(Bonus chapter)
Ignoring the Titan's insane curses.
Five minutes later.
Superman's mood was slightly more settled.
"Do you two realize how dangerous it is here?" Clark turned his gaze toward his youngest child—and his cousin who had seemingly been used as a weapon moments before.
"Uh... he brought me here! He said he needed to save your life!" Kara quickly accused him, hiding nothing, completely selling Ian out.
Hearing this, Clark's pupils flickered.
He thought back to the strange feeling he had last night and Ian's "nonsense."
"Who told you to come here?"
Clark suddenly looked at Ian.
"My Super-Intelligence?" Ian answered honestly. He was genuinely telling the truth this time; he relied entirely on deduction. But the expression on Clark's face looked increasingly like he wanted to hit someone.
"Wait. We need to have a serious talk." Clark finished sternly with Ian, then turned back and unleashed several more bursts of heat vision. The already battered Titan began to shatter violently.
Immediately.
The countless light and shadows around them started to break, revealing the sewage plant cafeteria outside the light show. The numerous scattered light and shadows seemed to be pulled by some force, gathering furiously.
A black sphere began to condense.
Within it.
A fragmented world seemed to flicker constantly, and countless unwilling souls roared outward. Superman seemed to have seen this before, showing no surprise.
"What is that?"
Kara wanted to step forward and touch it.
"Don't touch it!"
Clark yanked Kara back.
His expression was solemn, carrying a mix of worry and vigilance.
"Is that what hurt you?" Kara lowered her head and looked at Clark's arm. She could sense Clark's injury, so she could easily guess why Clark was cautious.
"Did the person who told you to come here tell you how to deal with this thing?" Clark didn't answer Kara, but turned to look at Ian, who was staring at the black sphere in astonishment.
"I don't know, that big shot didn't say."
Ian's eyes were clear.
"Maybe I can take care of it?" He also wanted to be Gul'dan, his body filled with Fel energy every day. Just thinking about it, he knew that leveling speed would be incredibly fast.
Thinking this, Ian couldn't help but gulp.
His reaction was fully observed by Clark.
"Pica... Dr. Hannibal mentioned this symptom."
Just as Superman sighed, preparing to use heat vision with Kara to destroy the malevolent black sphere that was solidifying in mid-air and about to escape.
"Become our new hope!"
The black sphere violently shook, then shot straight toward Ian like an arrow released from a bow! Superman quickly raised his hand to intercept, but the black sphere seemed to phase through his palm.
[Detectable data for merge!]
Ian heard the System's sudden prompt.
"Ah~"
He was overjoyed.
He immediately opened his mouth.
Ready to welcome the free meal that was delivered to him.
And at this moment.
Everything froze.
The surrounding world rapidly faded to grayscale.
"Are you insane!?"
A pale hand appeared out of nowhere.
It gripped Ian's throat.
Preventing Ian from swallowing the free meal that was right at his lips. The figure of Tessa, the false Goddess of Death, or perhaps a female powerhouse who preferred not to reveal her name, gradually materialized.
She only lightly squeezed Ian's throat.
"Pfft~"
The black sphere was spat out by Ian.
"Stealing food!?"
Ian was briefly angry. What could he do? Facing one of the strongest beings in the universe, he could only watch as the hand wearing a black glove pinched the black sphere.
"Do you even know what this is? And you dared to let it enter your mouth?" The way the female powerhouse held the black sphere also suggested a careful wariness.
Hearing this.
Ian raised an eyebrow.
"If I don't eat it, how will I know what it is?" He used his peculiar logic to conceal the truth that the System had already tipped him off that it was non-toxic and consumable.
"..."
The female powerhouse clearly didn't harbor much suspicion.
Her attention was focused on the mysterious black sphere in her hand.
"This is a broken world... you can consider it a part of a certain universe, hmm, a cosmic fragment. It carries things that do not belong to our universe."
"Yes, it's a piece of another universe, a cosmic wreck." The woman's finger gently shook the black sphere, and the surface of the sphere began to ripple.
One could vaguely see countless tiny light and shadows flickering inside.
Like countless beings roaring within.
"Hiss! Is it that high-level?" Ian's mood was not calm. Just as his previous gains were unsatisfactory, the explanation given by the female powerhouse gave him a chilling feeling.
"So, there are still lives in these fragmented universes." Although Ian felt a slight sense of dread, he immediately seized the opportunity to fish for information useful to him.
"Mere residual echoes of the past, not quite life... Of course, if such a cosmic wreck were allowed to lodge onto another universe and complete its recovery, those echoes would indeed regain life."
The female powerhouse didn't know why she wasn't being a riddle-master this time.
She had entered an "answer all questions" mode.
And Ian naturally wouldn't miss this rare opportunity. "That's possible? A universe parasiting another universe? Like a parasite?"
He couldn't help but think of a few people he had met who didn't belong to the DC Universe.
Could that also be a form of cosmic parasitism?
Just as Ian was muttering to himself.
"To be precise, only universes that are already shattered, with only fragments remaining, choose to parasitize. As for those that are still intact, they choose a more gentle method. That silent fusion is difficult for us to detect, far less noticeable than the parasitism of these cosmic wrecks."
The female powerhouse looked at the black sphere in her hand with disgust.
"Us?"
Ian seized the detail.
"That is not a question you should be asking."
But the female powerhouse clearly didn't want to answer that question.
"Alright."
Ian was digesting the information. "So, why did this shattered universe appear inside a chef's body? Is it because they choose a 'fated person'?"
To Ian, this even concerned himself.
He couldn't afford to omit it.
"To parasitize our universe, they must naturally select a vessel in the host universe... a vessel with a 'legitimate' identity. But you absolutely should not think this is a lucky thing."
"These external substances search for beings with weak will or empty hearts, granting them illusory power and visions, making them believe they have acquired some sort of mission."
"However, in reality, all those who are parasitized by these fragmented universes are tools that can be discarded after use. The unlucky fellow you forced to his death was not the same person your father encountered yesterday."
The female powerhouse gave Ian a deep look.
"You should thank me for saving you. Otherwise, you would become like all the individuals involved in the incidents I've handled: a manipulated puppet and a lunatic who gradually loses his self-will."
"There will be many voices, echoing in your mind, tempting you... those are the obsessions of the past echoes within the cosmic wreck." Her voice was very serious.
"Believe me, no one can withstand such torture, even those like us..." The female powerhouse's words suddenly stopped. Her face carried a sense of melancholy.
It was unclear who she was thinking of.
"Hmm? Why is your face getting paler?" The female powerhouse shook off her memories and looked back at Ian, finding the boy's complexion very unnatural.
Even in the black and white world, the boy's face was shockingly pale.
"It's nothing... I'm naturally pale-skinned." Ian forced a smile. He felt he had found the reason for the nightmare world he entered every night.
However.
This still didn't seem to explain a few things.
Like a mission?
He didn't have one!
Any obsessed voices?
He didn't have those either!
Even his minor psychological ailments were about to be cured.
Was this right?
In fact, thinking about it carefully, he had other differences from that chef. The chef's power came from some shattered universe, illusory and weak, while his power came from the System.
That power was solid and real.
There was simply no comparison!
Thinking this, Ian suddenly felt his heart become still.
He completely calmed down.
***
350 stones for bonus.
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