Chapter 354: Return! The Reincarnators Invade!!
Darkseid had left.
He was well aware—
With that damned bald guy around, it had become impossible for him to obtain the Anti-Life Equation hidden on Earth.
If he kept dragging the fight on, he'd likely be the one to die in the end.
Darkseid didn't leave in a spaceship, because all his ships had already been destroyed by Chen Ye.
Instead, he took two Mother Boxes and activated the Boom Tube, teleporting directly back to Apokolips.
The Mother Box had that function.
And with Darkseid's power, he could activate it.
Even Cyborg—who was born from a Mother Box—couldn't use that teleportation ability.
Though Darkseid was gone—
It was only a temporary retreat. He could return at any moment.
In other words, the crisis on Earth was far from over.
Boom!
Right after Darkseid left, a sonic boom tore through the sky.
A figure descended from above, landing near Chen Ye.
It was Superman.
After absorbing enough solar energy, he had completely recovered.
"Where's Darkseid?"
That was the first thing he asked upon arriving.
"Gone," Chen Ye replied.
"Gone?" Superman was stunned. "Did you drive him away? Is Earth safe now?"
Chen Ye shook his head. "Don't get your hopes up. Darkseid just realized he couldn't get the upper hand against me and made a temporary retreat. He'll definitely come back once I'm gone."
He added, "Clark, since your power comes from sunlight, I suggest you just go live on the sun's surface and keep leveling up."
He remembered from the comics that Superman's power scaled with sunlight.
He could even become Silver Superman or Golden Superman—bug-tier beings on par with gods—if he absorbed enough.
Even in the movies, Superman gained strength through solar energy.
But—
To his surprise, Superman gave a bitter smile and said, "That doesn't work. I've already hit my potential limit. Sunlight can only replenish my energy—it won't make me stronger."
Chen Ye blinked in surprise.
So it seemed the movie version had different rules from the comics!
He could only shrug, powerless to help.
...
When Batman and the others heard that Darkseid had been scared off by the Bald Overlord (as Superman put it), they all paused in disbelief.
Then, as they looked over the devastated remains of Metropolis, none of them showed any joy in victory.
They had lost too much during Darkseid's invasion.
Half the global population had died during that time.
Most major cities had been damaged to varying degrees.
No exaggeration—it had been a catastrophic blow to human civilization in the DC Universe.
In the blink of an eye—
Thirty days passed.
Chen Ye's time to leave had arrived.
That day, he found Batman, who was repairing his base.
"Wayne!"
Hearing the voice, Bruce Wayne stopped what he was doing.
"Chen, what brings you here?"
Seeing Chen Ye arrive, Wayne wiped his hands and greeted him warmly.
"Would you like something to drink?" he asked.
At the moment, Bruce Wayne was dressed casually, no longer like Batman—just an ordinary man rebuilding his home.
"No need."
Chen Ye waved his hand and said, "I'm here to say goodbye."
Wayne froze mid-pour as he heard that.
"You're leaving? Where are you going?"
"To be exact, I'm leaving this world."
"What?"
Wayne looked at him in shock. "Chen, you're really going?"
"Of course. I told you a month ago," Chen Ye said. "Once I'm gone, Darkseid will likely return. You'd better start preparing."
Wayne frowned. "Chen, I hope you'll stay. This world desperately needs you."
Chen Ye shrugged. "The truth is—I'm not from this world. My time here is up. Even if I wanted to stay, I couldn't."
Wayne didn't look surprised.
Clearly, he had long suspected it.
"So, your purpose in appearing was to help us defeat Darkseid?"
"That doesn't matter anymore, Wayne."
Chen Ye continued, "I have a suggestion. If you're really out of options, try the B plan. Maybe it can change everything."
He was referring to what the Flash had once mentioned—traveling through time to warn Wayne in the past.
Of course, this was extremely dangerous.
If anything went wrong, the Flash might never return...
Wayne frowned at the suggestion.
He lowered his head in thought, but when he looked up again to respond—
Chen Ye was already gone.
The powerful bald hero who had driven away Darkseid had vanished without a trace.
...
Real World.
Beijing.
Inside a room, Chen Ye's figure reappeared.
As expected, he received bonus rewards once again—this time totaling 220 potential points.
With his current power, it would've been strange not to receive extra rewards.
Chen Ye immediately allocated all the points to his Spirit attribute.
And so—
Name: Chen Ye
Physique: 34,280
Spirit: 5,080
Strength: 34,280
Agility: 34,280
Talent: Saitama Physique
Unallocated Potential: 0
That was his current stat sheet.
Even his Spirit had broken past 5,000!
Absolutely monstrous.
Chen Ye smiled with satisfaction, then picked up the phone beside him and powered it on.
As soon as it booted, he received a flood of text messages.
All were missed call alerts from when his phone was off.
Chen Ye was momentarily stunned.
His first thought was that something might have happened at the dimensional portal.
He checked the time.
He'd spent over two months in the secret realm, and another month had passed outside since then.
Plenty could happen in that time.
He immediately called his father.
The call connected almost instantly.
"Chen Ye, you're back?"
"Yeah," Chen Ye said. "Dad, I saw a bunch of missed calls. Did something happen with the other world?"
"No, the other world is calm for now. Both sides have held back after that last confrontation," came his father's serious reply. "But something big has happened recently. A lot of people entered the secret realm again, and this time... many didn't come back."
Hearing that, Chen Ye was stunned.
People didn't return from the secret realm?
That meant… they were dead!
Chairman Chen's voice continued: "According to preliminary statistics from multiple countries, over 20,000 people were lost in the secret realm this time!"
Over 20,000?
That number shocked Chen Ye.
"How could this happen?" Chen Ye immediately asked. "What exactly went down?"
Chairman Chen replied, "According to the survivors, they were ambushed and hunted by 'Heretics'! These Heretics appeared in secret realms across the board, as if coordinated, and targeted our adventurers."
Heretics?
Reincarnators?
Reincarnators launching a large-scale hunt against secret realm adventurers?
What the hell was this? Was the Lord God's Space declaring war on the secret realms?
The thought left Chen Ye stunned.
"Chen Ye, did you encounter any Heretics during your mission?" Chairman Chen's voice interrupted his thoughts.
"No…"
As Chen Ye said this, something occurred to him.
Could it be that the world he entered was too dangerous, so no reincarnators dared to show up?
To be fair, a world invaded by Darkseid, with a corrupted Superman—that was definitely hell-difficulty, a near-suicidal mission.
Only a cheat like Chen Ye could complete it with ease.
"As long as you didn't, that's good…" Chairman Chen paused for a moment, then added, "There's something strange about all this. Until we figure it out, don't go into the secret realm again for now."
Chen Ye frowned slightly.
Then, as if remembering something, he quickly asked, "By the way, Dad—has Tang Zichen returned?"
Before Chen Ye left, Tang Zichen had clearly said she would be entering Secret Realm No. 9.
"She's back," said Chairman Chen. "She returned half a month before you. She was also ambushed by Heretics, but that girl's strength is insane. Not only did she fight back, she killed the Heretic and earned bonus rewards!"
From his tone, Chairman Chen was clearly quite proud of his daughter-in-law.
"And your other classmates did well too. They all fought back successfully, killed the Heretics, and returned alive with solid rewards."
Hearing this, Chen Ye let out a heavy sigh of relief.
As long as his friends were safe, it was fine.
Thinking about it, it wasn't too surprising that Zhao Zheng and the others survived.
Under his guidance, they'd grown far stronger than their peers. Unless the Reincarnators sent to hunt them were extremely powerful, they'd only end up being killed instead.
"Got it, Dad."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Ye immediately contacted Tang Zichen.
"Zichen, I'm back."
"Good!"
"I heard you not only killed a Heretic but even earned extra rewards—nice work!"
"My strength has already reached sixth-rank standards. That kind of result is expected…"
"Excellent. What are you up to now?"
"Training at the gym!"
"Want to grab lunch? I'll call up Lao Cao and the others. It's been a while since we got together."
"Sure. I'll go shower and change. Pick me up from the gym."
...
Not long after—
A group of old classmates gathered at a restaurant in the city.
Seeing Chen Ye return safe, Cao Yu immediately laughed and said, "Haha! I knew the one person we didn't have to worry about was Master Chen!"
Zhao Zheng and the others all smiled.
They were genuinely happy to see Chen Ye.
And Chen Ye, seeing all his friends safe and sound, also felt quietly relieved. Then he said, "Tell me in detail what happened during your missions."
"I'll go first!"
Zhao Zheng said, "I ended up in a wuxia world. I was doing the mission just fine when two guys suddenly jumped me. It wasn't until the system warned me that I realized they were Heretics. Luckily, they weren't as strong as me. I killed them both and earned 200 extra potential points."
One Heretic equals 100 points!
Cao Yu immediately said enviously, "Man, I'm jealous, Old Zhao. I wasn't so lucky. A Heretic ambushed me and actually landed the hit. Good thing I've got an undying body. I didn't even think about fighting back—the guy was strong, just careless. If I hadn't faked death, I probably wouldn't have made it back…"
The others had experiences similar to Zhao Zheng's.
After hearing everyone's stories, Chen Ye was sure—
This had been a coordinated attack targeting secret realm adventurers.
The Lord God's Space had launched an invasion.
What would the secret realm do in response?
Chen Ye frowned slightly.
He recalled a Reincarnator he had encountered before—someone who said there were extremely powerful individuals among the Reincarnators.
Some had Superman's bloodline, some had Super Saiyan bloodlines, and others were immortal sword cultivators…
"This Heretic attack was really strange," Cao Yu said. "I read online that a lot of people died."
Ren Qianqian added, "There must be a powerful organization behind the Heretics that orchestrated this whole assault."
Chen Ye thought for a moment and said, "Until things are clearer, none of you should go into the secret realm again. That includes me."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Now that we've finished talking about the secret realm…" Cao Yu suddenly said, "Shouldn't we talk about you, Master Chen? You really kept us in the dark!"
Ren Qianqian followed up, "Chen-ge, playing the 'pretend to be weak' game with a bunch of students—must've been fun for you, huh?"
Zhao Zheng said, "Junior brother, I always knew you weren't normal, but when I saw your real power, I was still shocked…"
Shao Wenhui said, "Chen-ge, when you turned into that divine dragon—man, it was so cool. I have one request… Can you transform again and let me ride on your back? Just one photo for the feed?"
Chen Ye: "…"
...
After the meal, everyone went their separate ways.
Though there was one amusing incident when it came time to pay the bill—
When the restaurant owner realized that the famous "Hero Chen" was dining there, he absolutely refused to accept any money and insisted on treating them all for free!
That's when Chen Ye remembered—
He was now a red-hot celebrity-level superhero.
Back at home—
He immediately turned on his computer and started searching for news on the "Heretic Incident."
The topic was blowing up!
Even though he was late returning, the internet was still filled with discussions.
Mainly because… so many people had died!
Sure, adventurers dying in secret realms wasn't rare.
But a massacre on this scale was unheard of.
And according to the survivors, they were all ambushed by Heretics.
The whole thing reeked of conspiracy.
The word "Heretic" was now trending across the web.
Previously, ordinary people—and even lower-level adventurers—didn't even know such things existed.
Even Chen Ye himself hadn't known about Reincarnators before entering Secret Realm No. 7.
So it was no wonder the public was completely in the dark.
But now, the existence of Heretics was public knowledge.
Only now did people realize—the secret realms were far more dangerous than anyone had imagined.
Chen Ye casually scrolled through the posts online, many of which were from the grieving families of the deceased…
(End of chapter)
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