Can Superman get high blood pressure?
The answer was, occasionally.
At this moment, Clark felt the blood rushing straight to his head.
"Why don't you write something like a story about an ordinary person becoming a superhero through hard work?"
He was trying to guide Ian toward writing something a little more respectable.
Unfortunately...
"Because that wouldn't be ahead of its time enough?"
Ian tilted his head and flatly rejected Clark's idea and artistic sense. Stories about superheroes rising to greatness were everywhere already.
What readers needed now was something truly shocking.
"..."
Clark was left speechless on the spot.
He felt that getting along with his children never seemed to go very smoothly. Whether it was his second son Jordan or his youngest son Ian, he just could not seem to get onto the same wavelength with them.
His temples twitched slightly, but Clark still wanted to persuade Ian.
"But I don't think Superman would really like people using literary works to make up stories about his private life."
"That's too much of an invasion of privacy."
Clark tried his best to keep a serious expression and a sincere tone. The moral principle he stated also fit perfectly with mainstream values.
He thought there was a very good chance he could change Ian's mind.
What Clark did not know, however, was that Ian had never once been confused about who Superman really was. The boy only thought for a moment before giving a flawless reason in response.
"We all know how kind Superman is and how much he loves helping people. He definitely wouldn't refuse to help a child who needs help."
Ian blinked at his father innocently.
That shameless flattery left Clark opening his mouth several times, only to stop himself each time because he had no idea how to respond. In the end, even the strongest combat power on Earth could only choose to give ground.
"All right. If this is what you want to write..."
Clark shook his head and stepped out of his youngest son's room, focusing on preparing the family dinner in the kitchen instead.
Of course, doing two things at once was nothing difficult for him. While cooking, Clark could not help using his super vision to peek at an underage boy's secret writing. He did not even know why he was so overwhelmingly curious. Maybe it was because Ian's title had hit him a little too hard.
"Oh! My eyes!"
The contents of the book were even more explosive.
So explosive that Clark felt as if his mind had suffered some kind of indescribable contamination. Children did have wild imaginations, but Clark genuinely could not understand what kind of mental circuitry Ian was working with.
A divorced, menopausal, forty-year-old working woman with nine children had only glanced at Superman once and immediately become the target of his crazed pursuit. That had already shattered the limits of Clark's imagination.
But then, as if that were not enough, a villain also fell in love with this working woman, and Superman responded with a crooked smile before summoning other superheroes to gang up on the villain.
Smack.
Clark could not stop himself from slapping a hand against his forehead. He did not believe for a second that a work like this had any chance of being published. He could not even imagine what kind of mental state Ian had been in when he wrote something so absurd.
Could this really be what the psychiatrist meant by an early sign of schizophrenia?
Wait.
Surely his youngest son was not aspiring to become a menopausal woman, right?
The more Clark thought about it, the more horrified he became. By the time dinner rolled around, he still had not figured out how he was supposed to explain to Lois exactly what kind of stress relief Ian had chosen.
Writing something this ridiculous...
Could it really help ease his condition?
Clark's head was full of question marks.
At the dinner table, he kept glancing at Ian, who was focused entirely on eating.
"What is it?"
Ian looked at his father in confusion. Clark immediately forced out an awkward smile and casually placed a chicken drumstick into Ian's bowl.
"Eat more. Eat more."
Clark did not want the children noticing his emotions.
"I heard you didn't go to school today. Mom and Dad took you to see a psychiatrist?"
His older brother Jonathan had neat short hair, well-defined features, and the sunny, youthful look of a teenage boy. As a high school football player, Jonathan was far more solidly built than most boys his age.
He was also the calmest and steadiest of the kids in the family.
"I told you being a bookworm would eventually mess you up. See? This proves how right I was."
The second brother was much thinner, and his usual personality was fairly withdrawn.
At home, though, he was a little better. He even knew how to talk trash. He looked at Ian with a teasing expression and lowered his voice as he offered some advice.
"But if you hand me your meds and let me sell them at school, we could both make a killing."
Naturally, those words did not escape their parents' ears.
"Jordan!"
Lois shot the second son a sharp glare, her tone full of displeasure.
"Stop talking nonsense all the time. Your brother is not a bookworm. He just loves studying more than you and Jonathan do. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that!"
Their mother's words made Jordan curl his lip in unconvinced silence.
"And your brother does not need to take any medication either. He just has some anxiety issues, just like you."
Lois immediately added another stern sentence.
Though the attempt to cover things up was a little too obvious.
"This weekend, take your younger brother out and have some fun," Clark said, looking at his reliable eldest son. He felt Ian needed more exposure to social environments.
"Sure. No problem."
Jonathan gave his father an OK sign.
"To be honest, I know quite a few girls who are really interested in Ian."
Jonathan raised a brow at Ian, grinning as he teased him.
"Really?"
Lois looked quite delighted.
"That's right. Girls love his type, the sweet puppy kind."
Jordan poked at the food on his plate while chiming in with a distinctly sour tone.
"I knew it! Just look at how handsome our Ian is!"
Lois said with a bright smile as she looked toward Ian, who was currently locked in battle with a huge steak on his plate.
Ian really did look pretty good.
To put it simply, he had one of those faces that made it easy for people to project themselves onto him.
He had thick, slightly messy brown hair, and deep blue eyes that were highly attractive to the opposite sex. Perhaps only a young Leonardo DiCaprio could really compare.
"I actually wish I were a little stronger."
Ian had no interest in going out with his older brother to meet older girls. After all, he still had no idea when he might end up getting sacrificed.
The Kryptonian blood in his older brothers put a tremendous amount of pressure on him.
"Then come work out with me more!"
Jonathan immediately slung an arm around Ian's neck. Even without having awakened anything yet, he already had strength far beyond that of ordinary teenagers.
Cough cough!
Ian felt like he was being choked out. Fortunately, Jonathan noticed something was wrong and quickly let go, allowing Ian to catch his breath again.
"Oh, sorry."
Jonathan hurriedly apologized.
"It's fine."
Ian rolled his neck a little and did not make much of it. Looking down at his now-empty plate, he asked his parents if he could go back to his room and rest.
"Of course, sweetheart."
Lois kissed Ian on the cheek. After watching him head upstairs at a quick pace, she finally turned to her husband with curiosity.
"What is he hurrying off to do? It should not be textbook studying, right?"
As an old veteran reporter, Lois's instincts had picked up on Ian's mood. Faced with this question, however, Clark had no idea how to answer.
"Mm, it's not studying."
He could only control his facial muscles and say as steadily as possible, "I think children need some private secrets of their own, don't they?"
The same old privacy excuse.
But it worked very well on Lois.
Seeing that she was no longer pressing the matter, Clark secretly let out a sigh of relief. Still, that was quickly followed by the troublesome subjects of Jordan's mental health and his school situation. There was no helping it. Married life for Superman was like this. Keeping a family harmonious gave him far more headaches than fighting disasters ever did.
Maybe...
This was just a stage everyone had to go through.
Even superheroes were no exception.
[You wrote seriously and gained some writing techniques. [Student] Class EXP +1]
[You wrote seriously and gained some writing techniques. [Student] Class EXP +1]
...
In his room, Ian wrote with furious energy.
Unlike Clark, who had no faith in this endeavor, Ian himself was enjoying it immensely. Not only could he put his talent to use, but writing like this also let him gain class experience.
It was simply a perfect deal, winning twice in one move. Ian felt like he had already fallen in love with writing.
Unfortunately, some of the unusual circumstances surrounding him did not seem to approve.
Even though Ian was full of enthusiasm and felt like he could keep writing for several all-nighters in a row, as time passed, a very peculiar wave of drowsiness still arrived right on schedule.
"Sigh. Can't dodge it. Can't escape it."
Ian let out a sigh, set down his pen, and looked at the clock with the resignation of someone accepting his fate.
[11:59]
...
[12:00]
...
As time crossed the boundary between one day and the next right on schedule, Ian felt a familiar spasm shoot through his brain.
Then his vision twisted.
In the next instant, a lead-gray sky, a snow-white earth, and a ruined city full of broken walls appeared right before his eyes.
"Haa..."
Ian was no longer surprised by it. He breathed out, and white mist immediately formed in front of him. This world was reflected in his pupils. The wind howled, snow flew wildly, and the city looked as though it had been silent for thousands upon thousands of years.
Everything was frozen.
And he was the only living thing in this world that could still move.
Perhaps the only living thing at all.
(End of Chapter)
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