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Chapter 281 Doomsday Spores
Chapter 281 Doomsday Spores
Looking into Joey's eyes, Kara, who wanted to say something more, ultimately couldn't bring herself to speak.
Based on her worldview, she, who firmly believed in "Kryptonian supremacy," could easily say that there was no need to care about the primitive people of this unknown universe, but she knew that Kal'el's ideology was completely different from her own.
He was determined to get involved in a conflict that didn't belong to him.
This may also be an important reason why he accelerated the triggering of the Doomsday evolution mechanism. Where there is struggle, there will be death. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change, and it may just pry open the originally very stable gene lock.
Although Kara's guess was completely wrong in terms of the process, at least the cause was correct.
If he hadn't gotten involved in some troublesome matters, and without the power of the Giants of Light and the catalyst of the Ultimate Eraser, perhaps the Doomsday gene within Joey would have existed stably as a unique trait, coexisting with him.
But that's not Joey's style.
"These dozen or so mutants might be the only humans left in the world right now. Should I just pack up and leave them to die?"
Ever since his hands were first stained with blood, Joey has played his part whenever he is needed in every world.
He may not be a perfect Boy Scout like Clark Kent, but at least he's shouldering the responsibilities of Superman in his own way. While wielding divine power with his own morality is certainly unsettling, after witnessing so many flawed aspects of the world, Joey even feels he's doing alright. "You know absolutely nothing!"
Just like Fiora before her, a Kryptonian Sunstone Crystal popped out of her gauntlet, and Kara prepared to forcefully open a portal and leave with Joey.
With a snap, Joey, quick as a flash, reached out and seized the other party's teleportation device along with it.
"Don't mess around, the spacetime here is already chaotic enough!"
Not to mention that the flow of time is different on both sides. Kara can't distinguish the differences between different universes, but that doesn't mean Joey doesn't.
Once the two are pulled into Krypton in the Flashpoint universe, all of Joey's plans on this side will be rendered useless.
"you-!
Kara, who wanted to explain a few more words, stopped herself when she saw Ant-Man, who had no sense of propriety at all, insisting on coming closer. She didn't say anything sensitive.
Ant-Man stared at Joey with such longing eyes, as if he were seeing the Messiah.
That kind of gaze made Joey feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Just say so if you need help."
Ant-Man's reply was exactly what Joey expected: "I need your help to deal with Ultron."
The Pym Particles pose a very limited threat to Ultron, who has already thoroughly studied his creator. Ant-Man currently possesses only a mind and ideas, but lacks the power to implement them.
But coincidentally, the race he has now found has an extremely thorough understanding of power.
"Well, how should I put it," Joey grabbed the sulking Kara and showed Ant-Man what were perhaps the two most destructive humanoid self-propelled nuclear bombs on the planet:
"Then you've come to the right person."
"Okay, on behalf of the remaining survivors of this world, I thank you."
After getting rid of Ant-Man, who was planning the operation, Kara's previously composed face immediately fell again.
"I never said I would help!"
Kara, realizing that Karl El wasn't listening to a word he said, was furious: "You're not just a nuclear bomb anymore, you're a dirty bomb that could explode at any moment!"
"What disastrous consequences will this cause?"
Qiao Yikun listened attentively, craning his neck. Ever since their reunion, Kara had only ever frightened him with exaggerated fears. Since the consequences she described were so severe, he had better be able to give a clear explanation.
"Explain in detail."
Kara was momentarily at a loss for words to describe the bizarre and grotesque scene that unfolded after Doomsday reached its final form in the laboratory rehearsal, where animal cells evolved into simple mechanisms similar to those of plant and fungal species:
"Karl, do you know what 'spores' are?"
"Spore? The one that controls a single-celled organism to evolve infinitely, from intelligent life to a tribe and then to an interstellar civilization?"
Upon hearing this word, Joey immediately thought of a classic strategy game she had once played.
Kara sighed, rubbing her forehead. "You really don't know anything."
Communicating with her cousin always left Kara feeling helpless, like trying to read poetry to an illiterate person. She had tried her best to explain things to him using earth biology terms, but he still managed to veer off into the moon!
All she needed to do was let Karl Al, patient zero, know that he really shouldn't keep putting himself in danger and causing trouble any longer.
"Just don't die again."
Joey could absolutely guarantee 100% that Kara would agree to this request:
"Don't worry, it's just dealing with a malfunctioning AI. With you and me working together, this is the second easiest battle I've fought recently."
With two elite Kryptonians like himself and Kara around, how could a mere Ultron possibly cause any trouble?
Speaking of Kara mentioning Spores, it made Joey reminisce about his youth, having twice wasted his prime years playing video games. "Wait! What you just said, 'Spores'..."
Joey's mind immediately conjured up another keyword besides "game," and he broke out in a cold sweat:
"Is it a 'spore' in the biological sense that I understand?"
In biology, a spore is a special type of reproductive cell. It is an efficient survival strategy that some organisms have evolved in harsh environments. After detaching from the host, it can develop directly or indirectly into a new individual.
Generally speaking, this simple and crude anti-interference reproduction mechanism only exists in organisms such as plants and fungi.
Unless there are some creatures that don't belong to the general situation, such as Doomsday.
Instead of building up immune resistance one by one, there is another simpler and more direct method—Doomsday spores.
The doomsday of entering the spore stage is only a breath away, when it can release a cloud of spores from its cells that can parasitize any organism and drift everywhere.
Creatures parasitized by spores quickly lose their self-awareness, and their bodies become a breeding ground for new Destruction Day. The spores will also spread again in new infected individuals.
If left unchecked, it might not even take a week for the entire planet to become a carrier of Doomsday spores, and everyone will become a brutal and bloodthirsty Doomsday.
In layman's terms, it's a zombie crisis, but a doomsday version.
"Thank you, Rao. You finally understand—it's exactly what you meant."
Kara's barbarian cousin suddenly had an epiphany, making her think that she might be suited to be a teacher. "Now you know what we're facing."
Kal'el's biofield is already restless, but his mind is still relatively balanced, and his potential aggression towards Kryptonians, which he exhibits physiologically, is still under control.
If things don't go as planned and everything becomes irreversible, then Doomsday will truly become an ultimate biological weapon capable of destroying Krypton and countless universes.
"Every time you die, you are accelerating your evolution towards the final form. Once your body reaches its end and you lose control, we will all be doomed."
After they made their point clear, they both felt a sense of unease.
Kara cursed Joe Al countless times in her heart for creating an unimaginable ultimate creature without making any contingency plans to deal with his loss of control.
Joey, on the other hand, was wondering in what form Doomsday existed within him.
Once the Doomsday spores begin to spread, will the self-replicated entity be a Doomsday with only a killing instinct, or another individual with the consciousness and memories of Joey Joseph Kent and Kal El?
If it's the former, that's terrible; if it's the latter—that's even worse!
Upon realizing this, Joey quickly suppressed this bizarre idea that shattered her worldview.
"Are you ready to go? We'll discuss the details on the way."
Ant-Man, having organized his forces perfectly, arrived at just the right moment to wake Superman, who was drenched in cold sweat:
"I'm sorry, there's no time to rest. Ultron is constantly upgrading every second, and we must set off immediately to deal with him."
"Oh~"
Joey awoke from his nightmarish premonition. To avoid the bizarre situation he had imagined, he now truly had a reason to complete the game in one life:
"Let's set off now."
"When can we depart?" "When can we depart?" "When can we depart?" 99
On the other side of time and space, Ganata, who was starving and seeing stars, kept asking Tony, who was typing on the console keyboard, the same questions she kept asking.
With dark circles under his eyes, Tony, who had been cultivating immortality for three or four consecutive nights, felt that he would be driven crazy by this childish god who was eager to eat snacks before he collapsed from exhaustion.
"It'll be done soon, please, go bother Batman over there and let me work in peace, okay?"
1
Upon hearing this, Batman, who was preparing his gear for the trip, immediately and alertly stuffed all the important equipment scattered on the table into his pocket. It was no other reason than that Ganata, who was constantly consuming Joey's bio-energy, had greatly accelerated her development, to the point that her appetite was also growing exponentially in sync. She was almost driven mad by her innate hunger.
Just a couple of days ago, he even tried to take a bite out of the Green Lantern furnace. Luckily, Batman discovered it in time, otherwise the entire Spider-Green Lantern Corps would have had to be disbanded.
But he was still a step too slow; the multi-functional belt placed to the side was immediately grabbed by Ganata.
"What's in here?!"
Fortunately, Galactus is a cosmic entity rather than a physical being, otherwise this attack would have triggered four or five traps.
"I'm asking you what's in here?"
As she spoke, Ganata's little fangs practically threatened to bite into the belt, a move that terrified Batman. "Please don't!"
To get Ganata away from his belt, Batman made a quick decision and threw a golden gem from his pocket.
This is the spiritual gem that Yang Yi entrusted to me for safekeeping.
"You should have given me this earlier!"
Upon seeing this object, Ganata immediately transformed into a cloud of purple energy mist, contentedly carrying the gem into a corner.
She knew that Joey had handed the Mind Stone over to Batman, which was also a little trick to get the other party to hand over the stone obediently.
Anyway, if Joey asks later, you can just say that Batman gave it to her willingly!
This gem contains power powerful enough to shake the universe, but Batman is willing to give up this powerful object in order to protect the Bat Belt from the ravenous Garata.
This is because his belt still contains the ultimate backup that he couldn't use when another Superman went berserk.
A method more effective at killing Kryptonians than Kryptonite and the red sun beam.