Chapter 102 Superhuman Household Setup
At night, in the warm and cozy room, the conversation was about matters spanning across trillions of light-years in space.
After understanding the connection between Starro and the Flerken, Xi Nian couldn't help but sigh with emotion. Looking at the starfish-like split form of Starro, he said,
"Starro, what do you want to do next? If you want, I can let you go free and leave Earth on your own. But if you still want to destroy cities, even if I agreed, the person next to me wouldn't."
"What nonsense are you saying?" Diana smiled faintly, tapping her cool, delicate finger against his brow.
The starfish thought carefully, glanced at Xiao Huang, then conveyed its thought:
"I wish to stay on Earth. If Goose ever returns here one day, she can find me directly through her offspring. But… my true body isn't convenient to keep outside. Can I let my main body temporarily stay inside Xiao Huang's Flerken pocket dimension?"
Xi Nian turned to look at his aunt Diana.
Diana didn't refuse. She nodded calmly, her fine brows firm yet gentle, her lips parting softly:
"That's fine, as long as you don't harm humanity."
The starfish quickly nodded. "Don't worry. I never intended to harm humans. What I did earlier was only revenge against the force that imprisoned me."
"By the way, Starro, are you male or female?" Xi Nian suddenly asked curiously.
"I don't have a gender, why?" the Starro clone asked, puzzled. It had a surprisingly good impression of this human boy—after all, he had been caring for Goose's offspring.
"Nothing," Xi Nian waved him off.
Then, after a moment's thought, Xi Nian suggested,
"You've been locked up in the Jotunheim Institute for so long. You don't want to stay trapped in the Flerken space forever either, right? If you like, you can let part of your split body move around outside, as long as you don't attract human attention."
"That would be wonderful!"
The starfish was thrilled, immediately projecting its thought:
"But my split body needs to be isolated from the outside world. Otherwise, I will easily absorb surrounding energy."
"Isolated…" Xi Nian thought aloud. "Would a glass jar work?"
"No problem," the Starro clone replied at once.
"There's a properly sized glass jar in the kitchen," Diana said calmly, which also meant she had accepted the presence of this new family member—Starro.
Wait a minute.
Xi Nian suddenly realized that his household was now made up of—
One Greek demigod, his Aunt Diana.
Two normal humans, himself and little Wanda.
Three alien species: a Flerken cub, a Starro clone, and the Venom symbiote.
It looked like his family setup was becoming less like normal life and more like some sort of superhuman ensemble.
Xi Nian twitched his lips slightly. His household already had more extraordinary beings than some entire cities combined.
Speaking of Venom—
Xi Nian's eyes glimmered with a subtle light. He suddenly pointed toward Xiao Huang and smiled strangely.
"Venom, still pretending? This is your chance. Are you sure you don't want to come out and talk?"
The Starro clone narrowed its eye, staring seriously at Xiao Huang.
"I knew it. Since earlier, I kept sensing a faint, evil mental fluctuation inside."
Diana's eyes also shifted toward Xiao Huang. At some point, a shimmering golden lasso was already in her hand.
For a few seconds, the room fell into silence.
Then a raspy, sinister voice emerged from Xiao Huang's soft orange fur, as black liquid oozed out, forming a grotesque mouth.
"Kekeke… when did you figure it out?"
The moment the words fell—
A golden lasso immediately coiled tightly around the symbiote's liquid form!
Venom: "…"
"Under the Lasso of Truth, you cannot speak lies," Diana said softly, holding the rope.
As reliable as always, Aunt Diana.
Xi Nian thought inwardly, watching Venom's revealed form.
"When did I notice? It should've been when the Ancient One struck that blow," Xi Nian shrugged.
"At that moment, both your soul and Xiao Huang's were knocked out of your bodies. Even though you pretended to be dead afterward, remaining so perfectly still as a soul felt too deliberate. That's when I started suspecting you had only been feigning sleep all along."
"You must have been waiting for me to enter my three-in-one state. When I lost control, you'd try to seize dominance over it, right? But I found it odd—back in Japan, I nearly lost control, and yet you didn't make a move. Why?"
Xi Nian looked at Venom curiously.
The symbiote fell silent, clearly unwilling to speak. But under the power of the Lasso of Truth, it was forced to croak out,
"That damned, powerful bald woman… she threatened me. Told me not to make a move on you. Otherwise, she'd banish me to some barren dimension with no life forms…"
Xi Nian froze. So the Ancient One wasn't just inviting him to the Sanctum to learn, she had also casually solved one of his hidden threats.
The Sorcerer Supreme really was a good person!
"So, what about now? Do you plan to leave?" Xi Nian asked the same question he had asked Starro earlier.
"…Can I stay?"
Under the stares of the demigod, the Starro clone, and the Flerken cub, the usually arrogant and sinister Venom symbiote suddenly asked in a timid voice.
Unlike Starro, Venom felt that if it said it wanted to leave, it would be smashed into paste in the very next moment.
"Of course," Xi Nian grinned, showing a devilish smile.
"But you'll have to pay some rent."
…
The next morning.
It was Monday, and the skies had cleared.
After finishing breakfast at home with his little scarlet maid Wanda, Xi Nian shouldered his backpack and left. The modern streets were already free of snow, and fresh green buds were sprouting in the park grass.
Winter was ending. Spring couldn't be far.
Some frost that had clung to the walls melted away, revealing a plaque underneath—engraved with Superman's emblem.
Xi Nian stopped in his tracks, murmuring to himself,
"So you also know of Kryptonians?"
"Of course. Kryptonians are a race known throughout the univer—" A telepathic voice began, but was cut off.
"Xi Nian!" A clear voice called out from behind, footsteps growing closer.
Turning around, Xi Nian saw a girl with golden short hair swaying in the wind.
Gwen was dressed in a dark blue long-sleeve blouse paired with a skirt above her knees. Her straight, slender legs were wrapped in white stockings, leaving a fair and smooth patch of skin at her thighs exposed.
"Gwen, aren't you cold?" Xi Nian asked curiously, seeing his childhood friend's outfit.
Although the weather in Washington had warmed, it was still the tail end of winter.
Then again… spiders don't fear the cold.
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