Chapter 99: Sudden Change! Despicable Superman!
The kitchen was filled with the aroma of roasted bread and stewed beef.
Night was falling.
But the Kent Family Home dinner was not going pleasantly.
It wasn’t that Ian’s second brother Jordan Kent was already implementing some plan even more shocking than the shocking revelation, but Lois’s anger tonight was absolutely not just because of the suspicious Clark and the suspicious second son.
The main flashpoint of the family conflict came from Lois’s father, that is, the grandfather of the three, General Sam Lane who held certain rights in this country.
Warm yellow light spilled onto the wooden dining table.
Clark, Lois, Jonathan, Jordan, and Ian sat together around it, while at the head of the dining table, white-haired Sam Lane was receiving criticism from his own daughter.
“So, you’ve been researching him?” Lois’s voice was very low, yet sharp like an icicle, “Researching my husband? Like he’s some kind of… experimental subject?”
This kind of questioning.
Made General Sam look helpless. Clark sat beside him, his face calm, but his fingertips unconsciously rubbed the edge of the glass cup, faint cracks appearing on the glass cup wall.
Didn’t say anything.
But clearly minded a lot. After all, with Superman’s control, he could easily catch a live mosquito in his hand and play with it repeatedly without harming a single hair.
Old Sam quickly moved his stool toward his daughter upon seeing this.
“Lois, don’t speculate about me like that. I’m not researching Clark.” Sam Lane sighed, put down the dinner knife, and clasped his hands on the dining table.
His gaze was steady yet carried the cold hardness unique to soldiers, “I’m doing this entirely to protect you and your husband, to protect your family, the most special one on this Earth.”
The earnest words carried a bit of seriousness.
“Protect? What kind of protection is this?” Lois sneered, “Secretly collecting his DNA, analyzing his weaknesses? Do you know what this sounds like?”
“It sounds like you’re ready to take out my husband at any time! Maybe even my sons!” The hostess of this home was very annoyed, so the air at the dining table suddenly tensed.
Seeing this.
Eldest brother Jonathan tried to ease the atmosphere.
“So, am I the only one still shocked that my dad is actually Superman?” He looked at Ian and Jordan, “Looks like I’m the only one who was kept in the dark until tonight!”
His words immediately drew a response from Jordan, both wanting to ease the family atmosphere.
“Actually, I only found out today that old man is Superman. If I hadn’t awakened my abilities too, I think they would have kept hiding it from me.” Jordan showed a somewhat reflective expression.
“Believe me, Jonathan, knowing is scarier than not knowing. I’m starting to regret it already.” Jordan recalled the problem he suddenly realized during his routine business earlier.
If his old man was Superman.
Then all along.
Wouldn’t Clark know everything that happened in this home like the back of his hand?
Halfway through routine business, he activated his underdeveloped super brain in a special way, and Jordan broke out in cold sweat, very rarely becoming someone who gave up halfway.
“Sigh, indeed. After all, I’m probably the only ordinary guy in this family as the son of Superman. I feel like I’m definitely not going to sleep tonight from anger.”
Jonathan kept poking at the food with the fork, not eating, sighing heavily with some worries. Clark saw this and wanted to comfort his eldest son but didn’t know how to speak.
His gaze was somewhat worried.
After all, he had seen many classmates in his childhood who developed mental problems due to imbalance. Even classmates were like that, and Jonathan, as the only ordinary person in the family, was obviously more prone to mental imbalance.
“Maybe I should go see a psychiatrist too?” Jonathan noticed his father’s gaze, gave his father a reassuring look, and turned to Ian with a slightly humorous expression.
“How about introducing me to your psychiatrist?”
He seemed pretty optimistic, by the way teasing Ian.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Dr. Hannibal does have strong professional skills, but if you trigger some of his mechanisms, the medicine he prescribes might only be rosemary, lemongrass, cinnamon powder, and parsley flakes.” Ian secretly glanced at Clark, but Clark was just staring at old grandfather from time to time.
No reaction to his words.
“…”
Ian was a bit confused. Normally, the matter with Hannibal shouldn’t escape his father’s notice. He sensed something off but didn’t activate his super brain for the moment.
“Your sense of humor is pretty strong too.”
Jonathan thought Ian was also trying to ease the atmosphere like him, “I should thank you for spilling the beans, otherwise I don’t know when I’d become aware of this.”
He gave his old mother a meaningful look.
“Don’t blame your mom. She was considering that you’re in the key preparation period for the competition right now.” Clark quickly stepped in to smooth things over for Lois for family harmony.
Even temporarily putting aside the matter of Sam researching him.
“Don’t worry, old man, my mentality isn’t that fragile.” Jonathan didn’t really blame anyone, instead speaking openly with a generous light laugh, “I’m an ordinary person, which at least lets me know I’m really talented in American football, not relying on your inherited super genes?”
It had to be said.
Jonathan’s self-regulation ability was perhaps really quite good.
“It’s really great that you can think that way, dear.” Lois quickly praised Jonathan, but still in the heat of anger, she quickly turned her face to Ian.
“He’d better really just have spilled the beans!” Lois knew her youngest son too well, so she glared fiercely at Ian, but Ian pretended not to see and buried his head in eating.
What could be said.
Actually, his excellent family wisdom wasn’t incomprehensible to everyone.
“Ian is the truly smart one, Lois. Concealment isn’t protection; that’s harm.” Old Sam, this cheap grandfather, gave Ian a thumbs-up in praise.
Old and cunning.
He did know how to avoid real family conflicts.
“Shut up! I haven’t settled accounts with you yet! Do you know what protection is? Don’t research my husband and children! That’s real protection for family!”
Lois became intense in words again because Sam spoke. The topic returned to the beginning, and Jonathan felt a sense of futility from sacrificing himself in vain.
“Grandfather did do wrong.”
Jordan didn’t know if he was fanning the flames or trying to mediate.
Ian continued eating.
Silent.
“My dear grandson, you can’t learn your mom’s immaturity. She should think properly: even if I’m not involved, wouldn’t national institutions want to research Superman?”
“Any country, any organization, any institution—as long as they have the chance, they will want to control the power your father has. No one can refuse that temptation of rights.”
“That’s power like God’s. Whoever controls that power has the qualification to unify this world—even without me, the military and the state would spare no effort in this research.”
Old General Sam seemed to be speaking to Jordan, but actually these words were for Clark and Lois, “That’s why I must place myself in it.”
“Only then can I protect you all. What progress similar research is at, what direction it’s heading—I can know, and even intervene to some extent.”
“This is far more beneficial for your special family than your mom’s idea of pretending everything will always be fine and nothing will happen.”
Old Sam spoke earnestly.
Jordan seemed to half-understand.
But these words weren’t mainly for the three young ones at home anyway; whether he understood didn’t matter—what mattered was that Clark’s furrowed brows relaxed a bit.
“Who knows if what you say is true? What if you have other intentions too.” Lois’s tone had softened a lot, but she still didn’t quite trust her politician father.
“I don’t deny I’m a profit-seeker, and I’ve always hated alien species, but that doesn’t mean I’ll harm my daughter and her family.”
Old Sam seemed very candid. He looked around at everyone at the dining table, even including Ian, because in the story he knew, Ian was born to Lois and Clark after they traveled abroad for a year. The information made by Bruce Wayne was seamless; even the general couldn’t find any flaws.
“Really? I don’t believe it.”
Lois was extremely wary of her old father. After all, she grew up by his side since childhood, which was why she and Clark had created perfect information for Ian back then.
“Lois, when you reach my age, you’ll understand: the greatest interest in this world is family inheritance, bloodline continuation—from all angles.”
“I hate aliens doesn’t mean I hate aliens who can let my descendants stand in the heavens.” Old Sam explained the contradictory psychology of vested interests from another angle.
“Grandfather, you really won’t capture us for research?”
Jordan had worries on this point too.
“As long as I’m here, no.”
Old Sam responded seriously.
“I hope you remember your assurance, Sam.”
Clark spoke then, after some mental struggle—he was the research subject being targeted, so only he could ultimately define this matter.
“Don’t betray the children’s trust.”
This statement of his could be seen as announcing he wouldn’t pursue it further. Secretly researching Kryptonian genes—Clark knew it wasn’t just the US official doing it.
Back then.
Quite a few Kryptonian corpses had mysteriously gone missing.
“Don’t worry. In fact, if not for this little guy discovering it, I really didn’t plan to let you know about the official research. We do want to artificially create warriors comparable to you.”
“However…” Sam saw the atmosphere easing and finally could shift the topic. He pulled out an iron box—that iron box Ian was extremely familiar with.
“Our experiments haven’t made any progress at all, let alone any finished products leaking out.” Saying this, Sam opened the iron box, revealing the empty interior space.
“Ah?”
Ian was a bit surprised.
Clark’s expression was also slightly surprised.
“What do you mean?”
He touched the box that Ian had abandoned at the smugglers’ binding site and asked, “Ian said he heard with his own ears that those people claimed to be military personnel.”
As soon as these words came out.
Before others reacted, Ian had already widened his eyes at Clark. He caught Clark lying—he hadn’t said any such thing to Clark at all!
So, who exactly heard it with their own ears!
“That’s the problem—someone is impersonating the military, trying to sell this potion worldwide, but it’s not our military’s research results.”
Sam hesitated a moment but still leaked the information, “In fact, even the group you caught didn’t know they were originally serving not the military.”
At these words.
Ian was also a bit dumbfounded.
Clark furrowed his brows even more.
“Lex Luthor.”
He suddenly spoke, gaze deep.
Perhaps it was special intuition, but the old father guessed right. Sam slowly nodded, “After my in-depth investigation, I did find this batch of goods related to Lex Luthor.”
“From the several batches of reagents we seized in follow-up raids, those potions contain quite a bit of Kryptonian blood products. We currently can’t determine if it comes from you.”
Sam spoke gravely.
Making Ian even more shocked.
He still remembered those simulated Superman potions were marked as 100% free of Kryptonian genes.
Damn!
At this time, Ian’s mind was racing. He finally realized why the Hellcat took him to Lex Luthor’s factory on the outskirts as the second place.
Because the first raid site was too!
“Luthor did collect some of my blood before, but… you say every bottle contains quite a bit?” Clark glanced at Ian then furrowed his brows at Sam.
“Yes.”
Sam nodded.
“The takers didn’t die?”
Clark’s eyes flickered.
“I’m still here leisurely eating dinner with you now, of course because those potions aren’t successful—we seized potions that are without exception all failures.”
“All takers die in an instant. Clearly, it’s not a successful product, so I think Lex Luthor hopes to cast a wide net to find a matcher for the potion.”
Sam didn’t conceal.
Stating the official investigation results.
“Maybe only half-grown Kryptonians can drink those twelve vials and still be alive and kicking?” Saying this, Sam turned to Ian, and Clark and Lois also looked over with strange expressions.
Jonathan and Jordan didn’t know why, but to fit in, they immediately went with the flow. For a moment, everyone’s gazes gathered on Ian.
“Clearly only ten vials!”
Ian was first stunned.
Then directly gasped. He suspected old grandfather had been in the military too long, old habits hard to change, even using kickback tactics on him this junior.
“Twelve vials, that group has confessed. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to spit them out. Keep this in your belly.” Sam was very certain of his intel source.
“But I really only drank ten.”
Ian felt quite wronged.
He and the people around didn’t notice.
A little cat trying to enter the dining room for food had sneaked back to the living room.
And hid in a dark corner.
“Did Ian drink those terrifying potions that can kill instantly?” Jordan and Jonathan only now realized what happened; not great at learning, they just thought Ian was incredibly bold.
All crowded over to check if Ian had mutated.
“Ian will be okay, right?”
Lois was also very worried about irreversible consequences from Ian’s pica.
“This…”
Clark was just about to say something.
And at this moment, Earth’s true super brain suddenly activated, from the universe big bang to Earth developing civilization, inspirations flashing in his mind.
Super intelligence!
Activated!
“Hard to say.”
Low-voiced Clark silently came behind Ian.
“However, I think the reason he awakened Kryptonian abilities so quickly is this.” The old father spoke seriously, gazing at his wife who had some doubts about him tonight.
His hands were now pressing on Ian’s shoulders, emphasizing “Kryptonian abilities” as if hinting some information to Lois.
Lois was first stunned.
Then.
Suddenly understood.
“…”
Ian didn’t dare speak.
Old father’s hands were large and hot.
He could feel it.
The warning to shut up was very strong among them.
