Knock, knock!
Someone knocked on the door.
Chloe came downstairs from her noon nap, pillow marks still on her face. Seeing Clark outside, she rubbed her sleepy eyes in confusion.
"Clark, what is it? Did you come to hang out?"
"Chloe, is your dad home?" Clark had shed his previously feigned toughness and returned to his usual self as he looked inside.
"He's at the plant and hasn't come back. I had to make lunch by myself again."
Chloe complained.
Chloe's father was a department manager at the Fertilizer Plant run by Lex Luthor, and he was usually very busy.
"My family's run into a little trouble. Chloe, can you help me?"
Clark pleaded.
"Trouble? Come in."
Though puzzled by her friend's request for help, Chloe did not refuse and ushered him inside.
"Our farm..."
Sitting on the living room sofa, Clark quickly explained what had happened.
"I need information on this Mr. Rickman."
"Just shaking hands can make someone sell the farm and land they worked so hard to build?"
Chloe, who loved investigating strange and unusual things, instantly perked up.
"Wait here. I'll get my laptop upstairs."
Thump, thump, thump!
She hurried upstairs.
Clark touched the blue hood hidden in his pocket.
His plan was to first determine whether Rickman was a Metahuman, then get his address from Chloe and go settle the matter in person.
Before long, Chloe came running downstairs excitedly with her laptop. She opened it and was about to search for information on Rickman when she suddenly remembered something and looked outside in confusion.
"By the way, where's David?"
Their farm and house were about to be taken away. With something this serious happening, why had David not come along?
"David, he..."
Clark scratched his head, unsure how to explain it. The moment his younger brother agreed, he had activated Super Speed and rushed to Chloe's house, afraid of wasting even a second and losing to him.
As for what David was doing now, he had no idea.
In the vast, silent Forest outside town.
Whoosh!
A figure moving close to the speed of sound appeared and abruptly stopped, the gale it kicked up sweeping the fallen leaves ahead.
Thanos template fusion complete: 100% Loading new template New template loading... 1%... 3%
After stopping and checking that no one was around, David examined the information before him.
He had originally intended to refuse Clark's suggestion, but the Thanos template had suddenly finished fusing.
After Clark ran off, he immediately came to this deserted Forest to prepare for the fusion of his second template.
"It's my first time fusing two templates. Better be cautious."
David did not want to make a commotion in front of the Farms and worry his parents.
"What kind of new template will it be?" His eyes gleamed with anticipation.
Suddenly, his body heated up. The heat continued, as if scorching lava were rushing through his veins, while the Universe energy contained in every cell surged and churned.
His bones crackled.
Something deep within his body seemed to be fusing.
His heartbeat accelerated uncontrollably. David looked at his hands as the purple tint in his skin, caused by using strength beyond that of an ordinary person, slowly began to fade.
He touched his chin. The once ravine-like lines were becoming shallower.
Crackle!
A purple ripple of energy, like an electric current, shot from his hand.
It struck a large tree in the distance. As if swept by a laser, the trunk instantly gained a vicious wound over ten centimeters deep, sparks flying from it.
Swish, swish, swish!
Ripple after ripple of energy shot out, sweeping through and felling the surrounding trees.
The Universe energy within his body roared. David felt that as the new template loaded and fused, the energy that had long lain dormant within him was about to break through some barrier.
Like raging tides about to burst through a dam, it felt as if something were stuffed in his chest. Amid the pressure came an urge ready to erupt. With a low roar, he threw a punch.
Buzz!
David's fist released a concentrated purple wave of Universe energy. It howled forward, instantly piercing through the towering trees before him and blasting straight several hundred meters away.
Every tree directly ahead now had a fist-sized hole through its trunk, its bark and wood burned into ash.
It affected an area nearly half a kilometer wide in the blink of an eye, and he hurriedly reined in the energy.
"Rick Rickman, forty-two years old. He attended Smallville High School, graduated from Kansas Western University, and worked in farm equipment sales after graduation."
Chloe read out the information about Rickman that she found on her computer.
Skilled with computers, she had once developed a program that could collect and organize search results, making it easier for her to write articles for the School Newspaper.
"Who would have thought Mr. Rickman, the man planning to build a Chemical Plant in our town, is not only our alumnus but also a local?"
Browsing the latest corporate plans released by Rickman Enterprises, she curled her lip.
"Is this how he gives back to his hometown?"
"Is there anything strange about him?"
Clark cared more about other matters.
"Let me see..."
She dragged the mouse.
"After graduation, he entered sales. His performance was at the bottom, and he was nearly fired, but in his second year, he made astonishing progress. He topped the sales rankings for three consecutive years, used the huge bonuses he earned to establish his own company, and began his struggle in the business world..."
Thinking of how Clark had said Rickman had inexplicably persuaded Uncle Jonathan to sell his land and house, Chloe found this highly suspicious.
"Even though his company management was often criticized as chaotic, everything still went smoothly for him. He closed one major deal after another and amassed hundreds of millions in wealth. Does that count?"
"If nothing unexpected happened, was the year he was nearly fired the same year the meteor shower arrived?"
Clark took a deep breath. It was exactly as David had guessed.
"Yes, 1991."
She did not even need to look up old reports to compare the years. No one in town could forget the year of the meteor shower, Chloe confirmed.
"Where does he live now, Chloe?"
Only one question remained. Clark excitedly rose to his feet.
"146 Monte Street, Metropolis."
Though somewhat puzzled by Clark's reaction, Chloe answered anyway.
"Thanks, Chloe. I'll treat you to your favorite Caramel Milk Pudding next time. I have something to do, so I'm leaving first."
Upon hearing the address, Clark thanked her and left in delight.
Not only was he far faster than David, but with Chloe's help, he had saved the time needed to ask around. This time, he would definitely win.
"Wait!"
Chloe saw a news item on the webpage, her expression changing as she ran out the door to call after Clark.
But when she looked at the open space before the house, Clark was nowhere to be seen.
As he sprinted at extreme speed, unlike David, whose movement still left a visible trail, Clark was now as fast as a bolt of lightning, too quick for the eye to follow. He swiftly pulled the Blue Hood from his pocket and put it on, his eyes shining.
This time, he would definitely get ahead of his younger brother.
But Clark did not know that David had not yet set out. He had even decided to leave the matter to him for now and see how he handled it.
Caw, caw!
Smoke and dust filled the Forest, and the dull crash startled a flock of birds into flight.
The energy faded from his purple skin. David excitedly clenched his fist, feeling a surging, tidal force within him.
The Universe energy he had once been able only to sense, no matter how hard he tried, now moved as easily as an arm or finger. He raised his palm and fired again.
A pillar of energy struck a dead, fallen old log in the distance.
Under the immense concentrated energy, the entire log was annihilated, not even a scrap left behind.
New template loading complete — Black King template fused: 30%
"The mutant Black King?"
Delight and surprise filled David's eyes.
Now he knew why he could release the energy that had previously been inaccessible!
"Not only that, there are other abilities. The fusion of the two templates with my body doesn't seem to be as simple as one plus one!"
He clenched his fist, dazzling purple light bursting from his eyes.
I wrote seven or eight hundred extra words. Please keep following. With the new template, the protagonist will start leaving the town and Metropolis in the chapters over the next couple of days, taking a brief trip outside and meeting some new people. (〃'▽'〃)
Before you continue