"I'm here to give the plan a final check," said Superman.

He had just flown in from the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, had made some minor preparations, and had brought with him Kryptonian technology that could help.

"How's the intelligence analysis going?"

Several astronomers, physicists including Dr. Banner, and Batman were gathered around a huge machine, while government officials and agents who had nothing to do with the research were standing outside.

Hearing Superman's question, Bruce Banner, the leader of the physics department, showed an embarrassed expression.

"I think it's impossible," he said. "This is really amazing alien technology - using fake Zeta rays to monitor and record the universe. Their technology is simply genius."

“But the problem is, we have too much data.”

"An active Zeta Ray can exist everywhere at once. Tracking it is like condensing the entire universe into a single thought. Even the most advanced computers on Earth cannot analyze it, unless—"

Superman asked, "Unless what? We are short on time, there is no need to waste time on details."

Dr. Banner still said nothing.

Batman kicked the ground and the chair under him fell back out from the crowd.

"Unless you come. It's like plugging an external processor into a computer."

He deadpanned, "Using your super brain to analyze the data is the only way we can think of to locate Alice in the universe."

“But here’s the downside — it’s completely wrong. We have no idea how your brain is interpreting the light.”

"…This universe is so huge, and we are so tiny. Even you have limitations."

"It's almost impossible to succeed in terms of probability."

"Maybe you'll go crazy and die."

Superman didn't answer immediately, and everyone looked at him silently.

"But don't they want to invite Superman?" a government official couldn't help but ask, "Why don't they just give us the address?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Thor, who came to help after hearing about this, said with his arms folded, "I am familiar with the style of these bandits in the universe. They are definitely not friendly - and seeing Superman intact is not their main purpose." He felt guilty for the trouble his brother had caused, and took the initiative to ask for a break, "If you can wait for two more days, I can go back to Asgard and ask if anyone can contact the Green Lantern Corps."

"They manage order and maintain peace throughout the universe, but there are too few of them and the universe is too big, so sometimes they don't have enough time to react."

Well, actually most of the time it’s too late to react.

"But maybe someone in the legion has seen the little girl."

System: "Don't worry, I have upgraded my firewall and I trust you."

With it, it is guaranteed that both Batman and Superman will remain calm.

The popular science that Batman had before was only given to appear objective and neutral.

"Use this machine." Superman made the final decision, "Quick and quick decision."

Thor hesitated to speak.

Then he walked forward and said solemnly, as if he were looking at a dying warrior, "I will always remember you, brother."

...Not really.

"I'll be fine." Superman tried to persuade people to take back their sympathetic eyes, "and it's not that I have to take the risk. The problem is that we can wait, but who knows how long Alice can wait?"

“…”

Superman's efforts failed.

Now everyone's expressions look like they are preparing to pay homage to the saint.

"You guys... forget it." He frowned, "Call me when you're ready."

As the scientists fiddled with the tubes, trying to stick the data cable onto Superman's head, there was a sudden cry of surprise from behind.

Then the sound of a news report suddenly rang out in the laboratory:

"Twelve-hour news from our newspaper!" The reporter's pupils dilated, and he trembled with excitement, his face distorted with excitement. "Just now, a six-year-old boy jumped from the roof of a house in the metropolis. Fortunately, his life is not in danger. But it is worth noting that he was wearing Superman's uniform! 'Lord! Please have mercy on me, because I am in trouble!' But where is Superman now? Why didn't he show up? Superman - failed - to save the child!"

His hoarse roar made the speaker of his cell phone emit a crackling sound.

"I know most of you hate what Lex Luther said, but isn't that enough to make you see clearly who we trust? Or maybe he is not even a human. What do we believe in? The God of Light? Or the evil god from the universe?"

“What will he bring to us?”

"Our age is wasted! Our strength is waning! Young children are only indulging in unrealistic fantasies!"

"That monster has a long life. He is dragging all of us to death in slow suicide. Open your eyes and look around you! If you don't want to watch your children die because of him--"

"That's enough." A pair of hands pressed the pause button, making the room suddenly quiet. "Mobile phones are not allowed in the lab."

“…”

"There are always people like this in the world, aren't there?"

"He's just afraid. One part of him loves you, and the other part of him is afraid of your love for them and afraid that he will love you back."

"As for some of the times, if you help them, they will die. If you don't help them, they will also die."

"We are walking on a spiral road, alternating between error and correctness, until time stops and we can no longer move forward."

The young man who accidentally played the sound out loud earlier looked like he was about to cry.

"I didn't mean to do that." He muttered to himself, "I just have the habit of watching the news at noon, and this software played it automatically, and I didn't react, I just..."

He was speechless, and his tears finally flowed down his cheeks, full of vitality, onto the metal floor, forming two dark puddles.

"I'm sorry, Superman," he said, choking back tears. "We're not all like this, humans."

"I know." said Superman.

"We are just afraid of the unknown." The agent next to him suddenly spoke, and his superior did not stop him.

"I know." This time, Superman spoke in a particularly slow tone, and everyone could feel the comforting and positive power in his voice. "There is still a lot of time, and we can get to know each other slowly - but we have to wait until I come back from the universe."

Then no one spoke anymore, and the person in charge of connecting the instrument was shaking with his hands holding the tube.

The system asked: "Is this an intelligent creature?"

Superman replied, "That's it."

He walked up to the restraining table and lay down: "I'm ready."

**

“It is such a great happiness for people to live in the world, breathe the air, look at the blue sky, and appreciate the mountains, rivers, and the sun. But we are still not happy because life is short and we are numb to the passage of time and are slow to realize it.”

Louise wrote this with a pen under a table lamp on a brightly lit night.

"In early July, my friend Jimmy and I had a debate about people's attitudes toward superheroes. We disagreed on some issues, but we were basically hopeful about future developments and unwilling to get too deep into complex, human-related topics, so the clash of views seemed friendly and perfunctory."

"Three weeks ago, one of my colleagues asked us out of the blue while writing an article: Who of you has seen Superman in the past two days?"

"Everyone answered 'no'. Some thought he might be hiding temporarily, and some said maybe Superman also needed a rest. They expressed their opinions enthusiastically, and ten minutes later they started to do their own things. The topic of Superman blew through us like a gust of wind, leaving no trace. I had a lot of things to say to someone, but when I thought of the trusting look in Superman's eyes when I talked to him face to face for the last time that evening, I felt that I couldn't say anything."

Under the warm yellow light, Louise took a deep breath. The only sound in the silent room was the rustling sound of the pen tip rubbing against the paper.

She hadn't written such a long text for a long time. Maybe she had spelled a lot of words wrong just now, but who cared? And there was no one to ask now. She promised Clark that she would keep the position of assistant for him, so several times Perry asked her if she needed a temporary partner, Louise refused.

“I can figure it out on my own,” she said. “This isn’t the last century. I can Google words I can’t spell.”

But sometimes asking is just a habit that is developed unintentionally.

Superman has helped many people develop habits that would be a little weird in other cities. For example, people would look up from time to time in the sky to find a red and blue figure, take photos and show off to relatives and friends; parents would leave their children at home without worry, and some careless ones would forget to close the doors and windows, waiting for a superhero to visit and give them a verbal education; at the comic conventions held in the metropolis in recent months, there were far more people cosplaying as Superman than any other character, and the forum posts sharing how to make curly hair look realistic and neat became the most popular posts of the year...

For Lois, it may be even more. She has been with Superman for a longer time and has the honor of dealing with both of his identities at the same time. She is used to casually consulting the young man who is hunched over and squinting his eyes when typing about spelling words, and she is also used to occasionally climbing to the roof and stepping on the edge of the concrete slab against the wind.

Humans do not have wings and are naturally yearning for but also afraid of heights, but Superman gave Lois a sense of certainty that she was always connected to the ground even when she was teetering in the air and about to fall.

What Lois finds both funny and sad is that, through his identification with the identity of Clark Kent, Superman also relies on his reliance on humans to root his feet in the soil. They look up to each other and rely on each other, as if they are standing on two ends of a scale.

"Superman trusts me. It's not that I'm self-deprecating or think I'm unworthy of trust, but such a heavy trust sometimes makes me panic."

Louise continued.

"He regarded human beings as his fellow countrymen and the earth as his cradle. I was like an old friend or a sister to him. He believed in the kindness and brightness in my personality and was willing to expose his deepest secrets for others to guess. For a long time, I was full of doubts and could not understand why he regarded me in this way."

"Luther said that Superman might have the ability to see parallel universes, which would explain my confusion and add more mystery to his already confusing past."

"I am skeptical about Luther's statement, and Superman's companions have not denied or confirmed it. I want to say here that no one can find out the truth of the matter, so all the following content is actually based on analysis and assumptions."

"Lex Luthor believes that Superman saw his own death in a parallel universe. Luthor is a person who always puts his own interests first, so he naturally thinks that everyone is the same as him."

"But I have to say that Kal-El was never that kind of person."

"The parallel world is a magic mirror. People see what they want to see. Superman cares more about the person he loves than himself - so he only cares about us in the other world. How we help him, how we spend a long and happy time with him, and maybe how we die because of him."

"Compared to his own departure, these are the things that will make him miserable and even crazy."

"Everyone will leave, sooner or later. If Superman erased his memory, the aliens in Asgard only saw his own funeral in his mind. Then which one is more profound in his mind, the one that was retained or the one that was completely forgotten?"

“We all have the answers in our hearts.”

"Superman doesn't care about these things. It's the people he saves and protects who are eager for a result. So people ask: Where was Superman when the boy fell?"

"A week later, my colleagues asked again: 'Did anyone see Superman?'"

"Another week has passed... and we are still busy with our lives."

"More and more people are finding that something is missing in their lives, and they are asking: Where is Superman?"

Louise's pen paused.

Because the radio beside her was turned on regularly, and the frequency noise was rustling. After a while, the official news spokesperson said in a stiff tone: "...Superman? Yes, he is indeed not on Earth. You are right. He went to the universe...The reason? It's very complicated and involves some highly confidential information..."

A noisy argument ensued, with questions, phone calls, and car horns ringing in succession.

"The mayor of Metropolis? What does this have to do with him... What? He contacted S.H.I.E.L.D.? Let me get this straight? On what basis did he... Okay, okay."

"Actually, a human girl was abducted by aliens."

"No, the kidnappers are not Superman's enemies, nor are they because of Superman. We analyzed that this might be a conspiracy against the Earth. Superman's appearance disrupted the enemy's plan and made them suspicious, so they decided to take some means to get him away and deal with him separately."

"This is a crisis for both Superman and us. But don't worry, the government still has many backup measures."

"Are you asking if Superman is in danger? Will he come back safely?"

"I don't know, ladies and gentlemen, no one can know. He is a great hero who made a sacrifice for the safety of mankind - I can't explain it now because of the confidentiality agreement. But we have no choice, and we can't give up on either side. The only thing we can do is believe that he can do it, wait patiently and hope until the day when the red cape appears again over Metropolis."

With a "pop" sound.

Louise turned off the chattering radio.

She found herself not thinking about anything, and walked straight to the safe, took out a small communicator that Superman had given her before he left, which was used to contact a "trustworthy person" for help in times of crisis, and pressed the connect button.

After a few seconds, an inconspicuous green indicator light appeared on the edge of the communicator.

"I'm Lois Lane," she said without stopping. "I'm fine. I'm not in danger. I just - I just want to know what happened to Superman."

"Batman."