The underground parking garage had long ago collapsed into ruin.
Concrete pillars cracked. Rebar exposed. Burned-out vehicles littered the ground like rusted tombstones.
It was perfect.
Enclosed space.
Limited aerial maneuverability.
Multiple anchor points for traps.
Li Jie stood beneath the fractured ceiling and activated four automatic artillery emplacements. They rose from concealed positions between rubble piles and locked into a crossfire grid, overlapping targeting cones calibrated to converge at the center.
Kill box established.
He brought Lois Lane to the center and secured her to a thick stone pillar.
This time, she didn't fight.
She simply watched him.
"Sir… may I ask your name?"
Silence.
"What? Afraid I'll come after you later?"
Still nothing.
"I know what you're trying to do," she continued. "You're using me to lure him. It won't work."
He fastened the restraints tighter.
"He's infected. He's a zombie. Even if you kill me, he won't come."
She gestured weakly toward the ceiling.
"And even if he does—what are those cannons going to do? You don't understand his power."
Li Jie calmly took out two time bombs.
One he strapped to a ruined sedan thirty meters away and set to twenty seconds.
The other he fastened to her torso.
The first bomb detonated.
The car vanished in a fireball.
Smoke rolled through the garage.
"You have three minutes," Li Jie said evenly. "If he doesn't arrive… that's your ending."
She paled.
He shoved a stone into her mouth to silence her protests.
Then he retreated behind reinforced cover.
Even he felt uncomfortable.
The role of villain came disturbingly easy.
Three minutes began.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Lois' eyes darted between the bomb timer and the shattered ceiling.
Two minutes.
One minute.
Thirty seconds.
Even Li Jie felt tension creeping into his chest.
Maybe it was coincidence last time.
Maybe zombie instincts weren't reliable.
Ten seconds.
Five.
Three.
Two.
One.
Zero.
Nothing.
No explosion.
Lois opened her eyes slowly.
The device had been disabled from the start.
Li Jie exhaled quietly.
So that method fails.
He needed something else to trigger Superman.
Then—
Rubble shifted.
A guttural hiss echoed through the dark.
From between overturned cars crawled a Licker—skin peeled back, elongated tongue whipping through the air.
Fast. Dangerous.
Li Jie almost stepped out to eliminate it.
Then paused.
Experiment opportunity.
Vines emerged silently behind Lois, weaving into spear-like forms hidden in shadow.
The Licker lunged.
The vine spear pierced its skull instantly.
At the same moment—
A red beam descended from above.
The Licker disintegrated midair.
Heat vision.
Li Jie's pulse spiked.
It worked.
Superman landed with a heavy impact, concrete fracturing beneath his boots.
Eyes glowing red.
Four artillery cannons opened fire immediately.
Bullets sparked harmlessly off his skin.
Heat vision swept upward—
All four turrets exploded in sequence.
The vines lashed out, wrapping around his limbs.
He flexed once.
They snapped like thread.
Black Dragon II burst from concealment and unleashed a barrage of micro Sidewinder missiles.
Superman didn't dodge.
He stood between the blast and Lois.
The explosions engulfed him.
Smoke cleared.
Suit shredded.
Body untouched.
Physical damage ineffective.
As planned.
Kryptonite grenades arced through the air and detonated at his feet.
Green radiation flooded the space.
Superman staggered.
Dropped to one knee.
Breathing labored.
Li Jie's eyes lit up.
It works.
He hurled a Kryptonite spear, guiding it telekinetically toward Superman's chest.
At the last instant—
Superman looked up.
Heat vision fired.
The spear vaporized midair.
Li Jie froze.
He was faking weakness.
Even without intelligence—
Combat instinct remained.
The Kryptonite was effective.
But not crippling.
The radiation weakened him—yet far less than before infection.
Retreat.
Black Dragon I launched upward.
Black Dragon II unleashed everything to buy seconds.
Superman destroyed Black Dragon II instantly.
Then he vanished—
Reappearing in front of Black Dragon I.
He headbutted it.
The mech exploded into fragments.
Brute force beyond calculation.
Then—
Superman returned to Lois.
Tore the restraints.
Lifted her.
And flew away.
Gone in seconds.
Li Jie remained hidden until even residual energy signatures disappeared.
He emerged slowly.
Superman's speed remained overwhelming.
Raw power increased.
Kryptonite effectiveness reduced—but not eliminated.
Important data.
Very important.
He gathered the Kryptonite fragments carefully.
Salvaged what remained of both destroyed mechs.
This battle wasn't a failure.
It was measurement.
—
Minutes later, driving felt painfully slow compared to flight.
As he crossed an intersection, a convoy blocked his path.
A bald head leaned from the window.
"Hey kid. See a guy in black mech pass through here?"
Lex Luthor.
Li Jie smiled faintly.
Opportunity.
He raised a hand.
Vehicle doors burst open.
Smoke grenades flew inside.
Doors slammed shut.
Laughter erupted from within.
Joker's laughing gas.
Lex Luthor's face twisted between fury and hysterical laughter.
"You… bastard—haha! Joker's toy?"
Li Jie approached, pistol raised.
"I'm the one you're looking for."
"My mech needs repairs. I'm borrowing your workshop."
Recognition flashed across Luthor's face.
"It's you…"
Despite the laughter, calculation returned to his eyes.
They drove.
Inside the moving car, Luthor struggled to maintain composure.
"How did you get that gas? What's your connection to Joker?"
"I killed him."
Luthor blinked.
"You killed the Joker… but he's still active?"
Li Jie ignored that.
Luthor extended a hand anyway.
"My name is Lex Luthor. Let's be friends."
"No. Tell me what you want."
Luthor withdrew his hand with a chuckle.
"I want Superman dead. He's a greater threat than the virus."
Correct.
The virus had antitoxin research underway.
Superman had none.
"I have Kryptonite," Luthor continued proudly. "A powered exoskeleton built specifically to fight him."
Li Jie's eyes narrowed.
A Kryptonite mech.
Now that—
That had potential.
"Repair my mech first," Li Jie said.
"Of course. Use anything."
Luthor leaned closer.
"Why come from Gotham to Metropolis?"
Li Jie smiled.
"What if I said I came here to help you kill Superman?"
Luthor stared at him for several long seconds.
Then slowly—
He smiled back.
....
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