Ian, Miracle Boy?

Tessa took in Ian's every reaction.

"This is Destiny. You cannot stop it." Tessa's voice sounded like a verdict, carrying the unshakable gravity of a decree as her fingers lightly tapped the edge of the bed.

A steady tap-tap sound rang out.

Ian's pupils flickered slightly.

"There must still be a way." He seemed to have suddenly calmed down. He stared directly into Tessa's eyes as she turned to look at him, and that dizzying depth he sensed within them only grew stronger.

"This is Destiny. It cannot be defeated, and it is also your prejudice against death." Tessa's fingers paused slightly against the window frame, and an abrupt dead silence filled the frozen house.

Ian's expression carried a rare seriousness. "Maybe death really isn't frightening. But treating life with indifference, doing nothing and simply accepting the death of your family—that is what is truly frightening."

His answer made Tessa narrow her eyes slightly. The pale woman patted her chest with her slender hand, a curious smile appearing on her face.

"That really spoke to my heart."

She winked at Ian, but his expression did not change.

"You wouldn't tell me all this if it had no meaning." Ian did possess a tiny bit of serious wisdom. He simply did not use it very often.

Tessa's smile deepened at his words.

"Maybe I just hoped you could learn to accept reality." Her voice remained gentle, as though she were comforting a child who needed pity.

"Your family is unusual, so there are some differences..." What she said made a certain amount of sense, but Ian did not find it particularly believable.

"Perhaps?"

Ian merely turned to look at the black-and-white hallway without committing himself. The bedroom doors were all tightly shut. "But I'm sure you haven't gone to comfort my brothers."

His words seemed to carry another meaning.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Tessa tilted her head, still smiling brightly. "You're the youngest child. There's nothing wrong with me taking more care of your feelings."

It did make sense.

"I don't understand Reapers, but as I see it, a Reaper shouldn't have emotions like this... So there must be a reason and meaning behind you chatting with me here."

Ian's mind was working quickly now, gradually sorting through some suspicious details. Tessa merely chuckled and lowered her gaze toward the cold street below.

"I'm just passing the time. Living too long is exhausting." The female Reaper's voice carried a trace of melancholy along with a vague sense of wistfulness.

Ian said nothing.

He simply watched her quietly.

His obsidian-like eyes shone startlingly bright in the faded world.

A moment later.

"Fine, you sly little thing." Tessa's voice broke the quiet atmosphere. She pursed her lips and raised both hands in an exaggerated gesture of surrender.

"I confess. Compared with your father... I'm actually more interested in you. Until just now, I hadn't even realized that someone as special as you existed."

"That is unprecedented in my dull career—so I've decided to give you an opportunity, one far more generous than the opportunity offered by our Reaper boss."

As she spoke, Tessa glanced at the back of Ian's hand again. After pausing for a moment, she continued, "I can give you seven days to find out why your father died."

Her suddenly cool words made Ian freeze for a moment.

"You're going to send me back to the past?"

Ian frowned and gently touched the back of his hand with his other hand. From what the female Reaper had said, he had gained a crucial piece of information.

It made his pupils flicker again.

"No, no, no. I don't appreciate you that much." Tessa suddenly smiled. "Your father's death will be delayed, and these seven days are your father's... and this city's last chance. Don't expect your father to help you. He hasn't even figured out what happened to him."

"Little one, you can only rely on yourself... Let me see whether a miracle can be born within you." There was a nearly imperceptible note of anticipation in Tessa's voice.

After saying that.

Without giving Ian a chance to ask anything else, her body suddenly tipped forward. She fell straight toward the street below, as if her entire body had completely merged into the black-and-white night.

"This has something to do with Metropolis being in danger too? If I find the source of the problem, my dad won't have to die?" By the time Ian lunged toward the window, there was no sign of anyone left.

Not only had Death Tessa, who had fallen toward the street, vanished, but all the countless Men in Black had disappeared as well. They came and went without a trace, as though they had never existed.

"Ian!"

"Ian!!"

"What's wrong with you?"

Amid his uncertainty.

Sound and color suddenly seemed to flood back into Ian's world. Everything around him seemed to twist, then blur together into an indistinct mess.

"Huh?"

Ian could not help rubbing his eyes.

When he opened them again.

He saw one of Clark's hands resting on his shoulder while the other waved continuously in front of his face. The old father's face was filled with concern.

"Why did you suddenly space out?"

Clark was clearly worried that Ian's condition had worsened. Although he already knew certain things about Ian, he still felt that the psychologist's diagnosis might not have been wrong.

That psychologist was famous throughout the country and even often helped the police solve cases. That was precisely why Clark and his wife had crossed paths with him.

"That woman..." Ian looked behind Clark, then his voice abruptly stopped. There was nothing behind Clark. He suddenly turned toward the window.

There.

The window seemed never to have been opened.

"What happened just now?"

Ian could not help asking.

Clark frowned and carefully examined his youngest son, his gaze growing more worried. "I came out after using the bathroom and saw you suddenly standing there in a daze, your eyes completely unfocused."

No wonder the old father was worried. Ian's behavior was practically identical to the classic symptoms of schizophrenia patients described in the knowledge he had learned through speed-reading.

"So you don't even remember me accusing you of cheating... Or maybe it never happened in reality at all?" Ian suddenly felt as if he were about to become Li Huowang.

He could not tell.

He really could not tell!

"Dad, did anything strange happen during the day today?" Since he could not tell, Ian decided not to dwell on it. What concerned him more was the cause of Superman's death mentioned by the female Reaper earlier.

He felt that it definitely had something to do with something that had happened today.

However.

"You know, just collecting some boring news... Nothing interesting." Clark adjusted his glasses. He clearly had no intention of telling the truth.

"..."

Ian stared at his old father for a long time.

"Go get some sleep. And as for running into those robbers, don't worry about it anymore. I'll definitely take it seriously." Clark did not seem to notice anything unusual about Ian's expression.

He patted Ian on the shoulder and made a promise.

"..."

Ian, who had wanted to lay all his cards on the table, was led back to his room by Clark.

"See you tomorrow, Dad."

Ian spoke softly.

Clark was visibly taken aback.

"See you tomorrow."

He smiled as he watched Ian close his bedroom door. Once he was alone in the hallway, Clark's smile gradually disappeared, replaced by a thoughtful confusion.

"Something happened...?"

Superman looked toward the bathroom.

His eyes flickered slightly.

He raised the arm hidden beneath his sleeve. The grotesque wound was still emitting green light. However, the growing weakness he had felt before seemed to have suddenly stopped worsening.