smile as he walked toward the keyhole.

Placing the key in his hand slowly, as he pressed down at the end, a tiny needle above the nail pierced the skin of Clark's hand. Fresh blood flowed into the central heart, mixed with the red liquid, and emitted a faint light.

With a "click," the tail of the key touched the very bottom. A humming sound resonated along with the energy, and Clark's hair was blown backward.

"Come on—" Clark said, "Welcome to our new Mercury!"

In the vast and boundless universe, this long-silent, lifeless planet was like a seed buried deep in the soil, finally sprouting today, breaking through the soil joyfully and rushing toward another world.

The moment the planetary-level jump engine started, the planet left a red and blue shifted afterimage in place. Everything around was pulled by the change in gravity and began to tremble slightly.

There was no violent burning, no intense roar. When speed exceeds the speed of light, time is no longer a problem. In the universe, it arrives instantly, without even leaving a cloud behind.

This interstellar speed run ended the moment it began. The entire Krypton jumped directly to the solar system and stopped at the original position of Mercury.

Clark knew what he would face next, but he was fearless, slowly flying up from Krypton and floating opposite H'el.

The moment he saw him, H'el's pupils contracted to the extreme. His mind was shaken, and he could barely control himself.

Charles, who followed Helen, captured that fleeting flaw.

He seized this opportunity, and his brainwaves, like an arrow leaving the string, fiercely pierced into H'el's mental world.

"Argh!!!!!!!!!!!"

H'el let out an incomparably painful scream. Charles's brainwave was instantly erased, but H'el's brain finally stalled amidst long-term chaos and instantaneous violent fluctuations.

He fell slowly toward Krypton, and Clark caught him.

At this time, another figure appeared above Krypton. Martian Manhunter J'onn J'onzz arrived as planned, waved his hand at Clark, and said, "Quick, find a place to put him down!"

Clark carried the briefly unconscious H'el and landed on the surface of Krypton, landing on the roof of a building. Martian Manhunter came to his side.

He narrowed his eyes, concentrated, and began to read H'el's memories. Having lost his mental protection, H'el's super brain could not protect him against the power of a psychic like Martian Manhunter. Everything in his mental world was revealed.

J'onn's expression changed several times, first shock, disbelief, and anger, then relief, but then he frowned, and finally let out a long sigh.

"How is it?" Clark asked him.

"Our guess was right," J'onn said. "Someone told him that back then, General Zod, in order to take revenge on the Council, bribed a worker, tampered with the genes of all Kryptonians, and destroyed the Kryptonian civilization."

"He came to find Zod?"

"Yes, he found the identification signal of Zod's ship from back then and followed the signal all the way to the solar system."

"Who told him?"

"The other party claimed to be the artificial intelligence butler created by his father."

Martian Manhunter stood up slowly, walked to the edge of the building, looked around, then looked up at the sky, and slowly called out the name—"Brainiac."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 3543 =====