I, the anti-superman, have hacked into the chat group.

The user "'Dead Head'" has been banned for one day.

The group skillfully used a vote to silence the dead man, and then packed their belongings during the time before the mission began.

Carl picked up the phone in the living room and said, "Grid, you're here, right? Contact Night Owl for me."

"Okay, Superpower." The mechanical voice from the grid quickly came through the phone.

As an artificial intelligence, it is growing rapidly and can now hack into networks anywhere in the world. Even without relying on data from the space probe tower, it can be almost omniscient in big cities.

Of course, the feeling of being spied on is not pleasant, so Carl only allows the network to connect to his phone, and he can give the grid a command by saying a word on the phone. In the network, the grid is everywhere.

"What is it, Superb?" Night Owl's voice quickly replaced Grid's voice on the phone.

“It’s nothing new, it’s just that I’ll be here and there these days, so if the killer shows up, you’ll have to deal with it yourself. I’ve even given you the nunchaku lock, so you shouldn’t lose,” Karl said.

Night Owl didn't offer any guarantees, saying directly, "I haven't met him yet, so I won't draw conclusions about uncertain things, but I assure you I will do my best."

“If you can keep your word, that’s fine too,” Carl said before hanging up the phone.

He was about to begin preparing for time travel. While the matter of Earth 3 was important, since all the preparations for the escape were there, searching for the universe was not something that could be taken lightly, and it was difficult to distinguish which was more important.

If Carl wants both, he can only entrust one of them to the right person. The Ultimate Alliance has Night Owl as the commander and the powerful weapon of Nushun's Lasso, so they should have no problem handling this task.

An hour passed in the blink of an eye, and Carl had already changed into his Superman suit and was waiting in place.

[Mission about to begin, countdown 54321]

The familiar scenery shifts again; this is the spatial teleportation effect of the chat group, always so swift and lightning-fast.

This time, Carl and his group appeared in a dark alley. Every city has a few such places, lacking surveillance, rarely visited, and easily becoming gathering places for petty thugs.

However, the people here at this time were not thugs. Looking up, you could see familiar faces such as Spider-Girl, Bronya, and Kurumi Tokisaki.

Beside them stood a young man with orange hair, wearing a white lab coat, and a gentle smile.

"Hello Superman, nice to meet you. I'm Romani Archiman. You can call me Roman, or just call me Doctor," the doctor said with a smile.

“In that case, I’ll call you Doctor. It might sound a little strange, but I’m used to calling you Doctor,” Karl said.

"It's okay, I completely understand, just like I prefer to call you Superman," the doctor said magnanimously.

Chapter 82 Superstar

The world in this mission is still a typical modern society, and the group is located in bustling New York. Although they may not have been to this city, they have at least heard of it.

Carl changed into casual clothes and said, "Let's go out. The target of this mission seems to be very high-profile, so we don't need to go looking for them."

His super hearing allows him to hear all the sounds in the city, a fact his teammates already know; after reading the comics, they all remember Superman's basic abilities very well.

So, looking at Carl's current appearance, the doctor asked a somewhat strange question: "Don't you wear glasses? I've noticed you're always pretending like that."

Karl waved his hand and said, "No need. Nobody here knows me. It's the same whether I wear it or not. I changed out of my battle suit just because it was too eye-catching."

"That's true, I misunderstood." The doctor scratched his head and laughed.

Nobody thought there was anything wrong with it. Now that they were in another world, there was no need to pretend to be that timid little reporter anymore; that wasn't the real Superman anyway.

The group quickly arrived on the main street, which was in the heart of New York City. The streets were bustling with people, and many noticed them, but the situation was much better than last time.

The main reason is that Spider-Woman learned her lesson and made her hood bigger, almost covering the upper half of her face, so that others could not see her appearance or her closed eyes.

The only thing that could be considered conspicuous was her hair color. In other worlds, it's normal for hair to be naturally multicolored, but not here. The doctor's orange hair and Bronya's gray hair are okay, just relatively rare, but pure white hair is something that most people don't have except for dyed hair.

Ignoring the stares of those around them, Carl led everyone to a shopping mall.

Carl wasn't there to get his group members to buy anything; he was there for the mall's big screen, which was showing news about The Seven.

The robbers were driving recklessly through the streets with their armored trucks when suddenly a woman dressed as a Greek warrior appeared out of nowhere. She stood directly in the middle of the road, neither dodging nor avoiding the truck, with her back to it.

Shockingly, it was the heavily armored armored truck that succumbed to the impact; the front of the truck was completely wrecked, and the banknotes inside were scattered all over the ground. The criminals had chosen to jump out of the truck before the impact, thus saving their lives.

As the superheroes approached, the thugs quickly drew their weapons, preparing to take hostages. But before they could act, two laser beams descended from the sky, instantly melting the guns.

The man who shoots lasers from his eyes is dressed in a blue bodysuit with a cape draped over his back in the shape of the Stars and Stripes. He appears and swiftly eliminates all the thugs.

A massive bank robbery seems to have been averted by two superheroes.

Onlookers shouted "Homelander! Homelander!" and rushed forward to ask for autographs, and Homelander smiled and signed autographs and took photos with everyone.

At the end of the news report, Homelander and the previously featured female superhero, Queen Maeve, stood together, saying they hoped everyone would continue to support justice and the Seven.

After the news broadcast ended, it seemed like just a typical case of a hero dealing with a crime, but the group members all frowned, feeling that something was amiss.

At this moment, a new image appeared on the big screen: the news was over, and it was time for commercials.

One by one, superheroes appear on the screen: the Deep, A-Train, the Invisible Man, Black, Queen Maeve, and their leader, Homelander.

"The Seven, the world's greatest team of heroes. It is our duty and our honor to be Vought International. We make heroes even greater."

When the advertisement ended, everyone's expressions became even stranger, but since there were too many people here and it wasn't a place to talk, they left first.

Along the way, they saw a lot of superhero posters, banners, and advertisements, and finally they managed to book a private room in a teahouse.

As soon as the door closed, the doctor said directly, "You guys feel the same way, right? I feel like there's something off about these superheroes, and the sense of déjà vu is really strong."

“That’s right,” Kurumi Tokisaki chimed in. “They’re practically a bootleg Justice League.”

“While not all of them are alike, Queen Maeve and Wonder Woman, A-Train and the Flash, the Deep Sea and Aquaman,” Bronya said, looking at Karl. “And finally, Homelander and you, they’re practically identical, even the heat vision is there.”

Having just finished reading the comics, it's currently the moment when everyone in the group is most impressed by the Justice League, and the moment they see the Super Seven, their urge to make sarcastic comments immediately arises.

“A knock-off,” Spider concluded.

Carl just smiled and said, "I'm used to this. It's quite normal to encounter two similar heroes, like Superman and Superboy."

"The title is just a label; the key is whether their actions qualify as heroic. I think that's why the doctor said something was wrong."

The doctor nodded quickly and shared his opinion: "That news just now was just too... um, perfect. The timing of the hero's appearance, the reactions of the onlookers, and most importantly, the angle of the camera shot—it was all so perfect, as if it had been planned beforehand."

"This would be normal in a movie, but real accident reports shouldn't be like this. Besides, there are just too many ads for The Seven and Vought International, which makes them seem less like superheroes and more like... how should I put it?"

“A celebrity,” Bronya said.

"Yes! That's it. It looks like a celebrity. I just saw their movie ad." The doctor exclaimed in realization.

Carl knew that his friends in the group were right. The superheroes in this world were indeed celebrities. Their main job was to participate in shows, make movies, and receive endorsement fees. They occasionally maintained order in the city, but there was little risk because there were no supervillains in this world, or perhaps everyone was a supervillain.

"Speaking of which, aren't they called the Super Seven? Why are there only six of them?" the doctor suddenly asked.

Bronya summoned her Heavy Bunny robot, which had recovered completely after a period of rest. This was a characteristic of Heavy Bunny: as long as it was not completely destroyed, it could repair itself in the Quanta Sea.

"Bronya just checked online with Heavy Bunny and it seems that because Lighthouse left the team a few months ago, they are short one person, and this position will be filled through the superhero draft."

Kurumi Tokisaki said speechlessly, "A talent show? This is really a real star. Does the mission mean that they should experience failure, but actually defeat them in terms of fame?"

Chapter 83 Group Members Want to Become Idols

Kurumi Tokisaki was just making sarcastic remarks at first, but the more everyone thought about it, the more they felt that what she said made sense.

The Seven is a group of celebrities disguised as superheroes, so logically, the struggles and defeats between celebrities are a contest of fame.

Moreover, the mission requires the Seven and Vought to experience failure in multiple ways, and failure in reputation is definitely one of those aspects.

“Your idea is excellent,” Bronya said. “Defeating them in their respective fields is definitely a good way to complete the mission, so we should also form a superhero team.”

Kurumi Tokisaki suddenly found it very amusing, and she laughed, "Oh, little sister, do you mean we should become idols? That's an interesting idea."

Before becoming a Spirit, Tokisaki Kurumi was actually a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) who dreamed of being a hero every day. Although she is now past that age, being a fake hero here would be a way for her to reminisce about her childhood.

The doctor calmly analyzed, "Vought is a company, so we estimate that we need to bankrupt it. However, the mission separates the Seven and Vought, meaning that the two things need to be done simultaneously. The only problem is that being a star isn't easy, especially a superhero star that we're completely unfamiliar with."

Upon hearing this, Kurumi Tokisaki pointed at Karl and said, "We have the greatest superheroes around, are we afraid of being outmatched by mere imposters?"

The group members have completely decided that The Seven is a knock-off. Even though the two are from completely different worlds, it's really annoying that celebrities call themselves heroes, and nobody wants to acknowledge their legitimacy.

Heroes deserve respect because they have performed heroic deeds, not because they can enjoy admiration simply by bearing the title of hero.

“The greatest is too much of an exaggeration. Every true hero is great, but I will do my best to help because I also can’t stand their methods. They fight criminals purely out of personal whim, not to ensure that criminals receive the punishment they deserve.” Carl agreed to the strategy of using fame to gain influence.

The task requires failure in multiple aspects, so let's take it one step at a time.

The doctor said, "Then our first step should be to increase our popularity, right? Miss Mei said that the most difficult thing is to gain your first audience."

At this moment, Bronya got up, turned on the TV in the room, and tuned to a suitable channel, which was showing an advertisement for a superhero talent show.

“Bronya just checked. The star-making process in this world is very mature. For newly debuted superheroes, unless you are lucky enough to solve a major case, the fastest way to become famous is to participate in the Super Talent Show or a competition between superpowered individuals.”

If saving the world could easily boost popularity, then so be it. But there are no supervillains in this world. The job of superheroes is simply to maintain order, and this service is even paid for. The mayor has to pay to hire superheroes before Walter will send people to maintain order.

For the superheroes of this world, maintaining order is a way to boost their popularity. They have always had a well-balanced division of labor, and apart from the Seven, no one else will enter another's territory.

Therefore, it is very difficult to find a suitable case in this world.

"Could you elaborate?" Carl asked.

Bronya nodded and said, "The talent show and the competition each have their own advantages. The superhero talent show has been around for a long time and has a large audience. Moreover, the winner of this season may join the Seven. It is undoubtedly the most popular season. As long as you get a good ranking, you can make a lot of people remember you."

"The competitions between superheroes are held irregularly, and the audience is unstable. If the contestants are not of high enough caliber, no one will watch. Currently, the only relatively high-profile competition on the website is about A-Train, which has always held the title of the world's fastest to maintain its popularity."

Bronya's investigation was swift, and after her explanation, everyone understood the current situation.

Superhero talent shows have low entry barriers but fierce competition, and since it's a talent show, not a battle, who knows what standards the judges will use.

Superpower competitions have high barriers to entry but also high rewards, but the problem is that there's only one valuable competition recently, and it's a speed contest against other people.

"What should we do? Which one should we choose?" the doctor asked, looking very conflicted.

However, Carl said directly, "Why choose? We can participate in both, and the timing shouldn't conflict. Besides, if we're complete novices, we probably won't be able to join the Locomotive race."

Everyone nodded in agreement; that made perfect sense. So, the next step was to come up with a code name and then sign up for the superhero audition.

There's absolutely no need to worry about identity issues; the group members have plenty of solutions.

For example, the doctor could use a suggestive magic trick, or Bronya could try to use Heavy Bunny to hack into the network and add her identity information to the database. At worst, they could bribe someone to do something, but the effect would definitely not be as good as the first two methods.

"As for a codename, I'll call myself Nightmare. That's what people call me in my world. Superman will definitely be called Superman. What do you guys want to be called?" Kurumi Tokisaki said.

"I'm just an ordinary person, do I still have to go?" the doctor asked.

Seeing the doctor's modesty, Carl said, "Doesn't your world have magic? You must have some, right? Pretending to have superpowers is enough."

The doctor scratched his head and then said, "Okay, but I'm not very good at naming things, so let's just call him Doctor."

"Bronya should be called Broodmother, and she will use this name in every game."