In the distance, a light drizzle pattered against the strands at Lois's temples.
Her once-neat hair had long since become as wild as a lioness's mane.
She clutched her only weapon.
Or rather, the only tool she had left to vent her emotions.
Pepper spray...
An entire bottle of pepper spray had already been emptied by Lois.
The crowd still kept Lois firmly separated from Clark. Even though she herself felt the burning sting of the spray, she could not tear a path through the crowd whose emotions had completely exploded.
Through her tear-blurred vision, countless people surged past the family who had first hurt Clark, past the mother who had first struck him.
In the blink of an eye, the rampaging crowd swarmed around Clark. It seemed that every inch of his skin was being struck by people filled with malice and devoid of reason.
Some tore at his clothes, some yanked his cape, some pressed cigarette butts to his hair, and some simply used their teeth.
Once, other children whom Clark had saved had given him innocent, pure kisses.
That had been the driving force behind Clark's devotion to being a hero.
But now...
Before his eyes, the family members who had truly lost a child were scattered by the wildly beating crowd, and the mother was shoved down from behind by countless people.
Then Clark heard screams and wails. More people had stepped on the mother.
Watching her grow increasingly pained, listening to the escalating curses and slander around him—
Clark truly could not understand.
In over thirty years on Earth, he had traveled countless roads and passed countless people.
But he had never understood what those people truly wanted.
To hurt him?
Or to hurt everyone who was not themselves...
Bang!
With a dull thud, Lois