Lex bumped into Pala in the kitchen.
The energetic young lady was pillaging the pantry, or perhaps she was just indulging in so additional desserts that rkel had set aside for her.
"I don't know what it is, but ever since I regained my sanity, I've been eating much more. I'm even eating three als a day now."
"How many als were you eating before?"
"Normally, I would sleep until noon, then laze around until the evening. I'd probably grab a sandwich or sothing around eight or nine o'clock, right before I rush off to the lab."
"The fact that you're still alive is a miracle."
With apparently nothing better to do, Pala and Lex were sitting on opposite sides of the kitchen counter, chatting. Pala was sizing Lex up and down when she said: "You don't look too bad all dressed up."
"I didn't expect any complints from you." Lex replied with evident boredom.
Both fairly close in age and often bumping into each other in the lab, Lex was quite familiar with Pala's nature.
"Talya and I have a plan." Pala nonchalantly disclosed, "Here is the basic rundown..."
Pala started telling Lex about their outlandish plan. To her surprise, Lex didn't seem shocked at all. Instead, he said, "You guys got all fired up but didn't consider the feasibility of the sche at all."
"The biggest problem is that you've invited Clark Kent. Do you know he's actually an alien? Do you realize his powers could obliterate earth with a single punch?"
"Of course, we know he's powerful. That's part of the reason we chose him. Ah, yes, not just because he's handso."
"He is indeed reasonable under normal circumstances." Lex picked up a piece of cake, but didn't eat it for fear of ssing his clothes. While studying its decorations, he added: "n are most vulnerable and almost devoid of any rational thought during certain tis. You were right, you, Talya, and Selina are all quite attractive. This could pose a serious risk of Clark losing control."
Pala opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again. She sighed and said, "I wonder what experiences you've had that allow you to point this out imdiately after hearing our plan."
"This shows that I'm rational and you guys are lust-crazed lunatics."
"Okay, I admit there is indeed a problem. But ah, doesn't he have a girlfriend..."
"A frenzy induced by mass excitent is not sothing you want Professor Shiller to find out about. That would an giving back all the knowledge you've gained from his books."
Pala let out a deep sigh before asking, "So, for this pure human party, are you in?"
"The truth is, you haven't got Bruce and Selina on board yet. Without the two of them, it won't work out, even with your involvent and mine. We'll need Clark to be part of it, but that's risky."
Pala massaged her forehead, she had to admit Lex was right. This was a classic paradox.
"Who else do you think could convince Bruce and Selina?"
"I don't think you can persuade Shiller."
"Cough Cough!!" Pala's violent coughing was so severe it almost choked her. She had to rush over to the faucet and take several gulps of water.
As she ca back to the counter and caught her breath, Pam shook her head saying, "Let's not ntion that na for a while. You have no idea what happened."
Lex arched his brows, glancing at Pala with intrigued eyes. Pala said, "You probably won't believe this, but I almost involved him. In a physical sense."
"What did you do?" Lex asked, frowning.
"You must've noticed my changes. The results of Professor Shiller's treatnt were astonishing, right?"
Pala laid her arms on the table and continued, "But you also know I possess certain special abilities. Given my unstable ntal state, I wouldn't have complied easily during the treatnt."
"Did you attack Professor Shiller?"
"I'm afraid it's worse than that," Pala replied, pursing her lips, "I might have tried to restrain him with my vines. Even though I don't think I was successful in the end, it was still terrifying."
"Or maybe, you've partially succeeded." Lex shifted his gaze away, hiding his mouth behind his cup, "The professor wouldn't harm his students. If you were at a crucial stage of your treatnt, he might not have resisted, risking a treatnt failure."
"Are you suggesting I actually got him?"
"Did he tell you about this? How did he describe it?"
"So terrifying vine-based restraining thods."
"So even if it wasn't that serious, part of it must be true." Lex took a sip of water, "You should understand, Professor Shiller hates everyone in the world equally, he would never admit his weakness unless it's necessary."
"God." Pala sighed and sank into her bar stool, leaning on the countertop, "I was unconscious, I missed everything, damn it."
"Is that your main concern?" Lex rolled his eyes, "Even though he said it was okay, you know how tolerant the professor is."
"Co on, I myself don't know what else I can do..."
Bam! Bang bang!
A sudden loud noise ca from upstairs, followed by a dazzling light. When the light faded, Lex and Pala opened their eyes again, looked at each other, and quickly ran upstairs.
But halfway there, Pala suddenly stopped Lex, saying, "No, don't go up."
"What's wrong?" Lex asked, frowning.
A flicker of alarm passed over Pala's face. She froze for a few seconds, opening and closing her mouth, furrowing her brow then looking blank, causing Lex to suspect she was having facial spasms.
After a while, Pala licked her lips, tilted her head, and, pulling Lex with her, turned around and headed down the stairs.
"What's up?" Lex asked again, "What happened upstairs?"
"Don't ask." Pala made a silence gesture and said, "We didn't hear anything. It was all an illusion."
They had just sat back down at the bar stools when Shiller ca down the stairs. Looking up, Lex saw that Shiller had changed into his dinner attire.
A rust-colored prince's suit, a slightly jovial polka dot tie, a daisy-shaped tie pin and golden chain, and a four-fold spiraling pocket square; this prompted Lex, also out of artistic appreciation, to take a mont to stare intensely.
On looking closer, he noticed sothing amiss. Though not quite a great detective, his observational skills were still far above average.
One of Shiller's cufflinks was askew - only slightly, less than a milliter by his estimation. But it was very unusual, since the rest of the outfit looked as if it had been cast from a mold, and this was the only problem.
Shiller, descending the stairs seemingly clueless, spoke while adjusting his suit button.
"Busyness does lead to mistakes. I accidentally bumped into the mirror in the bedroom just now. I didn't scare you guys, did I?"
Pala's head was shaking so much it was almost centrifugal, Lex rolled his eyes, shot a quick glance at Pala and also shook his head.
But he realized that sothing was off. The three noises just now were definitely not caused by a falling mirror.
From his previous observations of the décor of Rodrix Manor, Lex discovered that the forr owner of this manor, the Vicount, was a style chaser who, when building the manor, used exquisite wooden furniture as a trend.
All the bedrooms had wooden floors, and the wardrobes and mirror fras were also wooden. The sound of wood on wood isn't so dull.
Moreover, if it was a mirror falling over, even if the mirror shattered, it wouldn't produce three similarly dull noises. Moreover, Lex had never heard of a scenario where a mirror falling in a bedroom could cause a large optical phenonon.
The burst of light just now was beyond what could be achieved by physics. Even a flashbang would be hindered by walls, yet that light evidently penetrated all matter, brightly as if divine.
And the most obvious flaw was that adjusting the mirror would not ss up the cufflink, as the mirror was just a flat wooden fra. All one would need to do to handle it was to reach under the fra and lift gently.
Even if one needed to adjust the mirror, it would necessitate raising both arms. At that mont, constrained by the fit of the tailored suit, the cuffs would be pulled back, thus there wouldn't be any chance of anything on the sleeves hitting the fra.
But evidently, that was all there was to Shiller's answer. He wasn't trying to fool anyone, the purpose of this answer was clearly to make others stop asking, or rather, it was to warn them - this was all I can give, all that you can think of.
Seeing the slightly alard expression on Pala's face, Lex understood - she probably saw what happened in the master bedroom through her vines.
Dingling.
The phone rang, Shiller turned to answer it, and Lex vaguely heard a familiar female voice coming from the phone.
"Hello? Miss Selina?"
Selina, quite helplessly rubbing her forehead on the other side of the phone, spoke as politely as possible, "I'm very sorry, Professor. It's just that Bruce and I might have to alter our planned arrival ti. Yes, sothing unexpected happened."
"No, it's nothing major, it's just... I don't know how to explain it, because it sounds like a phony excuse."
"Okay, please don't be angry. I can't believe it either. Your good student, Bruce Wayne, just got sunburned."
"Or rather, not just. It was when we left around midday. No, he wasn't exposed to the sun, we wanted to drag him to the pier to see the sea, but he flatly refused to go, so he didn't get sunburned."
"If I have to say, it was when we went to get the car and were inford that the entrance to the underground parking lot in the market was temporarily closed. We had to go to another, further entrance in another building next to the market."
"There was no connecting passage between the two buildings, so we had to go outside. But the distance between them was very short, probably around 50 ters, minus the shadowy parts on either side of the building, the total sunlit part was probably... 20 ters?"
"I don't know, but that was the only ti he was exposed to sunlight. I don't understand - in just those few seconds, how did he manage to sunburn the back of his neck?"
"It's not too severe, just a bit red, but for safety reasons, it's best to apply so ointnt. I'm currently applying it to him, but the sunburn ointnt slls and is quite sticky. We can't put a shirt on until it dries properly, otherwise it will ruin the shirt."
"Yes, thank you so much for your understanding. I'll relay your ssage. We'd like to push back our arrival ti by about half an hour. Okay, that's all then. Thank you, Professor."
Taking advantage of Shiller's distraction with the phone call, Pala and Lex had already passed through the dining room at the back, and arrived at the porch leading to the garden.
User Comments
0 comments from readers