Chapter 4303

At this moment, Clark finally grasped that bolt of lightning. He finally understood why he was angry in the first place.

When he was a child, he didn't get angry at his classmates' mockery because he knew they couldn't possibly hurt him. The gap in strength between them was too vast; they could only resort to empty talk.

He didn't get angry when the school bus fell into the water, because even if it had fallen into magma instead of water, it still couldn't have hurt him.

The gossip from his colleagues didn't affect him either. Relying solely on his strength, he could land any job he wanted, and the pay and benefits were quite good, too.

And as for the person who had angered him earlier, the reason he calmed down so quickly was that he realized the other party was too fragile. He could casually hang the man's car on a tree; there was no point in arguing with someone like that.

However, ever since he met Bruce Wei En, the reason he had been constantly angry was that he had started encountering things he couldn't handle.

The first instance they participated in strictly limited their strength, turning him into an ordinary person. Never mind flying or burrowing into the earth; even a small bump less than half a meter high could cause him to sprain his ankle if he walked the wrong way. He was truly ridiculously fragile.

Yet, the enemies in this game were very powerful. The evil spirit that killed Bruce was not only lightning-fast, but its claws were also sharp and lethal. An ordinary person like Bruce would die instantly after being struck once.

Clark had to admit that the moment he saw Bruce die, he was terrified.

Because he understood that he was no different from Bruce at that moment; they were equally fragile. Bruce would die if a monster attacked his artery, and so would he. But he had no way to stop it; he was powerless.

Just like facing the death of that little lamb, it was the first time he had felt helpless. He could move mountains and drain seas, but he could not reverse time or change death. That was why he was so angry.

And later, when he saw the spaceship appearing over Metropolis, he knew that some things he couldn't handle were about to happen. As long as this spaceship appeared, it meant his own kind had arrived, and it also meant he had to make a choice. But even if he chose humanity, humanity wouldn't trust him. He could no longer be a happy, ordinary person on Earth.

He was powerless against all of the above. He couldn't make the spaceship never appear, he couldn't make the human government trust him under these circumstances, and he certainly couldn't let the Earth be destroyed without revealing his identity.

This intense helplessness made him start to feel angry.

And Martha's disappearance was what ignited it all. When he arrived at the Kent farm, when he saw that tragic scene, every molecule in the air reminded him that some irreversible tragedy had occurred, and there was nothing he could do.

The rage of that moment clouded his mind and nearly led to a grave mistake. If Batman hadn't arrived in time, and if his mother had truly been kidnapped, every subsequent act of venting his anger would have been pushing Martha toward the abyss of death.

And Clark finally understood why Bruce had said: "The responsibilities you want to shoulder might force you to commit a grave mistake."

Everyone is like this; the more they know, the more they realize how little they know; the more they want, the more they realize their own powerlessness.

People feel helpless because they want to change—either change their environment or change themselves. And change requires strength.

People often advise those with depression to either change their mindset or change their environment. But in reality, their minds and bodies cannot provide the strength needed for change, which is why they need medication for treatment, rather than just being told to "cheer up."

And once they partially break free from pure depression and truly decide to change, they will need strength. But because their bodies and minds cannot provide this strength, they feel helpless. And helplessness breeds anger, which leads them to cycle between depression and anger, developing bipolar disorder, commonly known as manic-depressive illness.

Many bipolar patients transition into the disorder while on the road to recovery from depression. It is precisely because they have partially broken free from depression and want to change, but then discover they are powerless to do so. The anger born from this helplessness makes their minds agitated, thereby creating a tendency toward mania.

If a person is never satisfied and wants endless things, they will always want to change, and they will always need strength. But no one's strength is infinite—not even Superman's; there are always things he cannot do.

And because he wants too much and is always unable to achieve it, he will always be helpless and always be angry. Eventually, this accumulated anger will erupt as it did before, completely destroying his reason.

If he were just an ordinary person, the biggest mistake he could commit would be, at most, a crime that lands him in prison. But he is Superman; once he loses his reason, the destruction he can cause is extremely terrifying, potentially even destroying the entire Earth.

Thinking of this, Clark broke out in a cold sweat. He realized that Batman taking Martha away and setting up the scene so tragically was actually to provoke him.

Because only in this way could he realize what a terrifying thing it is to lose one's reason. If it hadn't been Batman who took Martha, his irrationality would have caused him to lose his mother forever. Forever.

Clark's current feelings suddenly overlapped with his previous ones. He realized that the heartfelt words Bruce had said to him that night, which might have come from real experience, were perhaps precisely because he, too, had once lost someone forever due to his own irrationality.

Damian Wei En. Clark whispered the name in his heart. He remembered again the terrifying images that flashed through his mind when he saw that tragic scene at the Kent farm.

For him, Martha's death existed only in his imagination; but for Bruce, the death of his son, Damian Wei En, was a real, existing scar.

When Bruce took Martha away, did he think of his child? Would he wonder how good it would be if, at that time, someone like him had taken Damian Wei En and told him it was all just a joke?

Clark couldn't control his emotions anymore; he struggled to inhale, rubbing his face hard in an attempt to numb his tear ducts. But clearly, it wasn't very effective; he felt tears welling up.

It was hard to describe what he was feeling right now. To call it sadness wasn't quite accurate, and to call it being moved wasn't entirely correct either. If he had to say, he suddenly understood that what Bruce told him—that he believed in what he said, "No matter what he becomes, justice or evil, it will change everything"—was true.

Bruce truly believed this. Otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to tear open his own scars just to remind him in this way. He believed that he would definitely change the world, and he hoped it would change for the better.

At this moment, Clark felt an unprecedented peace. Some questions he had been prepared to ask but hadn't yet, and some thoughts that had been circling in his mind without forming complete ideas, all seemed meaningless now.

Because these questions could be summarized into two: where he came from, and where he was going.

Whether it was questions about Kryptonian civilization, his own physiology, the green powder, or how to deal with his own kind, they could all be summarized by these two questions.

And now, he had the answers to both.

He didn't care where he came from. All he had to do was change this world and make it better.

After solidifying this goal, all problems were no longer problems. If injured, he could be treated; if enemies came, he could strike back with heavy blows; if he feared problems, he could keep an eye on them. If all else failed, he could find Batman.

Strangely, after his thoughts gradually solidified, Clark felt as if he weren't as weak as before, and his chest didn't hurt as much either.

He stood up from the sofa, applied a little force, and discovered that he had actually flown up.

Clark had never been so shocked by the fact that he could fly. But it was as if he were flying for the first time; not only was he shocked, but he was also excited, circling the empty living room of Wei En Manor twice before landing on the ground.

He subconsciously reached out to rub his chest, but it still hurt enough to make him wince. So he walked back to Bruce and said, "Lex Luthor hurt me with a strange green crystal. Do you know what that is? Can you take them out?"

Clark heard Bruce sigh.

He immediately became nervous, just like when he saw a doctor at a community clinic and the doctor sighed, telling him to go to a major hospital. This was no different from a visit from the Grim Reaper.

As a result, he heard Bruce say, "If any one of you had even a shred of real knowledge about history and ancient artifacts, none of this would have happened."

Clark blinked; he actually didn't understand what Bruce was talking about at all.

"What thing? What ancient artifacts?"

"I'll tell you some good news," Bruce said, looking at him. "Lex Luthor, the mastermind you thought was pulling the strings from behind the scenes, is actually just a poor sap who got scammed, an illiterate who only knows how to use ordinary search engines to look up information on the internet."

Clark was even more confused. But seeing Bruce walking downstairs, he followed him. They arrived at the Batcave, and the moment Clark stood in front of the screen, he froze.

He saw that green gemstone, and in high-definition photos from countless angles.

"You..." Before Clark could finish his sentence, his professional habit as a reporter made him subconsciously start reading the text on the side.

"'The Serpent of Frigne'? Egyptian artifact? British Museum? So this thing is an artifact in the British Museum?"

Bruce sighed again.

"Don't sigh," Clark couldn't help but say. "So what exactly is going on?"

"Fun fact," Bruce said. "Google search results can be manipulated, Wikipedia pages can be edited, photos can be synthesized with software, and artifacts can be forged."

"This so-called ancient Egyptian artifact, the 'Serpent of Frigne' sculpture mural that supposedly existed in the British Museum, doesn't exist at all. This green gemstone embedded in the snake's tail is the bait used by a damn scammer to fish."

"And you, Clark Kent, as well as Diana Prince, Lex Luthor, and the U. S. military and Congress, are all stupid fish hanging on his hook."

?? Many people watching BvS feel that they stop fighting because of the name "Martha," which is too forced. I feel the same way.

? Actually, I've always found it strange. The movie clearly uses camera shots to hint that Batman suspected he had lost Robin (a son?), and the director also wanted to show that Batman understood Superman is also a person with feelings, and that the two of them could empathize. It could have been filmed as Batman's child being kidnapped by someone else (the comics have similar plots), wouldn't that be more empathetic? But the director just didn't make a point of it. He had to have a very forced name-coincidence trope at the end.

? If you won't do it, then I will. jpg