American comics farmer: start by adopting the villain savior

"Um"

Clark rubbed his still dizzy head, his blue eyes particularly bright in the darkness: "Okay."

But this straightforward answer made Dio choke.

Is this still Clark?

He narrowed his eyes and added another condition: "Also, your share of the pancakes Aunt Martha makes tomorrow will be mine."

"No problem." Clark smiled.

Dio's eyebrow twitched.

He threw off the quilt and jumped out of bed, his bare feet making noises on the wooden floor:

"Then let me read your comic books first from now on! And you can secretly ask for leave for classes I don't want to attend! And..."

"It's all right, Dio."

Clark's voice was soft, but it made Dio freeze in his tracks.

The moonlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, illuminating the Kryptonian boy's slightly red eyes.

"F"

Dio scratched his hair angrily, "Clark! Are you my servant?!"

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Clark's expression of serious thought was clearly visible in the moonlight. He hesitated and said, "It's not impossible?"

"Hey"

Dio seemed to be so angry that he laughed. He gritted his teeth and rushed to Clark's bed, grabbing the collar of his pajamas: "Listen! I'm not going to die now! I'm still alive! Why do you need to care so much about what the future person said..."

His voice suddenly stopped.

In the moonlight, Dio saw Clark pursing his lips, his eyes full of reluctance.

"."

Letting go of his hand, Dio sat down on the bed.

The night wind lifted the curtains, and the rustling sound of the wheat fields drifted into the room.

Clark wiped his eyes quietly and suddenly whispered, "Dio, do you remember last winter?"

"Shut up."

Dio interrupted him fiercely, "If you dare mention that time I fell into the ice hole again, I'll tell all the kids in town the coordinates of your secret base."

That's terrible!

Thinking of the destruction of his secret base, Clark quickly covered his mouth with his fingers, leaving a few suppressed gasps leaking out from between his fingers.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting tiny specks of light on Clark's trembling eyelashes.

He hesitated for a long, long time, until Dio thought the topic was over, and then he suddenly spoke:

"Dio, do you know what I was thinking at that time?"

His voice was very soft, as if he was afraid to disturb the tranquility of the night.

"The teacher told us to be careful in the outdoor pond, saying that people can drown." Clark slowly released his hand. "Although I don't quite understand why people drown, I may know what death is."

"Dio, the squirrel we saw in the spring."

"do you remember?"

"then."

Clark's voice trembled a little. "The nest we built for it was so warm and filled with so many nuts."

Staring at the swaying moonlight on the floor, Dio thought of that morning after the snow.

The squirrel froze to death, and Clark squatted in the snow and cried for a whole hour.

"Idiot." Dio's voice softened unconsciously. "I'm not a squirrel."

Chapter 27 Dio: Clark, I will exile you to Antarctica to raise penguins

The cry of an owl outside the window woke up the sparrows napping on the fence.

Dio awkwardly grabbed the pillow and threw it at Clark, but was caught by the other party halfway.

"I don't want you to die, so even if I'm afraid of drowning, I'm going to go down and pull you out."

"."

I can't stand Clark looking like this.

"go to bed!"

Dio ordered gruffly, crawling back into his bed and rolling the covers up like a chrysalis.

"I will never die now or ever again!"

"Clark, that's just one possible future!"

"If you keep doing this, I'll jump into the ice hole right now!"

".oh."

The moonlight flowed, illuminating the two small beds.

"Dio."

"So will I really become an emperor in the future?"

Obviously, Clark was still thinking about Giorno's words.

Dior, who was fuming under the quilt, suddenly laughed.

"Clark, do you know what an emperor is?"

"Of course I know!" Clark stood up unconvinced, his eyes flashing with seriousness in the darkness. "It's the villain in gold clothes in historical dramas! Every time the emperor appears on TV, Dad will point and say--"

He lowered his voice and imitated Jonathan's rough intonation:

"Look at this tyrant, Clark! This is why we Americans must be independent!"

Dio rolled his red eyes in the darkness: "Idiot, that's just a TV show."

He pulled the pillow over his face and said in a muffled voice, "A true emperor would..."

"Do you have to check our homework every day?" Clark suddenly interrupted, "like Uncle Locke checks our math problems?"

"puff--"

Dio threw the pillow off his face, his shoulders shaking with laughter. "Idiot! The emperor doesn't care about this! They...

He suddenly got stuck.

Under the moonlight, the two teenagers stared at each other, realizing an embarrassing fact at the same time—

None of them knew what a real emperor should do.

"Anyway!"

Dio grabbed another pillow in anger. "Emperors wear really stupid golden clothes and weird donut headpieces! They talk about this world and that world all the time, just like..."

"Like what?"

"Snapped--!"

The door was gently pushed open, and the light from the corridor cast Locke's tall silhouette on the floor.

He rubbed his temples, obviously having rushed over after being woken up.

"Little ones."

Locke sighed helplessly, "Your movements have already made me wake up and fall asleep three times."

"Dio, even a barn mouse could hear you kicking the bed."

"Uncle Locke, there may be no mice in our barn now." Clark scratched his head embarrassedly.

"Hey!"

"You kid."

Clark managed to make Locke laugh.

Seeing Locke smile, Clark couldn't help but ask in a low voice:

"Uncle Rock, will I really become what Giorno said in the future?"

Looking down at the uneasiness in the boy's eyes in the moonlight, Locke walked over and sat down between the two beds, making the mattress creak under the heavy weight.

He reached out and ruffled Clark's curls, glancing at Dio, who was pretending to sleep the moment he saw him.

"Listen, Clark."

Locke said softly, "No one can decide your future for you. You have no responsibility to cater to the future that anyone decides for you. You are not the emperor in Giorno's story, just like..."

He paused deliberately, "Dio is not Giorno's mortal father."

Dio's quilt suddenly moved.

Clark blinked. "So, I'm not responsible for that? Dio won't die?"

"That's because responsibility doesn't work that way, idiot!"

Dio threw back the quilt and sat up, his blond hair flying like an angry cat. "Responsibility is—"

"Do you remember to milk the cows every morning?"

Locke interrupted him, a sly glint in his eye.

Dio choked. "Of course not! It's clearly my responsibility."

"Agricultural taxes paid on time?"

"Dad!"

"Did you remember to refuel the tractor?"

"."

Dio summoned the world, his expression serious as he prepared to attack his father.

"Alright." Locke reached out and held the two boys' heads, quenching their unfilial thoughts. He smiled and said, "Responsibility is not a burden imposed on you by others. It is when you see something that needs to be done and you happen to have the ability to do it."

"It was a decision that came naturally."

"Just like Martha gets up early every day to make breakfast, not because anyone asks her to, but because she knows we love it."

Locke said gently, "Just like Jonathan, who insisted on repairing the fence even though his back hurt so much, because he didn't want the lambs to get lost."

"Clark, when you were five years old, you didn't like going out because your senses became more acute."

“Jonathan and I gave up planting our crops that season.”

"It's because we love you that we made the choice and took the responsibility that comes with it - to stay at home with you until you adjust to your feelings."

"And the price—two months of eating potatoes."

"But we have a good harvest, and you can go out like a normal person."

“Choice.”

Clark's eyes gradually lit up.

But Dio frowned: "What if I make the wrong choice?"

He thought about tonight

The choice is between running away and fighting alongside my father.

If I had chosen to fight alongside my father.

"Then you will understand the price of growing up."

"But the important thing is to always remember why you made the choices you made."

Locke stood up and walked towards the door, but suddenly turned back and added: "Also, you can make a decision now. If I hear any more noises."