Smallville, New Luther Manor.
Lex stood up after sinking the last billiard ball into the pocket.
He put the cue stick aside, wiped his sweat, and picked up the latest newspaper.
The front page was dominated by the Dark Knight who had recently emerged in Gotham.
"Batman?"
Lex frowned slightly, looking at the lengthy newspaper reports about Batman's crime-fighting efforts.
"Darling, you don't seem very happy. Are you alright?"
Victoria walked in, holding a bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne.
"I'm fine, especially after witnessing Sir Harry's hostile takeover of my father's company."
"Darling, that's what we agreed on, isn't it? This is your first step to taking control of your father's company."
Victoria placed the champagne on the table, "I think this is worth celebrating."
"I don't think the end of a phase in my war with my father is worth celebrating," Lex said calmly, glancing at the champagne.
"You've seemed full of melancholy and worries lately, Lex."
Victoria's alluring gaze fixed on him as she walked over and gently put her arms around Lex's neck.
"Generally speaking, melancholy comes from one's own incompetence, and worries from unfulfilled desires. For me, I've never worried about my own incompetence or desires. The emotions I display are a certain fear of the unknown."
Lex's tone remained steady in the face of her beauty.
"Unknown?"
Victoria looked at the newspaper on the table, "Dark Knight? Batman? Lex, are these urban legends the 'unknown' you're talking about?"
"I know the city of Gotham. It's different from Metropolis. The evil bred by wealth there is endless, and the hatred of the city by lunatics and the underprivileged exceeds any other existence. A knight, a Batman playing the role of a superhero, what he does is just another form of crime. This city will never see a reduction in the hatred of Gotham from the lunatics and underprivileged on its streets because of his appearance."
Lex commented on the new Batman: "Perhaps this guy in a tight suit thinks his logic is correct, but the world's operations never change based on someone's logic. When there's a painting and everyone adds a stroke, that painting becomes very strange. Imposing one's own thoughts on others and implementing one's 'justice' will only make this city more chaotic."
"Hmm, it sounds like you're quite dismissive of this Batman's actions."
"Just a disagreement in philosophy."
Lex shook his head, "Back to business, any progress on the Owl Council that Sir Harry is investigating?"
"Not yet. My father said he'd never heard of such an organization."
Victoria shrugged.
Lex thought for a moment and said, "I hope you return to Metropolis soon. It's safer there than Smallville."
"Are you worried those Owl assassins who attacked you last time will come again?"
"Can't rule out that possibility," Lex nodded.
After seeing his girlfriend off, Lex sat heavily on the sofa, his face grim.
The Owl assassin's body had burn marks on its surface. How were they formed?
Did Clark do it?
Or Eric, who has always hidden himself in the mist?
Or some unknown force?!
What he feared most was this kind of unknown, out of his control.
If they were direct enemies, he had the courage to face them head-on, but those unknown presences made him feel a sense of weariness.
Night.
Kent Farm.
Eric was focused on devouring the ham and bread in front of him.
Continuous supersonic flight during the day, even without leaving the atmosphere, still severely depleted his energy.
"Flight?"
Clark looked at Eric in surprise, his eyes filled with disbelief.
"In fact, your mother and I are also very surprised, Clark."
Jonathan put down his dinner knife, "We don't know the principle. Is it lift generated by some kind of high-pressure, low-pressure flow, like an airplane wing? Or some other reason? We know nothing. So we can only explain it as some kind of talent Eric possesses."
Clark listened to his father's words, and the pizza he was chewing suddenly lost its flavor.
He suddenly felt envy for Eric, and at the same time, a faint sense of loss and frustration.
Even though he knew these were bad emotions, they still emerged uncontrollably.
"Clark."
His mother, Martha, gently patted Clark's hand, "I remember you used to float in the air when you slept, and once you even broke the bed, do you remember?"
"I remember."
Clark replied to his mother, "But that only happened a few times, and then it never happened again."
"Clark, that means you, like Eric, also have the ability to fly; it's just that this ability hasn't awakened yet."
Jonathan said to Clark.
"Maybe."
Clark put down his pizza, a little frustrated.
He longed to have the ability to fly freely in the sky like a bird.
Clark, lost in thought, suddenly remembered a scene he had seen in a vision.
Eric stood in front, slowly descending from the sky, and he himself followed behind Eric, flying down from the sky, wearing a cape.
If that was the future, it meant his future self had also awakened the talent for flight!
Clark's heart was instantly filled with excitement.
But soon, it was doused with cold water.
No, that wasn't the future he wanted, nor was it the future he acknowledged.
"I thought of a question."
Eric, having finished the ham, spoke up, interrupting Clark's reverie.
"If a poor guy falls from a height, doing free-fall acceleration with an initial velocity of 32 feet per second, the acceleration quickly reaches 120 kilometers per hour. At that moment, I happen to spot her, so I swoop down to catch her. What happens next? Clark?"
Eric looked at Clark inquiringly.
"I..."
Clark thought for a moment, "I'm not sure. Maybe... maybe you saved her."
"No! I think the scientific explanation is that once she touches my arm, she'll be split into three pieces."
Eric told Clark the classic Superman joke.
Unfortunately, Clark didn't understand Eric's "dark joke"; instead, his brows furrowed.
"Perhaps you have a better method, Eric."
Clark began to seriously consider how to catch a person falling at 120 kilometers per hour.
Jonathan and Martha exchanged glances, feeling that the matter of how to cultivate the correct values in their youngest son needed to be put on the agenda.
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