togophonebook Chapter 179 A comfortable retirement life, but Superman
Chapter 179 A comfortable retirement life, but Superman
Chapter 179 A comfortable retirement life, but Superman
"The test results are in."
"Okay, go ahead."
Superman, Clark Kent, also known as Kal-El, the most powerful man on Earth (at one time), is on the phone.
This is his apartment, which he shares with Louise Lane—their little love nest.
"Your super strength is gradually fading. Your physical strength has dropped from over 3 tons in a single day to 3 kilograms, but you can still easily beat a kid in kindergarten who's eating a lollipop. That's amazing."
Clark could hear Batman's tone; the voice was as cold, steady, and ruthless as ever, as if he were reciting a string of data without any emotion.
But Clark could hear the emotion in his voice, and he laughed: "But three days later I was back to 30 kilograms, which is the limit of a normal human being's load."
"Then for a week, your strength did not increase at all."
He heard Batman mutter, "Damn it."
"Your super vision has vanished, your heat vision, your cryogenic breathing, and your flight ability... your steel body... gone, everything is gone."
"It's over!"
Clark suppressed a laugh; he could hear the sadness in Batman's voice, yet he laughed heartily. The (former) Man of Steel let out a laugh that sounded like that of an idiot.
"Haha, you sound like a whiny woman, Bruce."
"This is not funny at all."
He heard Batman regain his calm voice.
"The situation is very bad."
Clark didn't respond to Batman's comment, but instead brought up something else:
"You know what, Bruce? Back in the day, sometimes when Martha saw the old hens on the Kent farm hadn't laid a single egg all day, she would say to me dejectedly, 'It's over, it's all gone, it's all over!'"
"Clark, are you done on the phone?"
Clark turned his head and saw his girlfriend, Louise Lane, waving at him with a game controller in hand.
"Oh, I'll be there soon."
He covered the mouth of the phone, gave his girlfriend a perfunctory answer, and then continued:
"Of course, Bruce, I swear when you said 'gone,' your voice didn't sound like her at all."
"We're not discussing that now."
He heard Batman say:
"And I remember telling you that you should be referred to by your job title when you're at work."
"Our conversation could very well have been eavesdropped on by anyone, maybe Luther, or maybe Amanda Waller. You shouldn't have called me by my first name."
"Okay, Bruce, got it, Bruce."
"..."
Clark was glad Batman hadn't pursued the matter further. He continued to hear the other person's long-winded explanation through the microphone, while simultaneously grabbing a cookie from the nearby locker and popping it into his mouth.
"Krypton's environment is extremely harsh... without a doubt. Therefore, through a long process of evolution, Kryptonians have developed the ability to absorb solar energy and convert it into bio-force to combat the harsh environment."
"Krypton's sun is red, so Kryptonians don't have the same superpowers you have on Earth."
"But when you come to Earth, the genes for this superpower are activated."
Clark was engrossed in eating his biscuits.
"Uh-huh."
"And the bioweaponization of Doomsday has had extremely serious consequences for your body. I mean, we did manage to extract the Doomsday spores, like trying to extract all the sugar from a jelly made of water and starch that has already solidified."
"This simple and brutal stripping has ruined all the cells in your body and completely destroyed your biofield. If this were Krypton, you might die on the spot because you would not have a biofield to protect you, similar to an AIDS patient who has lost their immune system. But this is Earth, so you are unharmed and can even chat with me here."
Then Clark heard Batman pause for a moment.
"Why did you stop talking?"
Clark switched the landline to hands-free mode, then walked to the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of milk, displaying a down-to-earth side of life.
"I'm waiting for you to ask me whether this change is temporary or permanent."
"Okay, Blue... Batman, is this change permanent or temporary?"
"Most likely permanent." Then he heard Batman say impatiently, "Damn it."
"By Batman's standards, I think you're probably quite disappointed," Superman said. "But I think it's pretty good, you know, I can retire now."
"Wait, I haven't finished yet, but you occasionally regain one of your super hearing or super vision intermittently. You can even smoothly use your bio-field to alter other people's perceptions, making them unable to recognize your face... a little trick to hide your identity, huh? This means your bio-field hasn't completely disappeared. I think there's still a chance..."
But Batman didn't continue.
"Okay, you're retiring," he said.
"I'm so angry!"
"So you're very busy right now?"
"It's more than just busy."
Clark heard Batman say, "@÷*@】Another man-eating monster has appeared... Aquaman? Where is Aquaman? I only found an empty lighthouse, not even a hair of Aquaman. He's probably king in Atlantis now..."
"...All sorts of messy, messy things have happened. Without you, crime in Gotham is starting to rise again..."
Clark was already getting distracted, and he said very quickly, "Then good luck!"
Then very quickly, the phone was hung up with a snap.
"You've finally finished your call!"
When Louis saw him put down the phone, he jumped up and threw himself into his arms, and then the two of them sat down on the floor together.
"Oh, I forgot you don't have superpowers."
Then they kissed on the ground and spent the next 92 minutes together.
They put their clothes back on.
"I thought it would be shorter after you lost your superpowers," Louis said.
"Obviously not."
Clark answered her.
Several tens of minutes later, they appeared together on the street.
"Ah, without Superman, there's so much less news."
Louise Land looked at Superman's slightly bruised arm: "I can't believe it. We've only been gone a few minutes, and you've saved another person. If you still had superpowers, I could be happily writing a headline like 'Superman Saves Boy Who Fell From Tree' right now."
The capable female reporter complained, "And your Superman costume is still lying in the bag on your back. I really didn't expect you to still carry that costume with you."
"It's just a habit, and besides, I'm no longer Superman," Clark said. "I'm Clark Kent."
"And 'Clark Kent's Heroic Act Saves Boy Falling from Tree' is also a good headline," Clark laughed. "But now this news is mine."
"Oh, come on, Clark, I've always preferred to see us as a team, not rivals," Louis Lane said. "The first time you walked into Perry's office, I knew you had something special about you that could make you a great journalist."
"It's no use saying nice things, hehe." Clark blinked. The two of them enjoyed this warm and peaceful time. There was no alien invasion, no supervillains, no Superman, and no Batman. There was only Clark Kent and Lois Lane.
They walked together in silence for a while.
The years are just right, and time is intoxicating.
That's good, Clark.
Louis thought to himself silently.
You once desperately wanted to be a part of us, but you are not one of us...
As she walked, she secretly observed Clark's features.
Now, you have become weak, and you can no longer fight a battle that others cannot win.
That's fine, please, let it continue like this.
She forced herself not to look at the scrapes Superman had sustained while rescuing the little boy who had fallen.
They turned the corner and walked to the intersection of Broadway and 45th Avenue. Louis was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the crowd gathered ahead. He sensed that Clark seemed to be thinking about something as well; a man and a woman, both lost in their own thoughts.
"Hey, Clark," Louis hesitated for a moment, "Valentine's Day is coming up soon, and you..."
boom!
A sudden gunshot interrupted Louis's words.
Clark immediately shielded Louise Lane behind him. They then noticed a large crowd ahead, seemingly gathered to watch a spectacle, and police were everywhere.
He heard someone shout from ahead: "Don't mistake me for a policeman..."
Bang bang bang bang!
The continuous gunfire plunged the street into chaos. People scattered and fled.
"Beep beep beep beep—"
Louis Lane's phone rang at just the right moment: "This is Perry White, Louis. Big news! My informant at the police station tells me there's an armed robber at the intersection of Broadway and 45th Avenue. He's trying to rob a store, and the police will be there in three minutes. He's taken a hostage!"
"Well done, Perry," Louis said irritably. "But we're right here."
"..." Perry paused briefly, then immediately said, "Be careful, I want a story, but I also want my reporters alive!"
"Of course, we're not stupid enough to—"
Then Louis heard a busy tone on Clark's phone:
Beep—beep—beep—beep—
"Batman has most likely gone to deal with that thing he told me about before."
Clark put down the phone, which he had been trying to call repeatedly without success, and said in a low voice, "That monster that appeared on the beach and ate people alive. Batman dealt with it personally, so he can't leave right now."
Louis felt his heart skip a beat.
"We should find Wonder Woman or one of Batman's henchmen to solve this problem. Uh, Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, or that guy called Clayface, he's the one who bounces around and does waltzes."
Louis felt his tongue begin to tie itself in knots; he not only didn't know what to say, but he was also losing his normal ability to organize his thoughts: "There's always a way."
"Yeah, there's always a way," Clark, no, Superman said.
"You...you don't have to..."
"I'm sorry, Louis. I can handle this. Wonder Woman has been trying to get here from Boston for far too long."
Clark carefully observed the scene: "The hostages clearly won't last that long; the kidnappers are very agitated. I think I'm the only superhero currently here."
Louis opened his mouth, then said somewhat dejectedly:
"Are you...going to the bathroom again?"
(Superman often uses going to the bathroom as an excuse to put on his Superman costume and go out to fight crime.)
"I can still activate my basic bio-force to cover my face, and my secret identity will not be exposed."
Clark told her again, "I can solve this problem; I've already figured out a way."
He looked at Louis, and the female reporter retreated in the face of his gaze.
Then a few minutes later.
"Please put the gun down."
Everyone made way for Superman, like the waves that yielded when Moses parted the sea.
Armed police officers stood next to Superman.
"Good heavens. Superman hasn't shown up for over a week."
"Is that Superman? This is the first time I've ever seen him!"
When did he appear in the crowd?
"Hey guys, can you see his face? I'm starting to think I can't remember his face..."
"Superman," the policeman said, "the kidnapper had no accomplices; this was a crime of passion... Oh, right, I remember you have X-ray vision."
He said somewhat nervously:
"You're Superman."
"That's right, I am Superman," Clark said.
He stood in front of the kidnapper, letting him point a gun at his chest.
"Step back."
He heard the kidnapper say that.
"I can't do it," Clark replied.
"I told you to step back!"
The kidnapper was an obese man wearing a hood, who was strangling a bespectacled man from behind.
Clark continued, "You know what happens to me when people start shooting, right?"
He saw the kidnapper's legs trembling.
"They'll waste bullets."
He raised his hands high, proudly displaying the S-class badge on his chest, and slowly approached the kidnapper.
"I said back off! I really will shoot!"
The kidnapper's voice trembled: "Back off! I won't let you move forward!"
"You don't want to do that."
Clark's voice is deep and warm, with a pleasant bubbly quality that inexplicably gives people a sense of security.
"You haven't hurt anyone yet. You can still surrender, and you can save your time because you'll be forced to do so soon... but you can surrender now voluntarily."
The kidnapper's eyes showed terror.
"No! They'll lock me up for years!"
"Because of what you did, yes," Clark said.
He walked slowly forward, his chest, now devoid of steel, pressed against the cold muzzle of the other's gun.
Clark could even feel his pectoral muscles sink slightly beneath the muzzle of the gun, which was pointed directly at his chest. One pull of the trigger, one bullet from the barrel, and he would…
"But if you don't pull the trigger and give up, your sentence will be shorter, and you'll still have a future. Make a choice, please."
He spoke to those crazed eyes.
Oops, I forgot to create a new volume.
(End of this chapter)