Dying Consciousness

The truck loaded with barrels of colorants and natural dyes screeched and braked heart-stoppingly as it tilted and slid toward Lex.

Before Lex could react, there was a deafening boom. The truck finally lost its balance and overturned.

All the dye barrels loaded onto the truck rolled off, hurtling toward the crowd at the outdoor café.

People who had been leisurely enjoying the sunshine and coffee had never expected such a disaster. In an instant, they were swallowed by the rolling barrels.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

As the barrels spilled dye everywhere, their immense momentum sent the stunned crowd crashing straight into the lake.

Lex had only just gotten to his feet when a rapidly rolling barrel knocked him down.

His body thrown off balance, he fell into the lake.

His chest was struck in the collision, and his vision went black.

Barrels weighing hundreds of kilograms smashed into the lake with deafening crashes. Dyes of every color burst from the barrels, swiftly turning the lake into a swirling mass of colors.

Enduring the pain, Lex desperately paddled his arms and tried to swim out of the frigid water.

But barrels and all kinds of debris kept crashing down, leaving no room to swim in the artificial lake.

The pungent, dizzying smell gradually blurred his consciousness.

His strength quickly ebbed away, and he struggled as he sank toward the bottom of the lake.

Drowning, freezing cold, chemical irritation—under the combined effects of it all, Lex's consciousness entered a bizarre, hallucinatory state.

Was this... what they called a near-death experience?

As Lex's sense of self steadily weakened, countless memories flashed through his mind.

In the end, his consciousness even passed through a sea of chaos and arrived somewhere he could not understand.

In his hallucination, he wore a white suit and stood inside the White House, the building of highest power.

Then the scene shifted, and he, now the president, stood in a sunflower field bathed in golden sunlight.

Astonished, he reached out and touched a sunflower.

The sunflower immediately withered and vanished at a visible speed, while the clear sky instantly turned incomparably dark.

Beneath the vanished sunflowers lay terrifying white bones covering the ground, while a horrifying monster appeared in the gloomy sky.

Its savage, terrifying form and the force of its all-devouring presence filled anyone who looked upon it with endless fear.

Splash!

Lex was pulled from the icy lake.

His oxygen-starved mouth and nose could finally draw in air freely, and his consciousness returned to his body.

Gasping for breath, he looked toward the person who had saved him.

"Are you all right?"

Clark stood waist-deep in the water. He wiped the green colorant that had accidentally gotten into his hair and asked him the question.

After leaving home, he had intended to walk around and clear his head. He had not expected to come across a traffic accident.

Eager to save people, Clark ignored the risk of exposing himself and immediately jumped into the lake.

"I'm all right."

Still somewhat dazed, Lex blinked and took several deep breaths, allowing his reason to return.

"You saved me?!"

Panting, Lex asked, "Can I know your name, friend?"

"Don't mention it!"

Clark did not tell Lex his name. Dragging Lex's body through the frigid water, he effortlessly pulled him to the shore.

The dye barrels blocking the way were casually pushed aside by Clark.

Lex stared wide-eyed.

Those things weighed dozens, perhaps even hundreds, of kilograms.

Even on land, probably no one could move them so casually, let alone in the water.

Under Lex's disbelieving gaze, Clark brought him ashore.

The people waiting nearby immediately rushed over in a fluster to pull Lex up.

After getting Lex onto the shore, Clark went back into the water to save others.

Wrapped in a blanket on shore, his chilled body trembling nonstop, Lex watched Clark continue rescuing people in the lake without blinking.

Something continued brewing in his unsettled heart, and his face was filled with gravity and confusion.

Two hours later.

Kent Farm.

Lex drove his Lexus to bring Clark to the entrance.

Lex, who still gave off a faintly pungent odor, opened the car door for him.

"Won't you invite me in, Clark? After all, you saved my life. I need to take some time to assess and consider how I can repay you."

Lex smiled as he asked Clark.

After Clark had saved him, Lex had kept his eyes fixed on him. When Clark was about to leave, Lex stopped him and insisted on driving him home.

That was why they had returned together.

"Of course."

After thinking it over, Clark invited Lex out of the car and onto the farm.

Although his father did not think much of Luthor Corporation, Clark felt that Lex was not as awful as the Luthor family in the rumors after their brief contact.

Polite, witty, and without any airs—those were Clark's first impressions of Lex.

Martha was somewhat surprised by Lex's arrival. She had never imagined that her family would have anything to do with someone from the Luthor family.

"Would you like something to drink? Coffee, or a soft drink?"

Martha asked Lex, who was looking around at his surroundings.

Eric and Jonathan were out, so she was the only one home.

"No, Mrs. Kent. I had quite a drink in the lake just now. My stomach is a little full, so... I don't want anything."

Lex spoke with double meaning.

Martha looked at Clark in confusion, then left the living room with a smile and a head full of questions, leaving some privacy for Clark and his new friend.

"Hmm, this is the first time I've smelled such a rich artichoke scent. It's quite refreshing."

Lex said this in a relaxed tone.

"The farm's smell is certainly different from the city's."

Clark was not as naturally familiar as Lex, and his expression was somewhat reserved.

"Mm-hm."

Lex nodded, then his gaze suddenly caught a pencil sketch sitting on a round-cornered table.

"This is...?!"

The moment Lex saw what was in the drawing, he was stunned. His whole body began trembling uncontrollably!

The drawing depicted a gloomy sky that seemed ready to collapse entirely, with countless pale bones spread across the ground below, stretching endlessly into the distance.

Hovering in midair was a monster with a savage, terrifying appearance, wrapped in an overwhelmingly oppressive and dreadful aura, as though proclaiming a fate that would devour everything.

Most importantly, the drawing was exactly identical to the vision he had seen while near death!

"This is Eric's work."

Seeing that Lex was staring motionlessly at the drawing, Clark took the initiative to explain.

"Eric?"

"Eric Kent, my younger brother. Do you think his drawings are talented too?"

Clark asked curiously.

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