Chapter 468: Those Who Were Once Great (Part 1)

Gray Fog, a mysterious symbiote created by Knull, the God of Symbiotes. Initially, Schiller believed this symbiote might have been created by Knull to facilitate his own escape.

However, it now appears that the abilities of this mysterious symbiote have far exceeded the scope of merely helping Knull break out of prison.

Nevertheless, Schiller could imagine that when Knull created this special symbiote, he might have harbored greater ambitions—for instance, he might have wanted a more powerful body, or perhaps he wished to transform his own life form, elevating himself into a higher-level organism.

Schiller did not know what kind of life form was considered perfect in the eyes of a chaotic demon god like Knull, but as it stands, Gray Fog has infinitely approached that standard.

What kind of life form is truly the most perfect?

This question is difficult to answer with a standard solution, but the reason Schiller feels Gray Fog's life form is so close to perfection is that it possesses more possibilities than any other life form. This existence, which has almost no weaknesses, is not his end, but his starting point.

g.

Ever since obtaining this symbiote, Schiller discovered several characteristics of Gray Fog: first, it is a repeater; second, it is a picky eater; and third, it is an alcoholic.

Setting aside the first and third points, Gray Fog is indeed a very picky eater. The brains of ordinary people cannot pique its interest at all; it won't even spare them a glance. It is only interested in the brains of smart people like Bruce and Stark—or rather, not just smart people, but one-in-a-million geniuses.

Of course, this was only the diet of Gray Fog during its infancy. At that time, it still retained some properties of ordinary symbiotes, being interested in certain special substances produced in the brain. Later, however, it became increasingly picky.

During the "Knull Serving Dishes" incident, Gray Fog swallowed a massive wave of energy from Knull. Since then, it hasn't even been very interested in Stark's brain, thinking only about consuming energy every day.

Because the first energy Gray Fog devoured came from the most primordial chaotic energy of the universe, it seems to have become even pickier. Schiller has indeed not heard it cry out in hunger for a long time.

Yet this time, facing the Kryptonite sealing the monster egg, Gray Fog actually felt hunger. This left Schiller somewhat puzzled—could these Kryptonite pieces really have something special about them?

Perhaps there are traces to follow, because even while still in the egg, Doomsday is not easy to deal with, yet the light emitted by these few pieces of Kryptonite has greatly suppressed its vital activities.

"Are you sure you really want to eat this? This thing is radioactive. Are you sure you won't get diarrhea?"

"I won't!" Gray Fog gulped down saliva in Schiller's mind.

"Alright, then let's think about how to solve this egg, and then dig out these Kryptonite pieces for you to eat..."

"You can move it away!"

"The problem is, where to move it? If I throw it into the sun or a black hole, it might cause it to hatch prematurely. If I move it to another safe place, without the Kryptonite suppression, it might hatch very quickly..."

"The ring..." Gray Fog suddenly provided an answer Schiller had not expected.

"The ring? What ring? Oh, you mean that ring you conjured up before?"

Schiller quickly understood what Gray Fog meant. He lowered his head to look at the gray ring on his hand.

When Schiller first chatted with Green Lantern, he copied one of Green Lantern's abilities. However, because Green Lantern's power came from the Green Lantern battery, the system could not copy the battery directly, so it copied an ability of the Green Lantern ring called "World Within the Ring."

Many people's understanding of Green Lantern might stop at the popular abilities like glowing green, teleporting, or firing light waves. But in fact, it has been mentioned in Green Lantern comics that there is an independent world inside Hal's Green Lantern ring.

In the comics, Hal once shrank the opponents he defeated, digitized them, and stuffed them into the world inside the Green Lantern ring. They could survive in that world indefinitely. Of course, Green Lantern Hal himself was once trapped inside the ring as well.

Schiller still remembered that when he first obtained the "World Within the Ring" ability, he entered that world and took a look. After entering, he appeared on a floating island, while below was a massive city shrouded in mist, with even faint, gargantuan monster shadows.

At that time, Schiller had not yet fully stabilized in the Marvel and DC worlds, so exploring this "World Within the Ring" was placed very low on his schedule—simply put, it was cast to the back of his mind.

With Gray Fog's existence, Schiller did not need to use the "World Within the Ring" for storage or movement, so he hadn't thought of this function for a long time. At this moment, however, Gray Fog said this function could be used to deal with the monster's egg, which indeed inspired Schiller.

He stood in the center of the platform, looking at the giant monster egg, lost in thought.

He thought that in the comics, Hal used the Green Lantern's energy to shrink the opponent indefinitely, imprisoned them in a force field composed of willpower, and then used a process similar to transcoding to put them into the Green Lantern's "World Within the Ring."

But Schiller, after all, does not possess a Green Lantern ring. It would likely be difficult to fully replicate the process of Green Lantern throwing someone into the "World Within the Ring." How exactly to do it would still require practice to yield true knowledge.

Seeing Schiller walking toward the monster egg, Lex and Bruce both stopped their exploration work and gathered toward him. Bruce walked over, looked at Schiller, and asked, "You have a way?"

"I have some ideas, but whether it can succeed still requires testing. I suggest you leave here."

Schiller glanced at Clark. Clark had already retreated from this hollow and was waiting in the corridor outside because he was already too weak; staying here any longer, he feared he might pass out.

Bruce did not speak, and Lex did not express an opinion. Schiller continued, "It's not that I don't want you to watch this process, but because I don't have absolute certainty, and you are all ordinary people..."

"Once something goes wrong during the experiment, such as this monster hatching prematurely, or the Kryptonite radiation suddenly erupting, both of you might die here..."

Bruce opened his mouth slightly. He didn't seem to be resisting Schiller's request for them to leave. He looked Schiller up and down, paused, and then looked Schiller up and down again from head to toe. Schiller felt his back crawl under his gaze.

Just as Schiller wanted to open his mouth to ask what Bruce was looking at, Bruce said with some hesitation, "... Is your anxiety acting up?"

"I..." Schiller was stunned by his question.

"You look different from usual."

"How am I different?"

Bruce pursed his lips and said, "If it were in the past, at the moment I just hesitated, you would have already started bringing up psychology exam scores, internship opportunities, next semester's homework, Wayne Manor home visits, Alfred, Aisha, and Dick, and so on, to threaten me..."

Schiller lowered his head and muttered to himself, "He... am I a devil?"

"Fine, fine..." Schiller reached out his hand toward Lex and Bruce and said, "The method I'm thinking of has to do with magic, so it's not in your professional fields, but I can explain the general principle to you."

"In short, I possess a special space, which is an independent world. I intend to move this egg into it, so that even if it hatches, it shouldn't threaten the real world."

Bruce and Lex exchanged a glance, gave each other a look, and then turned to walk outside.

Bruce supported Clark and left the underground hollow with Lex, returning to the hall from before. Lex said to Bruce, "I know you left micro-cameras on the way here, but this is Metropolis after all, and it's my turf..."

"But we can talk," Bruce said, showing rare patience. Perhaps stemming from his recognition of Lex's intelligence, he was willing to explain some things to someone as smart as himself.

Meanwhile, Clark, having left the underground hollow filled with Kryptonite radiation, finally felt a bit better. However, the walls of this hall were still covered in Kryptonite, as were the corridors leading out.

The prolonged state of weakness made Clark feel extremely uncomfortable. He only wanted to leave this place now. Furthermore, he couldn't understand a word of what Bruce and Lex were discussing, nor was he interested, so he planned to go to the surface and wait first. Once Professor Shiler finished dealing with that egg, he would then think of a way to resolve the radiation problem underground.

So, he started walking out. Bruce and Lex were in the middle of a crucial part of their negotiation and didn't pay him any mind. Clark, dragging his weak body, arrived in the cellar.

While in the cellar, the radiation was no longer as severe as before, so Clark recovered some strength. Although still somewhat weak, he could already use various abilities.

This made his mood slightly better. Thus, he stood at the cellar exit, pushed open the cellar door, and took off directly from the spot.

The moment he took to the air, he heard the "swish-swish-swish" of gunfire. Immediately after, he saw countless agents rushing out from the surrounding bushes, bullets pouring onto the cellar door as if they were free.

From the agents' perspective, after the cellar door opened, everyone adjusted their line of sight, aiming their guns at the cellar door, ensuring that if anyone came out, they could hit them immediately.

An ordinary person leaving the cellar should climb up via a ladder; their speed when just coming out would be very slow, and a few bullets could take their lives.

But Clark was different; he flew out directly, and he flew very fast. The agents had just seen a figure rush out and instinctively opened fire, but by then, Clark had already flown several meters into the sky.

Clark was stunned for a moment, and immediately after, endless rage engulfed him. Superman is only about justice and kindness, not about having no temper.

First, he came to put out a fire and got trapped here, then he was inexplicably attacked by a group of agents, fought them, and after returning to his room and falling asleep, he had an extremely distressing nightmare. Even if Clark's temper were good, his patience had been exhausted.

Alfred and Kyla, who were watching all this from the window on the sixth floor of the manor, frowned at the same time.

Alfred was very confident that Bruce could absolutely not fall for such a childish trap. To be honest, the firepower of this group of agents wasn't even as strong as the gang shootouts that happened daily on Elizabeth Street in Cat Getan.

Let alone Batman, who dared to uphold justice in the nights of Cat Getan, even ordinary people in Cat Getan could dodge this level of firepower coverage; otherwise, they would have died countless times over.

But Bruce's method of breaking the situation was something Alfred didn't understand. Where did this person who could fly come from?

Just then, they saw all the bullets poured out by the agents freeze in mid-air.

Immediately after, an irresistible circular airflow swept out from around Clark, and everything around him was sent flying backward.

In the vision of the agents who had fallen to the ground, Clark rose into the sky instantly like a rocket, descending like a god amidst the sky-filling snow. ===== CHAPTER 469 =====