As the gangster wearing the "President Jefferson" mask fell, the metallic luster on his surface slowly receded and returned to his normal appearance.
Lana, who was riding on a red horse, looked at Clark with shocked eyes, as if she couldn't believe it.
The latter quickly stopped and acted at a loss, as if he was caught playing truant by the teacher.
Generally speaking, a superhero's identity is his or her biggest secret.
Once discovered, it can always cause some trouble.
Fortunately, the track was full of people and chaos.
No one else but Lana noticed.
Otherwise, Clark wouldn't know what to do.
"A kryptonite mutant."
Luke Shiran walked down from the stands, curled his lips and said.
Through super vision that penetrated flesh and skin, he saw signs of mutations in the cells in his body caused by kryptonite radiation.
Fortunately, it was not considered a long-term exposure and did not cause cancer.
This guy was beaten with a lightning whip and a tortoise punch by his little cousin and was left half paralyzed. He may have to spend his next life in a wheelchair.
Speaking of which, why is Superman becoming more and more bat-like?
Not willing to kill, but can be maimed.
Even before meeting Batman, he has already transformed into his shape.
Tsk tsk, you are indeed a good friend of the same quilt.
"Kryptonite?"
Clark looked confused.
He doesn't know what kryptonite is yet.
"Every time you are close to Lana, do you ever feel weak, extremely weak, or even have difficulty breathing?"
Luke looked at the empty arena where the crowd had dispersed. The smoke and dust rose and billowed, then gradually subsided.
The bank robber, who was trying to take revenge on Clark, came out halfway and disrupted the equestrian competition.
The other party may have received kryptonite exposure from nowhere, and then acquired the ability to mutate, and after over-inflating their self-confidence, they thought of waiting for an opportunity to retaliate...
Luke made a simple analysis with a hint of curiosity in his eyes.
If you were like Lana, wearing a small fragment of kryptonite with you, it wouldn't be affected at all.
Only those who have been exposed to large amounts of radiation for a long time, causing cell mutations, will become short-lived superpowers.
Less than two weeks before the bank robbery, "President Jefferson" transformed into a kryptonite mutant.
Such a fast infection speed means that the other party is likely to be affected by a large amount of radiation in a short period of time.
In other words, he knows a place with a lot of kryptonite.
"Fortunately, Clark didn't beat him to death. We should be able to get some useful information later."
Luke once used his super vision to scan the whole town, but he did not find a large number of kryptonite fragments buried anywhere.
"Yes, Chloe said I had 'crush syndrome'."
Hearing his eldest cousin's question, Clark scratched his head and looked a little embarrassed.
He and Lana had been neighbors since childhood, commuting to school together every day.
If he hadn't felt uncomfortable being close to the other person, maybe Clark would have successfully confessed his feelings and won him over, and who would have gotten that damn quarterback boyfriend in his turn.
"The green meteorite on Lana's necklace is a piece of polished kryptonite."
Luke saw that the smoke was about to dissipate, and thought that if the delay continued, the town police, Lex, and Clark's parents might arrive.
He directly took his little cousin up from the ground, flew high into the sky, and disappeared from the field.
"Kryptonite is a mineral from outside the earth. The radioactivity it produces will cause... Saiyans to lose all abilities and enter a weak state."
Luke explained.
"Then why aren't you affected?"
Clark's heart moved. No wonder his eldest cousin reminded him to ask Lana to take off the necklace.
Then, he suddenly remembered.
Luke seemed to have had a few encounters with Lana and showed no signs of weakness.
"Because I'm a Super Saiyan."
Luke stood above the clouds and replied with a strange expression.
"So the radioactivity of kryptonite has no effect on me."
Super Saiyan…
Clark was a little confused.
Although I don’t know what it means, it feels very powerful.
"Then how should I explain it later? Lana just saw how I defeated that mutant!"
Clark thought of Lana's surprised look and felt a little complicated.
Full of joy, mixed with panic, and at the same time at a loss...
Even his adoptive parents don't know that he is a superman.
Clark lives a double life every day.
While enjoying the various praises and reports from Metropolis about Superman;
On the other side are ordinary small-town boys.
The secret identity of a superhero is discovered by a crush, which actually satisfies young people's desire to show off their personality traits in front of the opposite sex.
Of course, Clark isn't that naive.
Only at the beginning, he felt an indescribable secret of joy.
When he calmed down, everything turned into panic.
What if Lana doesn't want to keep the secret?
Clark was a little worried that his eldest cousin would think that he messed up all this and kicked him out of the Superman family in anger.
"Your internship is over."
The little cousin was uneasy, and his mind echoed with the classic lines from movies about unscrupulous bosses firing their subordinates.
"I believe that with your relationship with Lana, she will definitely keep your secret."
Luke answered casually without guessing Clark's psychological activities.
He was more concerned about Lex's follow-up actions than Lana learning Superman's identity.
The clever godson, who has always been very observant, might be able to detect some clues.
After the last bank robbery, Lex became particularly concerned about Clark.
Although they practice fencing together every day, they have established a deep friendship.
But considering Lex's character and city, Luke does not rule out the idea of having close contact with Clark to investigate the truth behind it.
"My relationship with Lana... we are just ordinary classmates."
There was a hint of depression in the little cousin's voice.
"Clark, you have to know that few girls can resist the temptation of becoming a superhero's girlfriend."
Luke doesn't take the strict secrecy of Superman's identity very seriously.
According to his plan, this is information that will be made public sooner or later.
Only when the label of Clark Kent, son of a Kansas farmer, overshadows that of Superman, the orphan of Krypton, can the little cousin be more easily accepted and recognized.
Behind the seemingly powerful title of "God on Earth", it often also represents a certain kind of vigilance and distance.
"is that so?"
Clark scratched his head. He was indeed very popular when he put on the Superman uniform and hovered high above Metropolis.
Every time I rescue innocent people from a fire or prevent a car accident... those people are very happy and can't wait to rush up to take photos and get autographs.
The most exaggerated thing is that not long ago he successfully landed a crashed passenger plane smoothly.
One of the beautiful flight attendants who survived the disaster was so enthusiastic that she even unbuttoned her blouse and asked Clark to leave his signature on her chest.
Superman, who is still underage, has never seen such a battle.
Looking at the purple lace and white skin, Clark couldn't help but blush, and then ran away in fear.
As innocent as he is, he has never even watched a restricted-rated movie.
Not to mention, looking directly at a woman's body.
"certainly."
Luke nodded and responded to his little cousin.
"The premise is that she has not experienced that her boyfriend mysteriously disappears every night and is often kidnapped and hijacked by villains..."
Clark: "..."
…
…
Smart people are always different. They can often discover the essence or laws of how the world works from a small thing.
For example, the most famous apple in the world is said to be the reason why Newton later proposed the law of universal gravitation.
Or Archimedes solved the king's "golden crown mystery" while taking a bath and derived the law of buoyancy.
The authenticity of these stories may be open to question.
But there is no doubt that being good at observation is one of the good habits for accumulating wisdom.
Lex returns to the mansion and is shocked by the shooting that occurred at the racetrack during the day.
Although there is a saying that goes, "In a free America, guns fire every day."
Lex grew up in a wealthy area with outstanding security. He also attended a private aristocratic school and had bodyguards and drivers to pick him up when traveling.
It is impossible to have a deep understanding of the chaotic and dirty slums.
He was sitting in the stands, waiting for his good friend Clark to show off his talents and steal the show.
Who knew that the starter fired into the audience, wounding an innocent man, and later killed the godfather's thoroughbred horse.
By the time the submachine guns fired into the air, everyone had already dispersed.
Lex was overwhelmed by the panicked crowd and couldn't move an inch. He shouted Clark's name loudly, but no one responded.
Later, he returned to the game, and the man wearing the "President Jefferson" mask had just been carried on a stretcher.
Clark was very honest and recorded a statement with the police.
According to his answer, it was Superman who saved him.
"It's Superman again..."
Lex frowned. He always felt that something was wrong. Clark seemed to be hiding some secret from him.
"He just kept staring at Lana...'s chest."
Although they had not known each other for a long time, Lex knew Clark quite well.
He's not very good at lying, and he's even less likely to stare at the breasts of his crush like a pervert.
Normally, this guy would feel nervous even looking at Lana, so how could he suddenly act so boldly?
A vague intuition reminds Lex that Clark must be hiding something.
This inference made his eyes light up slightly, as if he had discovered some interesting activity.
"Detective Lex Luthor is about to take action."
Lex said proudly.
He regarded this as a pastime.
Like being too bored after breakfast and passing the time with a crossword puzzle in the newspaper.
"First try to get the gangster's confession, and then...it's Lana. There's something strange about her that makes Clark pay special attention."
Lex snapped his fingers. His execution ability was always off the charts and he started making plans without any hesitation.
"Caves, meteorites..."
A few days later, using the "lawyer" bargaining chip, Lex got a lot of useful information from the bank gangster who was lying on the hospital bed with his lower body paralyzed.
According to "President Jefferson", in order to avoid being pursued by the police, he did not escape along the road, but abandoned his car and hid in the dense forest more than ten kilometers away from the town.
Then he accidentally fell into an uninhabited cave. The rock walls inside were covered with various ores that glowed green, like clusters of growing plants.
The other party stayed there carefully for about a week and found that his body had undergone tremendous changes.
The skin was metalized, as hard as steel.
After testing it several times and confirming that it was invulnerable, "President Jefferson" decided to return to the town, kill the bad boy, and loot the bank's vault.
This is the plan that came out of his stupid brain full of muscles.
The conversation only got so far and Lex's visiting hours were over.
He failed to go further and ask who Superman really was or what he looked like.
"The ore that gives people superpowers..."
Lex's face twitched twice, forcing himself to suppress his inner excitement.
But his clenched hands already revealed his uneasy mood.
"Do you want to tell your godfather?"
Almost immediately, Lex thought of Luke.
But he immediately gave up the idea. It might just be a lie made up by bank gangsters.
Without confirmation, rushing to claim credit may lead to ridicule.
Lex was silent, thinking about what the bank gangsters said about a unique ore hidden in the trunk of a jeep.
…
…
"Lex? Lex!"
That afternoon, Clark came to Lex's house as usual.
Although the equestrian competition was forced to be suspended and ended, fencing can still continue.
Besides, Clark would rather spend time with friends than face his older cousin, at least there would be no pressure.
Luke is sometimes not serious and likes to say weird things that people don't understand.
But perhaps because of the keen Kryptonian intuition, he always felt like a stone was weighing on his heart when he stood in front of the other person.
Maybe this is the feeling of oppression that Super Saiyan has on lower-level warriors?
"Is the door open..."
Clark rang the doorbell several times, but got no response.
He stretched out his hand and pushed the door. There was a "squeak" and a gap was revealed in the thick copper-clad mahogany door.
"Lex!"
Clark called out twice, but there was still no response.
So he walked in, went straight up the stairs to the second floor, and came to the study where Lex usually stayed.
"Why don't you talk at home?"
Seeing Lex sitting in front of the desk with his head lowered, Clark couldn't help but complain.
"I didn't hear it."
Lex seemed to have a cold, his voice was a little hoarse, and he spoke carefully.
His eyes were fixed on an iron box on the table, not looking at his arriving friend.
"You're a little strange. Are you sick?"
Clark felt something was not right, so he walked closer and said.
"No. I'm, well, fine."
Lex slowly raised his head and gave a stiff smile.
His eyes were full of fierceness, like a wild beast, exuding a violent aura.
Clark saw this and stepped back involuntarily.
Lex, who was usually funny and tried to show his gentle side, seemed like a completely different person.
He stood up suddenly, grabbed the slender steel sword placed on the shelf nearby, and stabbed Clark directly.
"Lex, what are you doing?"
Clark was careless and was hit directly by the opponent's blow without dodging.
The sharp steel sword stabbed his chest and bent in an astonishing arc, without even breaking Superman's skin.
According to Clark's generous character, it is impossible for him to kill Lex.
So they could only shout in an attempt to wake the other party up; while they kept retreating to avoid attacks.
Boom!
Clark bumped into the table, the iron box shook, and its contents rolled out and fell to the carpet.
He couldn't help but look over and found a dark, dark and irregular crystal.
The light on the surface seemed to reflect, causing Clark's eyes to narrow slightly.
He wanted to look away and continue to wake up the crazy Lex, but another voice seemed to appear in his mind.
The roar roared and echoed—
"Kill this ignorant and ignorant young man! Crush his bones to pieces and let him die slowly in painful wails!"
"Slap him hard in the face. This is punishment for showing off his little cleverness!"
"Clark Kent, you are the most powerful person in the world, why do you have to follow the rules!"
"You can do whatever you want!"
“…”
Clark held his head with his hands, trying to shake that hateful voice away.
"That voice is you, Clark, and you have to learn to accept it."
Lex's dark pupils shrank, and an evil smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“Get rid of those constraints and make yourself better, right?”
Veins popped out on Clark's forehead, as if filled with rage.
He looked at the chattering Lex, strode forward, broke the steel sword that stabbed his chest again, and raised his hand to knock the opponent away.
Boom!
Lex's body hit the wall hard and he passed out.
"You're too noisy!"
Clark said in a grumpy tone that didn't suit his character.
(End of chapter)