*Chapter 168: Maxing Out Favorability*

Kratos. This name now has a kind of magical power.

If it were someone else, Superman and Lois wouldn’t believe it so easily, but Kratos... Well, in their view, as a super-powerful being capable of entering and exiting anywhere on Earth through portals, it wasn’t really surprising that he had subdued Faora.

Look at Faora. Once clad in a black battle suit, like an eternal war machine, she was now wearing a short black leather jacket, paired with a long white dress and accessorized with exquisite heart-shaped diamond earrings and necklace—completely unrecognizable from her previous self.

Who would have thought that such a beautiful woman almost destroyed Earth with General Zod?

Lois, recalling this, suddenly became a little nervous and lowered her voice: "Compared to that, I'm more concerned about whether you just paid for everything."

Faora blinked, "What is 'pay'?"

Lois facepalmed, "Uh, you don’t know what paying is? Earth isn't like Krypton. Here, resources aren’t distributed based on need; you need something called money to get what you want."

On Krypton, people are assigned their roles before they're even born, and when they work, all resources and materials are distributed by the ruling class.

Superman glanced at the branded bags Faora was holding, his heart bleeding a little. The honest Superman had already braced himself for a financial blow and was prepared to help cover Faora’s expenses to avoid a bigger scene.

What the couple didn’t expect was that Faora, after a brief pause, pulled out a black and gold credit card: "Kratos said I could take whatever I want or ask the staff for suggestions. If they ask for 'payment,' I just hand them this card and sign my name."

The couple's expressions were priceless.

It was like hearing that USA No. 003 fishing boat weighed 80,000 tons and was missing 50,000 tons, or that the official theme song of a 10,000-ton destroyer was "Let's Paddle Our Little Boat."

Is your high-speed train missing backrests? Or is a 10,000-ton giant ship actually powered by paddles?

A recent college grad dating a 60-year-old billionaire fairy godmother? Absurd!

Absolutely absurd!

Lois suddenly felt a little uneasy, elbowing Clark in the ribs: “Look at that!”

Superman pulled a face.

Law-abiding, good citizen Clark Kent, without his Superman identity, was just a regular reporter, a working-class guy. Where would he get an unlimited black card?

Lois spoke up, "Ms. Faora, if it's convenient, could we find somewhere to talk?"

Faora looked conflicted, "Not too late, I don’t want Kratos to get angry."

Lois, with her keen reporter’s instincts, picked up on something right away: Faora seemed afraid of Kratos, but why did she subtly clench her thighs and unconsciously shift when mentioning him?

The three of them went to a private room in a high-end café and sat down.

"Are you on Earth’s side now?" Lois asked, getting straight to what was on her mind.

"I guess so." Faora looked troubled, the frustration and conflict plain on her face, which didn’t escape the couple’s notice: "Sigh, Kratos subdued me in some way..."

"Subdued?" That word piqued Lois's curiosity.

Faora grimaced, resting her cheek on her hand, her right hand absently stirring the small spoon in her coffee: "I’m a warrior from Krypton. My only mission used to be fighting for Krypton. Then I lost to Kratos in battle, over and over again. Every time I resisted, I was beaten down, revived, and beaten again. Until I finally gave in."

"..."

Clearly, Superman and Lois misunderstood what "revived" meant, thinking it was some sort of healing technique. But having learned a lot about Krypton from his father, Superman knew that the only thing that could convince a Kryptonian warrior was brute force.

Superman secretly breathed a sigh of relief that Faora had been "beaten into submission."

"General Zod was killed by you, Kal-El. I lost the last chance to revive my home planet. I have no idea what to do or what I can still do. Now, Kratos has me atone by helping to protect Earth. He also forbids me from using my powers to harm humans and insists that I learn Earth’s ways and get along with other superheroes."

Lois hesitated, but still asked, "Is there anything between you and Kratos, other than a superior-subordinate relationship?"

Faora felt at a loss for how to describe their primal physical interactions, so she glanced at the couple holding hands on the table and used an inappropriate metaphor: "I guess... kind of like you two."

"Any more questions?"

"No, that’s all," Lois responded first.

Superman gave a warm smile, extending his right hand: "It’s fine. We stopped you partly out of curiosity, but mostly because I really don’t want to fight with the only remaining Kryptonian. If possible, I’d rather be friends."

"Friends...?"

Faora seemed awkward and reluctant, but she still shook Superman’s hand lightly before finally getting restless. "I... I’ll be going now. I still have a lot of shopping to do."

With that, she hurriedly left, clearly not used to this kind of interaction with a fellow Kryptonian.

"What do you think?" Superman asked his girlfriend.

"Doesn’t seem like she’s faking it. She’s not great at hiding her emotions. I still have so many questions about her switching sides."

Hearing Lois’s confirmation, Superman breathed a sigh of relief: "That’s good. No matter what, I’m just glad there’s another Kryptonian alive, and even more glad I don’t have to fight one. I’m grateful to Kratos."

Superman truly was a kind-hearted man.

Even as fierce and cruel as General Zod was, Superman wouldn’t have killed him if he hadn’t tried to use his heat vision to kill an innocent child right in front of him.

In fact, Superman had cried bitterly after killing Zod.

Torn between his fellow Kryptonians and the humans he loved most, Superman struggled to sleep for many nights after the second attack on New York.

The endless torment ate away at his kind heart.

So having a former enemy now turn ally lifted a huge burden off Superman’s shoulders.

Lois, a high-IQ journalist with an innate sense for uncovering hidden truths, felt like there was still something off. But in the end, she stood by Superman. If Faora didn’t say more, Lois was willing to believe this was the truth.

And so, through a completely unexpected twist, Atreus gained full favorability with Superman.

(End of chapter)