Starting with Naruto, I'll become stronger through my own efforts.

Chapter 401 So it turns out the Kryptonians can actually win!

Inside the spaceship in outer space orbit, after several hours of unconsciousness, General Zod finally regained consciousness.

Perhaps because he was beaten by Shazo, he became the last Kryptonian to regain consciousness.

After a deep coma, Zod adapted to Earth's environment but no longer felt uncomfortable in Krypton's environment, thus becoming an amphibious creature.

General Zod clenched his fist, and a few seconds later he was pleasantly surprised to find that, just as he had expected, he had become stronger.

General Zod asked, "Mr. Valais, I feel my strength has greatly increased."

Valetome said happily, "General Zod, your feeling is very correct. Your physical fitness has improved by at least five times, but you will need to test the specific changes yourself."

Zod stood up: "Yes, give me a thorough check-up and testing. I need to understand my own strength and new abilities."

After rigorous testing, General Zod finally confirmed that his strength had far surpassed that of before, increasing nearly tenfold. In addition, he had mastered four new abilities: Flight, Laser Eyes, Super Defense, and Super Speed.

Now he no longer needs high-tech armor; he can fly and move freely with his own body.

Valetome was overjoyed. He said excitedly, "General, you are amazing! Your strength has completely surpassed our standard space armor, and you can also adapt to the vacuum of outer space. Those things are now a complete burden for you."

Zod was equally excited: "The result is even better than I imagined. With such great power, that crazy Earthling is no match for me."

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"By the way, how are the others?"

Valetome replied, "Besides General Zod, there are five others exposed to Earth's atmosphere, including Fiora. Among them, Fiora has received the most significant enhancement; her physical abilities have increased at least threefold, making her considerably weaker than you, General."

Zod continued, "What about the four soldiers who followed me?"

Valetome's mood soared slightly: "The three men's physical abilities doubled, but one of them couldn't hold on and, under the influence of an allergic reaction—died."

Zod's excitement quickly faded: "One of them died—"

Valetome quickly reassured him, "General, although we have lost a soldier, it is a risk that is entirely manageable. I will try my best to find a way to reduce the allergic reaction."

"General, you have found a miraculous planet for the Kryptonian civilization!"

Zod raised his hand to stop Valetome from speaking: "I didn't find this planet. It was that old geezer Joel from the Academy of Sciences who picked it out from hundreds of billions of planets in the Milky Way."

Valletome's mouth dropped open: "Mr. Joel actually chose him?"

"No wonder Kal'el, who hid the Central Codex, appeared in this remote star system. What exactly does Jor'el want to do by stealing the Kryptonian civilization's core and sending it here?"

Zod shook his head and said, "You said it yourself, this is a planet of miracles. Jorel's original purpose was certainly not to steal, but to protect the Central Code."

"Jor'el and I used to be colleagues, and we both believed that Krypton's exploitation of its core energy was unsustainable and that the current operating model had to be changed."

"I chose a direct coup d'état, hoping to overthrow the foolish rule of parliament directly."

"Unfortunately, I did not expect that after mastering the Star Core energy, the Council's power would be so strong that it could easily suppress us."

"I think Joel couldn't see any hope for change, so he stole the seed of hope, hid it in his son's body, and sent it to this carefully chosen planet."

"Looking back now, he did the right thing."

"The old guys in the council will never allow the Central Code to leave Krypton. If Jorel doesn't steal it, the Central Code will surely be destroyed along with Krypton."

At this point, Zod paused for a moment, then asked, "What's the status of the World Engine on Earth?"

Valetome hesitated for a moment, then shrank back and said, "It was...it was destroyed by the Earthlings."

Zod nodded: "I see. Well, if it's destroyed, it's destroyed. I've changed my mind. I want to preserve Earth's environment and make Kryptonian civilization great again. We need this amazing planet as our base."

"We don't need a billion Kryptonians at all. Just 100,000 Kryptonians at the level of El El are enough for us to regain our strength and stand tall in the universe once again."

Valetome frowned. "But without the Kryptonian environment, won't the newborn babies suffer from stunted growth or even die?"

Zod stood up and gave Valetome a hard slap on the shoulder.

"Valai! We are no longer the mighty Kryptonian civilization we once were; we are weak Kryptonian wanderers."

"We no longer have the luxury of adhering to those old rules, nor are we qualified to talk about a 100% success rate for children. What we need is resolute action and bold experimentation."

"For you, Valletome, the most important thing is to break free from established thought patterns and actively embrace unconventional but useful ideas."

"Now, gather all of us together; I am going to hold a funeral for the fallen soldiers."

Just minutes after Zod gave the order, all the Kryptonians gathered in the main cabin of the spaceship.

The Kryptonian warrior who died from an overreaction was ultimately killed because he lacked the potential to withstand the intense evolution.

Therefore, his body was emaciated, all the fat and muscle had been consumed by evolution and allergic reactions, and he looked like a skeleton covered with skin.

After a simple yet solemn memorial service, the bodies of the fallen soldiers were burned to ashes by laser.

General Zod took the opportunity to give a speech to the Kryptonians who followed him.

He recounted the changes that occurred after the six people came into contact with the Earth's environment, as well as the risks they faced.

General Zod ordered: "All military personnel shall be deployed to the new Earth environment in batches according to plan. All research and logistics personnel are strictly prohibited from attempting this until safety is ensured."

"So what's our plan next?" asked Fiora.

General Zod said, "Master your power, and then conquer the earth with me! Hahaha!"

Fiora clenched his fists and laughed as well.

The other three Kryptonian warriors also laughed loudly.

Strength always gives people the greatest confidence.

The Kryptonians finally saw hope for the revival of Krypton, their morale soared, and they couldn't wait to conquer Earth.

The US government suffered an interstellar invasion involving only ten aliens, losing two entire army divisions, destroying 26 military bases involved in the counterattack, and sinking 11 warships that launched missiles.

In addition, the United States has launched three batches of nearly one hundred nuclear missiles of various types. Combined with the nuclear missiles launched during the previous orbital counterattack involving the five major powers, it can be said that the United States has exhausted all its efforts.

However, only three of the more than one hundred nuclear missiles were successfully detonated, and none of them were able to destroy the enemy's giant facilities, thus completely destroying the reputation of the anti-alien weapon.

If Superman hadn't suppressed the exploding nuclear bomb, the nuclear weapon would have destroyed most of Metropolis, and who knows how many Americans would have been killed.

However, these Americans didn't fare any better.

After Shazor destroyed the Kryptonian world engine, it triggered a super explosion far exceeding the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. Among the Metropolitans rescued by Superman, all those who did not take the opportunity to escape were either killed or injured.

Such heavy casualties always had to be accounted for, so the general who commanded the operation, the two division commanders who carried out the orders, and the warship captain who escaped death were all dismissed from their posts.

Some officers without strong connections were even arrested and imprisoned.

On the contrary, the three-star general who directly ordered the launch of the nuclear missile, because he had lost his eyes, hands and feet, made the higher-ups feel the sorrow of losing their comrades and the profound threat, and was not imprisoned.

The scapegoats have been dealt with, but the problem hasn't been solved.

The Kryptonians retreated back to their spaceships in orbit, but instead of leaving, they flew down even more frequently to conduct reconnaissance.

The Kryptonian planes are incredibly powerful; not only are they extremely fast, but they also appear and disappear on radar intermittently, which is even more frustrating than complete stealth.

The Kryptonians' actions are a blatant message to humanity: our troubles are not over, and the fight is still on!

The Oval Office in the White House was packed with people, all of whom were powerful figures in the United States, including high-ranking government officials, executives of giant corporations, and leaders of various factions in Congress.

The defense minister complained bitterly, "The officers are being dealt with too quickly. Now I can sense that officers at all levels are resisting orders."

The hardline lawmaker glared at him and asked, "Do these guys dare to disobey military orders?"

The defense minister glanced at him dismissively and replied, "They dare not disobey orders, but they will certainly carry them out passively; the effect will be the same."

Hardline lawmakers roared, "The same effect? ​​Then arrest all the officers who passively follow orders!"

The defense minister scoffed, "Ridiculous! How do you know the order was being passively carried out?"

Hardline lawmaker: "There are always soldiers who will carry out orders properly, let them supervise."

Defense Minister: "I'm sorry, but these soldiers who were diligently following orders have all been arrested by you."

Hardline lawmaker: "————"

Then the Minister of Defense and staff officers complained that the radar could not detect the enemy, the missiles could not hit the enemy, and their power was not good enough, not even as effective as the laser weapons of the University of Tokyo, and so on.

Executives at military industrial enterprises, in turn, complained about insufficient research funding, the sentencing of carefully cultivated scientists without any evidence, and the sanctions imposed on stable material suppliers by their own people, among other things.

The councilors, spittle flying, refuted each point, showing no sign of their advanced age or frailty.

Government officials uniformly bowed their heads and kept quiet to avoid getting disturbed by the argument.

Finally, seeing that things were not going to work out, the president got angry and drove everyone away, leaving only a few people to hold a small meeting, and the meeting was finally able to proceed.

The president asked, "Can the U.S. military defeat the Kryptonians?"

Defense Minister: "Definitely not, the Kryptonian civilization is far more advanced than we imagine."

The speaker asked, "What should be done about Earth?"

The CIA director replied, "They've already driven off the Kryptonians once with the help of superheroes, and next time—they should be able to too."

The president asked again, "That Gotham Freak named Shazzo killed at least two thousand Metropolitan citizens, and many more were injured. Aren't we going to do anything about it?"

The director of the investigation bureau shook his head vigorously: "We can't control it, we simply can't control it. It's like a human-shaped nuclear bomb, there's no way to control it."

The Defense Minister added, "Your Excellency, even if we had the capability to deal with him, now is not the right time."

"We can't be as hasty as we were with those officers; the war isn't over yet."

The president asked helplessly, "Then what are we doing having a proper meeting here?"

No one said it, but everyone understood: in order to unify our thinking, we shouldn't let those strangely dressed weirdos hold us back before we can solve the Kryptonian problem.

Just like Gotham's richest man, Bruce Wayne, who started acquiring various media outlets three days ago to erase all negative news related to superheroes.

This is the wise thing to do.

Once the consensus was reached, the president dismissed everyone and then went back to his room to rest.

On the ruins of Metropolis, a large number of temporary tents have been set up, where the superheroes have gathered for a meeting.

But everyone felt something was wrong, because there was an oddball sitting there—Gotham's Shazo.

Xia Zuo is not a hero, he is not even an anti-hero, and he can be said to have no bottom line in his actions.

When he destroyed the Kryptonian world engine, the resulting explosion caused such massive casualties, yet he himself felt no remorse whatsoever.

Batman sees Shazor as an unconventional mentor, Superman sees Shazor as a friend, and Wonder Woman tries to seduce Shazor. When the three of them are alone, they all have a pretty good impression of Shazor.

But when the three of them sit with Cyborg, Green Lantern, and Green Arrow, they suddenly feel that Shaza is particularly irritating and doesn't fit the atmosphere of the exam at all.

Everyone clearly felt this way, yet no one dared to kick Xia Zuo out.

Because Shazor and Superman are the real main force in Earth's fight against Kryptonians, while the others are basically just playing supporting roles.

They have all fought against Kryptonian warriors. Only Wonder Woman, with her collection of artifacts, was able to hold her own for a while in the fight. Cyborg, Green Lantern, Batman, and Green Arrow were all no match for them and could only buy time at best.

Superman quickly returned to his alien spaceship and learned a great deal of information from his biological father's AI, which he is now sharing with the superheroes.

Because of Shazo's reminder, Superman deliberately concealed the fact that he also had a Kryptonian spaceship.

After hearing the information Superman shared, the superheroes' eyes lit up.

So Krypton has exploded, and there are only so many Kryptonians left. They no longer have the Kryptonian civilization and fleet behind them. So they can win!