Karl floated in the air of his own room, legs crossed, as if sitting on an invisible chair.
He went through the messages in the Chat Group from beginning to end again.
Currently, this Chat Group had only four people: him, a male, plus three females.
The Chat Group owner, Jina, was quite honest.
She didn’t use the usual tropes of Chat Group owners in the novels he remembered like posing as an expert, being mysterious, or using information gaps to manipulate Chat Group members.
Instead, she laid all her cards on the table right from the start: “I have the memories of another person, I know you are characters from a work, and I don’t know how this Chat Group came to be.” Her attitude was so sincere that no one could find fault with it.
But the problem was, Karl still hadn’t figured out the situation of Jina’s World.
Was it an ordinary daily life World?
Or did it hide some weird tricks?
She hadn’t volunteered the information, and it wasn’t convenient for him to ask yet.
Mami Tomoe.
This name made his heart sink slightly.
“Puella Magi Madoka Magica,” a story wrapped in cute packaging that contained both despair and hope.
The alien incubators specifically chose young, naive girls, using the fulfillment of wishes as bait to turn them into Magical Girls, and then harvested energy when they collapsed in despair.
And Mami Tomoe he had heard of that famous scene before he transmigrated the headless senior.
A senior who appeared strong and reliable on the surface, but whose psychological defenses were actually more fragile than anyone else’s; once she knew the truth, she would completely collapse.
Karl labeled her in his heart: A good person who needed protection, but it was best not to let her know too much.
Saeko.
“Highschool of the Dead,” a zombie anime that required censorship when aired on regular platforms.
The plot was simple and brutal: zombies arrived, the World collapsed, and the survivors calculated against each other while fighting zombies.
No complex supernatural settings, no hidden puppet masters behind the scenes, just a pure zombie apocalypse.
Just as Karl was thinking, a new message from Jina popped up on the screen.
『Jina』: Anyway, this is the result of our exploration of the Chat Group functions!
Oh right, we have saved up enough points to allow one person to teleport across Worlds!
Karl looked at this message, fell silent for a moment, and then complained from the bottom of his heart.
What kind of trash Chat Group is this…
No mission system, no points mall.
There were only two ways to get points: daily check-ins or transferring points between Chat Group members.
Shouldn’t a normal Chat Group have a mall?
Bloodline enhancement, skill exchange, god-tier weapons for a dollar—none of that.
Just a crappy teleportation function, and it could only be fueled by check-ins.
Karl sighed and refocused his attention on the three options.
The situation in Jina’s World was unclear; unknown risks could not be ruled out.
Mami Tomoe’s World had water that was too deep; civilization-level predators like the incubators were not something he could necessarily face head-on with his current strength, and he might even get targeted.
By process of elimination, the safest and most controllable option turned out to be that zombie-infested apocalypse World.
“Zombies, huh…” Karl muttered to himself, rubbing his chin.
In absurd worldviews like DC and Marvel, the zombie virus was indeed terrifying, capable of infecting gods and devouring the Universe.
But the zombies in “Highschool of the Dead” were only at the level of mutated ordinary humans.
Bite through the skin of a Kryptonian?
The probability was roughly equivalent to dismantling a nuclear bomb with a nail clipper.
Taking a step back, he still had Super Intelligence; it wasn’t impossible to spend some time developing a vaccine.
“Of course, provided that practice yields true knowledge,” Karl added to himself.
Karl’s gaze shifted away from the holographic screen and fell on the wardrobe in the corner of the room.
It was not an ordinary wardrobe.
The shell was made of alloy materials he had designed himself, and the interior was integrated with an environmental control system and a biometric lock.
Only his fingerprints and retinas could open it; inside was his battle suit.
In this World, he was called Ultraman.
The list of his abilities was almost exactly the same as Superman:
Super Strength, Super Speed, Super Stamina, Flight, Heat Vision, Freeze Breath, Super Hearing, Super Vision, Super Intelligence, and the very important Bio-electric Aura the full Kryptonian starter pack.
But as the inverse of Superman on Earth-3, his energy source was the exact opposite.
Superman absorbed solar radiation to become stronger; he absorbed Kryptonite radiation to become stronger.
That stuff was deadly poison to Superman, but a supplement for him.
And the sunlight, the one thing Earth lacked the least, became his fatal weakness—yellow Sun radiation would continuously weaken his power; exposure for too long could even turn him into a mortal, the same logic as a Vampire fearing sunlight.
However, he had solved this weakness when he was very young.
He developed a special protective layer, colorless and transparent, which could completely block specific radiation bands in sunlight when sprayed on his body and battle suit.
Now, when he went out during the day and basked in the Sun, there was no difference between him and an ordinary person; of course, he wouldn’t feel the sensation of the Sun shining on him.
On the other side, Jina stared at the Chat Group screen, her fingers hovering over the virtual keyboard, typing a line, deleting it, typing another line, and deleting it again.
She wanted to ask Superman to help Saeko.
But she couldn’t bring herself to say it.
Superman was amazing, powerful, and synonymous with superheroes.
But a zombie crisis wasn’t just one or two villains; it was the collapse of an entire World, a contagious disaster, an apocalypse.
What if Superman got infected too?
What if he had an accident over there?
Just because of her few words, pushing someone into a pit of fire Jina bit her lip, feeling that this request was like a piece of red-hot iron, too hot for her to touch.
She leaned back in her chair and tried hard to recall the memories in her mind about Superman.
The person who left her these memories primarily understood Superman from the “Superman” animation that aired on children’s channels.
The art style was very classic; in every episode, Superman would defeat the villain and then smile.
Besides that, there was a movie by Snyder; the tone was dark, and Superman seemed…
a bit dark.
That was it.
As for comics, that person had hardly read any.
“Can Superman deal with a contagious disaster?” Jina muttered softly, her tone filled with uncertainty.
The animation hadn’t shown this, and the movie hadn’t shown this; her memory database showed a blank on this question.
Just then, the screen lit up.
『Superman』: I see.
Are there stories about me in your World?
Superman’s tone was calm, without any sense of being offended.
Jina was stunned for a moment and quickly typed.
『Jina』: Yes…
I’m sorry, such information might make you feel troubled.
『Superman』: There’s no need to apologize, Ms.
Jina.
In your World, I might just be a created character.
But for myself, I have my own thoughts, my own life.
My World is real to me, not some product of fantasy.
『Mami Tomoe』: Mr.
Superman is truly amazing.
To be honest, when I first learned that I was a character in a story, I was actually quite troubled.
But thinking about it later, I still have to protect the people around me as a Magical Girl; life actually hasn’t changed at all.
『Jina』: Wuwuwu, so touching.
You really are a group of people with shining hearts.
It’s so great to meet you all.
Jina said this sincerely.
She looked at these two lines on the screen, and her eyes felt a little hot.
These people, whether inside or outside of the stories, were so dazzling…
They were such excellent people, yet they weren’t arrogant at all; instead, they were more humble than anyone else and more willing to sacrifice for others than anyone else.
A new message popped up on the screen.
『Superman』: So, if you encounter any difficulties and find that you cannot solve them after trying, you can call for Superman at any time.
I will do my best to help you.
No hesitation, no conditions, just such a simple and direct sentence.
Jina took a deep breath and finally made up her mind.
『Jina』: It’s like this, Superman.
Through the memories in my mind, I know that a zombie crisis will break out in Saeko’s World.
The people there will fall into an apocalypse.
『Superman』: Is that so?
Is there any way I can go over and help them?
The reply was almost instantaneous.
Jina stared at that line of text, her nose feeling slightly sour.
This is Superman.
Even though they had never met, even though they were separated by the barrier of Worlds, when he heard that someone needed help, his first reaction wasn’t to ask “Is it dangerous,” but to ask “How do I get there.”
This kind of kindness, engraved in his bones, is the reason why Superman shines!
『Mami Tomoe』: Our points are already enough to let one person go.
Jina, please let me go.
I will do my best to protect the people of that World.
Karl looked at Mami Tomoe’s message and was silent for a moment.
Although this girl was kept in the dark and didn’t know how cruel her World was whether she was a war-torn phantom god or psychologically fragile it could not be denied that she had a pure heart willing to sacrifice for others.
That was enough…
Karl didn’t want to let such a person go to the battlefield; of course, the most important reason was to show off his image in front of them.
『Superman』: Please leave this matter to the only Adult in this group.
Adult are not dead yet, how can you let a child go to the battlefield?
Jina, please, let me go.
When typing this line, Karl smiled self-deprecatingly in his heart.
Saying it so righteously, but what about in reality?
He wanted to go, not just to help Saeko.
He also wanted to take this opportunity to conduct a field survey of that World.
If that World could really serve as a retreat a place to escape and settle down when his own Universe was devoured by the Anti-Monitor then the value of this escape route would be too great.
Compared to Mami Tomoe’s pure kindness, he was gloomy to the core…
An imposter wearing the title of a hero to seek personal gain.
『Jina』: I understand, Superman.
…
The screen displayed these four words.
Karl looked at it, fell silent for a moment, and then slowly descended from the air to the ground.
He walked to the high-tech wardrobe and extended his right hand, placing his five fingers on the cabinet door.
A soft white light shone from under his palm, rippling across the cabinet surface like water waves.
The wardrobe made a low mechanical operating sound, the cabinet door slowly opened automatically, and the cold light inside turned on layer by layer, illuminating the displays inside clearly.
A row of Ultraman battle suits hung there neatly.
Red and blue color scheme, sharp lines, the logo on the chest was a distinct U-shape.
Each piece integrated the most cutting-edge technology he had mastered; taking any one of them out would be a creation that would drive any laboratory in this World crazy.
But Karl’s gaze only swept over them faintly, then he reached out and pushed aside the outermost few, reaching into the deepest part of the wardrobe.
There was one more there.
He took it out and unfolded it.
The same red and blue color scheme, the same smooth lines, but the logo on the chest was not a U…
It was an S.
An S made in the style of the Superman suit.
Karl held this battle suit that had never been worn, his fingertips gently rubbing against the S logo on the chest.
He was too familiar with the shape of this letter.
The animation he watched on TV when he was a child, the figure in the movie carrying a plane and flying towards the Sun, and the slogan printed on the cover of countless comics—Hope, Justice, Son of Tomorrow.
He once thought that in this inverted World, this suit would never have the chance to be worn.
“I thought I would never have use for you,” Karl said in a low voice.
He laid the battle suit flat in front of him, looking at that S logo, the corners of his mouth slightly curved; there was nostalgia in the arc, and also something that couldn’t be said to be bitter or self-deprecating.
In his last life, he wanted to be a hero but didn’t succeed…
In this life, he became a god among men, but the kind that made others fear.
And now, he was going to wear this imitation imposter suit to go to another World and play the idol of his childhood.
It sounded quite ridiculous…