88 Smallville: Strange Capsule

96.

The farmer didn't know why Superman looked like he was about to break, but after he tried hard to explain that adopting Siwan would not cost any extra money, Aria said "wait a moment" and took Siwan with her horse and ran back to the farm.

Si Wan was placed among the flowers. The puppy had never seen these plants before. It stopped in front of a brightly colored flower, arched its back and started playing with the petals. The farmer bent over and picked and chose, and finally found a suitable gift.

Superman stood outside the farm. His super hearing made the farmer's footsteps, which stopped and started, particularly clear. The sounds of boxes opening and closing were rhythmic, like some kind of strange pastoral concerto.

And when he looked up and saw the farmer appear at the end of the path with a big bouquet of flowers, the whole sky seemed to be on fire.

To shorten the waiting time, Aria changed from a brisk walk to a long run, her short hair flying like the ears of an agility dog ​​as it jumped over a fence.

She ran over to Superman and handed him the flowers, a little sheepishly: "This is for you. These are sunflowers and summer sequins that I grew myself."

Sunflowers and summer sequins complement each other, and different shades of gold are clustered together lively, and the entire lush and blooming summer field is here.

"For you, Superman." The farmer couldn't think of anything to give to someone as powerful as him, so he just gave the flowers away.

"Thank you for bringing Forty Thousand to me, Clark. I really like her."

Kal-El looked down at the bouquet. Even though his hands had touched countless lives, and countless hopes had been transferred to the world through his arms, at this moment, the flowers still made his palms slightly warm, like a child touching fire for the first time.

He whispered, "Why does this flower look like it will... bloom forever?"

Aria confidently put her hands on her hips. "Because I used secret farm technology on them, it can keep them fresh for a long time, and when you're injured, you can eat them to restore your health. How about that, not bad, right?"

Her tone was brisk, concealing a hint of bright boasting, but after handing over the bouquet, she showed some hesitation. The farmer was sending flowers, and the farmer had tried to make them look more precious, all paving the way for her final request: "...Just, can you do me a small favor?"

Superman looked a little surprised, not sure if it was the flowers or her sudden request, but as a world-class superhero, Superman readily and graciously agreed to the request: "Of course, as long as it's within my ability..."

Aria immediately pulled out a small package: "Can you deliver this to Clark Kent for me?"

...Ah. Superman hugged the flowers in his arms slightly. This bouquet of sunshine flowers was for Superman, but the heavy gratitude seemed to be reserved for Clark Kent.

When Superman mentions his relationship with Clark Kent to others, people usually focus on how they knew each other, eager to find out how the unknown little reporter got in touch with Superman and whether it was possible for them to get on Kent's fast ship - now the relationship is reversed, and he has become Clark's messenger.

Superman laughed dumbly: "Clark Kent?"

He asked softly, his tone as casual as if he was talking about an ordinary friend who had nothing to do with him: "No problem, just leave it to me."

Superman's breathtaking blue lake was slightly obscured by his eyelashes: "...It seems he is very important to you."

Mission accomplished! The farmer silently gave himself a thumbs-up in his heart. The supplies should be in Clark's hands soon.

Facing Superman's sigh, Aria acted as if it was natural, as if anyone who disliked Clark was mentally ill: "Of course, Clark is a very good person, he always cares about others..."

But thinking about him working as a reporter in a war zone for his own ideals, his pride was inevitably mixed with worry. A rare trace of worry flashed across the farmer's happy face. "By the way, Superman, do you know when the war will end?"

"About when will Clark be back?"

If Clark, like Kent, had to wait until the following spring to return, and suffered from PTSD from the war like him, the farmer would be really overwhelmed.

war?

Superman met the worry in her eyes. When the farmer mentioned Clark, her worry was so natural, as if there was already a place in her world reserved for him... He should have been happy that Aria cared so much about Clark Kent, but why did he feel a little... strange emptiness in his heart besides being happy?

If a reporter surrounded him and asked this question, Superman would politely retreat and let Batman forcefully grab the microphone from his companion to deliver the official answer. But if the person asking the question was Aria... Superman quickly summarized the information in his super brain and gave a relatively accurate range.

"About half a month to a month."

"But don't worry, Clark Kent will be safe." Superman put the package away and said solemnly: "I will protect him."

The farmer's happiness returned. Superman was silent for a moment, looking down at the bouquet. When he spoke again, his tone was still gentle, but with a hint of inexplicable meaning: "But Miss Aria..."

The large dog dropped his ears.

"...I hope next time, you can show a little more care for Superman."

…

The farmer didn't quite understand what Superman meant, as there were more important things waiting for her that evening.

Aria brought the puppy to meet Selina. As a cat that was much larger and stronger, Selina showed no interest in the puppy. She wagged her tail to show that she understood, walked around the farmer, rubbed off other people's scent with her own, and then took a nap on the farmer's bed.

Siwan also had things to play with. The puppy was more energetic than she had imagined and hardly needed Aria's special guidance. It found fun on the floor mat in the farmer's room.

Seeing that both the big and the small were settled, the farmer walked out with her tools in hand - she wanted to seize every moment to go down to the mine!

With the lessons learned from the last battle, Aria jumped into the mine again with a bomb, ready to get herself some new weapons to replace the steel rapier.

She took the elevator to the integer floor she had reached last time. Due to limited time, the farm focused its main energy on finding the stairs leading to the next floor - she tried to avoid those walking skeletons and ghosts whenever possible. Today, she was lucky enough that stairs appeared after only a few explosions on each floor of the mine.

Through the cold and corrupt air and the ice layer with bursts of water droplets, the farmer could feel the scorching temperature coming from the next level of the mine just in the elevator.

The magma layer is below the 80th floor. Fortunately, the reward level of this floor gives fire-walking boots that can withstand high-temperature lava. The farmer used it to replace his ordinary boots. Thinking of the red boots worn by Superman during the day, he was a little skeptical whether his little red boots have the same function - but in terms of appearance, the other party's outfit is much more harmonious than the farmer's, who wears anything as long as it has attributes.

Maybe that's the difference between a vigilante and a farmer, Aria thought. After all, besides saving lives, they're also being hounded by the media every day, so they still have to pay attention to their image. And Superman is a natural fit for the little red boots; they perfectly define his calves...making him look like a super-sized Greek statue capable of hoeing several squares in one go without even needing to charge.

The mine elevator continued to descend, and the hot breath of magma could be transmitted through the walls.

There were more monsters in the magma layer than before, and they were all grotesque in shape. Many of them were even Shadow People, the same tribe as Krobus. Aria wanted to cough awkwardly when she remembered that little Black Donggen had asked her if she had seen her own people.

The answer is of course yes. Shadow Maniac has even been an important source of Void Essence for her for a long time. But this cannot be heard by the little black winter root, otherwise it will be difficult for the farmer to explain where all the Void Essence comes from. After all, not all black winter roots are as kind and friendly as Krobus, and Aria is mostly just defending herself.

However, her Void Essence was obtained by defeating Shadowmen, and the farmer didn't know where the Shadow Essence sold in Krobus's store came from... This may be what people often say, even roommates have their own secrets.

Putting aside the random thoughts in her mind, she went deep into the magma layer.

She carefully walked through the sulfur-filled air, the light around her seemed blurred by the heat, and from time to time she could hear a low humming sound coming from the depths. Just as the farmer was concentrating on picking up a pile of rare gems, he suddenly heard light footsteps behind him.

Aria turned around quickly. In the darkness, a blurry figure was approaching her silently - it was a shadow maniac whose whole body was shrouded in dark energy. Strangely enough, although they were all of the same race, she thought Krobus was cuter than these shadow maniacs.

She quickly drew her light steel sword to meet the blow, dodging the madman's first blow with her side, and simultaneously stabbed back with her longsword. The opponent's movements were swift, so Aria also accelerated her attack. When it was slightly off balance, Aria stabbed it directly into the opponent's vitals, pushing it back to the edge of the magma.

As the Shadow Maniac let out its final roar, its figure completely vanished. Accompanied by a crisp falling sound, a multicolored fragment fell out of the black mist.

It was the colorful fragment she had been thinking about!

Aria stretched out her hand tremblingly, and the colorful fragments flew into her palm under the influence of the magnetic ring - it emitted a charming light in her hand, and the colorful colors flowed endlessly, as if it contained huge energy.

Today was her lucky day! She'd actually gotten a Prismatic Fragment from the Shadow Brawler, whose drop rate was surprisingly high! This time, the farmer wouldn't do the stupid thing of donating Prismatic Fragments again. She decided to trade it for the Galaxy Sword, the ultimate weapon, the very day the Desert Bus opened.

…

However, the night seemed to want to play a joke on her as well. The next day, when Aria got up with a desire for hops, humming a little song about hops while picking these pleasing green flowers from the shelf and stuffing them into her backpack, she saw the strange aircraft crashed into the field.

...Is this, the strange capsule incident*?

————————

*Strange capsule event. In Stardew Valley, there is a certain probability that a strange alien capsule will visit the farm. After three days, the capsule will break and the alien will disappear. After that, the capsule can be placed as furniture.

In the original game, this was a probability event that would only occur one year later, but it has been changed here.

P.S. I saw that some of the little angel’s comments were deleted by the administrator. I tried my best to appeal, but sometimes I didn’t see it in time, so please forgive me TT