This time there was no calling card, no moonlight, but Kaitou Kid still stole something right under everyone's eyes. He pulled off an unbelievable feat, putting on a show in the middle of an extreme crisis.
The sun turned red. Many people didn't know what that had to do with defeating the invaders, but they quickly realized it when the invaders fell from the sky, their faces twisted in pain.
Red light spread over Metropolis, covering half the state. The red rays shot into the Kryptonians like countless arrows, draining their power and sapping their strength. This was Kid's trick. General Zod wanted to fight back, but under the red light, the Kryptonians were just ordinary.
"So that's what you meant by stealing the light…" Zod muttered, stunned. He hadn't expected this at all. The red light spread so wide they couldn't escape.
"There's something on the sun," someone next to Jimmy said. He quickly looked closer, and sure enough, on one corner of the now-red sun was a tiny, barely visible doodle—Kid's signature emblem.
You needed good eyesight to spot it. Jimmy didn't know what to say. But he knew that red thing wasn't the real sun. It must have been something covering the sun, filtering the yellow light.
Congratulations, Jimmy—he guessed right.
The trick used a special light-absorbing material that could take in different wavelengths. The yellow-light-absorbing piece was something Liu A'dou had lying around. It was tech from the magic box space, originally made for creating transparent materials. Kid once used it in a magic trick where he wrapped himself in mirrors to appear invisible. But that trick required extremely high-quality mirrors, and Liu A'dou had always wanted a cheaper solution.
He never thought he'd end up using it to defeat Kryptonians. Fate was funny like that.
The red sunlight worked instantly. It spread wider than kryptonite ever could. Under the red rays, the Kryptonians turned into tough but powerless humans.
Zod tried to struggle, but saw a flash of gold. The golden-armored warrior who'd disappeared earlier was back, charging straight at him with both fists raised. He knew that once those fists fell, absolute zero would freeze them solid.
But under the red sun, they couldn't dodge. Zod tried to call the ship, but there was no response. He never imagined he'd lose to Earthlings. He regretted it deeply—if only he'd killed everyone aboard the ship right away, maybe none of this would've happened.
"Tell me, what's the name of your army?" Zod asked. If someone could defeat them, he had to remember it forever.
"We're the Justice League," Kid answered, stepping aside as Elsa's absolute zero punch landed, freezing all the Kryptonians solid. Zod's eyes were filled with despair. This defeat meant the revival of Krypton was once again postponed indefinitely. He was filled with hatred as he fell into unconsciousness, sealed in ice.
Kid walked over to Superman and sent a Ripple through him. Superman finally started to recover, and the sun in the sky returned to normal.
"Where is everyone else?" Superman asked.
"They're on their way back. Let's go first."
Superman managed to stand, though he looked terrible. His hair was singed, his skin bruised and swollen, and his suit was shredded. But after soaking up some sunlight, he felt much better.
"We really owe them," Superman said gratefully, nodding to the two women. When it came to ladies, he kept his x-ray vision in check.
Elsa and Ada nodded back, accepting his thanks before turning into golden light and vanishing. The ice blocks would be taken by Kid and Superman to the Arctic. They had to be stored safely—these were their Kryptonian kin, after all.
Snow started falling. Absolute zero had frozen the surrounding air, and since it was the middle of winter, the snow felt fitting.
"Is it over?" Jimmy thought as he looked at his almost full camera and phone. Finally, it was over. The nightmare had ended. The terrifying invaders were defeated.
"Thank God," someone whispered, as the survivors began to cheer.
Superman didn't dare stop. He flew into orbit and soaked up the sun for a few minutes before returning to Metropolis, back in fighting shape. Then he and Kid took the massive ice block and flew straight to the Arctic.
Meanwhile, the Wugang headed to maximum speed. It took just five hours to catch up with the drifting Kryptonian ship. That made sense—Earth to the Moon isn't far enough for the Wugang to even reach top speed before it had to slow down, or it would overshoot the Moon. The faster the speed, the longer the braking distance needed; that was normal.
This time, the Kryptonian ship had gone past the Moon's orbit, far from Earth, which let the Wugang go full throttle without wasting time.
On the Kryptonian ship, Batman was directing Flash to run back and forth, gathering anything useful. Wonder Woman was tying up the unconscious Kryptonians with the Lasso of Truth, standing guard over them.
"So this is the Kryptonians' ship? It's huge." Compared to aliens, humans were like babies in the universe. The Wugang next to the Kryptonian ship looked like a tiny ant next to an eagle, a dinghy beside a luxury yacht—the difference was enormous.
Before landing, the Wugang received orders to rush over and rescue Batman and the others. So the same team was still aboard. An Rong said, "One day, we'll have our own spaceship to roam the stars."
"This is the Wugang. Does anyone hear us? We're here to bring you back to Earth." An Rong repeated the message over the public channel in English until they finally got a response.
"We hear you. Please find the docking hatch to enter." Since the control system was completely broken, all the doors had to be opened manually—that's why Flash was darting around nonstop.
Flash opened the hatch again, curious about the strange ship floating in. Was this Earth's ship? He didn't recognize it at all.
Once the pressure was stable, Flash entered the bay to greet their rescuers—and was surprised to see a group of black-haired, dark-eyed people with yellow skin.
"Hello, Flash. I can't believe you're real!" one of them said excitedly. Clearly, there were superhero fans among them, thrilled to meet a legend in person. "You've got to give me your autograph later."
Flash caught most of it, though their English was heavily accented.
The Wugang crew looked around, marveling at the Kryptonian ship. Compared to their own, the alien vessel was way cooler. An Rong glanced at it too, then gathered herself and said to Flash, "You're ready to go when you are."
Flash dumbly nodded, then asked carefully, "Are you guys Chinese?"
An Rong nodded.
Batman had been listening the whole time. He didn't mind China—after all, the League of Shadows was in Tibet, and he'd lived in China for years honing his skills. But he couldn't help being surprised. A few years, and they'd advanced this far already.
Flash kept staring at the Wugang in disbelief. If it had an American flag on it, he never would have thought twice.
With no cargo, a few extra passengers were no problem. Once everyone was set, the Wugang took off again, heading back to Earth. The Kryptonian ship just floated silently in space. An Rong thought that maybe someday they could come back to study it. But not this time—researching something that massive wouldn't happen overnight, and with their supplies running low, they couldn't stay. Better to return later with enough supplies and equipment.
All twenty Kryptonians were secured, the ship and the terraforming machine destroyed. The invasion was over, but the impact it left on Earth would last far longer.