Chapter 32: Who Works on the Weekend?

Some might ask: Elijah’s family only got a dog yesterday, so how did Superman find out about it today?

The answer is that Elijah told him.

This morning, as Elijah stepped out the door to head to work, he saw a figure in the sky zipping from left to right, then back again. His upstairs neighbor, leaning against the windowsill for his usual morning smoke, spotted Elijah and remarked, "Is your son in trouble again? Why is Superman hovering right outside your door?"

Elijah knew perfectly well that Gale hadn't actually done anything, yet his heart skipped a beat—a sensation like missing a step on a staircase, or having your boss suddenly appear behind you while you’re scrolling on your phone at work.

Hearing the neighbor, Superman descended, cape fluttering, his blue eyes as clear as the sky. The neighbor shivered, ducked inside, and slammed the window shut. Only then did Superman drift down to Elijah and ask, "Could you give me your contact information?"

In truth, Clark and Elijah had already exchanged numbers while filling out surveys for single-parent households. But to make this connection official without sparking rumors about a romance between Superman and a small-time reporter, Superman had to ask for it in person.

Elijah translated the request in his mind: If the Intergang makes any moves, the Justice League wants to have a direct line to the guardian on the scene.

"Don't worry," Superman said sympathetically. "This is just a precaution. If you want to discuss specific times or occasions when this number can be used, we can talk about it another day... Not today, though. I have things to attend to."

Glancing at the time on Elijah’s phone screen, he felt a twinge of urgency. Even though it was Saturday, he had to work overtime at the Daily Planet. Thankfully, Elijah had left early; otherwise, he would have either left empty-handed or been forced to make a scene by knocking on the door.

How painful! Who still works on weekends?

Meanwhile, Elijah pondered... Superman must be on an emergency rescue mission. After all, besides people like himself who worked weekends, who else would be up so early on a Saturday? And given that the neighbor upstairs was so accustomed to Superman flying around their airspace, the man had likely been there for a long time.

To think he’d take the time to ask for a phone number while in the middle of a rescue mission—it seemed Gale’s kangaroo had left a lasting impression. With the Intergang’s threat level raised, even Elijah, a direct relative of a criminal element, had been placed on the priority watch list.

Still, it was his own side at fault—the misfortune of a troubled household—and he would miss his bus if he dawdled any longer.

"No need," Elijah declined the suggestion of a future meeting and simply showed Superman his phone number. He tried to convey with his body language that he was in a hurry, adding, "I’m sorry about the kangaroo."

"Hm? It’s alright, thank you." Superman might have understood the need to end the conversation, or perhaps he hadn't. He just hovered there, distracted, saying, "I’ll contact you if anything comes up. I mean—I’ll try not to contact you."

With that, he hurried off, and Elijah hurried toward the bus stop. As they departed, they exchanged one last glance, both thinking: *Ugh, what a failed conversation. Better not to have spoken at all!* But alas, people can never truly understand one another; after all, besides themselves, who else is working on a weekend?

...

Elijah was five minutes late.

He couldn't exactly tell his boss he was late because he was meeting Superman, but luckily, his Chinese landlady didn't press him. The supermarket was quiet that morning; clearly, no one else had woken up yet. However, as the lunch break approached, Elijah’s phone vibrated. He looked down—it was a text from Superman.

So much for "I'll try not to contact you."

Elijah’s right eyelid twitched. He slipped away from his colleagues while no one was checking out, found a secluded corner, and steeled himself before opening the message. To his surprise, Superman had sent a link to a forum thread titled:

*What should I do if my father is too fond of adopting children?*

...What on earth?

Ever since he arrived in this world, life had been a blur. Plus, the internet was full of gibberish, which gave Elijah a sort of reading disability. He had gradually reduced his time online and rarely read the news, let alone heard of fan forums for superheroes.

He spent the next while translating and looking up words. After finishing the main post—especially the last line, "I read somewhere that minors can't be prosecuted for murder, is that true?"—Elijah replied to Superman, looking thoughtful:

"If the leader of the Intergang meets with an accident, will my adopted daughter become the prime suspect because of this anonymous post?"

...

Clark nearly lost his composure reading the reply. His friend and fellow overtime worker, Lois, leaned over and asked, "What’s wrong?"

"Shh," Clark bent down, whispering, "Help me block Perry."

[Superman: No.]

[Superman: Are you sure this is a post from your adopted daughter?]

[Superman: Who is the young child?]

[Elijah: The dog at home.]

To make explaining the dog’s origin easier, he pushed the trouble onto his other self.

[Elijah: Raised by the Yellow Lantern.]

Clark hissed, unconsciously straightening his back, his expression turning solemn.

At that moment, a flicker of Superman emerged in his demeanor. Lois, distracted, almost thought she saw a cape behind him. His reply was firm:

[Superman: Can I speak with the Yellow Lantern?]

[Elijah: That’s me.]

...

"Kent... Clark Kent!" Editor-in-Chief Perry’s roar echoed through the office. "I didn't beg you to come in on a weekend! You said you were free on Saturday. If you can't handle it, find someone who can!"

"Sorry, I'm sorry," Clark stuffed his phone into his pocket. "Something urgent came up at home. Uh, my mother is sick. Can I take the afternoon off?"

Perry narrowed his eyes.

Clark managed to muster a look of panic and frustration.

"...Fine, don't let it happen again," Perry waved him off. "But forget about your overtime pay for today!"

"I am so sorry!"

Clark grabbed his bag and dashed out of the office, waving at Lois on his way out.

Then, as Superman, he spoke over the Justice League’s communication channel:

"I’m free this afternoon."

"I will attend the Watchtower meeting."

—That was how everything happened before the meeting began.

After Batman arrived and asked if Elijah knew that the Intergang had formed an alliance with Hydra, Superman frowned and pulled out his phone again: "I'll ask him."

When Elijah received the message, his boss was teaching him how to use the supermarket’s register. The old lady was "wealthy and idle"—very wealthy and very idle—and she loved finding entertainment for herself. She had originally planned to go shopping that weekend, but she had come to the supermarket specifically to watch the look on the faces of Chinese customers when they realized Elijah could understand them—that "Oh crap, the encrypted conversation failed" expression.

However, it wasn't just Chinese people who came to the Asian supermarket; there were Japanese, Korean, Indian, and many foreigners whose mother tongues she couldn't identify. Opportunities for fun were rare, so she simply pulled up a small stool and sat next to Elijah.

The good news was that other employees avoided the boss, so Elijah didn't need to socialize with them.

The bad news was he had to socialize with his boss.

When the phone on the counter lit up, the boss glanced at it instinctively. She didn't see anything clearly, but Elijah had already flipped the phone over and said, "Excuse me, I need to use the restroom."

*Oho*, she thought, that looked like a girlfriend. The boss, who had plenty of experience in her youth, smiled tolerantly and waved him off without comment. Elijah just felt that trying to keep up with international major events while working, all while communicating with the world's most important figure, was truly difficult. He hoped Superman would truly implement his philosophy of "I'll try not to contact you."

[Superman: Sorry to bother you, is your adopted son Gale at home? How is he?]

[Superman: Do you know about the alliance between the Intergang and Hydra?]

...That was definitely worth a contact!!

Elijah checked the time; he had ten minutes left on his shift. Those ten minutes were agonizing. As soon as the hour struck, he whispered an apology to his boss and walked out the supermarket door without looking back. After a few steps, he realized the bus was far too slow—by the time he got home, Hydra might have already destroyed the world. So, he pulled the Yellow Lantern ring from his bag, put it on, and found a spot without any cameras to change in a flash.

A comet-like yellow streak shot into the sky.

—Little did he know, the first flight of Elijah’s life, and the first public appearance of a Yellow Lantern Corps member stationed on Earth in Sector 2814, would happen under such circumstances.

Shortly after he left, a veteran employee of the Asian supermarket strolled over to the boss, stroked his chin, and asked: "What’s the deal with our new guy?"

The boss raised an eyebrow, dragging out her words: "What about him?"

"Feels like a big shot," the employee said half-jokingly. "He has this... how do I put it, the feeling of someone who has been through a lot of major events."

"Some people are reliable the moment they are born," the boss said. "And others, like you, are unreliable no matter how many books you read or how much salt you've eaten. Stop blathering and get back to work, or I’m docking your pay!"

At the same time, the U.S. Department of Defense sent an urgent notification to Superman:

"Unidentified flying object over Metropolis! Speed exceeding 800 kilometers per hour and still increasing!!"

Superman paused, preparing to reply, but ten seconds later, the Department of Defense sent another message:

"Oh, the UFO has started to decelerate. Uh, it has landed. It’s the 'Yellow Lantern.' Alert temporarily lifted. Everything is fine."

Superman: "..."

That’s how it is when super-powered people travel.

He finally got up to speed, only to realize the destination was too close—he’d arrive in under a minute—so he had to slow down just after speeding up.

After all, Metropolis was only so big; even the Earth was nothing but a small park for them to stroll through. That was why, in his daily life as Clark, Superman rarely used these abilities—only when he was synchronized with the time of others did he feel the reality that they were truly living in the same world.

Of course, the Flash was another matter. He could be late even with super-speed, so he definitely had a sense of reality.

After Elijah landed, the Department of Defense withdrew its satellite surveillance, and Superman stopped paying attention to it. But they didn't know that the moment Elijah landed, things had actually become complicated.

At the exact moment his toes touched the ground, a bullet grazed his arm and struck the window of his upstairs neighbor.