"Later, as I grew older, the people who excluded me changed again, but they were all just as mean, always pointing fingers at me. But I wasn't affected by them. I think my name is great, and I really like it. Although they also gave me some nickname like Super Boy and shouted it at me whenever they saw me, honestly, I felt a bit happy each time because it sounded like a superhero."
Little Superman spoke intermittently, and Shiller listened very carefully. Up to this point, just as Shiller had inferred, Little Superman's social skills had become quite weak, and he had become somewhat self-centered.
There's nothing wrong with sticking to one's preferences, and the ability to maintain independent thinking amid others' ridicule is actually a very valuable quality, but it depends on what age this situation occurs.
If it's a person in their fifties or sixties, then it's really too normal. The personality has fully developed, with firmly established values, not easily swayed, so it's indeed easy to stick to one's views amid others' non-acceptance.
However, the process of a teenager establishing their personality is like a bat, constantly sending ultrasonic waves to social norms, then sensing the shape of the echoes that bounce back off the walls to determine their position. This age group particularly values social interactions because they need to judge the correctness of their behavior through society and groups, using countless such judgments to build their personality.
Many parents complain that their children suddenly become vain during their teenage years, wanting what others have and doing what others do, completely lacking the sense they had as children. But actually, this is a necessary process for humans to build social competence.
Many parents during the teenage years demand their children isolate themselves and focus on their studies, not providing necessary conditions for social interaction, or even hindering them from socializing. Without the ability to build good social skills through society's echo, once they grow up, they will face obstacles everywhere due to poor social interactions, and parents will again complain that they aren't savvy.
In general, having too weak social skills during the teenage years is abnormal. Not seeking recognition from groups means they cannot gather enough sample data to support their social skills. This tends to make their personality development more self-centered, which is evidently the case for Little Superman.
Many people, when reviewing the history of serial killers, will find that many of them experienced abuse as children. The way childhood abuse turns them into antisocial killers is actually through this process.
During childhood, due to long-term ostracism, a weak empathy mental pattern is established. By the time they develop into adolescence, with weak empathy and weak social skills, they almost cease to care about what their peers are saying, becoming more self-centered and weaker in social skills until they don't care about social rules and ethics at all, which is the typical development process of an antisocial personality. Little Superman is like this too.
However, although many people go through this process, not everyone develops an antisocial personality. This is influenced by many factors, and it can be said that encountering a good person will greatly improve the situation, whether it be a teacher, classmate, or friend, or even an elder with whom they only spent a short time. The destruction and establishment of social skills are equally easy.
"Later, I met Laura," Little Superman said, "and some other friends. Instead of mocking me, they supported my dreams. We made a set of Super Boy costumes together, and I really liked wearing that costume to go camping or stroll in the suburbs with them, which made me feel fulfilled and free."
It seems this was the key, Shiller thought.
Sure enough, Little Superman said excitedly, "You definitely don't know, my superpower was also brought by them. That night, we wanted to watch Halley's Comet together. I put on my costume, and we drove around, and when the meteor streaked across the sky, I suddenly awakened my powers and became the Super Boy of my dreams. Romantic, right?"
"Do you think your friends brought you your superpower?"
"Although I know it's not true," Little Superman swayed his tail, "I know I might be an Alien, just coincidentally regained my abilities that day. But I don't care; I prefer this explanation that it was my friends' beautiful wishes that made my dream come true."
But soon his tail drooped, and his ears fell: "I became the real Super Boy but couldn't help my friends. They didn't even see how happy I was when my wish came true, which wasn't fair to them at all. We dreamed countless times about me really becoming Superman, but when my dream came true, I could never go back..."
The sadness in Little Superman's tone almost overflowed, and Shiller turned around to nuzzle him, to which Little Superman responded with vigorous nuzzling and even rolled on his back, making a purring sound.
Shiller was a bit surprised: "How did you make that sound?"
Little Superman could even talk while purring: "I don't know, maybe it's the instinct of this body."
"Then you better teach Peter," Shiller casually shifted the topic. "The first thing he did when he got here was study how cats make sounds."
"You can't learn this." Little Superman turned proud again, pretending casually to ask, "Are you very familiar with that Peter Parker?"
"Not very familiar," Shiller said, "I'm familiar with another Peter, maybe you'll meet him later."
"Is he stronger than me?" Little Superman asked.
"If you're talking about combat ability, probably not." Shiller remained objective, "In the entire American Comics Universe, there aren't many stronger than Supreme Little Superman." But he added, "However, I watched him grow up."
Little Superman started wagging his tail again, and the purring stopped. He buried his head and walked forward. Shiller found it amusing, Little Superman's social style was quite interesting. For those he didn't care about, he was a completely hard nut to crack; no one could penetrate his psychological defenses, and if unhappy, he'd just wipe them out.
But for the people he cared about, he was somewhat overly dependent, even pursuing attention to trivial details with a strong possessiveness. However, he deliberately hid these feelings, even suppressing his emotions, avoiding making exclusive remarks.
This state is quite intriguing, generally speaking, it's difficult for strong possessiveness and emotional stability to coexist. Those with strong possessiveness tend to have more intense emotional swings, whereas emotional stability often indicates indifference to many things.
This issue isn't actually about being reasonable, but rather related to emotional work patterns, also known as external seeking and internal seeking. People who externally seek need emotional feedback from others, while those internally seeking prefer to internalize their emotions.
Externally seeking emotional feedback requires one to first stir up emotions; without expressing emotions, there won't be any feedback. Those accustomed to emotional output naturally become adept at emotional expression, exhibiting emotions more outwardly, with highs and lows more apparent, giving an impression of emotional instability.
The natural state should indeed be like this, but it can also be artificially changed. Little Superman seems to be someone who has been artificially altered. He chooses, when possessiveness is at play and excitement arises, to stabilize his emotions as much as possible and not show them.
Shiller guessed this might be related to Batman. It's not yet certain which Batman Little Superman encountered, but regardless, there should be some corrective influence, especially in terms of stabilizing emotions.
One could say Batman specializes in treating emotional instability. He's like a rock—when you're being unreasonable, you can never shake him. If you get angry at him, he tells you to calm down; if you're anxious, he tells you not to worry; if you complain, he tells you that complaining is useless; if you're excited, he won't get excited with you. He's like the human version of Vibranium, purely sound-absorbing steel.
It's like trying to attack the ocean with the sharpest spear; tossing a spear into the sea isn't attacking the ocean, it's more like self-destruction of the weapon. Extreme emotions, like a clay oxen entering the sea, disappear without a trace in an instant.
If you can't stabilize your emotions and accurately express your needs to him, crying all day long won't help. With people like this, even the most unreasonable person will learn to be reasonable.
Shiller guessed that Little Superman had realized that expressing his abnormal possessiveness to Batman was useless. No matter how many times he repeats himself, Batman will continue with his own business, undeterred, and even risk lowering his esteem over time. Gaining Batman's favor isn't easy; after making a bit of progress, if you speak a few reckless words, it would plummet again, leaving nowhere to cry.
To prevent the hard-earned favor from plummeting, Little Superman learned to hide this side of his expressions and simultaneously apply it to Shiller. After scratching someone, if he annoys further, his favor points would hit rock bottom again.
However, he didn't know that Shiller naturally had a high level of affection towards him, which wouldn't easily decline. Even if not proactive in speaking, Shiller could still guess it. The next question probably would be whether Peter has lived with him. And indeed, he has, followed by whether they have gone on adventures together, played Battleworld dungeons together, or even fought together.
Once he finds out these things exist, he'd have to restrain himself from doing something, often insisting on doing something new with Shiller that they hadn't done before, and such events are usually quite astonishing—the greater the power, the greater the mess.
While talking, they already reached upstream the river, where indeed there's a lake, albeit not very large. It looks like a mountain landslide caused a blockage. But they dare not observe closely, as the area could only be described as a scene of chaos, with creatures flying in the sky, swimming in the water, and running on land—none smaller than them, some even extending heads higher than the trees by the lake.
Clearly, this ecosystem is abnormal; there are too many giant animals. Even without any knowledge of biology, one can tell there's no way this place can sustain so many giant creatures; it's a mystery how they've grown. But given they've been mechanically modified, perhaps there's no need to ponder too much.
The two cats stood on the treetop, observing for a while, indeed finding some suitable prey, slightly larger than them, seemingly herbivorous, without any outrageous mechanical modifications, and catching one could mean not hunting for three to four days.
Unfortunately, these easy targets they could bully are mostly social animals, often coming in groups of several hundred, and they don't dare get too close to the lakeside, just following the river for a drink—far too difficult to catch.