Nobody can stop me from drawing cards in Gotham!

Chapter 151 Superhero Official Account (4K combined chapter)

"This happened without our knowledge—"

After hearing Wonder Woman's words, Clark felt a mix of emotions, including a sense of guilt.

In his view, such a big thing happened in Metropolis, yet he, as Superman, couldn't help at all.

In the end, it was a man who was supposedly visiting the Metropolis and helping a friend out, who, together with Wonder Woman, solved the problem.

The excessively high moral standards made him somewhat uneasy.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Mr. Kent," Wonder Woman said, noticing Clark's troubled expression. "You're not Superman; you don't need to take such a big responsibility on yourself."

Clark: "—"

Although the heroine meant well, she wasn't comforted at all; instead, she felt even more heartbroken.

"Unfortunately, the Escalius Award trophy was destroyed in the incident." Wonder Woman then turned to Lois, "It was a symbol of honor, and I'm sorry about that."

"No need," Louise shook her head. "That's just a trophy that brings bad luck. In fact, if destroying the trophy would help you, I would be willing to smash ten of them."

"Thank you, Ms. Lane." Wonder Woman nodded solemnly. "Unfortunately, Superman isn't here, and we can't reach him with the communicator. I'll have to ask you to let me know later."

"Don't worry about that. Maybe Superman is watching all this with his super hearing?" Clark chuckled. "Anyway, although it's not quite what I imagined, ending things this way is probably not bad."

"Yes, it all ended too quickly, and quite dramatically." Wonder Woman narrowed her eyes, the next sentence lingering in her mouth, "Indeed, I still need to find an opportunity to talk to that detective again about him and the gatekeeper—"

"Oh, right, lady," Clark suddenly remembered something, "you said before that you were only staying in Metropolis these past few days because you had something to do, so..."

Wonder Woman nodded upon hearing this: "Yes, I estimate I'll be leaving Metropolis in a couple of days."

"I have a deep impression of my time with you all, and I will never forget to say goodbye to you and to Superman."

Clark looked conflicted.

Louise noticed Clark's strange tone: "What's wrong, Kent? You seem to want to say something."

"No, well, I meant to say—" Clark didn't know how to put his thoughts into words for a moment.

In his view, the events that have occurred in the metropolis in the past few days have been somewhat enlightening for him.

For example, during the toy man attack incident, if it weren't for Wonder Woman and Winchester arriving in time, his identity might have been exposed.

Eddie Reiner's situation wouldn't have been so easily resolved if it weren't for Langdon, and it might even have given rise to a new Metropolis villain.

On the "gatekeeper" side, Langdon used money to resolve many hidden crises.

The subsequent expansion of "Fog City" over the metropolis went completely unnoticed by Clark.

If it weren't for Jaeger Winchester, those "Gatekeeper" cultists with their domain-enhancing abilities wouldn't have been so easy to deal with.

This series of events made Clark realize that even Superman is not omnipotent.

He will always encounter situations where it is inconvenient to act as Superman, and he will always encounter events that cannot be resolved simply by Superman's abilities.

Therefore, he needs cooperation and partners.

That's the real key.

Krondon is alright, since I've known him for a long time and can contact him through Pingo.

Jaeger Winchester was originally a powerful wizard friend that Langdon had brought in, and he could also get to know him through Langdon.

But how do we contact Wonder Woman?

Living in modern society, Wonder Woman couldn't possibly lack private means of communication, but inevitably, Ken...

It will definitely involve her secret identity.

Clark himself is a superhero who chose to hide his identity to protect the safety of those around him, so he naturally understands Wonder Woman's behavior of protecting her secret identity.

However, if you miss this opportunity, who knows when you'll see Wonder Woman again—

Is there no way to protect everyone's secret identity while allowing them to communicate freely as superheroes? Clark wondered.

Langdon's communicator is decent, but it still has limitations in terms of equipment.

It is also more suitable for emergency communication during combat—it would be less convenient for everyday matters.

Clark was caught in a dilemma.

But his hesitation was quickly interrupted by Langdon's words: "Heroine."

"What's wrong, Mr. Parrels?"

"That's right." Langdon, who had been listening attentively without saying a word since they started talking, stood up. "There's something I wanted to ask your opinion on."

This unusual beginning, and Langdon's rare initiative in speaking up, piqued the curiosity of both Louise and Wonder Woman.

Clark, however, noticed Langdon's gaze and belatedly realized—this was the look that only appeared when Langdon had come up with some mischievous idea again.

"An official superhero account?!"

Everyone was surprised by the idea Langdon had just proposed.

"Hmm." Langdon nodded.

According to his explanation, this idea was not something that came to him suddenly, but rather a concept he had long ago.

It's only now, while Wonder Woman is still around, that we can also get the opinions of Clark and Lois, two journalists who are deeply involved in current affairs and media, which is why we're proposing this as a preliminary idea.

The official superhero account is a verified account set up for superheroes, leveraging Pingo's advantage as the most popular social platform.

On the surface, this account was created by Langdon to help superheroes build a bridge for the public to get to know and understand them, to bring superheroes closer to the public, and to provide superheroes with a convenient channel to express themselves.

After all, superheroes today generally face a problem—that is, a channel for them to speak out.

Take Superman as an example. To protect his secret identity, he can only speak publicly when he is a superhero speaking to the public, or through trusted reporters and media outlets relaying his words.

However, this approach naturally has many problems.

His original intention may be distorted in the process of dissemination, or it may be limited by the audience of the media itself, thus limiting its reach—making it easy for those with ulterior motives to exploit it.

Luther has done this kind of thing quite often.

For example, he might distort the purpose of one of Superman's rescue missions, exaggerate the battle damage he caused, and remain silent about the people he saved. He could manipulate online public opinion to reduce the public's goodwill and trust in Superman, thereby achieving his own goals.

Furthermore, Luthor's biggest advantage is that Superman won't talk back online.

First, Luthor has an entire propaganda team behind him specializing in this kind of thing, which Superman alone simply cannot handle. If he responds rashly, he might be used against him.

Secondly, if Superman dares to open an account, it will play right into Luthor's hands. He will try every means to uncover Superman's true identity, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

But with Langdon Parrells as a backer, things changed.

First of all, Pingo is the happy home of the Parrels Corporation. If you want to open Superman's Box on its turf, you have to get past Parrels Industries' information wall first.

Moreover, if this plan can be successfully implemented, the superheroes' account data will naturally need to be stored in a separate database, the kind that would require getting past the poisonous fog to hack into.

Secondly, while Lex Group can maintain a public relations team, Parrels Group is no exception.

This group of media team members, all hailing from Gotham, are incredibly aggressive, like a pack of wolves skilled at tearing apart. Compared to them, the Metropolitan group's offensive power is like that of a little girl.

Coupled with the platform's home-field advantage, manipulating public opinion becomes even more effortless.

In addition, creating an official superhero account has another advantage: it makes it easier for superheroes to communicate privately without worrying about revealing their identities.

Of course, there are still many minor issues with this plan.

For example, if other superheroes want to join in the future, how should we verify their identities, and how should we ensure that the person logging in and using the account is the superhero himself/hero? These are things to be considered later.

Perhaps with more and more superheroes, they might connect through this platform and gradually form an organization.

But compared to these, the biggest problem right now is actually the issue of trust.

Will the superheroes trust Langdon Parrels, the man behind this plan?

Langdon can ensure that as long as he doesn't leak the information, the villains won't be able to find it out.

But Langdon himself, if he wanted to, could absolutely use this to find out the identity of every superhero—

In response, Langdon chose to take the Lasso of Truth from Wonder Woman.

"This is just an idea," Langdon said seriously. "Whether it can be implemented depends on the choice of each hero."

"And with the Lasso of Truth as witness—I will never reveal any information."

Wonder Woman looked intently at Langdon upon hearing this: "But what is your purpose, Parrels?"

"If you're willing to do these things for heroes, the effort, money, and time you spend will definitely be considerable, and it's a deal that you won't get anything in return."

"And as someone behind the scenes, you might not even be known to others like a typical hero."

Faced with Wonder Woman's question, and the question that Clark was also silently pondering.

Langdon was silent for a moment before finally raising his eyes.

"Just because—"

He spoke.

"The heroes themselves are enough to make me do this."

In fact, if he weren't currently in Langdon's identity, Jaeger would have had even more to say to Wonder Woman and Clark, who is behind her.

What is the price of becoming a hero?

Isn't the problem Wonder Woman raised also one that heroes have to face?

Paying the price of time, energy, health—and even more—life.

If it's just for attention and praise from others, it's clearly not worth paying such a high price.

If it were a place like Gotham, Batman would still be an enigmatic legend, with opinions divided—at least Superman gets the support of over 90% of the citizens of Metropolis, while someone like Lex Luthor is ultimately a minority in Metropolis.

Although Batman probably wouldn't care about that anyway.

But at the very least—since people choose to call on heroes for help in times of crisis, they should also give these heroes who protect the city the most basic trust in return.

Instead of letting those who are already working tirelessly for the lives of others suffer another blow in the public eye. (Note)

This is also a thought that Jaeger often can't help but have when he sees similar opinions online.

Now that he has the ability to change this situation, he naturally doesn't want to sit idly by and watch similar situations happen again.

Moreover, today's superheroes are not distant symbols, but rather Yager's living, breathing friends.

However, there is really no need to go into detail about all these complex considerations.

The phrase "Heroes deserve it"

Perhaps that's enough.

Faced with Langdon's brief answer, Wonder Woman took a deep breath.

She snatched the Lasso of Truth from Langdon's hand, her expression resolute, yet her tone gentle: "I understand."

"There is an ancient Greek proverb that says, wisdom resides in silence—and you have said little, yet you have answered everything, Parelers."

"So, I'm willing to believe you." She extended her hand. "I'm willing to be the first person to create an official superhero account on your platform."

Langdon was taken aback for a moment, blinked, and then, in a flash, extended his hand and shook hands with Wonder Woman: "It's my pleasure."

"What a pity," he said casually after shaking hands, "Superman isn't here."

Upon hearing this, Wonder Woman assumed Langdon regretted not having asked Superman's opinion earlier, and comforted him, "Don't worry, Parrels. I believe Superman would make the same choice as me."

Unlike Louise, who was filled with regret for not being able to record everything she was witnessing, Clark, who was listening attentively, adjusted his glasses, hiding his gaze behind the reflection of the lenses.

That evening, on the rooftop of the Daily Planet building in the Metropolis.

Good evening, Langdon.

Superman, dressed in a red and blue suit, floated in mid-air and spoke to Langdon, who was looking up at him expressionlessly.

"—" At this moment, Jaeger, wearing Langdon's vest, could not smile as brightly as Superman.

After all, if you were like Jaeger, walking down the street and suddenly being led away by a shadowy figure flying at a speed too fast for the naked eye to see, and ending up on the roof of the Daily Planet, you probably wouldn't be laughing.

I knew I'd given such obvious hints, but Clark hadn't reacted at all—and here's what happened!

Did someone tell you that when you can't see his red and blue suit at night, does he really look like a big black rat when he's flying in the air?

It's kind of scary.

"I know you wanted to talk to me about the official superhero account." Superman landed slowly. "Of course I believe you, Langdon—just as Wonder Woman said, I'm willing to join."

"It's a pity you're a step too late. You probably won't be the first superhero to join Pingo." Jaeger stroked his chin. "That's quite a memorable moment."

"Well, now that you mention it, it is indeed a bit of a shame," Superman sighed. "But I have something else I'd like to discuss with you this time."

"What?"

"Um—" Superman scratched his head, "Are you busy right now? I'd like to take you somewhere."

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