After a brief sensation of weightlessness, Shiller first saw a swath of white light. As the soft glow faded from before his eyes, what appeared in his vision was an almost pure white room.
But sothing was obviously off here, because this room was about two or three hundred square ters in size, and every half ter or so, there was a baby crib.
Everything in the room was white: the walls were white, the floor was white, the cribs were white, and even the fabric lining the cribs was pure white.
"Entering deep layers of the dreamscape doesn't actually require several jumps. When it ca to Injustice Superman, it only took two or three jumps," Shiller thought. "This is the third dreamscape they've entered; it must be nearing the deeper layers."
The appearance of abnormalities was the best proof—the order constructed in the conscious mind began to collapse, and chaos and eeriness followed closely.
Shiller stood still, quietly watching the room full of baby cribs.
Even in a chaotic dreamscape, traces can be found, as they're rely pieced together from mory fragnts. This ans that, at so mont, the image of a baby crib in a room left a deep impression on Hai'er.
Suddenly, there was movent from the doorway.
Shiller looked around and didn't see Injustice Superman or Injustice Batman; he figured they might have been thrown into another room. But he didn't dare to gamble that the person entering was his teammate.
Fortunately, although the room was large, there were four support columns. Shiller quickly hid behind one of the columns with a few swift steps.
A head as large as half a person stretched in through the door, with long hair hanging down, mumbling to itself.
Next ca half of a body. But strangely, this monster had a large head and a long neck, a small body, and no legs—only its upper body floated in the air.
Shiller glanced at it, and from this strange form, he gained so understanding.
The key was that the monster was wearing sothing like a uniform, resembling a nurse's outfit from Earth. It also held sothing in its hand that looked like an "X" from a distance.
The monster inspected each crib one by one, although there were no babies inside, it kept busy with sothing.
As it gradually approached, Shiller finally made out what it was holding—a pair of pliers.
To be precise, it was so kind of blood sampling device, because Shiller saw that the nurse monster's hand movents seed like blood extraction.
Only, possibly due to the unique skin of Kryptonians, they didn't use needles for blood drawing but instead used the pliers to press lightly on a big toe, making a small puncture, then collected the beads of blood with a piece of paper.
This must be the original form of the plier monster.
The nurse monster's appearance was also easy to explain. At the ti, Hai'er was lying in a crib, and looking up from below, he could only see the nurse's head and upper body leaning over, but not the lower body.
So, in his impression, the nurse had a big head and a long neck, holding pliers to draw his blood.
The nurse was about to reach the crib next to him, so Shiller cautiously turned in another direction.
But before the nurse could get there, a commotion broke out in the hallway. The nurse let out an angry roar and rushed out with the pliers in hand.
Taking advantage of the absence, Shiller dashed out, peeked out the door, and sure enough, Injustice Superman was already fighting with another nurse in a different room.
Seizing the opportunity, Shiller quickly checked the remaining cribs, thinking that perhaps Hai'er might be hidden in one of them.
Yet, with the room being quite large, inspecting row by row took ti, and he wasn't sure when the nurse would return.
Shiller pondered, "If the nurse was to draw blood from every crib, then Hai'er is unlikely hiding in them, as this is reenacting his most feared scene. If he were to hide, perhaps he's under the cribs."
Shiller imdiately bent over to look underneath. Sure enough, a gray-skinned baby appeared on the empty floor.
It wasn't lying down but sprawled on the ground, without any swaddling, just lying there naked.
More importantly, it was covered with scars, so appearing quite fresh. Blood kept seeping from its toes, gradually forming a pool on the ground.
Shiller took a deep breath, quickly walked to the door, and checked the hallway's combat situation.
Injustice Superman was in a fierce fight with two nurse monsters, holding his own. Injustice Batman was assisting, but rely interfering from the side, clearly reserving his strength.
Shiller gestured to Injustice Batman, pointing at the pliers in the nurse's hands.
As Injustice Superman used a laser to force one nurse back, Injustice Batman delivered a flying kick, causing the nurse to stumble left, its arm hitting the wall, and the pliers clattered to the ground.
Shiller quickly rushed over, picked up the pliers, and before the nurse could react, returned to the room and shut the door.
But Injustice Batman in the hallway had charged too far forward, and the unard nurses were not easy to deal with. One swung its long neck and fiercely slamd into Injustice Batman, then bit down on his shoulder.
Injustice Batman let out a muffled groan, throwing two batarangs into the nurse's eyes. Before he could retreat, he was grabbed and lifted by another arm.
He turned his head and saw those pale blue eyes shooting out a crimson laser, like a blood moon rising over the icefield.
Shiller, holding the pliers, walked to Hai'er's hiding place. He kneeled down, reached out, pulled the baby out, and placed it in the nearest crib, waving the pliers at it.
Before he could actually do anything, the baby let out a piercing cry, and the dreamscape shattered instantly.
This ti, the fall seed unusually long. Before the scene appeared, Shiller first slled a strange odor. It was sowhat similar to the burnt sll he detected in the car, only much stronger.
Upon entering the dreamscape, Shiller and the other two were stunned.
This was a dimly lit space, and in front of them lay a colossal fire pit filled with magma-like substances.
The walls of the circular room had many pipelines, whose ends were positioned directly above the fire pit. Occasionally, items would fall from the pipes into the pool of magma, burning into ashes.
The unpleasant burnt sll Shiller detected originated from the packaging of these burnt items, seemingly gel-like plastic bags.
Inside these bags were tiny babies.
Although Shiller had anticipated this outco after learning about the reproductive thods of Kryptonians, witnessing it firsthand was still profoundly shocking.
Many people might think that the Human race is rather unfortunate — to reproduce, requiring both sexes to mate, enduring a ten-month pregnancy, facing nurous issues and risks, and after birth, having no assurance about the child's aptitude.
So would imagine how convenient it would be if, one day, Humans could outsource childbirth to artificial machines. Even bolder ideas propose freely choosing and editing genes.
However, the ethical standards for biological experints are set so high to prevent situations like the one in front of Shiller.
Abandoning the ethical principles in biological experints severely disregards life. When taken to extres, not only animals but also Humans themselves would be completely objectified. Those deed fit are considered people; those unfit are rely a handful of ashes.
A reverent attitude towards life establishes a deliberate boundary of authority. Without this boundary, greed would devour everything.
Shiller looked down, seeing a translucent white liquid gradually flooding the area. Through the round windows on the walls, enormous infant eyes appeared intermittently.
Suddenly, the entire building was uncovered like a lid. Outside, there were no streets, city, only a vast ocean made of amniotic fluid.
A gigantic infant floated above the sea.
His body bore nurous scars, and his face was riddled with grooves. Yet he neither cried nor acted aggressively—he rely lay there quietly, staring at the intruders.
Shiller thought that perhaps it was here that the El couple saved the dood Hai'er.
"I think we've encountered a tricky situation," Shiller said. "Hai'er's emotional anchor and ntal vulnerability are the sa thing."
"What?"
"His adoptive parents."
The Injustice Batman observed the infant. He lay in the sea, seemingly at ease.
This outco did not surprise Shiller. The El couple had adopted Hai'er, gifting him a blissful childhood. They were the source of security for Hai'er's early years, and recalling any ti spent with them always reassured him.
Yet losing them naturally beca his ntal weakness, akin to Batman losing his parents.
But, what truly could serve as the alarm to awaken him?
His parents' photographs? His parents' relics? Or the ho where he once resided?
Shiller's thoughts began drifting further away, as he couldn't help but think of himself.
Hai'er's experiences bore so resemblance to his: being abused in a lab during childhood, paying an undue price to fulfill certain expectations.
Moreover, they were both saved later, growing up under the care of others and eventually losing them all.
If it were him, what would cause him to feel unsettled?
Shiller seldom experienced monts of hesitation; thus, he always rembered those fleeting monts vividly.
He distinctly recalled that the last ti he felt unsettled, shaken, and his mind went blank, was hearing soone say—
"Nurse, she is a nurse."
The voice of Injustice Batman brought Shiller back to the present.
"Did you find his alarm?"
"I think... I have."
"What is it?"
"Clark..."
"What?"
"Clark Kent."
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