Chapter 443: The Battle of the Kryptonians (1)
A Cold Reception
Hot water steeped the tea leaves, and soon, a fragrant aroma diffused through the room.
Luke Shaw picked up a cup filled with the reddish-orange tea and placed it in front of H'el.
"This is the best tea on Earth. It's perfect for welcoming a guest who has traveled a long distance."
H'el picked up the teacup and took a sip. The fresh fragrance blossomed on his tongue, bringing a hint of sweetness and a touch of bitterness, followed by an incredible, lingering aftertaste.
H'el set the cup down, choosing not to enjoy it further.
"It's not good?"
"I don't like food from other planets."
Luke Shaw tilted his head back, gulping the tea down. "Coincidentally, neither do I."
The atmosphere immediately grew stiff. The two stared coldly at each other: one with green flames burning in his pupils, the other with deep, dark eyes. Powerful psychic energy rubbed and gnashed against each other in the void, like two fierce beasts hunting, making it difficult to breathe.
Linda's face turned pale. She quickly poured a cup of tea and placed it on the table.
"Drink! Hurry, it loses its flavor when it cools."
Luke Shaw went silent for two seconds and extinguished the green flames. H'el also withdrew the psychic energy that had saturated the room. On the surface, he looked calm, but inwardly, a storm was brewing.
He was a top psychic energy user, having reached the extraordinary state of atomic dissection and spatial telekinesis, and his psychic power was unbelievably strong. An ordinary person would pass out simply from meeting his gaze, yet the Earthling before him was unaffected and even fought back.
Strange fellow!
H'el mused silently, then turned his gaze to Linda.
"Aren't you going to introduce us, Kara?"
The girl immediately reacted, speaking in a nervous tone.
"This is Luke Shaw."
"Luke, this is H'el. He's a Kryptonian like me. He often played with me when I was little, but we lost touch later."
She used four words to introduce Luke and a whole sentence to introduce H'el. Anyone who wasn't an idiot could sense the difference in closeness.
Luke Shaw was satisfied with her answer, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Two years ago, Linda and I took the Fortress of Solitude back to Krypton to search for survivors, and we happened to run into Zod and his subordinates." He paused, curiosity in his voice.
"Did you come with them?"
A look of understanding flashed in H'el's eyes. "So you were the Earthling who defeated Zod and stole the Conquest!"
"Defeated is not the right word. Linda and I were simply reacting defensively. They were trying to steal the Fortress of Solitude, which led to the ensuing events."
"I thought your name was Lex Luthor?"
Luke Shaw chuckled. "That was just a joke. You know, General Zod is very aggressive. For the sake of my personal safety, I had to give a fake name. I didn't expect it to actually be the right thing to do." He adopted a tone of mockery.
"Landing on someone else's planet and forcefully abducting a citizen without legal permission."
"In my understanding, only savage and rude invaders would do that."
"Mr. H'el, are you invaders?"
Linda quickly poured another cup of tea and set it on the table.
"Drink tea! Drink tea!"
Luke Shaw glared at her but continued.
"Clark told me about you. I heard that you and his father, Jor-El, were close friends? And that he helped you?"
H'el lowered his gaze. "What are you getting at?"
Luke Shaw shrugged casually. "I just don't understand. Jor-El died at Zod's hand. As his friend, shouldn't you avenge him? Even if you don't seek revenge, you shouldn't be associating with him. That's not what a friend should do."
At that statement, Linda's face instantly changed. She had been so focused on H'el's current goal since last night that she had completely forgotten this crucial fact.
"Are you really with Zod..."
She didn't finish the sentence. H'el's expression said it all—he neither admitted nor denied it.
Linda turned her head away.
"Leave. I don't want to see you."
She held a grudge against Zod. When she returned to Krypton, Zod threatened Luke Shaw's life to demand the Fortress of Solitude. That incident had caused her deep psychological trauma that she still couldn't forget.
H'el's lips twitched slightly. His gaze swept past the girl and landed back on Luke Shaw. At that moment, he felt an urge to erupt and crush the Earthling's head into pieces. After a moment of thought, however, he smiled instead.
The Earthlings didn't have much time left. Why get angry over something like this?
"Kara, I want you to understand one thing. You are different from Kal. You grew up on Krypton and have the purest Kryptonian blood flowing in your veins. Kal can fight for the Earthlings. You cannot. You are a Kryptonian."
As his voice faded, the figure on the sofa dissolved, as if he had never been there.
Linda kept a straight face, but H'el's words echoed in her mind. Thinking of her parents' faces and the friends she played with as a child, she was overwhelmed with emotion, and tears began to flow against her will.
Krypton was destroyed, and only a few survivors remained. Must they really fight these very same people to the death?
"You should stay out of this matter."
Luke Shaw could understand her feelings. Putting himself in her shoes, he knew he absolutely couldn't do what she was facing.
"When the choice is painful, avoidance can be a way out."
Linda wiped away her tears. "I don't need your input on my business."
With that, she pushed off the ground and shot out the window like a cannonball.
Watching the figure vanish into the sky, Luke Shaw shook his head helplessly.
That's Linda Danvers, the Supergirl of Krypton: rebellious, willful, fiercely competitive, and possessing a soft heart beneath a prickly exterior that only outsiders couldn't appreciate.
Honestly, Luke Shaw didn't like that personality, yet he was still attracted to her—a common affliction among men.
Knock, knock, knock!
The sound of knocking broke the silence. Dior opened the door and walked in.
"Young Master, people from the A.R.G.U.S. are here. They specifically asked to see you."
"Tell them I'm not available."
"The leader is General Sam Lane."
Luke Shaw stroked his chin in thought. "Take them to the conference room."
Clark's Conflict
Few people on Earth knew Clark's true identity: only his adoptive mother Martha, his girlfriend Lois Lane, his cousin Kara Zor-El, and Luke Shaw as an outsider.
When Zod's declaration spread across the world, Martha and Lois immediately called Clark.
Both their tones were filled with worry, fearful that he would do something irrational.
Clark gently reassured them. After calming his mother, he returned to the Daily Planet and found his girlfriend, Lois.
"Why are they looking for you? Is it because of that spaceship?"
Clark shook his head slightly. "I don't know."
"What about Kara? She's Kryptonian, too. Why didn't this Kryptonian General Zod mention her? They couldn't possibly be..."
"That's enough," Clark interrupted, cutting off her assumption. "Don't think too much. Kara is on our side."
Lois immediately came to her senses. Thinking about all the rumors surrounding Kara and Luke Shaw, she gave a wry smile. I must be losing my mind. A girl in love would point her gun outward with her boyfriend, not inward.
"What are you going to do? The internet is full of conspiracy theories about you right now. If Zod attacks, no matter the outcome, they'll pin the blame on you."
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