Clark believes that Luther is such a person. So, when he learned about the "Frenes Snake" incident, his first reaction was not to verify, but to concoct some conspiracy theories based on it. This is why he so easily accepted Shiller's ancient Egyptian mythology statement before, because he had already started to imaginatively speculate in his mind.
Then, after his speculations were affirmed by Shiller, things became even worse. In his mind, things skipped many development stages and directly reached the worst result, which is that now aliens are all over Earth, and if he doesn't do something, the planet will be destroyed.
Thus, he began to exert all his strength to resist aliens like Clark.
If things were truly as he imagined, then his reaction was indeed swift. But the problem is that he devoted all his energy to directly confronting the guesses in his brain, without verifying whether the facts were as he thought.
Many people have such bad habits. The first is anxiety; upon hearing something ambiguous that seems harmful to oneself, they become extraordinarily anxious, feeling like a monster is chasing them, and they need to hurry to find a solution or they'll die.
So, they use all their energy to think of solutions, spend all their time imagining, and after deriving the worst possible outcome, think about what can be done, even put it into practice for early prevention.
However, this process lacks a crucial step, which is to investigate what exactly the matter is.
It might be that things aren't as bad as imagined; it might be very bad, but unrelated to you; or it might be very bad and related to you, but due to the lack of investigation, critical information is missing, rendering all preemptive plans useless, leading to an outcome worse than anticipated.
Many people mock Batman for always having countless plans, but in reality, those plans aren't made out of thin air; they are constructed after meticulous preliminary investigation and obtaining accurate information. While many people's plans are based on their imagination and have no real effect.
Moreover, "hastily saving" has many downsides. For instance, prematurely drawing a line with someone, only to find out later that things weren't as imagined, which leads to embarrassment and potential loss of friendships or connections; or reacting too strongly, leading others to consider you as panicky and not calm, missing important opportunities.
The matter concerning God is similar. Facing the fact that God didn't save him, Lex Luther chose to question first, then question again, using all his energy to doubt, sometimes feeling God is not strong enough, other times feeling God is too indifferent. But actually, spending two minutes skimming through the Bible has all the answers.
Clark now only has one feeling: go home, child. Go home, you're more suited to be the foolish son of a rich family. The waters of the crime world are too deep, and you can't manage them.
Although Clark rarely visited Gotham, he has heard about some major cases happening there. Many serial killers like to use religion as a theme.
If they all acted like Luther, not reading the Bible, not visiting churches, just squatting and asking, "Why doesn't God come to save me," then Batman might as well stop fighting crime and go directly to church to popularize religious knowledge as a Priest. No need to write investigative logs anymore; just publish a collection of jokes instead.
Some may think it's not that serious, but in reality, in Europe and America, religion, especially Christianity, permeates all aspects of life, and is more akin to common sense. Many daily idioms are religious metaphors, and from learning to speak, people live in such an environment; being completely insulated from religion is unimaginable.
Thinking from another angle, there are many suffering people in these countries, and not everyone is without a means to express themselves. Additionally, Christianity has its critics, and if such theoretical loopholes existed, they'd have been criticized long ago.
But Lex Luther seems like someone who grew up in Eastern Countries, even like those who've hardly ever been exposed to Western culture, unable to comprehend why so many struggling foreigners still believe in God, leading to questions like "Why do they remain devout if God doesn't save them?" Little do they know, religious settings have long blocked such questions.
Whether this setting is absurd or not doesn't truly matter. To non-believers, believing in religion is already absurd. Conversely, those who believe in the existence of gods naturally believe in religious stories, and as long as the stories are self-consistent, it's adequate.
However, Clark quickly realizes that God has Christianity's set stories to explain why He doesn't save Little Lex, but he himself does not. Thankfully, he came today.
If he hadn't come, then Lex Luther would have had lots to say: You're either incompetent or indifferent; otherwise, how could you look at me suffering and not save me?
But thinking about it, Clark feels a bit disdainful: is "evil begets evil" also suffering? Then perhaps he shouldn't be a Superhero, but professionally break into jails, since even death row inmates suffer.
However, Clark can't help but think, what if he can stop all crime? This would fundamentally prevent criminals from suffering.
The more Clark thinks about it, the more reasonable it seems. Suppose he kept a close watch on Luther then, directly stopping him when he decided to kidnap his mother, then all these subsequent things wouldn't happen.
But Clark feels it's not feasible. Because Lex Luther's crimes stem from inherent personality issues, and these issues were caused by his childhood abuse.
Simply stopping his crime this time is useless, because his personality ensures he will continue committing them. To thoroughly resolve this, he must find a way to save young Luther.
Or, he has to find a way to stop global domestic violence. Just doing this might not be enough, since besides domestic violence, societal violence might also lead a child astray. Thus, he has to eliminate all forms of harm towards children.
Just oppression won't work. Children's bodies and minds are fragile. They need proper education to develop a stable, complete personality. This means providing perfect education for children around the world, which requires ensuring a perfect society. But how can that be achieved?
Clark felt his head buzzing again. He stood there trying to calm himself, realizing he was making the same old mistake—wanting too much with too little power, feeling helpless, and likely next came anger.
Clark took a few deep breaths to calm down and said to Lex Luther, "No matter what, I can't discuss topics like religion and art with you. How you view God or view me doesn't matter. What we need to solve right now is more practical issues."
"That crazy woman Amanda Waller will definitely see things through. Soon enough, she'll have you thrown in jail. If you don't come up with a plan, you won't be able to deal with the bosses in there."
After a pause, Clark continued, "Of course, I'm not trying to scare you. I have a few solutions here, see if you like any of them. First, you're a convicted criminal by court order. I can't just fly you out; we'd both become fugitives. However, this cell door lock is slightly outdated, and I accidentally broke it while talking to you in an overexcited manner. It wasn't noticed when leaving, unfortunately leading to a prison escape..."
"That won't work," Lex said. "I'm not a superpower user. Even if I get out this door, I can't get out of the police station. Plus, the Luther Group has already been split up. Once I'm out, I have nowhere to hide; they'll find me quickly."
"Alright, let's look at the next plan. I could negotiate with the military, saying there's something only you can do, and get them to release you..."
"No chance. The military will just use this as leverage to negotiate with you, constantly dragging out your time. Your needs don't provide them with a necessary reason; instead, it'll become your weakness. They'll think they've got you and become even more arrogant."
"Alright, I guess you're not stupid." Clark looked at Luther with some surprise. Is intelligence taking the lead now with feet off the ground?
Of course, Clark tended to think he wasn't remorseful but knew he was facing death.
For Luther, this situation was a deathmatch. Currently, the Luther Group only exists in name for him. The real power is likely already handed over. Apart from his scientific credentials, he has nothing to play; he has no true friends either. Now the only one who can save him is his most hated opponent. When cornered, even a rabbit will bite. Lex Luther had no choice but to put aside his habitual suspicion for the sake of survival.
"Okay, then there's only one last method." Clark sighed and said, "You better truly be an excellent scientist; otherwise, I'll always look down on you."
Metropolis, A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters, 7:00 AM.
The employee at the operator's desk was half-asleep as usual, checking records left by the previous shift and then made follow-up calls.
"Hello, this is A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters. I found a call for help record from 2 AM yesterday. May I ask now... Oh, everything's fine now? Alright, thank you, goodbye."
"Hello, this is A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters. You consulted about your work schedule yesterday at midnight. Did my colleague explain clearly? Okay, I understand. You're welcome, goodbye."
"Hello..." The operator paused because he heard an incoming call tone. So he said, "Hello, this is A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters, this is a callback, but we have an incoming call now. Please hold on and don't hang up."
After putting the outgoing call on hold, the operator picked up the incoming call, listened for two seconds, and then suddenly stood up from the chair and, leaving the phone behind, dashed out the door.
"Director! Director!!!"
When he rushed into the office, Amanda was still looking at files behind her desk, glancing up at him, she said, "I've said so many times, don't be so hasty. Work needs order..."
"Director, Superman called!"
Amanda stood up instantly, quickly walked out from behind the desk, and said, "Clark Kent?! He finally has a problem he can't handle?!!"
"Yes, he called to report."
"What did he say?" Amanda walked out rapidly, her face already showing unabashed delight.
"He said a terrorist calling himself Lex Luther kidnapped his mother, coercing him to attack A.R.G.U.S. Headquarters!"
"What??!!!"