Dane waited until Clark and Jor-El finished catching up before making his request.
"You want to learn the knowledge within this ship?"
"Yes."
Dane explained a bit, especially when he mentioned Zod, he noticed Jor-El's expression change slightly.
"You are Karl's friend. If he is willing to trust you, I am also willing to extend my trust."
Clark chimed in at the opportune moment: "I trust him."
Jor-El had nothing more to say. He nodded and granted Dane permission to browse the technical files.
"How do you wish to learn? This ship can directly infuse knowledge via neural pathways."
"However, this is a 20,000-year-old relic, and this device will make it difficult for you to form long-term memories. It can only transmit knowledge little by little."
"That's fine."
He still had great confidence in the Wisdom of Solomon.
"Alright then, this ship has another independent intelligent AI, and she will help you receive this knowledge."
Jor-El's digital AI was brought from Karl's spaceship; this ancient scientific research vessel had its own artificial intelligence.
Dane nodded.
"Welcome."
Detecting Dane's common language, a pleasant female voice echoed in his ear.
"Recursive program diagnostics complete, navigation permissions confirmed."
"All systems operating normally."
"Unknown request to transfer access to the archives. Do you wish to accept?"
Dane realized it was referring to him and replied, "Accept."
"Kryptonian archives contain knowledge from a hundred thousand different Worlds."
"Excellent."
Just as Dane was about to enter, he seemed to remember something and called out to Clark.
"Clark, I'm about to start learning. Want to join?"
"No!"
Clark's face was filled with rejection. Although he possessed a Super Brain, Dane felt it should be called a Super Cerebellum, as he hadn't seen him use this ability for anything serious besides better controlling his superpowers.
Could he have been poisoned by the U.S.'s happy education?
As a genuine top student in his previous life, Dane expressed incomprehension, but he respected Clark's choice.
"What do you plan to do next, then?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to invite people to join our… organization?"
"It's the Justice League!"
"Isn't that name a bit too deliberate?"
"Your future moniker is 'Superman,' I feel that's even more deliberate."
"I have a moniker? What about you? What's your moniker?"
"Shazam."
"That moniker feels a bit unoriginal."
Clark was actually still enthusiastically evaluating it.
"Is there any special meaning?"
"Because I possess the Wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury."
"The first letters of the names of these six deities combine to form Shazam!"
"That's pretty cool. You can explain it to your fans like that later."
Dane rolled his eyes to the heavens. He didn't mention that Shazam once had a former moniker called "Captain Marvel," as it somewhat infringed on copyright.
And whenever he thought of that name, he pictured a squarish, middle-aged woman's face.
"If you really have nothing to do, you can go to Gotham and try to get in touch with Batman."
"Didn't you say he was very suspicious?"
"Yes, but you should be fine."
"Didn't you also say he was difficult to deal with?"
"Yes, but you should be fine."
Clark looked puzzled, wondering what was with all the "you should be fine."
Dane didn't speak. Looking at the DC World, Superman and Batman were good friends most of the time.
The deep-minded Batman, for some reason, always quickly accepted the simple Big Blue. As long as Big Blue was sincere, he believed that Batman, that iceberg, would melt.
Moreover, Zod hadn't arrived yet, and Wayne Tower hadn't collapsed, so Batman didn't have such deep prejudices against Superman yet, making it quite suitable for him to go.
It's just that the current Big Blue is too naive. He wondered if he could handle such a… rustic place like Gotham?
"Alright then, I'll go. What about the others?"
Dane thought for a moment and said:
"Wonder Woman and General Swanwick can wait for now. I'll find an opportunity to invite them later."
This was also carefully considered. If he remembered correctly, Wonder Woman should currently be working in Paris and hadn't yet returned to the United States.
Martian Manhunter had already infiltrated the Military high command, so he couldn't just show up unannounced.
Other heroes had not yet grown up, making it inconvenient to invite them.
He had once thought about inviting Hawkman Carter Hall and Doctor Fate Kent Nelson from the Justice Society.
However, thinking about their performance in "Black Adam," he hesitated a bit, not because of their strength.
Although Hawkman didn't seem very strong, he was truly resilient, and his combat intelligence and experience were very high. As a small team leader, he also had sufficient leadership charisma.
But he was a bit hypocritical and stubborn.
In the movie, for the sake of so-called procedural justice, he strictly forbade Black Adam from killing, but earlier, the International Gang committed countless blood debts in Kahndaq, and he didn't seem to do anything.
Dane labeled this person as "pedantic" and "stuck in his ways."
No wonder Adrianna, who released Black Adam, would rather trust Black Adam than the Justice Society—she looked down on them.
Then there's Doctor Fate… Hmm, when reading the comics, this character felt very cool, but his performance in the movie gave a feeling of being willing but unable, completely failing to show the strength a god should possess.
Moreover, when Kent transforms into Doctor Fate, he is possessed by Nabu. Dane really dislikes this god; his way of speaking is as irritating as Amanda Waller's.
In short, both of them felt somewhat undeserving of their reputation, but his judgment was based on the comic Worldview.
If judged by the power ceiling of the movie Universe, they seemed alright. He would have to wait and see.
After Dane and Clark finished discussing, he no longer bothered with Clark and went into the archives by himself, burying himself in study.
As for school, what school?!
…Clark, dressed as an ordinary farm boy, walked into Gotham.
It was nighttime, and Clark, under a light drizzle, walked into a restaurant called "Pauli's Diner." He was a bit hungry.
"Hello, what can I get you?"
Behind the counter, a blonde waitress walked over.
"Waffles, plus bacon, and a coffee."
Clark smiled kindly. The waitress, pleased by his handsome face, smiled and went to prepare his order.
"Terrible weather, isn't it?"
Clark heard someone strike up a conversation and looked over curiously, only to see a middle-aged man in a police uniform.
"My name is Owens, a local police officer. Young man, you're not from around here, are you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
Clark looked at himself.
Officer Owens smiled without speaking; the young man in front of him clearly seemed pure-hearted. Someone like him could definitely not be from Gotham.
"My name is Clark. I just arrived in Gotham City and I'm looking for someone."
Owens didn't probe further. He only struck up a conversation out of professional habit, not truly intending to interrogate anyone.
Just then, a young man walked over. He looked even younger than Clark, perhaps not even 20 years old.
The young man looked worried. Owens seemed to know him.
"Hey, Jason, what are you doing out? I thought you had a curfew," Owens teased.
Jason forced a smile and casually brushed him off: "I have something to do…"
Owens chuckled with an "I understand" expression. Who hadn't snuck out when they were young?
Clark casually glanced over and noticed that although the person was young, his physical condition was extremely strong.
Conservatively estimated, he was so strong that three to five burly men wouldn't be able to get close to him.
He was a little curious, wondering what background this young man had.
Jason seemed anxious and restless, frequently checking his wristwatch as if waiting for someone.
Suddenly, his phone rang. Jason took out his phone, and his expression grew even uglier, making Clark even more curious.
"I'm already here. Where are you?"
Jason kept his voice very low.
Clark silently murmured "Sorry," then quietly activated his Super Hearing.
He heard the voice on the other end of the line. He couldn't describe the voice; it felt very insane.
"Ah, my dear Jason, today I broke another one of your mother's fingers. She's crying so loudly, I'm about to kill her."
"Stop it, you devil!"
Jason cursed, but he couldn't hide his inner anxiety and weakness.
"Hurry up and come over, Jason. Oh, by the way, I forgot, I just moved to an abandoned warehouse near Arkham."
"You should know where that is, right? Do you want to use Xiao Bian Fu's computer to look it up properly?"
As he spoke, the sound of agonizing screams echoed from the other end of the line. Jason knew it was his mother's voice.
"Enough, enough! I get it, I'll come alone, please don't torture her anymore."
Clark was furious, his lungs practically bursting. He wished he could fly over right now and rescue the person.
But realizing he had no idea of the person's location, he could only helplessly hold his breath.
However, he made up his mind that he would definitely follow this young man later and rescue him and his mother together!