At that moment, Clark suddenly realized the delight of being above others, relying on his own knowledge and insights.
Lex seemed completely unaware that his mindset had a problem, already showing serious regressive behavior. But Clark knew, which meant that until Lex also realized and controlled his emotions, Clark would be invincible.
Thinking about this, Clark felt more confident. He leisurely said into the phone, "Don't rush. You should at least tell me, what's it about that you want to see me?"
"You..."
Lex seemed quite unadapted to his emotional shift, choking on his own words for a long time, and then said, "You hillbilly, don't you watch the news?! The Luther Hotel collapsed!!!"
"I know," Clark said while cleaning his ear, "How could I, as someone who's practically in the news media industry, get information slower than you do? Besides, if it weren't for me, it wouldn't be as simple as just collapsing."
"You know?! Then why don't you..."
"Don't tell me, the Luther Hotel collapsed, and I should be overwhelmed with sadness, immediately call you to offer comfort, express sympathy for your plight, and then do everything I can to help you. Lex Luther, let me ask you again, what exactly is the relationship between you and me?"
There was a long silence on the other end of the line. Clark was absolutely thrilled. He suddenly discovered that approaching matters with the demeanor of a mature adult when facing a crying baby could indeed fulfill a certain desire for control and bring joy.
"You have to come here." Lex finally seemed to regain a bit of his status, his voice low as he said, "There's a video everywhere online of you saving the Luther Hotel. You have to come out and clarify for the Luther Group that the accident wasn't as terrifying as reported by the media, not so many people died!"
Clark snorted internally, here it comes. He was indeed seeking something from him, it turns out he wanted him to testify.
After all, those who could be considered on-site were just him, the military, and the aliens. The military clearly wouldn't step out, otherwise, their intent would be exposed. If Clark doesn't come out to prove it, could the Luther Group possibly ask the aliens to testify?
The parties involved at the scene should all know the accident wasn't that severe, even people in the hotel at that time, or those outside on the road, could suspect no serious accident had happened. But they can't stand out and say that.
Now, the media has set the atmosphere, the whole internet is in mourning, some people have even placed white tulips at the base of the building. If someone suddenly jumps out now and says, "Not that many people died, no need to be so sad," watch them get cursed at.
And the reason Superman can say that is because he saved people, most of whom are unharmed because of his rescue. He has natural moral capital to stand up and calm public opinion.
But his moral capital is his own, why should he lend it to Luther, making it seem like they're chummy?
"Sorry, I'm busy," Clark said, "I'm currently raising the Earth's average IQ, no time to care about your pathetic group."
"Clark Kent!!!!!!!"
"Thanks, I quite like my human name, but you don't have to repeat it so many times," Clark said gleefully, "Bad deeds receive retribution, my mom wasn't wrong about that."
Then Clark heard a series of clattering noises. He snorted again and said, "Careful, Little Lex, if you end up breaking your thumb, the Luther Group will be completely finished."
Beep—beep—beep—
After a busy tone, Clark handed the phone back to Diana. Diana looked at him and said, "I didn't expect you to be so sharp-tongued."
"Depends on the person," Clark said as he went to get a glass of water, "for my friends, I am never stingy with compliments. But for Luther... hmph."
Diana didn't try to convince him otherwise but sat down beside him and said, "Though I also don't think you need to do anything to help Luther, I think you should think more deeply, I always feel this matter isn't that simple."
Clark quickly detached himself from the sense of satisfaction and schadenfreude. As Diana said, this matter wasn't that simple. Shiller deliberately chose the incident's location at the Luthor Building, leaving Luther with no choice but to seek help from him, intentionally provoking Luther, driving him mad. But why drive him mad?
Clark had realized, that method of finding details for reasoning didn't suit him. His memory is indeed good, but his associative ability and logic aren't that strong. Often, he notices some special details but doesn't know where to associate them, or which detail should be related to which. He could only try a simpler method.
Who benefits from driving Luther mad?
First, rule out the military, as they have already acquired the gemstone, whatever happens to Luther doesn't concern them. The Luther Group's downfall doesn't gain them much.
The Federal Government wouldn't sit idly by if something happened to the Luther Group, they'd get involved to stabilize the East Coast, avoiding major upheaval. Though, if slow decay leads to some benefits, it would take too long.
Looking left and right, actually, Luther going mad is most advantageous for himself, at least he can vent his anger.
But after thinking about it, Clark felt something was off. Actually, Luther turning into this benefits the aliens the most.
Luther is actually very capable. Even without the gemstone, given some time, he might still come up with ways to deal with the aliens. Moreover, he is a steadfast member of the resistance, firmly refusing to collaborate with any aliens. Anyone who dares to cooperate with aliens is a traitor and should be taken down.
This mindset of resistance isn't entirely derived from profit. He is someone with principles, sometimes willing to take losses and do things against a businessman's instinct in order to uphold human supremacy.
As for the others, whether military or Federal Government, they are not very firm resistors. If their interests are threatened, they will resist, but if there's no real threat, they tend to refrain from taking action.
This means that a major pro-war flag has fallen, and not only has Luther lost his sanity, but the Luther Group also faces an unprecedented crisis. Right now, he has no time to care about what's on the near-Earth orbit. Managing the issues on Earth is challenging enough.
Clark seemed to vaguely sense something.
If Luther were around and given some time to recover, even without the gemstone, he could still rely on his intelligence and network to organize a firm resistance group to fight against the aliens. Now that he's down, there's no such person.
So, does Shiller want Earth not to resist?
That's not right either, because strictly speaking, Luther is not resisting, but waging war. He doesn't want to defend and retaliate but wants to actively attack the aliens until they are completely eliminated.
From Clark's perspective, there's nothing wrong with Luther's idea, after all, aliens are considered invaders, and they've already attacked military bases, repelling invaders is instinctive.
So Shiller's actions are puzzling. He can't possibly be with the aliens, can he?
Or is there another solution besides fighting, and this solution might be better than Luther's direct approach of fighting the aliens, so Shiller first dealt with Luther to prevent him from escalating the conflict and forcing both sides into war.
The more Clark thought about it, the more it made sense. Although he could understand humans needing to resist invaders to protect their home, he felt that Luther was too extreme. With him leading the resistance, it somewhat lost its justice. Moreover, if he focused solely on attacking aliens, that would be fine, but there's a fear that he might first purge internal threats in his own way, exclude dissidents, promote a dictatorial regime, and end up causing chaos before the aliens even strike.
In facing a formidable enemy, internal consolidation is necessary, but Luther's method of integration was absolutely wrong. Such extreme thoughts would only drag humans into the abyss. Clark firmly believed, so bringing him down first was the right choice.
However, what should be done next? Whether fighting or negotiating, someone needs to lead. Internally, consolidating resources, and externally, mediating, all require rational yet powerful leadership to achieve the best outcome in such a complex internal and external environment.
Where can such an excellent talent be found?
Just as he thought of this, Diana's phone rang. She answered and said a few words, then handed the phone to Clark. Clark took it and said, "Hello? Lois? Are you okay? ... I'm doing alright. You wouldn't believe it, Luther just called..."
He vividly described Luther's predicament to Lois, but after thinking about it, he felt that it made him seem like a gloating villain, so he quickly added, "Of course, I'm not saying it's funny, because even if no one was really harmed, the building being damaged is a bit of a resource waste. And my absence isn't solely due to personal grievances with Luther, actually I…"
"You have to go," Lois said. "The situation has escalated, and both parties are arguing fiercely, the military is criticized for inadequate disaster relief, and even international opinion is harshly condemning it. The Federal Government and the military are all very anxious."
Clark frowned, he didn't expect things to get so blown out of proportion. But then again, the power of modern media is terrifying, with distortion and exaggeration of information growing exponentially. There haven't been any major news events in the past few years, so naturally, there'd be a wave of frenzy online.
But why does Lois insist he must go?
No one was injured initially, and although the news exaggerated it somewhat, it wasn't exactly favorable for America's reputation, not that its reputation was stellar to begin with. Let those officers and politicians worry all they want.
Clark doesn't think Lois is trying to make him forgive Luther; it must be because there's some benefit to attending the press conference. Yet he couldn't see what good it would do to clean up after these people.
Think of who I am... Clark began to think. Who else could he be? He is Clark Kent, a young man from the small town of Kansas State Smallville, a superhero known as Superman. Is there anything remarkable about these identities?
No, that's not what Lois means. Ever since the aliens—more precisely, his Kryptonian kin arrived on Earth, his identity was no longer about his profession on Earth, but a distinction between two races. He is first a human, then a small-town youth and a superhero.
Indeed, he is a human, and then?
Clark became confused again. Suddenly, it struck him like a lightning strike. Wait, could Lois be suggesting that the excellent talent who can lead Earth is me?!!