In the city of Metropolis, the Sun was rising from the west.
The blinding sunlight cut diagonally across the street, reflecting a cold White light off the glass display window of a jewelry store.
Inside the store, three individuals clad in exoskeleton combat suits were brandishing outrageously styled energy guns.
One of them stepped onto the counter, their voice projected through the combat suit’s external speakers, carrying a smug, metallic edge: “From now on, this city belongs to us!”The owner of the jewelry store was a gray-haired old man.
He looked at the dark, hollow muzzles of the guns, his hands trembling uncontrollably, yet he tried to maintain a final shred of composure in his tone: “What… what do you want? Do you know whose territory this is?”
“Hahaha! Whose territory?”
The leader seemed to have heard the greatest joke in existence; his shoulders heaved as he laughed even louder, the energy gun barrel shaking along with him, “Look closely, old man!”
He patted the heavy armor on his chest: “We aren’t the same small-time thugs who only rob pocket change anymore! Even if Ultraman came here, he would—”
He didn’t finish his sentence.
A searing red light descended from the sky without warning, quietly and precisely sweeping across.
His two brothers behind him, along with the combat suits they were so proud of, were instantly disintegrated and erased at the molecular level.
Only two small piles of ash glowing with embers remained on the ground.A gust of wind blew, and they scattered.The leader’s laughter caught in his throat, like a duck being throttled.
He could feel a terrifying heat hovering above his head; even through the combat suit helmet, it made his scalp tingle, as if his entire head would be roasted in the next second.
He raised his head, extremely stiffly, inch by inch.In the sky, there was nothing.Only a fleeting, newly retracted beam of Death red light.The jewelry store owner watched the dramatic turn of events before him and let out a long, heavy sigh.His tense body relaxed as he leaned against the counter behind him.
The fear that had originated from the depths of his heart slowly faded from his face, replaced by a complex expression that was hard to define as either awe or relief.Just then, on a public television screen hanging on the street outside the shop, a host was reporting the news in a passionate tone:
“…Let us thank Ultraman for his efficient governance! The crime rate in our Metropolis has been falling off a cliff for several consecutive years, and we are gradually catching up to our good neighbor, Gotham City. Experts predict that in the near future, Metropolis will surely become the safest city in the entire country!”
“Ultraman…” the owner whispered the name, his gaze involuntarily turning toward the window.
On the other side of the city, on the horizon, stood a building so massive it seemed unreal.
That U-shaped building, lying flat like a silent steel beast, overlooked the entire city.It was the absolute center of this city and the residence of its ruler Ultraman Building.
Inside the building.
In front of the massive floor-to-ceiling window stood a young man who looked to be about twenty years old.
He wore a red and blue skintight combat suit with a cold, angular “U” emblem on his chest.His eyes had just faded from a dangerous red glow, returning to a calm, deep-sea blue.Heat Vision was something that felt like an instinct to use.
Burning a few people to Death was no different to him than swatting a few buzzing mosquitoes.
“Another group of brainless idiots,” Ultraman muttered to himself, his tone devoid of any emotional fluctuation, “They get their hands on some scrap metal and think they can turn the World upside down… So fragile, yet they dare to come here and commit crimes. Was their brain caught in a door?”
He took one last glance at the matchbox-sized city beneath his feet, turned around, and walked into the interior.The room was large and very empty.
In the center, there was no office desk, no reception sofa, only a cold, massive throne cast from some kind of dark metal.
Ultraman walked forward step by step, sat down casually, rested his right elbow on the armrest, and supported his cheek with his palm.
He slowly closed his eyes.
He was Ultraman, the embodiment of fear in Metropolis, a God Among Men.But only he knew that inside this shell was an out-of-place soul from another World.
I am a transmigrator…
Transmigrated into the body of an infant—a Kryptonian Orphan named Kal-El…
Doesn’t that sound like the Superman experience most people are familiar with?
But in reality, he is not Superman, but rather a Earth-3 version of Superman, one of the more famous villains in DC comics.
His thoughts drifted uncontrollably back to many years ago…It was a Planet that was being destroyed; the sky was full of eerie red light, the ground was cracking, and screams rose one after another.
A couple, dressed in luxurious clothing that looked completely out of place in this chaotic scene, were holding hideous-looking energy weapons, mercilessly shooting down every compatriot who tried to approach their spaceship.The man’s eyes held only fanaticism and ferocity.
He held an infant and roughly shoved him into the spaceship’s escape pod.”Remember, Kal-El!” The man’s face was twisted in the Firelight.
He didn’t look into the infant’s eyes, but stared fixedly at the spaceship’s settings panel, as if he were configuring the factory parameters of a weapon.”Become the strongest!
Otherwise, you are a worthless piece of trash!
You are not worthy of being a descendant of my El family!”
He slapped the escape pod hard, making a “thud, thud” sound.
“The source of your power is the fragments of our Planet—Kryptonite! Remember to ingest it regularly! Also, you must avoid that damn Sun on Earth; it will make your cells soft and turn you into a weak piece of trash! Do you remember!”
The infant—which was me, Kal-El—just opened his confused eyes, watching this man who was giving his last words.I wanted to open my mouth and say something, like “Who are you?” or “Can you take that gun further away?”
But my vocal cords hadn’t fully developed yet, so I could only move my mouth in vain, making a few meaningless “goo-goo” sounds.The spaceship door slammed shut, cutting off all the sounds and Firelight from outside.
The last image I saw was the man turning around and raising his weapon at the compatriots who were surging forward.
Then, there was endless darkness and a feeling of weightlessness.An infant who hadn’t been out of the womb for long became the sole survivor of this Planet’s civilization.
A damn…
Kryptonian Orphan.”Holy sh*t!” The little infant, in the cold escape pod, finally cursed the first sentence since arriving in this World, “Where the hell did this bring me?
What was that guy just saying to me?”
Ultraman slowly opened his eyes.
The memories of the past were long and complex, but that was already in the past.
What he needed now was not memories.The next second, the figure on the throne vanished into thin air, as if it had never existed.Only a lingering sonic boom in the air proved that someone had just been there.