Black

"It was Lex Luthor."

Tina used a man's rough voice, her tone flippant.

After saying that, she changed back to normal and regretfully toyed with her hair.

"It's a shame the signature gave me away. Otherwise, I wouldn't have needed to rob the place yesterday."

"You told me you wouldn't use this ability anymore!"

Learning that her daughter had really robbed a bank, Catherine's lips trembled with fury as she said heartbrokenly.

"I did it for us. After Father died, we only had this neglected Antique Shop by the street. Little by little, even food and clothing became a problem."

Tina tried to persuade her mother, her pupils widening with excitement as her face flushed red.

"Look at all this money. This is only the beginning. Soon, I'll be able to live just like Lana."

They both ran shops, but the Flower Shop run by Lana's Aunt earned far more than this shabby Antique Shop. Since childhood, Lana had been someone Tina, whose family struggled, deeply envied.

"Enough. I don't want to see you get hurt!"

"Hurt?"

She reacted as if she had heard a joke.

"That bank security guard shot me twice in the back. All he ruined was one of my suits."

"Tina, no one's life is perfect." Catherine did her best to soften her tone.

"Lana's is!"

Tina's expression turned cold as she cut her off.

She had heard those words countless times since childhood.

Lana was like a white swan—wealthy, beautiful, loved by everyone since she was little, the center of attention wherever she went. Meanwhile, Tina was merely a dingy, ugly duckling by the roadside.

"This money was stolen."

Not wanting to argue with her daughter any longer, Catherine's face darkened as she angrily headed downstairs.

"I'll return it. I'll just say I found it beside a garbage truck."

"Don't do this, Mother. Why can't we have happiness?"

Growing impatient and anxious, Tina stepped forward and grabbed the backpack, trying to snatch it away.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

In the struggle, she suddenly used too much force. Catherine lost her grip on the backpack and fell backward down the stairs. Her aged body rolled down several steps before her head slammed heavily into the wall. She passed out, her fate unknown.

"Mom!"

Tina's eyes widened. She hurried downstairs, threw aside the backpack, and tried to call emergency services. But when she picked up the phone, she suddenly thought of something. After struggling for a moment, her expression gradually turned cold, and she put it down.

Before gym class.

Everyone changed into sportswear in the locker room.

"Ah!"

Clark's vision suddenly blurred. He rubbed his eyes hard, then opened them again and jumped in fright, crying out.

The entire room was filled with skeletons wrapped in flesh. Even bluish-purple veins were clearly visible beneath the flesh, like something out of a horror movie.

"Clark?"

Pete, beside him, wondered why he had suddenly screamed.

But in Clark's eyes, a flesh-covered skeleton turned its head toward him, frightening him into backing away.

"My eyes! My eyes..."

"What's wrong?"

Another flesh-covered skeleton, powerfully built like a sculpture from ancient Greece, turned its head and frowned.

David, who had just pulled on his shirt, looked at the suddenly screaming Clark and asked.

"I..."

As Clark stumbled back in panic, his vision suddenly passed through the wall, and he saw the girls' locker room next door.

Girls in their underwear were changing clothes one after another. Among them was a familiar figure—Lana.

Black...

The future Superman's eyes gradually went blank. As if he had seen a delightful, beautiful sight, a grin exposing his white teeth unconsciously appeared on his face.

"What's wrong with your eyes?"

Pete asked again. What was up with Clark? First he jumped at everything, then he stared blankly at the wall and even smiled foolishly.

"Nothing."

Clark came back to his senses, shook his head, and hurriedly brushed Pete off.

After Pete left first, Clark still changed slowly, gazing reluctantly at the wall.

David looked at the wall leading to the girls' locker room, then at Clark's eyes, which seemed practically nailed to it, and immediately guessed what was going on.

"You've got a nosebleed, Clark."

The sudden remark reached him.

Distracted, Clark frantically touched his nose, but there was nothing on his hand.

That can't be right. Would I get a nosebleed?

Looking up, he saw David standing with his arms folded, watching him with an amused gaze that seemed able to see through people's hearts.

Under that look, Clark felt uncomfortable all over, like a thief who had been caught. For no reason, he guiltily looked away.

Why had David suddenly said that?

Could David know about the strange new thing that had appeared in him?

"You mean another new ability has emerged? You can see through people and objects?"

Martha looked uneasy as she watched Clark sitting on the sofa at home.

Jonathan gently rubbed his wife's back to reassure her and listened quietly from the side.

David stood with his arms folded, leaning against the dining table with a faint smile on his lips. Clark did not dare look up and meet his gaze.

Clark's guilt +11, shame +12...

"Sometimes I can see through things, like X-rays."

Sitting on the sofa, Clark lowered his head and pretended to be gloomy. It sounded as though he had a towel stuffed in his mouth, making his voice muffled and unclear.

"You can't control it?"

Sensing his wife's worry, Jonathan frowned.

Unlike before, new abilities had been appearing in Clark far too frequently lately.

Just two days ago, he had suddenly developed levitation, though it had not appeared again afterward.

The successive changes were like an ambush shattering the peace, instinctively making people uneasy.

"I don't know how to control it."

Clark looked up and glanced at David.

"Really?"

David sneered.

"Before gym class, you kept staring through the wall. I didn't see your new ability fail."

He said meaningfully, "Some things depend only on whether you want to do them."

The future Superman awakened super vision and immediately used it to peep into the girls' locker room. What a noble God Among Men. And he still had the nerve to lecture David all the time.

Too bad he had not brought a camera that morning.

"Eyes have muscles too, just like blinking and focusing. You can try controlling them, Clark."

Though he wondered what wall his younger son meant, Jonathan did not ask at that moment. Instead, he seriously reminded him.

"I'll try."

Clark agreed, though a fleeting look of hesitation crossed his face.

After comforting Clark and giving him a few reminders,

Martha made sure Clark would be careful. Thankfully, this ability was not dangerous. Then she went to gather clothes, preparing to head into town.

Jonathan also left the room to feed the cows on the farms.

Tap, tap.

"What else did you want to say just now, Clark?"

With a series of footsteps, David walked over. He had noticed Clark's expression earlier and smiled. "Did you want to confess your behavior to your parents?"

He drew out his words. "After all, there's nothing wrong with being more honest, right?"

"My strength has been increasing faster these past two days."

Hearing those familiar words, Clark coughed, his face reddening. Seeing that his parents were not around, he lowered his voice.

One sudden new abnormality was already enough to worry his parents, so he had not mentioned this earlier.

"Your strength is increasing faster."

David raised his brows. That was unexpected.

"What do you think is causing it?"

Unlike super vision, which he knew would inevitably appear, he could not think of a likely explanation for this yet.

"Maybe it's the end of puberty. During puberty, people naturally develop physically at their fastest."

Clark paused before analyzing himself.

Eighteen was precisely the intense period when a person transitioned from adolescence into adulthood.

"Aren't you an alien?"

Realization flashed through David's eyes. He had forgotten such a simple possibility, but he still said,

"Aliens can't go through puberty?!"

"That's true. They definitely can."

David smiled teasingly, clearly implying something. Clark's expression became ashamed once more.