The pain perception systems of different races operate in varying ways, but Darkseid happens to be a New God. It cannot be claid that this race does not experience pain; it is just that as New Gods are extrely powerful, their pain perception systems do not function often.
New Gods can naturally feel each of their cells. When wounds occur on their bodies, it is not pain that warns them, but the visual feedback sent back by their cells. This feedback is a visualized piece of information conveyed directly to their brains.
However, humans, on the other hand, derive most of their understanding of abnormal bodily conditions from the sensation of pain. Therefore, throughout evolution, this part of the system has evolved comprehensively and ticulously. As a result, it genuinely hurts when they get injured.
Darkseid's body is severely weak. Consequently, pain not only incurs physical suffering, but also accompanying nausea, dizziness, and cold sweat. Darkseid could not even describe accurately how he felt at the mont. All he could say is that he had never felt so awful before.
He found himself held by a stinky man, walking downstairs. He saw a bunch of human children, like himself, walking around bare-bottod. He also saw several adults, similar to the man, walking around looking heavily intoxicated and reeking. Darkseid had absolutely no idea what they were up to.
The man carried him out of the building, and at the mont they exited, Darkseid experienced a sensation he had never felt before, the cold.
There was no forewarning whatsoever in Darkseid's mind. Thus, when he experienced the cold, he shivered severely, then the pain from his wound flared up again because of the shivering. This made him let out a cry of suffering.
Darkseid found himself incapable of controlling his body. The way this body operated was nothing like the ones he had controlled before. His body, without giving any warnings or information, reacted to stimuli.
Darkseid was like the pre-smartphone users suddenly trying to navigate a smartphone designed for seniors. He searched fruitlessly for body data that used to occupy an area of his brain. Now, apart from pain, cold, nausea and dizziness, there was nothing in that region.
Not one bit of information advised Darkseid on which cells to adjust to dispel the sensations. It was akin to a phone repeatedly notifying that a new ssage had been received. Yet, this phone only had a notification system and no way to check the actual ssage.
Darkseid's scream choked back into his throat halfway because the man carrying him grabbed him by the neck.
"Behave, and stop howling! Who let you piss off that old bastard?! I'll have you know, I spent two US dollars to buy you, and even tossed in a cigarette for that deadbeat's pig. You better not leave at a loss..."
Darkseid, though stripped of his mind control and telepathy, could clearly sense that this man intended to kill him.
They crossed a freezing street and entered a radiant room. The mont he stepped inside, Darkseid felt his cold sweat had been boiled off; it was incredibly hot inside.
He was thrown on the floor, and in response to the uncontrolled pain, he scread out. He saw a corpulent woman, her face heavily made-up, who tutted and said: "No wonder a tight-fisted ghost like you was willing to send him to . He certainly has a loud voice. Co on, let's negotiate on the share. Don't think ripping off like last ti will happen again."
The woman moved next to Darkseid and turned to yell upstairs: "Boss, bring him up. Be careful not to bump his head, it's rare to find one that isn't stupid."
After the man and woman left together, a teenager ca rushing down. Darkseid forced his dizzy eyes to focus and noticed she was a short-haired girl, very thin, but far stronger than him in the body he now occupied.
The girl strode over, wordlessly hoisted him up again and ran swiftly up the stairs, despite her small fra. She threw Darkseid into a room on the second floor.
The mont he entered the room, Darkseid slt a strange, potent odour. He didn't know what it was, but it only made him feel much worse.
It took a while, lying on the floor, before Darkseid could finally find a glimr of light in his blackened vision. Then he discovered other children just like him, seven or eight of them, squatting or sitting in the corner of the room.
Darkseid wasn't stupid, he knew that in an unfamiliar environnt, he should observe his surroundings and the people in it ASAP, especially in dire tis like now when he needed help.
Then he realized, that most children here were missing an arm or a leg, he was actually lucky to be one of the more complete ones.
Most of the children were sleeping. Darkseid was well aware that humans needed sleep. Before his invasion of Earth, he had accessed all the research on humans available on Apocalypse Star.
So humans had been captured by Apocalypse Star for research, but their numbers were small. Overall, this race had not much to offer for research. For the New Gods, ordinary humans had no rits. Every word in the research report suggested that this race had survived and evolved to this day purely by luck.
Darkseid rembered the information in his mind, then he found many discrepancies. Firstly, humans led quite primitive family lifestyles, which involved mating, procreation, and joint childcare. Human offspring were supposed to be nurtured within families, then why are they here? Is this so special educational institution?
Darkseid kept on pondering about why everything was so unusual while looking for a solution to break out of the illusion. He reckoned a crisis was imminent, so even though his head felt as if it was about to split, he tried hard to think.
However, he quickly found his worries were sowhat redundant. Nobody disturbed him through the night and co morning, a group of rather sturdy teenagers stord into their room.
They each held two children, placing them onto a handcart outside the door. Darkseid almost died from the bumpy ride, only to find himself dumped on a street corner.
If they intended to dump him, why change locations? Queries filled Darkseid's mind.
The teenager who had brought him there, kicked his ankle, saying, "My mom says you're new, so let teach you. See that? That's a school gate. Soon, so rich folks will bring their children here for school."
"This is the street where they park their car. Once you see them get out of their cars, crawl toward them, hug their legs and cry. Cry as loud as you can. Just scream about how you are in pain, tired, and hungry. If you don't get money you'll be beaten to death, that kind of thing. If all else fails, grab their trousers, take so change from their pockets. Be smart. This is a good place to work."
Once the teen had finished speaking he left, leaving Darkseid lying on the ground. His condition got increasingly worse with severe bouts of dizziness, making his vision black out every few seconds. He even began to marvel at how humans could survive in such conditions.
That day, Darkseid did nothing because he simply couldn't fathom what the boy had told him. The social order of Apocalypse Star and Earth was completely different - Darkseid was still a farr, essentially removed from society before his ascension to godhood, so he had no understanding of what being a beggar ant.
By the ti he was hauled back into that room, Darkseid felt like he had lost consciousness. He could vaguely hear so noises, but could not see at all.
He found himself moved to another location, this ti with a heavier stench. It felt like soone was vomiting next to him, and so heavy objects emitting an odd sll were thrown onto him. After feeling extrely cold and hot repeatedly, Darkseid experienced loss of consciousness for the first ti.
After a lengthy void, Darkseid opened his eyes again. This ti he woke up in a street corner. The difference was that he was now a female human child, skinny and equally weak.
Luckily this ti he could stand, his arms and legs were unbroken and he could even move around. However, Darkseid felt an indescribable pain emanating from his torso. Not exactly pain, but a sensation of irresistible emptiness.
Then ca the dizziness, nausea, cold sweat, and the darkening of his vision. Darkseid was fed up with this. He stumbled across the street, where he slled possibly the most tantalizing aroma of his life.
Darkseid was unable to think much further. The hollow feeling inside drove him towards the sll, and he saw a brightly lit window. Ignoring everything, he ran towards it. He might have heard so dismissive rebukes, but he didn't hear anything.
"Bang!"
Darkseid passed out once again.
Upon waking once more... Darkseid finally uttered his first curse word. But he didn't even have ti to discern whether the curse was from Apocalypse Star or Earth, as the sounds that had caused him to lose consciousness kept ringing in his ears.
"Whizz! Bang! Bang!"
A pain in his chest, darkening of his vision, and then another endless void.
Finally, when Darkseid woke up, he quickly found sothing to shield his body, saving him.
Then he finally understood what the teenage boy ant by "car", and how hard it was.
After losing consciousness three tis, Darkseid learned what the emptiness in his body, called "hunger", ant.
He knew that most carbon-based organisms needed to feed, but he truly couldn't comprehend why every body he controlled was hungry. Why was the human race always hungry? What kind of Rice-Bucket Race is this?!
Then he successively learned that both cold and heat could make humans sick. Feeling cold in hot weather could make people sick, and feeling hot in cold weather could also make people sick. When you feel cold but it isn't cold you're sick, and when you feel hot but it's not hot, you're also sick. Basically, humans were always sick.
Next, Darkseid understood a bit about the social rules – there were no rules for humans. The human child he had possessed only did three things – feel hunger, get sick, and die.
When he was on his sixteenth cycle, Darkseid could no longer endure. He felt he needed to do sothing other than those three things in order to turn things around, or else he would never escape from this illusion.
Then, Darkseid, the tyrant of Apocalypse Star, the child of fate, the supre New God, experienced the so-called "defeat" in his life for the first ti.
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