mtl008 Chapter 4404 Project Farstar (22)
Chapter 4404 Project Farstar (22)
Chapter 4404 Project Far Star (Twenty-Two)
"Clark Kent!!!!!!!!!"
The editor-in-chief of Planet Daily roared, echoing through the city center: "You've taken more vacation days in a month than I have in two years! Do you own Planet Daily?!"
Clark, looking guilty in the editor's office, turned his head away and said, "This was really an accident. I went back to my hometown to visit relatives."
"Where are you going to visit relatives that takes so long?!"
“A little far,” Clark gestured with his finger to indicate a point, “about a few million light-years away.”
The editor-in-chief covered his forehead, took a deep breath, and said, "Listen, I don't care how long you've been on leave, the reporting deadline won't change. Did you keep an eye on the head of the municipal management department that I asked you to keep an eye on?!"
“Uh… I’ll go now,” Clark said.
The editor pointed forcefully to the door. Clark grabbed his equipment and scurried away. Once outside, he sighed, a slightly weary expression on his face, and rubbed his cheeks.
This trip to Krypton made him understand one thing more profoundly than ever before—he was just an Earthling. He could only return to Earth.
Clark flew at top speed for a long time before finally finding Krypton. To his surprise, it didn't look dilapidated at all. The planet and cities remained as they were, only the people were gone.
This also allowed Clark to find more information on Krypton, enabling him to learn about the planet's history and the truth behind its destruction.
As mentioned before, Kryptonians abandoned natural reproduction long ago, opting instead for genetic screening and artificial embryo technology. This means that what a child will do after birth is already determined by their genes.
Such strict genetic control did indeed allow them to develop very rapidly at the beginning. Because no matter what type of talent was lacking, they could directly use genetic technology to customize it. However, this also sowed the seeds of their eventual demise.
While the Kryptonians were rapidly developing and mass-producing talent using gene-editing technology, they failed to realize that if their path was wrong, the more knowledge they acquired, the more reactionary they became. They ignored the guiding role of ideology and political direction, focusing solely on technological research. This led to over-exploitation and over-utilization.
Humans are a relatively young species. But precisely because they haven't mastered any gene-editing technology, and human birth and death are highly accidental, their exploration of sociology and politics far predates their exploration of technology.
Humanity struggled for millions of years before the Industrial Revolution erupted in the last few centuries. For almost all of that time, the central theme of society was society itself—essentially, resolving the random issues of birth and death.
Kryptonians essentially possessed gene selection and editing technology during their tribal era. This resulted in a severe lack of exploration of their own society. To put it in perspective, it's like having a car for every baby before they've even learned to walk.
They managed to get this vehicle running using gene-editing technology, piling up materials to create a "modern society." But in reality, it's still a high-tech version of a primitive tribe. They've never explored how people should interact with each other, how they should interact with nature, or how they should interact with society.
This leads to babies wielding all sorts of high-tech equipment, wreaking havoc on the surrounding planets and galaxies in order to extract more resources and develop more advanced technology.
To use a somewhat biased analogy: humans are more like liberal arts students, spending a long time studying politics and sociology. This has resulted in them, after so many years of development, still being unable to break free from the Earth's surface. Certain ideas developed during this exploration process, and people's overall way of thinking, have led to numerous difficulties on the path of technological advancement.
The Kryptonians are like science students. Their minds are filled with precise calculations. They believe that every problem has a final answer, including the universe itself. Through development and meticulous calculation, they believe they can obtain this answer. And to obtain this answer, every step must be as concise and accurate as possible. The faster and more accurate the calculation, the better. This leads to the neglect of everything except the mathematical process leading directly to the answer.
Neither of these two ways of thinking is good enough. The former is very likely to be invaded by other civilizations because it develops too slowly and perishes because of its own weakness; the latter, because of its reckless and unrestrained approach, will perish due to social problems and resource depletion.
However, Earth is far more fortunate than Krypton. It is home to countless ancient races, and its human population includes many powerful beings. Every invasion has been successfully repelled. Society has endured numerous upheavals, but has managed to survive and thrive to this day.
Krypton was much more unfortunate. During its period of rapid development, although society had various hidden dangers, it could barely maintain itself. However, when the problem of resource depletion caused by the previous unrestrained mining began to emerge, external pressures exacerbated social problems, and due to a lack of experience, they were unable to solve these problems. Unfortunately, their technology was advanced enough to efficiently kill their own kind. The entire process of extinction was too fast to reverse.
It's like wars in primitive tribes; even after a year of fighting, not many people would die because of a lack of effective means of killing. But with the development of technology and the advent of nuclear weapons, humans can kill most of their fellow human beings in just a few hours.
The Kryptonians' technological advancement was so advanced that when the entire planet was irradiated by weapons, it was wiped out without any resistance. So easily, yet so tragically.
After learning the truth, Clark realized that Louise's earlier words were correct. The most important significance of exploring history lies not in uncovering the true truth, but in interpreting what is discovered. This is because it is a crucial part of developing ideas, politics, and society.
A race cannot only look forward, prioritize efficiency, and squander all its energy on pursuing the ultimate answers to the universe. Ultimately, it will perish. From a civilizational perspective, mistakes are inevitable, but trial and error are meaningful.
This also resolved Clark Kent's inner conflict—that the United States today is a huge mistake in the history of human civilization. But even mistakes have their significance.
The energy, gears, and blades of this enormous meat grinder, along with the outrageously stupid legislators, the indifferent and unrepentant middlemen, and the evil and brutal executors, will all be a significant and colorful stroke in the error book of the essence of human civilization that has perpetuated history.
Without freedom of criticism, praise is meaningless. If errors are not profound enough, the process by which the right people discover, confront, and overcome them cannot catalyze such momentous choices and changes in human civilization. The more evil the enemy, the more just and righteous the process of defeating and conquering them becomes. Only then will the path taken after ultimate victory be more resolute.
Clark had long recognized that he was not a superhero of any particular country or ethnicity. He was the superhero of Earth, the superhero of the world. His role was that of a guardian of human civilization.
Previously, he was simply heartbroken that the world's most powerful nation had been built on the blood of too many innocent people. He didn't want such power, deeply doubted whether such a civilization had a future, and also doubted whether he could save it.
However, after witnessing the tragedy of Kryptonian civilization, he realized he hadn't stood high enough, hadn't seen far enough. Standing above the entire civilization, the gangrene appearing on his body was a touchstone for testing physical strength and the immune system. Even with the strongest limbs infected, humanity hadn't followed the same path of extinction as the Kryptonians, proving that hope still existed. The struggle wasn't over; countless cells were still working tirelessly in the shadows. He was also their guardian; now was not the time to give up.
Meanwhile, Clark, located in the center of a Kryptonian city, realized that he felt no sense of belonging to this unfamiliar civilization. He would rather help the weak humans recover their health than resurrect the giants on distant planets, or even make any effort for it.
His interpretations of Krypton's history and the truth behind its destruction are all from an outsider's perspective, offering objective but detached evaluations. There's not a trace of the desolation of "a nation destroyed, but its mountains and rivers remain." It's as if he's an alien who happened to pass by, feeling a sense of awe at the civilization's past glory, but with little regret.
If his parents had delayed sending him off, perhaps he would have felt some sadness because of family ties. If he hadn't crashed to Earth as a refugee, but instead visited in a more normal way, perhaps he would have felt grief and indignation.
Ultimately, no one asked for his opinion. No matter how helpless or distressed others were, they could not change the fact that if the spaceship had not crashed at Kent Farm, and he had not been adopted by such a simple and kind couple, but instead ended up in a tent area, a military base, or a human experimentation center, he would have inevitably caused mutual destruction with human civilization, and there would have been no good outcome.
Clark couldn't say he wasn't terrified by this conjecture when he hastily fled Earth. When he truly witnessed the depths of this nation's depravity, he realized his parents might have made a mistake. He was simply lucky to have encountered exceptionally good people and a favorable time. What he saw gave him a feeling that "if it weren't for this, perhaps it would have been better to live and die with the other Kryptonians." And to prevent this self-destructive urge from growing stronger, he didn't want to see any more.
Regardless, he still had to go back. Because compared to fear and anger, Krypton only left him feeling indifferent. This proved that his true home was Earth. He could only return to Earth.
Clark didn't stay on Krypton for long before quickly returning to Earth, spending most of his time traveling. Upon returning, he wanted to see Louise immediately, but he couldn't help feeling a mix of homesickness and trepidation.
He realized that the sadness and confusion he displayed when he met Louise might be his most vulnerable side. It might seem childish and ridiculous to Louise.
Driven by some selfish motive, he wanted Louise to see his good, flawless side. He thought perhaps he should wait a little longer, at least until he achieved something, before seeing her again, so that they would have some less awkward topics to discuss.
Even more urgent than that was his need to get back to work. His trip home to visit family wasn't a leave of absence, but rather unauthorized absence. He wasn't sure if his previous act of saving the entire building from the monster would atone for his unexcused absence, and he prayed that his editor-in-chief was currently short-staffed and wouldn't fire him immediately.
Fortunately, his gamble paid off. Although the editor-in-chief gave him a severe scolding and canceled his annual leave for the next five years, at least he still had his job. He could still work part-time to earn money and try to compensate Diana for her losses.
Taking a deep breath, Clark rallied his spirits. He had to write a decent political news report that would satisfy his editor-in-chief, which would make his future work smoother and allow him more time to help those who hadn't given up.
Clark grabbed his camera and drove to the municipal administration, only to be told that the director he wanted to interview, Rafanas, had made a last-minute trip to a banquet at Luther Estate.
"Well, I'm going to have to deal with Luther again," Clark thought as he drove. "Hopefully I won't run into him, or it'll be really awkward."