In the upstairs bedroom.
The desk lamp cast Ian's shadow on the wall, bizarrely distorted into a claw-waving monster. In reality, he was simply sitting cross-legged on a chair, staring at his small computer.
The computer fan emitted a faint hum. Ian's fingers tapped quickly on the keyboard. Browser windows popped up one after another, all displaying news about events that happened in Metropolis yesterday.
Daily Planet, Star Forum, Metropolis News Express. Ian wanted to see if he could find clues about what Superman encountered and what would happen to Metropolis.
Coming clean to his father, Clark?
He had the thought just now, but then he remembered the female psychopomp appearing again, clearly trying to stop him.
There must be a special reason! Would Superman's continued involvement cause worse consequences, or would it lead to Death arriving prematurely?
"I hate The Riddler."
Thinking about it calmly, given Ian's understanding of Clark, even if Ian directly revealed that he knew his father was Superman and told Clark about his conversation with the mysterious psychopomp, his father would absolutely not allow Ian to participate in the subsequent investigation.
Don't forget, in his parents' eyes, he was a patient with a slight mental health issue.
Moreover, for Superman.
Humans were too fragile.
Therefore, no matter what happened, his father would definitely choose to face it alone. He would inevitably do his best to prevent his family from getting involved in any danger related to him.
Coming clean would not lead to father-son cooperation with his father.
Ian even worried that, given his father's cautious nature, he might even be sent to the home of some magic-side hero, delaying him for an unknown number of days for exorcism, hazard screening, and other procedures.
He only had seven days.
Ian did not want to be dragged off for an exorcism. He had also considered whether he could seek help from the true intelligence powerhouse, the uncrowned king of Gotham City next door.
However.
After thinking about it for a long time, Ian gave up on the idea. It wasn't because he was afraid of exposing himself as a special person.
As long as he didn't expose himself as a transmigrator, the number of special people in this world was simply countless.
At worst, he would just be noted down by Batman in his little black book and have a series of contingency plans drawn up for him.
Competent special people have more or less received this treatment. If everyone is the same, it's virtually no big deal.
Ian was worried about Batman's attitude. He hadn't met this world's Batman and had no way to gauge Batman's stance on Superman.
Metropolis might be saved because of it, but whether Superman could be saved would purely depend on Batman's mood.
It should be remembered that Superman had died due to Batman's planning.
Ian truly couldn't afford to gamble. He wasn't like some arrogant group that, after transmigrating, felt they were the destined protagonist whom everyone would immediately swear allegiance to, believing they could control Batman as they wished.
In the face of Batman, the strongest intellectual in the DC Universe, Ian had no confidence in his world-shaking wisdom for the time being. Perhaps his intellect would only stand a chance when facing Batman's tombstone a hundred years after it had decayed.
This was self-awareness.
Most people likely possessed this self-awareness in the presence of Batman. Batman was not an absolutely good person who was very happy to help. Only Batman viewed through a screen was the popular character everyone loved.
Because of this.
Ian temporarily shelved the option of seeking Batman's help.
He had seven days. Within three days, he could still try other options.
Like asking Wonder Woman for help? Wonder Woman certainly had amazing ways to help, and her identity's importance would definitely be high. There were actually quite a few relatively friendly superheroes like her.
Ian could even try to find a solution through the psychopomps themselves.
There must be loopholes in the rule that people can't die until a psychopomp takes their soul.
There was also Lucifer at the Lux nightclub, who was struggling because he couldn't get the woman God arranged for him. There could be a transaction to be made there.
Of course, dealing with the Lord of Hell required careful thought.
"As for whether Metropolis is destroyed or not, that's a problem for the superheroes to worry about... I don't care that much." Ian's thinking was simple; he only cared about his family.
He couldn't help it that his whole family was "Family-Man," so this sentiment was inherited to some degree. Compared to his two brothers, who were destined to become heroes, Ian even felt he was much more selfish.
"There's nothing wrong with that."
Ian kept telling himself this repeatedly. Anyone who had been a top student would understand that multitasking was a basic operation. While thinking, he was simultaneously browsing the news online.
In the data jungle.
Ian was looking for any suspicious clues.
[Cherry Blossoms Bloom Early in Metropolis Central Park, Experts Say Global Warming is Causing Climate Abnormalities, Urging the Eastern Power to Save More Carbon Emissions for the West to Use.]
[Subway Line 3 Suddenly Blocked Off, Suspected Discovery of Ancient Creature Remains Underground.]
[LexCorp's New Clean Energy Project Receives Government Support.]
...
News after news scrolled past Ian's eyes. He quickly scrolled the mouse wheel. Suddenly, a news event that occurred yesterday morning caught his attention and vigilance.
[Star Airlines Flight 143 Crashes]
[Shock and Outrage! Superman's Rescue Falls Short, 12 People Dead, 36 Injured, Only 114 Rescued Unharmed. We must question what Superman is doing!]
The headline and the soul-searching content were accompanied by a shocking photo. As the plane made contact with the ground, a red and blue figure in the distance finally arrived late.
The captured photo was very clear, and the article was filled with malicious intent. It was clearly media controlled by LexCorp. Ian was not too surprised by this.
If the media controlled by Lex Luthor's company didn't criticize Superman one day, that would be truly frightening. Of course, this news was not a fabricated rumor.
"Plane crash..."
Ian's eyes narrowed slightly.
He remembered the classroom window shaking violently during class that morning, and the muffled explosion in the distance. The composure of the teacher and the smoke outside the school had already made him complain a lot.
Now it seemed.
Something had indeed gone wrong.
Logically, an increasingly powerful Superman should not miss rescuing a distressed airplane. There could only be one reason for this situation, something had preoccupied his father and delayed him.
"Perhaps I can start investigating from this angle." Ian searched the internet for more information. He found a video shared by an adult content creator named [Big Baby Ball] on their social media.
Um.
The football baby's "balls" were indeed quite big.
But the key point was that the location of the plane crash was right behind the paid video where the creator was filming. In the video, the creator was on a tall building, and in the wide-open background, he could clearly see the wobbling "balls"... wait, he could see his father wobbling in the sky. This directly confirmed Ian's previous guess.
"Something definitely happened right before this plane explosion!" Relying on his "Family-Man" will, Ian forced himself to concentrate on the area that required his attention.
Under normal circumstances.
Superman would not be flying erratically. Such a thing would only happen if Superman's condition was compromised, perhaps having just pulled himself out of a very difficult situation.
And.
He was already injured!
"Whether Dad is injured or not, some of these people might have noticed." Ian looked through various news related to the plane crash, focusing his attention on the hospital where the injured were uniformly treated. He felt he might be able to get useful clues from the injured survivors.
"That's the plan."
The slightly worn [Psychic Card] flipped in Ian's hand.
He had made his decision and plan.
Of course, before that, he still had to get through tonight.
"Thank goodness, thank goodness, I used my second brother's account to purchase the video. I hope Mom doesn't get too harsh on my good brother when she receives the payment notification."
"I believe Jordan will feel an invisible sense of accomplishment when he gets hit. After all, he's taking a beating to save our dear father!"
"Jordan is the superhero of our family!" Ian continued to multitask. While searching for other clues, he watched the paid video in a small window in the bottom right corner of his computer.
He couldn't help it.
How could he possibly waste money like that?
That would be a shameful act. Multitasking was absolutely no problem for him.
***
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