[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman":3,"chapter-marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-265":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Marvel: A Lazy-Ass Superman",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1721871,2198,"Chapter 265 - 265 — A Mismatched Circle","marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-265",265,"\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Patreon - Twilight_scribe1\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling that he had just prevented a catastrophic tragedy—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>saving several future AFI \"Greatest Actresses of the Century\" from ruining their twilight years—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry couldn't help thinking:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This completely violates my salted-fish life philosophy… I'm basically doing good deeds now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But eighty-seven-year-old Katharine Hepburn, unlike those energetic young starlets who could glide through crowds all night like mermaids, couldn't stand around forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her legs were getting wobbly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Henry escorted her into a lounge for a break, and to finally eat something proper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The banquet was buffet-style, but when you're busy chatting, just holding a drink already takes effort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nobody is going to balance a heaping plate of food while networking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry naturally wasn't going to leave the old lady alone and then run off to network.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not only did he barely know anyone here—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>his interest in the Hollywood circus had long dwindled—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but the atmosphere was saturated with wariness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even though the younger actors soon learned Henry had no competing Oscar project this year, their guard still didn't drop.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Competition in Hollywood isn't limited to awards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even a nobody who wins the favor of an elderly Academy voter might get priority access to insider casting news, referrals, or roles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Opportunities lurk everywhere, and everyone knows it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Which is why Henry's presence—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>someone who had effortlessly charmed a cluster of old legends—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>made the other young actors extremely uncomfortable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To them, undermining a potential competitor was practically instinct.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry wasn't a mind reader, but with Kryptonian hearing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every whisper, every snide remark, every calculating thought was as clear as day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of the many reasons he didn't want to stay in this circle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not that he expected to find close friends in Hollywood, but being surrounded by hostility wasn't pleasant either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the moment Katharine suggested retreating, Henry practically launched himself after her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, the old lady clearly had some intention behind bringing him here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sooner or later, that would come out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And while talking movies with these old giants was fun, tonight's event was ultimately a campaign party for Oscar hopefuls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone like Henry earnestly discussing cinema here would look out of place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Furthermore—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>this year's Oscars were basically predetermined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Schindler's List.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Directed by Steven Spielberg.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plus the same director's Jurassic Park, the 1993 domestic box-office champion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Best Picture and Best Director were already locked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And in this Jewish-run circle…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>who dared say anything negative about Schindler's List?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One offhand remark and you might get \"humanely disappeared\" the next day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In a world with superheroes, aliens, and mad science…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>the history of that group still played out almost identically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was it fate's joke?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Or something inevitable in the nature of that people…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Anyway—escaping with Katharine was a relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry was really here just to mooch dinner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Hollywood banquets did have good food.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even if most attendees only nibbled, everything was made with real ingredients.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though some dishes were… landmines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry returned carrying two small plates—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>stacked high like edible architecture.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not messy—arranged with layered aesthetics, practically artistic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was as if he had condensed all the buffet's essence into two plates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he avoided the dangerous dishes—the ones that didn't make you sick, but would assault your soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Katharine, who had seen nearly everything in life, was stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry set down the plates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Take whatever you like. I'll handle the rest.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You child…\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Katharine looked at him with a strange mixture of amusement and heartache.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had grown up in a large family—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>her only older brother had died by suicide when she was thirteen,\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>so she had helped raise the five younger siblings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her nieces and nephews and even grand-nieces and nephews were countless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Young people didn't bewilder her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Henry felt… different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like an artist had used layers of sculpting tape to reassemble a shattered glass bottle—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>preserving its shape, even adding some aesthetic appeal—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>but the underlying breakage, the hidden sharp edges, remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such a bottle could no longer hold water.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Katharine had swum through the strangest depths of Hollywood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She knew well the dangers of the highest circles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Survival required intuition and judgment—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>one wrong step could mean disgrace, destruction, or an early grave like Marilyn Monroe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her instincts told her that the fracture inside Henry was real.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And that made her want to watch over him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps that was the same thing Audrey Hepburn had sensed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, Audrey had lived through Europe's worst wars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Developing such intuition was natural.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Katharine didn't know what would happen if all that metaphorical tape were peeled away and Henry shattered again—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>and she had no intention of ever finding out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But every meeting with him left a vivid impression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His behavior constantly left her torn between laughter and exasperation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thankfully, his food plates weren't stacked like a Jenga tower—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>otherwise she wouldn't know where to start.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Go on, eat.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With Henry's \"ladies first\" expression urging her, Katharine picked up a cracker topped with caviar and took a bite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected, Hollywood's banquet ingredients were excellent—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>as long as you avoided the signature boiled chicken breast, the notorious safe-but-soulless staple of Oscar season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn't poisonous—just culinary punishment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To avoid food poisoning, most award contenders stuck to that single dish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Henry's Kryptonian nose made him a perfect food filter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Katharine trusted his judgment—and the caviar did not disappoint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Knock knock knock.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A sudden knock interrupted them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Happy Hogan—the man who had delivered the invitation earlier—stood at the door.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And behind him walked in a very unexpected guest:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tony Stark.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>CEO of Stark Industries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>🎉 Power Stone Goal Announcement! 🎉\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I'll release one bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones we hit!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Let me know what should I do\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your support means everything—let's crush these goals together! Keep voting, and let the stones pile up! 🚀\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\u003C\u002Fp>",974,"2026-06-06T15:31:22.542Z",1,"novelbin.me","2d9314d8371aeb8ae3ae4737ac8f0d1092ef33657fd93938d9d4758677b25a1e","marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-266","marvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-chapter-264",556,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fmarvel-a-lazy-ass-superman-cover.jpg"]