Jor-El did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Solomon beside him.
Digital light swirled in his eyes as he rapidly performed a deep scan of Solomon.
He could clearly confirm that the person before him did indeed carry Kryptonian genes.
"I never imagined that another Kryptonian had reached Earth. But... why is there absolutely no record of you in my database, young man?"
As far as Jor-El knew, all Kryptonians originated from the Codex. Every genetic sequence was predetermined before birth and meticulously recorded.
For centuries, his son Kal-El had been the only one born naturally.
Yet the young man before him clearly carried Kryptonian genes without appearing in the Codex's records, leaving him utterly puzzled.
Solomon fell silent for a few seconds, his expression gradually growing solemn, as though he had made an extremely difficult decision.
He sighed and slowly began:
"Since Krypton has already been destroyed, I suppose it doesn't matter if I bring up these old matters now."
He looked straight into Jor-El's eyes, his voice calm:
"I'm actually the only naturally born Kryptonian in the past few centuries. So it's perfectly normal that you don't know I exist."
A deathly silence suddenly fell.
Jor-El's holographic image flickered violently, as though his vast AI logic-processing center had encountered a fatal paradox and his brain had crashed on the spot.
Beside him, Clark furrowed his brows and turned toward Solomon in utter bewilderment and disbelief:
"Wait, Solomon, what do you mean? You're the only naturally born Kryptonian... then what about me? Where did I come from?!"
Solomon drew a deep breath and continued with a complicated expression:
"Kryptonians abandoned natural childbirth long ago. All new life was genetically engineered and selectively cultivated in the Genesis Chamber... Clark, you should have been too..."
"No."
Jor-El suddenly