Time flew by in the blink of an eye. Before anyone realized it, ten years had already passed.
In those ten years, Daniel had gone from a cute little kid to the kind of handsome teenager that made people stop and stare.
His golden hair looked like sunlight itself.
His deep eyes had a dangerous charm to them, the kind that made people unconsciously fall into them after just one glance.
Combined with his sharp nose bridge and clean, bright smile, he was ridiculously attractive.
Honestly, with a face like that, not going to Hollywood would be a waste.
That was exactly what a talent scout had told him after meeting him in person, right before Daniel politely rejected the invitation.
As for Carol, the once wild but adorable little girl had also grown up. Every time Daniel looked at her, he was reminded of John. Their faces were seriously identical.
At school, Carol was actually pretty popular too.
Not as popular as him, obviously.
Daniel’s warm and sunny personality attracted an unbelievable number of girls. Throughout the entire high school, he was publicly acknowledged as the school’s male god.
Girls practically treated getting his attention like clearing the final boss in a game.
Sometimes all it took was a short conversation with him for them to get so excited they couldn’t calm down for the rest of the day.
As a handsome guy with top grades and a perfect reputation, Daniel honestly had his own troubles.
So many girls liked him...
Yet he was still single.
Why?
Because of Carol.
"That damn brother obsessed maniac."
Every single time Daniel started getting close to a girl and talking about life, dreams, and other meaningful topics, Carol would suddenly appear and ruin everything.
She refused to get herself a boyfriend, but she also wouldn’t allow Daniel to date either.
Her reason?
Daniel was "too young" to date.
’Too young my ass. Am I small?’
What a joke...
If he actually showed her, it’d scare her to death.
Still, to be fair, Carol had done plenty of good things too.
For example, all those jealous guys who wanted to challenge Daniel over girls never even made it to him in the first place.
Carol dealt with every single one of them.
And now?
This woman’s combat ability was terrifying.
It seemed Daniel’s existence had seriously stimulated her.
Every year, Daniel got full scholarships, won competitions nonstop, and collected medals like they were toys.
As for Carol?
If Daniel hadn’t secretly helped her, she probably wouldn’t even have enough credits to graduate.
Eventually, she completely gave up on studying.
Instead, she trained every single day.
Her goal was simple, join the military right after high school graduation.
And she was serious about it.
Ten years ago, when she first told Daniel about becoming a soldier, he hadn’t taken it seriously at all.
Who knew she actually meant it?
A few days ago, she had already passed her physical examination. Now she was just waiting to receive her diploma before officially enlisting.
The US Air Force.
Because of years of intense training, Carol’s fighting ability had become genuinely impressive.
She had natural talent for combat and picked up fighting techniques extremely quickly. She was also surprisingly patient during training.
Well...
Compared to ordinary people, anyway.
As for Daniel?
Daniel felt that if he sneezed without controlling his strength, Carol might genuinely explode on the spot.
Nowadays, he didn’t even bother sunbathing on Earth anymore.
After carefully avoiding satellites, he would just float around in outer space instead.
Honestly, if he weren’t worried about disappearing too long and making Carol and the others panic, he would’ve already tried bathing directly inside the sun.
Today was the graduation ceremony for both Daniel and Carol.
As for why they were in the same grade, Daniel could only say that if he hadn’t intentionally kept a low profile, he could’ve graduated years ago.
He had already received offers from both MIT and Harvard long ago.
He just hadn’t decided which one to attend yet.
With memories from his previous life and a ridiculously powerful, intelligent brain of Superman, learning anything was easy.
These days, he didn’t even read books in front of Carol anymore because he was worried she’d suffer a complete mental breakdown after comparing herself to him.
Which was also the real reason he slept during class so often.
Oh, right... Carol and Daniel were in the same class too.
At the moment, the two of them were standing outside the school gates waiting for Mary and John, who had come to attend their graduation ceremony.
They attended Wellesley High School in Boston and had both been boarding students there.
Soon enough, they spotted John’s new pickup truck driving over.
The old one had finally died years ago, and John had been heartbroken over it for a long time.
This newer truck had been bought two years earlier.
John and Mary got out of the truck and hugged the siblings one after another.
"Oh my god, Daniel, you got taller again!" Mary looked up at him while squeezing the muscles on his arm. "What a healthy young man."
When it came to Daniel’s height, Carol remained deeply dissatisfied.
Daniel was only fifteen years old now, yet he was already 1.87 meters (6’2") tall.
He was even taller than her, as Carol was only 1.8 meters (5’11").
Back when Daniel first surpassed her height, she’d been depressed for quite a while.
Her little brother was becoming harder and harder to control.
Being taller was one thing, the real problem was his physique.
His body was strong, his muscles clearly defined, and the lines across his frame were absurdly attractive. God knew how many girls secretly drooled over him every day.
’Daniel never even works out. He hates exercising. All he does is lie around in the sun all day, so where the hell did those muscles come from?’ Carol wondered suspiciously.
"Let’s head inside," Daniel said.
Each student was allowed to invite family and friends to the ceremony, and Daniel and Carol had invited only John and Mary.
Before long, the four of them entered the school.
Daniel chatted and laughed with them as he guided Mary and John toward the audience seating area.
Wellesley High School actually ranked pretty well locally.
Normally speaking, Carol would’ve never been accepted there.
Daniel had given up his scholarship package and only requested tuition exemption instead, on one condition.
Carol had to be admitted too. Basically, she had been a bonus gift.
Back then, he had got into many prestigious high schools, but Wellesley had been the first school willing to accept Carol alongside him.
So Daniel chose Wellesley.
Soon, the principal stepped onto the stage and began his speech.
It was the usual routine.
Thanking the sponsors.
Summarizing the achievements of students.
Talking about their future.
Half an hour later, Carol was already on the verge of falling asleep.
"Daniel’s going on stage later, right?" Mary asked.
"Yep. He’s the Valedictorian after all," Carol answered before Daniel could even open his mouth.
Daniel was Wellesley High’s number one student in literally every category.
If he didn’t go on stage, who would?
’No helping it. I’m just that outstanding,’ Daniel thought shamelessly.
Being too exceptional was honestly exhausting.
Carol, on the other hand, had no chance of getting stage time.
She was basically the bonus admission student who nearly failed to earn enough credits to graduate.
Did she really think she’d get invited to give a speech?
Onstage, the principal continued speaking.
"...Next, let us welcome an extraordinary young man. The most outstanding student since the founding of Wellesley High School, Daniel Danvers."
Thunderous applause erupted throughout the hall.
Daniel slowly stood up.
Mary immediately hugged him tightly.
"My baby, I’m proud of you."
"Thanks mom."
The moment he stepped onto the stage, waves of screaming girls exploded from below.
"Daniel, I LOVE YOU!"
One girl shouted so hard her voice cracked halfway through.
"Daniel, YOU’RE THE MOST HANDSOME!"
Being too popular really wasn’t always a good thing.
Those girls were terrifyingly enthusiastic.
If Daniel didn’t run fast enough after school every day, he genuinely suspected he’d already have been dragged away by a group of girls to do unspeakable things.
Sigh...
Meanwhile, Mary and John were clapping so hard their hands were nearly red.
Their eyes were even turning moist.
They were both emotional and incredibly proud.
"Respected teachers, parents, and my fellow students, it is my honor to stand here today. To be honest, I’m actually a little nervous. I’m just an ordinary student, so I often wonder whether I truly deserve to stand here and give this speech. First of all, I want to thank the school for giving me this opportunity..."
As Daniel stood on stage speaking confidently with a smile, delivering a pile of extremely humble words while secretly showing off, the girls nearby screamed nonstop.
Meanwhile, the male students below all curled their lips in annoyance.
Several of them looked like they wanted to punch him.
Ten minutes later, Daniel finally finished his speech.
The general content was basically just him casually talking about life, future after high school, and basically hard work, motivation kinda talk.
"...Thank you, everyone."
Daniel bowed slightly and walked off the stage.
The applause below immediately became thunderous once again.