Chapter 9: School And Deskmate Little Punk Girl
The next day.
Early morning.
Soft sunlight streamed into the Kent Family Home’s kitchen.
Hostess Lois got up early, filled with love for her family, preparing a hearty breakfast for the three children. She hummed a cheerful tune, walked to the kitchen, and opened the cabinet door. The top reporter thought she would see it full of ingredients, but the scene before her made her smile freeze instantly.
Only to see.
The cabinet was very clean.
Clean to the point of being outrageously so.
Not even a fragment of the cereal or cookies boxes could be found. Lois rubbed her eyes, confirmed she was awake, and quickly rushed to the refrigerator in the kitchen.
Milk, frozen pizza, eggs, frozen chicken nuggets… none of these were there. There were only a few of her own face masks, and the boxes were open as if someone had spied inside to check if food was stored there.
“What’s going on?”
Lois couldn’t help but gasp, a sense of foreboding surging in her heart—her first reaction was that thieves had broken in, so she hurriedly checked the valuables in the house. Fortunately, none of the precious items were missing; unfortunately, there was no longer anything in the house that could be called food.
Lois inspected the doors and windows; there were no signs of forced entry.
“Clark!” Lois stood in the center of the living room, brows furrowed, unable to understand how a thief would only steal food and not touch anything else.
At this moment.
Hearing her call, Clark came down the stairs yawning.
“Didn’t you hear any unusual noises last night?” Lois looked at her Superman husband; the man who could hear every cry in the entire city shouldn’t be indifferent to a break-in at home.
“Maybe it was mice.”
Clark glanced at the kitchen and understood why Lois was asking; his expression was odd, hesitant to speak, but in the end, he chose to make up an absurd excuse.
“Mice?”
Lois was almost laughed into anger.
“It’s fine, leave it to me.” Clark vanished from the spot in an instant; in Lois’s view, he was gone for just a few seconds, and the next moment he returned home carrying a large pile of ingredients.
“Hm?”
Lois suspiciously eyed her husband, suspecting that his pig-like appetite had flared up last night and he ate all the food in the house; otherwise, it was inexplicable why the food had mysteriously disappeared.
Wanting to question him.
But because of her earlier shout, eldest son Jonathan and second son Jordan were also getting ready and coming downstairs; neither she nor Clark planned to reveal the husband’s identity to the children so soon.
“We’ll settle accounts tonight!”
Lois gave Clark a look and turned to enter the kitchen to start frying eggs.
“Good morning, old man, mother.”
Jonathan walked to the refrigerator and took out a box of milk from the now fully stocked refrigerator, perhaps blessed by Superman’s freeze breath.
Jordan silently sat at the dining table, quietly waiting for breakfast.
“Jordan, go wake Ian.”
Lois busied herself at the stove and said without looking up.
Meanwhile, Ian’s second brother Jordan still felt half-asleep, propping his face with one hand, eyes drowsy. “I heard him leaving early in the morning.”
Hearing this.
Lois frowned.
“Didn’t I tell him to rest at home for a few days?”
Her tone carried some worry. At this time, expressionless Clark was also helping her, carrying plates of her fried eggs and toast to the two children.
“You can’t keep a study maniac down; he just loves learning.” Jordan shrugged, his tone carrying a subtle admiration—he truly admired his little brother; last night he looked like he’d launched missiles and ended up in that ghastly appearance, yet today he got up early to go to school.
No wonder the guy has good grades!
“Let me talk to Ian tonight.” Jonathan took on the responsibility as eldest brother, mixing milk and coffee into his protein powder.
As a football team member.
This was standard breakfast.
Flesh is too weak.
He must rely on technology and ruthless tactics to carve a path for him on the fierce field.
……
Metropolis Public Middle School.
Sunlight streamed through the window onto the desk, forming bright patches of light; there weren’t many people in the classroom, and Ian was propping his chin, staring at the system panel only he could see.
【Supernatural Profession: Berserker LV1〔6/10〕】
It could only be said that this leveling speed truly hadn’t met his expectations; no way around it, since he couldn’t exploit a system bug to turn himself into a perpetual motion machine for leveling up.
“Although I have no mana bar, my skills obviously can’t be used infinitely either.” Ian sighed slightly, melancholic as if he’d aged to eighteen in one breath.
“First, I need to strengthen my body.” Ian pondered silently in his mind. “Although my body is already much stronger than before, only with a sturdier physique can I endure more ferocious leveling methods, making my supernatural profession level up faster, so I can smoothly ‘bang bang bang’ old man with two punches when the rebellious phase arrives.”
Ambitious Ian was making his puberty plans. As he pondered, a thick perfume scent approached; without turning, he knew his deskmate had arrived at school.
“Yo, isn’t this Ian who skipped a day of class? Where’d you go play yesterday?” Madison plopped down next to him, her golden long hair swinging in a dazzling arc.
“Metropolis.”
Ian didn’t turn his head, giving a curt response.
“What fun is there in Metropolis that made you, a study maniac, miss Monday class.” Madison pursed her lips, exaggeratedly rolling her eyes.
She had on delicate makeup today, mascara distinctly applied lash by lash, lips painted a vivid rose red, and the school uniform shirt deliberately unbuttoned two notches.
Revealing a modestly priced necklace inside.
“I went to Hollywood on Saturday and Sunday; didn’t meet any star scouts with a discerning eye, but at the door of a bar called Bar of Light, I ran into a man even handsomer than you.” Madison was a girl with a strong desire to share; of course, most of the time her sharing was to satisfy her vanity.
“But handsome as he is, that man isn’t my type, especially his behavior of refusing me entry to his bar because I’m a minor—totally speechless.”
“In your words, he’s just a downer guy. Come on, looking like this, who would think I’m only fourteen? I’ve snuck into Metropolis bars twice!”
See.
Bragging items arrive though late.
Ian had no interest in bars, but he was still drawn in by Madison’s words. The youth stared at his deskmate, his gaze carrying a sense of astonishment.
“Gotta say, little punk girl, you’ve got some real guts.” Ian sincerely praised her, even setting down his book and giving his brave deskmate a thumbs up.
Madison was stunned for a moment.
“Of course!”
She then responded smugly.
Clearly, the blonde girl thought Ian was praising her for daring to go to the bar. However, in fact, Ian’s heart had trembled a few times upon hearing the name “Bar of Light.” If Ian remembered correctly, the one living there was one of the few existences on Earth that his old man couldn’t handle.
At least under normal circumstances.
