"Dingling!"
After the alarm clock rang, Clark woke up once again. At the same time, his phone also rang. When he picked it up, Diana's anxious voice came from the other end: "Clark, Brainiac has invaded Earth. Batman wants to talk, you need to come quickly."
Clark raised one hand to cover his eyes. He felt very confused now, unsure if his previous experiences were just a dream. He and Batman went to another universe, busy with tasks for that universe... At least that part was definitely a dream. How could he possibly stand together with that damned traitor?
Clark stood up. He put on his uniform, preparing to find Diana. But he suddenly remembered that when he picked up the phone, he saw another missed call on the screen.
He picked up the phone again, clicked on the number, and dialed it. A slightly familiar yet somewhat strange voice came from the other side: "Mr. Superman, there are some issues here at Congress. Could you come and take a look?"
Clark found the voice very familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it. After a moment, he finally recalled—it was the psychiatrist from his dream.
"What's your name?" Clark asked.
"Schiller Rodriguez."
"No," Clark said, "you're not supposed to have that name."
"Is there a problem, sir?"
"That's a name from my dream," Clark said, "he was an accomplice of that damned criminal... wait. What about that criminal?"
Clark felt a sharp pain in his head. He clutched his head and crouched beside the bed, then fell back straight onto the bed.
"Dingling!"
He woke up again. This time in the Injustice League's base. He saw Batman and many other people. They were all trying to persuade him or arguing with each other endlessly.
Among the crowd, he saw a familiar figure again—that psychiatrist named Schiller, standing far away from the crowd. Clark saw his lip movements, seeming to say to him, "You can't escape."
"Dingling!"
Waking up once more, Clark abruptly sat up from the bed. He turned his head to see Lois's sleeping face. The sunlight pouring into the room was bright but lacked warmth. Lois lay right beside him, yet he couldn't feel a trace of her presence.
He collapsed back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling, murmuring to himself, "What are you all trying to do?"
He suddenly heard some noise from the living room, so he went out and saw a man sitting on the sofa, with water lightly rippling in a cup in his hand.
"What do you want to do?" Clark asked.
"We need you to stay calm," Schiller turned his head and said, "You've lost control. I'm trying to get you back to normal."
"I've lost control? What's wrong with me?"
"Do you remember who you are, and what you're doing now?"
Clark opened his mouth. Too many fragments of memories flashed in his mind, not making sense of their sequence. But he distinctly remembered a pale smiling face.
"I was tricked by Joker..."
"He wasn't trying to trick you," Schiller said, "and he's not the Joker from your universe. He was just a guide in the dream, and you punched him indiscriminately, sending you to me to stabilize your condition."
"And I found this." Schiller stretched out one hand, and Clark saw what he was holding—a silver-white alarm clock.
"Dingling!"
As the clock's sound echoed, Clark grew agitated. He even reached out to grab the clock in Schiller's hand, but Schiller's figure vanished.
The clock stood there, ringing incessantly. The clock before his eyes grew larger and larger, and Clark finally began to back away with a hint of fear.
He turned around, wanting to flee, but the gigantic clock came crashing down from behind. He felt his body melting, turning into the clock's components, feeling the terrifying sounds and vibrations every moment, as if falling into Hell.
In agony, he suddenly heard a sigh. Everything before him dissipated.
He saw a man standing in front of him—more precisely, a figure with a male body and a Globe head, looking at him.
The Globe had no facial features, but Clark could feel its scrutinizing gaze. Then he heard it say:
"So the root of anxiety is here. Does facing Batman cause you such pain? But indeed..."
"Clark." Clark heard the strange figure call his name. He heard it say, "Do you think Lois would want to be the reason for your escape and indulgence?"
Clark only heard this one sentence, then he was suddenly awake, looking at the ceiling of a hotel room, and Batman standing by the hotel window.
Injustice Superman touched his chest, feeling the heart pounding inside, as if he had just traveled through the galaxy and suddenly plummeted into a burning star.
"Lois..."
He recalled the question that mysterious figure in his dream had asked him.
Injustice Batman walked over and said, "Did you see them too? Really strange. The Professor even brought over a Joker."
Injustice Superman turned his head, glaring. Injustice Batman openly displayed his schadenfreude, saying, "Sorry I couldn't be there for you in your weakest moment. Did you cry when you saw him?"
Injustice Superman grabbed Injustice Batman by the collar, but quickly let go, silently walking to the bathroom to wash his face. When he came out, he leaned against the bathroom door and said, "Sorry to disappoint you, I punched him hard, almost made him cry."
"You're still the same, Clark." Injustice Batman said, sitting up leisurely, "I take it you saw that professor too?"
Injustice Superman furrowed his brows. He had almost forgotten what happened in those serial dreams, only remembering the final one with the strange figure that had a globe head.
"If you mean the guy with a globe for a head, yes." Injustice Superman appeared a bit annoyed.
"Seems he said something to you," Injustice Batman said, "Did you punch him too?"
"Why are we wasting time here?" Injustice Superman asked, "We have a mission to complete. What's next?"
"You haven't asked me that in a long time," Injustice Batman said, "Later, we'll have to go back into the dream."
"Let's get on with it then." Injustice Superman said. He seemed just eager to get busy with something rather than dwelling on that fatal question.
Injustice Batman merely looked at him with an inscrutable expression, then slowly lay back on the bed. Both of them re-entered the dream.
When Injustice Superman woke up, he looked up and saw that truck again, along with the pale smiling face sitting in the driver's seat.
Seeing Injustice Batman next to him, he restrained the impulse to charge forward. Batman was surely waiting for him to act so he could play the hero again.
Clearly, Batman's history with the Joker was more complicated than his, yet he always pretended to be so rational. Hypocrisy, Injustice Superman thought.
The Joker jumped down from the car. From behind the truck, a man with a globe head walked over.
"Are you the professor?" Injustice Superman asked.
"You can call me that," he replied, "I'm sorry I sent the Joker to get you; I didn't consider your feelings. We had to pull you into a deeper dream level to calm you down. I hope this didn't cause you any trouble."
"I'm not that fragile," Injustice Superman said coldly, "Aren't we going into Hai'er's dream? Let's go."
Shiller stood across from him, seeing the impatience in his brow. Charles's shock therapy was beginning to show effects, and Shiller had just added fuel to the fire, which might well soon prove effective.
Charles had sealed off most of Injustice Superman's emotions, especially those towards Batman. There was no doubt about Charles's skills, but the absence of some emotions might make Shiller's spiritual analysis less accurate.
So taking the chance to pull Injustice Superman into a deeper dream, Shiller peeked into his Psychic_Battlefield.
He was shocked by what he saw. No wonder, out of so many universes, only these two had reached this stage today.
It was undeniable, this conflict had been brewing for a long time. The feud between Injustice Superman and Injustice Batman began when Lois was still alive. It wasn't originally a major conflict, mostly trivial suspicions simmering over time until they exploded in an instant.
After all, if they had been the closest of comrades the day before, they wouldn't have broken up immediately after Lois's death.
Not to mention, in Lord Superman's universe, after The Flash died, Lord Superman directly resorted to killing, and Batman acquiesced, with no disagreements formed because of it.
Simply put, the love was gone, and they found everything about each other unpleasant. What you assumed was the trigger or catalyst of your falling out was actually the last straw.
Such a judgment was made because Shiller discovered that the alarm clock's ringing, reverberating deep in Injustice Superman's Psychic_Battlefield, greatly triggered his anxiety.
So, he repeatedly played this ringing in the dream. Sure enough, Injustice Superman grew increasingly agitated, even Lois couldn't soothe his mood.
And often, this ringing represented his need to get up for work, more importantly, to face Batman at the Justice League.
In other words, for a long time, going to the Justice League to face Batman made Superman anxious and irritable.
But on reflection, considering Injustice Batman's conduct, it's not hard to understand why Injustice Superman would feel this way.
Classic Batman usually keeps silent; those who do talk are generally amicable. Injustice Batman charted a third course, talking and even joking, yet somehow maintaining a mysteriously mocking demeanor.
Initially, Shiller hadn't planned to enter Hai'er's dream directly; he intended to let Joker Jack, who also held Authority in dreams, take the two to scout the situation. Unfortunately, Injustice Superman went berserk upon arrival, so Jack had to bring everyone to him for calming down.
But since they were all here, they might as well go together. To avoid Injustice Batman recognizing his real-world identity, Shiller had to use the rarely-used Dreamworld form—his globe-headed self.
He intended to use this form to enter Hai'er's dream, and had already gleaned some insights on how to calm this frenzied super Kryptonian.