Chapter 74: Parasite Appears
[Contacted a Twisted Time Node, collected a small amount of Time Shard ×1]
[Bronze Mark (21/100)]
"Are you alright?"
Colin withdrew his gaze from the text, looking at the motionless Scott on the cabin floor, and asked with concern.
"Give me some time…"
Scott raised a hand, gesturing to Colin, and said, panting heavily.
"I need to properly recover; that last hit left me a bit dazed."
After a while, having recovered somewhat, Scott stood up, leaning against the cabin wall. He opened his helmet, revealing his pale face.
"Your body is surprisingly tough."
His gaze lingered on Colin's chest for a moment. Scott pulled at the corners of his mouth, a pale, forced smile appearing as he spoke.
"Just a bit of special powers."
At this, a gentle smile appeared on Colin's face. He pointed at Scott's Ant-Man suit and said, "Just like that suit of yours."
*I don't think they're the same.*
Covering his faintly aching chest, Scott silently replied inwardly.
Inside the cabin, members of the Resistance approached the two men, drawn by the sounds from the corridor.
"You know, buddy, I was just practicing infiltration for our upcoming operation."
Hearing Nick Fury's footsteps approaching, Scott quickly pleaded with Colin.
He didn't want Nick Fury and the others to know about his skirmish with Colin, much less about his humiliating defeat.
"Of course."
Given Scott's ability to automatically provide Time Shards, Colin's attitude naturally seemed much gentler.
"Thanks, buddy."
Hearing that Colin was willing to cover for him, Scott breathed a sigh of relief. As Nick Fury and the others' footsteps drew closer, he closed the helmet on his face, and his entire body shrunk once again to the size of an ant.
"Anthony!"
His gaze withdrew from the black speck that Scott had become.
"What happened?"
Hearing Nick Fury's question from behind him, Colin pushed up his glasses, then shook his head in reply.
"Nothing."
Scott's minor interlude did not significantly affect their journey.
For the next week, everyone, including Colin, had to spend the week inside the Narwhal.
Under the Atlantic Ocean, the submarine continuously sailed according to its scheduled itinerary.
Meanwhile, Colin focused more of his attention on the Main World.
…
"Extra! Extra!"
"The latest issue of the *Superman* comic is out!"
Main World, New York streets.
Newsboys waved the new issue of *The Messenger* in their hands, darting through New York's streets and alleys, shouting their calls.
"Give me a newspaper…"
Inside a double-decker bus, the newsboys' shouts could be heard.
Some passengers quickly pulled out two-cent coins, handed them out the window, and bought a copy of *The Messenger*. Such passengers were not a minority throughout the vehicle.
After receiving the newspaper from the newsboy, the double-decker bus, which had paused by the roadside, also started moving.
The passenger squeezed among the crowd and opened *The Messenger*. At the same time, behind him, some others, unwilling to pay for their own copies, leaned out their heads and gazed upon the opened newspaper.
The latest issue of the *Superman* comic revealed the results of *The Messenger*'s previous reader interaction.
The villain, Parasite, made its debut. Parasite was originally a person from the lowest rung of society, who became a homeless person after losing his job at a bank. In an accident, he found a mysterious storage container in a garbage dump. Unexpectedly, the container held a certain space parasite (this storage container had fallen to Earth from outer space). Because he opened the container, the homeless person was infected by the alien parasite and became a terrifying parasitic monster.
The homeless person, who became Parasite, transformed into a terrifying monster. Its appearance became extremely ugly, its entire face twisted and deformed, with only its eyes and a protruding mouth remaining. It needed to constantly absorb the life force of living beings to maintain itself, and once it stopped absorbing, it would become extremely painful and weak.
To maintain its life force, Parasite began to rampage through Metropolis. He first targeted the bank boss responsible for his unemployment and absorbed his life force. After absorbing his boss's life force, Parasite became even stronger, and it began to frantically absorb the life force of various living beings.
For a time, the entire Metropolis fell into great chaos.
At the critical moment, Clark transformed into Superman and appeared.
However, at first, because he was not fully aware of Parasite's terrifying nature, even Superman had some of his powers absorbed by the opponent, falling into a brief period of weakness. Because it gained some of Superman's powers, Parasite became even more dangerous and terrifying.
In a moment of crisis, Superman discovered that Parasite would not approach burning automobiles, realizing its weakness: a fear of heat sources.
The next moment, heat vision shot out from Superman's eyes, burning Parasite and successfully rescuing Metropolis from its crisis.
…
This villain, Parasite, embodied strong characteristics of the Great Depression era.
This was why Colin chose him as the villain. Even in the serialized comic, Colin deliberately used a single panel to depict Parasite's living environment, and many readers recognized the place at a glance: it was the well-known 'Hooverville'.
Of course, even setting aside Parasite's background...
...just looking at its powers, it is indeed quite a terrifying villain.
Especially upon seeing it absorb some of Superman's powers and become even stronger, many passengers inside the double-decker bus felt a surge of apprehension.
"Superman wouldn't be defeated by Parasite, right?"
Inside the bus, a passenger who saw this scene said worriedly.
"Impossible, Superman is the protagonist after all. How could he be defeated so easily?"
"That's right, even Mr. Mxyzptlk, such a powerful magic user from the Fifth Dimension, isn't Superman's match. A guy like Parasite fundamentally can't defeat Superman!"
"That's not necessarily true. Didn't you see? Parasite, like Superman, is a being from outer space. Perhaps this means Parasite possesses the power to defeat Superman."
As the pages of *The Messenger* were turned, the discussion among these passengers gradually grew louder.
Consequently, even some passengers who were originally standing a bit further back couldn't help but speak up and debate whether Superman was truly Parasite's opponent.
"Shh, quiet down!"
Realizing that the discussion behind him was growing louder and louder, already affecting his normal reading, the passenger holding the newspaper couldn't help but frown and look back, saying:
Seeing the newspaper's owner speak up, these passengers who were reading along for free immediately shut their mouths, deeply fearing that if the other person became unhappy, they would no longer continue turning the pages.
(end of chapter)