What were everyday news stories like in the United States in my previous life? A stressed-out, deranged man seeking revenge on society would take a gun and fire indiscriminately into a crowd, killing people.
What would someone with superpowers and a heart twisted by hatred do? It was easy to imagine.
As soon as Dilos finished speaking, he hurried off. Stop Jeremy from taking revenge? How could he possibly do that? No matter how you looked at it, that was a job for our good-natured Clark. But...
"What did you say?! Clark was taken by Whitney to be this year's Scarecrow?!"
Dilos grabbed a football player by the collar.
"Are you kidding me?! What the hell happened? Tell me right now!"
"Damn it, let go of me!" The football player's face flushed red as he grabbed Dilos's hand and tried to pry it off. But Dilos's hand was like an iron clamp; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't budge it.
Realizing Dilos wasn't someone to mess with, the man lost his earlier bravado and said weakly, "Whenever Clark sees Lana, he looks at her with such adoring eyes. So..."
Well, after hearing the unlucky kid explain, Dilos's mouth twitched. Now he understood what had happened. Anyone would have been fed up—not just Whitney. They all lived in the same small town, had played together as kids, and went to the same high school. Who wouldn't get angry if some lovesick guy kept staring at their girlfriend all day?
She was already taken, and this childhood friend still kept pining after her. Wasn't he asking for a beating? You didn't go after your friend's girl. Even if they weren't friends, why make a happy couple uncomfortable all the time?
Whitney had shown remarkable restraint. If it were Dilos, he might have beaten the guy until he had broken bones.
But whatever the case, the most important thing now was to find Clark, the tank, and have him deal with Jeremy.
"Tell me where Clark is tied up."
After learning where Clark was, Dilos felt a little helpless. They had tied him up beside LuthorCorp, eighty kilometers from the school. There was a cornfield next to LuthorCorp, and Clark had been tied up there.
So Dilos had to demonstrate his physical superiority to the unlucky fellow he was holding, making him drive Dilos home. Then he climbed into the gold Lamborghini LP700-4 and sped to his destination.
He had to admit, the Lamborghini's engine roared like thunder. The sound was enough to get his blood pumping. Dilos enjoyed the ride while driving at full speed, and made it there in just over ten minutes.
The drive had gone so smoothly because the road to the cornfield was wide and nearly deserted.
"Clark! Are you there?!"
Dilos vaulted over the cornfield's fence and entered the field, shouting Clark's name.
After calling out a few times, Dilos heard a barely audible "Help."
Following the sound, he found Clark tied to a wooden cross, stripped down to his underwear. A spray-painted "S" marked his chest.
A necklace glowing green hung around Clark's neck. Sweat poured off him, and his eyes were vacant. He looked as though he could drop dead at any moment.
"Green Kryptonite," Dilos thought. He recognized at once the "culprit" responsible for Clark's current state.
He also noticed something else: the necklace belonged to Lana. If he remembered correctly, she had given it to Whitney.
"Whitney must have been so mad he lost his mind. He actually put the necklace right on Clark." Dilos shook his head, then stepped forward, untied Clark, and removed the Green Kryptonite necklace from his neck, slipping it into his pocket. (PS: For convenience, I'll just call these meteorites Kryptonite from now on.)
As soon as the Green Kryptonite was taken away, Clark bounced back to full health as if he'd just taken a healing potion.
Rustle, rustle...
Clark looked at Dilos, who wore an exasperated expression, and was just about to say something when a sound behind him caught his attention.
Dilos also warily turned to the cornfield behind Clark. The newcomer pushed aside the corn stalks around him and appeared before Dilos and Clark.
The pale, gloomy guy looked like a ghost who'd starved to death from malnutrition. He was none other than Jeremy Quick.
Jeremy Quick had been in a coma ever since the meteor shower twelve years ago. Then, a storm a few days ago knocked out the hospital's generator. As luck would have it, a current leaked into his room and jolted him awake, as if he'd been plugged in to recharge. After that, he disappeared, leaving the hospital staff scrambling to find him.
And then came the events of the past few days. Whether the faulty generator had electrocuted him or the meteorite had given him the ability to wield electricity, this revenge-crazed god had kept the same face all these years and had electrocuted the three idiots who'd pranked him twelve years ago, putting them into cardiac arrest.
"Ugh... Why did I have to run into him here?" Dilos thought, feeling annoyed, though his expression didn't change. Instead, he pretended not to know Jeremy and asked:
"Who are you?"
Jeremy ignored him and looked instead at Clark, who'd been stripped down to his underwear, and at the maliciously scrawled "S" on Clark's chest.
"Still the same." Jeremy looked at Clark, his voice carrying a chilling coldness. He stepped closer and said:
"It hurts, doesn't it?" Though it was phrased as a question, Jeremy said it with certainty.
To Clark, Jeremy's words and behavior seemed rather strange. He frowned and eyed him warily.
"I'm fine."
"Fine?" Jeremy sneered at Clark. "It's because of people like you that they keep getting worse."
Dilos, standing nearby, wanted to roll his eyes. He was sure Clark had brought this on himself.
"Do you know?" Jeremy looked lost. "I thought that if I punished them, they'd stop doing this. But I was wrong. They'll never stop!"
His voice shifted from confusion to helplessness, despair, and anger, until it was filled with twisted hatred!
"They must be punished by heaven." Jeremy's voice dropped, as if he weren't angry at all. Yet it filled Dilos with a bone-deep chill, as though he'd stepped into an ice cellar.
At the same time, Clark seemed to realize something when he heard those words. But before he could think it through, Jeremy turned his eyes toward Dilos. Realizing what was happening, Clark hurriedly shouted, "Wait!"
He also used his super-speed, trying to get in front of Dilos. But no matter how fast he was, he couldn't outrun lightning!
Clark was only a hair's breadth away when a raging bolt of lightning filled his vision. Charging forward too quickly to dodge, he slammed headfirst into the bolt!
Before you continue