(~˘▾˘)~~(˘▾˘~)
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The red and blue flashing police lights were dazzling, accompanied by the sharp sound of sirens. A large group of heavily armed riot police arrived at the scene three blocks away within less than two minutes.
"Hurry up, guys, that guy is up there. He knocked down the others and is holding Mr. Glenn Morgan hostage."
"Why didn't he leave quickly? Is he deliberately waiting for us? Is he trying to provoke the police?"
The leading police officer led a team of tactical officers rushing upstairs, his face gloomy.
"Listen up, guys, remember, the one being held upstairs is Mr. Metropolis. Be extremely careful; he could ruin us with just a word."
As they reached the floor of the incident, several gangsters were sprawled on the ground, some thrown out of rooms with broken doors, others hanging on chandeliers.
Some were even locked together with a broken window railing, looking embarrassing and funny.
"Help! That guy is inside!"
A gangster, as if seeing a lifeline, pointed trembling fingers toward the inner room.
Seeing the violent destroyed scene, the police chief's expression grew darker. He signaled tactical maneuvers, and his team members quietly approached from both sides of the door.
"He jumped to the twenty-ninth floor, faster than the wind, and tossed us around effortlessly. He even shot lasers from his eyes!"
Facing the police, whom they had always tried to avoid, a gangster was now terrified and couldn't control his fear, shouting hysterically.
"Be careful; we're dealing with something unprecedented this time!"
After saying that, the police chief led the way, storming into the room with a gun in hand, and his well-trained team members, armed with submachine guns, followed closely, displaying their tactical expertise.
"Don't move!"
"Release the hostage and surrender immediately!"
"Step away from where you're standing."
Whoosh!
A slightly chilly night breeze blew in through the windows, lifting the curtains on both sides.
A young figure in a blue T-shirt stood confidently at the edge of the high-rise balcony, holding up a terrified person with ease as if lifting a feather.
"Mr. Glenn Morgan?"
"Help me, please, save me!", looking down the dizzying height below from where a car looked like a small box, Glenn Morgan's face turned pale.
From a small-time gangster to a notorious crime lord and then to the well-known philanthropist and Mr. Metropolitan of the entire city, Glenn had encountered countless people who opposed him and even been attacked and assassinated several times.
But this time was different; this guy wasn't even human, and bullets couldn't harm him.
"Put him down, you maniac!"
Everyone was stunned, whether it was someone casually standing on the twenty-ninth-floor balcony railing, which could lead to a fatal fall with a single misstep, or someone who could effortlessly lift a person with one hand.
"Of course, officer, I will put him down right away."
Even though he couldn't see them, it was clear that many gun barrels were pointed at him, yet Clark remained smiling.
"Provided he confesses to the crimes he has committed one by one and gets the punishment he deserves."
"There should be no distinction before the law between famous and ordinary people, right?"
After saying this, he waved his arm, scaring Glenn Morgan so much that his heart almost leaped out of his throat, but he didn't confess; instead, he hysterically screamed for help.
"Come and protect me; he's a monster!"
"Release Mr. Glenn Morgan, or we will open fire!"
"Young man, think about your family!"
The tactical team members angrily aimed their guns.
"Still not willing to talk?"
Amid the ear-piercing shouts, a stern look appeared on Clark's face.
Not long ago, a female police officer was rescued from a gang of criminals. Someone dared to kidnap a policewoman who was a witness using a helicopter on top of a courthouse.
Clark had been tracking it down, and after a few days of investigation, he had discovered that the mastermind behind it all was the well-known philanthropist, Glenn Morgan.
"You had your chance, Glenn Morgan!"
Clark threw him aside without a care, and Glenn Morgan, like a kite with a broken string, traced an arc and screamed as he plummeted towards the hard asphalt road dozens of meters below.
"You maniac!"
The police chief's eyes widened, unable to believe what he had just witnessed. Wasn't it said that Superman had never used lethal force against any criminals in the past month?
"Ah... Ahh!"
The wind whistled in Glenn Morgan's ears as his heart rate shot up to over two hundred, and he felt sheer terror.
Seeing that he was about to fall on the hard road and turn into a flower of flesh and blood that bloomed with the sound of bones cracking, he closed his eyes in fear.
Swish!
With a terrified and distorted expression, eyes closed, and just when he was less than a meter from the ground.
A strong arm as if made of steel grabbed his clothes.
A nearly 200-pound human body free-falling from dozens of meters had its crushing inertia instantly neutralized, not even causing the arm to crack.
"How did you like that roller coaster ride just now? Sir, as long as you like it, I can do this all day."
With lightning speed, Clark jumped down ahead of time and held him upside down with one hand, his tone calm and unhurried.
It was as if a theme park ticket seller was suggesting that the other person could experience their main attraction again.
"Enough, I'll talk, I'll say everything."
After circling death, Glenn Morgan's lips turned white, and he could barely control the urge to urinate. He shouted hysterically, losing his composure.
Boom!
Clark threw him to the ground, forcing him to confess to one crime after another.
"I... I used to be one of the biggest crime bosses in Metropolis. I personally killed dozens of people. I bribed city officials. I deceived everyone..."
Kneeling on the ground, the once prominent Mr. Metropolis trembled, confessing to his blood-stained sins.
Clark nodded subtly.
If it were his former self, he would never have acted like this, resorting to such intimidating torture.
However, he had learned some experience from his brother and knew that reasoning with certain people was useless.
Click, click, click!
Like sharks catching the scent of blood, the reporters outside the police perimeter began frantically photographing Clark, with their camera flashes constantly going off.
Several cameras had been trained on him as soon as he appeared.
"You understand the rules, Metropolis.
Treat the citizens of this city well, or I'll come find you!"
With a trembling Glenn Morgan in the background, Clark faced the cameras, pointed his finger, and spoke sternly with a hint of anger.
The corruption that was revealed in the transformation from a crime boss to a renowned philanthropist and Mr. Metropolitan, who should have been an example for the entire city, was deeply disturbing.
He didn't want his beloved hometown to slide into the abyss and become another Gotham!
Having said his words, Clark, under the excited gaze of the citizens, leaped over the skyscrapers with his flowing red cape, disappearing into the night sky.
Not far away, a high-definition camera on a helicopter recorded the entire incident from start to finish.
With so many cameras pointed at him, Clark assumed it might be just one of the many television networks' cameras.
In fact, it was, but that television network belonged to the renowned Luthor Corporation of Metropolis.
.....
When Clark returned home from Metropolis, around seven or eight o'clock, he hadn't even entered the door when he heard a familiar strong heartbeat, causing his eyes to light up.
"David, you've finally decided to come back."
Opening the door, Clark looked at his younger brother who had been away on a month-long vacation and just returned home, pretended not to be too concerned, and spoke.
While chatting with their parents about his trip to a paradise-like island, David turned his head and raised an eyebrow.
"It seems like you've adapted well to your life as a reporter's assistant?"
Looking at Clark in front of him, dressed in a suit, had a hint of maturity that hadn't been there a month ago. His handsome face, coupled with a pair of sunglasses, gave off an aura of wanting to explore this sense of story.
Before the two of them could say more, their father, Jonathan, spoke.
"We've been waiting for you, Clark. Wash up and let's have dinner together."
The dining table was already set with food. Jonathan hugged his two sons, one on each side, looking at them with happiness on his face, tinged with nostalgia and excitement.
Martha had a gentle smile on her lips as she arranged the dishes and utensils, watching her husband and two sons.
When the whole family had been together all the time, they didn't feel anything special.
But now that the eldest son had been exposed to society ahead of time, rarely staying at home, and the younger son ran out to travel, the house suddenly felt empty, making the couple a little uncomfortable.
However, thinking about it, this was inevitable. Both sons would eventually enter society, and have their own jobs, and it made them cherish their current life even more.
He spent a month without returning home, even though they had been in touch by phone, the yearning to see his family couldn't be alleviated.
David had offered to leave for a few days, leaving Diana in charge of overseeing her people's dance practice.
Diana seems to think that since David had completed an impossible challenge, David should be treated as the King according to the agreement, he should be treated with the proper respect and attitude, without any compromise. Otherwise, he wouldn't truly be regarded as the Amazon King.
For David's orders, whether it was practicing dance or harp, she had always executed them well.
'Even after leaving Themyscira, the speed of getting emotional points doesn't seem to have fallen. Seems like Diana isn't showing any favoritism.'
After a warm family dinner, David felt the warmth and comfort he hadn't experienced in a long time. David stood on the attic's second floor, gazing at the night sky, and monologuing.
As the princess of the Amazons, Diana still maintained a certain degree of authority among her people.
Creak.
The old wooden stairs creaked as Clark walked up like an ordinary person.
"The astronomical telescope here is gone."
David turned around.
In the past, Clark's astronomical telescope had always been placed here all the time, which he used to sneak peeks at Lana.
"Lana is gone, and look at my current situation."
Clark shook his head.
The astronomical telescope was meaningless to him.
"Your eyes still not good?"
David frowned slightly.
A month had passed, and with daily exposure to sunlight, Clark's Kryptonian physique should have already healed the eye injury.
"It looks like it's not just a simple eye injury. Could it be a curse? Or magic?"
"There's no sign of improvement; it might stay this way."
Clark fell silent after saying this.
As he contemplated whether he knew of any solutions to the problem, David raised an eyebrow, hearing a hint of lack of concern in Clark's tone.
"Do you occasionally follow my advice to open your eyes to the sun and bask in it for a while?"
His voice was filled with suspicion.
"..."
Clark's expression looked somewhat unnatural, and the blind Clark turned his head slightly away from his brother, looking at the night sky as if he could see something.
For most people, losing their eyesight and falling into darkness would be extremely distressing, but for Clark, it didn't pose as much of a problem.
However, David believed there was another reason why Clark wasn't too concerned about this issue.
That is guilt.
The price extracted by the Wishing Stone was typically something precious to a person, and Clark must have been feeling guilty, regretful, and afraid in the recent period due to his hasty wish. When he made the wish, it was very likely he could have endangered his family with unforeseen consequences.
David guessed right.
The darkness of his blindness served as a kind of punishment, making Clark feel a bit more at ease, lessening his guilt a bit, and reminding him to think twice before doing anything.
Even though that incident wasn't his fault.
"People should look forward, not be tormented by the past. This is the meaning of life."
David slowly spoke up.
"Don't think just because your body is powerful, stronger than steel, that losing your sight isn't a big deal, that you're not walking on the edge of danger."
"David... have you seen the news about me?"
Clark sensed a hidden meaning in his brother's words.
"No, I smelled gunpowder on your body. Not too long ago, you were shot at by several people, and with enough bullets could have killed an Asian elephant."
David stood by the railing with his hands in his pockets, looking at him.
He had rushed back home, and saw his parents whom he missed, he hadn't had time to pay attention to the news of Metropolis.
Becoming Superman, the Man of Tomorrow, was Clark's destined path in life, and it wasn't difficult to guess.
"You've always been so sharp."
Clark sniffed his clothes and found that the faint scent still lingered, even after changing clothes.
He had thought that he had concealed his identity perfectly, but now, he was seen as a hero by many in the city. As an older brother, losing to his younger brother, he felt a tinge of frustration.
However, Clark wasn't too concerned about David's question.
"While I don't want to mention that incident, the meteorite that used to be my weakness has disappeared from this world. The firearms of gangsters can't harm me."
"Weakness disappeared? That's not necessarily true."
David shook his head.
It was precisely because of this that he wanted to remind Clark not to be reckless and rely solely on his powerful physique, and to not lose his vigilance.
"What... what do you mean?"
Clark was puzzled.
...
Lex Corp Tower.
In the top-floor office, Lex Luthor, with a bald head, crossed his hands in front of him. Half of his face was concealed in the moonlight's shadow, and he continuously reviewed the ultra-fast video footage before him, which wouldn't drop even a single frame even if slowed down a thousand times. His gaze flickered.
Not long ago, he had awakened in his mansion and discovered that he had lost memories of a certain period of time. Moreover, the Wishing Stone had disappeared.
It seemed that he had made a wish, gaining a mind with strong scientific talent.
On that very same night, Lex also received bad news. His shrewd and formidable father, Lionel Luthor, the head of the Luthor Corporation and the one who made countless business rivals fearful, had died in a car accident on his way home.
When he was rushed to the hospital, his father was already critically injured, and he hadn't even had the chance to see him one last time. All he saw was a lifeless corpse covered in a white sheet.
"Is this the price of my wish?"
Behind his office desk, Lex Luthor, who had lost his father who had always been too busy with his business to care about him, and who now controlled a multinational business corporation, had a complex and unpleasant expression, with a gloomy look in his eyes.
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(~˘▾˘)~Don't forget to send your power-stones!~(˘▾˘~)