It's unclear how long Little Superman had been running before he was exhausted and that buzzing noise finally stopped. He carefully halted and looked back, and the flying swarm of insects had finally stopped pursuing. He let out a long breath and lay on the branch, panting heavily.
At this moment, the white cat running ahead came back, lightly jumping over his head and gently biting the tip of his tail. Little Superman angrily flicked his tail to the side, turning around in a huff, baring his teeth and hissing.
"Why did you attack me?!"
"I just wanted to conduct an experiment," Shiller rubbed his head against him, "Besides, it's you who scratched me."
Shiller turned slightly, and Little Superman saw the cut on his body. He gasped and immediately went closer to sniff it. The scratch wasn't deep, but there was still the smell of blood, which could be said to be the heaviest injury they'd suffered since they came here.
"If you hadn't attacked me, I wouldn't have scratched you either." Little Superman's voice gradually softened, "So why did you do it, anyway?"
"Did you notice my speed increased?" Shiller asked.
"Speaking of that, I was just about to ask," Little Superman twitched his ears, "How did you suddenly become so powerful? Did you awaken a superpower?"
"Not really," Shiller lay down, needing rest as well, he said, "You can think of it as a special mental disorder. When I feel pain, I get extremely excited, lifting the restrictions on my muscle strength, thereby becoming immensely powerful. Of course, still not as strong as you."
Upon hearing the first few sentences, Little Superman was a little surprised. He had thought Shiller was just an ordinary person, but it didn't seem that way now. However, it only took the last sentence to placate him, and he rubbed his head against Shiller's, "It's a pity I can't use my superpower here, otherwise it wouldn't be so troublesome."
"While I'm in good form, let's go hunting," Shiller brought the conversation back on track, he said, "We need to find a larger prey, so everyone can eat their fill and store some for future plans."
"When the flood came, I took a look from the tree; there's likely a dammed lake upstream. Let's go check it out."
Little Superman was still worried, staring at Shiller's wound the entire way as they headed in that direction. Such an open wound is prone to infection, but there was nothing here to bandage it. If they used leaves or something, it might be better off left uncovered.
Moreover, the air was very humid, and it might rain tonight. Once the wound gets wet, the risk of infection becomes very high. And Shiller had emphasized that death here meant real death. Little Superman started anxiously pawing at the ground.
Shiller glanced back at Little Superman, then said, "Don't worry, I won't die here. I have some connections here, so staying alive is possible."
Little Superman stared at him, seemingly trying to discern whether he was being truthful or just offering comforting words. Little Superman was very good at getting to the bottom of things, so he said, "Then why don't you tell me what connections you could have in this cosmos."
Shiller began telling the story of the Gray Mist, which sounded a bit bizarre, but Little Superman wasn't very familiar with the Cthulhu Mythos Universe either, nor did he really understand what the Nameless Fog was, possibly just considering it as a kind of summoning creature.
"He better come soon," Little Superman said, "And get you out before you're digested by bacteria. But if we lose you, we might not be able to find Iron Man either."
"Even if I leave, I'll come back," Shiller smiled and said, "If this universe doesn't play fair, Reed Richards has some knowledge of physics."
They continued moving along the treetops, with Shiller's speed and strength slightly enhanced, making it convenient to move. Little Superman was not weak either; in fact, his animalistic nature was very strong. If it weren't for the fact that he was a person, he would look like a real cat, with absolutely no flaw. The trouble caused by the Thousand Cats Dream put him into the right body.
In fact, considering the things Little Superman had done, if you treated him as a human, he indeed seemed capricious, but if you considered him as a cat or a dog, it made perfect sense.
In reality, the only similarity between him and the characters in comics was probably that they all had human forms. In his original world, there were no other superpower users, just him, and he was exceedingly strong. People growing up in such environments were fundamentally incompatible with those in the American Comic World.
Take Shiller's experience, for example. After God threw him onto that Earth without superpowers, he also experienced various discomforts, the same kind of alienation, even making him doubt his own existence. He had to persistently search for traces of magic and superpowers in a world that advocated materialism, which even led to the development of different personality traits.
He later understood that he was not originally from there, but was thrown there because of the father-son conflict between God and Lucifer. This alienation also played a role in shaping Shiller's personality. It was the same for Little Superman.
Therefore, Shiller understood Little Superman's detached state. This entire world was completely different from the homeland that shaped him; he did not belong here. It wasn't so much that he couldn't integrate into this world, but rather that this world was rejecting him. He felt as if reality was separated by a layer of foggy glass, always unable to see clearly or touch, just like Shiller felt on the original Earth.
Under such circumstances, certain obsessions would be amplified. Shiller was determined to find the reason for his alienation and took many actions for this; Little Superman, on the other hand, always wanted to go home, even considering destroying the cosmos to wake himself from the nightmare.
As for whether Little Superman could return to Origin Earth, Shiller could only say that now was not the time. He knew in his heart that comic characters could not achieve their ultimate goals before completely escaping fate. If he remained fixated on this, the end would just follow the path drawn by fate, walking down the same road again.
Although God had manifested and broken through part of it, Little Superman's problems were more complex than others, and were not so easily resolved. Since he couldn't leave for the time being, he would have to learn to adapt.
"What did you use your superpowers for before?" Shiller asked. "I mean back in your hometown."
"I'm not like other Supermen who naturally have superpowers." Little Superman's tone turned somber, and one could tell he didn't really want to talk about this past, but because he had previously injured Shiller, and Shiller asked him, he felt too guilty to hide it, so he told the truth.
"I was born without superpowers, and I didn't know about my heritage, my parents just gave me a name using Superman's name, and because of this name, I was ostracized." Little Superman pursed his lips. "In the era I was born in, Superman was already a very old superhero, and the era of taking pride in being associated with Superman was over, so this name had a very strong era imprint, which often led to me being ridiculed."
Shiller had read this part of the comic story, but the comic briefly touched on this scene, just showing a few delinquent youths mocking and pointing fingers, without detailing the specific reasons.
Being bullied because of one's name is actually quite common. Not only do Chinese names show a sense of age, such as Jianjun, Jianguo, but English names do, too.
Female names like Mary, Linda, Fiona sound like names from the previous generation. Male names like Bob, Kenny, and even Nightwing's name, Richard, all have an age-related feel.
Of course, the name Clark also carries some unique colors due to Superman's notoriety, making it easier to be teased.
Bullying among children is different from among adults; they might ridicule and ostracize you for any reason. Never mind a well-known name, even a homophone, a hairstyle, or a certain phrase could be used as an excuse for bullying.
Adults often cannot comprehend this, because these things are not problematic. Like the name Clark, even though it is the same as Superman, Superman picked one of many English names for himself. The name didn't originate from him; there were others with the same name before. Moreover, Superman is not a bad villain but a righteous superhero; having the same name isn't something shameful.
Many parents think children are exaggerating or cannot distinguish between good and evil, feeling ashamed to share a name with a righteous superhero, and try to educate them, but this has no effect and cannot solve the bullying. So this exclusion can last for a long time, causing irreversible psychological trauma to children.
Children do not have many channels to relieve stress or alleviate trauma; without human intervention, they can do little—one might even say all they can do is change themselves.
At this age, they can't even engage in self-consumption. The premise of self-consumption is to understand societal rules and realize the motivations behind others questioning themselves, then doubt oneself. Children can't grasp these, so they usually choose the simplest method—dull their senses.
As long as they don't care, it can be as though it doesn't exist. If they can dissolve the malice in those words, treat them as something that doesn't harm them, naturally, they won't feel pain. This process also takes a long time, but once completed, their empathy will undeniably weaken because strong empathy means suffering, and weak empathy can better defend oneself. This is how high-nuts are born.
Note that starting this process during puberty is too late. This condition generally appears when suffering from psychological trauma at a very young age in a pure natural state before children have formed social cognition. After experiencing long-term mental violence, it can occur.
The probability of developing antisocial personality in these children is higher. Actually, the technical term for antisocial personality should be weak social personality. These individuals are typically extremely self-centered, with very weak social connections, generally doing whatever they wish, completely ignoring social rules and morals.
Little Superman seems to show similar signs, but according to Shiller's judgment, he isn't truly antisocial, just appears that way. Shiller is very interested in why this is, and why it looks that way. These details aren't depicted in comics.