Chapter 2619

"When I was about to leave this town, I realized that my father had many employees under him. Many of them weren't that wealthy and relied on working at my father's farm to earn money. The agricultural products exported here also feed many people—the truck drivers delivering goods, the supermarket cashiers selling goods, and even the supermarket cleaners."

"I have a responsibility to them. I must keep the Kent farm running as usual to maintain their lives. This is the point of view my father told me, and I have always kept it in mind."

"But in essence, working in the fields day after day has no special meaning for me. It is just a kind of labor I perform to take responsibility. I don't hate it, but I can't say I like it either. By comparison, I still prefer the profession of a reporter."

"If I really loved doing farm work, I wouldn't have left that small town. Many children of farm owners there are like that; they don't go to college, don't go to big cities, and might even live in this small town for their whole lives."

"Whenever I think about the fact that I once had this choice, I feel a bit glad that I came to Metropolis. I like everything here very much, and perhaps it's also because I became bored with that rippleless life in Smallville."

"Later I went to Mexico. It was a bit too thrilling there, but this brought me the biggest change, finally making me realize what the process of breaking the soil, sowing seeds, and harvesting crops actually means."

"What I once regarded as a simple labor process was because I had never worried about the harvest. With such a large piece of land producing grain, our family of three couldn't finish eating it in several lifetimes. What does it matter if we produce more or less?"

"Whether the grain harvest is good or bad is just a string of numbers to me. When the numbers are higher, it means my father will be a bit happier, might even buy me new toys, and my uncles will also have smiles on their faces."

"When the harvest is low, they aren't particularly unhappy either. Occasionally they will complain about the weather and encourage each other to try again next year. My father just sighs worriedly and soon goes back to his room to study how to improve production."

"But it's not like that in Mexico. From the moment the seeds are planted, everyone starts praying with an attitude that can be called pious, just so that one more ear can grow on a corn seedling."

"Their support for this labor process is fanatical, even deriving many cultures that make no sense at all. Every village will chant different spells when sowing corn seeds, believing that this will lead to a bigger harvest."

"When they have a good harvest, they praise the land and the harvest god with a fanaticism that transcends any pious believer. That posture makes me feel that even if the harvest god suddenly descended and wanted them to sacrifice themselves, they would definitely agree."

"And when they have a poor harvest, that is not sadness or worry at all, but a terrible despair, a pain that can be called tragic, a death atmosphere I have never seen before that makes me feel fear."

"I walked through such villages and felt that everyone was a walking corpse. They drifted past me like wandering souls, losing all the vitality I usually saw in them, yet I had no way to comfort them at all."

"Because I know that someone will go hungry in the next period of time. Hunger is an emotion that cannot be comforted. You will feel your stomach devouring your heart, devouring your brain, devouring everything you have, dragging your arm to stuff everything you can eat into your mouth."

"Humans who are hungry for a long time don't look like humans at all. They look like weird creatures that rushed out of another space. Their eyes, behavior, and attitude are completely different from humans. They have already alienated into something else."

"That kind of look in their eyes makes me feel fear."

"In the process of going south with Oliver, we saw too many such people. They often crouched in the corners of rooms, covered with rags, lying in the corners of streets, by the side of sheep pens, and by wells, staring at you with a straight, unblinking look."

"For a long time, I didn't dare to look at this kind of look at all. When I gave them food, I dared not look at their frantic expressions even more. That greatly shook my understanding of the human species. They are not like this."

"But later, we let many such people eat their fill, which made me realize that the problem wasn't them, but their stomachs that were empty for a long time and had nothing."

"Grain is the best magic weapon to drive away the demons entangled in them. When they see the harvested grain and calculate that there is enough grain for them to have a share, the fire in their eyes is so vigorous that it wants to burn their own souls."

"At that moment, I deeply understood the meaning hidden behind the labor of cultivation—it is a kind of hope."

"When breaking the land, one fantasizes about the wheat seedlings sprouting. As soon as the wheat sprouts break through the soil, one thinks about them growing tall and big. As soon as the wheat seedlings change color, it makes people fantasize about the scene of heavy wheat ears bending them down. As soon as the wheat ears enter the basket, the fragrance of cooked rice has already drifted into the nose."

"There has never been any work in this world that is so full of hope, full of gratitude, and so moving from beginning to end."

"When I returned to Smallville again, when I saw that piece of land that grew the grain that raised me, some emotion made me so excited that I wanted to shed tears."

"I felt that I couldn't wait to rush to the fields, bury the seeds in the fertile land that had been carefully managed with my own hands, sit on the ridge and wait for the seeds to sprout, watch the entire process of them growing without blinking, and eat a big bowl of rice when I was hungriest and most tired."

A warm luster flickered in Clark's blue eyes, like the last touch of blue rubbed into the sunset glow. Schiller had to look away slightly—damn blue eyes.

"For a long time after that, whenever I saw any farmland, I would start calculating in my heart what to plant in this field, when to start planting, about what month it could be harvested, how much could be harvested per acre... Later, it even reached the point where I would think about how many cabbages could be planted when I saw other people's flower pots."

"The extra fanatical emotion I held was noticed by my father. I told him about my experience in Mexico. He said I did a good job, and he also told me about his complex for the land."

"The Kent family is different from the Mexicans. We had long since passed the stage of having enough to eat. Cultivation is like a kind of inheritance for us. From my great-grandfather, grandfather, to my father, our family has worked on this land for generations."

"Such a piece of ordinary land raised us for several generations, let us build such a large farm and ranch, let my father become a quite famous farm owner, and also let me go to the big city and see a broader world."

"This makes me feel very magical, because cultivation is a quite simple labor, and the production process of grain is not complicated, yet it can do such great things."

"This made me gradually start to understand the fanaticism of those Mexicans. The land is so tolerant and kind to give us so much, yet it seems everyone has ignored this point."

"There is no civilization in this world whose roots are not in the land. It has been the same for thousands of years, the foundation for people to build complex and exquisite anthills, through wind and rain, without asking for anything in return."

"This makes me feel shocked and makes me become humble. If there can only be one god in this world that humans should sincerely respect and worship, it is definitely not above their heads, but under their feet."

"The world is too broad, making everything look extremely small. Compared with the land that raised all of humanity, I am no different from those worker ants busy in the anthill."

"Whenever I think of this, I will have a sense of security that makes me feel at ease, because when I walk on this land, when I work here, when the seeds I sow sprout, when I am still a negligible mayfly in this boundless world, it raises me just as it raises you. I am no different from you."

"I am no longer a rule maintainer executing the justice in my heart, no longer your father, but just like you, a son of the land. This makes me feel relaxed and refreshed."

"Perhaps this will also be the biggest difference between me and other Supermen," Clark said with a smile. "It's not about whether we take violent means, but about what we do this for."

"If I regard myself as a god, the prerequisite for maintaining fairness is to be outside this society, to be an observer who surveys the whole picture, to become an existence like wind, frost, rain, and snow."

"And if I only regard myself as a child in this world who is no different from you, I can, like you, use my own means to pursue the justice I want, striving for it at all costs for myself and my compatriots."

"This makes a big difference. I will no longer be a judge of justice. My justice might no longer be axiom, not that this society has formulated some rule that you are not allowed to do this, so I definitely don't allow everyone to do this, not that the vast majority of people in this society have chosen this, so I definitely think this is right."

"After this, I will only have one criterion: there shouldn't be any hunger demons entangling humans in this world. They should obtain the nutrients they should have from the land under their feet. There is no justice greater than having enough to eat."

"If this is different from some social rule, I will overturn this rule. If this is not the choice of some people, I will confront these people. This is what I will do."

"As for violent means, there is no need to worry so much," Clark's tone started to become cold. He said, "My brain's efficiency in mobilizing limbs and controlling limbs is thousands of times higher than humans'. I can hit the precise value of the digits after the decimal point they want on any existing human strength testing equipment."

"My mental state is also very stable. My emotion operation logic and output method are clearer, more definite, and healthier than 99% of the people in this world. I simply won't lose control."

"Then you are too humble," Schiller said from the bottom of his heart. "Believe in yourself, you are much more stable than all of humanity, whether it is the individuals among them or the whole they integrate, whether it is personal consciousness or collective consciousness, it is hard for them to be healthier than you."

Such a straightforward attitude made Clark feel a bit embarrassed. He looked at Schiller and said, "Really? Doctor, do you rate me so highly?"

"You have to believe me, I might be unscrupulous, but I am definitely not a quack."