Chapter 3540: Mind Hunter (End)

After a short weightlessness, Schiller first saw a piece of pure white light. When the soft light in front of him dissipated, what appeared in his field of vision was a room that was almost pure white.

But it

Everything in the room was white: the walls were white, the floor was white, the cribs were white, and even the fabric lining the inside of the cribs was pure white.

"Entering the deep dream layer doesn't actually require many jumps. With Injustice Superman, it only took two or three," Schiller thought. "This is the third dream they've arrived in; I'm afraid it's already close to the deep layer."

The appearance of anomalies was the best proof—the order constructed within the conscious mind was beginning to collapse, and chaos and eeriness were following one after another.

Schiller stood where he was, quietly watching the room full of cribs.

Even a chaotic dream has traces to follow; it is nothing more than pieces of memory stitched together. This meant that at some point, the cribs in a certain room had left a deep impression on Hail.

Suddenly, there was movement at the room's entrance.

Schiller looked left and right but didn't see Injustice Superman or Injustice Batman, thinking they might have been thrown into another room. But he didn't dare to gamble that the person coming in was his teammate.

Fortunately, although the room was large, it had four load-bearing pillars. Schiller took two steps in one, quickly hiding behind one of the pillars.

A head the size of half a person poked in from outside the door, with long hair disheveled, muttering to itself.

Next came half a torso. But strangely, the monster had a huge head and a long neck, yet a very small body, and it had no legs, with only the upper body floating in the air.

Schiller glanced at him, and from this bizarre appearance, he realized something else.

The key was that the monster was wearing what looked like some kind of uniform, feeling like a nurse's uniform from Earth. In his hand, he was carrying something that looked like an "X" from a distance.

The monster checked the cribs one by one; there were no babies inside, but he was still busy with something there.

As he drew closer, Schiller finally saw clearly what he was holding—a pair of pliers.

To be precise, it was some kind of blood-sampling equipment, because Schiller saw the nurse monster's hands moving as if drawing blood.

It was just that perhaps Kryptonian skin was quite special; they didn't use the needle-and-syringe method, but rather used those pliers to press lightly on the toe, pricking a small hole in the big toe of the right foot, and then using a piece of paper to collect the blood droplets that rolled down.

It seemed this was the prototype for the plier monster.

The nurse monster's appearance was also easy to explain. Hail had been lying in a crib at the time; if he looked up from below, he could only see the nurse's head and upper body leaning over, not the lower body.

So in his memory, the nurse was someone with a big head and a long neck, holding pliers to draw his blood.

The nurse was soon about to reach the crib next to him, so Schiller carefully turned toward another direction.

But before the nurse could walk over, a commotion broke out in the corridor. The nurse let out an angry roar and charged out, clutching the pliers.

Taking advantage of him charging out, Schiller also rushed out and glanced outside the door. Sure enough, Injustice Superman was already fighting the nurse from another room.

Taking this opportunity, Schiller hurriedly checked the remaining cribs, feeling at this moment that Hail might be hiding in one of them.

But the room was a bit large, and it would take time to check row by row, and he didn't know when the nurse would return.

Schiller thought for a moment: "If the nurse is going to draw blood from the baby in every crib, then Hail might not be hiding in a crib, because this is recreating the scene he fears most. If he were to hide, perhaps he would be under the bed."

Schiller immediately leaned down and looked under the bed. Sure enough, a baby with gray skin appeared on the empty floor.

He wasn't lying down, but rather prone on the ground, and there were no swaddling clothes; he was just lying naked on the floor.

More importantly, his whole body was covered in scars, some of which looked quite fresh. Blood was constantly flowing from his toes, gradually pooling into a bloodstain on the floor.

Schiller took a deep breath, walked quickly to the door, and took a look at the battle in the corridor.

Injustice Superman was battling two monster nurses and didn't seem to be at a disadvantage at all. Injustice Batman was fighting alongside him but was only interfering from the sidelines, clearly holding back some strength.

Schiller gestured to Injustice Batman, pointing at the pliers the nurse was holding.

Taking advantage of Injustice Superman forcing one nurse back with a laser blast, Injustice Batman delivered a flying kick that made him fall to the left, his arm hitting the wall, and the pliers fell to the ground with a "clang."

Schiller rushed over quickly, picked up the pliers, and before the nurse could react, returned to the room and closed the door.

But Injustice Batman in the corridor had charged too far forward, and a nurse without a weapon was not easy to deal with. He swung his long neck, slammed into Injustice Batman, and then bit down on Injustice Batman's shoulder.

Injustice Batman let out a muffled groan and threw two batarangs into the nurse's eyes. Before he could retreat, he was grabbed by the other arm and lifted up.

He turned his head and saw another crimson laser beam shoot out from those light blue eyes, looking just like a blood moon rising over an ice field.

Schiller, carrying the pliers, walked to Hail's hiding spot. He crouched down, reached out to drag the baby out, placed him in the nearest crib, and waved the pliers at him.

Before he could actually do anything, the little baby let out a sharp cry, and the dream shattered in an instant.

This time, the fall lasted an exceptionally long time. Before the scene even appeared, Schiller smelled a strange odor. It was somewhat similar to the burnt smell he had smelled in the car, only this time it was much more intense.

After entering the dream, all three of them were stunned.

This was a dim space; in front of them was a huge fire pit, and inside the pit was something similar to magma.

There were many pipes on the walls of the circular room, and the ends of the pipes stopped right above the fire pit. Things fell from the pipes from time to time, landing in the lava pool and being burned to ashes.

The unpleasant burnt smell Schiller smelled came from the packaging of the things being burned, which looked like gelatinous plastic bags.

But these bags were filled with tiny babies.

Although Schiller had already anticipated this result when he heard about the Kryptonian method of reproduction, seeing this scene with his own eyes was still very shocking.

Many people would think that humans are truly not lucky enough. To reproduce offspring, not only does it require sexual intercourse between the sexes, but also ten months of pregnancy. In this process, one has to face all kinds of problems and risks, and after they are born, one doesn't even know what the child's quality will be like.

There are also many people who fantasize that if one day humans didn't have to give birth themselves and could just leave it to artificial machines, that would be great. More daring ones would also think, if only they could choose and edit genes at will.

But the reason why the ethical requirements for biological experiments are so high is precisely to avoid the situation Schiller was facing.

Biological experiments that abandon ethics are a serious contempt for life. When this situation becomes extreme, then not only animals, but humans themselves will be completely objectified. Those who are qualified are human; those who are not are just a handful of ashes.

Reverence for life is the bottom line of power created by humans. If there is no such bottom line, greed will devour everything.

Schiller looked down and saw translucent white liquid beginning to gradually submerge the place. On the small circular windows of the walls, huge eyes belonging to babies appeared and disappeared.

Suddenly, this entire building was lifted off like a lid. Outside, there were no streets, no cities; it was a vast ocean made of amniotic fluid.

A huge baby was floating on the sea.

His body was covered with many scars, and his face was full of gullies. But he didn't cry, nor did he make any aggressive moves; he just lay there quietly on his side, staring at the outsiders who had invaded this place.

Schiller thought, perhaps it was right here that the Els saved Hail, who was about to be destroyed.

"I think we've encountered a tricky situation," Schiller said. "Hail's mental anchor and mental weakness are the same thing."

"What?"

"His adoptive parents."

Injustice Batman looked at the baby. He was lying in the sea, appearing exceptionally at ease.

This result did not exceed Schiller's expectations. The Els adopted Hail and gave him a wonderful childhood. They were the source of Hail's sense of security during his early years; recalling any time spent with them would make him feel stable.

And losing them was naturally his mental weakness, just like Batman losing his parents.

But what was the alarm clock that could truly stimulate him?

Photos of his parents? Keepsakes of his parents? Or the home where he once lived?

Schiller's thoughts began to drift further and further away, because he couldn't help but think of himself.

Hail's experience was somewhat similar to his: both were abused in a laboratory during their early years; both paid a price they shouldn't have paid to satisfy the expectations of certain people.

Furthermore, they were both saved by others later, grew up under the care of others, and then both lost them at some point.

If it were himself, what would make him feel shaken?

Schiller rarely had moments of being shaken, so that momentary trance would always be remembered by him for a long time.

He clearly remembered that the last time he felt shaken, shocked, and his mind went blank, was when he heard someone say—

"Nurse, she is a nurse."

Injustice Batman's voice pulled Schiller back to reality.

"Did you find his alarm clock?"

"I think... I found it."

"What is it?"

"Clark..."

"What?"

"Clark Kent."

?? Someone said I'd return to updating at twelve sooner or later.

? You really are a clever little devil.

? (End of chapter)