"I haven't thought that much for now, uncle."
Russell seemed to think for a moment.
"Have You ever tried flying out of Earth and looking down at Earth from space?"
Before Russell could answer, Omni-Man chuckled, put his arm around his shoulder, and suddenly accelerated, taking him to space in the blink of an eye.
"Take a look, Russell, this is another different sight."
He hovered with Russell in low Earth orbit. Earth slowly rotated beneath their feet. They could see the entirety of Earth at a glance, with the curved horizon from one end to the other completely visible.
Omni-Man looked down at his feet. In his pupils, it seemed to reflect the miniature figures of hundreds of millions of humans running, arguing, loving, and dying, like an endless commotion of ants.
"Think about the ordinary people beneath our feet right now. Unlike us, who are fortunate enough to possess power that transcends the Planet." His voice was close to pity.
"They are born being indoctrinated with the concepts of 'region', 'race', and 'Planet', and then spend their entire lives hostilely fighting each other for these fabricated labels. They don't even know how ridiculous the cage they are imprisoned in is."
"But You, I, and Mark are different. With a light leap, we can leave the Planet and travel the Universe. Earth sometimes looks like nothing more than a corner of the countryside that would tie down our steps."
"People are indeed bound and restricted by various fabricated concepts from birth. Some things are just forced upon us by others, and we haven't realized it yet."
Russell looked at his uncle Nolan, sighing slightly.
Uncle Nolan could look at the Earthling's belief that they were bound by certain concepts from an elevated, detached perspective and find it quite ridiculous, but he didn't know if he had ever examined himself and the Viltrumite.
Was Omni-Man not bound by anything?
On the contrary, he actually had more restraints than anyone else, to the point where he was forced to personally break up his family. Why didn't he think more about himself?
"Have You ever tried looking at Earth from deep space?" Omni-Man Nolan thought Russell's words were agreeing with his point of view, and a smile slowly appeared at the corner of his mouth, not hearing the hidden meaning in Russell's words.
Sometimes, bystanders see clearly while those involved are confused. When it comes to themselves, they cannot see clearly.
He kindly patted his nephew's shoulder, guiding his nephew to look towards the vast and grand depths of the Universe following his finger.
"Beyond the distant light-years, looking back on the scale of the Universe, Earth is nothing more than a grain of dust…"
Finally, Omni-Man and Russell, this uncle and nephew pair, talked a lot. Omni-Man kept instilling in Russell how small and insignificant a Planet Earth was.
And that people living in the World shouldn't be tied down by trivial things.
In the secular sense, morality is merely something woven by people to restrain and domesticate those who are born different and strong.
On the latter topic, Omni-Man Nolan stopped after a brief mention, fearing that saying too much at once would scare his nephew.
"In short—don't care about false morals, abandon the insignificant identity of being an Earthling?"
When he returned home and closed his bedroom door, Russell's expression was strange. He summarized the tendency of Omni-Man's heart-to-heart talk and indoctrination this time with one sentence.
He suspected that his uncle Nolan wanted him to be a 'Planet traitor', a 'human traitor', perhaps even the 'number one Planet traitor'.
The Viltrum Empire takes invasion as its mission. Taking down a Planet often requires someone to govern it, and due to viruses, internal strife, and other reasons, only a few dozen pure-blooded Viltrumite remain. Even if one person managed one Planet, they wouldn't be able to handle it all.
Therefore, proxies need to be selected on the native Planet to rule on behalf of the Viltrumite.
Was his uncle Nolan preparing to gradually persuade him to defect to the Viltrum Empire, and after taking down Earth, have him become this proxy, or one of the administrators?
Russell raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry, uncle, I don't have the habit of being a traitor."
...
Getting up the next morning, Russell talked to his Aunt Debbie about his schooling issue.
For him, going to school was almost meaningless. Was it to get into university and have a diploma for the future, and then use that to work for a company?
What he was thinking about at the dinner table last night was this matter. After gaining the ability to traverse Worlds and cross the Universe, being asked to sit honestly in a room for a whole day inevitably felt annoying and boring.
"Russell, You want to temporarily withdraw from school and stay home?"
But Aunt Debbie was hesitant about Russell's decision to temporarily withdraw from school.
"I've watched surveillance videos of Russell repelling aliens a few times. With the speed he showed, he could finish the entire university curriculum in one night, let alone high school."
Uncle Nolan, however, was very supportive. He held his wife's shoulder and gently persuaded her from behind.
An ordinary person's life is about going to school, working, getting married, and having children. Suddenly not going to school when everything is fine is undoubtedly seen as rebellious in the eyes of ordinary people.
In his opinion, his nephew Russell was taking the first step towards breaking away from convention, and he should certainly be encouraged.
"Since that's the case, okay… alright, Aunt supports your decision, Russell."
After hesitating, Debbie thought that Russell's grades had always been excellent, and getting into a good university wouldn't be a problem. Plus, her husband's words made her finally nod.
"What? I want to withdraw from school too!"
In the living room, upon hearing that his Cousin Russell's request to withdraw from school had actually been approved at home, Mark, who had been secretly listening on the second floor, rushed down in a flurry and declared that he didn't want to go to school either.
"No!" Unexpectedly, he received a direct and firm refusal from his mother Debbie.
"Why?"
Mark said.
"Cousin can not go to school, but I can't?
I also have Super speed…"
He could also finish the university curriculum in one night.
Learn, I can learn anything!
"Anyway, no means no…" Debbie rubbed her forehead, looking at her misbehaving son with a headache, "When have You ever put Your mind to studying?"
"When You were supposed to go to school, I never saw You use Your abilities to study. Instead, You were always busy being Superheroes and neglected Your studies. When You don't need to go to school, I guarantee You won't touch a single page of a book."
In fact, strictly speaking, schooling wasn't very useful for Mark either. With his abilities, conquering a Planet in the Universe and becoming an emperor wouldn't be a problem.
Although there's a saying that knowledge is power.
But given Mark's interest in studying, the power he could achieve with knowledge in his lifetime wouldn't be as great as the power he gets from moving his finger.
Superman also has the same inertia in this regard; You hardly ever see him using his Super brain.
"Alright, You two go eat first. I'll talk to Your mother."
How could Omni-Man not support his son not wanting to go to school? He comforted his unhappy wife.
"Debbie, You are just used to a life constrained and planned by ordinary people's concepts. The moment You see Your son deviating from the path that ordinary people think he should take, a sudden panic arises for no reason.
But don't forget, besides being an Earthling, our son is also a naturally extraordinary Viltrumite…"
"When You Viltrumite are sent to various fragile civilizations to protect them as they grow strong, don't You need to learn relevant knowledge beforehand?"
Debbie frowned, looking at her husband in confusion. After returning this time, her husband had subtly become increasingly unfamiliar. His tone seemed to suggest that Viltrumite were naturally superior to others.
"Yes, it requires learning knowledge beforehand…"
Omni-Man's eyes flickered. It was just learning how to fight and conquer, learning how to secretly stifle a civilization's war potential, and what the cruelest methods were to destroy a civilization's will to resist, and other such knowledge…
Ding-a-ling!
Mark's phone suddenly rang. He glanced at it, his face changed drastically, and he immediately went upstairs to change into his battle suit.
"Cousin, Atom Eve sent me a message. The Robot alarm went off. The Flaxan have invaded Earth for the third time!"
"That fast?" Russell was surprised and looked towards the direction of the city center.