Chapter 78: Don't Do Anything You'll Regret.
"Are you kidding me, or did you dial the wrong number?"
Father Jonathan couldn't believe the call he received.
"What? ...Thank you."
Martha stirred the pancakes in the pan and asked back, "What's wrong?"
Jonathan hung up the phone, a frown creasing his brow.
"The credit card company called to confirm our spending amount."
A series of bills had been charged to their family's credit card throughout the morning, totaling a significant amount.
"But we didn't..."
As he spoke, he reached for his wallet, only to find that his credit card had disappeared.
"Jonathan, when did we install a satellite dish on the barn?"
Martha looked up through the window and suddenly noticed a brand-new satellite dish mounted on the exterior wall of the barn's second floor. She paused in surprise.
Jonathan looked, exchanged a glance with his wife, and their faces showed confusion.
The couple walked into the barn, feeling like strangers to what they saw.
"When did the barn where we store our farm machinery and tools turn into an arcade?"
A confused voice came from behind them, echoing the very thought the couple had.
"Son."
They turned to look.
David, who had just rushed back from Washington, stood at the barn entrance, hands shoved into his pockets, his expression bewildered.
The barn was filled with various arcade game machines, trendy rock-and-roll outfits hung from the ceiling, and several beautiful electric guitars adorned the walls.
"It looks like a little haven a boy who loves games and rock music has always dreamed of."
"Thump thump thump!"
Loud gaming sounds came from the second floor.
Clark's birthday was still a ways off, and even then, his parents wouldn't indulge him this much. David raised an eyebrow.
"Did... did we win the lottery?"
He thought about a new way to acquire emotional points, but he couldn't disappear from home for a period without reason. He decided to wait until after his exams and his long break before searching for Themyscira. It would only take about a week anyway.
"I wish it were."
Glancing upstairs, a flicker of confusion and anger crossed Jonathan's face as he suspected something.
The three of them followed the stairs up to the loft.
Clark's attire was drastically different from his usual style. Clad in a black leather jacket, his face was etched with rebellion and defiance as he stared at the game screen, playing intensely. The deafening speakers blared the crisp sounds of fighting characters.
"Die, die, let's see how many more hits you can block!"
He frantically mashed the buttons on his game controller.
The couple watched Clark, his expression excited as if completely immersed in the violent game world, feeling a sense of estrangement and anger.
"Clark, what is going on? How did all this stuff end up in our house?"
"Eddie's Store in Metropolis, open 24 hours, with low-price discounts."
His parents approached him, questioning why the barn had become like this. Clark, still staring at the characters on the screen, replied without looking back.
"Are you saying... you used our credit cards to buy all this?"
Jonathan's eyes widened.
Mother Martha couldn't believe that their eldest son, usually shy and fond of reading, would do something like this—secretly taking their money to impulsively buy all these things.
"Clark, did you steal our money?"
Martha, usually not one to get angry, couldn't help but show a stern expression.
David's eyes were filled with surprise. Was Clark going through a rebellious phase?
At the end of his adolescence?
"Clark, are you listening to your mother?"
Seeing his eldest son still engrossed in the video game and not looking back, Jonathan, angered, shut off the deafening speakers.
"Ugh, you guys are so annoying!"
Without the accompaniment of the booming impacts, the fighting in the game instantly became less interesting. Annoyance flashed across Clark's brow, and he threw down the game controller, standing up.
"Aren't there enough chores on this darn farm for you guys to do!"
"What did you just say, Clark?"
David frowned instantly upon hearing words that were completely unlike Clark.
Even a rebellious phase shouldn't make him this insufferable. A metahuman who could shapeshift like Tina?
"Clark, we've never taught you to speak to your parents like this!"
Clark's attitude and reaction were far beyond their expectations. Instead of admitting fault, he spoke so rudely to his father and wife. Jonathan's expression froze, and he said angrily, "Clark, what's wrong with you?"
Martha was stunned, her eyes filled with deep confusion. Her eldest son was utterly unfamiliar.
Could her eldest son be an alien, possessing super strength, super speed, and super vision, and therefore also have a super rebellious phase?
"Stop talking to me with that lecturing tone. You aren't my real parents."
Facing the couple who had worked hard to raise him, Clark sneered and uttered even more heartbreaking words.
"You're just a couple who luckily found me in a wheat field."
As soon as these words were spoken, the warehouse fell silent.
Martha staggered back as if struck by a heavy hammer, her eyes reddening. Jonathan's face was grim and shocked as he called out his eldest son's full name!
"Clark Kent!"
"If you don't want to go back to school with a black eye when your vacation ends, Apologize to Mom and Dad right now, Clark!"
Hearing Clark reveal his special background, which no one knew, David no longer doubted if the person before him was Clark. His voice turned cold, as if devoid of any emotion.
"Now, immediately!"
Clark, in a strange state, wore a ring embedded with a 'ruby', which caught his attention.
It didn't glow like green Kryptonite, but the color, combined with Clark's drastically changed personality, made David recall something. His expression shifted slightly.
"Who do you think you are?"
Clark, as if harboring long-held resentment, retorted unceremoniously.
"I've been annoyed by you for a long time.
You should know who the elder brother and who the younger brother is in this family, right?"
He glared at David through gritted teeth, remembering all the times he had been embarrassed by him, how he never obeyed, and dared to repeatedly humiliate him!
[Anger from Clark +112...]
"Take off the ring on your hand, Clark."
Clark's emotions had become extreme, further solidifying David's suspicions. He said sternly, "You've become unrecognizable. Don't let the ring control you. Don't make me do it myself."
It was Red Kryptonite. Only Kryptonite could drastically change Superman's personality.
"There are many types of Kryptonite. Besides green Kryptonite, which weakens and distresses Kryptonians, blue Kryptonite, which temporarily nullifies Kryptonian abilities, gold Kryptonite, which permanently nullifies Kryptonian abilities, and black Kryptonite, which splits a Kryptonian into good and evil halves..."
Among them was Red Kryptonite. Red Kryptonite made Superman abandon his morals, caused his negative emotions to surge, and gradually turned him evil.
He could no longer view the greatly changed Clark with his previous perspective.
With his parents present, David didn't act immediately. He subtly gestured for his parents to leave.
"The ring?"
Jonathan and Martha realized something might have happened. Knowing their younger son was worried about their safety, they looked at their abnormal eldest son with concern. Not wanting to trouble their younger son, they retreated and went downstairs.
"How could there be Red Kryptonite in this small town?"
David frowned, staring at Clark and the Red Kryptonite ring on his hand.
Kryptonite targeting Kryptonians was most commonly green Kryptonite. Other types of Kryptonite appeared very rarely in the comics, and their formation methods were different from green Kryptonite.
Red Kryptonite was formed when green Kryptonite passed through special cosmic clouds. He had never found Red Kryptonite in this small town and had almost forgotten this detail.
"Are you scared, David?"
Seeing David take a step forward, blocking him with the same caution one would show a fierce beast, Clark laughed heartily.
"What if I let you attack? Take out a meteorite ring and make me kneel helplessly on the ground?"
He turned and pulled out a stone from behind him.
It had a gray rock base, with what looked like a cluster of yellow crystals growing on it.
"See what this is?"
A cold and triumphant look appeared in Clark's eyes.
"The Wishing Stone?"
David's expression darkened.
"It seems you not only stole Mom and Dad's credit card but also other things!"
He had only casually locked the Wishing Stone in his bedside cabinet.
Having seen Agnes's corpse, Clark had acted as if he couldn't resist the Wishing Stone. He hadn't guarded against Clark.
"What do you want to do?"
"Do?
Of course, I want to eliminate my only weakness."
Clutching the stone, Clark laughed wildly, excitement flashing in his eyes.
He wasn't perfect enough yet!
"Fortunately, I have this stone."
Bzzzzz!
"Don't do something you'll regret, Clark!"
David roared with rage, raising his hand and blasting an energy beam, trying to knock the Wishing Stone away.
Making a wish with the Wishing Stone came with a price, and no one knew what price it would demand.
But Clark had always been faster than David, especially with his mind unleashed, his strength was completely different from before. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from his spot and appeared downstairs.
"My dear brother, speed has never been your strong suit, have you forgotten!"
At the attic railing, David looked down, sneering and shaking his head at Clark, whose eyes were filled with defiance. He loudly declared his wish.
"I wish for all meteorites that make me weak to disappear!"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Dark clouds swirled across the sky, which suddenly grew dim, lightning crackling.
In various places around the world, green Kryptonite vanished simultaneously. The box full of Kryptonite under David's bed was also left empty.
"From today on, nothing can control me!"
He used his X-ray vision to scan beneath the town, and there were no more of those unsightly green stones.
In the wind, Clark threw his head back and laughed, pocketing the Wishing Stone. Arrogantly and wildly, he looked at David, clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking.
"Now I'll teach you a good lesson and show you how a proper, obedient brother should be!"
In the distance, his parents watched the scene from behind the house, shocked and worried.
"You're too willful, Clark!"
Seeing that the wish had already been made, David's expression changed, and his eyes narrowed.
I'm back a little late. I'll take a day off. I owe a little more than half a chapter, and I'll make up all the owed updates starting tomorrow.
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