A Safe House Added to the Rear

"Ow~ Ow, my leg~ Ow... Stop smashing it, stop! Put it down, put it down! Someone will be here soon! You can smash it when we get back, okay?!"

Lynn sat limply in the field. Beside him was Kitty, whose hammer he had confiscated. She was currently using rotten grass roots dug out of the flying dirt to "do Lynn's makeup."

Judging by her dilated pupils, constantly twitching little tongue, and the ferocity with which she seemed to want to swing the rotten grass roots behind her head before smashing them down, Lynn strongly suspected Kitty was taking revenge under the guise of public duty.

"Shh! Someone's coming!"

Lynn grabbed Kitty and pressed her into the mud beside him. Mud immediately covered her from head to toe, smearing her body and filling her eyes. Kitty's miserable shriek instantly surpassed Lynn's half-dead groaning.

"Very good, very good! I didn't expect your acting to be this superb! Beautiful!"

From beyond the ridge, an old farmer wearing a hat and carrying a first-aid kit came rumbling down a straight dirt road on a tractor with an empty trailer.

"Kid, are you all right? Don't be nervous. You'll be fine."

He was called an old man, but he was not actually that old—probably only in his fifties or sixties. There was no need to guess. Someone so eager to help others had to be Superman's adoptive father, Jonathan Kent.

"I'm all right, but this leg of mine..."

"Meow—!"

Kitty timely made her presence known.

"Kid, what's your name? Why did you fall here?"

Lynn had naturally prepared for that question in advance.

So, in Lynn's version of events, he became an unfortunate man whose relatives had passed away, who had been betrayed by his business partners, and who had grown tired of the city. He had planned to buy a farm in the countryside and live out the rest of his days there.

"I'm from neighboring Gotham. Over there... I don't know whether I ever loved that city, so when I decided to leave it, I instinctively chose the closest place to it.

"Mr. Jonathan, I might have become your neighbor.

"But now, it seems my bad luck is continuing. I never expected that a simple trip to inspect the farm's size and terrain would leave me like this.

"Sigh..."

Holding Kitty and lying in the tractor's empty trailer, Lynn became more and more immersed in his performance, and his timing with those sighs grew increasingly perfect.

"Kid, don't think like that. Life isn't always smooth sailing, but it won't always be unlucky either.

"You fell from so high up, and only broke your leg. Rest up and it'll heal. Isn't that already quite fortunate?"

The countryside was not like a major city. If Lynn wanted to go to a hospital, it would take considerably more effort, so Jonathan Kent directly brought him home.

After all, he had picked Lynn up from his own field.

Thus, Lynn's initial plan to make contact with Superman's family had temporarily succeeded.

Two days later, Lynn lay in a hospital bed and borrowed a phone to call Batman.

His purpose was simple and direct: to ask for money.

And the entire conversation was equally simple and blunt.

"Wayne, it's me."

"I can tell."

"I need some money."

"Account number. Card number."

"Aren't you going to ask what I need it for?"

"How much?"

"I'm not sure. I want to buy a farm. Not too big. It's located—"

"No more than five million. In the future, you should go to Alfred for this kind of thing. Goodbye."

"What are you rushing off to do?"

"I wrecked a Lamborghini. I'm going to buy three more."

"...Sorry to bother you."

After hanging up, Lynn's head was full of question marks. He had barely even processed what had happened.

So this was the legendary power of money?!

They had not asked what the money was for because they simply did not care about that little bit of pocket change!

Lynn now had to admit that as long as one still lived within human society, and had not reached the level where one person could stand against the whole world, no superhero, alien, hero, or villain could ever do without the assistance of money.

Many times, clever adaptability within established rules simply could not exist without financial support.

No wonder Spider-Man and The Flash had it so rough...

Lynn had always been rather greedy for money, but only today did he truly understand its power.

"No wonder he can be the Justice League's biggest tycoon."

The salaries of all the other big shots were paid by old Batman!

"Fine. I'd better honestly keep working for someone."

After staying at Jonathan's home for a day, Lynn had truly interacted with Jonathan and his wife up close. Once again, he confirmed that his line of thinking had been correct.

It would be far too easy for villains to force Superman into going dark. They only needed to target the old couple, and Superman would probably split the Earth in half with one chop of his hand.

At the same time, that brief day of interaction made Lynn change his plan.

Originally, he had intended to get close to Jonathan's family, then act as a champion of justice at some point and save Jonathan's life, thereby making Superman's anchor more stable.

But now, Lynn sincerely felt that old Jonathan was someone worth knowing. When people had trouble, he genuinely wanted to help.

So, relying on Lynn's foreknowledge and deliberate efforts, after talking with Jonathan all day about farm construction and management, Lynn successfully became a "good young man" in Jonathan's eyes.

It was only because they did not have the custom of burning yellow paper and swearing brotherhood here. Otherwise, Lynn felt that by the time his leg healed, he might have become Superman's honorary uncle.

Because of that, Lynn changed his plan and decided to truly buy the farm beside Superman's home. Besides, Lynn had been Chinese in his previous life. He was naturally fond of planting things in the soil.

Actually getting a farm to run sounded pretty nice.

That was why Lynn had called Wayne.

Alfred worked with exceptional professionalism and speed. In just one day, everything Lynn wanted, along with the complete paperwork, had been placed before him.

When Lynn hobbled over on crutches to invite Jonathan and his wife to a celebratory dinner, Jonathan was quite surprised.

"Kid, your leg doesn't look like it'll be ready for you to walk on it anytime soon."

"Haha, we were both too nervous back then. It really wasn't that serious. What did the doctor say again? He said it was only a little worse than a cat scratch. Otherwise, he wouldn't have discharged me."

Old Jonathan thought about it and agreed. The boy's injury had looked serious at the time, but his leg was neither red nor swollen, and it did not hurt. It was probably just something like a hairline fracture. He had likely been frightened after the plane crash.

Still, old Jonathan was somewhat puzzled. "What do you mean by a celebratory dinner? Are you celebrating being discharged from the hospital, or...?"

"Of course not just that. Look."

Lynn pulled old Jonathan to the window of his home and pointed at the old farmhouse of the neighboring farm, where construction had begun in the distance. He said happily, "What I'm celebrating is that I bought the neighboring farm, so now I have a good neighbor.

"And I think my bad luck might really be gone.

"At the very least, as long as I honestly stay on this farm from now on, no misfortune should dare come looking for me. Hahaha, this is the safest place in the world!"