School and the Little Punk Girl Desk Mate

The next day.

Early morning.

Soft sunlight spilled into the Kent Family's kitchen.

Lois, the lady of the house, got up early, preparing a hearty breakfast for her three children with all the love she had for her family. Humming a cheerful tune, she walked into the kitchen and opened the cabinet. The award-winning reporter had expected to see it packed with ingredients, but the sight before her froze her smile.

There it was.

The cabinet was clean.

Too clean—ridiculously so.

There was not even a crumb left in the cereal or cracker boxes. Lois rubbed her eyes to make sure she was awake.

Then she rushed to the refrigerator.

Milk, frozen pizza, eggs, frozen chicken nuggets... none of it was there.

All that remained were several boxes of her facial masks. The boxes were even open, as though someone had checked whether food was stored inside.

"What's going on?"

Lois could not help sucking in a sharp breath. A bad feeling rose in her heart—her first thought was that a burglar had broken in, so she hurriedly checked the family's valuables.

Fortunately, none of their expensive possessions were missing.

Unfortunately, there was not a single thing in the house that could still be called food.

Lois checked the doors and windows, but there were no signs of forced entry.

"Clark!" Lois stood in the middle of the living room, frowning deeply. She could not understand why a thief would steal only food and leave everything else untouched.

At that moment.

Clark, having heard her shout, came downstairs yawning.

"Didn't you hear anything unusual last night?" Lois looked at her Superman husband. A man who could hear every cry for help across the entire city should not have been oblivious to a burglar in his own home.

"Maybe it was rats."

Clark glanced at the kitchen and immediately understood why Lois was asking. His expression was strange, as if he wanted to say something but held it back. In the end, he chose to make up an absurd excuse.

"Rats?"

Lois was almost angry enough to laugh.

"It's fine, leave it to me." Clark vanished from the spot.

From Lois's perspective, he was gone for only a few seconds. The next moment, he returned carrying a huge pile of groceries.

"Hm?"

Lois eyed her husband suspiciously. She suspected Clark's pigging-out habit had acted up last night and he had eaten everything in the house. Otherwise, there was simply no explanation for the food's mysterious disappearance.

She wanted to question him.

However, because of her earlier shout, her eldest son Jonathan and second son Jordan had already gotten ready and were coming downstairs. Neither she nor Clark intended to let the children know his identity so soon.

"I'll settle the score with you tonight!"

Lois shot Clark a look, then turned and went into the kitchen to fry eggs.

"Morning, Dad, Mom."

Jonathan walked to the refrigerator and took out a carton of milk that might have been blessed by Superman's "Freeze Breath."

Jordan, meanwhile, silently sat at the dining table and waited for breakfast.

"Jordan, go wake Ian up."

Lois busied herself at the stove and spoke without looking up.

Ian's second brother, Jordan, still looked half-asleep. Resting his cheek on one hand, his eyes hazy with drowsiness, he said, "I heard him leave early this morning."

Hearing that.

Lois frowned.

"Didn't we tell him to rest at home for a few days?"

There was concern in her voice. Clark, expressionless, was helping her in the kitchen.

He carried the fried eggs and toast she had prepared over to the two boys, plate by plate.

"You can't keep a nerd trapped at home. He just likes studying." Jordan shrugged, with a trace of subtle admiration in his tone—he genuinely admired his little brother. He had looked like a wreck after firing missiles last night, yet he had still gotten up early and gone to school today.

No wonder his grades were so good!

"Let me talk to Ian tonight." Jonathan took responsibility as the eldest brother while mixing milk and coffee into his protein powder.

As a football player.

This was a standard breakfast.

The weakness of flesh and blood.

Only technology and ruthless tricks could carry him through the fierce battlefield of the football field.

Metropolis Public High School.

Sunlight streamed through the windows and fell across the desks, forming patches of bright light. There were not many people in the classroom, while Ian rested his chin on his hand and stared at a system panel only he could see.

[Extraordinary Class: Berserker LV1 (6/10)]

This leveling speed had fallen far short of his expectations. But there was nothing he could do; he had failed to exploit a system bug and turn himself into a perpetual leveling machine.

"I may not have a mana bar, but my skills clearly can't be used infinitely either." Ian sighed softly, as though he had aged straight to eighteen in a single breath.

"First, I need to strengthen my body." Ian silently calculated. "Although my body is already much stronger than before, only a sturdier physique can withstand more intense leveling methods. That will let my extraordinary class level up faster, so when my rebellious phase arrives, I can give Dad two bang bang bang punches."

With great ambitions in his heart, Ian planned out his adolescence. Just as he was thinking, a rich perfume scent drifted closer. He did not even need to turn around to know that his desk mate had arrived at school.

"Yo, isn't this Ian, who skipped school for a day? Where did you go yesterday?" Madison Montgomery plopped down beside him, her long blonde hair sweeping out a dazzling arc.

"Metropolis."

Ian did not turn around, giving a dry reply.

"What's so fun about Metropolis that it made a study freak like you miss Monday's classes?" Madison pursed her lips and rolled her eyes dramatically.

She wore exquisite makeup today, each lash carefully defined with mascara, her lips painted a vivid rose pink. She had even deliberately left two extra buttons of her uniform shirt undone.

It revealed a necklace that was at the level of upper-middle-class spending.

"I went to Hollywood on Saturday and Sunday. I didn't run into any talent scouts with a discerning eye, but outside a bar called Light Bar, I did meet a man who was even more handsome than you." Madison was a girl who loved sharing things, though most of the time, her urge to share was simply to satisfy her vanity.

"Still, handsome or not, that man wasn't my type. Especially not after he refused to let me into his bar just because I was underage. That was seriously ridiculous."

"In your words, he was a total turnoff. Come on, if I walked outside looking like this, who would think I was only fourteen? I've snuck into Metropolis bars twice already!"

There it was.

The bragging might be late, but it never failed to arrive.

Ian had no interest in bars, but Madison's words caught his attention. The boy stared at his desk mate, his eyes filled with surprise.

"I have to say, Little Punk Girl, you've got some nerve." Ian offered his sincere praise. He even put down his book and gave his brave desk mate a thumbs-up.

Madison froze for a moment.

"Of course I do!"

Then she replied smugly.

Clearly, the blonde girl thought Ian was talking about her daring to go to bars. In truth, though, Ian's heart had trembled when he heard the name "Light Bar." If he remembered correctly, the person living there was one of the few beings on Earth his father could not defeat.

At least, under normal circumstances.