Flash!
Time seemed to slow down.
In that instant, the water rippling inside the school bus, the hair of a girl standing unsteadily flying about, the spit ejected from a boy's mouth as he screamed in fear, the floating water cup on the surface – everything seemed to slow down a hundredfold.
David observed the situation and unhurriedly shattered the glass beside him.
With a sweep of his arms, he moved with the speed of a torpedo launched from its tube, arriving at the front of the school bus.
The front of the school bus was high, and everyone inside was in a state of panic and fear. No one noticed him.
Submerged in the water, David didn't hold his breath; his expression was relaxed.
"The Thanos Eternal race physique doesn't require eating, drinking, or even breathing, and can survive in the vacuum of space at minus 200 degrees Celsius."
Let alone the mere depths of the water.
With his bone-defined palm pressing against the front of the bus, David pushed it aside with one hand, as casually as one might push aside an obstructing person.
In the surging river water, the school bus, weighing tens of tons and comparable to a medium-sized bus, was like a cannonball fired with explosive force. It flew backward, breaking through the water's surface, accompanied by a thunderous burst of spray, heading towards the shore.
Bang!
A long arc of over ten meters was traced across the river's surface. The school bus landed heavily on the grassy riverbank, its heavy rubber tires kicking up mud. The shockwave of the landing sent the entire vehicle bouncing.
The glass windows shattered, shards flying everywhere.
"Ah!"
Unprepared, everyone inside the school bus tumbled forward and backward, covering their heads in fear.
"What happened?"
After a moment, the glass fragments fell to the ground. The occupants, stunned and disbelieving, got up and looked outside.
Just moments ago, they were at the bottom of a dark, surging river, their lives hanging by a thread. In the blink of an eye, they were on a sun-drenched shore, the chirping of birds in the woods reaching their ears – so vibrant and beautiful.
"Am I... am I dreaming?" They stared at each other, dumbfounded.
"Oh, God!"
The bus driver, a man of faith, grabbed the cap off his head, his expression shocked. His eyes scanned the river, as if searching for some angelic figure.
"Are you okay, Chloe?"
A voice came from beside her. Chloe, having narrowly escaped death, turned her head with a pale face.
David was soaked through, just like her, but his expression was calm. Not a trace of fear could be found on his deep-set features.
Do people from the Kent family all have big hearts?
"I... I'm fine."
Having brushed shoulders with death, Chloe couldn't snap out of the miraculous scene. She stammered, "I thought the next time I saw light, the next time I breathed air, it would be people heartbroken, bringing a crane to pull our bus, filled with our corpses, from the riverbed."
"What in the world happened?"
This was the common question in everyone's mind in the bus, except for David. "Who saved them? Did God hear their prayers?"
"Let's get out of here, quickly," the bus driver, who had slightly recovered, shouted.
The riverbank was slippery. If the bus slid back into the river, it would be a fatal joke.
Splash, splash.
With his clothes clinging wetly to his body, David wrung them out. Calmly, he exited the bus, which had almost become their coffin, along with the other terrified passengers.
"It's like something hit us and threw us out of the river!"
Staring in astonishment at the dented front of the bus, which bore marks like it had been head-butted by an Asian elephant, the burly bus driver's mouth hung open, unable to close for a long time.
"Is there a water monster in the river?"
A group of students, still shaken, chattered amongst themselves, filled with wonder.
"Our bus crashed into its head, and it threw us out?"
Looking back at the surging river, they felt as if a colossal beast lurked beneath.
Glancing at the marks he had left, David casually withdrew his gaze.
Thanos, a mutated member of the Eternal race, possessed unimaginable strength and endurance, with recovery abilities and agility far beyond ordinary people. His skin was nearly indestructible, especially against cold, heat, electricity, radiation, poison, aging, and disease.
His physical strength surpassed Vibranium, and his terrifying power was enough to slay gods.
"Although I've only integrated over 80% of the template so far."
He himself didn't know the upper limit of his strength.
Pickups, large rocks... lifting anything felt as light as a feather.
David estimated that he could easily catch an airplane falling from the sky like an adult Superman, pull thousands of tons of steel warships, or lift a dozen-story residential building.
"It's just that without a universal biological field, most of those things would likely shatter and disintegrate."
The bus driver's comment about something head-butting the bus out of the river was purely a joke.
While at the bottom of the river, David was afraid to push too hard, fearing he would spare these people the agony of suffocation and send them to meet God prematurely.
Everyone moved away from the riverbank and sat to the side, waiting for rescuers and parents to arrive.
The school bus plunged into the river once and was thrown back onto the bank. The violent impact caused many people to suffer injuries, including broken bones and head trauma.
The school bus falling into the river and inexplicably being hit ashore by an unknown creature was undoubtedly an extremely bizarre event, enough to baffle biologists and scientists.
"But in this town, it's not exactly commonplace, nor is it to the extent that it would shatter people's worldview."
Ever since that meteor shower over ten years ago, strange occurrences had been frequent in this town.
There were reports of people in comas waking up and disappearing, giant wolves larger than tigers sighted in the dark woods at night, and a little girl with a plush bear appearing in the silent cemetery late at night, only to vanish when one turned their head.
Monsters with strange speed and immense strength roaring as they carved into mountains in the middle of the night.
Countless such incidents.
Hearing that their children were in trouble and had nearly drowned, the parents of the children rushed over anxiously.
Seeing his mother, Martha, arriving in her car and stopping by the roadside, David walked over with some confusion.
"David, are you alright?" Martha asked, her face filled with worry as she hurried over and examined David from head to toe, checking if he was injured anywhere.
"Does your leg hurt? What about your chest? Did you inhale any water?"
"I'm fine, Mother."
After patiently showing her several times that he was unharmed, David managed to somewhat calm his mother. Grasping her hand, which was colder than his own, he smiled and asked, "Why did you come? Where's Father?"
He had actually thought about revealing his abilities to his parents for a long time.
But unlike Clark, whenever he used his strength, his skin would turn purple, and stripes would appear on his chin. He looked more alien than a Kryptonian. He was afraid Jonathan and Martha would worry.
"The police just called. Your brother was in a car accident on another bridge and fell into the river. Your father went to see him."
Martha's expression was worried and odd.
It was strange, really, that both her sons had met with trouble on the same day. One's school bus skidded into the river, and the other was hit by a car and fell into the river.
"Car accident? Did he damage someone else's car?"
David asked, puzzled.
"Is the person driving okay? Will there be any compensation?"
The school bus falling into the river felt like a déjà vu. After Clark dodged it, why did it still fall into the river? Was this the power of fate?
"David, Clark is your brother."
Hearing her younger son say that, Martha, who had been worried, said with some helplessness.
"I know.
But his body can't be crushed even by a truck, can it?"
David shrugged.
Even if it was crushed, as long as he wasn't dead, he could just bask in the sun.
"See you this afternoon, Chloe."
After chatting with his mother for a bit, David said goodbye to Chloe, and the mother and son turned and walked towards the car. They got into the old pickup truck that had served the Kent family for over a decade and drove away.
After David left, Chloe, wrapped in a blanket by the rescuers, was shivering uncontrollably.
Suddenly, she noticed a footprint not far away. Beneath the footprint was a patch of crushed, vibrant green water grass.
"Huh?"
Confusion flickered in Chloe's eyes as she looked around.
Whose footprint was this? Everyone had gotten out of the bus after the windows were broken before it was washed ashore. Why was there water grass?
...
Except for a few injured students and some students who saw this as a good opportunity to feign injuries and stay home to play, Classes resumed as usual that afternoon and the next day, with no disruptions.
David couldn't help but marvel at the thick skin and adaptability of the town's residents.
"It's different when you've been baptized by a meteor shower."
The next day, at dusk.
David and Clark returned home from school.
In the farmyard, by the entrance to the small courtyard, a brand-new red pickup truck was parked quietly. Its gleaming paint reflected the afterglow of the sunset. It was adorned with a ribbon, like a gift.
"Whose car is this?"
Seeing his mother emerge from the barn after finishing her chores, Clark walked up with a smile and asked.
"Mom, are we finally getting a new car?"
"This is your car, Clark."
"Mine?"
"You saved Lex, and he gave you the car."
Martha frowned, pulled out a thank-you letter, and handed it to Clark.
David had heard yesterday that Clark had been hit off a bridge by a runaway silver coupe. It turned out Clark was fine, but the car's owner had almost died in the river.
Clark had pulled him out of the river, saving his life, and the man was greatly astonished by his physique.
"Dear Clark: Drive carefully, don't be like me..."
Hearing this, Clark couldn't wait to open the letter and read it softly with excitement, "Thank you so much for yesterday—Lex Luthor."
He had already figured out how he would drive this beautiful pickup truck to school, which would surely make Lana notice him more.
David, who hadn't paid much attention to the matter originally, heard the name and looked at the thank-you letter, raising an eyebrow with a strange expression.
"Wait a minute, Clark, you saved Lex Luthor?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" The young Superman looked up, wondering why his brother had that expression.
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