Chapter 111: Arch-nemesis And Fate, Thor! [17k]
The night draped low.
The city’s skyline gleamed with a silver-gray luster under the moonlight.
The empty parking lot was unnervingly quiet.
“Hello?”
Ian steeling himself, greeted the suddenly awakened “Sam.” He looked at the startled Flash; Barry Allen had already retreated dozens of paces in shock.
“Is this possession?”
Barry Allen usually only dealt with superpowered individuals. Faced with a “reanimated” boy whose eyes were bloodshot, he could only speculate based on his limited imagination.
“You’re right.”
The boy, “Sam,” didn’t deny it.
Instead, he gave Barry Allen a thumbs-up.
Demons are also ghosts.
It was indeed flawless.
Perhaps it was because “Sam’s” thumbs-up was too encouraging, or perhaps because “Sam” had laced it with poison, but the Flash immediately fainted.
Ian swallowed.
He pretended nothing had happened.
“Can I use Constantine to repay this favor? I know where he is and can go catch him for you right now.” He urgently thought of a great solution.
However.
“No, little darling.”
The demon’s eyes once again fixed on Ian.
The scarlet eyes were extremely sinister.
He was Lucifer, who possessed Sam remotely; Sam was merely his skin.
“How about adding a red-robed Grim Reaper? It’s even cuter and completely different from other Grim Reapers.” Ian pointed to the red-robed Grim Reaper not far away, which had been staring at him.
The red-robed Grim Reaper was stunned at first.
Then, it took off and ran.
It disappeared around the street corner in a flash.
“They have a legal identity and have been diligent for decades; they’re a model worker.” Lucifer, possessing Sam, wasn’t bothered, merely staring at Ian with a playful glint in his eyes.
He was still smirking.
As if his mouth couldn’t close.
“We both know my father likes to take in stray children.” Lucifer’s tone was suggestive as he watched Ian’s eyes slowly turn back to their normal black.
Very deep.
“You know this?”
Ian heard something unusual in the other’s words. He had long suspected that the red-robed Grim Reaper might be legitimately integrated, but he hadn’t expected Lucifer, who was obsessed with dating, to be paying attention to such matters.
“If I want to know something, I can know it. That’s omniscience.” Lucifer poked his temple, or rather, poked the temples of Sam’s skin.
He seemed to have an excessively strong desire to share. “You might not understand this ability yet. I can tell you, consider it a small gift. All omniscient beings don’t constantly receive all the information in the universe; no one is idle enough to pay attention to things that have nothing to do with them every day.”
“So-called omniscience is that when we want to know something, we can know it. You can think of it as us having a special ‘organ’ for information gathering.”
“Oh~ yes, an organ. I love that term. That’s right, every omniscient being has an extra organ, in which a vast database, constantly updated and modified, is stored.”
“When you need to check the direction of a certain event, person, or even a world, regardless of whether it has happened or not, we simply need to retrieve our database like looking up information.”
Lucifer explained it to Ian in simple terms, a little-known lecture.
“It sounds very scientific.”
Ian, encountering this level of knowledge for the first time, was greatly shocked.
“Of course, it’s scientific. Don’t forget, the concept of science is also a masterpiece of my father. Everything will be scientific. Omniscience can be seen as the product of consciousness combining with the rules of the universe. Each omniscient being’s extra organ is different, so high-level beings can indeed shield themselves from lower-level beings’ information gathering.”
Lucifer snapped his fingers.
Nothing happened.
“If it can be shielded, is it still omniscience?” Ian pretended not to notice that the other person kept mentioning God, his father. He disliked the act of comparing fathers with those he couldn’t surpass.
“Good question.”
Lucifer put on an indifferent expression.
“It depends on how you view omniscience. In fact, angels also possess a certain degree of omniscience; they can access the knowledge of Heaven through their connection to it.”
“There’s a huge library there, which can also be considered a shared organ for angels. If you ever want to deal with angels, first sever their connection to Heaven.”
“Losing knowledge, angels will lose their power.”
Lucifer’s words carried a hint of bewitchment.
“Why tell me so much?”
Ian immediately became wary.
“Of course, it’s because I watched you grow up and I like you very much. Of course, I also hope to see the day when you can use this to defeat some angels.”
“That would be very interesting, and I could brag everywhere that I had a hand in it.” Lucifer frankly admitted his motive, and his honesty made Ian blush.
After all, honesty was something he could no longer return to his childhood innocence.
“So, can this also be used… to deal with you?” Ian had no honesty left, but he still had boldness. He sensed Lucifer’s attitude and decided to probe.
As the DC know-it-all.
Ian knew the temper of this Lord of Hell well: he disliked overly fawning and subservient people, but he also disliked overly rude people.
There was a balance.
Ian handled it well.
Lucifer wasn’t angered by this; instead, he smiled even more happily.
“Unfortunately, I’m not in that category. Having left that dirty place called Heaven, I grew my own extra omniscient organ. This borders on the realm of omnipotence.”
Lucifer’s patience seemed to be very good.
He was imparting knowledge.
As if he didn’t realize Ian might take advantage and cling to him.
“Thank you, I’ve gained a lot.” Ian looked at Lucifer deeply. As their communication progressed, he gradually realized that Lucifer might not just be teaching him out of a desire to be a teacher.
Lucifer was hinting at something.
As an existence above all things and second only to God, Lucifer’s words wouldn’t be without purpose. Ian’s super intelligence allowed him to grasp the implied meaning in Lucifer’s words.
He wanted Ian to understand the concept of omniscience and omnipotence, thereby making Ian realize something: Superman’s Super Hearing was being shielded just now and currently because it was more than just Super Hearing.
It was the beginning of omniscience.
Superman’s information gathering was simply being blocked by a higher-level “computer.” Yes, Ian had enlightened himself and understood that Lucifer was hinting at Superman’s potential.
Super Hearing is the beginning of omniscience, and idealism’s growth is the beginning of omnipotence. Lucifer wasn’t just giving a lecture; he was also imparting the manual for cultivating the omnipotent Father God!
Did Lucifer want to see Superman rise?
Perhaps it didn’t matter.
But Lucifer must have seen Ian’s expectations for the Father God, which is why he catered to him with this lecture; this was a form of bewitchment distinct from that of low-level demons.
High-level devils didn’t need to read minds to truly understand people’s hearts!
“After fourteen years in DC, I’ve finally met a benefactor.” Ian was also very excited and emotional, and unknowingly found a suitable identity for Lucifer.
Benefactor Lucifer.
This was already comparable to a respected teacher and a godfather.
“Very good, I like that sharp wit of yours.” Lucifer smiled and clapped his hands. He perhaps didn’t realize he was under attack from “Network Entanglement.” It was silent and caught people off guard. The only drawback was probably that as the number of entanglements increased, there weren’t many titles left for Ian.
“I also quite like my sharp wit.”
Ian was also very honest.
Perhaps Lucifer was really fond of that.
“As a reward, I intend to make you owe me another favor.” Lucifer continued to control Sam’s body, climbing out of the car and tidying up the dirt on his clothes.
“I know you received rewards from those guys, which have given you a more important role in this world, but that’s not necessarily all good for you.”
Lucifer picked up the demon head playing dead in the trunk. He seemed to be having fun with the trembling head, using it as a soccer ball for a game of Chinese football.
The demon dared not be angry.
It had to control itself to collide with Lucifer’s clumsy footwork.
“Are there also disadvantages?” Ian wasn’t confused that Lucifer knew about the reward he got from Death, after all, Lucifer had just explained the issue of omniscience to him.
“It depends on how you view the advantages and disadvantages.” Lucifer seemed to like using such phrasing. “The more you gain, the more you have to bear.”
“I was one of the first to make this kind of transaction. Perhaps even your beloved Goddess didn’t realize that what they bestowed upon you would bring you an unsolvable problem.”
Lucifer’s words made Ian pause for a moment.
“An unsolvable problem?”
Ian’s mind raced.
Lucifer didn’t rush, waiting for him to think.
“Bang~”
Lucifer kicked the demon head fiercely.
The demon head immediately tumbled and flew out. Space shattered, and the demon head seemed to be kicked back to Hell, then pierced through dimensions and fell from the sky.
“Lucifer!”
A roar sounded from the sky.
It sounded somewhat like the voice of the silly black-haired angel who had appeared earlier.
“Heh, this body is indeed a bit more useful. Have Michael come down to find me.” Lucifer gave the sky the middle finger and stepped on Ian’s Abyss Magic Bucket with his foot.
The sky did not respond.
It was as if some birdman had chickened out.
“I understand.”
Ian also suddenly realized. By truly thinking with his heart, he had understood what Lucifer had said, or at least, he believed he had understood.
“The higher the status, the greater the responsibility. If a major disaster occurs and I don’t contribute enough, will I be de-platformed?” Ian’s speculation was not entirely unreasonable.
However.
This was clearly not the answer Lucifer wanted to give Ian.
“You’re not wrong, but not entirely right. What you need to focus on is not such issues, but how to face your own ‘story’ and how to welcome your… arch-nemesis.”
Lucifer turned to look at Ian, his tone carrying a profound meaning. “In every story, the protagonist has an arch-nemesis. As your weight increases, your arch-nemesis will also be strengthened.”
“Your father and Lex Luthor, your boss and the Joker… arch-nemeses will always be a part of your life, unavoidable. This is a stupid setting that my ridiculous father adores.” Lucifer still loved to mention his God father, criticizing God’s faults whenever he found an opportunity.
No one responded to him.
Ian didn’t dare to agree.
Normally, it was fine to scold God; after all, God usually didn’t mind. But to scold someone in front of their son, even the Metropolis Gambler wouldn’t bet on such a thing.
“No one escapes their arch-nemesis, not even God. Of course, that includes me.” Lucifer didn’t seem angry about this; instead, he had a relaxed and casual air, as if chatting about everyday matters.
“Then where is my arch-nemesis?”
Ian attempted to take a shortcut to find the answer.
“Then you’ll have to ask my idiotic father.”
Lucifer, however, did not provide a definitive answer.
“Can’t you let me owe you a few more favors? The more favors I owe, the more at ease I’ll feel.” Ian knew that the more favors he owed, the higher his chances of successfully activating “Network Entanglement.”
Admittedly.
There were risks involved.
But as the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. Danger always comes with opportunity. Ian was different from Constantine; his mindset was more modern.
“You’re thinking too nicely, and my favors are not easy to repay.” Lucifer didn’t give Ian a chance to “innovate”; he just kept kicking the “soccer ball” towards the sky.
As the demon head repeatedly rose and fell.
Something was handed to Lucifer.
“What is this?”
Lucifer, somewhat surprised, took Ian’s Notebook.
“I’ve been very concerned about the love lives of my two brothers for the plan to revive the Kryptonian population. This is a specially compiled dating guide, with some additions of omniscient head ingredients after my slight modifications.”
Ian learned a new term and, of course, immediately applied it. “You know, we ordinary people don’t rely on superpowers to date. This is a special edition guide for targeting police officers.”
In a way, he indeed possessed knowledge from a higher dimension.
“Hahahaha, you think I need superpowers to date?” Lucifer scoffed, but he still flipped through the notebook a few times. Then, the notebook disappeared from his hand.
“Very good, you now owe me one favor.”
Lucifer, who had just said favors were hard to repay, only left these words. Then, his eyes rolled back, and Sam, the skin, became a weak-kneed shrimp, collapsing on the ground.
“God must have given Lucifer an aphrodisiac… terrifying.” Ian realized that Lucifer had probably gone to apply what he learned. He stood there, unable to comprehend such a situation.
Greatly shocked.
“Oh, Great God Ian, you actually know that adult.” The demon head finally dared to speak. Even though its face was covered in grime, it was still very happy.
“I must be the only demon to have been to Heaven, and I’ve been there over twenty times! Sangong Mo definitely didn’t have as much luck as me!” It was probably getting carried away now.
When talking about Sangong, it no longer used honorifics.
It even called the other party Sangong Mo.
A creature with a bull’s head is indeed quite pent up.
“Having experienced the aura of that adult’s foot, I might be about to get a promotion!” The demon head didn’t seem to be joking; it appeared to have such a firm conviction.
“…”
What else could Ian say? He disdainfully threw the demon head back into the trunk and then, like carrying a kitten, put Sam, who had “resurrected,” back into the trunk.
Sam was placed back into his brother’s arms.
“Oh, and my Uncle Barry.” Ian thought that since he called him Uncle, he shouldn’t be put in the trunk, so he used the universally applicable large bucket for such occasions.
“Slap, slap~”
The effect was significant.
Barry Allen slowly woke up.
He covered his slightly aching face, looking left and right in a state of panic.
“Savitar… where is Savitar?”
He seemed to still be living in the past, as if his mind had hit the rewind button.
“Are you the Uncle Barry who returned from the past after participating in Savitar’s seventh-day memorial with the Speed Force?” Ian gave the speedster Barry Allen an out.
Too bad.
His good intentions were not appreciated.
“What seventh-day memorial? I… I think…” Barry rubbed his temples, his expression gradually recovering from the chaos. “I remember Savitar caught me, and then… you said you used Super Brain?”
“I remember now, Savitar was tricked by you into going to Los Angeles… then that boy suddenly sat up, gave me a thumbs up, and I lost consciousness.”
“What did he do to me?” Barry Allen gradually remembered everything. Not being able to make Ian experience the chaos of the Speed Force was indeed a bit regrettable for Ian.
Just as Ian was about to answer, a cold voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
“Are you Ian?”
The voice sounded as if someone owed her forty-five thousand US dollars. Ian and Barry turned their heads simultaneously and saw a tall woman in a black leather suit standing not far away. She had long, curly blonde hair casually draped over her shoulders, a poker face, and a very, very large sack dragging behind her.
“Audacious demon! How dare you call Lord Ian by his name! How presumptuous!” The Demon Head felt its chance to shine had arrived and began to righteous-ly condemn the female demon outside the car.
“Shut up.”
The woman glanced at the Demon Head, and it rolled its eyes and fainted. She was a high-ranking demon, Lucifer’s personal butler from Hell.
She was considered a loyal follower of Lucifer in Hell.
She served as an executioner in Hell.
“This is the garbage you threw around, and we won’t pay for its disposal.” With that, the female demon dragged the sack behind her and threw it in front of Ian.
“Thank you.”
Ian nodded in response.
“Huh?” Hearing the thanks, the female demon was taken aback. She had expected to meet an evil god familiar with Lucifer, but she hadn’t expected the other party to be so polite.
“It seems you are not as arrogant as Lucifer always praised,” the female demon mused, looking Ian up and down, then suddenly changed the subject and licked her lips.
“Wanna hook up?”
It was such a direct invitation.
Ian smiled slightly.
“I’m afraid you have AIDS.”
His refusal was also unpretentious.
Sincere and true.
“…”
The female demon, who indeed liked to hook up with anyone, was somewhat silent. Barry Allen shrunk to the edge of the flower bed, leaning against the wall, and seeing this scene, he couldn’t help but feel the local customs and traditions outside Central City from the bottom of his heart.
“Bad luck!”
The female demon was hit by Ian’s swift rejection and, with a displeased look, turned and left, her figure disappearing into the night, as if she had vanished completely from the streets of Metropolis in the blink of an eye.
“Why can that head you collected talk?” After the female demon left, Barry Allen looked at the unconscious Demon Head in the trunk.
He had previously thought it was just a figurine.
“Uncle Barry, you clearly don’t have Super Brain.” Ian’s evaluation was very objective and slightly tactful. He walked to the large sack and untied the rope.
Savitar, lying motionless inside.
All over his body.
There was no longer any fluctuation of the Speed Force.
He was definitely not just sleeping.
Savitar’s armor was intact, but the entire person showed no signs of life. Ian reached out and carefully lifted the mask from Savitar’s helmet.
As expected.
The person inside the armor was as dead as could be. His entire body looked as if it had been burned by lava, and his unclosed eyeballs were like two pieces of charcoal.
“This is impossible!”
Barry Allen leaned in for a look.
His whole body trembled as if plunged into an ice cellar.
He couldn’t accept this fact.
The man who had once hunted him, almost destroyed all of Central City, the terrifying being who called himself the “God of Speed,” had a face identical to his own!? Realizing something, Barry Allen felt a chill run down his spine, breaking out in a cold sweat, as if countless needles were crawling up his spine.
“Savitar is me?”
Barry Allen couldn’t accept this fact.
He was struck by lightning.
His mind was a blank slate.
“This is what a Speedster is like.” Ian already knew this information, so he was not surprised. He began to furiously dismantle Savitar’s armor.
The night wind howled.
Barry Allen remained standing there, shocked and terrified.
While Ian was collecting equipment.
After all, it was all future technology and considered good stuff. Especially a pair of gauntlet blades on the wrist, which required Ian to use his small brain to figure out how to remove them.
“Cuts through anything.”
Ian tested the gauntlet blade, casually swiping it at a stone brick wall. With a soft sound, the gauntlet blade, made of a mysterious alloy, effortlessly cut through the brick.
As smooth as cutting butter.
“If it can cut through the bricks here, it can probably cut through steel. If it can cut through steel, then it can certainly cut through other things.”
Ian tried again.
【 Berserker Experience +3 】
【 Berserker Experience +2 】
【 Berserker Experience +23 】
He once again proved that he was truly a genius.
“What are you doing?”
The Flash broke free from his fear of the future, not by willpower, but by external factors. He found Ian engaging in behavior he couldn’t understand at all.
This made Barry Allen suspect that Ian was under mind control.
“I’m leveling up.”
Ian knew that his actions could easily scare outsiders.
He reattached his own thigh.
With the activation of his self-healing ability, Ian quickly became unharmed again. He could still jump a hundred meters high, but the hunger in his stomach was growing increasingly noticeable.
“Grumble~”
Barry Allen swallowed.
He watched this scene.
His expression was truly magnificent.
Seeing this, Ian.
Immediately began to explain.
“If you endure the pain you give yourself, you’ll endure less pain from others. You don’t know how miserable I was today. Because I wasn’t diligent enough, I was almost disemboweled.”
“Fortunately, I haven’t modified my appendix into a storage locker yet.” Ian made a look of extreme fear, but Barry Allen’s gaze towards him became even more startled.
What did he mean by modifying his own appendix?
Was this a statement without grammatical errors?
The air was quiet for a moment.
“I understand, Metropolis is too far from Heaven… too close to Gotham.” After a long pause, Barry Allen, who had long realized something was wrong, finally seemed to understand everything.
He limped as Ian helped him into the Hellcat.
“Do you have a driver’s license?”
Barry Allen looked suspicious.
“Yes, yes.”
Ian took out a Spirit Calling Card.
The legal information on it made Barry Allen fall silent again.
He felt that something was very wrong, but he couldn’t do anything about it because he had accidentally become a lame person with a broken leg, and in some matters, he had no choice.
…
The city’s neon lights flickered in the distance, like countless stars falling to the human world. The Hellcat drove smoothly through the night, and there were still many pedestrians on the streets and alleys of Metropolis.
This was a level of public safety not seen in Central City or many other cities.
The sense of security brought by Superman.
“Your father doesn’t know you got a fake ID?”
The Flash, Barry Allen, slumped in the back seat. The wound on his right leg had been hastily bandaged with an emergency bandage, but what made him even more uneasy was the girl with a flushed face in the front seat.
He didn’t know if he should ask Ian how many people he had kidnapped.
“Am I really not brought to a new parallel universe by Savitar?” Barry Allen suspected he had arrived in the universe of Ultraman, and the person driving seriously in front was the second-generation rich kid of Metropolis.
“Have you heard of me before?”
Ian pretended to be controlling the steering wheel.
“Of course.”
Barry Allen nodded.
“Then you are still in the main universe.”
Ian’s answer left Barry Allen baffled. However, his mind was currently too preoccupied to think about Ian. Savitar’s face kept haunting him.
“Savitar’s face is the same as mine, but you don’t seem surprised at all?” Barry Allen found Ian very strange, even stranger than Bruce Wayne, the strangest person he had ever met.
“Because I have an Omniscient Brain.”
Ian thought this term sounded much cooler than Super Brain.
“…”
Barry Allen found it difficult to comment on this.
After all, he had missed out on an experience.
“Savitar is your temporal remnant, and he doesn’t actually have much to do with you,” Ian was not one to beat around the bush, and he said what he could.
Temporal remnant refers to the phenomenon in the story of the Flash where, due to the distortion or alteration of the timeline, fragments and figures from the past or future appear in the current timeline.
Speedsters have too many bugs.
Ian’s Omniscient Brain couldn’t quite sort it out for a while.
“You even know about temporal remnants?”
Barry Allen was clearly surprised.
“Omniscient Brain.”
Ian poked his temples, reminding Barry Allen. He was thinking if the tyrannical afterimages left by his teleportation could be used to impersonate a Speedster’s temporal remnant.
“Then do you know why Savitar did this to me?” Barry Allen was stunned at first, then seemed to accept Ian’s explanation of the “Omniscient Brain.”
He asked humbly.
Regarding this question.
Ian actually had an answer.
“He is not necessarily your future, but you have already confirmed that you are his past. If he can make you change in the direction he wants, he can achieve what he wants without effort.”
Ian had always believed that Speedsters were better at exploiting bugs than he was.
His tone was filled with emotion.
“Mhm.”
Barry Allen, after all, was a veteran Speedster. He was not good at organizing clues but was good at understanding them. After hearing Ian’s words, he immediately seemed to realize something and rolled up his sleeves.
“He seems to really want to see me completely corrupted by this thing.” Barry Allen stared at his arm, where a hideous scar was emitting a faint blue glow.
“Now that I’m free, let me take a look for you.” Ian turned around directly, his whole body leaning into the back seat. This made Barry Allen panic again.
“The steering wheel! You’re still driving! Damn it! This car is almost as fast as an airplane!” Due to his lack of sensitivity to speed, the Flash only now realized that the car was not normal.
“It’s okay, it’s an electric car, it’ll find its way home.”
Ian was completely in the back, yet despite this, Barry Allen, while staring in stunned disbelief, actually saw the Hellcat turn on its own.
“Beep beep~”
This car even used its horn to alert the slower cars in front! Even though he was in technologically advanced Central City, Barry Allen couldn’t figure out what technology had been installed in Ian’s car.
When did self-driving technology become so mature?
Just as Barry Allen was trying to explain the Hellcat scientifically, Ian’s hand pressed on his arm, and the next moment, Ian heard a system prompt.
【 Error data detected! 】
【 Incompatible! 】
The familiar pattern, the familiar feedback. Ian had encountered this situation before. It was when he was outside Metropolis, attacking Luthor’s wastewater treatment plant, and encountered those “Orcs.”
“Outer universe invasion.”
Ian issued a diagnosis that was most likely correct.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Barry Allen didn’t quite understand this terminology. So, Ian began to explain the relationship between dimensions and dimensions to the Speedster from a very grand narrative perspective.
It was basically a direct copy of Miss Death’s explanation.
Members of the Justice League should indeed know about this.
“The power of an entire universe is trying to kill me… then I’m not 100% dead?” Barry Allen still held a skeptical attitude towards Ian’s frightening words.
After all, such a statement was too mystical.
“Not necessarily.”
Ian said thoughtfully.
“Am I still salvageable?”
Barry Allen stared at Ian.
“You could also be directly transformed by outer universe power into some kind of evil rebel, a collaborator—have you been hearing any mad whispers in your mind lately?”
Ian pinched his chin and began to question.
“When I dream… damn, is everything you’re saying true? It’s over! I’m as good as dead!” Barry Allen didn’t want to believe Ian’s assessment.
But who was to say Ian hadn’t accurately assessed his situation? If this boy was telling the truth, Barry Allen felt he was probably going to be sacrificed.
Perhaps speedsters inherently had such a keen sense of self-perception.
“Wait for me a moment.”
Ian knew he should report such matters to his superiors. He closed his eyes and prayed earnestly, yet Miss Death offered him no response.
This goddess’s thoughts.
were truly hard to fathom.
“Could Lucifer’s power to shield information still be in effect?” Ian could only speculate. It couldn’t be that Superman couldn’t die, but The Flash could die without consequence, right?
Well.
It wasn’t impossible.
Didn’t The Flash always seem to die the earliest?
Were the Big Shots accustomed to The Flash’s early demise?
Ian mused thoughtfully.
“Your expression is making me a bit nervous.” Barry Allen swallowed, his mood growing increasingly tense, as he realized Ian might truly possess an omniscient mind.
Kryptonians liking to cheat.
was something every Superhero inwardly knew.
“This is a bit tricky.”
Ian looked seriously into the rearview mirror.
Barry’s heart skipped a beat.
“What do you mean? Can Superman save me?”
He still had such faith in Clark.
“Don’t worry, Uncle Barry, just because you trust my father so much, we can’t let you die. Besides, if you die, your more than twenty thousand favors owed to me will surely become bad debts.”
“I checked, you’re a lifelong bachelor with no inheritor for your debts.” Ian’s comfort and assurance did not make Barry Allen feel any better.
Instead, he was so startled he almost jumped out of his skin.
“Just a moment ago it was only ten thousand favors, now it’s more than twenty thousand? Huh? Huh? Huh?” Barry Allen’s triple question fully conveyed his current state of mind.
He no longer had the inclination to emphasize to Ian even the fact that he was about to win over his beloved, in three years at most, no, five years, maybe even six.
“Even borrowing money has interest, let alone saving a life… Uncle Barry, do you know how high the interest rates are for loans from Wayne Enterprises’ bank?” The vindictive Ian did not miss the opportunity to criticize Master Wayne.
Regarding this.
Barry Allen dared not comment, as more than half of his mortgage loan from a bank under Wayne Enterprises had yet to be repaid.
If he added the usury of favors from Ian—for a moment, Barry Allen felt his life was probably set, and looking back, dying on the spot and being sacrificed might not seem so terrifying?
The Flash fell into a state of calm.
Hellcat skidded to a halt in front of the Winchester house with a stylish drift. Ian tossed Sam and Dean through the window into their home like discarded packages. His familiarity with the place made Barry Allen doubt again what profession this guy was actually pursuing, if he was still just a student.
Seeing Ian return.
“What about this girl?”
He couldn’t help but point at Madison, curled up in the front seat, and ask Ian.
“She’s my good friend, I can’t just let her go home and lie there, I need to constantly monitor her condition.” As he spoke, Ian took out the egg he had placed on Madison’s stomach earlier.
It was indeed fully cooked.
Barry Allen looked astonished at this sight.
“Her temperature is probably enough to kill someone dozens of times over. I think we should take her to the hospital,” the Flash, who had favored modern science since childhood, suggested.
“Or take her to Central City, my friends might be able to help.” He felt Madison’s superpowers were awakening, but the specific condition would require equipment for investigation.
“Who’s in charge at your laboratory now?”
Ian inquired.
He wanted to use this to spy on the timeline.
“Harrison Wells.”
Barry Allen gave an answer that defied the timeline.
“No need, thank you.”
Ian secretly gave himself a thumbs-up for his caution. “Young Master Ian can save himself. If other magical leaders saw this, they’d think Young Master Ian was incompetent.”
He maintained his politeness to his elder, not calling himself “Master” in front of his Uncle Barry. Frankly, taking Madison to the Central City laboratory was not as good as Ian watching over his wet nurse deskmate himself.
After all.
When a person is on the verge of death, the Grim Reaper appears, and Ian can see the Grim Reaper and influence him; no one can guarantee Madison’s life more than he can.
Hellcat stopped in the small yard of the Kent residence.
It had its own dedicated room.
“First, we need ice.” Ian didn’t like carrying people, so he hoisted Madison onto his shoulder and walked straight towards the door, with Barry Allen limping behind him.
“You could also carry me on your left shoulder.” Barry Allen plopped down on the living room sofa, took a first-aid kit from Ian, and began to help himself.
His battle robe definitely had to come off.
His body was covered in wounds.
Under the dim light.
With only his underwear left on, Barry Allen began to bandage his wounds with basic equipment. Ian secretly noted where he sat, deciding that spot would be his forbidden zone from then on.
“I need to cool down my classmate.” Ian carried Madison into the kitchen, and then he saw Jordan squatting by the refrigerator, secretly eating ice cream.
The two brothers’ eyes met.
Jordan’s gaze locked onto the girl on Ian’s shoulder.
After three seconds of silence.
“Mom! Ian killed someone!”
Jordan’s scream pierced the night sky as he rushed out of the kitchen and shouted upstairs. “He’s stopped pretending! He’s ready to switch from eating beef to eating his classmate!”
“Just like he told me when he was six!”
Jordan was terrified.
The awakened boy’s voice was truly loud, shaking the entire house.
“That was to scare you, telling you a ghost story.” Ian tied several ice packs to Madison’s forehead and stomach. By the time he walked out of the kitchen, the ice packs were already melting and dripping.
“Vile Jordan, to maliciously speculate about me like that. You won’t be able to borrow money from me from now on.” With just one sentence, Ian immediately calmed Jordan down.
Jordan’s roaring abruptly ceased.
He thought of his night companion who had exploded into a mess, and the price of a new companion, and the scales of justice and kinship silently tilted.
“What a careless younger brother. At a time like this, how could you be without your elder brother’s help? Big Brother will get you a chainsaw…” Jordan chose to be a thoughtful second brother.
This scene.
left Barry Allen, who was tending to his wounds in the living room, dumbfounded.
“Did no one notice I’m here? No, can’t you wait until I leave before discussing such terrifying topics?” He waved the bandage in his hand.
However, Jordan had already rushed out the door to the garage.
“What are you guys arguing about so late at night?” Jonathan appeared at the top of the stairs, rubbing his eyes. He wore a cross around his neck, prayer beads at his waist, and colorful amulets wrapped around his wrists. “Dad and Mom were called in to work overtime, all because Ian was flying that airplane in the sky tonight.”
Jonathan came downstairs, not noticing Jordan shouting, but he also saw the girl Ian was carrying on his shoulder. He, who had been drowsy, immediately became sharp-eyed.
“Where did you kidnap this little girl from?” Jonathan exclaimed in shock and quickly stepped forward to examine her. Upon finding that Madison was still breathing, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.
And just as the Flash, Barry, who was silently bandaging himself as if he were just background scenery, thought he had finally found a normal person in the Kent family.
“Ian… this is a girl you found on the road, right? I think it’s best to take her to church. She wasn’t harmed, she’s definitely possessed by a ghost.”
Jonathan suddenly began whispering to Ian. “That ghost is in our living room right now—yes, my eyes can suddenly see ghosts.”
He lowered his voice, trying to remain calm, his tone trembling as he spoke, his eyes continuously signaling Ian to look in Barry Allen’s direction.
Ian was a bit bewildered.
And Jonathan had clearly misunderstood Ian’s expression.
“Don’t be afraid, Big Brother is here. Big Brother bought a lot of holy water at the church.” He pulled out a bottle from his pocket and, as if planning a sneak attack, turned back and hurled it at Barry Allen.
“…”
Before Barry Allen could even activate his super speed, he raised his hand and caught the bottle Jordan threw at him. This sight left Jonathan utterly astonished.
“Quick, Ian, Big Brother has burned out, hurry and take Big Brother away.” Jonathan leaped onto Ian’s other shoulder, urging Ian to quickly utilize the super speed befitting a Kryptonian family.
“…”
Ian didn’t move.
He actually didn’t know what was wrong with Jonathan, but he knew that the money Lois and Clark worked hard to earn every day would likely end up benefiting Dr. Hannibal.
“This is how our family is, you’ll get used to it.” Ian said with a smile to Barry Allen. The half-naked Flash, covered in blood and bandages, was indeed easy to misunderstand.
In all fairness.
Perhaps Jonathan was overreacting.
But wasn’t The Flash also at fault?
“I finally understand why Clark always says he wants to move back to Smallville,” Barry Allen murmured softly, feeling that the situation with the three children of the Kent family was indeed not suitable for living in a city.
As for where they should live.
Regardless of where that was.
it should at least be filled with electroshock therapy equipment.
…
Perhaps he heard The Flash suffering.
A loud “bang” echoed from the living room.
Clark Kent burst through the door like a blue and red meteor.
“Dad!”
Jonathan hopped off Ian’s shoulder.
“I was just playing a joke on them.” He seemed to realize he might have misjudged something, looking a bit awkward, and with a sheepish smile, he tried to salvage his reputation.
“They’re not usually like this.” Clark thought of the bragging he had done in the Justice League. The embarrassment on his face at that moment was no less than Jonathan’s.
“Mm.”
What else could The Flash, Barry Allen, say in response?
He could only nod slightly.
“Actually, they are still very kind children at heart.” Clark continued to defend his family. Just then, Jordan, returning from the garage, entered the living room.
“Ian, I’ve thought about it, you shouldn’t eat your classmates. How about we go out and catch some bad guys for you to eat? I know there are some really, really bad streetwalkers in the next block…”
Before he could finish his attempt to reason with Ian, he saw a majestic man standing in the living room. Instantly, it was as if a fishbone got stuck in the big boy’s throat, whose super hearing was intermittently functional.
His voice abruptly stopped.
“It has nothing to do with me.”
Ian quickly distanced himself from his second brother.
“It has nothing to do with me either.”
Jonathan immediately followed suit, like an echo.
“…”
Jordan froze for a moment, attempting to turn and run, but was grabbed back by Clark. Along with Ian and Jonathan, they were all lined up side-by-side on the living room sofa.
Big boy, middle boy, little boy sitting in a row.
All quiet now.
As for Madison—she was still on Ian’s shoulder.
It was mainly because Clark didn’t dare to move her. He had noticed the girl’s abnormal body temperature and realized that Ian’s deskmate was likely undergoing a change that touched upon his knowledge blind spots.
What if such a change could only happen on Ian’s shoulder?
Without having much exposure to magical knowledge.
Clark maintained a sufficient degree of caution.
“I’ve more or less heard about your situation.” Clark didn’t want to scold his children right now; he was more concerned about the conversation that had previously taken place between The Flash and Ian.
His gaze fell upon The Flash’s arm.
Barry Allen sat on the Kent family’s old sofa with a corn pattern on it. The bandages wrapped around his arm couldn’t hide the blue light seeping from the scar beneath.
Gazing at the wound through the bandages, Clark’s expression was very grim. He sensed a familiar scent, very similar to situations he had encountered before.
“This kind of damage will slowly devour your life.”
Clark still touched his arm with lingering fear. Only those who had experienced it could understand how powerless and desperate that kind of erosion felt.
“How much longer do I have to live?”
Barry Allen also looked down at the unhealable wound.
Hearing this.
Clark looked at Ian.
“About seven days after being hit?”
Ian quoted the experiential information he had previously inferred.
“Why didn’t you tell me this just now? Damn it, does that mean I’m going to die immediately?” Barry was horrified, he thought he had at least a few more months to live.
How is this thing more toxic than cancer?
“I haven’t even confessed to Iris yet, proposed!” He emphasized this, not only out of genuine regret but also subtly indicating to Ian that he might also escape the category of a lifelong bachelor.
“We could try digging out this piece of flesh?” Ian proposed. It was a reasonable judgment, and while Barry was weighing the pros and cons.
“I have a chainsaw here.”
The Ruthless Person Jordan did not want to have made a trip to the garage for nothing.
“You want me to just saw off my hand?” Barry Allen’s eyes widened, trembling slightly as he recalled Ian’s outrageous actions before.
This family wouldn’t think that everyone could bear the cost of losing a hand, would they?
“Good idea.”
Ian nodded in agreement.
“Cut wherever you feel uncomfortable. Think of a way, and it can always grow back. At least your life is saved. If it doesn’t grow back, it shouldn’t affect Uncle Barry being the fastest man in the world.”
His words plunged Barry Allen into silence.
That hand was his dominant hand.
He had to live his life normally.
“I think my hand can still be saved. Sometimes my head aches, and someone speaks to me inside. You can’t just make me chop off my own head too, can you?”
Barry Allen sighed, still wanting to opt for conservative treatment.
“That won’t do. The head contains the main body, so it can’t be cut off at all.” Ian suspected Barry had mental health issues, otherwise why would he have no concept of what could be sacrificed and what couldn’t.
“Actually, I have a suggestion.”
At this moment.
Jonathan, who was polishing a Buddha statue with one hand and aging a cross with the other, spoke up, “Why not convert to God? Then both your hand and your soul will belong to God.”
“God definitely won’t stand by and watch me die. I’ve tried it, and it worked great. There really are gods in our world.” He felt he was truly giving practical advice based on his experience.
However.
Only Ian seemed lost in thought.
The others didn’t take it too seriously.
The Flash, Barry Allen, didn’t respond at all, merely looking at Clark with pleading eyes.
“You guys go back to the dorm.”
Clark spoke.
Jordan and Jonathan complied.
Ian did the same.
The three of them moved in unison, as if experiencing military training.
However.
“You need to stay. You should know more about this kind of thing than I do.” The old father stopped Ian, who was about to go upstairs to wash up and prepare to enter the Marvel Universe.
Looking at the time, there were still over forty minutes left, so Ian could only nod helplessly.
“Wait for me.”
He found a sleeping bag from the locker, put Madison inside, and sat back down on the sofa.
“Why don’t you put your classmate on your bed, and then you sleep in the living room tonight?” Clark noticed that Madison seemed to be able to leave Ian’s shoulder and be placed on the sofa.
“Madison and I are indeed friends, but that doesn’t mean she can use my bed. This is a matter of principle.” Ian actually wanted to be able to monitor if the Grim Reaper had arrived at any time.
Clark’s temples twitched.
Then, he sighed.
“Your classmate’s abnormal condition should be related to what happened downtown this afternoon?” The old father’s super brain was actually functioning as it should most of the time.
The information was pieced together.
“I was heroic and fearless this afternoon, saving the world, and tonight I even saved the Flash.”
Ian nodded. He wanted to use his creative talent to slightly praise his own achievements, but his little schemes were seen through by Clark.
“I won’t hit you tonight.”
Clark had indeed seen through Ian’s little trick.
Ian felt relieved.
“Where is your Big Shot?”
Clark continued to ask.
He still remembered how he was rescued.
“The Big Shot isn’t responding and is acting aloof. Maybe she doesn’t like the Flash?” Ian spoke uncertainly; he had indeed not received any response from Miss Death.
“What Big Shot? And… I haven’t offended anyone, have I? Why would someone dislike me?” Barry was completely confused and still didn’t quite understand the situation. So, Clark briefly explained about his little son, basically that Ian had the favor of a genuine goddess.
It was clear.
The old father had investigated the information Ian had spoken about “death.”
“Hiss, no wonder he said he was omniscient.” Barry looked at Ian with uncertainty. Because the Justice League had demigods like Wonder Woman.
He had a relatively high level of acceptance for such things. The only thing that confused this Flash was that he usually didn’t have the chance to offend such beings.
“Such beings are still too far away from us. We cannot place our hopes on the Will of the Universe showing us mercy.” Clark sighed, looking at the starry sky outside the window.
Although he felt very uncomfortable, the Flash agreed with this statement.
“First me, then you. This is definitely not a coincidence.” Saying this, Clark took out his phone and dialed a number, “I have a very strong intuition.”
“This so-called invasion from the outer universe is probably not a simple problem.” Superman’s call was quickly answered, and on the other end came Bruce Wayne’s deep voice.
He hadn’t even started explaining the situation yet.
“I’ll be there immediately.”
Bruce Wayne’s deep voice seemed to have understood everything.
This did not surprise anyone.
Everyone knew Batman’s reputation. He couldn’t monitor Superman, but he could certainly monitor the Flash. In fact, some of the Flash’s equipment came from Wayne Enterprises’ raw material supply.
“In this situation, for Uncle Bruce not to have been corrupted, I find it a bit strange. He should have been the first to suffer.” Ian was both polite and impolite.
His confusion, from his perspective, was not directed at Bruce.
However.
Bruce hung up the phone in a still rough manner.
“Beep beep beep~”
The dead tone sounded.
Clark was just about to put down his phone.
He seemed to remember something.
“You need to call Dr. Hannibal back. After he woke up this afternoon, he found you gone, so he asked me.” Clark handed his mobile phone to Ian.
Ian took the phone and walked to the window.
He used the half-mobile phone given by Batman to make the call. After all, using Clark’s phone less and saving some call charges could accumulate more wealth for his family.
“Hello~”
After the call connected.
The crisp sound of clinking cutlery came from the background.
Hannibal seemed to be eating.
“You sound like you’re having a feast.”
Ian’s nose twitched, as if he could smell it through the phone.
“Beef liver with red wine, a classic that never goes out of style.” Hannibal’s voice was still elegant. He seemed to be listening to music. This man truly knew how to live after work.
“That sounds very rich.”
Ian picked up his notebook.
He began to search for deceased individuals with missing livers.
“Ian, you woke up before me this afternoon, right?” Hannibal asked again with a confused voice. The events of the afternoon had indeed caught everyone off guard.
“I don’t know what happened. When I woke up, I was lying on the street. Maybe I was captured by aliens and then released?” Ian was not telling the truth.
Hannibal did not express any doubt.
“I imagine being interviewed must be exhausting,” he simply said softly to Ian. Before Ian could respond, he had already proactively changed the subject.
“This consultation will not be charged due to unforeseen circumstances.”
It had to be said.
Professionalism was perhaps reflected in Hannibal.
“Thank you, Dr. Lecter.”
Ian quickly expressed his gratitude.
Maintaining proper courtesy.
“I can sense from your voice that you have some unasked questions for me.” Hannibal continued, his perception of patients’ emotions was indeed unusual.
“Uh.”
Ian mainly hadn’t found any death records for relevant individuals.
“Actually, the situation is like this.” Ian chose to shift the topic in another direction, “I have a friend who has lost his memory. Is there any way to make him remember our close relationship?”
He asked sincerely.
But he was met with a long silence from Dr. Hannibal.
“Implanting false memories in others is an illegal act.” Dr. Hannibal cautiously reminded him after discovering Ian’s seeming persistence on the issue.
“What if the law doesn’t protect him?”
Ian asked, not giving up.
He felt that the Dream God was not a legal citizen of America.
Hearing this.
Hannibal was silent for another moment.
“If it’s purely for academic research, there is a technique in psychology called ‘dream implantation’.” He finally chose to answer Ian’s question.
“Then forget it. I can’t grow hedgehog quills on my face, so I lack confidence and can’t play this trick.” Ian was regretful. He didn’t want to show off in front of the Dream God.
“I can hear a lot of implicit meaning in your words. This might be a way you shield your inner self. If you need to talk about anything, you can always find me.”
Hannibal was thoughtfully profiling Ian.
He was quite a nice person.
He just hoped that he didn’t think the liver of a child without worries was more tender.
“Goodnight, Dr. Hannibal. Since you cared about me, I should care about you too. Honestly, you should really eat more vegetables on a daily basis.”
After speaking, Ian chose to hang up the phone.
On the other end of the dead tone.
“A very tricky patient.”
Hannibal sat in his dining room, elegantly eating beef liver with red wine.
The candlelight illuminated the blood-red sauce on the dining table.
He chewed the last piece of beef liver thoughtfully.
Immediately, the sound of a key turning was heard, and a young girl walked in, humming a tune. A few freckles on her nose made her look like the kind of girl-next-door that Europeans and Americans liked the most.
“I’m back.”
The girl’s voice came from the entrance.
Accompanied by the crisp sound of high heels clicking on the floor.
“Hmm? I smell fresh beef ribs. You brought me a gift.” Hannibal looked up, a smile appearing at the corner of his lips, a nearly perfect smile.
A gentle smile that could disarm anyone.
“Your nose is still so sensitive. Will said he came to see you this afternoon?” The girl changed into slippers, carrying a bag of ingredients, and headed towards the refrigerator in the kitchen.
“Is Will asking you again who my favorite patient is?” Hannibal also put down his dinner knife, its silver handle gleaming coldly under the light.
“Yes, he contacts me often. Maybe he likes me.”
The girl stared into the refrigerator, seemingly searching for something among the drinks.
Cold air billowed out like mist, brushing past her cheeks. The LED light inside the refrigerator illuminated her profile—young, delicate, full of infinite vitality.
“Spend less time with him.”
Hannibal walked in from outside and, behind the girl, pulled a narrow boning knife from the knife rack. The blade flipped between his fingers like a silver snake.
“Prime beef ribs cannot be stored in the refrigerator. Tonight… let’s have an extra course.” Saying this, Hannibal, holding the knife, walked towards the girl who had her back to him.
His leather shoes stepped on the floor, but made no sound.
“You still love meat so much.”
The girl didn’t turn around, just sighed. Her fingers stopped on a certain shelf in the refrigerator, and her voice was full of emotion, as if she were discussing the weather, very relaxed.
“Today, a patient also advised me to eat more vegetables. However, I believe protein intake is very important.” Hannibal responded softly from behind the girl.
The girl still didn’t turn around.
She took a piece of beef wrapped in brown paper from the shopping bag and handed it to the person behind her.
“I need it well-done.”
The girl even made a request.
Hearing this.
Hannibal let out a soft chuckle.
He took the beef and rubbed the grain of the meat with his fingertips, as if caressing a work of art. Then, the man walked to the cutting board, the blade lightly slicing through the wrapping paper.
A faint tearing sound came from the cutting board.
“Normally, I wouldn’t fulfill a request that disrespects such fine ingredients.” Hannibal’s tone carried a hint of helplessness as he began to prepare the ingredients the girl had given him.
“But who else could you be but my sister?”
The man’s tone was affectionate.
“If you truly love me, then you should turn Will over to me. His situation is too special.” The girl seized the opportunity to make a request, looking at Hannibal with pleading eyes.
It was clear.
This girl was also a psychology expert.
“Will is dangerous, and I need you to stay away from danger.” Hannibal’s hand paused for a moment, the tip of the knife hovering above the beef, and he refused his sister in a firm tone.
“After losing his wife and child, a person’s mind can indeed become very unstable. However, what we psychologists need to do is help them regain peace.”
The girl remained noncommittal about Hannibal’s assessment.
She still held onto her conviction.
“Will is different.”
Hannibal lowered his head to handle the ingredients, the blade falling again, precisely dividing the meat. The cutting board made a regular knocking sound as the meat was cut into perfect sizes.
The force of each cut was infuriatingly precise.
“Brother, you should really be a butcher,” the girl said, drinking her orange juice and walking up to Hannibal. First, she sighed with emotion, then asked curiously.
“How is Will different from your other patients?”
She was still trying to pry into this patient’s situation.
“Several times recently, I’ve smelled a scent of blood from him…”
Hannibal stopped, then looked up at the window.
Unbeknownst to him, it had already started to rain lightly outside.
Raindrops meandered down the glass window, like transparent snakes.
“That’s not the scent of blood an animal should have.”
His voice deepened, like a stone dropped into the deep sea. The girl silently finished her orange juice, and the glass made a soft sound as she placed it on the counter.
“Oh dear.”
The girl let out an exclamation.
“Be careful.”
Hannibal quickly helped his sister with her bandaging.
Outside the house.
The sound of rain grew denser.
On the street, filled with neon lights and red wine.
Neon lights blurred into indistinct color blocks in the rain. A man in a black raincoat stood at the alley entrance, rainwater dripping from his hood, forming small puddles on the ground.
“Here’s the money.”
The man’s voice was hoarse.
As if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.
Several thugs handed over a black leather box, which he took with one hand, his other hand remaining in his pocket.
“Next time, same time. Don’t make me come find you.” The man didn’t open it immediately, just lightly weighed it, then nodded and turned to leave.
He walked towards the car parked by the roadside, opened the car door, and threw the leather box onto the passenger seat. The lid popped open slightly, revealing a glimpse of what was stored inside.
It was a head—a very fresh one.
“This afternoon, that boy, he noticed something was off about me—he needs to die. But I don’t eat boys, I’ll have to figure out how to dispose of his corpse.” The man muttered with a contorted expression while driving.
He seemed to be talking to himself.
Or perhaps, he was speaking to someone who only existed in his fantasy.
【Will Graham】
In the passenger seat.
The name tag on his clothes, under the glare of passing car headlights.
Shone with a metallic luster.
Very conspicuous.
Perhaps.
Good people can turn bad.
Bad people can also turn good.
To complete such a story.
All it takes is for fate to gently pluck its strings.
…
Rainwater slid off the eaves.
The Kent family’s roof had already been repaired.
It didn’t leak.
Ian was eventually kicked back to his dorm by his heartless old man after being drained of information.
“The Justice League needs to assemble, but I’m not in it, and it feels awful.” The moment the door closed, he collapsed onto the bed like a fish washed ashore, the spring mattress groaning under the strain.
Madison was thrown under the bed by Ian.
She really shouldn’t have been sleeping on the bed.
“After I wake up, I’ll need to make a long-term plan. The Justice League can’t be without me, just like Jerusalem can’t be without something.” Ian glanced at the alarm clock on the desk.
His timing was always precise.
More precise than some failing authors’ update schedules.
And look.
He had only been back in the room for a short while.
The minute and hour hands had already overlapped at a “should definitely not be awake” marking. The next moment, Ian fell back onto the pillow like a robot with its power unplugged.
The instant he closed his eyes.
A new world unfolded before his eyes.
“Oh, a guest so early?”
A hearty laugh rang out, and Ian found himself in a restaurant. The fragmented golden light refracted by the crystal chandelier made him feel a bit dazed.
“Where have you brought me to, friend?”
Ian found himself sitting at a carved walnut dining table, the deep red velvet seat as soft as a giant’s palm. A strange aroma of rosemary and sea salt permeated the air.
“This is Odin’s Son Western Restaurant.”
The hearty man’s voice sounded again.
Ian looked up.
He saw.
A bearded man in a grease-stained apron was tapping an iron pot with a steel fork.
“Want to try an octopus, just transported from Asgard to Earth, still wriggling?” The man’s belly was as round as an over-fermented loaf of bread, and his golden-red beard was even dotted with a few suspicious scales.
He was.
Thor.
Still owe 3000 characters, will be added to tomorrow’s chapter.
