Ignorance Leads to the Grave

Chapter 33: Ignorance Leads to the Grave

Cassandra's foresight was beyond her control.

Sometimes she saw minutes ahead, other times the end of a person's life. She could not repeatedly predict the shifting future for the same individual.

Clark wanted to glimpse his own future again—to see if his firm resolve to stop his brother from walking the wrong path had changed anything, if the future had shifted. But that wish went unfulfilled.

"I'm tired, children."

Listening to the ticking of the clock, Cassandra smiled with a hint of contentment. Clark was puzzled—he hadn't even begun reading to the venerable elder before him.

"You didn't really think Miss Cassandra needed someone to read to her, did you?"

David patted him on the shoulder and stood to leave.

The old woman could read Braille. What she needed was someone to let her see the vivid, colorful world through another person's future.

"Sorry for the trouble, ma'am."

Clark snapped out of it, glanced at the clock on the wall, and realized he'd taken up enough of her time. He took his leave.

"I'll come back to see you this afternoon."

"Child, I can only show you fragments of the future. Sometimes you won't know the full picture—don't jump to conclusions."

As Clark was about to close the door, Cassandra spoke from her chair, her voice kind.

"With family, have more patience and trust."

"I understand. Thank you, ma'am."

Clark paused, a thoughtful look crossing his face, then nodded and shut the door.

He had planned to go downstairs with David to a room where another old man played chess, to spend the rest of their community service time.

But after two games, the old man didn't want to continue. He could tell David was going easy on him to keep him happy. After David played one serious game and won, then promptly lost badly the next.

Playing chess with someone far above your skill level is no fun—especially when you're the weaker player.

"You two go on. I'll tell the staff you played with me."

The old man, feeling a bit defeated, rubbed his forehead and waved them off.

They had no choice but to leave. Checking the time, lunch was approaching. Rather than eating at the nursing home's cafeteria, they preferred to go home and taste their mother Martha's famous seafood chowder.

Downstairs, Pete's family car was parked in the lot.

But Pete was nowhere to be seen—maybe still looking for his keys.

"You're not going home looking like that, are you, Clark?

What would Mom and Dad think?"

Leaving the nursing home, Clark's brow was heavy with worry, his steps distracted. David raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"In that future you saw, what did I do that's got you so worried? Lock you in a coffin made of meteorite?

Or steal Lana away from you, the one you can't stop thinking about?"

"It's... nothing."

"..."

"That line wouldn't fool a child." Facing the Son of Krypton, who was terrible at lying, David's tone carried a hint of exasperation.

"Let me think about it before I decide whether to tell you, David."

Clark wasn't sure whether sharing what he'd seen would do more harm than good. He decided to take some time to mull it over.

He glanced back at the nursing home.

His original purpose today had been to spend time with Lana—maybe chat in the cafeteria. But after what happened, he'd lost the mood.

"It's your future, anyway."

David shrugged, not pressing the issue.

Curious as he was, he wasn't about to let a Metahuman's prediction haunt him day and night.

The future was under his feet, in his hands. He steered his own life.

"The ship of life sails where you decide to take it."

In this world, people with foresight or divination abilities were not rare. If he let every random prediction make him anxious, he'd have no time for anything else.

"Compared to that, there's something else I care about more right now."

Walking down the street, ignoring Clark's distracted state beside him, David clenched his fist.

Ever since his template passed ninety percent integration, he felt a powerful energy flowing inside him, filling every cell. The higher the integration, the greater that energy grew.

"But I can't release it no matter what."

It reminded him of Thanos from the comics.

"Comic Thanos could fire devastating cosmic energy from his hands or eyes, but he couldn't at first."

Not long after Thanos left his homeworld Titan and set out on the path to becoming a dark conqueror, he killed the leader of a band of space pirates and took over. Then, leading his pirate crew, he plundered the Universe's science and technology to study his own body.

"Thanos, in order to fully tap into his body's potential, crafted a suit of armor for himself and underwent biological modification surgery, allowing him to unleash the immense energy stored within."

In the comics, Thanos's golden armor looks simple, as if hammered out by brute force, but it actually incorporates all kinds of cutting-edge cosmic technology, one function being to help him focus and release energy.

David knew that the template he should be fusing with was the movie version of Thanos.

"But maybe Thanos is just Thanos—some things never change."

He guessed to himself.

"In the movies, Thanos might have been obsessed with hunting down the Infinity Stones and playing Cosmic Population Control Director, with no time to explore his own potential."

Even without energy beams, Thanos's sheer physical prowess was enough to dominate the universe.

"Even if he found the Infinity Gems that could rule the cosmos, having the ability to fire energy wouldn't make snapping his fingers any easier."

David shook his head, unsure what to do with the energy inside him.

He didn't have the means right now to build a suit of cosmic high-tech armor or perform biological modification on himself.

"This extra ability seems pretty useless for now?"

On the way back from the outskirts, David raised an eyebrow.

"What a coincidence, David!"

A voice suddenly rang out, laced with resentment and smugness.

A figure slowly emerged from a fork in the road, blocking their path. His skin looked like it was covered in frost, his lips blue and purple, giving his face a somewhat twisted expression.

"I was cutting through town to head to your family's Farms, didn't expect to run into you here."

"Sean?"

Clark looked up, staring at Sean, whose skin had taken on an unnatural color and who seemed to be shivering. Surprised, he couldn't help asking, "Are you okay?"

"Okay?"

At the question, Sean spread his arms and laughed wildly, "I couldn't be better!"

"Now!"

He suddenly locked eyes with David, his voice harsh and menacing. The grass on both sides of the path shattered into frost, and as the wind blew, ice and snow swirled through the air.

"Kneel and beg me, and I might consider letting you live, David."

Walking through town to get here, his ability to absorb heat had flared up again.

"Ever thought about applying for a job at the circus?"

David's face turned cold at the remark.

From Sean's appearance, it wasn't hard to tell he'd been mutated by Kryptonite radiation.

"With you looking like a freak now, they'd sell out every seat."

"Your ignorance will lead you to the grave."

Enraged by the mockery, Sean leaped forward and threw a punch: "You have no idea what kind of power I have now!"

"Sean, stop!"

Clark lunged forward to block Sean from getting near David, both to protect his brother and to shield him.

But the moment his hands touched Sean's body, his body heat was uncontrollably drained away.

A flash of sunlight-like radiance bloomed at the point of contact, absorbed into Sean's body.

"How can your body heat be greater than a small thermal power plant!"

The massive heat surged into him, rapidly enhancing Sean's physique. His eyes went wide as he exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'm getting stronger!"