Chapter 22: Homecoming! Superman’s Change!
The pendant is flickering.
Like a weakly beating heart, emitting an ominous deep black light.
Exactly the same color as that evil spirit.
“Could the evil spirit have gotten inside?” Ian held the pendant and examined it repeatedly, but couldn’t find any gap to pry into. Even if the evil spirit was hiding inside, it probably couldn’t be dug out by hand.
Just as Ian was very puzzled.
“Ian?”
Clark Kent’s voice suddenly came from behind.
Ian jolted in shock, turned around to look, and sure enough, it was his father wearing thick glasses, with a briefcase slung over his shoulder, as if he had just returned from working overtime.
“What are you doing standing at the door?”
Clark shrugged the shoulder carrying the bag, his tone confused. Facing his parent, Ian subconsciously let go of his coat, covering the pendant under his shirt.
He knew that too.
If Clark wanted to, he could even see his bone cells, but seeing Clark’s normal expression, he figured his father probably didn’t maintain his freakish vision all the time.
“I’m thinking about something.”
Ian gave a dry laugh, quickly finding an excuse.
“Stop spacing out, let’s go home.” Clark seemed unsuspecting, apparently accepting the explanation, and reached out with a warm hand to pat Ian’s shoulder.
He led the way toward the front door.
Ian followed closely behind.
Opening the door to the house, warm lights and the sound of the television instantly flooded in. The two entered one after the other, and saw in the living room, eldest brother Jonathan sprawled on the sofa scrolling his mobile phone, second brother Jordan furiously pressing the controller at the game console, and mother Lois standing at the kitchen door biting her finger.
Her expression seemed to relax after Ian and Clark entered.
“I ran into Ian at the door when I got back from overtime.” Clark spoke up proactively, his tone as if he had no idea Ian was late coming home, though his two brothers knew full well.
“So, where the heck were you, kid? Coming back this late.” Jordan glanced at Ian before fixing his eyes back on the fighting game screen on the television.
Hearing this.
Ian hadn’t answered yet.
Jonathan cut in, his tone exaggerated, “He must’ve gone on a date, right? Our little Ian has finally wised up, finding a female classmate to hang out with after school.”
He winked at Ian, clearly helping to cover for him. Obviously, before Ian got back, Lois had been in a bad mood, maybe even lost her temper a few times.
Ian felt warmth in his heart.
However.
He was prepared for this.
“No! Way scarier than hanging out with a female classmate!” Ian patted his chest, and his two brothers were both stunned, all eyes in the family instantly focusing on him.
“I was actually kidnapped by a taxi driver, a really scary strong man, and an accomplice. He dragged me to an abandoned house and nearly got me killed.”
“Luckily I was clever and grabbed… grabbed a bicycle in time, pedaled like mad all the way back.” Ian nearly slipped up, almost revealing that he had driven a getaway car.
That would definitely set off Lois’s temper. Of course, he just slightly altered the truth in that last detail; what he said earlier was indeed fact.
But Clark’s eyelid twitched noticeably several times.
“Human trafficker?”
Jordan set down his controller, his tone astonished. He had been in the fighting game, using a character named “Flash” to beat the crap out of a Superman who might not even have official licensing.
“Hm?”
Lois also looked at her husband with some doubt and surprise. Clark gave a rather helpless expression and gave his wife an imperceptible nod.
“This isn’t some rebellious phase tall tale of yours?” Jordan eyed Ian suspiciously, but seeing Ian frown, he judged that his little brother wasn’t lying.
“Damn! You didn’t even go to the police? What did that driver look like? Remember the license plate?” Jordan had a quick temper, and he slammed the table, reaching for his mobile phone.
“Criminals are getting too brazen these days. What the hell is Superman doing? After all these years, the crime rate is still this high!” Jordan grumbled angrily while trying to dial 911.
“We’re a white family.”
The operator hadn’t even spoken yet, and Jordan was already identifying himself; you could clearly hear the line switching stutter on the other end after it connected.
“Hello, how can I help you?”
The operator spoke.
And right then.
Clark, whose mouth had twitched, walked up and pressed the hang-up button.
“Dad? Don’t tell me even in a situation like this, we still have to back down?” Jordan didn’t get along great with Clark, so his tone toward his father was full of bite.
“We’ll handle this. You kids go back to your rooms first.” Clark didn’t respond, just spoke in an unquestionable voice with the commanding tone unique to parents.
Jordan was about to explode.
But Jonathan held him back.
“Is it because the people who kidnapped Ian were targeting you two?” Jonathan had a vivid imagination and had always been concerned about his parents’ high-risk profession as reporters.
“Kids.”
Lois came over at this point, “Listen to your father. Trust us, we’ll handle this. Ian definitely won’t face any more danger.”
“Right, Clark?”
With that.
She glanced at her husband.
“…”
Clark opened his mouth, really wanting to tell the truth, but looking at his two older sons, he finally nodded, giving all three kids his assurance.
“No one can hurt my children.”
He especially looked at Ian, who was trying to play invisible. Maybe it was this assurance that worked, or perhaps a mother’s words soothed the kids’ hearts more than a father’s.
“It had better be!”
Jordan glanced at Clark, grabbed Ian, and headed upstairs, “Looks like starting tomorrow, we’ll have to take you to school. You can wait for us after school to come back together.”
The high school they two attended really wasn’t far away.
“Uh.”
Ian wanted to refuse.
Jonathan followed at this point, “You gotta tell us how you escaped the kidnappers’ murder plot. That was awesome. If it were me, I’d be done for.”
Both big brothers were showing concern for Ian in their own ways.
Ian felt warmth in his heart.
Quietly, under his brothers’ escort, he went upstairs with them. Clark and Lois didn’t stop them; they just watched the three brothers leave the first floor.
Once the kids’ footsteps completely faded.
“So, what’s the truth?” Lois immediately turned to Clark, arms crossed, expression serious. She knew both Ian and her husband were hiding something.
“This might be a really scary story.” Clark took a deep breath, took off his glasses, and rubbed his nose bridge. But he didn’t immediately recount what he had witnessed.
“Honestly, I still haven’t figured out if Ian’s sudden change is related to what I encountered this morning.” Clark rolled up his sleeve.
There.
A ferocious wound crossed the muscle, its edges glowing with eerie greenish light, like some kind of energy surging inside, preventing his flesh from healing.
