Baby with a Star on His Shoulder (Begging for Follow-Up Reads)

The blazing sun hung overhead, and waves of heat rose from the wheat fields.

A tractor rattled through the fields, diesel fumes spewing from its exhaust pipe and mixing with dust as they settled onto the ground, forming streaks of gray-black furrows.

When the tractor reached the end of the row, the man aboard immediately cut the throttle. He took off his frayed cowboy hat and fanned himself, then turned to look toward the granary.

He supposed this was what the joy of a bountiful harvest felt like.

After all...

The oats he had just harvested could pile up into a golden hill inside the warehouse!

Rumble!

"Hey!! Locke!"

A rough voice pierced the heat like a blunt blade splitting the stagnant air.

Locke squinted into the distance and saw an old red tractor rolling across the stubbled field toward him. Sitting in the driver's seat was none other than his cousin—Jonathan Kent.

He was waving at him, veins bulging on his red-and-white arm.

He looked every bit the standard American strongman.

"This year's wheat would make even God jealous!"

"Hahahaha!"

Jonathan stomped on the brakes, and the tractor tires crushed several stray wheat grains with faint popping sounds.

He jumped down from the vehicle and casually pulled two bottles of chilled beer from the back seat. Cold met heat, and droplets of condensation glimmered on the bottles beneath the sunlight.

"Come on, let's celebrate this year's harvest!"

Smiling helplessly, Locke could not refuse such kindness. He took the bottle, popped the cap, and tipped back a huge swallow.

"Jonathan, my brother, you really helped me a lot."

He thanked him sincerely.

If it had not been for this man, he would probably have been begging on the streets by now.

"We're brothers, so why say that?" Jonathan curled his lip and took several huge gulps of beer. "As long as you don't tell Martha I snuck a few drinks, I'll be satisfied."

"You bastard."

Locke chuckled soundlessly. Honestly, his past-life self would never have imagined that Superman's adoptive father had this side to him.

"Enough chatting. Martha's urging me to go home and rest again." Jonathan casually shoved his beer bottle onto Locke's tractor and sighed. "You know how it is. I'm in for another rough night."

Holding back his laughter, Locke said nothing.

Perhaps that was the sorrow of middle-aged men, but—

Who could blame his cousin for still not having a child?

Once Clark arrived, Jonathan's miserable nightlife of the past few years would probably finally come to an end.

Watching the harvesters still rumbling in the distance and the golden waves of wheat rising and falling in the hot wind—

Locke leaned back and looked up at the sun in the sky.

He was Locke Kent.

It had been twenty-five years since he had been sent here by a truck.

Ever since he learned this world had Gotham—

Had Metropolis—

He had looked forward to a magnificent life.

But things did not go as he wished. No cheat ability ever came; instead, he got the life of a farmer.

Yet unlike the farmer's life he had imagined, after inheriting his dead father's rundown farm and dreaming of becoming a landowner, he had been hit head-on by America's countless high taxes within less than two days.

"Property tax, agricultural tax, fuel tax, equipment usage tax..."

He silently recited the terms that had gnawed at his flesh and blood over the years.

During his first harvest, IRS agents had driven gleaming sedans over his muddy field ridges. Wearing suits worth more than half a warehouse of his oats, they read out numbers calculated on their calculators in tones colder than the eulogy he had delivered at his father's funeral!

Fortunately, the couple living beside his farm were Jonathan and Martha.

Whenever tax bills and drought threatened to crush him, the two of them quietly offered him their shoulders once more.

From then on, Locke stopped fantasizing about cheat abilities.

To him, the cheat ability in this life had never been a system or superpowers. It was someone willing to cross forty acres of wheat fields on a scorching summer afternoon to place their meager savings in his hands.

Lying among the wheat stubble, Locke's thoughts drifted away with the foam in the beer bottle beside him.

Once this year's wheat sold, he needed to find an excuse to pay Jonathan back—and secretly slip him a little extra.

After all, Jonathan barely had any private savings left.

Sigh. He wondered when Clark would arrive. It had already been half a year since he and Jonathan last held one of their old-man gatherings at night...

Hmm.

Right. Once Clark arrived, he absolutely had to make him acknowledge him as his godfather. Only then could he...

Squinting, Locke grew drowsier and drowsier beneath the sunlight, his eyelids becoming heavier.

"Forget it. I'll sleep first... Let the wheat grow for one more night."

"What time is it?"

Sitting up groggily, Locke looked at the moon that had somehow risen overhead and raised his wrist to check the time.

But...

BOOM!!!

A deafening explosion suddenly erupted, and the ground trembled with it!

Locke jolted upright from the wheat stubble, his heart pounding wildly.

"Aliens are attacking?!"

His first thought was that some superpowered people were fighting nearby, or that the military was testing some damn weapon.

But after he frantically looked around, his face suddenly went pale—

Thick smoke was billowing from the direction of Kent Farm!

"Jonathan?! Martha?!"

Something had gone wrong with the Kryptonian spaceship's landing site?!

How could it crash directly into the farm and start a fire?!

Locke instantly woke up. He scrambled toward the tractor, not even taking the time to insert the key. He simply yanked out two wires and touched them together—

Put-put-put-put!!!

The tractor roared to life and shot forward. Locke gripped the steering wheel tightly as the wheat stubble flew backward beneath the wheels.

"Please don't let anything happen, please don't let anything happen."

His throat tightened as countless terrifying thoughts flashed through his mind.

Maybe it was not a Kryptonian spaceship?

An accident? A gas explosion? An electrical short circuit?

Or...

An attack?

This world was far from peaceful. What if some villain had targeted Superman's future adoptive parents—

The tractor rolled over the field ridge, and Locke could even make out the shape of the flames.

The Kents' barn was on fire!

Thick smoke surged into the sky, sparks scattered everywhere, and scorching heat blasted against his face.

And within the firelight—

A blurry figure staggered out of the blaze!

Locke's heartbeat nearly stopped.

"Jonathan?!"

He slammed down on the accelerator. The tractor roared into the farm, and before it even came to a stop, Locke jumped off, nearly falling into the mud.

But when he staggered closer, he realized—

That was not Jonathan?

It was a ragged middle-aged man with disheveled black hair and a face covered in dust, tightly clutching a baby in his arms.

As if he had seen Locke, the man hurriedly tossed the infant and a strange object toward him.

Then, just like that, he turned to ash and vanished before Locke's eyes.

[Ding~]

[Adoption successful.]

[Current adopted character: Dio Brando]

[Please help him grow up healthy in mind, body, character, and labor, and forge a great career.]

[Parental privilege loaded: Joestar Family's Golden Body.]

[Countdown to next adoption target: nine years]

His cheat ability had arrived.

But Locke could not be happy.

He stared thoughtfully at the blond infant in his arms, the star-shaped birthmark on the baby's neck, and the Stone Mask in his other hand.

Could it be anyone else but you, Dio?

You burned down my cousin's farm the moment you showed up?

You've truly done every evil thing possible.

"Locke!"

"Locke!"

At the same time, two startled cries came from behind him. Jonathan and Martha were running toward him with anxious expressions.

But what drew the most attention—

Was the baby the two of them were holding in their arms.

[PS:

I'm a new author with a new book. Brothers, please scroll to the bottom and follow up after you finish reading.

Follow-up reads are really important during the new-book period.

Those planning to stockpile chapters, just add it to your favorites, scroll to the end, and follow up.

Thank you all in advance, brothers.

orz!

Bang bang bang!]

Mutants are a plot hole that will be addressed later.

This world is DC. Aside from a few familiar mutants, there are no other Marvel characters.

The other mutants in this world are not native mutants either. They are invasive outside species that enter at random.

I know my own writing ability. Blending Marvel and DC is a massive undertaking, and it would definitely be beyond my abilities. The author knows his limits.

orz.

Lastly, please follow up on the reads. Thank you!