dhibooks Chapter 123 The Question Mark on the Forehead
Chapter 123 The Question Mark on the Forehead
Chapter 123 The Question Mark on the Forehead
clack.
Rudy Jones placed his hand on the brick wall. He had trekked several kilometers through the wilderness after leaving the military base to find the gas station on this paved road.
His skin appeared purplish, hidden beneath his sleeves.
With his other hand he was dragging a half-dead person... more like a mummy than a person.
"This gas station attendant speaks Portuguese because he spent his childhood in Rio de Janeiro."
The chubby guy, who used to love eating donuts, thought to himself.
"I can speak Portuguese now."
"I don't know if it can become a quality that can be preserved permanently, or if it will fade like a photograph left in the sun for too long..."
"Huh, how do you say that in Portuguese again?"
The parasite felt even hungrier, and the chemical energy it had just absorbed was completely drained from its body.
He felt like a balloon with a hole, leaking as he tried to suck in the air, like Sisyphus pushing a boulder, never able to reach the reality of being full.
"The owner of the convertible was wearing expensive shoes. He was filling up his tank at the gas station and his mind was sluggish due to drug addiction. He wasn't anything special."
He patted his head, then went back into the gas station and casually stuffed the two people, who had been sucked dry like mummies, into a cabinet next to him.
He heard the gas station vendor let out a faint howl; thankfully, he didn't kill him.
He is not a murderer!
Then Rudy Jones instinctively reached out and, before he could react, completely took away his last bit of life.
Okay, now he's a murderer.
Gan.
He leaned against the wall and left the gas station.
"Energy...new energy. My first choice."
"Emptiness, craving, acquisition—all in a cycle that repeats itself endlessly."
Rudy thought, "I think this is both a good thing and a bad thing."
He leaned against the wall, panting heavily.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps between the buildings, falling on his face. Rudy looked down at the glass beside him, where a blurry, emaciated figure was reflected.
His face seemed to dissolve and become blurred, disappearing into the dust and smoke, forgotten by all.
"I... I feel strange. I'm different now. I've absorbed other people; I'm no longer human."
"What will happen to my job?"
"What should I do about my attendance, performance review, overtime, and the $100 best employee bonus?"
"And my sister..."
The thought of all this made Rudy Jones very anxious, and once he started to feel anxious... he wanted to eat.
"I need to find something to eat. There...there's something there, it smells so good!"
He sensed... in a roughly indistinct direction, a concentrated and enormous energy was stored within the bodies of several people.
I really want to eat it!
The fragrance actually traveled that far!
"No! No! You can't eat anymore! Do you know what you're doing? You're committing murder!"
The parasite repeatedly hypnotized and warned itself.
"You still have car loans, mortgages, health insurance to pay, and rent to pay—you can't become a murderer!"
But soon, hunger consumed his last shred of sanity.
The ravenous parasite left the deserted gas station and continued its frantic run across the dusty highway. Driven by hunger, it ripped off all its clothes in an attempt to absorb more solar energy.
He once thought that if he could survive by photosynthesis, he wouldn't have to eat so much every day and turn himself into an ugly, fat man.
But when he actually gained the superpower of obtaining energy through photosynthesis, he discovered...
What won't starve you will only make you hungrier.
"Food—"
He leaped up like a nimble ape, his thin, long body like a bamboo pole, and with one stomp he created a large crater in the ground. The reaction force propelled him like a cannonball, and with a few leaps he flew hundreds of meters away.
The times have changed completely. In the past, the upper limit of individual combat power that humanity could witness was that of super martial arts masters like Batman, Shiva, and Bane, who could fight against armies single-handedly.
And now... welcome to the era of superpower battles, world!
Finally, Rudy Jones saw signs of life. It was a small town, and it seemed to be holding a festival. Adults were playing music, exchanging goods, and drinking.
Children chased and played amidst their mothers' anxious calls, creating a scene of joy and peace.
His conscience was breaking.
"No...no, they're all alive!"
The parasite staggered forward, knowing that once it entered the town, it would uncontrollably begin absorbing the chemical energy of these living people.
At that time, there might be piles of corpses and rivers of blood—I don't want that kind of thing to happen!
But Rudy Jones ultimately couldn't resist his biological instincts.
His eyes gleamed red, and his open mouth revealed rows of fangs, which began to drool involuntarily.
He reached out his hand to the child.
He already knew what was going to happen next.
Soon, this child, who is currently rosy-cheeked, healthy, and happy, will begin to wail, only to stop abruptly a few seconds later.
He would abandon the victim's now-dried-up body and continue searching for the next victim.
Rudy Jones desperately wanted to stop himself from committing this murder, but he was completely unable to control himself and couldn't even close his eyes because he couldn't bear it.
"I'm already a monster."
He thought sadly, "I've been sweeping floors for over 10 years since I graduated from school. My heart is as broken as the dust on the floor."
"I'm cruel, I'm cold-blooded, I'm melancholic, I'm a complete monster, waah, I kill people without even blinking an eye—"
His hand touched the child, and he sucked hard.
—Then he got mud all over his hands.
?
Ok?
The parasite blinked, thinking it had made a mistake. Unconvinced, it bit the child's shoulder again, then vomited.
"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! What the hell is that?"
The next second, he saw the child turn his neck 180 degrees, his face melting into mud like wax: "Uncle! Uncle! What kind of monster are you?"
The parasite was somewhat bewildered by his question.
He looked up and saw that the once bustling street was now completely silent.
Countless men, women, and children turned their heads toward him, their eyes flashing with an eerie light.
They spoke in unison, their voices fragmented yet overlapping, echoing repeatedly, sending chills down one's spine:
"Uncle, uncle, what kind of monster are you?"
……
……
……
"Fire! Fire!"
"Fire your mother! Suck it back, don't shoot!"
Chen Tao merely shifted his body slightly, and the next second the soldier found that the gun in his hand had split in two.
Clark's super vision allowed him to see those nanorobots smoothly gnawing apart the steel at the molecular level.
A storm of metal swept down.
Firearms, the most dangerous and outstanding killing tools developed by mankind in the last 200 years, can completely incapacitate an adult human with just one firearm.
Its emergence completely revolutionized the nature of war, refreshed the upper limit of power, reversed humanity's definition of strength, and changed—
Forget it, I'll stop bragging.
Because this thing is basically impossible to break through, whether it's a body of steel or Chen Tao.
Large-caliber rifle bullets, specifically designed to counter body armor, are far heavier than normal bullets. They can even gnaw a hole through a steel plate, but to the two people in the field, they are just like BBs or water guns.
Chen Tao also briefly explained the laws of physics. Due to the inherent characteristics of the Broken Bat, its head and chest cavity cannot be nanobotified. Therefore, he had to place a ring of black sand around its vital areas to block bullets, while Superman simply used the bullets as tickles.
A soldier could clearly see through his binoculars that a bullet bounced off Superman's eyelid and sent sparks flying.
"Why? Why! This doesn't make sense!"
He muttered to himself in a low voice.
People who don't often handle firearms may find it hard to understand this disillusionment. No matter how much mental preparation you have, it can't compare to the shock of watching others chat idly amidst a hail of bullets.
"Um... Batman, do you need my help?"
With a loud bang, a shell exploded directly on Superman's body. He brushed off the rubble and dust that fell on his head, spat twice, and said to Chen Tao, "I'll be faster."
"I know you're fast."
Chen Tao charged through a hail of bullets towards a tank, where nanobots stood in front of him like a black ribbon, shielding him from all the damage.
"But obviously, this is what I should do."
He opened his dinosaur-like mouth, which was covered with tiny nanobots. With a single bite, he tore off a thick steel plate that could withstand the impact of anti-tank rocket launchers like a cream cake, revealing the American soldier inside the driver's cab.
"roar!"
The green dragon opened its mouth and roared loudly at the soldiers:
"My Superman is a kind-hearted kid! He doesn't want to do bad things; he's just here to help!"
Chen Tao waited until the last two soldiers scrambled out of the tank that had been bitten in two, then, like an angry baby, he kicked the tank in the chest, sending it flying.
"Thunderous explosion!"
The poor tank was kicked so hard it spun into the air like a tattered sack, before landing with a thud in the center of the battle formation amidst the terrified screams of countless soldiers.
"My dear Harry Potter!"
A soldier saw a broken piece of armored metal stuck between his legs as he fell to the ground in fright. He felt a sudden pull and then began to drizzle.
"This is too surreal!"
Fortunately, there was a circular dent on the steel plate that looked like it had been chewed by a dog. When he fell from the sky, he fell backward and landed right in the dent, which saved him from being cut in half alive.
He was grateful for his good fortune, completely unaware that the abnormal dent that had saved his life was actually caused by countless tiny nanobots invisible to the naked eye.
Clark had initially intended to step forward to block the falling tanks and prevent them from killing people. However, he stopped after seeing the nanobots that Chen Tao had set up beforehand.
Chen Tao was still cursing and swearing:
"You heartless bunch, how could you bully an innocent child like this!"
"He just got beaten up by Zod for your sake. He's bruised and battered, his whole body aches, he's weak, innocent, and pitiful!"
Clark, standing beside him, had a strange expression. He touched his unharmed face, then glanced sideways at General Zod's expression, which looked like he'd been fucked by kryptonite, and at his adjutant, Eck, whose face was as green as a frog's.
For the first time in his life, Clark Kent began to seriously consider a question.
Is it possible that the world is different for Batman than he perceives it to be?
Clark carefully considered his words, trying not to irritate the bat's sensitive nerves.
"Uh, bat... I didn't actually..."
Chen Tao roared:
"How dare you bully him like this?!"
Tears welled up in my eyes.
He started talking, and the more he talked, the more convinced he became of his own reasoning and his sense of justice. He went too far, repeatedly hypnotizing and suggesting to himself, and ended up deeply moved by his own words.
I immediately cast the Storm Cry buff on myself!
After repeatedly practicing applying the Bloodrage or Foul Buff to others, Chen Tao finally learned how to apply the buff to himself.
Bang!Bang!Bang!
The effect is outstanding!
Tanks were thrown into the air like toys, and Batman cursed and beat others, creating a chaotic scene.
Clark felt like a little princess or a protected cashmere Barbie doll, just staring blankly as Batman fought his way through the battlefield.
hiss……
That's a bit of an exaggeration.
Clark thought to himself.
"Superman suffered so much!!!"
Clark: !!!
Batman, what nonsense are you spouting? You've made it all up in your head! What suffering? Absolutely not!
Oh, I didn't suffer any hardship, but I certainly ate something rotten.
vomit!
Upon thinking about this, Clark immediately gagged as if experiencing morning sickness, but nothing came out.
I've really vomited everything; I can't even get the bile out.
"Requesting backup! Requesting backup! We're completely defeated, we need air support... we need metal men!"
The soldier shouted into the walkie-talkie, "Sir, sir! Where's the Metal Man? We need his support!"
no respond.
The soldier panicked: "Reply to my lord, we really can't hold on much longer! These two guys are simply beyond human capabilities!"
He shouted, "Where's the reinforcement?"
"Sorry, soldier." Then he heard a voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie: "Our men have been unexpectedly held up, hold on a little longer..."
With a snap, the soldier threw the radio aside. Chen Tao squatted down in front of him, exhaling hot breath onto the soldier.
The soldier raised his hands willingly.
Behind him, soldiers lay scattered on the ground, and there was a chorus of groans, but no one was dead.
Chen Tao deactivated his transformation.
He walked past the soldiers and picked up the phone.
Clark heard his superior on the radio say, "We've run into a little trouble, a minor difficulty. The Metal Man is handling it—"
……
……
……
My name is John Coburn, and I am a metal man.
Under the Stars and Stripes, I pledged to fight for the American spirit.
Ugh... Why have I been falling asleep halfway through writing these past two nights? It feels like my body is sending out an alarm (д). Sorry, sorry, I only finished yesterday's update today.
(End of this chapter)