Jonathan's words brought Zod's thoughts back. Looking at Clark in his arms, he calmly said,
"I will take him for a while, because he carries the hope of all Krypton. We want to rebuild Krypton, and he is the key."
Hearing this, Jonathan and Martha immediately became nervous.
Martha was even more agitated: "No, you can't hurt him, he's just a child."
"Mrs. Kent, I think you've misunderstood. I won't hurt him. I just need to retrieve something from him, something his father placed inside his body before Krypton's destruction, something that concerns Krypton's fate."
Zod's explanation did not dispel the couple's suspicions.
Jonathan also spoke up at this point: "What is this thing you're talking about? Are you sure it won't harm Clark's body?"
"Sorry, it concerns Krypton's highest secret, I cannot tell you. However, I can guarantee that he will be fine. Once we retrieve that item, I will return him to you."
"Can we stay with Clark?"
"Sorry, for some matters, the less you know, the better. This is for your own good."
Hearing Zod's refusal, expressions of disappointment appeared on their faces.
Martha wanted to say something more, but Jonathan stopped her with a hand. He understood the meaning behind Zod's words.
Zod was about to leave, but as if he suddenly thought of something, he then looked at Jonathan and said,
"Oh, Mr. Jonathan, the key to the spaceship that brought Kal to Earth should be in your hands, right? Could you temporarily give it to me as well?"
Zod knew that within that key was a fragment of Jor-El's consciousness. Although not truly him, it possessed all of his memories, knowledge, and even emotions.
He was somewhat eager to see what his old friend thought about seeing him again so soon!
Moreover, the more important reason was that the Kryptonian colonization ship that crashed in the Arctic on Earth belonged to the House of El.
"Mr. Zod, please wait a moment, I'll go get it for you right away!"
Seeing that Zod had proactively brought up the key, Jonathan couldn't pretend not to know.
He walked back into the room and soon emerged with a small wooden box. Upon opening it, a black key, like a pendant, appeared before Zod's eyes.
It was crafted from special Kryptonian material, and the House of El's crest was engraved on the key.
"Thank you, Mr. Jonathan. I will return Kal as soon as possible."
With that, Zod turned and left, and the couple immediately followed.
However, as Zod carried Clark out the door, his body immediately shot into the sky, and in a flash, after a few sonic booms, he completely vanished from their sight.
Seeing this scene, the couple were both stunned into silence for a long time. After a while, Martha anxiously asked, "Jonathan, Clark will be fine, right?"
"Don't worry, they are Clark's people. They shouldn't hurt him. Otherwise, with their power, there would be no need to say so much to us."
Jonathan tightly held his wife's hand and embraced her to comfort her. Although his own heart was also in turmoil, at this moment, he could only try his best to soothe his wife's emotions... When Zod found Fiora and the others with the future Little Superman in his arms, they had already extracted the original colonization ship from the glacier.
Fiora saw Clark in Zod's arms, walked over and asked, "General, is this Jor-El's child? Is the codex in him?"
"Indeed, Jor-El placed the hope of all Krypton on him, and similarly wanted him to become the hope of this world."
"Leto, take him for a full body examination. Find a way to extract the codex from his body. Remember not to harm him."
Saying this, Zod handed Clark to Leto, who had been staring at him intently.
"Yes, General!"
After taking Clark, Leto returned to their spaceship, while Zod walked towards the House of El's ship.
Upon entering, the ship's butler-guard robots immediately sensed his presence and flew over, but they did not attack.
Walking to the control panel, Zod inserted the key he held.
Instantly, the entire ship was activated, and a figure appeared in front.
"Jor-El!"
The moment Fiora saw him, her body instinctively reacted, appearing before his projection in the blink of an eye. Only when she reached out to grab him did she realize it was merely a consciousness projection.
Zod slowly stepped forward, speaking with a peculiar tone in his voice: "Old friend, I didn't expect us to meet again in this way."
Although what stood before him was merely a projection, it carried everything of Jor-El, including some emotions.
Seeing Zod, Jor-El's eyes were somewhat complex. After a long silence, he sighed softly and spoke: "I didn't expect you to find Earth so quickly. Where is Kal? Don't hurt him."
"Look, what great paternal love. For him, you could personally watch your planet be destroyed, watch your former compatriots and friends all die."
"Then, you even stole Krypton's most precious treasure just to fulfill him. What, do you want him to become a god overlooking humanity in this world with a yellow sun?"
"If you had chosen to cooperate with me back then, allowing us to completely overthrow those foolish and corrupt fellows, Krypton might not have met its current fate."
"So, everyone else died, why should he be allowed to live? Is it just because he is your son?"
Zod's words were spoken on behalf of his original self, as Jor-El's actions were seen as treason by Kryptonians.
As for himself, he had no feelings for the original Krypton whatsoever; its destruction or survival mattered not at all to him.
Even if it hadn't been destroyed, he would never have allowed the foolish old men of the Elders' Council to suppress him.
"Zod, we were all wrong. It's useless to say anything now. Krypton is already destroyed. You are all Krypton's last hope. For the sake of our past friendship, please do not harm him."
Jor-El also remained silent for a long time after hearing Zod's words before speaking again.
Now, he was merely a consciousness projection, unable to do anything but repeatedly plead with Zod to spare his child.
"Heh! I don't have a habit of taking out my anger on children. You're right about one thing, we are indeed Krypton's last hope, but not for much longer!"
Jor-El relaxed slightly upon hearing the first half of Zod's sentence, but the latter half made him wary.
His tone was somewhat urgent: "Zod, what do you intend to do?"
Zod said as a matter of course: "Of course, to rebuild Krypton! Otherwise, you wouldn't think I traveled tens of light-years to Earth just to reminisce, would you!"
"No, Zod, you cannot do this. Our civilization has already made one mistake. You cannot rebuild a destroyed Krypton by destroying another planet."
Jor-El's consciousness projection stood before Zod, just as they had argued countless times in the past due to differing ideologies.
Facing such a scene, Fiora instinctively moved a little further away.