50. Smallville: Star

58.

Half a minute later, "Cinderella" climbed onto the roof at the speed of a zombie attacking a city.

"I thought you'd be asleep at this hour." Aria sat beside him, her slingshot hidden in some bag. "So I thought I'd use it to remind you."

"What are you looking at up there?"

Clark Kent's eyes had been on the small farmer since she climbed up, and only after hearing these words did he quickly return his eyes to the starry sky - there was a quiet night and countless distant stars, which was actually a very suitable night for flying.

Kent now felt a little regretful that he had not revealed his identity to Aria. If he had shown his superpowers, he could have invited her to fly around the entire Smallville under the night sky. Viewing the town from the sky was a completely different angle. Every person's house was a colorful image on the puzzle, and when pieced together, it became the hometown that Superman missed when he was on a mission in outer space.

“Looking at the stars.”

Clark chose his words carefully: "Well, if there's one thing I haven't..."

The breathing sound came from far away, and Xiao Ke rushed to the roof like a small cannonball and squeezed in between the two people very naturally.

"Ah." The farmer exclaimed in surprise, then rubbed the dog's head skillfully. "Xiaobai hasn't gone to bed yet? Staying up so late will easily affect his physical development."

Actually, his name is Little Krypton... Clark looked at Little Krypton, who was now an adult dog, rolling around in her arms and silently swallowed the second half of the sentence... Forget it, it seems that he has already gotten used to the other name.

The atmosphere was already like this, so it was a good time to ask a question. Clark reached out and petted the rather energetic little Krypton, seemingly casually asking, "Do you like dogs?"

This question was a bit like asking a technician who was repairing an air conditioner, "What do you do?" The farmer was a little confused, but he still took the opportunity to rub Xiaobai's head a few more times and said, "Yes."

Not only dogs, the farmer is interested in almost all animals that can be raised on the farm. She even plans to raise a cat and a dog and then a turtle.

Clark felt relieved and continued, "What if someone else's dog gives birth to puppies in the future, would you want one?" If Aria likes dogs but Smallville doesn't give birth to a new life, he will try to find one for her somewhere else - Clark believes she will be a good owner.

In order to make this gift more suitable for the other party, Kent is granularizing it; "Well... do you have a preferred breed?" Most farmers tend to raise German Shepherds, but perhaps Aria is a maverick.

Beagles seemed to be a possible solution. Clark's mind flashed with the image of a farmer running in front, followed closely by a group of beagles with particularly loud barks. He decided to forget this terrible scene immediately.

Aria misunderstood. She touched Xiaobai's back and showed surprise: "Is Xiaobai going to have a baby soon?" If that was the case, she could wait until the puppy was older and give it a job on the farm - just responsible for eating, drinking and playing, so that they would not have to be separated.

But if memory serves me right...Isn't Xiaobai a male? The farmer's sharp gaze fell on Xiaoke. Xiaoke, so smart that he hardly looked like a dog, immediately tucked his tail between his legs, not caring about playing with Aria. He ran behind Clark at an astonishing speed, as if to say, "You take care of it!"

Kent laughed in silence. He reached out and picked up Little Krypton and patiently explained, "Little Krypton is a boy." So Aria's idea was undoubtedly going to fail.

The farmer was a little disappointed, but she was still quite enthusiastic about owning a dog of her own. Knowing that Clark would help find a suitable dog, the farmer stared at the bright stars in the sky, thought about it, and only made one request.

"I don't have any requirements for the breed of dog, as long as it has nowhere else to go, I want it."

Clark was stunned, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but rise slightly: "So simple?"

The farmer nodded heavily: "It's that simple." No matter what health problems Clark found in the puppies, her farm would raise them well - this is the confidence of being a farmer.

Thinking of the farm, Aria stood up - she was so busy chatting that she almost forgot the most important thing.

"Are you leaving soon?"

The town was isolated, and news spread among acquaintances faster than explosive news, but Clark was sure that no one else here knew this news except Martha - he rarely shared his work life with the townspeople, and Superman grasped the boundaries between people with accuracy to millimeters.

"Martha told you?" Although a little regretful, Clark Kent accepted it quickly.

"No," the farmer shook her head. The night breeze blew by, and she reached out to feel the same gentle breeze caressing her fingertips as it did the seedlings. But her words were anything but gentle: "I was just guessing. Since you work in the city, I doubt your boss would give you such a long vacation." A worker's vacation is like a shrunken sweater: you've already worn it, but it's a shame to throw it away.

Thinking of how Perry usually transformed into Godzilla and breathed fire in the editor-in-chief's office, Clark couldn't refute it.

"Cough, cough," Clark tried to cover up the embarrassment with a cough. He took a few seconds to sort out his words: "That makes sense...but this time I volunteered."

"I used to work in the sports section," Kent said. Aria looked bewildered, unsurprisingly. After all, for a farmer with only a few TV programs, the existence of a sports section was like explaining nuclear physics to a child. "Admittedly, I learned a lot in that position. But I thought I could go further and do something more valuable."

Promoting the spirit of sports is indeed a part of human truth, goodness and beauty, but protecting light is not just about putting those beautiful things under the spotlight for people to see - on the contrary, turning those thick ugliness and darkness out on the ground to dry in the sun, allowing the sunlight to kill the breeding bacteria, is the effective way to eradicate social diseases.

"...So I applied to go to the war zone." Under the starry sky, Clark's expression was serious. He had chosen journalism as his lifelong career, so he naturally memorized those ten basic rules. Perhaps this profession required a desire to "make a difference for society" to keep going.

Aria listened patiently to the end. If she had heard Clark say this a day ago, the farmer would have strongly supported him in everything he wanted to do. But ever since Batman revealed the character's setting for her, she couldn't help but suspect that this was a branching plot point. If she made the wrong choice, Clark Kent would face another bad ending.

"Then maybe the thing I'm about to send you arrives just in time." With a hint of worry, the farmer took out more than thirty gray radishes from his bag - the cave radishes rolled twice on the roof, surrounding Kent like a circle.

These were the things she had gotten from the box when she went down to the mine but had not eaten. The farmer now gave them to Kent, naturally hoping that the health and energy they restored could help him in his troubles.

"If you insist on going," Aria looked seriously into Clarke's blue eyes. Ever since she knew the NPC might die, she immediately began preparations. "Take them with you."

Every time he returned to the city, Martha always asked him to bring some local specialties from Smallville. This lady, who had never left this land in her life, firmly believed that the crops from her own land were better than those produced in other places. Sometimes she asked him to give some to his colleagues - but after all, not everyone could accept such "rustic" gifts. More often, Kent kept his mother's love in the refrigerator and swallowed it together with a fried egg one morning.

——But at this moment, the feeling Aria gave him was completely different from that of Martha. Even Clark, who was a master of writing, found it difficult to accurately describe this feeling.

Clark Kent is a very perceptive reporter, able to detect subtle changes in the emotions of those around him. At the same time, he is also a good friend, who will considerately catch those who are in a strange mood when he detects them - just like he once caught an airplane and caught the frustrated.

Seeing that Clark didn't say anything and didn't take it, Aria felt that he didn't really believe her: "It really works!" The farmer's products are never fake. If the living environment in the place where Kent is going is even worse, she can beat him a few pieces of insect meat as an emergency.

"I don't believe you, Xiaoya." Clark's smile was mixed with a sigh. He had never seen a farmer like this before. Something must have happened to her. "I'm just a little worried about you."

Worried? If question marks could become physical weapons, Aria would definitely use them to hit Kent on the head to test it out, to make him understand who's worried about whom: "It's you who's going to the war zone." Even if Clark is going there as a war correspondent, what if he ends up in a concentration camp like Mr. Kent from Pelican Town? The farmer still hasn't figured out if there's a "Saving Private Ryan" mod for this game.

Unlike Aria, who looked a bit anxious, Clark lay down in a reclining position and waved at her: "Do you want to try it too?"

Considering that if the reporter Kent MOD was not rescued, this would most likely be the last night they met, Aria lay down with a desperate mood.

After lying down, he was facing the entire starry sky. The farmer didn't recognize the stars here and their corresponding constellations, so he simply stared at the brightest star in the sky.

"You're feeling uneasy." Clark's words melted into the wind, bringing a bit of warmth to the night air. "What happened recently?"

In fact, it was nothing serious, just that the worldview collapsed a little. The farmer pouted, but looked nonchalant: "I just think I should protect you." Just like she helped Leah fight off her ex, repaired Pam's house, and let George know that there were other people in town who cared about him, the farmer always treated the NPCs he got along with as family members involuntarily when getting along with them.

If she could make everyone happy in the previous files, then she would definitely be able to do it this time, although the difficulty is more than a little higher than before...

Such words were a bit too unfamiliar to both Superman and Clark Kent, but that didn't stop him from earnestly thanking Aria beside him: "Thank you for your protection."

"But don't worry too much about everyone in Smallville," Kent seemed to be looking at Sirius, but in fact he was paying special attention to Aria's emotions: "Everyone will be safe." If even Smallville encountered difficulties, then the Justice League would most likely have suffered a heavy blow - even so, Superman would do everything he could to ensure everyone's safety.

"I heard Martha talk about Old John—but unfortunately I arrived too late and didn't see him in person," Kent said, turning her head to the side. She seemed to have become calmer. "But piecing together the bits and pieces that everyone has said, Old John should have been a kind and gentle man."

"I think if he were here today, he might also hope that you wouldn't take everyone else's happiness as your own responsibility." At this point, as if realizing that the atmosphere had become a little heavy, Clark winked at her: "Is there a possibility that you can do whatever you want - as long as you are happy, everyone will be happy too."

"Does that include throwing someone's pants in their soup?"

Clark was confused, Clark was shocked, Clark was glad that the prank had not happened yet.

"No, Xiaoya. People still have to have basic morals," Kent said with difficulty, "unless he really did something extremely outrageous."

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Bi Aria G, who tried to draw everyone into a protective circle: You drew a [superman]

Since fresh produce cannot cross the border, Clark secretly flew back from the war zone after processing it with Kryptonian technology and took these cave radishes away ()