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Chapter 77 Archive

Shen You took the initiative, accelerating his advance and activating super speed. He flashed forward and appeared in front of the first robot, punching the metal skull face with the thrusters, shattering it.

This punch was like a fuse that suddenly went off, instantly setting the stage for a fierce battle in the dark factory.

A large number of Brainiac robots emerged from the darkness, their smooth steel bodies reflecting the eerie green light emanating from each other. They moved with equal speed, quickly deploying into formation and surrounding Shen You from both the air and the ground.

"Collect. Collect," a strange mechanical sound came from one of the robots.

Shen You leaped into the air, simultaneously delivering a powerful knee strike that tore a huge gash in the robot's chest. The robot's eyes flickered, then it swayed and plummeted to the ground.

"Knowledge needs to be collected, the world needs to be archived," another robot said.

Shen You leaped into the air on flames, followed by more robots, with dense beams of light shooting from all sides. In such a confined space, with so many enemies and crisscrossing green laser beams, there was no room to maneuver, no matter how fast one moved.

However, the energy of the Ultra Barrier had already been released, enveloping the armor in the form of a force field shield. Dense beams of light blasted from all sides, creating continuous explosions around Shen You, but they could not shake the solid shield.

"What about the force field?" Shen You asked.

"86% integrity, it can definitely hold up," Pal said.

The shield system was incredibly effective, absorbing tons of damage without even a crack. Shen You unleashed a barrage of palm strikes, causing the Brainiac robot to explode one after another under the impact of the palm cannons.

"They used to say that mass production would inevitably result in substandard products, but I thought they were just saying that."

As he spoke, Shen You had already sprinted and disrupted the robot formation. He fired a rocket punch that pierced through one of the robots, and then swung it backhand, smashing another robot down.

"Scans revealed that these robots utilize various extraterrestrial technologies, but the metallic elements that make up their bodies all originate from Earth," Pal reported. "It is speculated that Brainiac hijacked the vanguard of Earth's assembly line production."

However, because it uses local production lines and raw materials, its body strength is not high. A solar cannon maintaining above 7% output is enough to destroy the outer shell.

"7%, I'll remember that."

Shen You unleashed an eight-point light wheel, neatly severing an entire row of robots in two.

In just one minute since the firefight began, more than half of the robots in the room have been wiped out. But they feel no pain or fear, and the remaining robots continue to surge forward, muttering eerie phrases.

"Lakes and seas were all destroyed, and all birds and beasts were wiped out—"

"Delete them all—"

"We will take over what is important—"

A Specium warhead fell, its explosive flames carrying deadly matter that swept across the area. Numerous machine bodies shattered one after another, the sounds of explosions, sparks, and clashing steel mingling together, leaving behind a vast expanse of charred remains.

The last machine disintegrated, and a huge screen lit up in the darkness.

Shen You approached and stepped forward. A green background appeared on the screen, along with a Q-version face that looked like a skull.

"I am Brainiac."

The voice, like that of a synthesized machine, seemed to come from somewhere far away.

"You are a planetary anomaly; you don't belong on this planet. I've been observing you."

"Really? I'm truly flattered."

Shen You spoke calmly, while Parr was already trying to trace the source of the signal.

"What do you want?" Shen You asked.

"Knowledge, collection, archiving," Brainiac said. "I collect the knowledge of countless worlds, storing it in the archives of every civilization that the universe has given birth to."

"So, your next target is Earth?"

"To correct you. I'm not targeting Earth next; I've been here for a while, and the knowledge about this planet has already been archived," Brainiac said calmly. "The species that live on this planet—they call themselves 'humans'."

They are primitive and backward, yet also suspicious and self-righteous. The Kryptonians and your presence make them uneasy and drive them to seek a way out.

And I offered them solutions. So they willingly opened their doors to me, offering me what I wanted to collect.

"What do you mean?" Shen You narrowed his eyes, glancing at the tracking progress bar in the corner of his vision.

Theoretically, once the signal's origin is found, Shen You could digitize his body and trace the path—though whether to do so remains to be seen. Rushing in without knowing anything about the other side's environment, deployments, or enemy situation would be reckless and obviously unwise.

Pal silently showed him the progress via the screen. The location had been traced to somewhere beyond the atmosphere, in the boundless starry sky. But then the progress bar froze, the loading icon spinning in circles, yet it seemed unable to find the source of the signal.

"I know you're stalling for time. You're trying to find me, but that's impossible," Brainiac said calmly. "I'm everywhere."

But at least Shen You was certain of one thing.

Old Bu himself is probably not on Earth.

"I originally came here only to collect information about Earth's civilization, but after arriving, I discovered that there were unexpected gains as well," Brainiac said calmly. "The remaining Kryptonians are also here, Kryptonians who grew up on Earth. Important specimens that need to be collected."

And there's something even more important: you.

Shen You could almost feel the burning gaze of the super AI through the electronic screen.

"I have collected civilization after civilization, conquered world after world, but I have never seen a being like you. An energy-based life form, like a newly emerging star, possessing immense power and endless possibilities."

"Thank you for the compliment, but you can forget about me becoming your pet."

"You'll get it."

The signal seemed to be starting to become unstable. The screen began to flicker, and Brainiac's voice started to crackle.

"Just give it some time. But before that, the Kryptonians have already begun the archiving process."

The screen went black, and the signal was lost.

Shen You frowned slightly.

Archiving has started? What does that mean?

However, he soon found out.

A call was connected to the armor, and the message indicated it was from Kara.

"Kara? What's going on?" Shen You asked.

"Shen You! You...you come back quickly! Did you see the news? It's about Karl...Oh my god, Karl was..."

"Calm down, Kara, tell me slowly, what happened to Superman?"

As he spoke, Shen You gestured to Pal to open Metropolitan News on the monitor.

Then he immediately understood what Kara meant.

Almost every channel was interrupting its broadcast with this breaking news.

Superman successfully captured?

Good news! Thanks to all the readers for your support, although the fanfiction was heavily cut, this book still managed to secure a spot on the Three Rivers list with excellent readership!

Bad news: There are too many books during the summer vacation, so Sanjiang has been scheduled for next week, and its release has also been pushed back to next week.

The original plan was to release this climax of the metropolis section all at once, but this release schedule has completely disrupted that plan.

However, I don't want to deliberately slow down the pace just to force the release date, so I plan to stick to the original outline. It's just that I feel really annoyed that I can't release a huge batch of chapters all at once... it's frustrating...

(End of this chapter)