Chapter 262 Viltrumite
The torrent of the Multiverse flowed before his eyes, and countless Worlds flickered like points of light.
Chu Hang's clone turned into golden light, traveling through the chaos. His consciousness maintained a faint connection with his main body, and the scorching heat of the Phoenix Origin remained clear even across the dimensional barrier.
There was not much time left.
The main body was currently battling that awakened Fire bird, and every second was burning away the foundation he had accumulated over a hundred years. He had to find something capable of bearing the Phoenix Force, or make his physical strength leap forward once more.
A unique energy fluctuation attracted him.
Primitive, barbaric, and filled with blood. It was not magic, not technology, but pure physical strength.
The clone changed direction, tore open the spatial barrier, and slipped inside.
This was a secret Base hidden inside a mountain.
The metal walls were covered in bloodstains and scorch Marks, and the air was filled with the smell of blood and burnt stench. Several corpses lay on the ground.
A man in a red bodysuit had his neck twisted, his head hanging limp. Beside him was a winged woman, her chest pierced through, feathers scattered everywhere. Further away, a black figure had been torn in half, entrails spilling all over the floor.
In the center of the Carnage, a man in a white suit and red cape held a woman by the neck with one hand.
The woman wore a green combat suit, her blonde hair was disheveled, and her face was covered in blood. Her hands weakly scratched at that iron-like hand, her lips turning purple.
The man in white had no expression on his face, his eyes cold as if looking at ants. His other hand slowly formed a fist, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Chu Hang stopped in mid-air.
He did not rush to act, quickly scanning the Base.
Guardians of the Globe.
This name surfaced from a corner of his memory. He had captured fragments of this World in the information stream of the Multiverse. A World where superheroes had just started, and the man in white currently slaughtering his teammates before him must be the ceiling of combat power in this Universe.
Omni-Man.
Nolan Grayson.
A vanguard soldier of the Viltrumite Empire.
The corners of Chu Hang's mouth turned up.
He sensed the power within that man. It was not magic, not technology, not mutation; it was the perfect biological evolution carved into his genes.
Interesting.
He stepped forward, golden light flowing.
Omni-Man's movements stopped.
It was not that he wanted to stop, but his fist had been blocked by something.
He looked down. A hand was supporting his fist. It looked very ordinary, five fingers, no special patterns or light. But it was this ordinary hand that steadily caught a blow capable of shattering mountains.
"Who are you?" Omni-Man's voice was calm, a flash of confusion in his eyes.
On this Planet, no creature could catch his full-strength blow.
He had lived here for twenty years and had long since figured out the upper limit of this World.
Humans, Mutants, aliens—he had seen too many guys who thought they were powerful, but they were all ants before him.
Yet this man, who had appeared out of thin air, had easily caught his fist.
Chu Hang let go, allowing War Woman to slide out of Omni-Man's grasp.
The blonde woman had passed out, with obvious bruises on her neck, but she was still breathing.
"My name is Chu Hang. Just passing by."
Omni-Man didn't waste words and threw a punch directly.
This punch was faster and heavier. The air was torn apart, sonic booms exploded in the sealed Base, and the walls trembled.
Chu Hang turned to the side, the fist brushing past his ear.
The wind of the punch cut his cheek, but the wound healed in the blink of an eye.
Omni-Man narrowed his eyes.
Self-healing ability.
He had seen similar ones; the Immortal had it. But the Immortal's healing speed was nowhere near this fast, and he couldn't catch his punch at all.
"A bit interesting."
His figure vanished, and the next second he appeared behind Chu Hang, clasping his hands together and smashing them hard toward the back of his head.
This blow was enough to raze a city.
Chu Hang did not dodge.
He turned around, raised his right hand, and used his palm to catch the heavy hammer.
Boom!
The Impact spread in all directions, the floor was ripped away, the walls developed spiderweb cracks, and the metal plates of the ceiling were torn apart like paper.
Omni-Man's expression changed.
It felt like smashing into a mountain. No, harder than a mountain. The rebounding force traveled up his arm and through his entire body, his bones buzzing.
"What exactly are you?"
Chu Hang did not answer.
He was scanning Omni-Man's body structure with his Spirit.
This man's cells were completely different from an Earthling's. Each cell was like a miniature nuclear reactor, constantly generating energy, constantly self-repairing and evolving.
smart atoms.
The core power of a Viltrumite, a special atomic structure capable of self-learning and self-evolution.
Chu Hang's eyes lit up.
This was exactly what he needed.
The main body was struggling against the Phoenix Force, that primitive power from the depths of the Universeconstantly eroding his physical body. He needed a body structure capable of withstanding this erosion, or even coexisting with it.
The self-repair and evolution characteristics of smart atoms might be part of the answer.
"Your body is very interesting. Do you mind if I borrow it?"
Omni-Man's answer was another heavy punch.
This time he used all his power.
The fist headed straight for his face with a sonic boom.
Chu Hang extended a finger and tapped it against the fist.
That heavy punch, capable of destroying a city, was stopped just like that by a single finger.
Omni-Man's pupils contracted violently.
He had lived for thousands of years, conquered countless Planets, and seen all kinds of powerful beings. But no creature had ever been able to block his full-strength blow with a single finger.
This was impossible.
He was one of the strongest warriors of the Viltrumite Empire, with power enough to tear apart a Planet, and speed that could catch up to light.
On this backward Planet, he was a god.
Yet this man before him had easily neutralized all his attacks as if teasing a child.
"Your power is very interesting." Chu Hang spoke, his tone like evaluating a commodity, "Pure physical strength, without any energy enhancement, relying entirely on the characteristics of the cells themselves. In the Universes I've seen, this is relatively rare."
Omni-Man did not answer.
His body vanished, and the next second he appeared above his head, raising his fists high and smashing them down hard.
This blow was stronger than any previous one. He used all his power, leaving no room for error.
Chu Hang raised his left hand, palm up, and caught the heavy hammer.
Rumble!
The Impact spread, and the entire Base shook violently. Cracks spread like spiderwebs on the ground, the metal plates on the wall were torn apart like paper, and the ceiling collapsed.
Chu Hang stood where he was, not moving an inch.
His left hand steadily supported Omni-Man's fists, as if holding a pillow.
"Data collection complete."
His Spirit had completed a comprehensive scan of Omni-Man's body structure.
smart atoms.
The core of the Viltrumite's power. A special atomic structure capable of self-learning, self-evolution, and self-repair. They made up every cell of a Viltrumite, giving them near-infinite potential.
The more they fight, the stronger they become.
The more they are injured, the faster they recover.
"Copy."
Chu Hang thought silently.
A familiar feeling rose from within his body, and the superpower copier activated. Golden light flowed beneath his skin, completely copying the smart atoms structure inside Omni-Man's body.
[Copy successful]
[Acquired ability: Viltrumite Physique]
Chu Hang closed his eyes, feeling the new ability spread within his body.
The smart atoms began to merge with his original cell structure, and a wonderful change was taking place. His body became tougher, and his recovery ability was enhanced.
But soon, he frowned.
Not enough.
The self-repair and evolution capabilities of the smart atoms were indeed strong, and could alleviate the erosion of the Phoenix Force on his physical body to some extent. But this mitigation was limited and far from enough to fully bear that rampaging Fire bird.
It was like using a sponge to absorb an ocean; although it could absorb some moisture, it was ultimately just a drop in the bucket.
This was just the first step.
He still needed more materials and a stronger body structure to truly tame the Phoenix Force.
Chu Hang opened his eyes and looked at the still-struggling Omni-Man.
"Thank you for your contribution. As a reward, I will not kill you."
Omni-Man's eyes were filled with unwillingness and anger. He wanted to fight back but found his fists imprisoned by an invisible force, unable to move at all.
Space Law.
Chu Hang had locked the space around him.
"What are you?" Omni-Man gritted his teeth.
"A passing traveler." Chu Hang let go and took a step back, "I have no interest in the affairs of the Viltrumite Empire. But if you continue to cause trouble on this Planet, I don't mind coming back again."
He raised his right fist and threw a punch that looked plain and unremarkable.
This punch contained the full power of his newly copied Viltrumite Physique, plus the enhancement of over a dozen original Law Power.
Omni-Man's body flew out like a cannonball, crashing through the Base floor, crashing through the rock layers below, and falling into the depths of the underground.
The rumbling sound lasted for several seconds before stopping.
Chu Hang withdrew his fist and looked down at his palm.
The smart atoms were quickly repairing the minor damage caused by the punch just now. This feeling was very wonderful, like having a group of diligent little workers inside his body, constantly maintaining his physical form.
A nice ability.
Although it couldn't completely solve the problem, it was at least a good start.
Chu Hang turned around and looked at the surviving members of the Guardians of the Globe.
War Woman was unconscious, the bruises on her neck shocking, but she was still breathing. The Immortal lay in a pool of blood, his body torn into several pieces, his regenerative ability slowly piecing the fragments back together.
The others were not so lucky.
Red Rush, Darkwing, Green Ghost, Aquarus, War Woman... these heroes who once protected Earth were now cold corpses.
Chu Hang didn't look much longer.
He was not from this Universe, and the Life and death of these people had nothing to do with him. He had come here with only one purpose: to find a way to bear the Phoenix Force.
The smart atoms were just the first step.
His Spirit spread outward, scanning the energy fluctuations of this Universe.
Soon, he captured several interesting signals.
One came from the depths of space. There was a vast empire there, possessing a purer Viltrumite bloodline than Omni-Man. Perhaps the smart atoms of the royal family members would be stronger.
One came from a corner of Earth. There was a peculiar technology there that seemed capable of modifying biological genetic structures.
And one more...
Chu Hang narrowed his eyes.
That was a young Life signal, with Viltrumite blood flowing in his body, but mixed with Earthling genes. The fusion of the two bloodlines might produce unexpected changes.
Mark Grayson.
Omni-Man's son.
invincible.
A smile curled at the corners of Chu Hang's mouth.
This Universe was much more interesting than he had imagined.
He looked up at the deep pit where he had punched Omni-Man into the ground. Omni-Man's Life signal was still there, just very weak.
With the Viltrumite's recovery ability, he would probably be able to wake up in a few days.
By then, what would this Universe become?
Chu Hang did not care.
He turned around, Space Law activated, and his figure became transparent.
Before disappearing completely, he took one last look at the Immortal who was slowly healing.
That man opened his eyes a slit, looking at him with a complex gaze. There was fear, gratitude, and something indescribable.
Chu Hang did not speak.
He just nodded and completely disappeared from the spot.
The next second, he appeared on the other side of Earth.
In front of an ordinary suburban residence.
Inside the house, a black-haired boy was having dinner with his mother, completely unaware of what his father had just experienced.
Chu Hang stood in the shadows across the street, observing quietly.
The problem of the Phoenix Force needed to be solved, but not now.
He needed more data, more materials, more possibilities.
And this Universe seemed to be able to provide everything he wanted.
Chapter 263: invincible
For the next three days, Chu Hang's figure completely vanished from the World.
He hovered in the high altitude opposite the Grayson residence, observing silently. Light warped around him, and all electromagnetic waves, sound waves, and gravitational waves were pulled by an invisible force, bypassing the space he occupied, making him an absolute observational blind spot.
His gaze was locked onto the teenager named Mark.
On the first day, Mark's Life was uneventful. Carrying his backpack, riding his bike, greeting neighbors kindly, and working a boring part-time job at a fast-food restaurant. Chu Hang even saw his awkward attempt to strike up a conversation with a female classmate, resulting in him blushing to the roots of his ears. Aside from occasionally bending a locker door out of shape unconsciously, he looked no different from any other ordinary high school student.
On the second day, his trajectory after school changed. Mark turned into an abandoned alleyway, looking around stealthily. After confirming no one was there, he pushed off hard with both feet. Accompanied by a dull sonic boom, he shot straight into the sky like a cannonball with a malfunctioning guidance system.
Chu Hang raised an eyebrow.
This flight movement was simply an insult to aerodynamics. His body was as stiff as a wooden stick, his arms flailed about to maintain balance, and his flight path was crooked, like a clumsy, drunk bird.
The landing was even more of a disaster.
Mark attempted to dive from an altitude of three hundred meters to land on the rooftop of an abandoned factory on the outskirts of the city. However, he clearly overestimated his control, smashing straight through the concrete roof. With a thunderous roar, even the two floors below collapsed halfway.
Watching the billowing dust rise, the corner of Chu Hang's mouth twitched slightly. If this were on an interstellar battlefield, he probably wouldn't survive the first wave of the charge.
On the third day, the real test arrived unexpectedly.
Without any warning, several ghastly green spatial rifts tore open above the city, and hideous alien warships swarmed out like locusts. Piercing alarms echoed throughout the city as alien invaders descended from the sky, indiscriminately destroying streets and buildings with energy weapons.
"Mom, I have to go!" Mark, who was watching the news, turned pale, but his eyes were exceptionally firm.
"No, Mark, it's too dangerous! Your father, he..." Debbiegrabbed her son's hand, her face full of worry.
"Dad isn't here, I'm the only one who can do this now!" Mark pulled his hand away from his mother and rushed into his room. A moment later, a teenager wearing a yellow and blue spandex suit shot into the sky.
Chu Hang hovered at an altitude of five thousand meters, arms crossed, overlooking the battlefield below like a deity.
Mark's fighting style was simple, brutal, and even somewhat tragic. He charged into the swarm of alien grunts like a reckless cannonball, letting energy beams strike his body, creating dull "clanging" sounds, and then smashing the enemies into scrap metal with pure strength.
He had enough strength, but his technique was effectively zero.
He saved a school bus that was about to be overturned, but because he used too much force, he deformed the front of the vehicle. He destroyed a low-flying fighter jet but failed to control the direction, causing the wreckage of the jet to crash into a residential area. Chu Hang had to intervene secretly time and again, using an invisible force field to support out-of-control heavy objects and correct his erroneous power output.
This kid... still has a long way to go.
What Chu Hang wanted to see was not a half-baked hero with only brute force. He wanted to know what kind of astonishing potential this unique half-breed could unleash under true, extreme pressure.
Just then, a burly alien Commander holding a giant axe jumped down from a massive alien mothership. As soon as it landed, it displayed power far exceeding that of the ordinary grunts, splitting a building in half with a single axe swing.
Mark roared and charged to meet it.
The man and the beast engaged in a fierce battle in the city center square. Mark's strength and endurance were astonishing, but his lack of combat technique left him constrained at every turn.
He was knocked flying by the giant axe time and again, crashing through walls and smashing into the ground, only to climb back up covered in dirt and charge again.
Finally, after an opening, the alien Commander's giant axe landed squarely on Mark's chest. Although it failed to break his skin, the immense impact made him cough up blood and fly backward, falling to the ground like a broken ragdoll, unable to move for a moment.
The alien Commander held the giant axe high, grinning hideously, and aimed it at Mark's head.
Now is the time.
Chu Hang raised his right hand toward the battlefield and flicked his finger lightly through the air.
An invisible ripple instantly spread, enveloping the entire square.
The air seemed to turn into solidified glue in an instant.
The alien Commander, who was about to swing down its giant axe, suddenly froze. The muscles on its face twisted and deformed due to the immense pressure. Then, with a crisp "crack," its hard bones, along with its alloy armor, were crushed into a thin sheet, and flesh and internal organs splattered everywhere.
Mark, lying on the ground, felt the same terrifying pressure. He felt as if he were being crushed by an invisible mountain range; every cell was groaning, and every breath required all his strength.
"What... is happening?" Mark gritted his teeth, trying to stand up, but his body wouldn't budge. The force was still increasing, his spine made an unbearable "creaking" sound, and he was pressed firmly against the ground, his cheek pressed against the cold gravel.
What the hell is this? Gravity? Is someone manipulating gravity?
"What are you thinking about?"
A calm voice rang in his ear, as if asking about the weather today.
Mark violently rolled his eyes, using all his might to glance to his side. An Eastern man with black hair and black eyes had appeared there, wearing a simple black coat, his hands in his pockets, crouching down and looking at him with great interest.
"...It's you?" Mark squeezed the words through his teeth, his lungs burning with pain.
"It is." The man nodded, his tone devoid of any emotion. "I am observing you."
"Observing me?" Mark felt like his eyeballs were about to be pressed out of their sockets. "You... you watched me get beaten half to Death... just to... observe?"
"More or less." The man admitted frankly. "I wanted to see what interesting changes would happen in your body when you were pushed to your true limits."
Anger, unprecedented anger, erupted from the bottom of Mark's heart like a volcano.
He thought of the destroyed city, the people screaming in fear, and the frustration of giving his all yet still being powerless. And all of this, in the eyes of this mysterious man, was merely an interesting experiment.
"I—will—kill—you!"
Accompanied by a roar that did not sound human, Markexploded with power.
His muscles expanded at a visible rate, and veins bulged under his skin like coiling dragons. A primitive power originating from the deepest depths of Life suddenly awakened, and the invisible mountain pressing down on him was actually forced up by him!
He flipped up, and with a heavy punch condensed with the anger of a lifetime, tore through the air, smashing toward the man's face.
However, the fist stopped abruptly one centimeter from the man's nose.
It wasn't blocked; he stopped it himself. Because he saw those eyes.
In those deep eyes, there was no fear, no surprise, not even a ripple. There was only... satisfaction and appreciation, akin to a scholar discovering a new law.
"Not bad." The man stood up and brushed off non-existent dust. "Adrenaline surge, heart rate exceeding three hundred beats per minute, violent discharge in the emotional center of the cerebral cortex... these physiological reactions acted as a catalyst, increasing the activity of the smart atoms in your body by thirty-seven percent in an instant. This is a miracle that could never happen in a pure-blooded Viltrumite."
Mark's raised fist froze in mid-air, the anger on his face replaced by immense shock.
smart atoms.
He heard a strange term that his father had never mentioned.
"You... how do you know about this?"
Just then, in the air not far away, a blue ring of light appeared out of thin air and began to expand rapidly, from which a harsh crackling sound of electricity came—the precursor to a portal activation.
In the underground command center of the Global Defense Agency (GDA), Cecil Stedman was staring nervously at the screen; the appearance of that black-haired man made him feel an unprecedented threat. "Initiate emergency transport, bring 'invincible' back! Immediately!"
Chu Hang just glanced casually at the ring of light, a trace of playfulness flashing in his eyes.
He raised his hand toward the direction of the ring of light, brought his index and middle fingers together, and flicked lightly again.
"Zzzzt..." The blue ring of light flickered violently twice, like a light bulb whose power had been cut off, and then extinguished instantly.
Inside the command center, all screens plunged into darkness simultaneously.
"Report, Officer! All signals are lost! Our satellites... seem to have been directly'shut down' by the other party!" The technician's voice was filled with a crying tone.
Cecil leaned back slowly in his chair, a cold chill rising from his spine.
He stared at the calm face frozen in the last frame, and after a long while, ordered in an extremely soft voice: "Abort contact. Switch to the highest level of surveillance. I want to know everything about him, but he must not know that we know."
On the bank plaza, Mark also noticed the eerie ring of light. "What was that?"
"A little toy of your government," Chu Hang withdrew his hand, his tone flat. "They wanted to invite you for a cup of tea, but I wasn't finished yet."
Mark's expression became increasingly complex. He knew the GDA, but he hadn't expected this man to be able to paralyze their top-tier technology so casually.
"Who exactly are you?" Mark asked again, his tone full of vigilance.
"Someone who understands your body better than your father." Chu Hang turned around and raised his hand to make a light stroke in the air. A golden light flowed from his fingertips, outlining a string of incredibly complex symbols that floated between the two of them. It was a projection of a dynamic genetic sequence.
"This is the cellular structure inside you," Chu Hangpointed to the constantly flashing nodes within it. "These are the smart atoms, the root of Viltrumite power. In your father, they are constant, like a machine that always operates at a fixed power. But in you," he paused, looking straight into Mark's eyes, "they are alive."
Mark couldn't understand those symbols at all, but he understood what Chu Hang said.
"Simply put," Chu Hang waved his hand to disperse the light and shadow, "your father's power has a limit, but you do not.
Your emotions, your will to survive, every struggle you have when nearing Death, will make them stronger.
This is the most precious gift your mother's genes have given you."
Mother...
Mark fell silent. In his mind, he flashed through the image of his mother busy in the kitchen, the tenderness with which she bandaged his wounds, and the hugs she gave him when he was frustrated.
That Earth woman who always seemed so ordinary, even somewhat fragile in his impression... the greatest trait in himself actually originated from her. A warm current mixed with guilt, pride, and infinite love instantly overwhelmed him.
"So, what do you want to do?" Mark's tone softened, his voice somewhat hoarse.
"Your power is a drawn blade, but it has no scabbard, much less a technique for wielding the knife." Chu Hang's voice drifted over. "Your father taught you how to throw a punch, but he didn't teach you how to control it. I can."
Mark looked down at his hands. He thought of the fighter jet wreckage he had uncontrollably smashed into the residential area just now, and how this man had casually neutralized everything.
"I... need to think about it."
"Of course." Chu Hang nodded, seemingly not surprised. "However, there is something I must remind you of."
He turned around, his back to Mark, looking at the alien spaceships that were beginning to retreat.
"The home planet of these guys has a different time flow than Earth. A few minutes for us might be years for them. The next time they return, they will bring more advanced technology and weapons specifically designed for your constitution." Chu Hang turned his head, leaving Mark with a meaningful look. "Are you ready?"
Before his voice had even faded, his figure dissipated into the air like blue smoke, as if he had never appeared.
Mark stood alone in the center of the ruins, with the sound of sirens approaching from afar. He stared blankly at his hands, his mind in chaos.
smart atoms, infinite potential, a gift from his mother, the mysterious man, and his warning about the future.
The career of the young hero had just begun, yet it seemed to have already deviated from all expected tracks.
Chapter 264: Lies and Testing
The center of the Earth, magma surging.
Nolan Grayson opened his eyes to a vision of dark red.
Scalding lava flowed around him at temperatures reaching several thousand degrees, enough to melt steel into liquid iron. Yet, he only felt his skin grow slightly warm.
He crawled out from a crevice in the rocks; his combat suit had long since burned away, leaving only a pair of tattered shorts. The clear fist print on his chest remained, as the smart atoms within his body worked frantically to repair the damaged tissue.
"Tsk."
Nolan looked down at his hands.
These hands had torn through the defenses of countless Planets and crushed innumerable skulls. In the Viltrumite Empire, he was the finest Vanguard and had never lost.
Until today.
The face of that black-haired man lingered in his mind. That gaze, as if looking down at an ant, reminded him involuntarily of the Empire's Elders.
No, even more terrifying than an Elder.
An Elder would need to use their full strength to suppress him, but that man had only used a single finger.
A single, damned finger.
Nolan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. Anger was meaningless; he needed intelligence, he needed to uncover that man's background.
He flew upward, his body forcing its way through layers of rock. The crust, mantle, and core were passed in just a few seconds at extreme speed.
By the time he burst through the surface, it was nearly evening.
The Grayson house was just ahead, its windows glowing with warm yellow light. Debbie was preparing dinner, and Mark was perhaps doing his homework in his room.
Everything was as usual.
Nolan stopped mid-air and carefully composed his expression. He was Omni-Man, the strongest hero on this Planet; he could not let anyone see that he had just been thrown into the center of the Earth.
Especially Debbie and Mark.
He needed an excuse. An alien invasion? Too cliché, and the GDA would have no record of it. Dealing with a cross-dimensional rift? Sounded good, but Debbie would press for details.
Nolan thought for a moment and decided to tell a half-truth: a powerful alien being had trespassed on Earth, and he went to handle it, though the process was a bit troublesome.
As for the black-haired man, he planned to investigate privately.
He landed in the backyard and pushed the door open. The aroma of searing meat wafted from the kitchen, where Debbie was busy at the stove.
"Nolan? You're back!"
Debbie poked her head out from the kitchen, her face full of surprise. She was wearing an apron, holding a spatula, with a bit of flour stuck in her hair.
"Yeah."
Nolan walked over and kissed her lightly on the forehead.
"Something held me up."
"What happened? The news said an alien ship appeared, I was worried sick."
Debbie put down the spatula and looked her husband over with concern.
"You're not hurt, are you?"
"No, just a little trouble. It's been taken care of."
Nolan sat down at the dining table and glanced at the three sets of utensils.
"Where's Mark?"
"He said he went to help with the disaster relief."
There was an unmistakable pride in Debbie's voice.
"Our son is finally acting like a real hero."
Nolan didn't speak, his fingers tapping a slow rhythm on the table.
What exactly was that black-haired man's origin? Where did his power come from? Why did he appear on Earth? More importantly, how much did he actually know?
There was a sound at the door, and Mark walked in. His uniform was covered in dust and blood, but his Spiritseemed fine.
"Dad! You're back!"
Mark's eyes instantly lit up.
"Did you take care of those aliens?"
"Yes."
Nolan nodded.
"You did well today."
"It was okay."
Mark scratched his head and sat down opposite his father.
"But I feel like I'm still far from where I need to be. I keep losing control of my direction when flying, and I only know how to use brute force in a fight."
"Learn slowly; you're just starting."
Nolan's tone was gentle and kind.
Debbie brought over the steaks, her face full of happiness. The family of three sat around the table, looking no different from any ordinary family.
But Mark's mind was in turmoil. That man's words kept echoing in his head: smart atoms, infinite potential, a gift from his mother... and that warning: "Your father will act strangely."
Mark cut a piece of steak and spoke as if casually:
"Dad, I met a strange person today."
Nolan's movement as he drank water paused slightly.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Mark shook his head.
"He appeared out of nowhere and helped me block an alien Commander. Then he told me some very strange things."
"What things?"
Mark looked up, staring directly into his father's eyes.
"He said I have something called smart atoms inside me."
The atmosphere at the table instantly froze.
Nolan's fingers tightened around the water glass, causing the glass to emit a faint cracking sound. His pupils contracted sharply, and a flash of cold killing intent flickered deep in his eyes.
But this expression lasted for less than half a second.
"smart atoms?"
Nolan put down the glass, his face full of confusion.
"What is that? I've never heard of it."
"I don't know either."
Mark looked down and continued cutting his steak.
"He said it's the source of my power, and that my potential is even greater than yours."
"Nonsense."
Nolan laughed.
"Probably just the ramblings of some madman; don't take it to heart."
"Yeah."
Mark nodded in response and didn't press further.
But his heart sank completely. He had seen it—the moment he mentioned smart atoms, the flash of killing intent in his father's eyes.
Though it was fleeting, he had seen it clearly. It wasn't confusion or curiosity, but an instinctive reaction to a taboo being touched.
That man was right; his father was hiding something.
Dinner continued in an eerie calm. Debbie was completely unaware of the undercurrent between husband and son, still chatting about neighborhood gossip and school anecdotes.
Nolan's expression had returned to normal; he even chimed in with a few words, acting like a perfect father. But Mark noticed that he was cutting his steak with much more force than usual, and the sound of the cutlery clinking against the plate was exceptionally sharp.
"By the way, Dad."
Mark decided to make one final probe.
"That person also said something I didn't quite understand."
"What was it?"
"He said my potential comes from Mom."
Nolan's movement of cutting the steak stopped completely. This time, he didn't hide his emotions; instead, he looked up and stared directly into Mark's eyes, his gaze complex, as if scrutinizing or evaluating him.
"What else did he say?"
"Nothing else."
Mark shook his head.
"He disappeared after saying that."
Nolan was silent for a few seconds before looking down to cut his meat again.
"That man was right."
His voice sounded very calm.
"A part of your power does indeed come from your mother. While human genes are fragile, they have their unique aspects."
Mark was stunned. He hadn't expected his father to actually admit it; previously, every time he asked, the answer was always, 'You're still young; you'll know later.'
"Then... what about smart atoms?"
Mark pressed.
"What exactly are they?"
Nolan put down his knife and fork and elegantly wiped his mouth with a napkin.
"That is the name of our race's cells."
His tone was casual, as if explaining common knowledge.
"Just as human cells are called cells, ours are called smart atoms. It's nothing special."
Mark stared at his father's face, trying to find even a hint of a flaw. But Nolan's face showed only openness and affection, with no sign of anything unusual.
"Who was that person?"
Nolan asked in return.
"What did he look like?"
"Black hair, black eyes, an Asian man."
Mark answered truthfully.
"Wearing a black jacket, looking very ordinary."
"Ordinary?"
The corners of Nolan's mouth turned up slightly.
"Anyone who can say the words 'smart atoms' is absolutely not ordinary."
He stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the sky that had turned completely dark.
"Mark, you must remember one thing."
Nolan's voice came from behind.
"There are many people in this World who know things they shouldn't. These people are very dangerous, and you shouldn't believe anything they say."
"Including what they say about my power?"
"Especially what they say about your power."
Nolan turned around, his gaze as sharp as a blade.
"Your power comes from me, from our bloodline; that is the only truth. As for that person saying your potential comes from your mother, it's nothing but a lie meant to drive a wedge between father and son."
Mark fell silent.
He recalled that man's calm and certain gaze; it didn't seem like he was lying, but rather stating a settled fact.
And while his father's words sounded reasonable, they always made him feel uneasy.
"I understand, Dad."
Mark nodded.
"I'll be careful."
Nolan looked at him, a hint of satisfaction flashing in his eyes.
"Good boy."
He walked over and patted Mark's shoulder.
"Get some rest after dinner; you have school tomorrow."
Mark gave an affirmative and went back to eating. But in his heart, the seed of doubt had already taken root and sprouted.
His father was definitely lying.
***
Three hundred meters beneath The Pentagon, the Global Defense Agency (GDA) top-secret command center.
Cecil Stedman stared at the holographic projection, his face ashen.
The projection showed a massive crater over fifty meters in diameter, its walls smooth as glass, as if melted by instantaneous high heat and then quickly solidified. The bottom of the crater was still emitting blue smoke, and energy readings were causing all monitoring instruments to alarm frantically.
"What caused this?"
Cecil's voice was low, yet it carried a suppressed rage.
"We don't know, Officer."
The technical supervisor's voice was trembling.
"Our equipment cannot analyze this energy. It doesn't belong to any known physical category, and it's not even within the existing theoretical framework."
Cecil fell into silence.
He had sat in this position for over twenty years and seen many supernatural things. Aliens, Mutants, mythical creatures—he had handled them all. But this crater before him gave him a long-forgotten sense of fear.
"Where is Omni-Man?"
"Lost contact."
The technical supervisor swallowed hard.
"The last signal showed that he was... he was knocked into the center of the Earth."
Cecil's eyelid twitched violently. Omni-Man, the strongest existence on this Planet, had actually been punched into the center of the Earth.
"Classify this unknown target as an Omega Level threat."
Cecil calmly gave the order.
"Mobilize all resources. I want to know who he is, where he comes from, and what he wants."
"Yes, Officer!"
Just then, the lights in the command center flickered eerily.
Everyone was stunned. This was the most heavily guarded place for global defense, with seventeen layers of independent power systems and thirty-two physical barriers, enough to withstand a direct nuclear strike.
However, a voice spoke softly behind Cecil:
"Your security system really does need an upgrade."
Cecil spun around, his hand already on the emergency button at his waist.
A black-haired, black-eyed Asian man was standing three meters behind him, hands in his pockets, his expression as calm as if he were taking a stroll in his own living room.
"Who are you?"
Cecil's voice was steady, but fine beads of sweat had broken out on his forehead.
"Just a passing traveler."
The man smiled slightly.
"And also the Omega Level threat you were just discussing."
The Agents in the command center drew their guns instantly, and over a dozen infrared laser sights were aimed at Chu Hang simultaneously. Chu Hang didn't even spare them a glance.
"Cecil Stedman."
He spoke, his tone as flat as if he were reading a file.
"Director of the Global Defense Agency, code name Shadow. You have a scientist under you named Sinclairwho specializes in human modification and cyborg technology. I want all of his research data."
Cecil's pupils contracted suddenly. Sinclair's project was the GDA's highest secret; no more than five people knew that name.
"What makes you think I'll give it to you?"
"Because you need an insurance policy."
The corner of Chu Hang's mouth curled into an arc.
"Omni-Man, your guardian deity—he isn't the person you think he is. One day, he will show his true colors. When that time comes, you'll need someone who can stop him."
Cecil fell silent. He stared into Chu Hang's eyes, trying to find any trace of a lie, but those eyes were as deep as a pool of stagnant water.
"How do you know all this?"
"I know many things."
Chu Hang turned around, leaving his back exposed to the dozen or so guns.
"For example, Omni-Man is currently having dinner at home, lying to his wife and son. He told them he went to handle an alien invasion, but in reality, he just crawled out from the center of the Earth, covered in dirt."
Cecil's breath hitched.
"The data will be sent to your designated location within twenty-four hours."
He finally spoke, his voice raspy.
"But I need a promise from you."
"What promise?"
"When Omni-Man loses control, you will intervene."
Chu Hang didn't look back, just waved his hand casually.
"Deal."
His figure began to turn transparent, as if merging into the air.
"By the way."
Before he vanished, a final voice came from the void.
"You'd better send someone to keep an eye on Omni-Man's son. That boy is much more interesting than his father."
Then, he completely disappeared.
The command center fell into a dead silence. Cecil stood in place, not moving for a long time. His brain worked rapidly, analyzing every word that man had said.
"Omni-Man isn't the person you think he is."
These words were like a poisoned thorn, stabbing deep into his heart. He turned to the technical supervisor, his voice bone-chillingly cold:
"From now on, initiate the highest level of surveillance on Omni-Man. I want to know his every move."
"But Officer, he's our..."
"Execute the order!"
The technical supervisor immediately looked down to operate.
Cecil stood alone before the holographic projection, looking at the bottomless crater. He had a strong premonition that the landscape of this World was about to undergo a cataclysmic change.
And he had to be prepared.
Chapter 265: The Time Synchronizer
Three days later, the sky split open.
Mark was sitting in the classroom, enduring the hypnotic drone of trigonometry. The teacher at the blackboard was deriving formulas to the screech of chalk, but his thoughts had long since drifted away. The calm, resolute words of that black-haired man echoed repeatedly in his mind.
smart atoms. Unlimited potential. A gift from his mother.
These words had taken root in his heart like mysterious incantations. He desperately wanted to grab his father and demand answers, but every time the words reached his lips, the memory of that night would strangle them in his throat. The fleeting coldness and scrutiny in his father's eyes—it wasn't the look a father gives his son, more like he was appraising a weapon. That gaze sent shivers down his spine.
Suddenly, the light outside the window dimmed, as if an eclipse had arrived early.
Mark snapped his head up. In the azure sky, a vicious purple rift had appeared out of thin air, its edges crackling with ominous electricity. The tear resembled the gaping maw of a monster, being violently wrenched open wider and wider by an invisible force from within.
"What is that!"
"The sky is falling!"
Screams instantly pierced the classroom's tranquility. Panic spread like a plague.
Without a moment's hesitation, Mark launched himself from his seat. He was no longer the high school student struggling with math; instinct had taken over. With a deafening crash, he shattered the third-floor window glass, transforming into a blur as he shot towards the sky.
The yellow-and-black uniform materialized over his body during the rapid ascent. He soared like a cannonball, heading straight for the scar on the celestial dome.
The next second, dense swarms of ships poured out from the rift, their numbers at least ten times greater than last time. Each vessel's hull was encased in a shimmering, iridescent blue energy shield, exuding an aura far more sophisticated and dangerous than before.
The Flaxans. They were back, and they had come prepared.
That man's warning exploded in his mind: *Next time, they'll bring weapons specifically designed for you.*
Mark took a deep breath, pushed his speed to the limit, and charged towards the nearest ship. A fist carrying the force of ten thousand pounds slammed into the blue shield.
"HUM—!"
The shield shuddered violently, rippling with concentric waves of energy, but it didn't shatter as expected. A tremendous counterforce shot back up his arm, rattling his bones.
Mark's heart sank. Last time, one punch could pierce it; now it held. With a roar, he unleashed a torrent of punches. It wasn't until the third blow that the shield finally shattered with a crisp sound.
The hatch slid open, and over a dozen fully armed Flaxan Soldiers swarmed out. Their armor was bulkier, their weapons upgraded from energy rifles to menacing, large-caliber energy cannons. Most notably, each of them wore a simple, ancient-looking golden ring on their wrist.
No time to think. Mark plunged into the enemy ranks. A fist whistled through the air, caving in one Soldier's chest plate and sending him flying like a broken kite. Simultaneously, three searing energy beams struck Mark squarely in the back.
Excruciating pain!
It wasn't the mosquito-bite annoyance of last time. This felt like being whipped with a red-hot iron rod, the agony penetrating straight to the bone.
Gritting his teeth, he fought through the pain, continuing his assault. But he soon discovered something even more deadly.
During their last encounter, leveraging the difference in time flow between the two Worlds, he was a ghostly blur to the Flaxans, an untraceable afterimage. This time, while the Soldiers' movements were still slower than his, they were no longer static slides. They could react.
Their eyes could track his trajectory!
Mark's heart sank further.
He pushed his speed to the absolute limit, becoming a streaking blur weaving through the enemy formation. Yet, the Soldiers could still roughly follow his rhythm. Their movements were stiff and sluggish, but sufficient to raise their cannons for interception and predictive fire.
The vast difference in time flow... was gone.
His gaze locked onto the golden rings on the Soldiers' wrists. Without a doubt, those were the culprits.
"BOOM!" An energy blast grazed his shoulder and exploded, the shockwave hurling him away. Three Soldiers immediately moved to flank him from different directions, their dark muzzles fixed unerringly on his head.
Mark twisted his body mid-air, dodging the fatal shot in a desperate maneuver, but another shell tore through his thigh.
Blood gushed out, instantly staining a corner of his uniform crimson. This was the first time he had bled this much since becoming a superhero.
More and more ships squeezed out from the rift. The massive fleet almost blotted out the entire sky. Markglanced up, his heart freezing. At least a hundred.
He couldn't fight them all alone.
Where was his father? Where was he?
Mark frantically scanned his surroundings. Finally, high above the clouds, he spotted a familiar, yet distant figure.
Nolan. His father. Omni-Man. He hovered there, arms crossed, gazing down at the battlefield below with an almost indifferent look.
He wasn't intervening.
Why? Mark couldn't understand. The enemy was at their doorstep. The screams of civilians echoed through the city. Why was his father doing nothing?
His thoughts were interrupted by the shriek of incoming fire. Another wave of Soldiers charged forward fearlessly. Mark was forced to fight back, but as his wounds multiplied and blood loss intensified, his movements grew increasingly sluggish.
Just then, a Flaxan officer emerged from the largest flagship. His armor was far more ornate than that of the common Soldiers, and embedded in his chestplate was a fist-sized purple gem, pulsing with a sinister light.
The officer looked down at the bloodied, panting Mark and let out a piercing laugh.
"Earth's Guardian? A half-breed Viltrumite bastard," the officer mocked in broken English. "Your Planet is so weak. Resistance only brings destruction. Surrender now, and we'll make your Death quick."
Mark spat out a mouthful of blood-streaked saliva, his eyes defiant. "You said the same thing last time."
"Last time, we were unprepared," the officer retorted arrogantly, raising his wrist to display the golden ring. "But not this time. 'Time Synchronizer.' A gift specifically for species with a speed advantage like yours. Within this field, your greatest asset is gone."
Mark's heart plummeted to the depths.
Speed was his greatest trump card. Without it, he was left with only superhuman strength and durability. But that brute force seemed so feeble against endless enemies and specialized counter-weapons.
The officer waved his hand dismissively. Over a dozen surrounding Soldiers raised their cannons in unison.
A web of Death woven from energy beams closed in on Mark from all directions. He dodged with all his might, but his body felt leaden. Several beams still pierced through him. The tremendous Impact sent him tumbling through the air like a ragdoll before he crashed heavily onto the roof of a skyscraper.
"CRASH!"
The concrete roof cratered under the Impact. Mark lay in the pit, every muscle and bone screaming in agony. He struggled to stand, but his legs trembled weakly, utterly unresponsive.
The officer slowly descended, hovering above the crater, his eyes regarding Mark like a dying insect.
"Is this all you've got? This is the glory of the Viltrumite Empire? Pathetic and laughable."
Mark gritted his teeth, grinding them to dust. Using his arms, he pushed against the cracked ground, slowly, painfully, trying to rise. "I'm... not done yet."
"You already are," the officer said, raising his hand. A sphere of purple, destructive energy coalesced in his palm. "Goodbye, bastard."
The energy sphere shot forward.
Mark wanted to dodge, but his grievously wounded body refused to obey. He could only watch as that light of Deathrapidly expanded in his pupils.
At the last possible moment, a swift blur of red and blue descended from the sky like a divine scourge, instantly dispersing the purple energy sphere.
Nolan. He had finally acted.
However, he simply hovered between Mark and the officer. He didn't press the attack. Instead, he turned and fixed his deep eyes on his teetering son.
"Get up," Nolan's voice was icy, devoid of any emotion. "Use your own strength."
AI Model: gemini-3.1-flash-lite
Mark froze. "Father... what does this mean?"
Nolan completely ignored the Flaxan officer, his gaze piercing Mark like a sharp sword. "That person said you have infinite potential. Now, prove it to me."
"That person?"
Mark's mind was in chaos. Was his father talking about that black-haired man? Did he know about that person's existence?
The officer's patience ran out, and he gathered another energy ball, even larger than the previous one. "Since you insist on being a spectator, then enjoy the show!"
The energy ball shot toward Mark once again, without any obstruction.
This time, no one came to save him.
Watching the approaching ball of Death light, an unprecedented surge of anger and unwillingness erupted from the deepest part of Mark's heart.
He did not want to die.
He still had so much left to do, so many words left unsaid to his mother, and he still hadn't truly figured out what was happening to him.
He could not die here!
As if in response to his will, something inside his body was ignited. Countless tiny sparks burned fiercely in his blood vessels, and every cell was screaming, tearing, and craving... evolution!
smart atoms!
That man had said this was the source of a Viltrumite's power. Under extreme pressure near Death, these atoms would divide frantically, undergoing super-speed evolution.
Mark didn't know if this was true or not, but right now, it was his only hope.
He closed his eyes, no longer suppressing or resisting that heart-wrenching agitation, but instead actively opened his arms and embraced it.
In an instant, a pain a hundred times worse than any he had felt before swept through his entire body. He felt his bones breaking inch by inch, his muscles tearing fiber by fiber, and his internal organs seemingly crushed and reassembled by an invisible hand.
But amidst this extreme pain, an unprecedented, vast, and mighty power was surging forth from every newly born cell!
The energy ball hit him precisely.
A deafening explosion swallowed everything, and billowing smoke enveloped the entire rooftop.
"It's over," the officer declared triumphantly.
The next second, his smile froze on his face.
The smoke and dust slowly cleared, and a figure was still standing in the center of the explosion.
Mark's uniform was tattered, but the gruesome wounds on his body were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye. His eyes burned with brilliant golden light, and a suffocating pressure, far exceeding what he had before, emanated from him.
"Impossible..." the officer subconsciously took a step back.
Mark didn't speak, just slowly raised his fist.
The next instant, he vanished.
The officer's pupils constricted sharply, and before he could even react, a fist burning with golden light had landed solidly on his chest plate.
"Crack—!"
The magnificent armor shattered upon Impact, and that purple gem exploded into crystals filling the sky. The officer's body, like a cannonball fired from a chamber, flew backward at ten times the speed he had arrived, crashing through three massive warships before turning into a burst of fireworks in space.
All the surrounding Flaxan Soldiers were stunned.
Mark slowly turned his head, his golden-burning eyes sweeping over them.
"Who's next?"
The icy voice made these battle-hardened alien Soldiers feel a fear from the depths of their Soul. They began to retreat, wanting to escape this monster that had just completed its transformation.
But it was too late. Mark turned into a streak of golden lightning and charged into the enemy crowd, each punch precisely taking a Life. His movements were extremely fast; even with the time synchronizer, these Soldiers could not see his movements at all.
High in the sky, Nolan's eyes narrowed slightly.
Mark's strength was indeed skyrocketing, but this speed... it was too abnormal. For a young Viltrumite to reach this level of explosive evolution, it usually required decades or even centuries of combat and tempering.
Mark had done it in just a few minutes.
There must be a hand pushing him from behind.
Nolan's gaze swept sharply across the entire battlefield, trying to find the potentially existing You-Know-Who. However, there was nothing. The opponent's presence was hidden flawlessly, as if they had never existed.
This set off alarm bells in his heart. An existence capable of perfectly hiding their figure in front of him—their strength... was far above his own.
On the battlefield, Mark had already cleared out all the Soldiers on the rooftop and the nearby airspace. But when he looked up, the hundreds of spaceships in the sky remained an insurmountable barrier, with new enemies being released continuously.
He alone still couldn't finish them off.
Just then, the largest Flaxan flagship in the sky suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.
On the ship's sturdy metal hull, fine cracks appeared without warning, as if being torn from the inside by an invisible force. The cracks spread and expanded rapidly, and the entire ship began to shake violently.
Then, it began to "age."
The brand-new metal hull quickly rusted, corroded, and disintegrated, as if it had been accelerated through thousands of years in the river of time. In just a few seconds, this majestic flagship turned into a pile of metal dust and scrap floating in the air.
This eerie scene spread through the entire fleet like a plague. Ship after ship began to show the same symptoms, turning into the dust of the Universe amidst desperate wails.
The Flaxans fell into complete panic, frantically piloting their ships in an attempt to escape back to that Spatial Rift. But that purple Spatial Rift was shrinking faster than they could flee, and it soon closed completely, cutting off their last route of retreat.
The alien invaders, having lost their retreat, fell into complete chaos. Mark seized the opportunity and launched a final charge, clearing out the remaining enemies one by one.
When the last ship turned into scrap metal, the battle ended.
Mark hovered in the silent air, panting heavily. A dull pain from the reassembly still radiated from deep within his body, but the sense of fulfillment brought by that newfound power made him stronger than ever before.
He had become stronger. Truly.
Nolan slowly flew to his side, examining him with a complex gaze.
"You did it."
Mark met his gaze and nodded. "Yes."
"What that person said was true." Nolan's voice was very low, devoid of joy or anger. "You... truly possess infinite potential."
Mark fell silent.
He keenly sensed that there was not a hint of pride or relief in his father's tone, only an indescribable... scrutiny, and even a trace of deep-seated wariness.
...
Deep in the dimensional rift, Chu Hang withdrew his gaze.
In his hand, a fist-sized golden ring was floating—it was the time synchronizer he had just casually taken from the remains of the Flaxan officer.
Interesting.
Although this technology was crude, its core principle—creating a local time force field to forcibly synchronize the time flow of all matter within the field to the same frequency—was highly valuable as a reference. If this principle were applied in reverse, one could easily create fields of time acceleration or deceleration.
For Chu Hang, who was perfecting his own Law of Time, this was excellent research material.
He casually put the ring into his space pouch, and his gaze turned once again toward the distant Earth.
That child, Mark's evolution speed was even faster than expected. The explosive power of smart atoms in a near-Death state was truly astonishing.
And Omni-Man Nolan had finally revealed his cold, true face. Choosing to stand by and watch, forcing his son to erupt between Life and Death, was enough to show that his fatherly love for Mark was far less pure than it appeared on the surface. Or rather, in his heart, Mark's "value" was far more important than "familial affection."
A playful curve appeared at the corners of Chu Hang's mouth.
This Universe was becoming more and more interesting.
He turned around, his figure blending into the bizarre and colorful dimensional background.
The next step was to go meet that person in charge of the Global Defense Agency, Cecil Stedman. Presumably, the information he wanted was already prepared.
Chapter 266: Failed Transaction
"Who else?"
The cold voice filled these battle-hardened Alien Soldiers with fear that reached their very Soul. They began to retreat, desperate to escape the monster that had just completed its transformation.
But it was too late. Mark turned into a streak of golden lightning, charging into the enemy ranks, each punch precisely claiming a Life. His movements were incredibly fast; even with the Time Synchronizer, these Soldiers couldn't track his actions at all.
High in the sky, Nolan narrowed his eyes.
Mark's strength was indeed skyrocketing, but this speed... it was too abnormal. For a young Viltrumite to achieve this level of explosive evolution, it usually required decades or even centuries of combat and tempering.
Mark had done it in just a few minutes.
There must be a hand pushing him from behind.
Nolan's gaze swept sharply across the battlefield, attempting to find the potentially present You-Know-Who. However, there was nothing. The other party's aura was hidden flawlessly, as if they had never existed.
This set off alarm bells in his heart. An existence capable of hiding its presence perfectly in front of him... its strength was far superior to his own.
On the battlefield, Mark had already cleared all the Soldiers on the rooftops and in the nearby airspace. But as he looked up, the hundreds of starships in the sky remained an insurmountable barrier, with new enemies being released continuously.
He was only one person; he still couldn't finish them off.
Just then, the largest Flaxan flagship in the sky suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.
On the ship's sturdy metal hull, fine cracks appeared without warning, as if torn from within by an invisible force. The cracks spread and widened rapidly, and the entire ship began to shake violently.
Then, it began to age.
The brand-new metal hull rapidly rusted, corroded, and disintegrated, as if it had been accelerated through thousands of years in the river of time. In just a few seconds, this majestic flagship turned into a pile of floating metal dust and scrap iron.
This eerie scene spread through the entire fleet like a plague. One ship after another began to exhibit the same symptoms, turning into the dust of the Universe amidst desperate wails.
The Flaxans fell into complete panic, frantically piloting their ships in an attempt to escape back into that Spatial Rift. But that purple rift was shrinking faster than they could flee, and it soon closed completely, cutting off their last retreat.
Deprived of their retreat, the Alien invaders fell into total chaos. Mark seized the opportunity and launched a final charge, clearing out the remaining enemies one by one.
When the last ship turned into scrap metal, the battle ended.
Mark hovered in the silent air, panting heavily. The dull pain from his body's reorganization still lingered deep within, but the sense of fulfillment brought by this newfound power made him stronger than ever before.
He had become stronger. Truly.
Nolan slowly flew to his side, examining him with a complex gaze.
"You did it."
Mark met his gaze and nodded. "Yes."
"What that person said is true." Nolan's voice was very low, devoid of any discernible joy or anger, "You... truly possess infinite potential."
Mark fell silent.
He keenly sensed that his father's tone held not a trace of pride or relief, but rather an indescribable... scrutiny, and perhaps even a hint of deeply hidden apprehension.
Deep within the interdimensional gap, Chu Hang withdrew his gaze.
In his hand, a fist-sized golden ring was floating—it was the Time Synchronizer he had just casually taken from the remains of the Flaxan officer.
Interesting.
Although this technology was crude, its core principle—creating a localized time force field to forcibly synchronize the time flow rate of all matter within the field to the same frequency—was of great reference value. If this principle were applied in reverse, one could easily create fields of time acceleration or deceleration.
For Chu Hang, who was perfecting his own Law of Time, this was excellent research material.
He casually stored the ring into his spatial stomach pouch and cast his gaze back toward the distant Earth.
That child, Mark's evolution speed was faster than expected. The explosive power of the smart atoms in a near-death state was truly astonishing.
And Omni-Man Nolan had finally revealed his cold, true colors. Choosing to stand by and watch, forcing his son to break through between Life and death—this was enough to show that his fatherly affection for Mark was far from as pure as it appeared on the surface. Or rather, in his heart, Mark's "value" was far more important than "family affection."
A playful arc curled at the corners of Chu Hang's mouth.
This Universe was getting more and more interesting.
He turned around, and his figure merged into the bizarre, kaleidoscopic dimensional background.
The next step was to meet that head of the Global Defense Agency, Cecil Stedman. Presumably, the information he wanted was already prepared.
Three hundred meters beneath Washington.
Cecil Stedman held a silver hard drive, having waited in the command center for two hours.
As the highest-ranking official of the Global Defense Agency, he had seen enough strange things. Aliens, mutants, crazy Supermen—he was long past being surprised. But now, his back was sweating.
Three days ago, that black-haired man appeared like a ghost, revealed the truth about Omni-Man being beaten into the Earth's core, and proposed a deal—using Sinclair's research data in exchange for him intervening when Omni-Man lost control.
Cecil agreed.
Not because of trust, but because he had no choice.
The air suddenly thickened.
Cecil's breathing hitched; that feeling of being watched returned. He turned around abruptly.
Chu Hang was standing three meters away, hands in his pockets, looking as calm and composed as if he were just visiting.
No alarms, no sensor reactions; the person had just appeared out of thin air.
"Is the stuff ready?" Chu Hang asked.
Cecil held up the hard drive: "All the data for the Sinclairproject, twenty years of research notes, experimental data, technical parameters. This is the Global Defense Agency's highest-level secret."
Chu Hang took it and weighed it.
"Where is Sinclair himself?"
"You want to see him?"
"The data is too slow." Chu Hang tossed the hard drive back, "I prefer to ask directly."
Cecil frowned: "Sinclair is in the B-Zone laboratory, which is a top-secret area—"
Before he could finish, Chu Hang vanished.
"Alarm! Intrusion in B-Zone!"
Piercing alarms blared throughout the Base.
Cecil grabbed the communicator: "Everyone stand down! Repeat, stand down!"
B-Zone Laboratory.
Sinclair was examining the corpse on the operating table.
The chest cavity had been opened, filled with mechanical parts and electronic components, like an old radio that had been taken apart.
"The neural conduction efficiency is still too low." Sinclairpushed up his glasses, "Increase the voltage by another 15%—"
A hand suddenly rested on his shoulder.
Sinclair froze.
He hadn't heard footsteps or the sound of a door opening, but that hand was unmistakably on his shoulder.
"Don't move."
A calm voice sounded in his ear.
A vast power instantly surged into his brain, like a pair of invisible hands flipping through a book, and that book was his memory.
He wanted to resist, wanted to scream, but his body wouldn't obey him at all.
Three seconds later, the hand released him.
Chu Hang took a step back, his expression shifting from anticipation to disappointment, and finally into disdain.
"Is that it?"
He looked at the messily modified corpse on the operating table, then at the contents of Sinclair's mind, and shook his head.
"Electrical stimulation of nerves, mechanical skeletons replacing muscles, chips simulating brain commands..."
Chu Hang's tone carried mockery, "This isn't resurrection; this is puppeteering."
Sinclair regained control, stumbling back to lean against the wall, his face pale as paper.
"Who are you? How did you get in?"
Chu Hang ignored him. He walked to the operating table, looking down at the corpse. The corpse's eyes were open, pupils murky, slowly rotating under mechanical drive.
"What is Life?" Chu Hang muttered to himself, "Cell division? Neural conduction? Or the Soul?"
He extended a finger and lightly tapped the corpse's forehead.
A golden light flashed.
Sinclair's eyes widened—all the mechanical parts inside the corpse were rapidly decomposing. Metal turned into powder, wires turned into ash, and chips shattered into invisible particles.
In less than two seconds.
The golden light dissipated, leaving only a clean, bare corpse on the operating table.
"Your technology."
Chu Hang turned to look at Sinclair, "Can only create walking corpses; you can't even touch the source of Life. To me, it's all trash."
The door was slammed open.
Cecil rushed in with fully armed Soldiers, countless gun barrels aimed at Chu Hang.
But after seeing the corpse on the operating table, Cecil's expression changed instantly.
That was the core achievement of the Sinclair project.
A resurrected prototype created over twenty years at a cost of billions of dollars, with combat power sufficient to go head-to-head with ordinary super-powered beings, it was one of the Global Defense Agency's trump cards for countering out-of-control Supermen.
Now, in two seconds, it had turned back into an ordinary corpse.
"Who on Earth are you?" Sinclair found his voice.
Chu Hang still ignored him, turning instead to Cecil.
"I don't want the data anymore."
"Why?"
"Because this thing." Chu Hang pointed at the corpse, "Is trash."
Sinclair's face flushed red, but he couldn't say a word.
"Your technology can only manipulate dead flesh; it can't touch the source of Life. Electrical stimulation of nerves, mechanical replacement of muscles, chips imitating the brain—it's all superficial."
Chu Hang walked up to Cecil, looking down at him.
"Do you know what Life is?"
Cecil did not answer.
"Life is not a pile of cells, not a combination of organs, and certainly not something that can be replaced with mechanical parts."
A faint light flashed in Chu Hang's eyes, "Life is a Law, a concept, an existence that transcends matter."
"Your technology hasn't even touched the threshold."
Cecil was silent for a long time.
"Then what do you want?"
"I need a smarter brain." Chu Hang said, "One that can understand the essence of Life, not one that just tinkers with mechanical parts."
"You mean..."
"Robot."
Chu Hang interrupted him, "The one in the Teen Titans. I know he isn't a real robot, just a special existence hiding inside a mechanical shell."
Cecil's pupils contracted sharply.
Robot's true identity was the Global Defense Agency's highest secret; how did this person know?
"You don't need to know how I know."
Chu Hang saw through his thoughts, "You just need to tell me where he is."
Cecil hesitated for a moment, then finally spoke:
"The Teen Titans headquarters, in..."
Chu Hang nodded after listening.
"Good."
His figure began to blur, like a drop of ink dissolving into water, gradually fading away.
"Wait!" Cecil shouted, "Our deal..."
"The deal is valid."
The voice came from the void, "I will intervene when Omni-Man loses control. But before that, don't bother me."
He disappeared completely.
The laboratory fell into dead silence.
Sinclair slumped on the floor, his face ashen. Twenty years of hard work, completely negated by the word "trash."
Cecil stood where he was, his eyes deep.
Was this person an enemy or a friend?
At the Grayson family dinner table, the atmosphere was oppressive.
Debbie served the roast meat, trying to ease the tension with food. But Nolan just chewed mechanically, his eyes hollow.
Mark sat opposite him, wanting to say something but hesitating.
"Dad." Mark finally summoned the courage, "Is the smart atoms that person talked about real?"
Nolan stopped chewing.
"What smart atoms?"
"It's... he said my power comes from some kind of atoms in my body, with infinite potential, because of Mom's genes."
Nolan put down his knife and fork, looking at his son.
"Mark, don't believe the words of strangers. That person is using you; he wants you to doubt me."
"I..." Mark wanted to refute, but couldn't find a reason.
"Your power is indeed very strong, but it's not because of any atoms; it's because you are my son. The Viltrumitebloodline itself represents power."
Mark fell silent.
Looking at his father's familiar yet strange face, an indescribable emotion welled up in his heart.
Chapter 267: smart atoms Reconstruction
The Teen Titans Base was hidden in an abandoned industrial zone on the outskirts of the city, where several weathered factory buildings served as its best disguise.
Chu Hang's figure coalesced before the alloy gate, and he calmly surveyed the fortifications before him. Infrared, thermal imaging, and biometric identification systems wove an invisible net, while energy cannons hidden on both sides of the doorframe flickered with a dangerous, eerie light. Clearly, this place did not welcome any uninvited guests.
A piercing alarm shattered the silence, and red lights flashed frantically.
He paid no heed and stepped forward.
His body seemed to merge with the air, passing through the heavy alloy gate without the slightest obstruction.
Rapid footsteps echoed from deep within the corridor as a young team quickly arrived.
Leading them was a blonde youth in a red skintight combat suit, his hands burning with orange-red energy, skillfully holding several coins between his fingers that radiated a scorching heat, ready to explode.
Rex, codenamed "Blast."
Following closely behind was a red-haired girl, her pink combat suit accentuating her shapely figure, surrounded by a soft pink halo.
Atom Eve.
As for the others, Chu Hang did not know them, nor did he need to.
"Who are you? How did you break in?" Rex demanded sharply, assuming a standard combat stance.
Chu Hang's footsteps did not falter in the slightest, and he didn't even spare them a glance, merely uttering two words with indifference:
"Move aside."
Rex's face flushed red instantly. As a member of the Teen Titans, he had never been ignored like this. With a flick of his wrist, three coins enveloped in energy transformed into three lethal streaks of light, whistling toward Chu Hang's head, chest, and lower abdomen.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Violent explosions detonated one after another in the narrow corridor, and the flames and shockwaves swallowed Chu Hang's figure.
"Death-seeking fool." A cold sneer curled the corner of Rex's mouth; to him, the battle was already over.
However, as the smoke cleared, Chu Hang was still standing in place, his posture upright, his clothes undisturbed, as if the explosion just now had been nothing more than an illusion. Those violent energies had been completely absorbed by his body, causing not a single bit of harm.
"I said, move aside." His voice remained calm, yet carried an unquestionable pressure.
The smile on Rex's face froze, replaced by incredulous horror. He felt a chill shoot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head; his legs actually went weak, and fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his forehead.
"Wait! We can talk about this!" Seeing the situation was dire, Eve immediately stepped forward, pushing her hands out horizontally. Pink energy surged and wove together in front of her, constructing a thick metal wall out of thin air in an attempt to block Chu Hang's path.
"Matter reconstruction, huh… interesting." Chu Hang finally stopped, his gaze falling on Eve with a hint of scrutiny.
He extended a finger and tapped it lightly against the metal wall.
There was no loud noise, no Impact. That sturdy wall seemed to be reverse-analyzed by an invisible force, disintegrating from the molecular level, rapidly decomposing into the most basic particles and returning to the air.
"How is this possible…" Eve's face turned deathly pale; her ability, which she took such pride in, was so vulnerable before him.
Chu Hang walked past the two dispirited figures, his gaze cast toward the end of the corridor.
A two-meter-tall silver-gray robot stood silently there, its precision metal body gleaming with a cold light, and eerie blue energy indicator lights flickering at its joints.
Robot, the most mysterious member of the Teen Titans.
However, under the scan of Chu Hang's powerful Spirit, no secret could remain hidden. He had long since "seen" that in a high-security laboratory on the third basement level of this Base, a deformed body was soaking in a Life-support tank.
That was the main body of "Robot" — Rudy Conners. A genius whose body was imprisoned by genetic defects, yet who possessed top-tier intelligence.
The robot stepped forward, the energy emitter in its palm lighting up. "Intruder, please cease your actions immediately, otherwise—"
"Rudy, stop talking to me with this tin can." Chu Hangspoke, his words cutting off the other's programmed warning.
The robot's movements stalled for 0.3 seconds, a highly unusual delay for a precision machine.
"I know your main body is on the third basement level," Chu Hang's tone was as calm as if stating a fact, "The you in that Life-support tank has severe genetic defects, but your brain is undoubtedly one of the top masterpieces of this era."
The corridor instantly fell into a deathly silence. Rex and Eve gaped in shock, unable to believe the secret they had just heard.
"…Who are you?" The robot's synthesized voice finally carried a trace of distinct fluctuation, no longer an emotionless electronic sound. "How… how could you know?"
"Who I am is not important." Chu Hang continued forward, brushing past the robot. "I need your knowledge."
The robot was silent for several seconds, its internal processors performing ultra-high-speed calculations far beyond anything before. "What do you want?"
"To see the real you, we will talk face-to-face."
"Impossible. My physical condition does not allow me to…"
"I can cure you."
This single sentence, like a thunderbolt, caused the robot to freeze completely.
After a long three seconds.
"…Follow me." The robot turned and mechanically led the way.
Chu Hang stepped forward to follow.
"Wait!" Eve couldn't help but shout.
Rex also forced himself to reignite the orange-red light in his hands. "Who do you think you are? What do you want to do to Rudy?"
Chu Hang turned his head and merely glanced at him.
That glance was as deep as the Universe, containing unimaginable pressure. Rex felt his whole body tremble, his fighting Spirit instantly collapsing, and the coins in his hands dropped to the ground with a clatter.
"Kid, a piece of advice." Chu Hang's voice was very soft, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears. "There are some people you cannot afford to offend. And there are some people you should not even try to understand."
* * * Third basement level.
The air was filled with the unique smell of a mixture of disinfectant and nutrient solution. The cold metal walls were covered with complex pipelines and monitors with blinking red lights.
In the center of the room was a huge cylindrical glass tank with a diameter of two meters, and in the pale green Life-support liquid floated a "person."
More accurately, it was a deformed body cursed by fate.
His body was pathetically thin and small, his limbs withered and twisted, and his spine bent at an unnatural angle. His skin was pale to the point of transparency, and the network of blue-purple veins under his skin could be clearly seen. In stark contrast to this broken body was a massive head.
At this moment, those huge eyes were staring at Chu Hangthrough the glass and liquid, without blinking. There was no fear in his eyes, no anger, only a kind of nearly insane, pure thirst for knowledge and caution.
"How did you know?" A hoarse and weary voice came from the speaker, belonging to Rudy Conners himself.
Chu Hang walked to the glass tank and calmly met his gaze. "I can perceive Life forms. There are no Life signals in your mechanical body, only highly complex neural signal transmissions. I simply followed the source of the signals and found this place."
Rudy was silent for a moment, digesting this explanation that defied common sense. "Your perception ability… exceeds the scope of my understanding."
"Your brain is the same," Chu Hang said, looking at Rudy's head. "It is exceptionally developed, with neuron density and activity far exceeding that of an ordinary person by more than three times. No wonder you can design and remotely control such precise mechanical prosthetics."
A flash of surprise passed through Rudy's eyes, immediately turning into vigilance. "You can even'see' these things? What exactly do you want from me? Don't fob me off with empty promises like 'curing me'; I need a reason."
"I need your knowledge," Chu Hang went straight to the point. "Everything about biological genetic engineering. I know you have never given up on repairing your own body, and the depth of your research far exceeds any information publicly available in this World."
Rudy's eyes became complex. "You want to modify yourself?"
"No," Chu Hang shook his head, his tone becoming incomparably solemn. "It is reconstruction."
He extended his right hand, and a wisp of pale golden light appeared and danced in his palm. Merely one ten-thousandth of a strand of the Phoenix Force that leaked out caused the energy detectors in the entire laboratory to instantly go off the charts.
"There is a power within me, a power that is too strong. My body… cannot contain it."
Rudy's gaze was nailed to that wisp of golden light, his eyes filled with a scientist's fanaticism and obsession. "What is this energy? I have never seen such… pure and… violent energy fluctuations."
"You don't need to know what it is," Chu Hang withdrew his hand, the light fading. "You only need to tell me, on the premise of not changing this body, is it possible to completely change the structure and characteristics of cells from the most fundamental level—the genetic level, or even the atomic level?"
Rudy fell into deep thought, his huge head trembling slightly. As a top-tier scientist, he immediately understood the core of Chu Hang's question.
"Theoretically… it is feasible." He spoke slowly, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "The structure of human cells is determined by genetic coding, and the essence of genes is a set of incredibly complex information instructions. If you can rewrite this set of instructions, you can change all the characteristics of the cells. But this requires unimaginably precise operations at the atomic and quantum levels; any tiny error could lead to a chain reaction of cell collapse throughout the body, turning it into a puddle of primitive organic matter."
Chu Hang's eyes lit up. This "theoretically feasible" was exactly what he wanted.
He stepped forward and pressed his right hand against the Life-support tank, separated by the cold glass.
Rudy's body shuddered violently, alarm bells ringing in his consciousness: "What are you doing?!"
"Borrowing your knowledge to verify my idea."
Chu Hang closed his eyes, his vast Spirit transforming into an invisible torrent that penetrated the glass, ignoring the obstruction of the liquid, and directly touched Rudy's consciousness core.
[Target ability detected: Biological Genetic Engineering Mastery. Rating: S-Rank. Copy?]
[Copy.]
In the next instant, a torrent of information like a cosmic big bang flooded into Chu Hang's brain.
The interpretation and compilation of genetic sequences, the principles of cell structure modification, the ultra-complex folding laws of proteins, the construction and optimization of neural networks… countless profound formulas, massive amounts of data, and the experimental records accumulated over Rudy's entire Life came rushing in like a dam bursting.
Chu Hang's brain operated at an unprecedented speed, digesting, integrating, deducing, and reorganizing.
Then, he "saw" it.
He saw the Viltrumite cell structure copied from Nolan. The core of those cells was not the form that carbon-based organisms should have, but a special substance he had previously been unable to understand—smart atoms.
This atom possessed astonishing self-replication and repair capabilities, forming the foundation of the Viltrumite's powerful body.
And now, with the support of Rudy's S-Rank genetic engineering knowledge, Chu Hang understood a deeper mystery.
smart atoms were not just mere matter; they were more like programmable, atomic-level nanomachines! Each atom carried and executed specific genetic instructions, determining its function and behavioral mode.
The smart atoms in Nolan's body had been programmed by the Viltrumite civilization for extreme "physical defense"—strengthening muscle density, increasing bone hardness, and accelerating metabolism and healing.
But… what if he rewrote the instructions for these atoms?
Chu Hang's speed of thought exceeded light. A brand new, crazy, and great concept rapidly took shape in his mind.
Not physical defense, but "energy containment."
Reprogram every single smart atom into a miniature energy container. Let them learn to absorb, store, transform, and stabilize that wildly incomparable Phoenix Force.
Do not change the body, but upgrade the body's underlying architecture.
Transform this Viltrumite physical body into a… divine vessel capable of containing cosmic-level energy.
Chu Hang slowly opened his eyes, and a confident smile curled at the corners of his mouth.
"Thank you, Rudy."
Rudy's face was deathly pale, the mental exhaustion making him almost faint. The instantaneous knowledge theft just now made him feel as if a part of his Soul had been hollowed out. "Who… who exactly… are you?"
"A passerby." Chu Hang turned to leave. "In exchange, this gift might allow you to escape this glass tank."
He stopped and looked back.
"Alchemy Law. A knowledge system capable of reconstructing matter at the molecular level. If you are smart enough, repairing your own body, or even creating a brand new perfect body, is not impossible."
As his voice fell, he raised a finger, and a beam of pure golden light shot from his fingertip, penetrating the glass and entering the center of Rudy's forehead. It was the fundamental theory of the Alchemy Law he had obtained from The Black Robe Universe, a generous gift sufficient to overturn the technology tree of this World.
"Wait!" Rudy endured the mental shock and shouted eagerly, "Tell me your name!"
Chu Hang's figure had already begun to become blurred and transparent.
In the next second, he had already vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a faint echo.
"You can call me… Prometheus."
…Leaving the Teen Titans Base, Chu Hang did not return to the city, but turned into a stream of light, shooting straight into the sky, finally hovering over the Pacific Ocean at 30,000 feet.
Above the sea of clouds, he closed his eyes and began to organize his recent gains.
smart atoms, the source of Viltrumite power, are essentially programmable, atomic-level nanomachines. Nolan's atoms were set to "physical mode," hence they were indestructible.
But Chu Hang did not need stronger physical defense.
What he needed was energy mode.
The Phoenix Force was too violent; using ordinary cells to contain it was no different than using a glass cup to hold the core of the Sun. But what if the container itself was composed of countless miniature Suns?
The train of thought was already incomparably clear: do not change the body, upgrade the body. Rewrite the underlying instructions of the smart atoms, allowing all seven hundred quintillion smart atoms in his body to transform from physical defense units into energy containment units.
The theory was flawless.
But in actual operation, he faced a huge problem.
Rewriting atomic instructions required an unimaginably large amount of startup energy. Moreover, this process had to be completed in one go and must never be interrupted. Once interrupted, those half-rewritten atoms would instantly become unstable, and his entire body would begin to collapse from the most microscopic level, turning into cosmic dust.
Although it was an avatar, once it dissipated, it would inevitably disturb the main body's secluded meditation.
Chu Hang used his newly acquired knowledge to rapidly estimate.
The energy required to complete the reconstruction of all smart atoms in his body was approximately equal to the total energy released by a medium-mass star burning for one hundred years.
He frowned slightly.
All his current energy reserves—the cosmic energy from his Binary Form, the solar energy absorbed by his Kryptonian Physiology, and the remaining Phoenix Forcewithin his body—added together, were merely a drop in the bucket.
He must find an energy source that was vast to the point of being nearly infinite.
Chu Hang opened his eyes, his gaze seemingly piercing through the atmosphere, looking toward the deep Universe.
In this Universe, what could provide such vast energy?
Directly absorb a star? Too slow; he couldn't possibly stay in the core of a star for one hundred years. Infinity Stones? This Universe didn't seem to have any trace of them.
Then… what else is there?