Superman from the comics: Starting with the Black Robe

Chapter 60 Shattering Illusions

The entire airport fell silent instantly, followed by chaos.

Screams and footsteps mingled as everyone sprinted toward the exit. If no one maintained order, the riot was bound to turn into a stampede sooner or later.

At this moment, Steelbone sent another message:

"I'm sorry, Louis, I was too hasty. The crisis was averted; the original seismic waves could have even triggered a massive earthquake of magnitude 11-12 when they reached Britain, but someone prevented it from happening."

"Level 12? Did you miscalculate by one decimal place, Cyborg?"

Louis Lane felt that Cyborg was talking nonsense. The increase in earthquake magnitude was not a simple addition. With each increase of one level, the damage caused by the earthquake increased exponentially.

The largest earthquake ever experienced by humankind was only magnitude 9.5, and a magnitude 12 earthquake would undoubtedly be enough to tear the entire British Isles apart! Cyborg had no need to tell himself to escape!

But Louise was too preoccupied to care about the earthquake's magnitude. While talking to Cyborg, she hadn't noticed the crowd surging towards her and was knocked to the ground.

Jimmy rushed over to try and protect Louis, but he was also pushed around by the surging crowd and couldn't move. He could only shout at Louis, "Louis, curl up and protect your head!"

This is the most effective way to deal with a stampede, and Louis tried to do so, but it was difficult to sustain in the face of such a large crowd.

Louise Lane, daughter of Pulitzer Prize winner, Daily Planet reporter, and hero Sam Lane, died in a stampede—Louise is now thinking about how to write her obituary press release.

But suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her ear, followed by a prolonged ringing in her ears, all because of a piercing shout coming from the air:

"Quiet!!!"

The entire airport was stunned by the thunderous roar, and some unfortunate souls with more sensitive senses than others even began to gag due to the loss of balance.

A man in a red cloak descended from the sky and reached out his hand to Louis from among the temporarily incapacitated crowd.

He is known as "Superman" because of the "S" logo on his chest, which is why the residents of the English-speaking region gave him this nickname.

"You...are much younger than I imagined."

This was the first time Louise had seen Superman so close up, which made her slightly dazed.

Although Louis was quite certain that he had never seen the other man's handsome face before, this first encounter felt like a long-awaited reunion.

"Ma'am, could you please let go of my hand?"

Joey calmed the crowd's commotion and pulled up the woman who had nearly died in the stampede, but the woman held onto her hand tightly. Joey glanced around and realized that the woman was also an acquaintance:

"Louis Lane of the Daily Planet?"

"You know me! Mr. Superman?"

"No, I don't know you, but I can read. It's written on your name tag. Now let go of my hand. If you have any interview questions, you can ask Carla."

Joey never imagined that after stopping the massive earthquake, she would have to stop more than thirty stampedes. Luckily, Kara acted earlier than her, otherwise, instead of the earthquake causing casualties, the stampedes would have killed or injured hundreds of people.

A brilliant mind with a metal skull has hacked into all of Europe's communication channels to broadcast news of an impending earthquake. Although Joey knows the other party's intentions are good, it would be best if the other party didn't set off yet.

This is Joey's last stop. Once this is settled, Joey is ready to settle old scores with Aquaman.

Atlantis's doomsday weapons are protected by magic, and Joey cannot pinpoint their exact location, but Aquaman's regular military units do not have such protection, and in Joey's observation, they are gathering in the same direction.

This direction is also the location of the doomsday weapon that Joey calculated based on the direction of the seismic waves.

"Wait a minute, Superman!"

Louis tried to hold Superman back for even a moment, but the man had already let go of his hand and flown out of the airport through the dome frame.

Joey couldn't care less about his "colleagues" in a certain sense now. People in their line of work always wanted to make a big splash, and their questions were both tricky and difficult, but they couldn't decide for themselves what to report.

Talking to them is mostly a waste of time.

Once everything is over, I will have plenty of time and place to tell the story of the future I have envisioned for this world.

Just as Joey was about to plunge into the sea, another uninvited guest stopped him.

"Joey, wait!"

Fully armed Wonder Woman flew in from the north. Since Amazons can't breathe underwater like Kryptonians, she even wore an oxygen mask.

"You can't face Atlantis's tens of thousands of troops alone. I'll help you!"

"No, I can handle it myself."

After much deliberation, Joey declined Wonder Woman's help: "It's too dangerous for you. You can't use your full strength in the water."

In reality, Joey wanted to keep things under control for the time being. Involving Wonder Woman, an unstable element, in this war would not only be a hindrance but could also be a ticking time bomb.

The vast majority of superheroes in this world are different from those in the normal universe. Aquaman is a cold-blooded bastard, but that doesn't mean that Wonder Woman, who was once his enemy, is a gentle and kind person.

Wonder Woman previously attempted to conquer all of Europe in order to continue the war against the Atlanteans, while Aquaman is now willing to sacrifice most of Western Europe to eliminate the Amazons.

Unlike Joey, who still had some leeway, these two demigods regarded humans as ants and livestock from the bottom of their hearts.

Joey doesn't want to become like them yet; he knows he can do better than them.

Even the Amazons and Atlanteans, when compared to the Kryptonians, are nothing more than slightly stronger ants.

In most Action Comics series, Clark Joseph Kent is a saintly savior.

Joey Joseph Kent felt he couldn't be a saint, unable to care for his enemies like Superman, who "turns the other cheek when someone slaps you," but he believed he was more than capable of being a savior.

He genuinely wanted to carry out a simple, venting-of-rage massacre, but simply staining the sea with blood would not help achieve lasting peace. It would be better to take this opportunity to teach the Atlanteans a lesson they would never forget.

The biggest problem for the Atlanteans now is that they believe their city is located in the deep sea, inaccessible to land dwellers, allowing them to launch any attack on the land without fear of retaliation.

All Joey had to do was make them realize that it was just a naive fantasy.