As Eric expected, Bruce was completely captivated by the Owl-themed jewelry and artifacts displayed by Penguin.
And being extremely wealthy, he bought almost all the jewelry and artifacts.
He completely showed Eric his greatest superpower—"being rich"!
"I can smell a conspiracy brewing."
Catwoman, linking arms with Eric, frowned and said to him, seeing Bruce's obviously abnormal mood.
"About what?"
Eric asked Catwoman, who had reined in her wildness at that moment.
"Some people get so engrossed in the world they've created that they fail to notice the anomalies around them."
Catwoman's eyes sparkled brightly, "Of course, I also face this situation, but usually, it's when I'm obsessed with jewelry or men. But right now, I can sense the trap Penguin has set, and I can't get lost in it like those whose eyes are fixated on the jewelry."
She raised her burning eyes and looked at Eric, "And I suspect this trap might be related to you."
Eric looked at Catwoman with some surprise, not expecting her to have such a calm side when faced with jewelry.
"Is your vigilance always this high?"
"Don't you know about a cat's innate sense?"
Catwoman looked at the celebrities at the banquet, "I once dated a kid from an orphanage, and he told me: 'Don't get too comfortable.' Do you know what that means?"
Before Eric could answer, Catwoman directly said, "Never trust a warm bed or a good life. It's best to tear down the house yourself before someone else does. So I won't trust such a harmonious banquet. Usually, I'll give this kind of house a few kicks and leave early before it collapses."
"That sounds very reasonable."
Eric nodded, "Are you interested in making a deal?"
"Dating me?"
Catwoman chuckled and pulled her arm from Eric's, "Many people want to torment Catwoman. I've fallen for it once, I won't let you succeed so easily again."
"While I'm confident I could catch the Cat again, I'm not very interested right now. Are you interested in a very lucrative business?"
Eric proactively offered to entrust a very lucrative business to her.
Catwoman's eyes immediately narrowed, like a cat whose craving had been piqued.
The innate sense of danger she had just spoken of instantly vanished.
"What?"
"I'm leaving Gotham tomorrow to return to Metropolis, but I need a contact, or rather, an agent, in Gotham. While I'm very skeptical of your professional ethics, I think that when it comes to loyalty, what a Raven is best known for is informing, isn't it?"
The four-day Gotham book promotion conference ended today, and he would return to Smallville tomorrow.
The basic objective of this trip to Gotham had been achieved.
He got a few million dollars from Penguin and, by the way, shifted the blame by directly revealing the secret information about the Court of Owls to Batman.
Batman and the Court of Owls would undoubtedly engage in a "war" that couldn't be decided in a short time.
And he, who lit the fuse, only needed to quietly watch the show.
So Catwoman was chosen by him to be his agent and informant.
"Then you must not have heard the story of the Raven and Mercury. In that story, the Raven deceived both Apollo and Mercury, two gods."
Catwoman re-linked Eric's arm, her eyes gleaming with cunning, "But you can trust me temporarily. The duration of 'temporarily' depends on how much you pay. If the price is enough to satisfy me, I think, even a date tonight, I can reconsider."
Eric glanced at Catwoman's stunning figure and nodded, "You won't refuse. By the way, I'm also looking forward to our date tonight."
The next day.
Smallville, Kent Farm.
Jonathan sat at the round table in the living room, poured a glass of water, brought it to his lips, but quickly put it down again.
"You said you went to Hamilton's place?"
Martha asked her husband in surprise, "I remember you said you don't like Hamilton?"
"Theoretically, yes. Besides disagreeing with his 'meteorite environmental change theory,' I also have an issue with him selling plastic meteorite fragments to out-of-town tourists."
Martha looked at the green meteorite her husband had placed on the table, "So you went to his place to buy plastic meteorites?"
"This isn't fake, it's real, Martha."
Jonathan picked up the meteorite fragment from the table, "You have to believe that a farmer who has lived in Smallville for decades has basic meteorite identification skills."
"You... you're going to use this on Clark?"
Martha thought her husband's idea was a bit crazy; for Clark's sake, he even temporarily set aside his grievances with Hamilton.
"Eric is coming back from Gotham this afternoon. I just talked to him on the phone. Jonathan, I don't think this is a good idea."
Jonathan put away the meteorite and smiled at his wife, "Just in case."
At this moment, Clark, who was on Jonathan and Martha's minds, was driving a Ferrari towards the farm.
The roar of the luxury car interrupted the couple's conversation.
They pushed open the door and walked out, finding Clark, wearing sunglasses, putting packages into the red Ferrari.
"Clark, we looked for you all night last night."
Martha looked at Clark, who was packing, paused, and then stepped forward to ask him, "What are you planning to do?"
"Sorry, I had the most meaningful night of my life last night. As for what I'm planning to do now? It's simple: leave here forever!"
Martha glanced at her helpless husband, "We want to help you, Clark."
"Help me what? Stay here?"
Clark scoffed, throwing his backpack into the convertible Ferrari, "Stay here and farm? Waste my life for twenty dollars a week in allowance?"
Listening to Clark's words, Jonathan could no longer hold back, "Clark, I really wish you'd listen to what you're saying—"
The last word, "nonsense," was choked back, and taking a deep breath, Jonathan suppressed his agitated emotions.
"Clark, you're not yourself right now. Something's wrong with your body. Pete told us you might be affected by that ring."
"Are you still blaming me for buying the ruby ring?"
Clark leaned against the car door, facing his father and shaking his head with a scornful attitude, "You're truly pathetic!"
"Clark, you—"
Jonathan was about to step forward, but Clark stopped him with an outstretched finger, "No, no, no! You don't want to get close to me!"
It was as if Jonathan took another step, he would be ready to act.
Martha's eyes widened as she looked at Clark; she never would have imagined her eldest son saying such words.
"What if I really want to!"
Jonathan tilted his head, facing his eldest son with an expression of "I'm going to fight you to the end."
"Clark."
Seeing the tension between father and son, Martha quickly interjected, "The ring has a meteorite on it. It might have changed your mind, just like you get sick when you're near green meteorites."
"Are you saying the red meteorite changed my personality?"
Clark feigned a slight panic, stroked the ring on his finger, then quickly dropped his panicked expression.
"Heh heh, I was faking it. You thought I was surprised! No, I'm lamenting why the hell I didn't encounter it sooner!"