Looking at the nervous Mark, Peter originally wanted to immediately spank the boy's bottom.
But realizing it wasn't appropriate here, he forcefully suppressed his anger and glared at the two of them.
"Home!"
Patrick Farm.
"Mr. Patrick?"
"Yes."
"I'm from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, I'm Terry George."
The white man in a suit shook Peter's hand, "I'm very sorry for this unfortunate incident."
Terry George glanced at the messy scene and said to Peter, "Can we talk privately?"
Peter spread his hands and politely declined, "Mr. George, if you want to know the details of the plane crash, I'm sorry, I wasn't at the scene at the time, so I can't provide you with the information you're looking for."
With that, his gaze passed through the large hole in the house and looked at the chaotic living room.
There was no doubt the living room was destroyed by Mark and Clark.
Also, the Barn's walls were damaged in several places this time, and the floor inside had several deep pits, which must also be the masterpiece of the three naughty children.
His eyelids twitched slightly, and he suppressed the anger in his heart, took a deep breath, and said to the other party:
"Mr. George, rather than discussing the details of the plane crash, I'm more concerned about the compensation. Look at my living room; it looks like it's been bombed, and all the crops on the farm are destroyed. Are the Boeing airline people here? I'd rather discuss the specific compensation with them."
Looking at Peter's serious expression, Terry George was momentarily stunned, then nodded and said unnaturally, "Of course, Mr. Patrick, that's your right."
Star-Lord and Mark, who were standing nearby, were stunned when they saw Peter unceremoniously declaring all the damage to be the result of the plane crash and demanding compensation!
Can you even do that?
Night.
After a day, by the time the plane at the farm was towed away and the news media with their long and short cameras finally left, the farm, which had been bustling all day, finally quieted down.
After briefly tidying up the dilapidated living room, Peter sat on the battle-damaged sofa and looked at Mark and Star-Lord standing in front of him.
"John, you almost crashed a plane into the farm."
Peter looked at Mark with an unkind gaze, "Don't you have anything to say to me now?!"
Mark glanced at the equally nervous Star-Lord beside him, then mumbled an apology to Peter, "Dad, I'm sorry. I… I just got hot-headed and did it. Clark's words angered me, and I didn't think about the consequences at all."
"You're always eloquent, John. Why would you be angered by Clark? Even if his personality was different at the time, you shouldn't have been led astray by his words. This isn't like your usual self."
"Because… he said I was a child who would never grow up."
Mark looked up, looking at Peter with frustration.
"Dad, am I a child who will never grow up?"
Staring into Mark's eyes, Peter suddenly felt a stir in his heart.
After a moment of hesitation, he stood up, walked over to Mark, and ruffled his hair, "No, of course you'll grow up. We all grow up, from immaturity to maturity."
"Do you know? There are three stages in our lives: the camel, the lion, and the infant."
Mark heard this and asked him in confusion, "Father, is there a difference?"
"The camel refers to obeying others, a state of carrying burdens and being passive, just like a person in society who always drifts with the current and cannot find their true self."
Peter told him, "The lion wants to fully control his own life. The lion represents strength, conquest, and desire, and also represents the pursuit of freedom and liberation from constraints."
"Clark said you wouldn't grow up because he thought you hadn't found your true self yet, and he believed he had already become a lion, so he mocked you, who was still in the camel stage."
Peter paused for a moment and continued, "But in reality, Clark is also a camel. You both have extraordinary talents, putting you a long distance ahead of ordinary people."
"Unlike ordinary people, as children, you will always be seeking your own goals, searching for your true selves. This is a necessary stage for both you and Clark, so you shouldn't be ridiculed, nor should you fear it."
Mark, hearing this, seemed to understand something and nodded.
"I understand, Dad, I will definitely become a lion."
"Of course, Dad believes you will grow into a lion and that you will live a different life."
Star-Lord, seeing that Peter's anger seemed to have subsided, mustered up the courage to intercede for Mark.
"Dad, John didn't do it on purpose. He was trying to save me at the time. If he hadn't stopped Clark, Clark would have burned down the farm and maxed out Dad's credit card."
Peter's expression was calm at first, but when he heard Star-Lord say that Clark had maxed out his credit card, his mouth slightly opened, and his expression immediately changed.
"He maxed out my credit card?!"
"Yes, yes."
Star-Lord said cautiously.
Upon hearing this news, Peter's blood pressure rose, and he was filled with regret.
He had gone too easy on that kid just now!
On the other side, Mark was stunned when he heard Star-Lord interceding for him with his father.
He looked at the other party incredulously, unable to believe that Star-Lord would intercede for him.
How was this possible?
He had threatened to beat him up before.
And this kid had even used Dad to threaten him.
It was surprising enough that he didn't complain to Dad; he even interceded for him?
Mark, with complex emotions swirling inside him, puffed out his cheeks and exhaled.
For a moment, he suddenly felt that this younger brother wasn't so hateful after all.
Peter, in a bad mood because his credit card had been maxed out, looked helplessly at the two nervous naughty children. "Alright, Dad won't punish you too harshly this time, but you still made a mistake, so… you have to do something to make up for your mistakes."
Star-Lord asked nervously, "What do we need to do, Dad?"
"You'll know tomorrow."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the template stuck to the window fell onto the broken glass shards.
Mark and Star-Lord couldn't help but exchange glances, lowering their heads even further.
Peter: "…"
The next day, early morning.
Star-Lord sat on the bus, wearing headphones, and looked at the non-mainstream kid sitting in the front row.
The non-mainstream kid's face was expressionless, like metal.
Behind him was a foolish guy wearing a trucker hat with one side flipped up.
This guy's head bobbed violently up and down with the music, but no one could hear his music.
And across from him was a fat old man, whose white hair was crammed under a shower cap, like a tabby cat trapped in a plastic bag, talking loudly on his phone about something.
Star-Lord turned to look at Mark sitting next to him; the atmosphere between them was a bit awkward.
"Cough, cough, so Dad's punishment for us is to make us volunteer at the welfare home?"
Star-Lord took off his headphones and asked Clark.
"Yes, Dad told Clark to come and help him repair the farm, and he sent us to volunteer, saying it's like serving time outside of prison."
Mark's impression of Star-Lord wasn't as bad as before, so he didn't ignore him like he used to.
"But I don't like those places."
Mark looked out the window at the scenery and said to Star-Lord, "The faint smell of urine and unpleasant odors, and the deodorizer sprayed to cover it up, everything in the nursing home smells bad, and it's filled with the smell of Death."
"The smell of Death?"
Star-Lord didn't know what that meant.
"Yes, Death and decay, just like Little Terry's funeral."
Mark recalled Louis's youngest son's funeral, "It seems that the fate of the people there is nearing its end; they've already punched their tickets, set their alarms, and then the God of Death dips his finger in black ash and marks their foreheads, and even smearing lamb's blood on the door won't prevent it."
(Smearing lamb's blood: In the story of the Ten Commandments of Moses, it is recorded that Moses asked the Jews to smear lamb's blood on their doors to prevent God from bringing disaster.)
Star-Lord listened, half-understanding.
During their chat, with a "click," the car door opened, and the bus reached its destination.
The two quickly got off the bus and rushed to the welfare home.
Since Peter had already contacted the Dean in advance, after the two entered the welfare home, the Dean quickly arranged their work.
Star-Lord sniffed the somewhat peculiar scent of the welfare home and surveyed the surrounding environment.
There weren't many elderly people at the Smallville Social Welfare Home; one old man sat in a fluffy blue recliner, solemnly continuing to devour his cereal—Fruity O's or some cheap imitation.
Water stains on the ceiling, crooked paintings.
In the corner was an old television set, with a smaller flat screen placed on top of its discarded box.
Exhaling a bored sigh, Star-Lord began to clean the floor.
Mark, meanwhile, was tending to the hospital garden outside.
After working for a while, Star-Lord felt a bit tired.
His heavy build caused him to easily become fatigued when doing physical labor.
"John, can I ask you a question?"
Star-Lord walked to the edge of the garden with his tools and asked Mark, who was watering.
"What?"
"Is Aunt Kelly really my mother?"
Mark was a bit surprised to hear Star-Lord's question.
"Yes, Star-Lord, your mother is Ms. Kelly. Dad picked you both up together."
Mark's eyebrows twitched, and he said seriously, "You have the same talent; that should be the best proof."
Star-Lord's mood immediately turned sour when he heard Mark say he was picked up.
"But Aunt Kelly said no, she said she'd never been married."
"Who knows? Haven't you heard the saying? You can't believe everything a woman says."
Mark put down his tools, "Compared to that, you don't look like Dad at all. Isn't that the best proof?"
"You said I don't look like Dad?"
Star-Lord's brows immediately furrowed when he heard Mark say he didn't look like Peter.
His grip on the mop tightened, "You're wrong. I'm as smart as Dad, and we like the same music."
"You're smart?"
Mark looked as if he had heard something funny, "You're not smart; you're just precocious."
Hearing Mark's annoying remark, Star-Lord prepared to swing the mop at the guy's head.
However, before he could swing the mop at Mark's head, a scream suddenly came from inside the welfare home.
Hearing the sound, Star-Lord put down the mop, and Mark also turned his head, looking curiously in the direction of the scream.
Inside the room from which the scream came, everyone in the welfare home was stunned, looking at the corpse lying on the bed.
Some, with weaker mental fortitude, even vomited directly.