Clark knew Harry's origins were mysterious, and that he probably would not say something baseless, so he asked with some concern, "What exactly is it? Hurry and tell me."
Harry did not intend to keep him in suspense. He pointed at the Kryptonian battle suit placed to the side and said, "Think about it. You just took a ship from the Arctic and saved a reporter. Don't you think that might lead to consequences?"
"It shouldn't, right? Lois already promised to keep it secret." After Harry put it that way, Clark sounded a little less confident.
Harry said meaningfully, "Maybe Lois won't tell anyone about you, but won't those government agents investigate on their own? Besides, some high-ranking government officials will use any means necessary. If they interrogate Lois, how could an ordinary reporter like her keep a secret under torture?
"Besides, have you ever watched a sci-fi movie?"
Clark was confused. "What does this have to do with sci-fi movies?"
"In most sci-fi movies, the protagonist finds an ancient ruin on Earth and activates it. Then the ancient ruin sends out a signal that attracts an alien invasion.
"So tell me, after you activated the Kryptonian ship, could other Kryptonians come to Earth, slaughter humanity, and occupy the planet completely?
"After all, the AI on the Kryptonian ship once said that Krypton's energy was already on the verge of depletion, and they were desperate to migrate to other habitable planets.
"And Earth has been illuminated by a yellow sun for ages. Kryptonians on Earth would possess superhuman power. To Kryptonians, Earth is undoubtedly an ideal habitable world.
"Most importantly, Kryptonians far surpass humans in both power and technology.
"If a Kryptonian army comes to Earth, then humanity will have no ability to resist. At that point, it will become a living hell where billions die."
This time, Clark fell completely silent.
The situation Harry described really could happen. Clark immediately became tense. Any one of these possibilities would be terrible for him, especially an alien invasion. He had no idea what he should do.
Although he was very powerful compared to other people, if he had to face Kryptonians who were all Superman-level on average, then his strength suddenly seemed insignificant again.
Clark forced a stiff smile. "Those things probably won't happen, right?"
At that moment, however, a knock suddenly sounded at the door.
Knock, knock, knock, knock, knock, knock.
Clark looked toward the door. He had x-ray vision, so he could naturally see who was behind it with ease.
At that moment, Harry's rather amused voice rang out. "Look, the first problem is here. It seems this reporter lady has been investigating you during this period and has successfully found your specific identity."
Clark did not respond to Harry. Instead, he silently stood up, slowly walked to the door, stood there for several seconds, and then opened it.
At the same time, Lois had just been about to knock again when she saw the door suddenly open. Behind it, she saw the figure she had been thinking about constantly.
Their eyes met, and the atmosphere immediately became somewhat awkward. In the end, it was Lois, with her higher emotional intelligence, who spoke first.
"Hi, Clark. I came to thank you."
Clark stared fixedly at Lois. Only when the smile on Lois's face became a little awkward did he finally turn sideways and say in a low voice, "Come in first. We need to talk."
The moment Lois stepped through the door, she saw another person she was familiar with. That person was none other than Harry Potter.
Lois was still very grateful to this mysterious wizard. After all, although it was Clark who had saved her from the machine, it was Harry who had healed her injuries.
So Lois took the initiative to greet him. "Hi, Harry."
Harry patted the sofa cushion beside him and joked, "Sit down, Lois. Clark has mentioned you several times lately. He was just thinking about visiting you, but I didn't expect you to show up on your own."
Lois, who already had a strong favorable impression of Clark, brightened at once. She immediately turned to Clark and asked, "Is that true, Clark?"
Clark originally wanted to deny it, but after seeing Lois's gaze, for some reason, he could not get the refusal out.
So he could only nod silently and shoot Harry an annoyed glare.
Immediately afterward, his expression suddenly turned serious. He sat upright and said in a low voice, "Lois, you shouldn't have come."
Lois was somewhat puzzled and asked, "Why, Clark?"
"If you come here, people with ulterior motives may notice you. That will also expose me to the world," Clark explained seriously.
Lois could not understand it at all. She could not help asking, "Why, Clark? Why do you have to hide like a shadow? What exactly are you afraid of?
"With your power, even if you were exposed, the government wouldn't be able to do anything to you."
Clark turned his back to her, a deep sadness hidden in his eyes.
"My father once said that power draws fear. I once exposed my power before, and I even used that power to save many people. But not only did they fail to feel grateful, they were afraid of me and came to question my father.
"Although some of those people eventually realized they were wrong and chose to thank me, the wound in my heart could never heal."
"That was their ignorance." Lois took a step closer. "Believe me, Clark, most people won't be like that. They'll honor you as a hero."
"And then?" Clark turned around, cold light reflected in his blue eyes. "They'll treat me as a weapon, as a lab specimen, just like they treated that Kryptonian ship. I've seen too many things torn apart because they were different, Lois."
He remembered the wreckage of the ship the Kents had hidden beneath the barn. He remembered his father's silent gaze every time he lost control of his emotions and caused destruction.
"I don't want to become a monster in other people's eyes, or... a god."
Seeing Lois fall silent, Clark continued.
"Lois, let me tell you a story. It's about my father.
"It was during an exceptionally terrible storm. We were stuck on the highway, and an enormous tornado several hundred yards tall was moving toward us.
"My father, Jonathan, helped us leave and go take shelter, but he suddenly discovered that a dog was trapped in a car. He returned despite the danger to save it.
"By then, the storm had already become extremely destructive. I had superpowers that would have allowed me to save my father easily, but Jonathan knew that exposing my abilities might bring me unpredictable danger.
"Human fear of unknown power might have led to me being studied or hated.
"So Jonathan firmly stopped me from saving him with his eyes and gestures, while he was swallowed by the tornado.
"His sacrifice was to protect my identity from being revealed too early, so that I could face this world at a more suitable time. It also made me deeply understand the responsibility and restraint behind hiding power.
"That is why I don't want to expose my power to the world. So, do you still want to keep persuading me to step into the public eye?"
Lois was speechless. She looked completely at a loss and could only repeat, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know."
Clark shook his head. "You don't need to apologize. It's nothing. It happened a long time ago.
"The reason I brought it up is only to tell you that unless it is absolutely necessary, I must not appear in front of the public.
"This is not only because I may be in danger if I rashly appear before the world, but more importantly, because I cannot go against my father's last wish."
Behind them, Harry looked thoughtful. He felt that Clark's father's purpose was probably not that he did not want Clark to appear before the public.
With Clark's strength, even if a nuclear bomb exploded beside him, it would not be able to harm him in the slightest. With Earth's current sub-Type-I civilization, it was simply no match for Clark.
The reason Clark's father did not want Clark to appear before the public was most likely that he did not want Clark to come into conflict with the government. Otherwise, the world might gain a terrifying terrorist.
And this terrorist would be completely different from any other terrorist. He would be an untouchable terrorist who could act outside the law.
That would be the greatest natural disaster this world had ever seen.
...
After Lois left, Clark closed the door and sat on the sofa across from Harry.
He asked helplessly, "Now that the problem is gone, are you still not leaving? Are you really planning to keep living in my house?"
Harry shook his head. "Who said there was only one problem? Maybe this was just the most insignificant little problem. After this, there may be an even more difficult problem waiting for you. Don't forget what I mentioned earlier."
"You mean aliens? Are there really aliens coming? The information in the Kryptonian ship clearly said Krypton had already been destroyed."
Harry shook his head and did not answer.
...
A few days later, inside a military base.
General Swanwick received an emergency notice and walked toward the research room inside the military base.
The moment he arrived, General Swanwick asked with a face full of dissatisfaction, "You should know that I was on vacation not long ago. What exactly did you suddenly call me here for? If this is an ordinary problem, then I'm going to lose my temper."
A professor handed a document to General Swanwick.
"General, we've discovered a flying object in outer space suspected to be an alien spacecraft."
General Swanwick clearly did not believe it. "How are you sure that it's an alien spacecraft and not something like a comet?"
The professor helplessly explained, "General, can a comet alter its own flight trajectory?"
"Did you request communication with them? Why are they coming to Earth?"
"We attempted communication, but they gave no response. They are currently traveling along the Earth-Moon orbit."
General Swanwick wanted to keep asking questions, but suddenly, every screen in the military base filled with static.
...
That day, in Clark's house, Harry and Clark were playing a fighting game.
Both of their reaction speeds far exceeded those of ordinary people, so the match was extremely intense.
Before the game started, Clark had been very confident. After all, with his reaction speed, he had almost never lost at games since childhood.
Even now, he still did not know what level his reaction speed had reached.
But as the game continued, he was stunned to discover that he was actually not Harry's match.
Because although his reaction speed far exceeded that of ordinary people and even surpassed Harry's normal state, Harry was secretly using magic.
Harry had actually accelerated the flow of time for himself and the game console's display, leaving only Clark still operating at the normal flow of time.
So even though Clark pushed his reaction speed to its peak, he still felt that the images on the screen were changing a little too quickly.
After losing the game, Clark said with some dissatisfaction, "Harry, you cheated. You sped up time."
Harry shook his head. "Even though I sped up time, that is still my own ability. And your reaction speed far exceeds that of ordinary people. Isn't that cheating too?"
Clark was just about to argue with Harry when he suddenly seemed to sense something and turned to look at the television in the living room.
The television, which had been displaying the game screen moments earlier, suddenly flickered and turned into static.
At that moment, not only the television in Clark's living room, but televisions and computer monitors all over the world began flashing static without warning.
Immediately afterward, a blurry face emerged within the static.
That face was unusually cold and stern. His voice was deep, transmitted through radio waves to every corner of the world.
"You are not alone... You are not alone... You are not alone...
"I am General Zod. I come from a distant world utterly unlike your own, and I have crossed the vast sea of stars to reach this place.
"For a long time, your world has sheltered one of my people. I demand that you return him to me."
In the image, behind General Zod was the complex metal structure of a Kryptonian ship, with dim blue streams of energy flowing between the conduits.
"He has deliberately concealed his existence and worked hard to blend in among you. His appearance may be no different from yours, but he is absolutely not one of your kind.
"If anyone knows his whereabouts, then Earth's fate is now in your hands."
He narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze filled with unquestionable authority.
"Kal-El, I declare this to you, surrender within twenty-four hours. Otherwise, watch and see whether this world can bear the consequences of war between us and Earth."
Clark looked blank. From the information inside the Kryptonian ship, he had learned his Kryptonian name.
It was exactly the same as what that voice had said, Kal-El.
After the voice on the television disappeared, Harry looked at Clark with great interest and asked, "Clark, what have you decided to do? Are you going to surrender, or are you going to fight?"
"Harry, what about you? What do you think I should do?"
"The right to choose isn't mine. It belongs to you, Clark. You need to think clearly about what you truly want in your heart."
After a period of silence, Clark said uncertainly, "Maybe I should surrender. That could save Earth, but I'm certain that guy named Zod can't be trusted.
"So perhaps I should negotiate with the higher levels of the government and decide how this should be handled. Should I surrender, or should I stand with Earth and resist the Kryptonians?
"But what worries me even more is, can the higher levels of the government be trusted?"
Harry could not give an answer about the previous choice, but when it came to whether the higher levels of the government could be trusted, Harry was completely certain.
"That, I do know. Trust me, Clark, they absolutely cannot be trusted."
//Check out my P@tre0n for 30 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810.