Shiller reflected for a moment. In the cartoon, the relationship between Little Superman and Superman is quite delicate. Superman actually does not accept Little Superman's cavalier attitude. He has explicitly said that those whom Little Superman disregards are his friends and family, an inseparable part of him. He strongly dislikes Little Superman's disrespectful attitude toward them.
But evidently, Little Superman always sees those people as comic characters, and unimportant side roles at that. No matter how many or how they die, he wouldn't care much. It's like a child pouring boiling water into an anthill, displaying a kind of naive cruelty.
Shiller found the Little Superman he met to be alright; at least he hadn't said anything like "since it's a cartoon, why not just kill them all." Shiller suspected he might have said something outrageous in front of Anatoli, and after taking a couple of punches, improved a lot.
After all, a person like Little Superman, even if he didn't transmigrate, he wouldn't necessarily be a good person. If he were truly a highly empathetic person, even if he transmigrated into a cartoon, seeing injury and death might be unbearable for him. Just like some people get scared watching horror movies.
Even sitting outside the screen, knowing it's all fake, if the plot captivates and draws you in, it's like transmigrating in, and you'll find yourself feeling happy, sad, or even moved to tears along with the characters, wishing to personally overturn all the tragedies in the plot.
Just as when Shiller transmigrated here, he consistently worked to change the fates of the superheroes, because he was that kind of person even before he transmigrated. Little Superman's disregard for the lives of comic characters indicates he is not a very empathetic person, both in reality and in fiction.
Even toward someone like Shiller, whom he claimed to like, most of the time it was him wanting Shiller to accompany whatever he wanted to do, rather than putting effort into pleasing others.
But ironically, Greed actually prefers this kind of personality. It sounds counter-intuitive, but from a psychological perspective, a more healthy personality isn't the type of person who's widely acclaimed in society as 'good,' but rather, someone who might be criticized for being selfish and self-centered.
This stark contrast between societal and academic judgment doesn't only appear in the psychology field, but psychology shows it more distinctly. If someone visits a psychiatrist regularly, they will find that some of the psychiatrist's guidance does not align with modern society's expectations of a 'perfect person.'
Especially in the social aspect, there are psychologists who even advise patients not to be overly sociable. This includes not caring too much about others' evaluations, not focusing too much on existing societal standards, and not forcing yourself to become what society wants you to be.
And the challenging part of the psychologist's work is right here; the relatives of the patient or even the patients themselves come for treatment with the goal of reintegrating into society, becoming the kind society desires most: outgoing, cheerful, independent, intelligent and excellent, living gracefully and decently.
Upon hearing a doctor advise patients not to worry too much about how society views them, it's not just the family that would stir up trouble; the patient themselves might not agree. Because had they not worried about societal evaluation and been self-centered, they wouldn't be seeing a psychologist. Eighty percent of sufferers of similar symptoms originate from the anxiety of not being able to achieve their ideal self within the societal evaluative framework.
Setting aside hereditary mental illnesses, people like Little Superman, with weak empathy, who are self-centered and ignore societal judgment, who can't even read cues well, are unlikely to be troubled enough to see a psychologist. In other words, from a psychiatrist's perspective, they are healthier.
The last person Greed encountered this healthy was Odin from the Central Universe. Without a doubt, Odin is such a person; the personality of the Father of All Gods is summed up in eight words: Odin desires, Odin obtains.
Be it the throne, the queen, honor, or his sons, he holds the same attitude: if it's given to him, he demands it; if not, he seizes it, killing anyone who stands in his way until no more dissent is heard.
Most people cannot tolerate such individuals. Actually, more infuriating than seizing resources is feeling unable to affect this person, not even altering them, but failing to even catch their attention. They are eternally indifferent, even disdainful. Everyone around them feels belittled, yet they don't know how to resist, leaving them utterly uncomfortable.
But people like this naturally fit one profession, which is a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists encounter too many patients consumed by inner struggles daily, and even due to the trauma aggregation effect, psychiatrists themselves and their colleagues aren't in great psychological shape either.
At this time, along comes a highly insensitive tough nut, who doesn't burden themselves internally and lives effortlessly every day. Even if they act self-centered, they may seek to siphon emotions off those around them, but just watching them is quite stress-relieving for the psychiatrist.
This is actually a compensatory psychology, which is when you see too many people who tolerate atrocious individuals and pathetic social norms without limits, you wish for someone like this to strike back forcefully against those terrible people and rotten societal rules. Even though this person might not be up to it and could have significant flaws, at least there's space for imagination, and decompressing through fantasy isn't bad either.
Hence, Greed is very indulgent towards Little Superman, letting him do basically whatever he wants. Even if it really doesn't work, he would think of the best way to dissuade him.
The reason is simple; there are truly too few non-self-consuming people in American Comics. Frankly, if Batman doesn't play with Joker for a week, Joker would go home and cry for a while, wondering if his game design isn't exciting enough, not to mention the others. Rare species like Little Superman ought to be protected.
Of course, there is still a difference between Greed's protection and others' protection. When danger arises, Greed will protect others as much as possible, but when there's no danger, with Greed around, do you still expect there to be no danger?
After coaxing and convincing, they finally managed to get Little Superman to the scene where his tail got injured. From a distance, Shiller saw the hive hanging on a tree. It's more like an ant nest than a hive. And what bites isn't bees, but seems like some kind of venomous ants.
Upon getting a bit closer, Shiller discovered that this insect was more like a combination of bees, ants, and spiders, inheriting the best traits. Like bees, they hung their hives high in the trees to avoid being washed away by water. Like ants, they are very mobile on the ground, able to crawl everywhere. The spider-like trait lies in their poison; it's not the formic acid of ants but real venom, the kind that gets injected with a bite. Although the toxin from a single insect isn't much, there's a few thousand living in one hive, and hundreds come out to hunt, making anyone unable to bear the successive injections.
The moment Little Superman saw the gigantic hive, he turned to run, but Shiller caught him by the tail and brought him back.
"Why are you running?!"
"This, this, this, this, this…" Little Superman was almost incoherent, "We absolutely can't go there, right?! Just one bite hurts so much, if they take turns biting, wouldn't I be tortured to death by the pain?! Let go of me! I definitely won't go over!"
"Didn't you say the Cartoon World lacks immersion?!" Shiller said unclearly without letting go, "This isn't the Cartoon World anymore, it's the perfect moment for a transmigrator to show bravery. Don't run!"
"I'm not going! Damn you, madman! You're just like that Shostakov. Let me go! The swarm is coming, let me go!!" Seeing he couldn't break free, Little Superman rolled over and started kicking with his legs. It's a typical defensive posture that usually works, but Shiller's bite force isn't ordinary either.
The base of Little Superman's tail was bitten until it bled, so he didn't dare to kick hard, fearing he'd tear off his own tail. Forced by desperation, he turned and bit Shiller on the neck.
Instinctively, Shiller lifted his head a bit, so the bite wasn't hard, but it still pierced the skin. Little Superman put a lot of force into it, immediately drawing blood. The two cats then tumbled onto the ground, with fur flying everywhere. Little Superman kept howling, but no one came to his rescue.
Little Superman's fighting had no pattern, but you can't blame him; who can have style after turning into a cat? Coincidentally, Shiller had experience being a cat, and their skill sets were interconnected, so he kept suppressing Little Superman.
Little Superman couldn't take it anymore. With a fierce kick, his hind claw left a gash on Shiller's side. Shiller sharply gasped from the pain and violently twisted his body, using his tail to whip Little Superman away.
Little Superman was a bit dazed by the fall, and at this moment, those flying venomous ants were closing in. Ignoring everything, he twisted his body and ran, but a shadow moved faster than him. Seeing Shiller leap about ten meters high in a blur, Little Superman was dumbfounded: How come you're secretly evolving without telling us?
Due to the long coexistence with the human race, people are very familiar with a house cat's natural abilities. Little Superman doesn't own cats, but he has an idea of what house cats can roughly do. After days of experience, he confirmed they indeed turned into house cats with no superpowers.
But now, his companion soared up to the tree. Had Shiller just awakened some ancestral ability of house cats? But the house cat's ancestors weren't tigers, so even if he awakened, it shouldn't be so fast, right?
Little Superman didn't have time to think further; he climbed the tree desperately, but those insects were coming straight for them, and four legs can't outrun wings. Little Superman exerted all his effort, but the flying venomous ants were still faster, and they were about to surround him.
At this moment, Little Superman truly used every ounce of strength he had, realizing he could climb trees so quickly only under pressure. As he finally reached the branches, he saw Shiller peeking out, seemingly waiting for him.
Little Superman was infuriated: We agreed to go hunting, yet how did it turn into a teammate-bashing session? The key point is, after being beaten by a teammate, this terrifying swarm wants to finish me off, are you all on the same side?!
But he had no choice, with the swarm right on him, all he could do was run. Running up was not an option, so Little Superman changed directions and started leaping between branches. It was actually very dangerous, with even the lowest branches several dozen meters high, and a fall would be deadly. He had to watch his route while running, his adrenaline maxed out, yet still trembling.
At this moment, a white silhouette leaped past him. Shiller nimbly stood at the top of the tree, looking back at him, as if waiting for him to catch up. Little Superman glanced back at the terrifying swarm, deciding to trust Shiller one more time, and followed him.
The two cats jumped between dense branches, weaved through sunlit patches, appeared and disappeared between the broad green leaves, displaying an inexplicably wild and lively spirit. Perhaps this is how the world of beasts is; in the lethal brink of life and death battles, lies the most primitive and beautiful moments.