"Luthor?"
"Call me Lex, Clark. You saved my life, after all."
Lex Luthor, dressed in an expensive silver-gray suit, looked young, exuding an aura of elite competence. Only a hint of the casual arrogance of a rich second-generation heir lingered between his brows. He wasn't yet the cold, steady billionaire and schemer he would become.
"Even if you refused my gift, I don't want us to be strangers."
Clark, taking the initiative, chuckled.
"Why are you here, Lex?"
He felt a certain fondness for Lex, who had gifted him a pickup truck as thanks.
"Why can't I be here? Do you think I should just spend all my days in nightclubs, luxury shops, and car dealerships, squandering money and partying?"
Lex Luthor retorted humorously.
"Don't kid me, Clark. Can't I just come out for a walk when I'm feeling down?"
"An heir to a billionaire's fortune comes to the outskirts to stroll and buy hot dogs and fruit at a fair to lift his spirits, just like an ordinary person?"
David raised an eyebrow and said lightly.
"Aren't the vast golf courses of Metropolis enough to relieve your troubles?"
A walk in the countryside, a chance encounter, and a pleasant conversation – how fitting.
Clark vaguely felt that his younger brother didn't seem to like Lex Luthor much, which puzzled him.
But towards Luthor, besides a good impression, he also felt a bit of guilt.
The last time he went to the Luthor estate to return the pickup truck, he had chatted with Lex for a bit.
When they talked about Lex Luthor's baldness, he mentioned that it happened over ten years ago when his father took him to inspect a fertilizer plant in this small town. They encountered a meteor shower, and after the radiation from the meteors, he lost all his hair.
"Although my father looked down on me and my classmates ostracized me, thinking I was a freak, it's okay. It also taught me a lot, like how being alone is more conducive to thinking. Cattle and sheep travel in herds, but fierce beasts often walk alone."
Clark remembered Luthor's words. Although they were spoken with a carefree and dismissive air, his expression at the time clearly showed he hadn't fully come to terms with it.
"And who is this?"
"My brother, David," Clark introduced.
"Your brother? Hello, David."
Luthor subtly sized up David, greeted him, and a gloomy expression appeared on his face as he sighed.
"The golf clubs in Metropolis are great, but I don't want to go back there for now. Not until I'm no longer a laughingstock."
"What's wrong, Lex?"
"My father believes that the offspring of a lion should be brave and diligent."
He spoke with self-mockery.
"Perhaps because I'm of age and haven't achieved anything he deems worthy, he's exiled me to this small town to manage the fertilizer plant here."
The assets of the Luthor Group were spread across America. In Metropolis, the Luthor Group's presence was felt in almost every aspect of life, from food and clothing to housing and transportation. The training method for the group's heir shouldn't involve removing him from the core of the vast conglomerate to manage a small fertilizer plant in a remote town. Many in Metropolis high society had heard how dissolute the Luthor boy had been since childhood. His father had spent enough money to establish several newspapers and prisons just to keep him out of the papers and jail for those escapades. Now, realizing that he was beyond reform, that shrewd and cold-blooded old bat, Lionel Luthor, had finally given up on him.
"As long as you manage the fertilizer plant well, your father might let you return sooner or later."
Clark's expression shifted slightly as he heard Luthor mention his father's banishment and his father's cold treatment, and he offered words of comfort.
"I heard your father only has you as a son."
"Perhaps, but I think instead of managing that fertilizer plant with its foreseeable potential, it's better to carve out a new path."
Luthor adjusted his mood and smiled.
"The automotive glass we have today originated from a failed chemical experiment, and the cola found all over the world can be traced back to a physician trying to create a headache remedy..."
"Clark, David, do you know how many huge business opportunities started out insignificant, like seeds buried in the soil, only to be discovered, watered, and nurtured by those with vision, eventually growing into towering trees that countless people look up to?"
He spoke to both of them, passionately, as if recounting his ambitions and goals.
"So you came to the outskirts to look for seeds?"
Clark joked.
"Did you find that seed, Luthor?"
David also said, speaking slowly.
"Not yet, but no matter what you're looking for, the most important thing is patience, isn't it?"
Their gazes met, and Lex Luthor chuckled with refined charm.
Putting aside his less savory, youthful exploits, Luthor had received excellent home education from a young age. His demeanor and every gesture exuded good breeding, making people feel at ease in his presence and inclined to form a positive impression, enjoying his company immensely.
"Oh? Is that so?"
A flicker of indifference crossed David's eyes. He felt Luthor believed he had found the seed and was now in the process of unearthing it.
That seed was a person who, after being hit head-on by a speeding car traveling over 200 mph, had crashed through a bridge's concrete railing, plunged into the river, yet emerged completely unharmed—Clark!
Today might just be the beginning of Luthor's excavation.
"Clark, David, you two need to go back and get more fruit."
Jonathan and Martha, their faces beaming with joy after closing a deal, returned.
"A client who's throwing a party really liked our fresh fruit, but the amount we brought isn't enough."
David and Clark stood up, and Clark introduced Luthor to his parents.
"Mr. Kent, Mrs. Kent, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Lex Luthor extended his hand kindly and warmly.
Jonathan paused, then shook his hand politely before immediately turning to his two sons.
"You two, hurry back and don't keep the client waiting."
He seemed disinclined to speak with Lex Luthor at all.
Luthor maintained his smile, revealing his white teeth, though it subtly stiffened.
"Okay, Father."
David smiled and agreed with Clark before they left.
"Father doesn't seem to like Lex Luthor."
Clark asked, puzzled, as they left the market.
"Father's animosity towards the Luthor family goes way back. Before Luthor Corp acquired a large tract of land through various means and established that fertilizer plant, the river that flowed through the town near that area wasn't green, there was grass along the banks, and the soil wasn't a foul, gray-black."
David let out a cold laugh.
"Now..."
A permanent scar had appeared on the town's map.
"But that's not Lex's fault." Clark felt they shouldn't involve Lex, who couldn't even do elementary school math at the time.
"Hey, Clark, David."
As they were chatting and about to drive away from the market, they bumped into Chloe and Pete, who were also out enjoying the spring weather. They waved happily and walked over.
"Who wouldn't want to be out on a beautiful spring day like this, with the sun shining and the air so fresh?"
Chloe took a deep breath, feeling quite cheerful.
After a brief chat, Pete suddenly seemed to remember something and asked, "Did you guys see Gregg?"
"No, why?"
"You might not believe this, but yesterday Gregg knocked Whitney out cold at the school entrance and sent him to the hospital. The police came to investigate and found Gregg's mother dead at home, wrapped in something like a spiderweb, and Gregg is missing..."
He glanced around, lowering his voice, and the atmosphere suddenly turned eerie.
"You mean... Gregg killed his own mother?"
Clark frowned, finding it hard to believe.
Would someone kill their own mother?
"Normally, no, but the police suspect it." Chloe shrugged. "Maybe his appearance changed drastically because he developed a mental illness, then it wouldn't be impossible."
"Anyway, if you see Gregg, you really need to be careful."
Pete warned them seriously.
Someone who could kill their own mother could do anything.
"Clark and I will be."
David nodded, deep in thought.
Could Kryptonite cause genetic mutations and also drastically alter a person's temperament?
"Oh, and where's your stall? We're free, so we can help out." Chloe smiled, her eyes twinkling. She and Pete used to visit the Kent farm often and were very familiar with the Kent family.
"Thanks a lot, Chloe, Pete."
After pointing out their stall to the two, David and Clark started their pickup truck and drove onto the road.
Whoosh!
Clark was driving with a heavy heart on the deserted country road, his eyes not on the road ahead.
"Can you watch the road, Clark?" David frowned. "If the car flips, we might not get hurt, but it'll be another expense for the house."
"What if... I mean, what if Gregg has really gone crazy..."
Clark turned his head, his voice full of worry.
"Will Lana be in danger?"
"Get out of the way!" David glanced ahead and suddenly reached for the steering wheel.
Above them on the road, a cold, sinister figure leaped from the top of a roadside tree. With unnatural speed, like a mantis preying on its victim, it covered several meters instantly, descending with immense force!
A little late with the update, I wrote an extra 800 characters.
Thanks to reader "Memory's Bitterness" for the 300 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "Little Tree Little Tree" for the 200 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "Son of God's Dog" for the 200 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "20190709140116911" for the 200 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "One Amber One" for the 200 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "Azure Cloud Crane" for the 100 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "1455147117727412224" for the 100 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "Ma Lang" for the 100 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "160501185207728" for the 100 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "Three Upside Down Snails" for the 100 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "Where Evil is Eaten" for the 100 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "One South Rabbit" for the 100 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "20210825133803023" for the 2 Qidian coins.
Thanks to reader "Picking Through Mouths to Watch Wardens" for the 2 Qidian coins.
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Read 777+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------