Some Scenery Along Life's Journey

"Every student has to complete thirty hours of community service, but instead of being a lifeguard for the girls' swimming class, I chose to come here and chat with elderly people wearing dentures. Do you know why, Clark?"

At the nursing home, Pete, dressed in an orderly's uniform, asked Clark.

"I... I don't know."

Clark had been thinking about the apocalyptic scene he had witnessed after falling into that illusion last night.

Buildings reduced to ruins, scorched earth, a torn sky, and smoke rising from a distant city.

Eric, radiating a grim, murderous aura, looked like a sovereign ruling over the world.

He could not help but speculate about such a shocking and terrifying sight.

Had Eric become the ruler of the world in the future?

Based on what he knew about his younger brother, it was indeed something Eric might do, both in terms of strength and personality.

But why would he become Eric's accomplice in the future?

If Eric became a dictator, Clark's personality would compel him to stop him, not walk the same path.

So...

What had happened in the future?

"Clark?!"

Lost in uneasy, wandering thoughts, Clark was snapped back when Pete patted him on the shoulder.

"Sorry, I got a little distracted."

"You've been distracted ever since you entered the nursing home. Looks like you still haven't recovered from that death match at Luthor Manor." Pete shrugged.

"I was just thinking about something."

Clark shook his head and quickly changed the subject. "So... why did you give up the lifeguard job for the girls' swimming class and choose to read to the elderly instead?"

"The real reason is that a girl I know is volunteering at this nursing home too."

Pete winked at Clark. "So, Clark, you'll have to handle seventy percent of the reading. I need to free up some time to talk to the girl."

"I knew it, Pete."

Clark sighed.

"Don't be discouraged, Clark. Doesn't Chloe always say that the real name of love is friendship? I value our friendship very much."

"I'd rather not have that kind of 'love.'"

Clark grumbled.

As they spoke, the two arrived outside the elderly woman's room.

Before they could knock, an old woman's voice came from inside.

"Looks like I'll have two people reading to me today. Young men, don't stand outside. Come in."

Clark hesitated before pushing open the door and entering with Pete.

Inside sat a kind-looking elderly woman wearing sunglasses. She held a book in her hands as she sat in an armchair, smiling at them.

"How did you know there were two of us?!"

Clark asked curiously.

He was beginning to believe what Pete and Chloe had said about her being able to foresee the future.

"My eyes may not work, but my ears aren't deaf. I could hear the squeaking of both your shoes on the floor from far away."

The old woman removed her glasses and spoke unhurriedly.

"..."

Clark was silenced by the old woman's impersonation of a "Silence Mage."

"Can you really predict the future, Ms. Cassandra?"

After regaining his composure, Clark asked her.

"Hehe, I don't know any fortune-telling methods like that."

The elderly woman set down her book and said to them, "Sit down, young men."

Just as Pete was about to sit, his phone suddenly rang.

After taking out his phone and glancing at it, he said helplessly to Clark, "Something came up, Clark. Keep Ms. Cassandra company for now. I'll be right back."

With that, he hurriedly got up and left.

"What an energetic young man."

The elderly woman smiled at Clark and patted the seat beside her, signaling for him to sit.

"What's your name?"

"Clark. Clark Kent."

Clark sat down and answered her.

"Kent, come closer."

The elderly woman waved him over. When Clark drew near, she gently took his hand.

The instant she held his hand, Clark felt a wave of warmth spread between their palms.

Then his right hand began to tremble gently along with the old woman's.

The space before his eyes distorted, and his consciousness was instantly pulled into an unfamiliar place.

Under torrential rain, Clark found himself standing in a cemetery.

Crack!

A bolt of lightning tore down from the sky, illuminating the night like day.

Soaked by the rain, Clark looked toward the surrounding gravestones.

Jonathan Kent!

Martha Kent!

His parents' names were carved into two prominent gravestones.

And not far away, Eric was walking toward him step by step through the pouring rain.

His strange red eyes glowed with a heart-pounding light in the darkness.

Sizzle!

A beam of Heat Vision struck Clark squarely in the chest.

His body of steel withstood the blast, but the immense force carried by the Heat Vision sent him flying the next second. With a boom, he smashed through a gravestone and crashed to the ground.

Before he could get up, Eric activated his super speed and appeared beside him in an instant, wrapping a hand around his throat and trying to snap his neck.

Red light flared in Clark's eyes as he gritted his teeth and struggled against Eric.

"Ah!"

With a roar, Clark fired crimson lasers from his eyes just like Eric's and forced Eric's hands apart with all his strength.

But Eric viciously punched him in the face. With a bang, Clark was sent rolling across the ground.

Rolling through the mud, veins bulged across Clark's forehead. Crimson Heat Vision burst from his eyes and shot toward Eric.

Eric refused to yield. His Heat Vision activated in an instant, and the two powerful beams collided in midair.

"No!"

Clark broke free of the illusion, gasping for breath as he stood up and stared at the elderly woman with shock and disbelief.

He had seen his parents' gravestones, and Eric had intended to kill him.

How was that possible?

This... was the future?

My future would be like this?!

Unable to suppress the fear and shock in his heart, Clark staggered backward step by step until he knocked over a chair in the room with a bang.

"Kent, did you see it too?"

The elderly woman seemed not to have expected to witness such an unbelievable scene through her own psychic senses.

She tremulously reached out a hand. "I have to tell you, child, you only saw some scenery along your life's journey. It is not fixed. What you do is entirely up to you. You must not take it as the truth."

"No!"

Clark's emotions were already on the verge of collapse. With a whoosh, he activated his super speed and vanished from the room in an instant.

The blind elderly woman only felt a light breeze pass by, and Clark had disappeared from the room.

She withdrew her outstretched hand, sighed, and covered her face.

She felt a little regretful.

After losing her sight, she had gained the ability to see fragments of other people's future lives. But most of the time, that ability brought nothing but heavy shackles to herself and others.

Thanks to "Xuanyuan Wuhe" and "Jerry Lao Jiu" for the donations.

Thank you all for voting. Much appreciated!