Black and white receded.
Color flowed back into the world.
[Status Weight has increased]
Suddenly.
Ian heard the System prompt.
However, before he could check the personal panel his buddy had drawn up for him, a strong wind hit, and Superman was standing right beside him.
"Ah! My loving father!"
Ian quickly smiled.
He was hoping Superman wouldn't punish a smiling child.
"Where is it?" Clark didn't seem intent on resorting to physical action. He frowned, his expression extremely serious. He had only seen the black sphere that had been charging toward Ian completely disappear in an instant.
"The big shot just came and took the black sphere away." Ian answered with absolute honesty. His tone still held a hint of regret, his "Nine-Turn Golden Elixir" had just vanished like that.
Of course.
The immortality gained from [Death Refusal] was also quite good. He had finally renewed his long-term experience card. Ian was in a great mood, but his good mood vanished the next second.
"I suspect he ate it!" Kara also approached like a gust of wind, extending her steel-girl hands. She used one hand to clamp his chin and the other to pry open his mouth.
Her movements were as practiced as checking a cat who had stolen a snack.
"Mmmph mmmph—!!" Ian struggled frantically, but his strength was no match for Kara's. He could only let Kara reach into his mouth and take her revenge.
Yes.
Revenge.
Women, their vindictiveness was that strong. Even though she was "fighting alongside" Ian moments ago, she was now full of resentment toward him. Ian felt he had worried about his Auntie's forehead for nothing.
He hadn't even smashed things hard with his Auntie's face.
He only smashed them *really* hard.
"The big shot really did take it!" Ian raised his hand and poked Kara's eye, finally making Kara release him. Of course, he also felt that his Auntie's eyeball was a steel eyeball.
"..."
Ian looked at his slightly sore fingers, speechless.
"Dad?"
He looked up and saw the silent Superman also scrutinizing his body, as if using his Super-Vision to check whether Ian had swallowed the black sphere.
As the saying goes, no one knows a son like his father.
Clark had witnessed Ian attempting to chew a phantom—even though he didn't know Ian had chewed half of one in the soul world, he strongly believed in Ian's "Pica" symptoms.
"It's truly not there."
Clark examined him carefully for a long time, only finding a surge of green energy within Ian's body—the effect of [Fel Corruption]—but it seemed to be well suppressed by Ian's body. Although his young son wasn't completely unharmed, at least he hadn't become the host of the eerie black sphere, which allowed Clark to breathe a slight sigh of relief.
"A big shot?"
This wasn't the first time Clark had heard Ian use this title. His eyes flickered. He raised his arm, rolled up the sleeve of his suit, and looked at his arm, which had somehow returned to normal.
Then.
His father quietly checked himself thoroughly.
He ultimately chose to trust Ian.
"What big shot?"
Kara rubbed her eye where Ian had poked her, her face full of confusion. She clearly hadn't sensed the stagnation of the world that Clark had experienced earlier.
Auntie is truly weak.
Needs more practice.
Ian thought silently. Kara continued to frown and look around but found nothing. She looked suspiciously at Superman, who only shook his head slightly, indicating she shouldn't press the matter.
"We, father and son, need to have an open conversation, but first, we need to go home, so your mother doesn't worry too much." Clark first spoke seriously to Ian.
Then.
"Thank you for your help today."
He still wasn't quite comfortable calling Kara his cousin.
"No problem."
Kara waved her hand, a gleeful smile playing on her lips. "Mutual help between family is necessary. Just give this boy a good spanking for me when you get back."
Indeed.
A woman's revenge knows no bounds. Ian felt extremely wronged. He hadn't used Kara's face to smash things, only the back of her head and forehead. Wasn't that showing enough respect to his Auntie?
"I have to go back and write a piece for my boss, so I'm leaving now." Kara politely declined Clark's dinner invitation and prepared to leave. Hearing her words, Ian also planned to salvage their niece-aunt relationship.
"I'm very good at writing articles. If you don't believe me, ask my dad. Do you need help writing a piece?" Ian looked at Clark. However, Clark's expression was difficult to describe.
Kara's expression was also odd.
"You should think about how to explain your problems to your father first." After saying that, she immediately turned into a gust of wind and vanished from the dilapidated restaurant.
The four or five numb workers who were eating earlier had disappeared.
On the ground.
Only a puddle of green pus remained.
"Poor souls."
Clark looked at the pus, sighing with a mix of pity and sadness.
"Let's go. We still need to find someone to help deal with the contamination in your body." After adjusting his mood, Superman directly grasped Ian's scruff.
"Wait, Dad, I—"
Ian didn't finish his sentence.
He just heard a "whoosh."
The next second.
The father and son vanished from the spot.
***
An unknown amount of time passed.
The sky grew dark.
Outside the rusty wire fence, a dozen armed personnel in black tactical gear silently pulled up the cordon, their cold gun barrels pointed at the workers attempting to return.
"Why won't you let us in? Are you trying to withhold our overtime pay?" an angry worker wearing a hard hat shouted. He was perhaps the leader among the group of workers.
"Company orders. No one is allowed inside today." The lead mercenary spoke stiffly. All the mercenaries' uniforms were imprinted with the English words "LexCorp."
The crowd stirred, and complaints arose.
"I heard government people were here before... Could the factory have been seized by the government?" A worker worried about losing his job, but the mercenaries only gave him noncommittal replies.
"It must be the infectious disease! The infectious disease that happened yesterday and today!" A self-proclaimed informed person spoke up, his voice worried, as if afraid of getting infected from contact.
"The government people took away a body! It was oozing green pus! It must be a serious infectious disease!" This worker had clearly witnessed the cleanup crew summoned by Kara's phone call. It was unclear why D.E.O. personnel hadn't sealed the place off, but LexCorp's private security had instead.
Perhaps it was due to the power of money.
Or perhaps it was their influence on government agencies.
That's just how America in the DC Universe was. While it might not produce a president who could manipulate the stock market and financial trading at will, the voice of the financial magnates really did carry more weight than that of high officials.
"We demand compensation!"
The workers began an "uprising."
Just at that moment, a sleek black luxury car silently drove up, its tires rolling over standing water and splashing mud. The car door opened, and a pair of polished leather shoes stepped onto the ground.
Lex Luthor strode out, his shiny bald head reflecting the cold light.
"Rest assured, every one of you will receive financial compensation from the company, as well as a free comprehensive health examination." Luthor's words first appeased the agitated crowd.
Then.
He walked into the interior of the sewage plant without looking back. He went straight to the messy cafeteria, his leather shoes crunching on the broken glass.
"Idiot. Even when given a chance, you couldn't seize it." Luthor's gaze swept the surroundings, his tone mocking. It was unclear whom he was talking about. He turned and left the cafeteria, heading toward other areas.
After passing through several heavy metal doors, he stopped in front of an unremarkable machine room.
"A genuine idiot."
Seeing no sign that the door had been opened, Luthor revealed a confident, mocking smile. He signaled his subordinate to unlock the door with a key, then walked alone into the seemingly ordinary machine room.
Between the outdated machines.
Luthor locked the door behind him, crouched down, lifted a hidden lead plate on the floor, and then, following the revealed staircase, descended step by step toward a lead-lined secret chamber.
*Rumble*
Luthor scanned his iris.
The secret chamber door opened. In the dim chamber, the air was murky and damp. The only light source was a flickering red emergency lamp, casting the entire room in a bloody hue.
In the center of the room, a man was suspended mid-air by thick iron chains, his arms spread out like a suffering statue. His skin was pale to the point of being sickly, and black veins were visible.
He looked like a zombie.
His lowered head was covered by messy black hair, obscuring his face and cloudy eyes. Luthor walked to the side, scooped a bowl of thick green liquid from a metal bucket.
"Come, let's continue our game. Drink it, and then... become a more perfect weapon." Luthor gripped the man's chin, forcing him to lift a face that Ian might find familiar.
The man angrily let out a beastly growl, struggling, making the chains rattle. Luthor was unperturbed, pressing the bowl against his mouth, pouring the green liquid in.
"Yes, just like that. Don't waste it."
Luthor whispered.
His tone was excited.
He watched the man continuously drink the green soup.
Some of the liquid spilled out from the corner of the man's mouth, flowed down his neck, and finally dripped onto his chest, staining the battle suit emblazoned with the "S" shaped symbol with foul color.
Fel energy.
It surged wildly within this man's body, and his flesh and skin began to change.
***
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