Chapter 437: Metropolis Suspicion (Twenty-One) (Patreon)

In DC World With Marvel Chat Group : Table of Content/Chapter List

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

"Wait, this doesn't seem to have anything to do with superpowers," Clark suddenly realized and continued:

"Isn't this just another interpretation of 'considering the consequences before taking action'?"

"Yeah, but I think your parents must have told you countless times to 'consider the consequences before taking action.' Did you really take it to heart?"

Clark's mouth twitched, and a complex expression appeared on his face, clearly recalling some unpleasant experiences. He sighed deeply and said, "Yeah, my parents emphasized that to me so many times, but I... I just felt like they didn't understand me at all. I thought they were unwilling to see things from my perspective, didn't know how much I sacrificed, didn't know how sad I was. I felt so wronged that I even ran away from home because of it."

"But, it seems like this kind of decision is really up to me. Based on the gains, I decide if it's worth paying such a price, and based on the price, I evaluate the gains. It doesn't really have much to do with superpowers... so what was I agonizing over before?"

"What do you think superpowers are? Are they your core personality?"

"Of course not. I am me; I am Clark."

"Or, this explanation might satisfy you: Your personality is formed by factors such as education and environment, while superpowers are just one of the tools you possess."

"That makes sense," Clark replied uncertainly.

"Then, what sets it apart from other tools? Your father fell in love and got married, raised you, interacted with the neighborhood, and lived in harmony with them. Do any of these things have a direct relationship with the pitchfork he often uses for farm work?"

Before Clark could answer, Schiller said, "Maybe there's some relationship. Without that pitchfork, he might not be able to work, provide for the family, but that tool certainly couldn't decide whether he should propose to your mother, right?"

Clark suddenly laughed, seeming to remember some amusing anecdotes between his parents. After a while, he sighed and looked at Schiller with great sincerity, saying, "Thank you, Professor. Talking about all this and hearing your advice makes me feel much better."

With that off his chest, Clark seemed to relax all of a sudden. He lay down on the bed, resting his head on the soft pillow, hands on his chest, and said, "Oh, no one knows how miserable I've been lately."

He covered his eyes with his arm and continued, "Wherever I go, I worry about running into people from the track team. I'm afraid the members of the team will badmouth me to my roommates. I worry about dropping out of a race and disappointing the coach. I always feel like I'm a cheating scoundrel..."

"These are all very normal. Anyone at your age would have similar worries about interpersonal relationships, life trajectory, and so on. It's a stage of personality formation."

As if suddenly remembering someone, Schiller said, "Even people with much more mature personalities would experience similar feelings during this period."

Clark seemed to figure out whom Schiller was referring to. He glanced at the door and then asked, "Are you talking about those two guys from earlier? Who are they exactly? Why do I feel like they're dangerous?"

"It's hard to explain now. Once you spend some time with them, you'll know that these two will undoubtedly play important roles in your future life."

"Really? Do you mean I'll become friends with them?"

"In a way, yes. They will be the ones who understand you the most, and you will understand them the most."

"Really?!" Clark sat up from the bed again, looking puzzled as he gazed at Schiller. "Don't tell me you have the power of prophecy, Professor. Both of them seem strange to me."

"Of course not, and it's not for sure either. At the moment, it seems that their relationship will be stronger."

"Relationship... really? But I feel..."

Clark hesitated, then lowered his voice and said to Schiller, "First, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I have a special ability. I can sense what's happening outside walls."

"I overheard them talking about a treasure and something secret in the underground of Mayor Manor..."

"Underground?" Schiller furrowed his brow, but quickly said, "Anyway, it's none of my business. I'm going to sleep."

With that, he stood up and put on his coat before saying to Clark, "At your age, you can lose a night's sleep over a small problem, but I can't. Tonight, I've only slept for two hours, and the price I'm willing to pay for a good night's rest is far beyond what anyone can imagine."

After finishing his sentence, Schiller left. Clark rolled over in bed, still thinking about the questions Schiller had asked him. Recently, he hadn't been sleeping very well, so as he thought and thought, he slowly drifted into dreamland.

After returning to his guest room, Schiller changed into his pajamas, ready to sleep. Despite it being daytime now, the continuous heavy snow and gloomy weather made it an ideal time for rest.

Just after he changed into his pajamas, unsurprisingly, the guest room door was knocked again. Schiller sighed, not surprised at all, and stood up to open the door. Lex Luthor appeared outside the door.

"What do you want?" Schiller asked directly.

Lex looked at Schiller in silence for a moment, then asked, "Why do you seem to be wary of me all the time?"

"Don't you think you're not worth being wary of?"

"I just don't understand..." Lex kept staring into Schiller's eyes, but couldn't discern any emotion worth analyzing. So he continued:

"Bruce is your student, and you are more familiar with him, so you naturally lean towards him. I can understand that. But why do you trust that person named Clark so much?"

Lex frowned and said, "If it were him who came just now, would you have let him in first before talking?"

"You seem to have some evidence beyond the facts in your judgment. What is it?" Lex asked.

Schiller fell silent at his question. He remained silent for a while, then stepped aside and said to Lex, "Come in and talk."

Lex walked in, and as he closed the door, he heard Schiller say, "It's... a kind of bias that's hard for me to explain."

Then, he heard Schiller sigh deeply. After closing the door, Schiller turned around and asked, "What do you want, exactly?"

"I just wanted to ask you if you really lost your memory," Lex said, his hands hanging by his sides as he stood in the room, looking at Schiller.

Schiller stood opposite him, nodding. Lex frowned and asked, "You really don't remember meeting me?"

Schiller squinted his eyes, acknowledging that during this period, he had not fully learned from his previous mistakes. He still viewed the people in the real world through the filter of the original characters.

For example, he always held a positive attitude towards Bruce and Clark because they were positive characters in the original work. But he had always been wary of Luthor.

Although Luthor's question just now made him realize this, when Lex spoke those words, Schiller still felt that he might be brewing some conspiracy.

"You're not going to tell me that you saved me before, are you?" Schiller looked at Lex and asked.

"Quite the opposite." Lex's answer surprised Schiller a bit. Lex continued, "You saved me, right here."

"Two years ago, I was still under my father's control, thanks to the drugs he used on me. At that time, I was very young and had no choice but to let him manipulate me. To keep an eye on me, he was always by my side, even when we attended the party here, he brought me along."

"I don't know what exactly happened in between, but after that, Lionel brought you into my room, saying he wanted to give me treatment. Then you knocked him out and gave me a mysterious liquid, which restored my senses."

"Wait, a mysterious liquid? What was it?"

"I don't know." Lionel shook his head. He said, "All I remember is that there was a moment of intense pain. I saw many crazy hallucinations, some of which still appear in my dreams until now, but they've become increasingly faint with time, and now they're almost gone."

"Can you describe what the liquid looked like?"

"At that time, you took out a test tube, the smallest size. There was some liquid at the bottom, but I couldn't see the color clearly. However, when you opened the cap, I could smell a very strong alcohol scent."

Schiller's brow furrowed deeper. He had to repeatedly confirm with Lex, but Lex's description only consisted of a few sentences: indistinct color, alcohol scent, and inducing crazy hallucinations...

"Wine?" Schiller murmured under his breath, his tone filled with confusion. "How could I have had wine before? Isn't that in the underground of Gotham Church... have I been to Gotham before?"

"I know you don't trust me, and even if you put aside your unfounded bias, no one would believe me if I went up to a stranger like this and said you used to know me..."

"No." Unexpectedly, Lex denied this. Schiller explained, "What you just described is evidence."

Schiller felt that it was unlikely that Lex had come into contact with the Dionysian factor and concocted such a lie. To randomly make up a lie that perfectly matched the attributes of the Dionysian factor would be even less likely...

Furthermore, if that was the reason, then Lex's previous attacks on Benjamin and Bruce would be understandable, so what he said was highly likely to be true.

"Okay, but since you've lost your memory, I feel it's necessary to tell you..."

"As far as I know, you left in a hurry, but it seems you left something behind."

"I don't know if it's related to the treasure in the underground of Manor, but I managed to give the key to Bruce. He will scout ahead for us."

"How do you know he'll scout ahead instead of just taking the treasure?"

Lex shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. That treasure is not like the coins piled up in a mythical story; it's very likely to be dangerous."

"Besides, I don't care whether he takes that thing or not; I just want to help you get back what you left behind."

Lex sighed and said, "Lionel would want that treasure because he heard it could enhance a person's intelligence, but obviously..."

"Enhance intelligence? I don't need that."

"Is it possible that I don't really want to get back what I left behind?" Schiller sat on the bed and sighed.

"It seems like you don't really care about losing your memory?" Lex asked, very puzzled. "You don't want to know what happened?"

"You know what I want to do right now?"

"...What?" Lex suddenly had a bad feeling. He felt a chill down his back, so he silently took a step back.

Then, he heard Schiller's slightly weary and indifferent voice say, "Right now, I just want to sleep."

[Read at www.patreon.com/shanefreak, without ads and support the work.]

XXX-----XXX-----XXX-----XXX

Next Chapter>>Chapter 438 Metropolis Doubts (Part 22)