At eighteen, Clark Kent had displayed incredible talents since early childhood.With a diagnosed IQ above 230, he achieved the highest results in every subject—biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, literature, or history alike.By eighteen, he had already won numerous national awards. He had skipped four grades, mastered the entire school curriculum in just three months, and had been chosen as the students' representative for graduation.
But Clark excelled not only academically. His physical development was equally impressive: by eighteen he stood a meter ninety tall, and thanks to constant training his physique resembled that of a bodybuilder.This year, upon finishing school, he received invitations from world-renowned universities. University life—vibrant and diverse—crashed over him all at once. For the first time, Clark discovered how much fascinating beauty existed in the world.And, as is natural for an eighteen-year-old, Clark Kent fell in love. His beloved had golden, sun-colored hair; blue sapphire eyes shining with vitality; and an extraordinarily cheerful, life-loving nature.
However, eighteen-year-old Clark understood nothing about women and had no idea how to court them. All he could do was awkwardly try to be near her: attending classes with her, saving seats for her and her friends, helping with homework, and walking her home after school.At last, his efforts seemed to bear fruit: the girl began to see him as her best… friend.
Crushed, Clark could only stay by her side, listen to her secrets and gossip, and watch her switch from one guy to another. This continued until a scene occurred straight out of a cheap American teen comedy."Clark, could you go to the hospital with me?"Looking at the girl's pale face and her slightly rounded belly, Clark felt as if his heart were being torn apart."Who is he?"She refused to say. After returning from the hospital, Clark desperately tried to find out. Eventually he learned the truth: the quarterback of the basketball team, grandson of a Wall Street magnate, campus star, and overall a well-known figure."They must be the perfect couple," eighteen-year-old Clark thought. He returned to his dorm and cried into his pillow, drowning his heartbreak in tears.
Raised on high morals, gentlemanly behavior, gender equality, and human rights, he believed he had to respect the choice of the girl he loved.Yet when she invited him to look at the stars on a mountain, he agreed without hesitation.She gazed at the stars, and he gazed at her.The girl said:"Do you love me? I know you do."Clark remained silent, blushing deeply as he looked at her."If you love me, then jump off this cliff."He glanced at the ten-meter drop and, without hesitation, jumped. Rolling down the slope, he stood up—immediately blinded by camera flashes.The quarterback, holding the girl in his arms, laughed loudly with dozens of other students watching."What an idiot! Ha-ha-ha!""Look at this moron. Tomorrow he'll be the biggest joke on campus."With a guilty look, the girl said:"Clark, don't come near me anymore. Mike doesn't like it when I'm too close to other guys."
Everyone laughed uncontrollably at him—but in that moment, Clark laughed as well. Something inside him collapsed, as if a dam holding back a lake had burst.Clark's eyes ignited with a crimson glow.But the students didn't notice. For them, the opposite sex, parties and weed, contempt for anything contemptible, and protest against anything protestable—these were the most important things in life.Yet in the next instant, they could not fail to notice, as Clark, his eyes raging with crimson light, walked step by step toward the quarterback and the girl.The ground cracked beneath his feet, clouds dispersed from the upward surge of his aura, and the world trembled before his steel-hard will.
Everything he had never understood became crystal clear. Everything he had never realized became obvious.Clark looked at the girl in the quarterback's arms with a completely unfamiliar expression and frowned deeply."Incredible… How could I ever fall in love with such a shallow girl? She's nothing but… a pile of ash."Clark's eyes unleashed a piercing crimson beam that engulfed the girl and the quarterback, incinerating them on the spot before everyone's eyes."And I wasted so much time on something I could have burned away with a glance…"
Morality, justice, the law—all of it had lost any meaning for him. From now on, only what he wanted mattered.The crowd of students erupted in screams and fled in panic.Clark's eyes emitted scorching crimson light again, enveloping the fleeing students one by one. None got far—they were all reduced to ash.Clark Kent smirked coldly at the sight of his enemies turned to dust; their ashes scattered on the wind.
Bending his knees slightly, Clark launched himself off the ground and soared a kilometer into the sky. Watching the ground blur beneath him and feeling his body begin to fall, Clark clenched his fists aggressively. Tumbling in the air, he dove like a meteorite toward one of the academic buildings.A deafening explosion shook the earth. Clouds of dust shot into the sky, and the ground rippled like water. The entire campus at the point of impact turned into a gigantic crater, from which a figure slowly rose—a human… no, an alien figure.Distorting Earth's magnetic field, Clark ascended. Like a fledgling just learning to fly, he traced crooked arcs in the sky. Eleven seconds later, he soared gracefully, like a fish swimming in water.With a heartless expression, Clark looked down at the terrified crowd and the numerous corpses. After a brief moment of hesitation, he shot forward, leaving behind a long trail in the air. At ten times the speed of sound, he flew eastward.