Chapter 5039

"Hey? Martha? Oh, I'm fine." Clark tried to make his voice sound a little more cheerful, but soon frowned again.

"Video call? Probably not, the signal here isn't very good..."

"Nothing much lately." Clark instinctively flopped onto the bed, but because he was too relaxed, he pulled at the wound on his chest and sucked in a breath of cold air from the pain.

"Ah, no, nothing, just a little cramp." Clark said, "Yeah, I haven't been doing much farm work lately, so I'm a bit out of practice. How's Dad doing? I knew it. Tell him to put less oil on that old truck..."

As Clark spoke, he lowered his head to look at his wound, which had been bandaged quite well, but still ached faintly. He sat on the edge of the bed and sighed, but Martha heard him anyway.

"No, really, nothing, Mom." Clark said, "The part-time job I found pays well, I moved into a better place, and I even have my own kitchen. Next time I come home, I'll definitely bring some of your secret sauce, so I can add a bit when I make my fried rice."

"It's fine, you go ahead." Clark lightly kissed the phone, "Love you guys, good night."

After hanging up, Clark leaned against the wall and rested for a while. He had no idea when Nick Fury would figure out what was in the gun that shot him down. But whatever it was, it was downright vicious, utterly despicable.

Clark considered himself a tough person, but now he even admitted he was in so much pain he wanted to cry. That shot went clean through him; although the bullet was removed and it didn't hit any vital organs, it was essentially like undergoing major surgery, and the wound was still healing.

On top of that, he couldn't stay in a human hospital, partly because the anti-inflammatory and painkillers useful to humans did little for him, and partly because his pain-induced reflexes might hurt the doctors and nurses changing his bandages, so he discharged himself voluntarily.

The medicine provided by the Restoration Alliance helped a little, but only reduced his pain from being unable to move to wanting to cry from the pain; even so, he still had to take care of himself.

After resting a while, he struggled to sit up, walked to the fridge, opened the door, and wanted to find something to eat. Fortunately, the Restoration Alliance's logistics were quite good, and his fridge was already stuffed. He randomly took out a box of fried noodles, walked to the microwave, and shoved it in.

When people are vulnerable, they always want to hear their family's voices. While waiting for the food to heat up, Clark picked up the phone again: "Oh, Mom, I just remembered, I poured diesel into that oil drum in the tool shed earlier, you need to remind Dad..."

A string of complaints came from Martha through the earpiece; Clark smiled, but then, because he moved too much, he tugged at his wound. This time he held it in, so Martha didn't notice anything unusual. The microwave "dinged," he took out the noodle box, and brought it to the table.

"My coworkers are all great to work with." Clark said, "Diana is older than me and always looks out for me...... no, no, she's not my girlfriend, I don't have a girlfriend. And there's Ron, he's a big guy with a great temper, and I really like him too..."

Clark was eating noodles while chatting with Martha, when suddenly his movements froze, because after a pause, Martha on the other end said: "You feel awful, don't you? When you were little, whenever you felt sad, you'd want us to stay with you."

Clark stared there for a long time, didn't put down his fork, but kept shoving food into his mouth, mumbling: "Something came up, but it's not a big deal. I just...... nothing."

"I'm getting ready to go see you with your dad." Martha suddenly said.

Clark stopped chewing, even had half a noodle hanging outside his mouth, his cheeks bulged, only his throat kept moving. He knew Martha well; if she said that, it meant she had already packed her bags and might already be in the car, ready to leave.

This meant that during their first phone call, his mom had already sensed something was wrong, then called his dad, and was preparing to rush over immediately.

Clark couldn't control his emotions anymore, tears kept streaming down his cheeks. He picked up his fork and kept shoving noodles into his mouth, then said: "It's actually good you're coming, visiting New York is beautiful, I even participated in the city's redevelopment, and my name is on the memorial monument."

After hanging up, the noodles were finished. Clark sat at the table, covered his eyes with both hands, tears seeping through his fingers. After sitting there a while, he wiped his face with his sleeve, threw everything on the table into the trash, and walked back to bed to lie down.

That night, Clark tossed and turned, having many chaotic dreams. When he woke up, he felt slightly lighter, the Kryptonian recovery ability was still incredibly strong.

Clark dazedly answered the phone, Diana on the other side said: "You still remember to change your dressing early in the morning? Hurry over."

Clark rubbed his eyes, sat up, grabbed some clothes and put them on. Just as he was about to leave, he remembered he still needed to wash his face and brush his teeth, so he turned back to the bathroom, tidied up, and flew to the Restoration Alliance headquarters.

As soon as he landed, he saw a group of mutants, and Clark immediately tensed up. These people weren't Restoration Alliance members, nor under its jurisdiction, but each was extremely dangerous, and many he wasn't confident he could handle, especially that one called Magneto—just seeing him gave Clark a headache.

Actually, there was no conflict between them; it was just that Magneto's dangerous aura was too strong, and Clark's intuition was very sharp, so he always tried to avoid running into them.

He pretended not to see them, hurried inside. Magneto's gaze lingered on him for a moment, mainly pausing at his chest, then swept past like the wind.

Returning to the infirmary again, Clark sighed, this dressing change was bound to be another ordeal. Diana unwrapped his bandages, then said somewhat pleasantly surprised: "You're recovering quickly. How do you feel?"

"This morning I really don't feel as much pain." Clark said, "Though it might just be psychological, my parents are coming to see me."

"Really?" Diana said happily, "Where are they coming from? Kansas?"

"Yeah, they'll go to the airport first, might have to connect, since it's cheaper that way, then land at the new airport." Clark began to daydream, "I'll go to the airport to pick them up, then take them to the dockside restaurant for dinner. The beach is still too hot during the day, so I plan to take them to the museum first, then go for a walk on the beach at night..."

"Not bad, you can also take them to eat seafood." Diana said while changing his dressing, "If possible, I'd also like to meet them, but the church side is a bit busy..."

"Oh, right, can they visit the church?" Clark asked, "They're both believers, and they've never seen such a big church, they might want to go worship."

"This......" Diana said a bit embarrassed, "I can't decide this, I'll ask for you. But even if they can't get in during rehearsal, they can get in during the wedding."

Clark shook his head: "No, we need to plant winter wheat now, they can't stay here too long, so they probably won't be able to attend the wedding."

"That's really a pity, traditional Catholic weddings are very grand."

"Their wedding was also Catholic back then." Clark said, "Though not so grand, just in the small church in Smallville, I still have their wedding photo."

Diana laughed, looking at Clark as if he were a child. To distract him and keep him from moving, she asked again: "Do you have a girlfriend? What kind of wedding do you plan to have in the future?"

"I don't yet." Clark said a little shyly, "Thinking about marriage now is a bit premature, but I want to hold it on my family's farm, though I don't know if she'd be willing to come back with me."

"Of course, unless you marry into a wealthy family, it's definitely impossible to hold the wedding at the New York Grand Cathedral. I privately asked Carter, the cost of this wedding is astonishing."

"Marry into a wealthy family?" Clark laughed at her comment, "Those three wealthy families are already burning their own asses."

"The joint operation contract has already been signed." Diana said, "Just yesterday, signed at Wayne Tower, though Bruce Wayne didn't show up, it was Thomas who signed, and funding is no longer a concern."

"Have you seen the bride and groom?" Clark asked.

"I've only seen Dick, though it's from another universe." Diana thought for a moment, "Carter said they're trying on wedding dresses today, I'll go over later and should be able to see Starfire...... all right, done."

Clark lowered his head to look; actually, he was still in pain just now, but talking distracted him. Seeing the neatly wrapped bandages, he looked at Diana very sincerely and said: "My parents will definitely be grateful for your care, can we treat you to a meal?"

"Of course." Diana nodded, "Just tell me where you've arranged it, and I'll be there on time."

Clark watched her leave with a smile, but soon couldn't smile anymore, because that damn boss of his sent him another text, telling him to keep an eye on Bruce Wayne, to see if he could find evidence that the guy was a serial killer.

Actually, Clark felt he didn't get along with Spider-Man, the guy's personality was a bit gloomy, he didn't say what he was thinking or feeling, Clark couldn't figure it out, and their relationship had always been distant.

But he also didn't believe Bruce Wayne would be a serial killer; it's just these journalism students, wanting to make a big scoop, kept stalking and invading people's privacy, and after a few days with no results, they'd start making things up.

Though unwilling, he still had to go to class, Clark went home, grabbed his eating utensils, and prepared to loiter near Wayne Tower for two laps. He didn't really intend to take any photos, just to show up on time to fool his boss.

But as the saying goes, better late than never—no, actually, better early than late—he had just arrived near Wayne Tower when he saw Bruce and a woman pulling and tugging at each other.

Clark raised his camera to focus, confirmed it was indeed this universe's Bruce Wayne. Then when he aimed the lens at that woman, Clark widened his eyes in surprise.