amaotonovel Chapter 4348 Body of Steel (53)
Chapter 4348 Body of Steel (53)
Chapter 4348 Body of Steel (Fifty-Three)
Clark believes that Luther is such a person. Therefore, when he learned about the "Serpent of Phryne," his first reaction wasn't to investigate, but to fabricate conspiracy theories based on it. This explains why he so readily accepted Schiller's ancient Egyptian mythology—because he had already begun to let his imagination run wild.
Then, after Schiller confirmed his guess, things got even more serious. In his mind, the situation skipped many stages of development and went straight to the worst-case scenario: the Earth was now overrun with aliens, and if he didn't do something, the planet would be destroyed.
So he began to use all his strength to resist aliens like Clark.
If things were really as he thought, then his reaction was indeed quick. But the problem was that he focused all his energy on directly dealing with the guesses in his mind, without even bothering to verify whether the facts were as he suspected.
Many people have this bad habit. First, there's anxiety. When they hear something that seems plausible but actually harmful, they become extremely anxious, feeling like some monster is chasing them and they'll die if they don't find a way out quickly.
Therefore, we put all our energy into finding solutions and spend all our time imagining what to do after the worst possible outcome, and even put these ideas into practice to prevent problems in advance.
However, a crucial element is missing: investigating what exactly happened.
It's possible that things aren't as bad as they seem; it's possible that things are very bad, but have nothing to do with you; or it's possible that things are very bad and have something to do with you, but due to a lack of investigation and the absence of the most crucial information, all the contingency plans made are useless, and the final result is worse than expected.
Many people ridicule Batman for always having countless plans, but in reality, his plans aren't made out of thin air; they're constructed only after meticulous preliminary investigation and obtaining accurate information. Many people's plans, on the other hand, are based on their own imagination and are actually quite ineffective.
Moreover, being "eager to salvage" has many downsides. For example, cutting ties with someone too early, only to find out later that things weren't as they seemed, can lead to awkwardness for everyone and potentially damage friendships or connections. Another example is that overreacting can make you appear overreacting and lacking composure, causing you to miss important opportunities.
The same applies to the matter concerning God. Faced with the fact that God didn't come to save him, Lex Luthor chose to question, and question again, exhausting all his energy in speculating, sometimes thinking God wasn't strong enough, sometimes thinking God was too indifferent. But in reality, spending two minutes flipping through the Bible reveals the answers.
Clark had only one thought: Go home, kid. Go home. You're better off going back to being the landlord's foolish son. The criminal underworld is too complicated; you can't handle it.
Although Clark hadn't been to Gotham much, he had heard about some of the major cases that occurred there. Many serial killers liked to use religion as a theme.
If they were all like Luther, never reading the Bible, never going to church, just sitting there asking, "Why doesn't God come to save me?", then Batman might as well stop fighting crime and become a pastor, spreading religious knowledge. He might as well stop writing investigation logs and just publish a collection of jokes.
Many people might think it's not that serious, but in reality, in Western countries, religion, especially Christianity, is integrated into every aspect of life and is considered common sense. Many everyday slang terms are religious metaphors. From the moment we learn to speak, we live in such an environment; it's unimaginable to be completely isolated from religion.
From another perspective, many people in these countries suffer, and not everyone is without a voice. Furthermore, Christianity has its adversaries; if its theories had such a significant flaw, it would have been condemned long ago.
But Lex Luthor is like someone who grew up in an Eastern country, or even an Easterner who has had almost no exposure to Western culture, and can't understand why so many people in other countries who are struggling believe in God. He might have questions like, "If God doesn't save them at all, why are they so devout?" Little does he know that the religious framework has already effectively shut down such questions.
Whether this premise is far-fetched or not is actually not important. To non-religious people, the very idea of religion seems absurd. Conversely, people who believe in God will naturally believe religious stories, as long as the stories are self-consistent.
However, Clark quickly realized that God had a pre-existing Christian story explaining why He wouldn't save Lex, but he didn't. He could only say he was lucky he'd come today.
If he hadn't come, Lex Luthor would have had something to say later: "You're either incompetent or heartless, otherwise how could you watch me suffer without coming to my rescue?"
But then Clark felt a bit disgusted. Evil deeds being punished is also a form of suffering, right? Then he might as well give up being a superhero and become a professional prison breaker, since death row inmates also suffer.
But Clark couldn't help but think, what if he could stop all crime? Wouldn't that eliminate the suffering of criminals at its root?
Clark thought about it and it made more and more sense. If he had kept a close eye on Luther and stopped him when he decided to kidnap his mother, none of this would have happened.
However, Clark felt this wouldn't work. Because Lex Luthor's crimes stemmed from a problematic personality, and that personality problem arose from childhood abuse.
Simply stopping him from committing this crime this time is useless, because his personality dictates that he will continue to do so. To truly resolve this matter, he needs to find a way to save Luther as a child.
Or rather, he needs to find a way to stop domestic violence worldwide. But that alone might not be enough, because besides domestic violence, there might also be violence in society that leads a child astray. Then he must eradicate all persecution of children.
Persecution alone is not enough. Children are physically and mentally fragile and require a good education to develop a stable and well-rounded personality. In other words, he would need to provide a perfect education for children worldwide, which would require a perfect society. But how is that even possible?
Clark felt his head buzzing again. He stood there for a moment to calm down, realizing he was making the same old mistake again: wanting too much and lacking the power to back it up, which made him feel helpless, and he figured his next move would be anger.
Clark took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and looked at Lex Luthor, saying, "Whatever you are, we have nothing to talk about regarding topics like religion and art. How you view God or how you view me is irrelevant; what we need to address now are more practical issues."
“That crazy woman Amanda Waller will definitely keep her word. It won’t be long before she throws you in jail. If you don’t hurry up and figure something out, you won’t be able to fight those bosses in prison.”
Clark paused for a moment, then continued, "Of course, I'm not trying to scare you. I have a few solutions; what do you think? First, you're a convicted criminal, so I can't just fly out with you; otherwise, we'd both become fugitives. However, the lock on this cell door is a bit old and worn out, and because I got too emotional while talking to you, I accidentally broke it. I didn't notice when I left, and unfortunately, this led to the prisoner's escape..."
“That won’t work,” Lex said. “I’m not a superhuman. Even if I could get out of this door, I wouldn’t be able to get out of the police station. Besides, the Luther Group has already been divided up. Once I get out, I won’t have anywhere to go. They’ll find me very quickly.”
“Okay, let’s look at the next plan. I’ll go and negotiate with the military and say there’s something they absolutely need you to do, and we’ll get them to release you voluntarily…”
"It's hopeless. The military will only use this as leverage to negotiate with you and keep delaying. Because your demands have no reason for them to meet them, and will instead become your weakness. The fact that they think they have you under control will only make them more arrogant."
"Well, looks like you're not so stupid after all." Clark looked at Luther with some surprise. Was his intelligence taking over again now that his feet were off the ground?
Of course, Clark is more inclined to believe that he didn't repent, but rather knew he was going to die.
This is truly a life-or-death situation for Lex Luthor. Currently, the Luthor Corporation only retains its name; actual power has likely already been handed over. Aside from his research abilities, he has virtually no other significant assets; moreover, he has no true friends. The only one who can save him now is his most hated enemy. Even a cornered rabbit will bite, and Lex Luthor has no choice but to set aside his habitual suspicions and prioritize his own survival.
“Alright, then there’s only one last method left.” Clark sighed. “You’d better be a really good enough scientist, or I’ll always look down on you.”
Metropolis, Tianyan Society Headquarters Base, 7:00 AM.
At the operator's station, the newly hired employee, still sleepy-eyed, checked the records left by the previous shift's employees as usual, and then called them one by one for follow-up.
"Hello, this is the Tianyan Society headquarters. I found the distress call record from 2 a.m. yesterday. Are you sure about the current situation... Oh, everything's alright now? Okay, thanks, goodbye."
"Hello, this is the headquarters of the Tianyan Association. You inquired about your work arrangements for today at midnight last night. Did my colleague explain it to you clearly? Okay, I understand. You're welcome, goodbye."
"Hello..." The operator paused for a moment because he heard the ringtone. So he said, "Hello, this is the headquarters of the Tianyan Association. This is a follow-up call, but we have another call coming in. Please wait a moment and don't hang up."
After hanging up the outgoing call, the operator answered the incoming call. After listening for two seconds, she jumped up from her chair, threw down the phone, and rushed out the door.
"Chief! Chief!!!"
When he burst into the office, Amanda was still looking at documents, sitting behind her desk. She looked up at him and said, "How many times have I told you, don't rush around like this. Work needs to be done in an orderly manner..."
"Chief, it's Superman calling!"
Amanda jumped to her feet, strode out from behind her desk, and exclaimed, "Clark Kent?! He finally has trouble he can't handle?!"
"Yes, he called to report it to the police."
"What did he say?" Amanda hurried outside, her face beaming with barely suppressed joy.
"He said that a terrorist calling himself Lex Luthor kidnapped his mother to blackmail him into attacking the Sky Eye Society base!"
"What??!!!"