The bar was a kaleidoscope of flashing lights and vibrant colors.
After fleeing home, Clark stumbled in like a zombie, unable to accept reality and wanting nothing more than to get drunk and forget everything.
He'd heard that getting drunk made you forget all your troubles.
"You're only eighteen. State law prohibits selling you hard liquor."
The bartender glanced at Clark's ID, then looked up. "Want a beer?"
"Anything's fine, as long as it's alcohol."
Taking back his ID, the dejected Clark urged the bartender to bring it quickly.
Men and women danced passionately on the dance floor, while at the booths, people excitedly played drinking games.
Amidst the noisy revelry, Clark felt nothing but loss and loneliness, like a lone wolf separated from its pack.
An indescribable ache filled his heart.
"Is everything fake?"
He recalled flashes of his life with his parents and brother.
He had never truly belonged to that family, nor did he belong to the planet he had grown up on.
As a child, Clark had wondered why others couldn't lift trucks, why they got hurt falling from multi-story buildings. His parents and brother were different from him, and now he had the answer.
It was because he shared no blood relation with his father and brother.
"I'm just an alien monster adopted by parents."
Beside the dimly lit bar, Clark's eyes reddened, his gaze lost as he stared at the name "Clark Kent" on his ID.
He didn't even have the surname Kent, and surely his name shouldn't be like this. He should have a name that sounded awkward and strange to Earthlings.
Among the billions on Earth, not one was like him, and not one place was his home...
"Why?"
Overwhelmed and emotionally unstable, Clark clenched his fist in frustration. Was this some kind of divine mockery?
Why wasn't he human? Why couldn't he be related by blood to his parents and brother?
He wished desperately that everything his father had told him today was a lie. He wished that when he woke up tomorrow, he could still taste his mother's carefully made apple pie, still bicker with his brother on the school bus, and then help his father with farm chores, living a simple yet fulfilling life.
"Why did my life have to be shattered like this?"
Suddenly confronted with this devastating news, how could he ever go back home and enjoy his parents' love with a clear conscience?
Lost and enraged, Clark felt a sudden urge to punch something and vent his frustrations.
Just then.
"Clark!"
A hand landed on his shoulder.
"It really is you."
Clark turned to see Whitney and several teammates holding beers, their faces sporting unpleasant smiles. They looked at him like hounds spotting a weak rabbit, subtly surrounding him.
"Clark, why are you drinking alone here?"
Whitney casually draped an arm around Clark's neck, holding a beer in his other hand, acting friendly but subtly applying pressure.
"Whitney, don't bother me right now."
To his surprise, Clark, whose neck should have been in pain, didn't budge. His body felt as solid as steel, and he easily pushed Whitney's arm away.
Although he had been looking for an outlet for his anger, and someone had just come to provoke him, the future Superman, guided by the good upbringing of the Kents for over a decade, suppressed his instinct to retaliate.
"I have good news for you, Clark."
Whitney stumbled back, his beer sloshing and spilling onto the ground. Humiliated in front of everyone, he became furious.
"I've decided you're this year's Scarecrow!"
He signaled his football teammates to put down their beers and prepared to forcibly drag Clark away.
"I told you, don't mess with me!"
The loud rock music from the bar assaulted Clark's ears. He abruptly stood up and grabbed Whitney by the collar, his eyes blazing with anger, barely able to control himself.
But suddenly, Whitney's collar was pulled away, revealing a familiar green crystal necklace.
The radiation from the Kryptonite enveloped him.
"Ah..."
Clark's immense strength rapidly drained away, leaving him in pain and distress. The veins on the hand closest to the Kryptonite bulged unnaturally, turning green as if poisoned.
Unaware of this, Whitney, in the shifting light, threw a punch and knocked the weakened Clark to the ground, then casually adjusted his clothes.
"So what if I mess with you, Clark?"
He crouched down, grabbed Clark, and in a low voice filled with jealousy and malice, said, "I've noticed the way you look at my girlfriend for a long time. I know what you're thinking."
"Who do you think her boyfriend is?"
With the high school football championship approaching, Lana gave the meteorite crystal necklace she had worn since childhood to her boyfriend, hoping to express her feelings and bless him to break through all obstacles and win the championship, attracting the attention of scouts.
The result made Clark taste the power of Kryptonite once again.
"You really want her necklace?"
Noticing Clark's discomfort as he stared at the necklace on his neck, Whitney, thinking he was jealous and bitter, sneered and hung the necklace around Clark's neck, saying with humiliation, "Then I'll give it to you. This is as close as you'll ever get to Lana."
"Take him away."
He stood up and motioned to a few football players, who then hauled the even more distressed Clark away through the back door.
With many eyes around, Whitney planned to take Clark to a secluded cornfield to teach him a lesson.
"I'll make you understand and give up your foolish fantasies!"
Suddenly, a voice devoid of emotional fluctuation cut through the air.
"Where are you taking Clark? Whitney."
"David?"
Seeing a figure slowly approaching with his hands shoved into the pockets of his brown jacket, Whitney was surprised before breaking into a cold smile.
"Since you've come to me, you'll come with us."
Let Clark see how his own brother was implicated because of his inappropriate thoughts.
David remained expressionless, as if he hadn't heard what Whitney intended to do.
"David, hurry and go."
Being held awkwardly and too weak to even stand steadily, Clark, seeing his brother suppressing his pain, quickly shouted, "You can't beat them."
Whitney and his four companions were all strong members of the school's football team. He didn't want to see his brother get bullied.
[From Clark: Urgency +18, Remorse +13, ...]
"I thought you might not be able to handle today's events, that you might fall and go down another path, causing trouble for the family."
Ignoring Whitney and the others, David looked at Clark, raised an eyebrow, and said slowly.
"It seems I worried for nothing, Clark."
Even facing a few high schoolers with Kryptonite, he could still be defeated.
"Go on."
Seeing David's dismissive attitude, Whitney couldn't help but become enraged.
"Show him how strong you are."
Two tall, muscular football players with fierce expressions lunged forward from left and right like wolves, their fists flying.
The commotion at the bar finally attracted some attention. Many people looked over, clapping and cheering, enjoying the spectacle.
"Yeah, fight!"
Fights were common occurrences in places like bars.
David stood his ground, shifting his body casually to dodge the first punch, and then counterattacked with a lightning-fast strike.
Bang!
The football player's eyes bulged, his face turned red like a boiled lobster, and he painfully clutched his stomach, kneeling on the ground and spitting out a mouthful of saliva.
Another charged forward with a raised fist. David gracefully spun and delivered an elbow strike. The player was hit in the head as if by a baseball bat and fell forward uncontrollably, unconscious.
"Whoa!"
In less than two seconds, having dealt with two opponents, some people in the bar's eyes widened in astonishment, and they applauded.
"Nice!"
This young man is so skilled, is he a professional fighter?
[From Clark: Shock +8, Astonishment +9...]
David ignored the emotional prompts that were often omitted by him. Whitney stood frozen, looking at his two downed teammates in disbelief.
"You..."
Clark was even more shocked. He never knew his brother had this side to him.
"All of you, attack."
Whitney and the two players who had thrown Clark to the ground charged at David.
Bang bang bang!
David's footwork was light and graceful like a butterfly's dance. The three couldn't even touch a thread of his clothes. His punches were as powerful as bee stings, and with casual ease, he knocked them all down with three swift punches.
The three lay on the ground, bruised and battered.
"Impossible."
Whitney clutched his aching chest, his ribs feeling as if they were broken. Gritting his teeth, he struggled to get up and charge at David again.
He's just some guy who wouldn't dare participate in any school activities!
"Just lie down, Whitney,"
As soon as he got up, David, like an adult bullying a child, kicked him over. He casually stepped over the incapacitated Whitney and walked towards Clark.
"If I use too much force, my true skin color will show.
However, dealing with these few people doesn't require more than normal strength."
Seeing him approach, the bar patrons who were watching the commotion all backed away, not wanting trouble, and cleared a path for him.
Could a retired Navy SEAL be this formidable?
"Where did you learn to fight? Dav... David."
Clark, with青色 veins bulging unnaturally on his neck and a pale face, endured the pain and asked in surprise, "Kryptonians are in mortal danger if they are exposed to Kryptonite for too long."
He had never known his brother possessed such formidable combat skills.
"On TV."
David replied nonchalantly, pulling off Clark's necklace.
"On... TV?"
Clark was taken aback by the answer. Seeing that his brother was alright, he could no longer hold on and, with a roll of his eyes, fainted.
Stuffing the necklace into his pocket, David easily slung the tall Clark over his shoulder and turned to leave the bar. Everyone made way for him.
Even though the fight had affected his business, the bar owner didn't dare ask David to stay.
After walking a short distance, Under the cold moonlight, they reached an empty street.
Clark, groggily waking up on David's shoulder, realized they were on the way home and struggled.
"Put me down, David, I don't want to go back!"
There was something going on at home, I owe a thousand words and will make it up later.
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