The next day.
Morning.
Soft sunlight spilled into the Kent family kitchen.
The mistress of the house, Lois, had woken up early, full of love for her family, ready to make a hearty breakfast for her three children. Humming a cheerful tune, she walked to the kitchen and pulled open the cabinet door.
The star reporter expected to see a cabinet full of ingredients, but the sight before her instantly froze the smile on her face.
Behold.
The cabinet was very clean.
Too clean, to the point of being absurd.
She couldn't even find a shard of a cereal box or cookie box. Lois rubbed her eyes, confirming she was awake, and rushed to the refrigerator in the kitchen.
Milk, frozen pizza, eggs, frozen chicken nuggets... none of these were present. All that was there were a few boxes of her face masks, and the boxes were open, as if someone had peered inside to check if they contained food.
"What on earth happened?"
Lois couldn't help but gasp, and an ominous feeling arose in her heart. Her first reaction was that the house had been robbed, so she quickly went to check the family's valuables. Fortunately, none of the valuables were missing. Unfortunately, there wasn't a single thing left in the house that could be called food.
Lois checked the doors and windows; there were no signs of forced entry.
"Clark!" Lois stood in the center of the living room, her brow deeply furrowed. She couldn't understand how a thief could only steal food and leave everything else untouched.
Just then.
Clark, hearing her call, yawned as he walked downstairs.
"Didn't you hear any unusual movements last night?" Lois looked at her Superman husband. A man who could hear every cry in the entire city shouldn't be oblivious to a robbery in his own home.
"Maybe it was mice."
Clark glanced at the kitchen and understood why Lois was asking. His expression was strange, and he hesitated before finally choosing to fabricate an absurd reason.
"Mice?"
Lois was nearly laughing in exasperation.
"Don't worry, leave it to me." Clark immediately vanished from the spot. From Lois's perspective, he was only gone for a few seconds before he returned home with a large pile of groceries.
"Hmm?"
Lois eyed her husband suspiciously. She suspected that Clark had given in to his "pig addiction" the night before and eaten all the food in the house, otherwise there was no explanation for the mysterious disappearance of the food.
She wanted to ask.
However, because of her shouting just now, her eldest son Jonathan and second son Jordan were also coming down the stairs after getting ready. Neither she nor Clark planned to let the children find out her husband's identity so quickly.
"I'll settle accounts with you tonight!"
Lois shot Clark a look, then turned and entered the kitchen to start frying eggs.
"Morning, Mom and Dad."
Jonathan walked up to the refrigerator, pulling out a carton of milk from the fridge—one that was perhaps blessed by Superman's "freeze breath."
Jordan silently sat down at the dining table, waiting for the meal to begin.
"Jordan, go wake up Ian."
Lois was busy at the stove, speaking without lifting her head.
Ian's second brother, Jordan, still looked half-asleep, resting his face on one hand, his eyes groggy. "I heard him leave early this morning."
Hearing this.
Lois frowned.
"Didn't I tell him to rest at home for a few days?"
Her voice carried a hint of worry. At this time, the expressionless Clark was helping her, carrying the fried eggs and toast to the two children.
"You can't keep a bookworm down. He just loves to study." Jordan shrugged, a subtle sense of admiration in his tone—he truly respected his little brother. He looked like he'd "fired missiles" and ended up looking like a ghost last night, yet he still managed to get up early today and go to school.
It served the guy right for having good grades!
"Let me talk to Ian tonight." Jonathan took up the responsibility of the older brother. He mixed milk and coffee into his protein powder.
As a football player.
This was a standard breakfast.
The flesh is weak.
He had to rely on technology and sheer effort to lead him through the fierce field battles.
...
Metropolis Public Middle School.
Sunlight streamed through the windows onto the desks, forming patches of bright light. There were only a few people in the entire classroom, and Ian was resting his chin on his hand, staring at the System panel only he could see.
Superhuman Profession: Berserker LV1 (6/10)
He could only say that this leveling speed had truly not met his expectations. There was no helping it, he hadn't managed to exploit a system bug, preventing him from becoming a perpetual leveling machine.
"Although I don't have a mana bar, my skills clearly can't be used infinitely either." Ian sighed slightly, looking as melancholy as if he had aged to eighteen in one breath.
"First, I must strengthen my body." Ian pondered internally. "Although my current body is much stronger than before, only a stronger physique can withstand a fiercer leveling method, allowing my Superhuman Profession to level up faster so that I can smoothly knockout my father with two punches when my rebellious phase arrives."
Ian, harboring great ambition, was planning his adolescence. While he was calculating, a strong perfume scent continuously approached. Without turning his head, he knew his deskmate had arrived at school.
"Yo, isn't this Ian who skipped school for a day? Where did you go yesterday?" Madison Montgomery plopped down next to him, her long blonde hair sweeping out a dazzling arc.
"Metropolis."
Ian didn't turn around, giving a dry response.
"What fun is there in Metropolis that would make a study maniac like you miss Monday's class?" Madison pouted and rolled her eyes dramatically.
She was wearing elaborate makeup today, with meticulously separated mascara-coated lashes and brightly colored rose-red lipstick. The buttons on her school uniform shirt were deliberately undone by two, exposing a mid-range consumer-level necklace underneath.
"I went to Hollywood on Saturday and Sunday. Though I didn't run into any scouts with keen eyesight, I did bump into a guy who was even handsomer than you outside a bar called the 'Bar of Light'." Madison was a girl who enjoyed sharing, though most of the time her sharing was meant to satisfy her vanity.
"But handsome is handsome, that guy isn't my type, especially his refusal to let me into his bar because I'm underage—that was truly annoying."
"In your words, he's a low-key guy. Seriously, when I walk out looking like this, who would think I'm only fourteen? I've even managed to sneak into Metropolis bars twice!"
There.
The boastful content arrived, though delayed.
Ian wasn't interested in bars, but he was still intrigued by Madison's words. The young man stared at his deskmate, his expression rather astonished.
"I have to say, little delinquent, you have some nerve." Ian praised her genuinely, even putting down his book and giving his brave deskmate a thumbs-up.
Madison was stunned for a moment.
"Of course!"
Then she responded proudly.
Clearly, the blonde girl thought Ian was complimenting her audacity to go to bars. However, in reality, Ian's heart twitched a few times when he heard the name "Bar of Light." If Ian remembered correctly, the person who ran that place was one of the few existences his father couldn't beat on Earth.
At least, not under normal circumstances.