Black and white faded away.
Color flowed back into the world.
[Authority Weight Increased]
Suddenly, Ian heard the system prompt.
But before he could check the personal status screen his trusty system buddy had laid out for him, a fierce gust of wind rushed in, and Superman was already standing right in front of him.
"Ah! My loving father!"
Ian immediately put on a bright smile.
He was betting Superman wouldn't hit a kid who was smiling at him.
"Where is it?" Clark did not look like he was about to hit him, but his expression turned grim. He had only seen the black sphere charging at Ian, then vanish completely in an instant.
"The big shot came and took it away just now." Ian answered with total honesty, though there was still a trace of regret in his voice. That "Nine Revolutions Golden Pill" had really just disappeared like that.
Of course, the immortality from [Death Resistance] was pretty great too. He had finally upgraded from a trial version to a long-term subscription, and Ian had been in a fantastic mood.
Until the next second.
"I think he ate it!" Kara rushed over in a blur, her steel-girl hands shooting out. One hand clamped onto his chin while the other pried his mouth open.
She looked way too practiced at it, like someone checking whether a cat had stolen snacks again.
"Mmph mmph mmph!!"
Ian struggled wildly, but Kara was stronger than him by a mile, so all he could do was let her shove her hand into his mouth as she took revenge on him.
Yes.
Revenge.
Women really were that vindictive. Just moments ago she had been "fighting shoulder to shoulder" with him, and now she was full of resentment. Ian felt like he had wasted his concern over his cousin-aunt's forehead.
He hadn't even smashed anything with her forehead that hard.
He had only smashed it really hard.
"It really was the big shot who took it!" Ian jabbed two fingers toward Kara's eyes, finally forcing her to let go.
Of course, that also meant he learned her eyeballs were just as tough as steel.
"..."
Ian looked at his slightly aching fingers and felt speechless.
"Dad?"
When he looked up, he found Superman still silent, scanning him from head to toe as if using x-ray vision to check whether Ian had swallowed that black sphere.
After all, a father knows his son best.
Clark had personally seen Ian try to chew on an evil spirit before. Even if he had no idea Ian had already chewed halfway through one in the soul realm, he had full faith in Ian's bizarre tendency to eat things that should absolutely not be eaten.
"He didn't."
Clark inspected him carefully for quite a while. The only thing he found inside Ian was a trace of green energy, the effect of [Fel Corruption], but Ian's body seemed to be suppressing it well. His youngest son was not completely fine, but at least he had not become the host of that grotesque black sphere.
That alone made Clark breathe a little easier.
"The big shot?"
This was far from the first time Clark had heard Ian use that title. His eyes flickered with thought as he raised his arm and pulled back the sleeve of his suit, looking at the arm that had somehow returned to normal without him noticing.
Then the father quietly focused and felt for himself.
In the end, he chose to believe Ian.
"What big shot?"
Kara rubbed the eye Ian had poked, her face full of confusion. She clearly had not sensed the brief freeze in the world the way Clark had.
Pathetic, cousin-aunt.
Still needs more training.
Ian thought that to himself in silence. Kara was still frowning and scanning the area, but found nothing. She shot Superman a suspicious look, and he only gave a small shake of his head, telling her not to dig any deeper.
"We need to have an honest talk, father and son. But first, we need to go home. We shouldn't make your mother worry any more than she already has."
Clark spoke to Ian in a stern voice first.
Then he turned to Kara.
"Thank you for your help today."
He really was not sure how to address Kara as some kind of older cousin.
"It's nothing." Kara waved him off, a smug little grin curling at the corner of her mouth. "Family helps family. Just do me a favor when you get home and beat this brat for me."
Sure enough.
There was no limit to a woman's desire for revenge. Ian felt deeply wronged. He had not even smashed anything with Kara's face. He had used the back of her head and her forehead. Was that not respectful enough toward his cousin-aunt?
"I still need to go back and write an article for my boss, so I'm heading out." Kara politely declined Clark's dinner invitation, preparing to leave.
The moment Ian heard that, he tried to repair their aunt-nephew relationship a little.
"I'm really good at writing articles. Ask my dad if you don't believe me. Want me to help you write yours?"
Ian looked at Clark.
Clark's expression instantly became very complicated.
So did Kara's.
"You should worry about how you're going to explain yourself to your father first."
The moment she finished speaking, she turned into a gust of wind and vanished from the wrecked restaurant.
The four or five numb-faced workers who had been eating there earlier were already gone.
All that remained on the floor was a puddle of green pus.
"They were all victims."
Clark looked at the puddles with sorrow and pity and let out a quiet sigh.
"Come on. We still need to find someone to deal with the contamination inside your body."
After saying that, Superman adjusted his mood, then grabbed Ian by the back of the neck.
"Wait, Dad, I..."
Ian did not even finish his sentence.
There was only a sharp whoosh.
The next second, father and son were gone too.
...
No one knew how much time had passed.
Night had grown heavier.
Outside the rusted wire fence, over a dozen armed men in black tactical gear silently set up a perimeter, their rifles pointed coldly at the workers trying to return.
"Why won't you let us in? Are you trying to dock our overtime pay?" one construction-helmeted worker shouted angrily. He seemed to be the leader of the group.
"Company orders. No one enters today." The lead mercenary spoke in a stiff tone. Every one of them had the English letters "LexCorp" printed on their uniforms.
The crowd began to stir, complaints rising on all sides.
"I heard government people came by earlier... don't tell me the factory got shut down?"
One worker looked worried about losing his job, but the mercenaries gave him nothing.
"It has to be some kind of outbreak. The outbreak from yesterday and today!" another self-proclaimed insider said nervously, sounding afraid he might have been infected too.
"The government took away a body! It was leaking green sludge! It has to be a serious infectious disease!" This worker had clearly seen the cleanup crew Kara had called in. What he did not understand was why the site had not been locked down by the D.E.O., but instead by LexCorp private forces.
Maybe money talked.
Maybe influence inside the government talked louder.
That was America in the DC Universe. Presidents did not get to casually manipulate the market and financial trades, but corporate empires absolutely could speak louder than public officials.
"We want compensation!"
The workers began to "rise up."
And right at that moment, a black luxury sedan rolled up soundlessly, its tires cutting through standing water and splashing mud. The door opened, and a pair of polished leather shoes stepped onto the ground.
Lex Luthor got out of the car, the gleam of his bald head reflecting a cold light.
"Rest assured, every one of you will receive financial compensation from the company, along with a full medical checkup free of charge." Luthor calmed the crowd with a single sentence.
Then, without another glance at them, he walked straight into the wastewater plant.
He made his way to the wrecked restaurant, his dress shoes crunching over shattered glass.
"Idiots. Handed an opportunity, and they still couldn't make use of it."
Luthor's gaze swept across the room, his voice full of mockery. It was not clear who exactly he was insulting.
Then he turned and walked deeper into the facility.
After passing through several heavy metal doors, he stopped in front of an unremarkable equipment room.
"Real idiots."
When he saw there were no signs the main door had been forced open, Luthor smiled with smug contempt. He signaled one of his men to unlock it with a key, then stepped into the ordinary-looking room alone.
Between the aging machines, Luthor locked the door behind him, crouched down, and lifted a concealed lead panel in the floor.
A staircase appeared beneath it.
He descended step by step until he reached a lead-lined chamber.
Rumble...
Luthor scanned his iris.
The chamber door opened.
Inside, the air was thick, damp, and stale. The only source of light was a flickering red emergency lamp, bathing the entire room in blood-colored light.
At the center of the chamber, a man hung suspended in midair by heavy iron chains, his arms spread wide like a statue of suffering. His skin was so pale it looked almost sickly, and dark veins could be seen beneath it.
Like a corpse.
His head hung low, messy black hair covering both his face and his clouded eyes.
Luthor walked over to the side, scooped up a bowl of thick green liquid from a metal barrel, and carried it back.
"Come on. Let's continue our game. Drink it, and then... become a more perfect weapon."
Luthor grabbed the man's jaw and forced him to lift his head, revealing a face Ian might have found strangely familiar.
The man let out a furious animal-like growl and struggled wildly, making the chains rattle.
Luthor remained unmoved. He pressed the bowl to the man's lips and forced the green liquid down his throat.
"That's right. Just like that. Don't waste any."
Luthor murmured softly.
His tone was full of excitement.
He watched as the man kept swallowing the thick green broth.
Some of it spilled from the corners of the man's mouth, running down his neck and dripping onto his chest, staining the suit marked with the symbol [S] in filthy green.
Fel energy surged madly through the man's body.
His flesh and skin began to change.
(End of Chapter)
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