You Awake?

Chapter 38: You Awake?

"I've heard that throughout history, some fighters have endured every kind of torture without ever telling their enemies what they wanted to know."

David pinched the fifty-cent coin between two fingers. A dangerous glint flashed in his eyes as he smiled faintly, his words making people uneasy.

"I'll bet you fifty cents—you're not one of them!"

"If you haven't dropped to your knees and cried like a woman within half an hour, telling me everything I want to know, like your email account and password, I'll lose fifty cents to you!"

"A seventeen-year-old high school student—did you learn about torture from TV?"

Fran's heart trembled. He put on an exaggerated act as if he had heard a joke and burst out laughing.

For some reason, after David smilingly laid out the wager, he felt as though a predator a hundred times more terrifying than a lion had fixed its eyes on him. A chill ran down his back, and his hairs stood on end.

"David, what are you trying to do?"

Clark's expression changed as he stopped David from stepping forward.

Even Clark had been frightened by the brutal words David had spoken.

Torture was inhumane. It trampled on a person's dignity. He could not believe his younger brother was about to do something like that.

What was most frightening was how practiced David looked, as if he were merely talking about treating someone to dinner.

"Clark, are you still showing off your kindness at a time like this?"

David sneered at Fran as though he were looking at a dead man.

He had never actually tortured anyone, but he believed it would not be hard to get the hang of it. Besides, he was not afraid of making mistakes.

"Absolutely not. What if you don't get anything out of him?"

Clark struggled for a moment, then gritted his teeth.

Their past experiences had taught him that reasoning with his brother was useless, especially in such an urgent situation. There was no time to talk sense into him.

He immediately brought up the consequences if something went wrong.

"If he doesn't return on time, his email will send out the message. You might not have any time to interrogate him at all."

"Maybe I won't even need half an hour. Ten minutes will be enough."

As David spoke, he tried to push Clark aside. "I don't think this despicable, scheming bastard is some unbreakable tough guy!"

"No!"

Clark grabbed David's hand tightly.

"David, I can't let you put Mom and Dad at risk."

He lowered his voice and tried his best to persuade his younger brother.

"Just give him whatever he wants. They're only some gangsters doing bad things anyway."

David raised an eyebrow and looked at him as if he were seeing him for the first time.

"I never expected your bottom line to be flexible too, Clark!"

This was outright illegal criminal activity.

"I agree." To prevent any further complications, Clark kept a tight grip on David's hand as he turned anxiously to Fran. "Go. I'll come find you in a while!"

"I'll be waiting for you, Clark."

Fran glanced at David, a smug look flashing through his eyes, then turned and hurried away.

David wanted to go after him, but if he used any more strength, his Thanos-like appearance would show. He frowned.

"I don't understand why you stopped me for a few gangsters. That doesn't seem like your style, David."

Once he saw Fran leave, Clark took the initiative to let go of David.

He believed that even with David's speed, he would not be able to get past him in time.

"Human desire is like a rolling stone on a mountain. Once it starts, it never stops."

David adjusted his cuff, pocketed the fifty-cent coin, and spoke coldly.

"Let me try, David." If Fran was a qualified gambler, then Clark was a failed one. He was always indecisive and clung to wishful thinking.

But sometimes, yielding and compromising was no different from admitting defeat outright.

"I'll give those words right back to you."

David fixed his gaze on him. Their eyes met. "I can't let you put Mom and Dad at risk!"

There was nothing to think about.

Only an idiot would leave a weapon capable of letting him do whatever he wanted unused.

"It's impossible to fill a hyena's stomach once and for all. When it gets hungry, it'll come back for more. There'll never be an end to it."

That man's appetite would only grow larger and larger. Sooner or later, Jonathan and Martha would be dragged into this.

"David, you know you're not as fast as me.

"If I want to protect someone, there's no way you can find me or catch up to me."

Both of them stood their ground. Clark did not want to fight his younger brother, but he gritted his teeth.

"Just let me try once!"

As he spoke, anger rose in him as well. Why was he the older brother, yet his younger brother would not listen to him even once?

"I know."

David took a step back and looked at him. "Leaving everything else aside, your speed is at least ten times, maybe even dozens of times, greater than mine.

"Even if you're carrying someone, if you want to escape, I might not even be able to touch the hem of your clothes."

"David..."

Clark's eyes lit up when he heard that.

He thought David was going to relent and agree.

"I didn't want to do this."

David shook his head and sighed. He took a small box from his pocket and opened it.

Snap!

A thumb-sized green crystal appeared, emitting the radiation unique to Kryptonite.

He held up the Kryptonite toward Clark like an exorcist wielding a cross against a vampire.

"Meteorite?"

Clark's legs went weak. His body immediately felt hollowed out. Under that fluorescent green glow, he staggered back in agony and barely managed to brace himself against the wall to keep from collapsing.

He widened his eyes in disbelief, forcing the words out through gritted teeth.

"Da... David, you're actually using Meteorite against me."

He had suffered from Meteorite more than once, but he never expected that one day, he would see his own younger brother use it against him.

"Is this... the Meteorite Gregg had?"

He remembered that his younger brother had taken one Meteorite before.

"You forced me to do this, Clark."

David stepped forward and swung a hammer-like fist cleanly into his face.

Boom!

Clark was knocked to the ground on the spot and passed out.

Clang!

Looking at Clark sleeping like a baby, David casually tossed the Kryptonite beside him.

It would keep weakening him, preventing the Son of Krypton from waking up halfway through after catching some sunlight.

He turned and left the deserted alley.

At the end of the town street, Fran leaned leisurely against a streetlamp, waiting for the moving check that would secure the rest of his life to come find him.

Although Clark had said he would come looking for him, Fran did not dare go too far, afraid Clark would not be able to find him.

"Who are you waiting for?"

A cold voice suddenly sounded behind him.

Fran turned and saw David, confusion in his eyes.

"Why is it you? Where's Clark?"

"Did he change his mind?" Thinking of something, a vicious look appeared on his face as he shouted.

"No. He can't come for the moment."

David threw a punch, grabbed the unconscious Fran like a chick, and vanished from where he stood.

An abandoned factory.

Fran woke up and found himself tied tightly to a chair with ropes. No matter how hard he struggled, he could not move.

"You're awake?" A voice came from nearby.

A laptop sat on a wooden table. David sat calmly behind it, pushing a fifty-cent coin forward. Under Fran's terrified gaze, he put on surgical rubber gloves, slowly rose with a smile, and said,

"Our bet has begun."

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