Neon lights flickered in the street-side shop windows.
The neon signs read: Palm Reading, Tarot Cards, Fortune Telling.
"I never thought you'd be interested in this kind of thing."
Eric glanced at Lana.
"When I was helping Aunt Neil work on the farm, I heard her tell many stories about divination. And,"
Lana took a deep breath, "I was once possessed by a witch. Although most of my memories from that time are vague, I've been interested in witchcraft culture ever since."
"Witchcraft?"
Eric shook his head and said nothing more, walking directly to the divination shop next door.
Lana immediately followed his steps.
"Chloe once told me that the shop owner here can always accurately divine her inner thoughts."
Perhaps thinking Eric didn't believe her, Lana said to Eric, "I believe Chloe wouldn't exaggerate."
Eric, holding a sleeping Rachel, walked to the front of the shop and said, "Chloe's profession is a journalist. You have to believe that the most important characteristics of journalists are exaggeration and sensationalism."
As he spoke, he surveyed the divination shop before him.
He had expected to see many vulgar and pretentious New Age items, such as crystal balls, purple tassels, wind chimes, pungent incense, and fat cats curled up on pillows.
But in Eric's eyes, he only saw a small shop with fluorescent lights, frequented by knitting enthusiasts.
Soft blankets, baby hats, and bundles of yarn were displayed on brown shelves.
There was no cat, but under the table, a pot-bellied Beagle was dozing, looking very unfriendly.
The woman sitting behind the table didn't have many Gypsy features; instead, she looked more like a notary.
She wore a light gray cardigan, had red hair, and a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose.
When the woman saw Eric and Lana enter, her face showed a withered expression.
"Welcome, how may I help you?"
"I thought this was a place for psychic readings, I'm sorry."
Lana, thinking she had mistaken a knitting shop for a divination shop, apologized and stepped back.
"I am a psychic."
The woman said to Lana, "You can call me Ms. Nancy."
Eric, while looking at the surrounding furnishings, asked, "A knitting psychic?"
"I do knit things in my spare time; a woman has to find ways to support herself."
The woman explained to Eric.
"Please sit!"
After explaining to the two, the woman gestured for Eric and Lana to sit down.
"So, what's your fee here?"
Eric didn't stop his questioning and continued to ask the other party.
"Forty, but I can assure you, this is not a trick to fool people."
The woman's tone was somewhat serious.
Eric watched her slightly trembling right hand, suspecting she definitely smoked, or used to smoke.
"This is not a trick to fool people, nor is it a pretense; psychic abilities are real!"
Perhaps fearing her forty dollars would fly away, the woman explained again to Lana.
"I know."
Lana indicated that she believed in such things.
"I was once possessed by a spirit, and I know that experience. It's like your consciousness is banished into a deep pool, constantly falling deeper. You struggle desperately, but you can't be saved. Slowly, your control over your own body gradually disappears."
"That's an astonishing experience!"
The woman looked at Lana with surprise, "A living person's body can indeed be occupied by a Deadman's soul, as long as that Deadman's soul is strong enough, or a profound bond is established between the two. He can then contend for ownership of the living person's body."
"But psychic reading isn't that simple."
Eric had been listening quietly to the other party's words. When he heard her say "not simple," he pulled out two banknotes and slid them across to her.
"If your fortune-telling is accurate, I might buy a hat you knitted, or something else."
Eric had indeed become interested in her divination.
He thought of Ms. Cassandra from the sanatorium.
Ms. Cassandra could also see others' futures, but not through so-called psychic abilities, but by touching others' bodies.
Although Ms. Cassandra unfortunately passed away while peering into her own future, Eric had developed a strong interest in the future Ms. Cassandra had seen.
What exactly had she seen of herself in her final moments of life?
Ms. Nancy smiled slightly at Eric, took the money from his hand, and tucked it into the collar of her cardigan.
To be precise, she tucked it into a deep cleavage.
"How do you want your fortune read? Tarot cards, or palm reading? I can divine fate through tea leaves!"
Ms. Nancy said to Eric and Lana.
"If I had to choose, I don't need any of these!"
Eric shifted Rachel in his arms, "Pretty cards, secrets contained in palm lines—I usually don't need such gimmicks. I know a lady who did it by touching skin, so you also do it that way, right?"
Eric didn't know the other party's divination method; he just thought of Ms. Cassandra and said it casually.
Ms. Nancy, opposite him, froze for a moment.
After a while, she said to Eric, "You're right."
She forced a smile, her face creasing with wrinkles.
She extended her left hand towards Eric, "Give me your hand."
And at the same time, she extended her right hand to Lana, "And you, girl, if your fates intersect, then my psychic ability can see the future of your lives at the moment of your intersection."
Lana looked at Eric with some apprehension.
Seeing him extend his hand, she also hesitated before extending hers.
Ms. Nancy's hand was warm, but Lana shivered as if she had received an electric shock.
The few of them sat quietly, no one speaking to each other.
Lana's consciousness immediately began to be uncontrollably drawn into a strange place.
The world before her suddenly spun, as if everything was being redefined.
Looking up at the dazzling sunlight, Lana found herself standing on Capitol Building.
The Capitol Building was surrounded by onlookers, countless people holding signs and shouting loudly, their emotions agitated, as if venting their feelings towards some entity.
Lana looked at the signs, and the words on them shocked her.
"Homelander is not one of us! He is an uncontrolled criminal independent of Earth!"
"When invasion becomes reality, we have a duty to resist!"
"Homelander, Superman, Illegal Aliens!"
"Aliens are not Americans!"
"This is my world, not yours!"
"Earth belongs to humanity!"
"God hates aliens!"
Looking at the words on the signs, Lana was completely bewildered.
Were these people here to oppose Superman and Homelander?
Bang!
A dull thud sounded from behind her.
Lana looked back and saw Eric, clad in a dark gray battle robe, descending from the sky.
The ground cracked from his immense impact, making a loud noise.
Seeing Eric descend from the sky, the crowd gathered on Capitol Building immediately hurled insults at him.
"You don't belong to us! Get out, alien!"
"You're a murderer!"
Hearing the people around him cursing him, Eric raised his head and looked at the surrounding crowd.
That cold gaze, even Lana found it unusually unfamiliar.
A cold and merciless look, chilling like the solid ice on a snow-capped dome.
Eric ignored the curses from the people around him and turned his head, slowly walking towards Capitol Building.
He ascended the tall steps, step by step, towards the highest level of the staircase.
Lana watched Eric's back, her face filled with worry.
After a moment's thought, she immediately followed Eric's steps, chasing closely after him.
"Creak!"
After pushing open the door, Eric entered the corridor of Capitol Building.
The politicians and generals inside immediately stopped their discussions and turned their gazes towards Eric.
The main hall of Capitol Building was filled with well-dressed people.
Almost all of Washington's politicians and celebrities, as well as people from the military and the superhuman community, packed the entire meeting hall.
People with various expressions watched Eric, who walked slowly with an emotionless face.
Inside the hearing, besides these people, Lana also saw a few familiar figures.
Lex and Louise sat in the front row, their faces showing troubled expressions.
"Everyone, please be seated!"
The voice of the meeting chairman came from the hall's loudspeaker.
"The bipartisan committee's hearing is about to begin! This is to investigate Homelander's violation of international convention law, his unauthorized intervention in the conflict in Eastern Europe, and his causing thousands of Death in the terrorist attack. Furthermore, Homelander is also accused of over a dozen charges endangering national security!"
The female secretary, after the chairman and all officials were present, announced the start of the hearing and briefly introduced Homelander's unlawful acts.
The Black chairman, after the secretary finished speaking, asked Eric, who was standing at the defendant's stand, "Homelander, do you have any objections to this?"
Lana looked at Eric, who remained silent.
She knew Eric's temper and feared he would erupt, turning the place into a living hell.
Lana knew Eric was capable of that!
But to Lana's surprise, Eric looked around and then said, "I admit it!"
Seeing Homelander admit it directly, everyone in the entire hearing immediately gasped.
No one expected Homelander to actually plead guilty!
"But who should be responsible for the Death of some of these people!"
Eric's eyes gradually turned crimson, "Bart, Jena, Zan, Lana Blue—"
He spoke in a toneless voice:
"If anyone thinks that with your privileged class, you can control this world, then you are wrong! Because I am not within the boundaries you have woven!"
"No one—can judge me, no one—is qualified to make me a trapped beast!"
"This world needs to make some changes! Some changes that are destined to bleed!"
Eric raised his head, uttering a deafening sound.
Everyone at the entire hearing was stunned!
The next second, Eric's figure vanished from the defendant's stand.
Accompanied by a howling gust of wind, Eric reappeared on the defendant's stand.
But in his hand, he clutched a disheveled figure.
The crowd attending the meeting gasped when they saw the person Eric was holding: "Mr. President!"
Hearing that the person Eric was holding was Mr. President, Lana, who was watching from the side, was also extremely astonished.
What was this?
Not only was she Dead, but Eric had directly taken the President hostage?
Thump!
Eric, at the defendant's stand, directly threw Mr. President to the ground amidst everyone's astonished gazes, then pulled out a piece of paper and a pen, throwing them in front of him.
"Sign this contract!"
Seeing Eric forcing the President to sign the contract, the crowd immediately became noisy.
Suddenly, a beam of Heat Vision shot directly towards the crowd!
The chest of the person in front was directly pierced by the Heat Vision, and blood immediately sprayed out.
Sizzle!
The beam, like a hot knife cutting through butter, directly sliced the people in front in half.
The upper and lower halves separated, followed by blood spraying out like a fountain.
The chairman presiding over the meeting, just as he was about to flee, had his head directly sliced in half.
Blood and pale matter directly splattered onto the female secretary next to him.
The female secretary, covered in the chairman's red and pale substances, let out a terrified scream!
Seeing the tragedy unfolding in Capitol Building, the crowd immediately screamed and fled in terror.
Bang!
A pot-bellied man in a suit, just two steps into his run, had his head explode with a bang.
The power of Heat Vision is not just penetration and cutting; a strong, single-point energy penetration can even make a person's head explode directly!
Blood and foul matter splattered onto a lady in front of him, and the woman's eyes rolled back as she fainted.
At this moment, the scene was filled with crying and screaming.
These dignitaries now realized what a terrifying madman they had provoked!
A superhero, seemingly with superpowers, capable of turning his entire body into metal, stood in the hall. He had just activated his steel body, but the next second he was sliced in half by Eric's Heat Vision.
Louise and Lex, who were already stunned, were now hiding under chairs.
Filled with fear, both had lost the courage to dissuade Eric.
Lana cast her gaze outside and saw a figure moving through the air towards Capitol Building.
That must be Clark!
Lana, vaguely seeing the "S" on his chest, swallowed hard.
But to her surprise, Clark was blocked in mid-air!
A giant raven, formed from a purplish-black shadow, slammed into Clark with a bang, sending him flying.
Thump!
Clark fell onto the steps in front of Capitol Building, smashing the steps and sending debris flying.
Then, the purplish-black raven transformed into a black-haired girl in a cloak.
The girl rushed towards Clark the moment he got up.
"Hoah!"
The black-robed girl's fist struck Clark's cheek hard, sending him reeling backward.
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