It is midsummer in Kansas. The sun is scorching the fields, the breeze is blowing heat waves through the cornstalks, the sky is high and vast, almost cloudless, and the ground is dotted with houses.

A middle-aged man who was feeding horses heard the noise behind him. The young man under him also pawed his hooves and snorted, wagging his tail and sticking his head out. Both the man and the horse looked blankly at the sudden rise of dust at the end of the road, and then a white medium-sized dog rushed forward with its tongue hanging out.

Behind the white dog, a blue-eyed boy with curly hair was holding a rope in his hand, and the back of his sweatshirt was wet with sweat. This made him look a bit wolfish, but it also neutralized the sense of distance brought by his outstanding appearance, making people feel that he was not much different from those children rolling in the fields.

"good afternoon!"

The man took off his hat and waved at the other man.

"Do you need help? Whose child are you?"

"Thank you, good afternoon!" the black-haired boy replied hurriedly, "I can handle it myself. Um, I don't usually live here, I just came here... to walk the dog."

Thank God, at least Xiao Ke didn't suddenly fly up at this time.

The horses in the farm stamped their feet anxiously, looking at the boy and his dog as if they were enemies, and even refused to eat the food that was fed to them. The horse owner stroked its mane in confusion and whispered to it, "It's okay, it's okay, don't be afraid, they are just passing by."

After this strange and interesting duo walked away and could no longer be seen, the man commented: "Although the dog is not small in size, its strength is quite average. It can easily hold a child." He turned to his partner and asked, "Don't you agree? When you are disobedient, you are much wilder than a puppy."

After the dog left, his horse stopped trembling, and when he heard this, he just looked at his master with contempt.

**

Superman has never run so hard.

The point is not the speed, after all, he can easily move faster than any vehicle on earth. People who have slipped past large dogs may be more experienced. He is now in the state of walking forward normally in the eyes of bystanders, but in fact all his strength is spent on stopping himself from moving forward, the rope in his hand is stretched into a straight line, and he is wrestling with the dog every moment.

If there hadn't been a thin metal rope in the Fortress of Solitude that he had brought back from the universe on his last voyage, which was said to be used to pull planets, the difficulty of walking the dog today would have skyrocketed to the point of being impossible.

"Where exactly are you going?"

After nearly being thrown into the pond during another fight with a dog, even a superhuman person couldn't help but ask angrily, "Hasn't it been enough to run so far? Why don't we just fly into space?"

Other people walk their dogs from the doorstep to the gate of the community.

He walks his dog from the earth to the moon.

The white dog turned around and looked at him with the wet eyes that are unique to dogs. It howled twice and turned back to pull the rope.

"...Forget it, walk slowly and don't fly. I'll follow you from behind."

Moses began to give up on himself. He kept paying attention to his surroundings. When no one was around, he would float up and be pulled forward by Xiao Krypton like a kite.

As evening approached, the sunlight was no longer so hot. It felt warm on his face, like the gentle palm of nature. He closed his eyes and faced the wind with the smell of moisture and swamp, imagining himself sleeping on a pile of corn cobs. The chirping of robins and the humming of cicadas surrounded him, and Krypton chased the mole's tail to the end of the horizon.

Dorothy, the protagonist of the fairy tale "The Wizard of Oz", also lived in Kansas. Her family had a farm and a dog named Toto. This fairy tale is very well-known. Moses had read it a long time ago. As a writer, Clark also read a lot of miscellaneous literary works in his spare time, including revisiting fairy tales.

This makes Superman feel as if he has entered another world when he lands on this land.

He thought again of Martha, Martha Kent, the hardworking woman who lived among the soil and plants, whose husband, Jonathan Kent, had been killed in a hurricane years before.

Is this true?

Will he be like the heroine in The Wizard of Oz, who was taken to Oz by a tornado and met the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion? Of course, the Scarecrow will never be the one from Gotham.

But unfortunately, Clark didn't have the chance to tell Martha what he was thinking the day the accident happened several years ago.

He loved her and was willing to share her pain and heaviness and give her as much comfort as possible, but they had never even met.

- Just like Thomas Wayne in the parallel universe only talked a few words with Bruce, and the Flash finally said "goodbye" to his mother across thousands of miles. No one can accompany another person for a lifetime, no matter how deep the feelings are.

The parents of Batman, Iron Man and Flash all died when they were young. Captain America's lover is getting old and the years have drawn an unbridgeable gap between them. The greatness of human nature always seems to be accompanied by pain. Clark once saw a sentence on social media: Every unrelieved ending you see may be the best ending they can achieve. Out of witnessing this fate and some practical considerations, although he knew that he and Martha would get along well, Clark still did not really start to get to know women.

Even when Xiao Kecai was running and jumping in the fields, he would carefully pull the rope to avoid the location of the farm.

The conflict between superheroes and ordinary people is so intense now, and Superman is still the most controversial one. How can he guarantee that he will not cause trouble to the other side?

That being said, dog walking routes can sometimes be difficult to get right.

Often the direction you move forward does not depend on yourself, but on the dog.

He was floating in the air when he suddenly heard a familiar heartbeat.

Superman: “!”

Moses finally couldn't hold back and complained to the system: "I'm not a real human, but it's a real dog. Maybe raising a child is less troublesome than raising a Kryptonian dog."

System: "Practice makes perfect. You can compare them later."

"I'm not married, what do you mean?" Moses suddenly realized something, "Is the information obtained from Batman true? No, Luther really intends to create a Kryptonian?!"

System: “Uh-huh, you know nothing.”

Damn.

Wait a minute.

Moses: "Will he cultivate his fruits into healthy, positive people who are useful to society?"

"Do you think Luther is like this?"

Isn’t that bald guy a mentally ill, paranoid person who is a threat to society?

"...it's also possible that they complement each other."

If the system had expressions, they would probably be mocking and compassionate.

Moses himself did not believe these words.

The boy's shoulders slumped, his hand holding the dog leash hanging by his side, and he said half-truthfully and depressedly, "I don't want to be Superman anymore."

System: "Really? I've been looking for an opportunity to convince you to take a third job, why not consider it now?"

"..."Go away, big capitalist.

Xiao Ke sensed his depressed mood, turned around and called out, then flew back and rubbed against his legs.

Superman squatted down and ruffled the fur on the dog's head, then picked it up and flew silently to the roof of a house in the farm ahead.

When the minor sat down with his knees hugged, he was about the same height as a dog squatting on the ground. The difference was that Clark put his head on his knees, while little Krypton held his head high, stuck out his tongue, and looked around proudly, which made the Son of Krypton reach out and stroke its back again.

Little Krypton felt comfortable with his massage, so he lay down leisurely, his hot and moist breath sprayed on his owner's ankles, his ears trembled, occasionally brushing against Superman's calves.

At this time, it looked like a well-behaved and cute dog again, but unfortunately its true face was exposed too thoroughly before, and Clark refused to reach out and stroke its fur to satisfy it.

From the room below came the sound of a TV playing the news and the voices of two or three women chatting.

Mr. Reporter, you can guess 70% to 80% of the content of recent news reports even if you cover your ears.

The topics mainly revolve around Superman, the proposed hero registration bill, conspiracy theories, and terrorism in certain regions.

The personal opinions of local radio hosts in the United States are often so sharp that they can be offensive.

The person on TV right now happened to be a Superman fan. She expressed her support for superheroes passionately, and confronted several male guests who mocked her for being attracted to Superman's body. It almost turned into a fight with microphones and chairs - Clark could even hear the sound of microphone cords hitting the air from inside - and then the host sat down again to calm down, claiming that she had found the parents of the boy who had imitated Superman and was seriously injured.

While waiting for the special guest to arrive, the sound of flowing tea could be heard in the room.

It's Martha.

She took the cup to moisten her throat, then sighed and said to her same-sex friend beside her: "I'm really worried about him."

Superman's heart skipped a beat before he realized who she was talking about. He held his breath, ignoring the dust on his fur, and held Krypton in his arms.

"You mean your masked friend? The one who insisted on taking care of you until you're old, but suddenly disappeared?"

"Of course I'm worried about him or her, but I was talking about Superman. Your son taught me how to use Twitter last time, and I found that people's speculations are very reasonable."

"Vincent always does useless things!" Martha's friend said angrily. "I told him not to say that in front of you."

"No, I really want to know. I remember Superman brought back a lost lamb to old Tom's house."

"Yes. We all saw Superman that day, but you were the only one in town. Old Tom has been a fan of Superman ever since, even more so than his daughter. Young people in town said on the street that Superman sometimes acted like a fool, and Tom almost got into a quarrel with them with his dick in his hand."

They laughed together, not sure whether at the children's childish words or the elders' unkempt appearance.

In fact, if you live long enough, you will find that those who always do good things are indeed "fools". They know how to survive better, but still choose to do things that are more difficult and not beneficial to themselves.

The reason why humans are human beings and not beasts may be that the former can spend their entire lives fighting against desires.

"Those kids just haven't fallen down before," Marsha's friend said, shaking a teaspoon. "Whether it's the people arguing on the Internet or Superman, they are all very young. Young people are always inexperienced and like to get stuck in trivial matters."

"But they are also brave enough and are not afraid of falling, unlike people of our age who are used to looking ahead and behind."

"Superman is indeed very young," Martha said, "but the newspapers have mentioned his growth experience, and he has a lot of experience. This is what makes me sad - some of his behaviors make me feel that he is pushing himself too hard, even though this quality is praised."

"That's right! Our family was relatively poor when I was young, but my father always told me to be a kind person. I hated him for a while. There was nothing I could do about it. At first I thought, how could I love the people and things around me after going through all this? It took me more than 30 years to reconcile with my past self. Whenever I encountered hurt in the past, I couldn't help but want to vent or escape by blaming others."

The woman shrugged and added, "Later I saw someone say on the Internet that Superman might have shortened the process. You know, if he could see the development of parallel universes and realized that the world would be destroyed if he stomped his feet, then what can a good person do? He can only cover up his immature side as quickly as possible."

"As the saying goes, 'Adversity makes people grow', and that's what it means."

After a while of tidying up the clothes, she stood up and said to Martha, "I have to go back. I have to put away the clothes after making dinner. See you tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

"Goodbye!" Martha walked her friend to the door.

When I returned to the room, the TV was playing an interview with the special guest.

She originally wanted to go to the kitchen to prepare dinner, but she remembered the host's attitude towards Superman and watched a little more.

The mother in the guest room held up the microphone and said, "...Yes, we have never resented Superman. What does this have to do with him? He has the right to choose what he wants to do within the scope permitted by law and morality. Our child's injury is the result of our mistake and lack of management. Superman did nothing wrong. I think the previous comments and malicious speculations of the media are unfair."

"Our kid's attitude? Of course he likes Superman more! Because he finally realized that ordinary people can't fly!"

"Will we let him keep his hobby? Of course, he is studying hard for his idol, hoping to build a suit like Iron Man when he grows up - but in red and blue, so that he can become Superman's assistant. I think this ideal is worth encouraging, although Stark may sue him for copyright infringement..."

Martha turned off the TV.

Because she suddenly heard a burst of cheerful dog barking outside the window.

People living near the farm know each other, so there is usually no danger. Martha walked to the window and opened the curtains. The first thing she saw was not a puppy, but a boy with black hair and blue eyes, who was dressed a little shabbily.

He didn't know how long he had been squatting in front of the door. His collar, which was stained with sweat or night dew, was almost dried. The white dog that had been barking before sat beside him, wagging its tail.

The sun was setting and the sky had turned a deep blue. Under his dense eyelashes, the boy's eyes, looking at the sky, also appeared deep and calm, like the surface of a lake in midsummer, with wet sparks flickering in it.

It was so quiet that not even the sound of the wind could be heard.

Martha suddenly remembered that many years ago, the day before her husband Jonathan Kent left, it was also such a hot and clear night.

The world takes away many things from people, and sometimes it also brings something back.

Just like Dorothy in the fairy tale, she went around and around and finally landed at the doorstep of her home.