"He, he he he he..." Superman was a bit flustered. Shiller looked at him with an inquisitive gaze.
The waiter brought over coffee, Shiller took the coffee, placed it in front of Superman, and indicated to him, "Don't rush, take your time."
"I... I have seen him." Superman seemed unsure where to start, "A long time ago, when I was still on Earth, he helped me out once and then..."
"Tell me the details." Shiller seemed to have anticipated this.
"On that Earth, besides me, nobody else had superpowers, so I couldn't openly use my superpowers; I was always secretly saving people. Then once, a landslide happened, it was incredibly fast, I didn't have time to save anyone, and then he appeared."
"I don't know how he did it, but he reversed time and saved everyone, including my friend. I was very grateful to him, thinking I had found another superpower user in this world, but he told me he was just a traveler from another cosmos."
"I wanted to thank him, but didn't know how, so he had me go to a comic bookstore and buy a bunch of comics, and made me read them all. Honestly, I do like comics, but I wouldn't say I'm a fanatic, I just read them occasionally. Somehow he insisted that I read them all and memorize them."
"Hahahaha..." Shiller couldn't help but laugh.
Superman glared at him, Shiller tried to hold back his laughter, then said, "Keep going."
"I thought he was a fanatic, asking me to read more comics so we could share things about comics later. Who would have thought, once I memorized them, he left. Other than knowing his code name as The First Lantern, I knew nothing about him."
"Unexpectedly, one day I suddenly discovered that the things drawn in comics were real, they truly existed in other universes. Like Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, they actually fight crime in some universe, and I just happened to transmigrate into their universe."
"Now it's good, all those comics came in handy, and I'm helping superheroes while saving the world. Nevertheless, as I know the plot and who will be in danger, I just time it to rescue them, but then..."
Shiller stared into his eyes and asked, "What was the outcome?"
Superman took a deep breath and clenched his lips tightly; the words seemed to squeeze out from between his teeth: "The result was that I ended up being pinned to the Origin Wall."
"What about the specific process?"
"I don't want to talk about it." Superman seemed very resistant, "Those superheroes act like they're out of their minds, I advised them not to go, but they insisted on going. I told them they'd die in vain, yet they didn't listen. I went personally to try to save them, only to always run into various unlucky situations, and I got stuck."
Shiller sighed deeply: "So indeed."
"You knew all along?" Superman looked at him and asked, "What's your relationship with The First Lantern? What do you know?"
"You're not the only one with such experiences, and you're not the only one working hard because of it." Shiller suddenly said something seemingly unrelated.
Superman seemed to understand, yet also didn't quite understand, he said, "So The First Lantern is also a transmigrator, he knew I'd transmigrate someday, so he reminded me to read comics. You're also a transmigrator, then who else is there?"
"That's not important," Shiller said, "You believe transmigrators are special, but actually, they're not that special. Otherwise, why weren't you able to successfully change anything?"
The muscles in Superman's arms slowly relaxed, he seemed a bit spaced out, but more like using dissociation to avoid psychological trauma.
"Premonition is both an advantage and a curse for transmigrators. When you think you can use the power of premonition to directly change something, it means you're immediately facing the most formidable enemy."
Superman suddenly showed a trace of fear, he looked up and stared intently at Shiller, as if he understood something.
"You might consider why The First Lantern, being so powerful, when you transmigrate to the comic world, there still aren't any changes? Could it be that he doesn't want to do something?"
Superman was finally completely dumbfounded, Shiller picked up his coffee, took a sip, then said, "You surely think that knowing these universes are comics, provides a dimensional attack downwards on the comic characters. You know things they'll never know, so they all should listen to you, but you underestimate the clever people in these universes."
"Think carefully, what was Batman's reaction when you mentioned some illogical advice?"
Superman furrowed his brow deeply, as if recalling carefully, he said, "I remember, a Batman asked me once where my understanding beyond their reality came from..."
"Did you tell him the truth?"
Superman nodded, then added, "I said I've read comics about them in my hometown, the plot is written that way. But he didn't believe it, he thought I was talking nonsense."
"Did he really not believe it?"
Superman was stunned again, he stayed dazed for quite a while, then said, "He didn't directly say he didn't believe it, he just told me not to talk nonsense."
"I suppose you have some understanding of Batman. Batman is extremely eager for information; he'll go to any lengths to acquire what you know. Even if he doesn't believe something, through your behavior when talking about it, he can gather lots of information. So he won't interrupt someone's gibberish, even Joker's mad words, he'll stand there and listen. Under what circumstances would he tell you to stop talking?"
Superman seemed as though he cracked open, like he had never thought about this question before, then suddenly snapped awake, pressed his hands onto the table, leaned forward, and said, "You mean he knows? He knows he's inside a comic but can't say due to some reasons?"
"Comics, novels, or movies—none of that is important," Shiller said, lowering his eyes, "The traps you realized through the plot, can he genuinely not see through them due to his wisdom? Not even one?"
Superman shook his head and said, "It's unlikely because some traps are just so childish that it doesn't take much wisdom to see through them. But why doesn't he speak out? Who is restraining him?"
"Then who hung you on the Origin Wall?"
Superman fell into thought, then said, "I admit I was a bit reckless. For a long time, my mood was terrible. I missed home but couldn't go back, being accidentally trapped in all sorts of places, completely going out of my mind."
"And what led you to become like this?"
Superman was silent. Perhaps he had thought of the answer, but it also filled him with some awe, afraid to easily voice it aloud.
"Are we just supposed to endure this?" Superman asked, "Won't people like Batman resist?"
"Here's a question: Is your act of resisting fate actually within fate's design?"
Superman stared at him with wide eyes. Shiller continued, "If I told you now that where I come from, you're also a character in a comic book, what would you think?"
Superman's expression froze, his whole being became completely dazed. Before he could speak, Shiller continued, "Your code name is 'Supreme Little Superman.' You were once imprisoned in the Heaven Dimension to save the world, which filled your heart with resentment, then you wanted to destroy the world. Eventually, you were locked up, and then trapped on the Origin Wall."
"You're no different from other Supermen and Batman. Your efforts to disrupt the storyline, the mess you made by treating this world like a comic book, were all just story plots made up by the comics. Do you think it's impossible?"
Superman's hands fell limply, and he couldn't even shed tears. But Shiller's tone remained calm, "Everyone faces such questions—whether their life is controlled by themselves or fabricated by a higher-dimensional existence. Such mysteries appear in everyone's mind."
"Then am I..."
"It's not important," Shiller said. "What's important is what you want. You try to reverse the tragedy of Superheroes, maybe you want them to have a happy ending. You find it impossible, then you want to vent your frustrations, ruin everyone's lives, but still, can't. What do you really want now?"
"I want... I..." Superman stuttered for a long time, suddenly slammed the table, "I'm just not convinced! Why suddenly throw me into a comic book? Why won't they let me go home! Why can't I do what I want to do! Why do I have to endure all this?!"
"Then do you want to go home?" Shiller asked.
"Of course I want to. But..." Superman choked again, "But I can't just leave like this. Why should it be me who leaves?"
"Without even a word to me, just throwing me around, locking me here and there, am I someone easy to bully? Even if I can go home, I must find the culprit behind all this and give them a good beating!"
"So you want revenge?" Shiller asked again, "Revenge at any cost?"
"I originally wanted that." Superman took a deep breath, "But then I feel a bit... I can disregard my cost, but for others, they seem a bit pitiful."
"So you still want to save the Superheroes?"
Superman seemed annoyed, "So why can't I have both? I want to save the Superheroes, I want revenge, I want to go home—all of these are what I deserve!"
Shiller suddenly laughed, "That's good."
Superman was stunned, "What do you mean?"
"I said, you're not the only one here, you're not the only one who knows these things, and you're not the only one who wants to do this."
Superman slowly widened his eyes, "You mean, you have a... group?"
Shiller shook his head, "There can't be a group, or it would inevitably become the Illuminati, but having a tacit understanding is about right."
"You mean, Batman might have already figured out something was wrong, but he doesn't say it, and others have also figured it out, they don't say it either—they all know that each other knows, but no one says anything."
Shiller nodded, "That's why Batman would tell you not to talk nonsense. Even if what you say is true, directly saying it like this isn't a good choice."
"Why?" Superman still didn't understand, "I'm not talking nonsense. What I'm saying is true, so why not let it be said?"
"The obvious difference is that Batman is still Batman, and you've already been hung on the Origin Wall."
Superman was thunderstruck.
"Are you saying that if I speak out, I will..." Superman stopped there, evidently having thought of something, "I will be targeted?"
Shiller nodded again, "Fate will silence you."
Superman fell silent.