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

Starlight was unhappy. It was one thing for her not to agree with her wish—after all, she was aware that the desire to save the world was indeed difficult for others to understand—but to ridicule her to her face was going too far, especially since they had only just met.

Starlight said defiantly, "Just watch, I'll win the game and join the Super Seven. Then you'll see I'm not just talking nonsense."

It's obvious that Xingguang is oversimplifying things. If she continues down this path, she'll inevitably suffer setbacks. However, she's not the kind of person who's annoying; she's just putting her efforts in the wrong direction.

Carl said, "The desire to save the world is good in itself, but if you actually join the Seven, you'll probably be disappointed. They have absolutely nothing to do with saving the world."

Starlight was a little unhappy: "They are the greatest superhero team in the world, why can't they be? And since you came to participate in the show, you must be thinking of joining them, right?"

As fellow contestants, it's not very convincing to dismiss the Super Seven based on that alone.

"We didn't come here to join them, and you say you want to save the world, but you don't have any of your own ideas and just rely on others? Forgive my bluntness, but if that's the case, before thinking about saving the world, you should learn more about the world and see where this seemingly peaceful earth actually needs saving," Karl reminded him.

He knew that the other party probably wouldn't take it to heart, but it didn't matter. He was just saying it casually anyway, and whether they listened or not was none of his business.

As expected, Starlight did not respond to Karl's words, but turned around and prepared to leave. She still wanted to continue participating in the competition. She could not give up on something she had persisted in since childhood because of a few words from a stranger.

After she left, Kurumi Tokisaki suppressed her smile and said to the others, "Can we find a way to eliminate her as soon as possible? If she continues on, having her dreams shattered is the best outcome. If she's a little unlucky, who knows what might happen to her."

The doctor felt that Kurumi Tokisaki's attitude was a bit strange, and it seemed that she didn't simply find Starlight's dream funny. He tentatively asked, "Ms. Tokisaki, have some bad memories been triggered?"

"No one will think you're mute if you don't speak," Kurumi Tokisaki retorted irritably.

She had to admit the doctor was right; the starlight reminded her of herself a long time ago, when she also had similar dreams every day, hoping that one day she would be chosen by fate to become a hero who would save the world.

As for the outcome, just look at how indifferent she was to killing people, and you'll know it wasn't going well. If it weren't for good luck, she would have died long ago. So she knew very well that Starlight's future was likely to be bleak.

Carl thought for a moment and then said, "Next, the contestants will have a competition, and the four with the highest scores will advance. So if we all advance, we can eliminate the other team directly."

"That's good." Kurumi Tokisaki said with satisfaction.

The main activities of superheroes in this world are participating in shows, making movies, and engaging in commercial activities, just like celebrities. However, they still need to differentiate themselves from celebrities, which means they need to fight crime. Otherwise, the public will not recognize them.

Therefore, the next selection method is to simulate a crime scene, and then score the contestants based on their performance. The top 4 can enter the final.

However, the final round is more subjective, depending entirely on the judges' preferences, which is why this elimination round is the most-watched segment.

Shortly afterward, staff members led all the contestants onto a bus, clearly indicating that the location for filming the promotional video was not the same as the location for the subsequent elimination rounds.

Carl and his group arrived at a huge building that resembled a stadium. Its area was similar to that of a large stadium, but the facilities inside were completely different.

Similar to the circular stands of the Roman Colosseum, fans held up all sorts of signs to cheer on their favorite superheroes. Among them were quite a few supporting Starlight, who, although she hasn't officially debuted yet, has already accumulated a lot of popularity through various talent shows.

On the contrary, the chat group doesn't have such a big presence. It's only been a little over a day since the promotional video was released, so it hasn't accumulated much popularity. Moreover, the promotional video itself isn't particularly outstanding.

Only Karl's flexing his muscles attracted a few scattered fans; if it weren't for his super hearing, he wouldn't have been able to hear the cheers from the other side at all.

Inside the circular seating area was an empty urban area, but upon closer inspection, it was not a real city. The buildings were crudely constructed and had not been decorated at all. There wasn't even any furniture inside. Instead, there were many cameras and mannequins placed in the corners.

It's obvious that the next competition venue will be this city model. No wonder it's the most popular program; they really went all out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for watching this episode of the Superhero Audition. Without further ado, after a warm-up, we are about to begin the exciting elimination rounds. Let me introduce the rules of the competition."

“We have placed traps and models in this urban area. The contestants need to defeat the villain models to rescue the hostages. Each time a model is dealt with, one point will be added to the scoreboard.”

"The most important scoring item is the nuclear bomb model in the city center, but be careful, we have placed a lot of monitoring equipment on the villain model there. Once something is wrong, the nuclear bomb will be detonated immediately, so this point is not easy to get."

"Last and most importantly, I would like to remind all contestants not to forget their identity. Malicious competition is not something a superhero should do, and I think everyone should know that."

"The competition is about to begin. Contestants, please enter the arena!"

After the host finished his commentary, a door opened in each of the four directions of the venue: east, west, south, and north. The contestants walked out in pairs. To increase the excitement, the production team did not allow everyone to enter at the same time, but added a lot of randomness.

For example, the group assignments this time were decided entirely by lottery. Carl entered from the east gate, and next to him was a player he didn't recognize. The player greeted Carl, and Carl responded in a friendly manner, but there was no further interaction.

The other people weren't very lucky with their group assignments either; none of them were paired with teammates they knew. Only the Doctor and Starlight were paired together and entered through the North Gate.

However, the group members did not leave a good impression on Xingguang before, so the possibility of the two working together is relatively low.

Chapter 87 The Competition Begins

Game start.

Amid cheers from the audience, most of the contestants rushed into the city. The models in the city were limited, and it was first-come, first-served. If someone took all the points in a certain area, the others would have no choice but to accept their bad luck.

"The match has already started, aren't you leaving?" Seeing that Karl didn't move, the player next to him couldn't help but ask.

Carl said, "No rush, you don't need to wait for me. If you want to go, go quickly. I won't take it from you."

"What a strange person," the man thought, but since he was there to participate in the competition, he quickly left Karl behind and rushed into the city to avoid falling behind.

Carl remained standing in place, seemingly lost in thought, but in reality, he was using his X-ray vision to observe the actions of the others.

This competition meant nothing to him; he could have easily taken all the points by himself if he wanted to, so Carl wasn't in a hurry at all.

Compared to the situation at the East Gate, other places were much more lively.

The superpowered individuals in this world are all physical mutations. At most, a lucky few can manipulate matter and energy, but they are definitely not as magical as magic.

Since it's a competition between people with superpowers, the group members can't use methods that don't resemble superpowers, which limits their performance.

For example, spiders cannot teleport directly, nor can they construct magic circles; they can only shoot spider silk.

Kurumi Tokisaki cannot summon Zafkiel, nor can she escape into the shadow dimension; she defines herself as a clone ability user.

However, in order to achieve better results and secure a stable advancement, Tokisaki Kurumi decided to temporarily add the ability to fly, and the sight of more than ten beautiful girls soaring in the sky immediately attracted a lot of attention.

The only one in the group who didn't feel restricted was the doctor, even though he was really bad at combat.

Of course, this was also due to the doctor's lack of preparation. Since it was a talent show, he brought some flashy but impractical props, few of which provided any real boost. He even had some difficulty keeping up with the starlight.

As mentioned before, all abilities in this world are based on physical mutations, so every superhuman has some degree of physical enhancement.

Starlight's main ability is to control electricity, but she can still support a car and easily punch through cement bricks. At this point, the doctor still has to rely on enhanced magic to compete with her in terms of physical strength.

The group moved through the streets and alleys, using their respective abilities to deal with the human models in the city. Although the group members who had experienced real combat found this kind of target practice boring, the audience did not think so.

The abilities of each contestant were a feast for their eyes; they bought tickets specifically to experience superpowers up close. Now that everyone had demonstrated their abilities, only Carl was still in a daze.

Why isn't this person moving?

"Did he give up after realizing he had no hope of winning?"

"No, he looks very strong in the promotional video. He's supposedly stronger than Queen Maeve and faster than a locomotive."

"How could that be? You're exaggerating."

"Exactly, if that's the case, why hasn't he made a move yet?"

Carl ignored the audience's discussion, even though he could hear it. His reason for waiting was similar to the audience's: he was curious about the performance of others. To put it bluntly, he was watching the show and having some fun.

However, Carl has almost lost interest now. This place truly lives up to its reputation as a talent show venue, giving him the feeling of watching a variety show in his previous life, especially one starring popular celebrities.

For someone like Carl who doesn't follow celebrities, once the novelty wears off, he won't even want to glance at the show again. And now that the show is halfway through, it's time to end it.

Karl instantly created a sound barrier on the spot, and his whole body flew into the sky. When he landed, he was already in the center of the city.

Here stands a more elaborate human model. While other models are mostly made of plaster and wood to resemble targets, this model contains a variety of technological devices used to detect the surrounding environment. The model is also holding a remote control.

Next to the model was a large bomb, which the production team called a 'nuclear bomb'. The bomb's detonation device was connected to a remote control in the model's hand. Once the monitoring equipment detected a problem, the model would press the button, so the bomb could easily explode.

Of course, the production team couldn't actually put a nuclear bomb here, but using only an outer shell would seem too perfunctory, so they compromised by placing a real bomb here.

The bomb was custom-made and weak, but it made a lot of noise and a lot of fire, and once it exploded, it was sure to ignite the audience's enthusiasm.

Carl released his thermal vision from a kilometer away, burning the remote control in the model's hand. He then grabbed the 'nuclear bomb' and a camera and rushed into the sky.

The 'nuclear bomb' displayed a countdown timer, presumably a trick by the production team to trick the contestants. When they finally managed to solve the problem with the remote control, they found it was useless and had to find another way.

But it doesn't matter, Carl was going to make the bomb explode anyway, otherwise he wouldn't have brought a camera.

With only ten seconds left on the countdown, Carl had already entered space, and the camera in his hand faithfully recorded everything and transmitted the images back to Earth.

"My God, my God! Did you see that?! He went to space!"

"Don't shake me, I'm not blind."

"That's impossible! No one but Homelander could do that!"

"What's the point of even competing? The championship is definitely his."

"Hey, you can't say that. Just because you're strong doesn't mean you can become a superhero."

Carl's actions not only attracted the attention of the audience at the scene, but also countless people watching online. In an instant, the bomb exploded, and these people were also stunned. They had never seen such powerful abilities before.

Most superpowered individuals are actually just street heroes; nothing is as violent as Karl. People can't help but let their imaginations run wild. If this was a fake nuclear bomb, what if it were a real one? Would the result be the same?

If that's really the case, then it's truly...

Very good!

Most viewers think very simply: the stronger the superhero, the safer they are, right? Isn't that a great thing? What? You say, what if the superhero does evil?

They're all heroes, how could they do evil? Our idols are perfect.

When Carl returned to the scene, the audience erupted in enthusiastic cheers, which made Carl feel a little unaccustomed for a moment.

In his world, whether it's Superman or Superpower, the feedback they receive after demonstrating their abilities is mostly fear. Regardless of who he is, his very existence challenges the psychological limits of humanity.

Only in this entertainment-obsessed world would so many people cheer without a second thought.

Chapter Eighty-Eight: Judge Deep Sea

Lex Luthor in the main universe believes that Superman's existence will diminish human potential. Regardless of Luthor's ulterior motives when he said this, there is some truth to the statement itself.

Superman is like the sun; although he can dispel darkness and warm the world, he can also unintentionally overshadow the light of others.

Human enthusiasm will be dampened by him, because no matter what achievements are made, they will seem so insignificant.

That's the situation now. After Carl demonstrated his abilities, the performances of the others became somewhat dull. The audience had been enjoying themselves before, but now they were losing interest. Watching someone mess around in a city is nothing compared to watching someone go into space, especially since the most difficult project in the city had already been completed.

Not only the audience, but even the contestants felt the same way. With Karl's outstanding performance, their own skills seemed somewhat inadequate, and they couldn't muster the enthusiasm to continue the competition. This attitude made the already boring event even more boring.

This really worried the organizers. Although Karl had such an unexpected incident, they couldn't just stop the competition. They couldn't very well ask the audience to watch commercials when they hadn't prepared any other programs.

However, continuing to broadcast the matches wouldn't be much better. The climax had passed, and the following matches lacked excitement, failing to achieve the desired effect and leading to a drop in viewership. This would be a waste of money.

If Carl continued to perform, he could salvage the ratings, but after dealing with the bomb, he went back to the corner to rest with his eyes closed, clearly having no intention of doing anything more. The production team had no choice but to urgently look for other points of interest.

"No matter what methods you have, come up with a plan to turn the tide!" The TV station boss was roaring at the program planning team.

But what could these employees do? The audience came to see superpowers, and they couldn't find any stronger or more entertaining superpowers.

In the end, these people racked their brains but could only come up with one terrible idea.