The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4445 Dark Prelude (30)

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

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

Clark laughed too. He patted Arthur's arm and said, "I'm not here for anything important, just to remind you that the power that injured Diana is very strange. As it stands, you're the only one without a sufficiently effective defense, so you have to be extra careful."

Arthur's expression turned serious. He said, "Is it really that amazing?"

Clark nodded and said, "I know you can sense everything that changes in the ocean, but nobody knows if that thing exists in the real world. When it attacks you, it might not even pass through the seawater, so you have to be extremely careful."

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

"I heard you're looking for your ancestors' graves?"

“That’s right, I’ve been looking for the Tomb of Atlantis. To be honest, the oceans of Earth hold so many secrets, I even think I can find clues related to the power of death here.”

"Do you think he's ever been to Earth?"

"What hasn't been to Earth?" Arthur retorted. "I think we should move the center of the universe to the solar system. This place is practically a battleground for the entire universe. All sorts of strange and wonderful things leave their fragments here, and they always end up in the sea."

Clark couldn't refute it, because it was indeed true. They had seen quite a few strange things during this time, and finding some fragments of the Grim Reaper in the sea wasn't impossible.

“Then you should stay in the sea for the time being,” Clark said. “On the one hand, you’ll be more able to fight back in the sea and might be able to evade their attacks; on the other hand, you might actually stumble upon some clues that will help us better understand that mysterious Grim Reaper.”

Arthur nodded, led him to the palace, and said, “We’ve partnered with the Amazons. Soldiers from the Kingdom of Zebel are fishing, and then someone uses special water magic to bring the freshest fish ashore. Perfect timing, since you grew up inland, and the Amazons also get a lot of tourists from land-based countries every year, mostly wealthy Middle Easterners. The seafood needs to be prepared to suit their tastes. Come and help us try out the dishes.”

Clark nodded, then said, “I’m actually a little hungry. The burger portions at the Metropolitan are pitifully small; a single cheeseburger isn’t even half the size of the ones back home.”

As they talked, they arrived at the palace's dining room. A table was laden with dishes that were clearly not in the Atlantean style: various fried fish, stewed fish, pan-fried fish, and sashimi.

Clark grew up in the inland region, but he has been in the metropolis for a long time. Although he can't afford to eat at fancy restaurants, he can still eat a lot of seafood at company dinners.

He picked up his fork with his left fork and his right fork, giving a very fair review: "This dish is good. Let me tell you, people inland like to eat salmon because it's fatty and tender, like a less greasy cut of fatty meat. The fat can neutralize the fishy smell very well. On the contrary, this one is a bit fishy, ​​probably because there's too much lean meat and blood."

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

Clark shook his head vigorously, saying, "Many people from your coastal cities find the seafood very fresh, but inland people find it fishy. It's a taste we develop from childhood, there's nothing we can do about it."

Clark tried a few more dishes and expressed his preferences. His advice was quite valuable because he was a purebred American redneck farmer, and Kansas's dietary habits were indeed somewhat similar to those of the Middle East, with the main dishes being various kinds of grilled meats, as well as potatoes and sausages.

Although Middle Eastern tycoons are used to eating all kinds of high-end seafood, the seafood caught by the Atlanteans is all genuine deep-sea seafood, and some of it is indeed too strong in flavor.

Clark's stomach was like a bottomless pit; he ate as much of what he liked as possible. This way, Arthur could judge how popular the dishes were by how much food Clark left.

After fiddling around for a while, the two basically decided on the main dish. Clark still had work to do, so he said goodbye to Arthur. Before leaving, he repeatedly warned him, "Don't let your guard down, Arthur. Although there's no signal here in Atlantis, Batman definitely left behind a lot of surveillance equipment. If anything happens, just call Batman, and he'll definitely come to your aid."

Arthur found it somewhat amusing, but nodded nonetheless and saw Clark to the door. But as soon as Clark left, he regretted it—he had forgotten to remind Clark.

He wasn't exactly a very important figure in the Justice League. Although he successfully forced Steppenwolf to the surface, he was helpless above water and was unqualified as an attacker.

But Clark is different. Although he hasn't officially joined the Justice League, he's now its spiritual leader and a globally popular figure. Enemies will definitely target him first; he's the one who should be calling on Batman for help at any time.

Clark returned to the surface and flew towards the Presidential Palace. The route from the Metropolitan Coast to the Presidential Palace was fixed, and Clark never flew in circles, always choosing the shortest route. He landed and flew straight towards the Presidential Palace.

But halfway through the flight, Clark sensed something was wrong, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Just as he was about to investigate further, he heard a commotion below. Clark frowned. Even though it was freezing cold and everyone was irritable, surely it didn't warrant this much noise?
There were dozens of people shouting and yelling down there. Clark felt that this was indeed affecting the appearance of the city, so he decided to go down and try to break up the fight.

As soon as I went down, I saw, sure enough, four cars were colliding with each other, and a snooker game had started. Looking to the side, I saw three more cars following behind the cue ball, and the one in front had already been pocketed.

Clark sighed. These chain-reaction car accidents were truly unsolvable. Everyone saw him when he landed, and the arguing subsided somewhat, but they were clearly still resentful.

Clark still sensed something was amiss, but seeing that the group in front of him had already started fighting, he had no choice but to pull them apart. After all, he couldn't let them fight like that, or he'd be on the front page of the Daily Planet.

"Stop arguing, stop arguing." Clark stepped between them and said, "Nobody wants this to happen..."

"Who said that!" one person exclaimed, pointing excitedly at his car. "I clearly had anti-skid tires on. If he hadn't hit me, I wouldn't have hit the car in front..."

"I was on the road too. I was hit from behind. What's the point of you pointing at me and yelling at me?"

"I was using snow chains! And I clearly dodged them, but you still swerved and hit me..."

"You hit me first!"

Clark sighed helplessly. Actually, the traffic police and insurance company had already arrived by this time, but the accident was too complicated to determine primary responsibility. However, since responsibility was unclear, the insurance company was reluctant to pay, so they got stuck in a tug-of-war.

"Okay, okay, I'll go talk to them and ask them to process the claim as soon as possible. Then I'll help you move the car, is that alright?"

Since he had said that, no one else could say anything more. So Clark went to negotiate with the police and the insurance company. Everyone recognized him as the president, and the insurance company didn't dare to act arrogantly in front of him. They quickly clarified the responsibilities and prepared to begin the claims process.

Clark was just about to start moving the car when he suddenly heard a scream from the crowd. He turned around and saw that the owner of the mother car had taken a little girl hostage!

The little girl's family was also stunned. They were one of the four victims in the collision and hadn't even had time to react before their child was kidnapped. The mother, who was holding the little girl, screamed. She was about to rush forward, but when she saw the kidnapper's sharp knife pressed against her daughter's neck, she hesitated.

"No, no!! Tana!!!"

Clark was instantly enraged. "How dare you do this to me? You have no idea how powerful aliens are!"
Clark immediately wanted to unleash a heat beam—of course, he didn't intend to hit anyone, he just wanted to force the kidnapper to run to the side. His eyes were already straining, but the little girl burst into tears.

Clark paused. Afraid of frightening the little girl, he pretended to step forward to mediate, slowly moving his hand towards her while saying, "Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive! Let's talk this out!"

Before he finished speaking, he sprinted at super speed, appearing behind the kidnapper in a flash. Superman's speed was, of course, unimaginably fast; he grabbed the kidnapper's wrist and slammed him to the ground. The little girl ran back to her mother's arms as fast as she could, looking this way with tears in her eyes.

Clark kept his eyes fixed on the little girl, worried that she might get hurt. Seeing that she had successfully run away, he breathed a sigh of relief, straightened up, and waved to the police, signaling them to come and escort the kidnapper away.

But the moment he straightened up, the kidnapper suddenly stabbed him in the chest with a dagger.

Clark was stunned. He blinked, his super brain momentarily blank. His first thought was: How dare you?!

Generally speaking, the thugs he subdued never dared to resist. You saw this guy pin you down like he teleported, his arms were like hydraulic presses, unless he was tired of living, he wouldn't have the will to resist, let alone stab you with a knife.

But the next second, he realized: the dagger had actually pierced through?! What happened to my steel body?!

He looked down and immediately understood. The dagger was green—wasn't that kryptonite? He had already fused with kryptonite power, so now the dagger had pierced him, but it didn't hurt at all, and it even allowed him to let his mind wander.

No wonder he felt something was off earlier. After fusing himself with the kryptonite, he could vaguely sense the presence of kryptonite around him, but he had never used this ability before, so he didn't realize what caused that strange feeling. In addition, the noisy crowd distracted him, and he didn't realize that someone was carrying kryptonite.

Clark grabbed the kidnapper from the ground. Seeing the man's terrified face, he realized he was just a tool, a desperate criminal doing something for money. So he handed him over to the police.

Clark glanced down at the dagger in his chest and realized that the version of the weapon that had attacked him might be outdated. But that was precisely the perfect opportunity to wipe them all out at once.

Clark immediately adopted a pained expression, as if his earlier actions against the kidnapper were merely a display of willpower. He knelt down, leaning against the car beside him, and began coughing incessantly. To deceive the killer, he even forced out some blood, rendering his hamburger and seafood meal for nothing.

People around immediately began shouting, "Mr. President, Mr. President, how are you?!"

"The president has been assassinated! Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance immediately!!"