Looking up at the sun in the sky, Eric lowered his head and clenched his fist tightly.
Why, bathing in the sunlight, does it feel like his heat vision is more powerful than usual?
He checked the progress of the Kryptonian template in his body, which still remained at 85%.
The template progress hadn't unlocked; why would his power increase?
After pondering for a moment, Eric arrived at a guess.
To verify this guess, he used his super speed to move to his room and retrieve a lead box from under his bed.
The moment he opened the lead box, the green Kryptonite inside was exposed to the air. Eric instantly felt a wave of weakness and fatigue wash over him.
His eyes and fingers felt a sharp pain, as if his skin was being scorched.
He closed the lead box and couldn't help but curse Jonathan's classic American curse—"sour pickle bitch"!
As he suspected, the spaceship's activation emitted a kind of radiation around it.
Mother, Clark, and himself—now all three of them were affected by this radiation from the spaceship.
Mother Martha's body, being that of an ordinary person, couldn't endure this damage, which is why she fell into a coma.
Clark had lost his strength and became even weaker.
And this harmful radiation or energy affected Eric's body structure.
Perhaps this unknown energy, upon detecting his similarity to the Kryptonian Superman, added some Kryptonian elements to his body.
This would explain why he becomes stronger under the sun and feels discomfort around Kryptonite.
Although not as severe as Clark's reaction, he is indeed affected by the green Kryptonite.
So what does this mean?
He had previously used psychological suggestion to instill fear of Kryptonite.
Now there's no need to pretend to be a "Kryptonian."
In some ways, he has indeed become a "Kryptonian."
With the Kryptonian template, he possesses some characteristics of "Kryptonians."
After cursing under his breath, Eric didn't bother to investigate his body further and used his super speed to instantly move to the barn.
Clark was in a bad state at the moment, his nose starting to bleed.
Wiping his nosebleed, he looked at Eric in panic and asked, "Eric, I'm bleeding?!"
This was Clark's first time bleeding, so his tone was filled with panic and helplessness.
It was like a proficient swimmer suddenly discovering that they had lost their swimming skills in the ocean, leading to a state of panic and being overwhelmed by water.
"Yes, I see that."
Eric looked at Clark's panic, shook his head, and took out a tissue from his pocket to hand to him.
"Wipe it off; you'll be fine. I need to move this thing out and hide it in a safe place for now."
Saying this, he grabbed the spaceship and slowly lifted it up.
Clark, wiping the blood from his nose, asked Eric, "Why do we need to hide it?"
"The Disease Control Agency suspects that mother has been infected with some unknown toxin, so they're coming to the farm for a thorough check. We can't let them discover the spaceship."
"I know a safe place."
Despite his own weakness, Clark said to Eric, "The Peters have a larger cellar. We can hide the spaceship there; even Indiana Jones wouldn't be able to find it."
"I'll call him right away."
Saying this, he didn't care about his own physical state and ran toward the living room.
Eric, carrying the spaceship, flew out of the barn, accelerated suddenly, traced a path in the sky, and disappeared over the farm.
After Eric left, the Disease Control Agency personnel, who had been involved in a car accident, drove their vehicles into the farm.
Jonathan, who had rushed over from the hospital, breathed a sigh of relief because the "DCA" people hadn't discovered the spaceship. However, the staff in biohazard suits still found something unusual in the basement dirt.
"There are some radioactive spores in the basement soil. We suspect Mrs. Kent came into contact with these."
The DCA officer explained to Jonathan, "We'll conduct a thorough disinfection of the basement. If you find anything, you can contact us."
"I will."
Jonathan nodded in response.
Night soon fell.
The living room was dimly lit. Jonathan did not turn on the lights and sat on the sofa with one hand covering his forehead, deep in thought.
Tap, tap!
Hearing footsteps, he looked up at Eric, who was walking over.
"Is the spaceship hidden well?"
Jonathan composed himself and asked Eric.
"Yes, it's hidden in the Peters' cellar."
Eric was silent for a moment before speaking to his father, "Clark knows about the spaceship."
"I was planning to find a chance to tell him and have a good talk, but with the situation like this, learning the truth must have been very painful for him."
Jonathan sighed, "I'm always so stubborn and unskilled at understanding others, especially Clark."
Faced with his father's self-reproach, Eric remained silent, only staring at the increasingly dark room.
After a while, he asked Jonathan, "How's mother?"
"Not good."
Jonathan clasped his hands together and stirred them helplessly, "The doctors say her condition is worsening, but they can't find any effective treatment. She woke up once today."
Jonathan's eyes reddened as he said, "She told me that one night she went into the basement, and a strong light passed through her body. Maybe this is why she could become pregnant. I asked her why she went into the basement again later."
"She told me she was afraid. Afraid that if one day you and Clark opened the spaceship and discovered your true identities, you would want to leave us."
Jonathan looked up at the ceiling, struggling to keep himself composed, "I comforted her, saying it wouldn't happen, that such a thing would never occur."
"Eric, have I ever told you about how I first met Martha?"
"No, you haven't."
Eric shook his head, feeling a pervasive gloom in his heart.
"At that time, I was at Metropolis University taking a finance class, sitting by the fountain eating an apple and reading notes. A girl, I remember clearly, she was wearing a blue wool coat, asked to borrow my class notes. I knew she was responsible for the notes that day, but I didn't say anything. Martha still doesn't know this."
Jonathan wiped his eyes with his thumb and paused for a moment.
"She was really beautiful. I lent her the notes, and she asked if I wasn't afraid she wouldn't return them. I said I preferred to believe in people. She smiled happily, and I thought, how wonderful it would be if I could marry her and make her my wife. I kept thinking that, and I haven't given up on that idea to this day. Every day my heart tells me that I want to marry her!"
After Jonathan finished telling the story of his first meeting with Martha, Eric remained silent for a few seconds.
After a moment, he looked up and gazed at his father.
"I promise you, Dad, I will make sure mother is safe. I swear, no matter the cost!"
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