Chapter 4315

"Casualties of 2,000???" Clark really couldn't help but exclaim. No, he had lifted the building up the first moment, so how could there be 2,000 casualties???

For a moment, Clark truly suspected whether he had arrived too late, causing the fragile humans inside to be flung into the filling of a pie during the building's collapse.

But he carefully recalled that when he lifted the building, the angle of the building's tilt definitely didn't exceed 15 degrees. It was possible that they suffered some minor injuries from hitting the wall due to the sudden tilt, but this degree of tilt only lasted for about two seconds, so it shouldn't have killed anyone, right?

But if they said 2,000 casualties, it meant there might have been 1,999 injured and only one dead. This was truly learned from journalism.

However, even if 2,000 people were injured, Clark didn't quite believe it. He didn't just have the super strength to lift a building; he also had super hearing and super vision. When he flew over to lift the building, the people inside weren't actually screaming particularly loudly; it was more like gasps of surprise rather than screams of agony.

After all, he was right under the building at that time, and it only took two seconds from hearing the sound of the building collapsing to flying over. Many people might have just discovered the floor gradually tilting and then shouted in surprise, only to be caught immediately. Many people hadn't even reacted to what had happened by the time the building was leveled.

This news was too exaggerated, Clark couldn't help but think; they were truly bragging without drafting.

He sat down on the sofa with his water and shook his head. Although he had been a reporter for so long, he still couldn't get used to this kind of exaggerated rhetoric in the news industry. Making things up just to attract attention was too much.

He changed a few more channels and found that they were all saying similar things. Some said over 2,000, some said over 3,000, and some even said over 10,000 were injured.

The news pictures were also a mess. There were pictures of ambulance traffic jams taken from who knows where, various people crying while being interviewed, and some shop owners vividly describing how terrifying the disaster was.

After seeing too much, Clark even doubted himself. Fortunately, he was an eyewitness to the event; if he hadn't been at the scene, he would have really believed it.

Wait a minute. Clark took out his phone and started checking the Luthor Group's stock, and then he gasped.

It was true; if the casualty figures reported in the news were true, this would definitely be the most tragic accident since the 21st century. An accident of this level was enough to crush a super-conglomerate.

It wasn't that public opinion was really useful, but that those who wanted to take their place, or those who wanted to carve up the corpse, wouldn't let go of this excellent opportunity.

Clark sighed, what was called "you reap what you sow." However, he felt this should be called "evil people have their own evil people to deal with." Luthor, that damn bastard, could be considered to have fallen into Schiller's hands. Just for this point, after things were over, he had to treat Schiller to a meal.

After finishing a glass of water, Clark flipped through his phone, preparing to call Diana to ask about the situation on her side. Before the number could be dialed, a call came in.

"Hey, Clark Kent! Where are you?!"

This voice was inexplicably familiar, and Clark hadn't reacted for a moment. But soon he heard the person on the other side say: "I'm Luthor, I'm coming to find you now!!"

"Wait, why are you coming to find me?!" Clark stood up from the sofa and said, "Don't come, be careful I beat you up!"

"I need to see you now!!!" Luthor roared on the other side, "We must meet immediately! Right now!!!"

Clark's anger also flared up. He said in a low tone to the other side: "Are you crazy? Luthor?! What kind of relationship do we have? What necessity is there for me to see you?! Get lost!"

After saying that, he hung up the phone and angrily threw it onto the sofa. He stood in place for two seconds, then picked up the phone again, turned it off directly, and placed it on the table to the side.

Anyway, it didn't take long for him to fly to the North Pole, so he might as well go directly to find Diana. He could personally confirm the research results there and avoid Luthor going crazy at him.

Saying go, he went; Clark flew directly toward the North Pole. At his speed, leaving at dusk, he would arrive at the North Pole before it got dark. After circling the North Pole, he finally found Diana's base.

"My God, couldn't you just make a phone call?" Diana said somewhat helplessly, "You really want to scare the scientists at the other research stations to death; they thought they had encountered a yeti!"

Clark laughed and said: "Although I'm a bit strong, I'm not at the level of a yeti, right?"

"Do you want to see what you're wearing?" Diana reached out and tugged at the string on his hoodie.

Clark only then remembered that he had been in a bit of a hurry when he left and had forgotten to wear a coat. So in the eyes of the personnel at other research stations, he was wearing a thin hoodie, walking out of the snow, and knocking on their base's door. Treating him only as a yeti could only be said to be a lack of imagination on the part of the research station personnel.

Clark shook his head to shake off the snowflakes on his head, and then said: "How is your research going?"

"Actually, not bad. Being a scientist is quite interesting. If it weren't for a pile of work waiting for me at the museum, I would want to be stationed in the North Pole permanently."

"There will be such a day." Clark thought for a moment and said.

"Oh, Doctor, it's great to see you." Clark walked up to hug the expert and said, "I wanted to come and confirm if everything is going smoothly for you."

"Not bad, I haven't been so focused on research for a long time." The expert said, "I'm comparing the difference between Kryptonian atmosphere and Earth's atmosphere, and my assistant is cracking the radiation detector."

Just as he was saying this, the assistant walked over with the radiation detector and said: "Doctor, I successfully read some data from it, but it's not complete. Can you see if you can make anything of it?"

The expert frowned and said: "Don't be too impatient. Without complete data, decoding might be very difficult. After all, we need to find the pattern of the numbers to be able to..."

"Sorry, can I take a look?" Clark said, "Not long ago, I discovered that I know the Kryptonian language; maybe I can help a little."

"My God, then you can be a big help." The expert hurried over from the experimental bench, took off his goggles, and leaned over to Clark's side. Clark picked up the printed text and read:

"The star's radiation is 9... uh, what what compare... um... 63..."

The expert looked at Clark with skeptical eyes, and Clark's face turned red instantly. He scratched his cheek and said: "Sorry, I might not be very good at English."

Diana, who was on the side, covered her forehead and said: "You don't understand professional terminology, right? Why not express it in layman's terms?"

"Okay. The meaning of this term is, here and here compare..."

"Ratio."

"The meaning of this term is, if it's high, it's high..."

"Positive correlation."

"This refers to a certain tiny object..."

"Particle."

"This should be the code for some element, and this one here is also the code for something, with no practical meaning..."

"That should be an element."

Clark spent a lot of effort and finally decoded the information as much as possible. Although the expert was a bit helpless, he patted his arm and said: "Thank you, you really were a big help."

Clark wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Why had he been acting like a stupid bumpkin in front of everyone lately?!

Clark began to suspect whether he was really too stupid and uncultured. He was truly going to be cried to death by his own stupidity.

Diana seemed to see his frustration; she patted Clark on the shoulder and said: "Don't worry, the lifespan of your species should be as long as mine. Calculating it this way, you're still a little baby, so just take it slow."

Clark couldn't help but cover his face. He finally understood why Diana was so patient with him. In her eyes, he was just a little baby who couldn't understand human language and only knew how to cry and make a fuss. Although it was a bit annoying, because he was truly too small, she couldn't be too harsh.

Then he remembered what the black officer had said to him before he entered the dream—"You are still too young."

So that's how it is? Clark began to suspect that although he had grown to look like a human adult, on Krypton, he was still just a child?

Thinking of this, Clark couldn't help but be curious about what the average lifespan of his species was, at what age one was considered an adult, at what age one should have the ability to take care of oneself, how many years they went to school, and when they could work.

Clark had originally thought that he wouldn't care about these things because he grew up on Earth and only regarded Earth as his hometown; what Krypton was like had nothing to do with him.

But now it seemed that this view was a bit superficial. Every intelligent life had the instinct to seek its roots, because only by understanding the normal state of one's own species and hometown could one use it to compare with oneself and then recognize oneself.

At this very moment, Clark realized that his approach of comparing himself to the humans around him might be wrong.

Because he looked like an adult just like them, he felt he was an adult; because he could handle daily work just like them, he felt he could work too. But in reality, it might be completely different.

He looked the same as them only because the development cycle was different; Kryptonians just grew taller first. And he could handle daily work because he had a super-brain and good innate conditions; he could have the IQ of a 30-year-old at age 5.

But in reality, his mental development might not be as mature as the humans around him, so his emotional self-control seemed relatively poor, his reasoning ability was insufficient, and he lacked education and knowledge, ultimately appearing stupid.

Clark closed his eyes and sighed. The most urgent task now was to read more books. He really couldn't continue to be a bumpkin who couldn't even speak properly.

"Um, can you lend me your phone?" Clark looked at Diana and asked, "I left my phone at home."

"Sure, but what do you need a phone for?"

"I want to look up a dictionary." Clark said, "I think there should be an English term that can accurately describe my current state."

Diana clearly didn't understand but respected his wish, so she gave the phone to Clark. Clark looked it up for a long time, from anthropology to sociology, and then to psychology, and he really found a very suitable term. This term was "Regression," which refers to a defense mechanism where a person, when facing pressure, actively or unconsciously regresses to an early psychological stage (infancy), manifesting as emotional release like crying and making a fuss, and then seeking comfort. It sounded like a perfect match for him.

This made Clark realize even further that anger stems from helplessness, and helplessness is a regressive manifestation.

Humans in infancy have no active ability, which is "complete helplessness." At this time, when they have needs, they can only remind the people around them to satisfy them by making sounds, that is, crying and making a fuss.

And anger is actually a kind of inertia produced by the expression of physical discomfort when helpless in infancy. In essence, it is still reminding others "I need help."

In fact, anger is also more common in victims, or more accurately, self-perceived victims. People think they have been infringed upon and think they need help, so they release a distress signal through angry expressions. This is an instinct.

Just as Clark was delving into psychological knowledge, Diana's phone suddenly rang. As soon as she picked it up, Luthor's angry roar came from the other side again: "Clark Kent!!! I know you're there!!!"

But this time, Clark didn't rush to hang up the phone, because he had already discovered that Luthor's unprovoked angry expressions weren't because he was crazy, but because he needed help, or more accurately, he was asking for something from him.