To be honest,
Ian did not like them big.
But sometimes his eyes had ideas of their own.
While checking information about the plane accident, Ian had also replayed the cheerleader's video four or five times.
It was all for the sake of being thorough. He was only looking for accident details he might have missed.
"Way too fake. The amount of surgery and enhancement is ridiculous. It seriously affects my ability to observe all the fine details about the direction Dad flew in from."
Ian's criticism carried real weight. Cautiously, he deleted his browser history, then expertly formatted the hard drive, filled it with genuine scientific study materials, and formatted it again.
The whole sequence was smooth and practiced.
A display of pure brilliance.
It was definitely a level of wisdom Jonathan and Jordan could never reach even if you added them together.
Actually sleeping tonight had never been an option. Pulling an all-nighter was the obvious choice. Ian spent the entire night searching through online discussions and social platforms for related topics.
And he really did find some useful information buried in forums and smaller online circles.
The next day,
Ian was a little disappointed that he had failed to stay up long enough to get dark circles, kidney weakness, or that drained, half-dead look. While criticizing his body for being too strong, he walked out of his room.
Morning light streamed through the blinds, cutting golden stripes across the dining table.
The air
was filled with the smell of grilled meat and eggs. Ian poked at the scrambled eggs on his plate with a fork, but the corner of his eye stayed fixed on Clark in the kitchen. Superman was humming to himself as he stuffed bacon into sandwiches.
"Do you want blueberry jam too?"
Clark turned to look at Ian, who had been staring at him. There was nothing strange in his expression, nothing that suggested illness, and as he spoke he set a finished sandwich down on Jordan's plate.
"No thanks."
Ian shook the milk carton in his hand, and the plastic container gave a hollow sound.
"I'm full. I'm heading to school. You all enjoy your wonderful breakfast."
As he spoke, he stood up and slung his backpack over one shoulder.
"Wait. We're walking you to school!" Jonathan said between bites of chicken breast. As a key football player, he always had his own strict diet plan.
"Yeah. What if you run into yesterday's kidnapper again? That would be way too dangerous." Jordan also tried to grab Ian, but Ian's physical ability still far exceeded his for the moment, and he slipped out the door in a flash.
Clark did not stop him.
He even stopped Jordan from chasing after him.
"Your brother is very smart. You need to trust that he can protect himself." Clark knew there were things he could not explain yet, so he chose a more indirect way of getting his point across.
However,
"He's still a kid. He can protect himself?" Jordan rolled his eyes immediately, his fixed impression of his father as an irresponsible man deepening yet again.
An American family.
Family conflict was always the main theme.
"Sigh."
Clark only let out a sigh as he watched Jordan run out after Ian. He offered no further explanation.
Just then, a somewhat tired Lois came downstairs.
"Kids, sorry, I really didn't sleep enough. How does the breakfast your father made taste?" Lois sounded half-asleep as she spoke, only to realize that Jonathan was the only one left in the dining room.
"Morning, Mom."
Jonathan gave Lois a smile and a thumbs-up to praise Clark's cooking.
Though in truth, all he had eaten were a few boiled eggs Clark had made.
Everything else, like chicken breast, creatine, protein powder, arginine, fish oil, curcumin, probiotics, and... mysterious powers, were all part of his own carefully assembled meal plan.
"Where's Ian? And where's Jordan?"
Lois looked puzzled as she accepted the coffee her husband handed her.
Clark said nothing.
"They already ate and left for school." Jonathan also chose not to mention the earlier tension. He was always the most mature big brother in the house.
"All right."
Lois did not suspect anything.
She bit into a sandwich and walked over to the cabinet in the living room.
"Clark, about what we talked about yesterday... I still think we need to tell Ian and let him accept taking the medicine himself. We can't let him feel like we're deceiving him."
Lois opened the drawer and started looking for the prescription the doctor had written.
The next moment, however,
she froze.
"Did you put Ian's medication somewhere else?"
Lois turned around.
Clark still said nothing and only kept chewing bread with his head lowered.
"Or did you already give it to Ian? Did you secretly put it in his breakfast?"
Lois frowned, her tone instantly sharpening.
"Why didn't you discuss it with me first?"
Clearly,
Lois was extremely unhappy.
Jonathan quietly left the dining room.
As for Clark,
he gritted his teeth but stayed silent, stubbornly enduring the pressure and barrage from the strongest individual in the house while continuing to shove bread into his mouth to keep from speaking.
...
Outside the house,
Ian did not let Jordan catch up to him. He ran incredibly fast, and cutting through side streets made him faster than the bus.
And of course, there was a special reason for running off that quickly.
"Hahaha, hahaha, I'm a little expert at taking medicine."
While running, Ian held up a bottle in one hand and poured liquid mixed with colorful pills into his mouth.
The taste was horrible,
but that did not stop him from chewing and swallowing everything in huge mouthfuls. One bottle after another, until he had finished them all. The effects came quickly, and Ian saw several new changes appear at the bottom of his vision.
[Abnormal Heart Rate]
[Nerve Paralysis]
[Sensory Overload]
[Metabolic Breakdown]
[Liver and Kidney Failure]
Good lord.
That was five negative statuses at once.
[Body Deterioration, EXP +2]
It had to be said,
the medicine the doctor had prescribed was absolutely amazing from Ian's point of view.
"Dr. Hannibal is a miracle doctor!"
Ian offered sincere praise to the psychiatrist he had once regarded with caution. He felt as though he were permanently on the brink of dropping dead.
And yet,
dead, but not dead. Only as-if dead.
Yes. This was exactly his ideal leveling method.
Ian ran quickly, and by the time he reached school, he had even saved himself the cost of bus fare.
The morning classes were extremely easy.
Ian did not absorb a word of them because he spent the entire time sprawled over his desk.
[Body Continues to Deteriorate, EXP +3]
The boy was thinking.
Thinking about whether his mental illness had gotten worse. After considering it for a long time, he ultimately concluded that he had probably recovered.
The teacher did not care at all that the top student in the year was zoning out during class.
However,
his deskmate Madison did care.
Not in any admiring way.
She kept turning to look at Ian, and after one class period finally ended, she could no longer hold back her confusion.
"Ian, why do your eyeballs keep moving around... Holy crap, they're practically spinning with stars in them. Are you mutating into a zombie!?"
Madison was genuinely startled by the state Ian was in.
"If you turn into a zombie, don't bite me first, okay? Go bite the principal!"
She shoved at Ian's head as it drooped toward her.
She looked completely terrified.
And then,
"Holy crap, Madison! What did you do to me?!"
Ian, who had been immersed in the sensation of leveling up, instantly snapped back to full awareness. After freezing for a second, he became furious.
He had built up seven abnormal statuses.
And now they were all gone.
In fact, he felt refreshed and energetic.
Just like after using [Regenerative Surge], his body felt ridiculously great.
(End of Chapter)
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