"Little girl, I'm really not a bad guy."
"…"
"Don't believe me? Look, is there such a handsome bad guy in the world?"
"…"
"Huh? Look at that! There's a mouse chasing a cat over there!"
"!"
The little girl, who had been hiding in the bushes for a long time, suddenly looked up with her big blue eyes, a single strand of golden hair standing upright on her head.
She seemed tempted and couldn't resist coming out to take a look.
Yes, Krypton also had cats and dogs. Shen You knew this. Superman had a super dog as a pet, and Supergirl had a super cat.
Although it was their first meeting, Shen You was about eighty percent sure that the little girl in front of him was Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, Supergirl.
She escaped from the doomed Krypton along with Superman, but her spaceship got stranded in a special space called the "Phantom Zone" for twenty years. Since time in the Phantom Zone is stagnant, although twenty years had passed outside, when her ship accidentally left that space and landed on Earth, her infant cousin had already grown up to become Superman, while she remained a little girl.
Kara Zor-El's age at the time of landing varied with each reboot and parallel universe setting. Sometimes she was fifteen or sixteen, sometimes nineteen to twenty, and sometimes, like in the live-action series, she was a thirteen-year-old little girl.
The girl in front of him seemed about fifteen or sixteen, looking like a middle school student. Her face was tender and somewhat childish, but her chest was already quite developed, a standard case of baby-faced voluptuousness.
With her silky soft blonde hair, big blue eyes, fair and delicate little face, she wore a white dress produced on Krypton with the iconic and conspicuous "S" on her chest, representing the House of El's crest.
As he landed, Shen You's mind raced with thoughts.
According to the canonical timeline, when Kara landed, there was already a Superman in the world. Superman found her first and provided her with protection, allowing her to grow up safely on Earth.
However, since Superman hadn't debuted yet, Kara, who hadn't absorbed enough sunlight, was most likely to end up like Superman in the "Flashpoint" parallel universe, captured by human agencies and locked away in a top-secret facility for alien experiments, never seeing the light of day.
Although he wasn't a member of the Space Garrison, as an Ultraman, Shen You naturally detested such things.
Moreover, he had just encountered a Kryptonian!
As Batman believes, in the DC universe, one should never be ignorant of Kryptonians.
Although Superman is known as the last son of Krypton, it turns out later that there are quite a few remaining Kryptonians. Most of them are villains, each possessing god-like powers, and they frequently have the urge to nuke Earth.
So before inevitably facing Kryptonian opponents, having a docile and obedient Kryptonian around to help understand their abilities and develop countermeasures would be quite beneficial.
Batman has a Superman, so it's reasonable for me to have a Supergirl, right?
Additionally, the House of El in DC is a walking machine of positive energy, naturally endowed with the gift to inspire people to goodness and positivity. This perfectly complements Shen You's need for light, as their presence alone could continuously enhance Shen You's strength, like a stable long-term experience gain.
"Huh?" The Kryptonian girl widened her eyes in surprise, looking at Shen You. "How do you speak Kryptonian?"
Shen You: "…"
Batman once complained that Kryptonians weren't very smart, and it seems he might have had a point. The girl, with her slow reaction time, only now realized that something was off since the other party could understand her.
Of course, Shen You didn't understand Kryptonian. Although he had learned many alien languages, they were limited to the universe of the Land of Light, which did not include Krypton.
He was currently communicating with Kara through telepathy.
But since Kara hadn't noticed, he would explain it slowly in the future. Language understanding would naturally make her feel close and lower her guard, especially in a place like Earth where she had no one to rely on.
"Are you from Krypton?"
"Huh? You know about our planet?"
"That emblem." Shen You gestured to the "S" on her chest. "That's the emblem of the House of El, right? I've been to Krypton and know some friends from the House of El."
"Let me guess, is your father Jor-El?"
"No, that's my uncle. My father is Zor-El."
Maybe being gullible is written in the genes of the House of El, or perhaps it's because Kara was too young and naturally naive. In any case, with his knowledge of Krypton from the comics and his "ability to speak Kryptonian," Shen You had already gained most of her trust within a few sentences.
"Krypton was destroyed."
The little girl pouted and lowered her head, looking like she was about to cry.
"What!?" Shen You acted very surprised. "How could that happen… I didn't know… I'm so sorry."
"My parents sent me away in the last moments before the explosion, telling me to come to Earth and take care of my little cousin, but… Ah!"
She suddenly thought of something and quickly grabbed Shen You's hand, looking nervous.
"We… we need to leave quickly. There's a super scary thing chasing me!"
"What?"
"An Artonian. Dad said they are notorious for their brutality in the galaxy, and they're incredibly strong!" She nervously looked around. "I saw one of those Artonians rummaging through my spaceship. Luckily, I hid in time… He must still be nearby! We… we need to run, or if he finds us, we're done for."
Shen You pondered for a moment and asked, "Hmm, is the Artonian you're talking about green, looking a bit like a bug, with two large scythes for hands?"
Kara looked at him in surprise, blinking her big eyes.
"How do you know?"
"Well…"
Moments later, Shen You was holding Kara's little hand, standing outside the large pit he had kicked out.
At the bottom of the pit, the blurry mass could still vaguely be recognized.
The little girl only took one look into the pit before retreating in fright, hiding behind Shen You, too scared to look again.
"Is that him?" Shen You asked gently.
Kara nodded, her big eyes wide with astonishment as she looked at him.
As if asking, how are you so powerful?
She had always heard that Artonians were extremely brutal and fierce, high-risk criminals even in Krypton's prisons.
But this… was killed just like that?
"I was passing by when he suddenly attacked me. I had no choice but to defend myself and ended up killing him." Shen You said seriously.
His tone was calm and casual, as if mentioning something trivial.
But it made Kara admire him even more.
Shen You thought to himself, that's because you don't know your own capabilities yet. In the future, if you encounter such a creature, you won't even need to lift a finger, just blow it away with a breath, way more exaggerated than this…
"Let's go, I'll take you to my place. It's quite big."
Shen You said, reactivating his helmet and walking towards Kara's spaceship not far away.
"Get inside; we'll take it with us."
This spaceship was a windfall. Although not a combat ship, it was still a product of Krypton—a pinnacle of eleventh-level civilization technology.
Since Shen You stumbled upon it, rather than leaving it for the US military to drag into a lab and potentially cause more trouble they couldn't handle, he might as well take it back and study Kryptonian technology himself. It might produce some unique chemistry with the Land of Light's technology.
Kara hesitated for a moment and suddenly asked, "Can I bring Streaky with me?"
The little girl looked at him expectantly.
"Streaky?" Shen You was taken aback.
"Yes, that's him."
Kara clapped her hands and signaled towards the bushes.
"Streaky, come here."
"Meow~"
A little cat came running out from the bushes, jumping into Kara's arms and nuzzling her chest affectionately.
The girl held the cat, looking at him pitifully.
"He's my only friend… Can I bring him?"
Shen You: "…"
Could this be the super orange cat that shoots lasers from its eyes and can catch planes with its paws?