Chapter 615

Clark immediately covered his mouth, unable to hide his shock; Lex showed a hint of revulsion, clearly disgusted by the rotting stench of blood and fur mixed together.

Batcat's fur bristled outright, baring his fangs, growling low in his throat; Pikachu's short hair also stood on end, clearly terrified as well.

The cats in the cages—those in slightly better condition lay weakly on the ground, bones protruding, eyes vacant; those in worse shape were beyond description, and the ones closest to the owl statue had become unidentifiable sludge, no longer resembling cats at all.

From the torches planted around and the still-glowing energy channels, it was obvious this was a magical array with some function—and from its style alone, it was unmistakably used for evil purposes.

Batcat took several deep breaths; Clark felt his trembling and pulled him into his arms, stroking the fur along his back, but Batcat didn't stay long—he leapt out of Clark's arms, landed on the ground, and gently sniffed the scents of his companions.

Lex also stepped forward, crouching beside the cage of a living cat, observing; he noticed a brand on the cat's hind leg, resembling an owl's eye combined with its forehead.

Neither these two nor the two animals could use magic, so they lacked spiritual vision; they could only judge this was an evil array, but could not discern its specific purpose.

Though they couldn't see it directly with their eyes, they could deduce it—Clark, jolted by the scene, felt that chilling sense of danger prickling his skin, and it instead stimulated his super-brain; he spoke: "I remember… I remember, in Cat City Gotham, there were owls disguised as cats—do you remember, Batcat?"

Batcat nodded, climbed up the stacked cages reaching the ceiling, stood at the top, looked down, and let out a sharp cry; all the cats turned toward him, but most were too weak even to move their heads.

Clearly, the ones who brought them here weren't keeping them as pets—many of these cats had been starved to this emaciated state, yet some other energy sustained their souls' vitality, preventing immediate death.

The cats already dead had likely been sacrificed to the central owl statue.

The inner-ring cats had mostly been slaughtered; the outer-ring cats were mostly still alive, with those farther out in better condition—even some that looked like they'd just been captured; Clark even found a collar on a Ragdoll cat's neck.

He ripped open the cage, pulled the Ragdoll out; the cat was terrified, struggling even in Clark's arms; Clark kept stroking it to calm it down, then looked at the name tag on its neck.

"Floor 3, Flora Street… this cat's name is Nana, one and a half years old… Oh my God, they're all stealing house cats—this group… this group…"

Clark, who had never cursed in his life, now deeply regretted not learning more profanity; a fire burned in his chest, stifled, brewing into greater power, waiting only for these heartless bastards to appear so he could give them a brutal lesson.

Batcat stood silently atop the highest cage; after a long while, he spoke: "If what you say is true—that my previous world was a dream—then perhaps this is how they invade dreams."

"They use an evil magical array to sacrifice the lives of cats in reality, then use that to invade the Dream of a Thousand Cats," Lex continued, stepping slightly inward to observe the mid-tier cats; "They likely first lure these cats into dreams, wait until their dream-threads connect to the Dream of a Thousand Cats, then poison them with that dark energy."

"Thus, the dark energy infiltrates the Dream of a Thousand Cats, forming the dark owl you saw in Cat City Gotham—and this…" Lex looked up at the massive owl statue, then said: "is what they use to store dark energy—it connects to these cats, continuously feeding that energy into the dream."

Batcat stepped back two paces, jumped down from above, and spoke urgently: "We must cut off this energy flow—if the Dream of a Thousand Cats is fully corrupted, it'll be disastrous."

"Let's find Professor Shiler," Lex turned and walked back, saying: "Otherwise we can't resolve the magical issues."

"No. At least we should destroy the statue first, then rescue the cats," Clark disagreed; he thought they should evacuate the living cats first.

But Batcat leapt onto his shoulder and blocked him: "These cats all bear strange symbols now—they've been marked. We don't know if destroying the statue will kill them instantly. Better to bring in professionals."

The two men and the cat and mouse emerged from beneath the sawmill, returned first to Lu Se's estate; the moment they stepped inside, the phone rang—Pikachu dashed out first, picked it up; unsurprisingly, it was Shiler's voice; he said:

"The Point Guard Is Here"

"We've teleported to the outskirts of Metropolis. Come pick us up. Time to get to work."

Pikachu relayed Shiler's message; Clark and Lex exchanged glances; as they walked toward the car, Clark asked Lex: "You had a plan all along?"

"Professor had a plan all along."

At the outskirts, Shiler, Constantine, and Hal were already waiting; with them was a helicopter loaded with supplies—its shape and color unmistakably a Batcopter.

Ten minutes later, Clark landed holding the Batcopter; Lex stepped out, turned back to Shiler, and said: "I told you—he's Bruce's helicopter engine turned into a man…"

Shiler walked over, patted Clark's shoulder: "This is the place? Come on, unload the gear."

"Wait! Professor! Don't go in yet—it's kind of… uh…" Clark hesitated, unsure how to describe it; but the others thought he was overreacting—just look at Shiler's record, what kind of horrors hadn't he seen?

Two minutes later, Shiler stood beside the lone array and said: "I've never seen anything like this—slaughtering animals so brazenly in this world…"

Shiler shook his head, gazing at the owl statue as if it were a corpse; Constantine stepped forward, clucked his tongue at the carnage before him.

Honestly, if a dozen human corpses lay here, these two might not have reacted so strongly—but seeing so many dead cats? This was their first time.

As Clark carried in several wooden crates from the helicopter, Hal and Clark worked together to open them; Constantine took out his tools and began preparing.

Once the array was set and spiritual vision activated, everyone could see countless black owls circling the giant owl statue.

Strangely, a few black cats sat perched on the owls' shoulders—but though they looked like cats, their behavior was avian; clearly, they were owls in disguise.

They seemed to be learning feline habits; one that resembled a cat more closely leapt down in three quick bounds and merged into the body of a still-living cat.

That cat suddenly fell asleep; Batcat walked over and glanced at it; Shiler waved him over; when Batcat reached Shiler's side, Shiler crouched, pulled out a bottle of liquor, held the cork under his nose; Batcat lay down.

"The dark owl energy in this part of Metropolis is specifically designed to invade dreams—so our previous method of extracting energy via nursery rhymes won't work."

"But we can use combat within the dream to force the statue to expend more energy, then use this array to intercept and store that energy."

"Alright, assignments: Constantine and Hal stay in the real world to clean up—restore everything to normal as planned, wait for them to return; Pikachu handles security."

"I, Clark, and Batcat enter the dream world—to Cat City Gotham—to provoke the owls there, lure the statue into expending more energy; Clark handles dream-world security."

"Alright, let's begin."

Saying this, Shiler and Clark left the room; once they'd moved a short distance away, Shiler pulled out the bottle again; the two entered Shiler's Mind Palace.

Shiler stood beside the central pit in the Mind Palace, sighed, pointed upward; Clark looked up—but saw nothing; he looked back at Shiler and asked: "... What? What's up there?"

"There's nothing up there."

"... So?"

"Do you know why there's nothing up there?"

Clark shook his head, confused by Shiler's question; he looked up again, preparing to examine carefully—when Shiler silently stepped behind him and pulled out an umbrella, gripping its shaft.

When Clark refocused his gaze levelly, Shiler was gone; as he turned, the only thing in his vision was the enlarged umbrella handle.

*Bang! *—Clark, completely unprepared, was slammed into the pit; then two figures leapt after him—the one behind had green hair.

When they arrived in Cat City, Clark was still rubbing his chin, glaring resentfully at Shiler; he had no memory of what he'd done, but Shiler ignored him entirely, walked straight to Batcat.

After the fake Batcat was killed, the real Batcat reclaimed Batcat Manor, replaced the impostor, and turned fiction into reality, fully taking control of the city.

The real Batcat was far smarter; his first act upon taking power was to find the owls hidden in the city.

These owls weren't hidden at all—if not for the fake Batcat colluding with them, they couldn't have stayed concealed this long.

Their behavior was utterly unlike cats', and they always smelled of bird droppings; the real Batcat soon built a scanner, swept the entire city, and pinpointed every single owl.

Marvel Shiler had never been to a Cat City before; he transformed into a white cat; Clark remained an orange cat; and joining them this time was a green cat—identical to the Joker-cat Batcat had impersonated before.

One hour later, in Cat City's Gotham Theater, ropes descended from the ceiling, each ending in a hanging owl; a green cat leapt onto the stage, and a piercing cry, followed by laughter, rang out:

"Ladies and gentlemen! I have a plan—called 'The Owl's Bad Luck!'"

Hahahahahahahaha!