Chapter 4438: Dark Prelude (Part 30)

Clark flew into the air bubble created by Arthur, let out a long breath, and said, "Sorry, I'm used to breathing."

Arthur laughed and said, "Me too. When I first learned to swim, I could even choke on water; would you believe it?"

Clark also laughed, patted Arthur's arm, and said, "I didn't come for anything big, just to remind you that the power that injured Diana is very strange. Looking at it now, only you don't have enough effective defensive means, so you have to be extra careful."

Arthur's face became more serious, and he said, "Is it really that powerful?"

Clark nodded and said, "I know you can detect every change in the ocean, but no one knows if that thing exists in the real world. When it attacks you, it might not even pass through the seawater at all, so you must be extremely careful."

Arthur pursed his lips and said, "I will."

"I heard you are looking for the tomb of your ancestors?"

"That's right, I've been looking for the Tomb of Atlan. Seriously, the Earth's oceans bury too many secrets; I even feel that I can find clues related to the power of death here."

"Do you think he has been to Earth?"

"What hasn't been to Earth?" Arthur asked back. "I think the center of the universe should be moved to the solar system. This is simply a place that must be contested by the universe. All kinds of strange things have to leave some fragments here, and they always fall into the sea."

Clark couldn't refute it, because that was indeed the case. They had seen many strange things during this period, and it wasn't impossible to find some fragments of Death in the sea.

"Then stay in the sea during this period." Clark said. "On one hand, you can have more resistance in the sea and might be able to dodge their sneak attacks; on the other hand, maybe you can really come across some clues to help us better understand that mysterious Death."

Arthur nodded, led him to the palace, and said, "We have started cooperation with the Amazons; the soldiers of the Kingdom of Xebel are catching fish, and then someone uses special water magic to transport the freshest fish to the shore. It just so happens that you grew up inland, and the Amazons also have many tourists from land countries every year, and they are all rich Middle Easterners. Seafood must be made to suit their tastes. Come and help us taste the dishes."

Clark nodded and said, "It just so happens I'm a bit hungry. The burger shop in Metropolis has pitifully small portions; a single-layer cheeseburger is not even half the size of the burger shop in my hometown."

The two of them talked and came to the palace restaurant. A table of dishes was laid out here, and it didn't look like Atlantean style at all: various fried fish, stewed fish, pan-fried fish, and sashimi.

Clark grew up in the inland region, but after all, he had been in Metropolis for a long time; although he couldn't afford high-end restaurants, he could still eat a lot of seafood at company gatherings.

He gave a very pertinent commentary with a fork in his left hand and a fork in his right: "This dish is good. Let me tell you, inlanders like to eat salmon because it has fat and is very tender and smooth, just like fatty meat that isn't so greasy. Fat can neutralize the fishy smell very well. Conversely, this one is a bit fishy; it might be because there is a bit too much lean meat and blood."

"How can that be?" Arthur picked up a fork and tasted it, pursed his lips and said, "Isn't this umami?"

Clark shook his head like a rattle and said, "Many seafoods that people in your coastal cities eat and find very fresh are fishy to inlanders. This is a taste acquired since childhood; there's no way around it."

Clark tasted a few more dishes and expressed his preferences. The suggestions he gave were still very valuable for reference, because he was a purebred American redneck old farmer, and the dietary habits of Kansas were really a bit like the Middle East, with various grilled meats, potatoes, and sausages as the main dishes.

Although Middle Eastern tycoons are used to various high-end seafood, these caught by Atlanteans are authentic deep-deep-deep-sea seafood, and the taste of some is indeed too heavy.

Clark's stomach was like a bottomless pit; he ate as much as he liked. This way, Arthur could determine the popularity of the dishes based on the amount of food he left behind.

The two of them tossed about for a while and basically determined the main dishes. Clark had work to do, so he said goodbye to Arthur. Before leaving, he exhorted repeatedly: "Don't let your guard down, Arthur. Although there is no signal here in Atlantis, Batman must have left a lot of monitoring equipment. Once you encounter anything, you call Batman directly; he will definitely come to help you."

Arthur was a bit amused, but still nodded and sent Clark out the door. But as soon as Clark left, he regretted it a little—he forgot to exhort Clark.

In the Justice League, he really wasn't a very important character. Although he successfully forced Steppenwolf to the surface of the sea before, above the surface, he had no way, and he was not qualified as an attacker either.

But Clark was different; although he hadn't officially joined the Justice League, he was now a spiritual leader and the center of global heat. If the enemy wanted to deal with someone, they would definitely deal with him first; he was the one who should call Batman for help at any time.

Clark returned above the sea and flew all the way to the Presidential Palace. The route from the Metropolis coast to the Presidential Palace was fixed, and Clark wouldn't fly in circles; he always chose the shortest route. He went ashore and flew toward the Presidential Palace.

But just halfway through the flight, Clark felt something was wrong, but he couldn't say exactly what was wrong. Just as he was about to check carefully, he heard shouting coming from below. Clark frowned. Although it was freezing cold and easy to slip, and everyone had a bad temper, it shouldn't be this noisy, right?

There were dozens of people below, all shouting and yelling. Clark felt that this really affected the appearance of the city, so he planned to go down to mediate.

As soon as he went down, he found that, sure enough, four cars had crashed into each other, playing snooker here. Looking to the side, there were three more cars behind the cue ball, and the one in front had already gone into the pocket.

Clark sighed. This kind of pile-up was really unsolvable. Everyone saw him when he flew down, and the arguing was less, but they were clearly still unconvinced.

Clark still felt some abnormality around him, but seeing that the group of people in front of him had already started to move their hands, he had to pull them apart first. After all, he couldn't let this group of people fight here, otherwise he would definitely appear on the front page of the Daily Planet.

"Stop arguing, stop arguing." Clark stepped forward to separate them and said, "No one wants this kind of thing to happen..."

"Who says so!" Someone pointed at his car excitedly and said, "I clearly put on anti-skid tires. If he hadn't hit me, I wouldn't have hit the car in front..."

"I put them on too, it was the one behind that hit me, what's the use of you pointing at me and scolding?"

"I used anti-skid chains! And clearly I had already dodged, you had to turn the steering wheel to hit me..."

"You were the one who hit me first!"

Clark sighed helplessly. In fact, the traffic police and insurance companies had already arrived at this time, but the car accident was too complicated, and it was difficult to determine the main responsibility. But without being able to distinguish responsibility, the insurance company was not very willing to pay, so they were pulling each other here.

"Alright, alright, I'll go talk to them, let them settle the claim as soon as possible, and then I'll help you move the cars, okay?"

Since he had said so, the others couldn't say anything more. So Clark went to negotiate with the police and insurance companies. Everyone recognized that he was the President, and the insurance company didn't dare to be arrogant in front of him, so they quickly divided the responsibility and prepared to start settling the claim.

Clark was ready to start moving the cars, but suddenly heard a scream from the crowd. He looked back and saw that the owner of the cue ball car had directly taken a little girl hostage!

The little girl's family was also stunned; they were one of the four-car pile-up, and hadn't reacted yet, when the child was snatched away. The mother holding the little girl screamed; she just wanted to pounce, but seeing the kidnapper's sharp blade approaching her daughter's neck, she didn't dare.

"Don't, don't!! Tana!!!"

Clark was instantly furious. Daring to do this kind of thing in front of me, I think you don't know the power of aliens!

Clark wanted to shoot a heat ray right there—of course, he didn't want to hit anyone, just wanted to force the kidnapper to run to the side. His eyes were already gathering power, but the little girl cried "waa."

Clark's movement paused. He was afraid of scaring the little girl, so he pretended to step forward to mediate, reaching out one hand while slowly moving toward that side, and said, "Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive! Let's talk things over!"

Before the words fell, with super speed and super sprint, he flashed behind the kidnapper. Superman's speed was naturally unimaginably fast; he directly pulled the other party's wrist and pressed him to the ground. The little girl ran back into her mother's arms at the fastest speed, looking over here with tears in her eyes.

Clark's gaze had been fixed on the little girl, fearing she would be hurt. Seeing her run out successfully, he breathed a sigh of relief, stood up straight, and waved to the police, letting them come to escort the kidnapper.

But just at the moment he stood up straight, the kidnapper actually stabbed back—a dagger was inserted into Clark's chest.

Clark was stunned. He blinked, and his super brain was a bit crashed. His first reaction was: How dare you???

Generally speaking, the criminals he subdued never dared to resist. You saw this person press you there like a teleportation, and that arm seemed like a hydraulic press; as long as you weren't tired of living, it was impossible to have the heart to resist, let alone take a knife to stab.

But the next second, he realized: This dagger actually went in? What about my steel body???

He looked down and understood immediately. The dagger was green—isn't this Kryptonite? He had already fused with Kryptonite power before, so now the dagger was stabbed in, but it didn't hurt at all, and it could still let him think wildly here.

No wonder he felt something was wrong just now. After he fused Kryptonite into one, he could vaguely detect the existence of Kryptonite around him, but he had never used this ability before, so he didn't react to what caused that strange feeling. Coupled with the crowd arguing here, distracting his attention, he didn't realize that someone at the scene was carrying Kryptonite.

Clark picked up the kidnapper on the ground. Seeing the panic on the other party's face, he realized that this should be a tool man, a desperate person who took money to do things. So he threw him to the police.

Looking down at the dagger in his chest again, Clark realized that the person attacking him might have a backward version. But precisely because of this, it was a good time to catch them all in one net.

Clark immediately put on a painful expression, as if just now sanctioning the kidnapper was just willpower. He knelt down while holding onto the car next to him and began to cough continuously. In order to deceive the murderer, he even forcibly squeezed out some blood; today's burger and seafood were eaten in vain.

The people around immediately started shouting: "Mr. President, Mr. President, are you okay!!!"

"The President was assassinated, call an ambulance! Call an ambulance quickly!!"