Li knew very well that the small Sidewinder missiles he had fired earlier were almost completely useless against someone like General Zod. Their destructive power wasn't the point. The real purpose was distraction.
As the explosions continued to ripple through the air behind him, Li immediately turned and accelerated away.
A deafening sonic boom erupted an instant later.
The Black Dragon mech simply wasn't fast enough. Zod closed the distance in a blink.
"Snap!"
Zod's fist smashed brutally into Li's back.
The impact shattered large portions of the Black Dragon armor instantly. Sparks burst out in every direction as the damaged suit lost control, and Li's body plunged toward the ground like a kite with its string cut.
"BOOM!"
He slammed into the earth with tremendous force, blasting open a massive crater.
High above, Zod hovered calmly in the air and looked down at the destruction with a smug expression.
"So that's all you've got?"
Although Li had only taken a single punch, the Black Dragon mech had already suffered over fifty percent structural damage.
More importantly, the fall had been from extreme altitude. Without the physical durability granted by the Savage Hulk's power, the impact alone would have been enough to crush an ordinary human body instantly.
In that scenario, Li would have been smashed into pieces.
"Whoosh… snap."
A fist-sized rock suddenly shot up from the rubble and struck Zod squarely on the forehead.
The arrogant smile froze on his face.
As the dust slowly settled, Li climbed out of the crater and stood amid the ruins. He raised one hand and calmly extended a middle finger toward the sky.
Still alive?
Zod's expression immediately darkened.
He had assumed that punch would have killed Li instantly. Instead, the man was standing there unharmed and even had the audacity to mock him.
"Whoosh!"
Two scorching heat rays shot down from the sky.
Li reacted instantly, leaping sideways to avoid them. Using the immense strength of the Hulk's power, he grabbed a parked bus from the roadside and hurled it directly at Zod.
After throwing it, he casually slapped the dust off his pants and turned around with a taunting look on his face.
Zod's fury exploded.
He had commanded the Kryptonian army in countless battles across the universe. Never—not once—had anyone dared insult him like this.
"BOOM!"
Zod transformed his entire body into a projectile and blasted straight through the flying bus before charging toward Li.
This time, Li didn't run.
Instead, a faint smile appeared on his lips.
He wanted to test just how powerful the Savage Hulk's strength really was.
"THUMP!"
Their fists collided in midair.
The sound of the impact resembled a super bomb detonating.
A terrifying shockwave erupted outward, lifting nearby cars into the air and shattering windows across several kilometers.
Li actually blocked the punch.
Zod's face filled with disbelief. Never in his life had he imagined that an ordinary human from Earth could withstand one of his attacks.
Without giving Zod time to react, Li grabbed his wrist and executed a powerful grappling throw, slamming him toward the ground with a brutal back throw.
"BOOM!"
Zod's body disappeared into a cloud of dust as he crashed into the ruined streets below.
Damn.
Li cursed silently while standing in place and slowly adjusting his breathing.
On the surface it looked like he had blocked the attack easily, but the reality was more complicated.
The Savage Hulk's strength had almost no upper limit. The angrier the user became, the stronger it grew.
But just now Li had only used the Hulk's normal power.
Although he had successfully stopped Zod's punch, the impact had still caused internal injuries.
Fortunately, the Hulk's powerful regenerative ability quickly took effect. Combined with the Dionysian factor hidden inside his body, the damage healed within seconds.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Zod hadn't even fully stood up when thunderous cannon fire erupted from above.
Li had deliberately thrown him into Batman's prepared combat zone.
Hidden auto-targeting turrets positioned between the surrounding buildings immediately unleashed a barrage of firepower. Missiles and shells rained down relentlessly onto Zod's position.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The bombardment continued until Zod suddenly fired his heat vision.
Explosive beams swept across the area, destroying the automated artillery installations one after another.
Just as Zod finally stood upright again—
"Pop! Pop! Pop!"
More than a dozen smoke bombs suddenly detonated around him.
These weren't ordinary smoke grenades.
They were lead powder smoke bombs mixed with several kryptonite grenades.
The lead smoke prevented Zod from using his X-ray vision. The kryptonite grenades, however, were the real threat—capable of weakening him drastically.
"THUMP!"
Batman dropped from above, wearing his heavy combat armor.
Without hesitation, he thrust a spear made of kryptonite straight toward Zod.
Under the influence of kryptonite, Zod appeared noticeably weakened. His strength dropped, and even his usual calm confidence faded as his body began to falter.
But just as Batman's spear closed in—
Zod suddenly smirked.
Then he shot upward into the sky.
Two heat rays flashed instantly.
One beam struck Batman's wrist. The other incinerated the kryptonite spear entirely.
Kryptonite… wasn't working?!
Li felt a chill run through his mind.
This was extremely bad news.
No one knew exactly how Zod had neutralized kryptonite's effects. But if he had already anticipated the trap, it made sense that he would prepare some form of countermeasure.
"WHOOSH!"
Zod dove downward and slammed Batman into the ground.
Then his fist descended like a meteor.
"Batman, I heard you once defeated Superman," Zod sneered.
"Let's see what you're really capable of!"
"BOOM!"
Batman's heavy armor shattered instantly.
That armor had originally been built to withstand Superman's attacks.
Yet Zod had destroyed it with a single punch.
Was Zod several times stronger than Superman?
That seemed unlikely. Not long ago, Superman had fought him evenly.
The only logical explanation was that Superman had held back when fighting Batman.
Zod, however, showed absolutely no mercy.
If this continued, a few more punches would kill Batman.
Even though Bruce possessed the Dionysian factor and could technically revive, the pain of death would still be very real.
"Hey, Zod!"
Li grabbed a nearby Buick and hurled it toward the battlefield.
"BOOM!"
Zod's heat vision destroyed the vehicle in midair.
But when he looked again, Li had vanished.
"WHOOSH!"
Zod flew instantly to the spot where Li had been standing, scanning the area.
He found nothing.
Suddenly, beside Batman's fallen body, a golden light flashed.
A portal opened.
Li reached through it and dragged Batman inside.
"Are you alright?" Li asked.
Batman wiped blood from the corner of his mouth and looked around in surprise.
They were standing on the rooftop of a building nearly two kilometers away.
"Still alive," Bruce said calmly.
Then he frowned. "Kryptonite doesn't work on Zod. What do we do?"
Li shook his head slightly.
"I don't know what method he used," he admitted. "But kryptonite losing its effect is probably temporary."
After a brief pause, Li suddenly shouted loudly toward the distance.
"Hey, Zod! Over here!"
Batman stared at him in disbelief.
He couldn't understand why Li would deliberately provoke him again.
In the distance, Zod heard the shout and immediately flew toward them in rage.
At that exact moment, Li formed a hand seal.
Just as Zod was about to reach them—
The world twisted.
Space itself began folding and bending.
The distance between them suddenly stretched and warped.
Batman stared in shock as the surrounding environment continuously distorted like a collapsing mirror.
"This is… magic?" he asked.
"To be precise," Li replied calmly, "it's mirror magic. We're inside the Mirror Dimension."
The Mirror Dimension existed parallel to reality.
Inside it, space could be manipulated according to Li's will.
No matter how much destruction occurred within this dimension, the real world would remain untouched.
Even someone as powerful as Thanos had once struggled inside Doctor Strange's Mirror Dimension.
General Zod was no exception.
After realizing he was trapped inside a bizarre environment, Zod became visibly furious.
"Go, Wayne," Li said quietly.
Batman snapped back to reality.
This wasn't the time to admire magic.
He had work to do.
With Li constantly shifting the spatial layout of the Mirror Dimension, Batman gained a huge tactical advantage.
He silently appeared behind Zod.
Then he punched him hard in the head.
The attack caused almost no damage, but it forced Zod to stagger.
When Zod turned around—
Batman was gone.
Moments later he appeared above Zod and struck him again.
Although the punches barely hurt him, the humiliation infuriated Zod.
Enraged, he unleashed his heat vision wildly, blasting the surrounding mirror structures in an attempt to escape.
Li didn't stop him.
As long as he had energy, Zod could destroy as much as he wanted.
Li's true objective was simply to stall for time.
Whatever method Zod had used to neutralize kryptonite couldn't last forever.
Eventually the effect would expire.
Time passed.
Zod gradually realized that his destructive attacks were useless, and his rampage slowly subsided.
Li sensed that the moment had arrived.
From his storage compartment, he summoned the Black Dragon No. 2 Kryptonite Mech.
At the same time, he continued altering the Mirror Dimension so the mech could approach Zod silently.
Meanwhile, Batman kept harassing Zod from different angles.
"Cowards! All of you!" Zod roared furiously.
"If you have the guts, stop hiding and fight me properly—"
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt someone strike from behind.
Zod spun around and attempted to fire heat vision at the Black Dragon mech.
But nothing happened.
The heat rays… wouldn't activate.
"THUMP!"
The Black Dragon No. 2 mech slammed him to the ground with a crushing punch.
Then it began beating him mercilessly.
Because Zod had previously tricked Batman once before, Li stayed far away and simply controlled the mech remotely.
The assault continued.
Soon Zod's body was covered in bruises and blood. His arms and legs twisted unnaturally as broken bones left him barely able to move.
Eventually he lay on the ground, breathing weakly.
It was clear now that Zod had not been pretending.
Whatever method he had used to resist kryptonite earlier had completely failed.
Under the suppression of kryptonite, he was now little stronger than an ordinary man.
Even so, Li still didn't approach.
Instead, he calmly took a sniper rifle from his storage compartment.
Standing several hundred meters away, he aimed carefully.
Then he pulled the trigger.
The bullet pierced Zod's head instantly.
General Zod died.
Strange translucent bubbles began floating out of the corpse and were absorbed into Li's body.
"General Zod Skill — Energy Absorption."
"General Zod Skill — Super Strength."
"General Zod Skill — Super Speed."
"General Zod Skill — Flight."
"General Zod Skill — Heat Vision."
"General Zod Skill — Frozen Breath."
…
In that moment, Li essentially acquired all the abilities possessed by Superman.
However, unlike Kryptonians, Li didn't share their weakness to kryptonite.
More importantly, the newly gained power of flight finally compensated for the Hulk's biggest limitation.
Now he could fight freely in the air.
After absorbing Zod's abilities, Li had effectively become one of the most powerful beings on Earth.
Still, he remained cautious.
Even with this power, he wasn't completely invincible.
There were still formidable figures like Doctor Strange.
Captain Marvel as well.
And beyond Earth, countless powerful beings existed throughout the universe.
Li silently reminded himself not to grow arrogant.
He needed to stay cautious and avoid revealing his true strength too openly.
"Li… you killed General Zod," Batman said quietly as Li approached.
The reality felt almost surreal.
A warrior equal to Superman had died… from a sniper bullet.
"Yes," Li replied simply. "I killed him."
Batman looked thoughtful.
"Do you think we could kill Superman the same way?"
Originally Li had wanted Superman's powers.
But now that he already possessed Kryptonian abilities, his motivation to hunt Superman had dropped significantly.
Of course, defeating Superman would still strengthen his powers even further.
With Zod's abilities now in hand, hunting Superman would certainly be easier.
"I think it's possible," Li said carefully.
But he couldn't guarantee it.
Thinking about it calmly, defeating Zod had involved a good amount of luck.
If Superman's speed could break through time itself, it might also break through dimensional barriers.
In other words, Superman might not be containable inside the Mirror Dimension.
"Wayne," Li said. "Let's go outside and talk."
He opened another portal.
Moments later, Li and Batman stepped back into the real world.
Behind them, the Black Dragon No. 2 mech followed while carrying General Zod's corpse.
Outside, S.H.I.E.L.D. had completely sealed off the entire area.
Coulson was personally directing search teams trying to locate the missing Li and Batman.
Then someone suddenly shouted.
"They're here!"
"It's Li and Batman!"
Their sudden return immediately caused a huge commotion.
....
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