It's already over!

In the vast desert, there are many huge statues, shaped like Superman and Batman in the style of Ancient Egypt.

"So this is the Between?" Cain asked the three.

"Yes, Christianity calls it Limbo," the Norse mythology calls it Nibelungen, and Buddhism calls it the Bardo. "It is neither the real world nor a dream. It is neither the realm of the dead nor the world of the living," the Sandman explained.

"I've been here before," Batman suddenly said.

"Huh?" The other three were taken aback. Roland asked in confusion, "When?"

"You don't actually think that achieving Soul Projection is completely risk-free, do you?" Batman recalled. "I ran into a little trouble and ended up here—luckily, my master on the snow mountain pulled me back."

"I never imagined you had this kind of experience," Cain remarked with some emotion.

"What's even stranger is that you've never been here before." Batman raised an eyebrow.

"I've lived this long and never had a near-death experience." Cain shrugged, his tone ambiguous, whether it was regret or boast.

"So, the statues here were sculpted when you were here last time?" Roland asked curiously.

"No, this is the space we see out of the corner of our eye. I've heard it's also called the Reality Stream —I guess that's how our brains process things," Batman explained.

"So, this is what we smart people call a memory palace?" Roland said, looking at the Superman bust.

"----People like us who are smart?" Batman's cheek twitched uncontrollably.

"What? I'm the smartest person in the world, where do you rank?" Roland rolled his eyes.

"Oh," Batman replied dismissively.

"So this place is so big, where are we going to find the Nightmare Stone?" Cain changed the subject; a good butler should be able to defuse an awkward situation like this.

"Feel it with your hearts, and it will appear," said the Sandman.

"Huh?" Roland was taken aback. "You might as well explain yourself more clearly."

"Shh, don't talk, listen carefully." The Sandman gestured for silence.

Roland listened quietly, when suddenly he heard a call coming from the wind; someone was calling his name.

"This way?" Roland said, pointing in the direction the voice came from.

"Yes." The Sandman nodded. "I can sense the Nightmare Stone —its power—it wants to be found—"

"Walk!"

The four of them ran across the desert, and strangely enough, although the desert seemed to stretch endlessly, they soon emerged from it.

"That's strange. They say you can't keep up with a mountain's pace forever, but it's the opposite here. It looked huge before we set off, but we've already come out here in no time," Roland remarked.

They had entered a dark, dense forest, the ground littered with bones, and the sky had darkened.

Compared to the desert we just left, it felt like we had entered two completely different worlds.

"After all, this isn't the real world, so it's normal that the laws of physics don't apply here," Batman said. "Look at the scenery here—we're getting close to the Nightmare Stone."

"Once I get it back, I can resolve this." The Sandman breathed a sigh of relief. "Hopefully, the Deadman are alright."

I hope he's alright.

Within the consciousness of the Sleepless Knight.

"You can't stop me. Once I get my hands on the Nightmare Stone, the whole world will see me as a hero—and you as monsters," Insomnia sneered. "And do you know what people do when a monster dies? They cheer! But why should I stop here? With the Nightmare Stone, I can kill everyone! If I can't have a family—then nobody can!"

"What a madman!"

"Don't say that. At least before I deal with you, I can help you realize some of your dreams." Insomnia suddenly had an idea. "I know what you want—"

"What do you want to do?" the Deadman asked warily.

"I don't think so," Superboy-Prime said nonchalantly.

A bad feeling welled up in the Deadman's heart. He suddenly remembered something that he had talked about with Batman before.

"Maybe I don't know how to be a father," Batman said wistfully, sitting on the roof of Wayne Tower. "I have a great father, but I can't learn from him how to raise children."

"Are you sure you want to talk to me about this?" The Deadman sat down next to Batman. "I never had the chance to have a family."

"Then why don't you try starting a family?" Batman asked, "Even one without blood ties."

"I've always believed it's unfair that another life was brought into this world because of the risks I took," the Deadman sighed.

"This is not a way of life." Batman shook his head.

"----This is what you wanted! Your own----family of the Deadman!" Insomnia the Batman Who Laughs, the energy of her dreams surging forth.

Emerging, a woman with two children was created, dressed in red the Suit like those of the Deadman, their skin as pale as snow.

"What... what are you doing?" The Deadman's mind went blank for a moment.

"Dad!" The two children excitedly crawled into the Deadman's arms.

"We love you, Boston," the woman said gently to the Deadman.

"This is wrong—" The Deadman lowered his head, unable to bring himself to push them away.

My love, don't leave us!

"Dad, come play with us!"

"What does this have to do with right or wrong, Boston? This is what we want, isn't it?" Insomnia shrugged. "My family was murdered before my eyes, because of the Justice League's failure—so believe me, I understand the meaning of family."

The scene before the Deadman changes, and he and his family appear in a cozy little wooden house. There is a fireplace with flickering flames that occasionally crackle. Two children are lying on a thick wool carpet looking at picture books, while the Deadman's wife sits in a recliner by the fireplace, knitting a scarf.

"Accept this gift with a clear conscience, my friend. Stop worrying about what you're thinking, which we all know. This will all be over soon."

"Is this what you wanted? It's so cozy," Superboy-Prime exclaimed from outside the window.

"Don't be envious, you can have these too," Insomnia said.

"My aspirations are quite different from those of a middle-aged man," Superboy-Prime yawned. "That kind of life is indeed wonderful, but I have no interest in it."

"Really? Then let's take a look." Insomnia snapped her fingers, and dream energy many times greater than before surged in, forming a person.

She wore a burgundy bodysuit, long black gloves, black boots, and her signature black eye patch; her style was somewhat like a combination of Superman and Nightwing.

"She looks like a gentle yet capable woman—and a superhero." Insomnia shrugged. "Well, isn't she easy to understand?"

"That's not necessarily true." Superboy-Prime was already laughing.

"Yeah?"

The dream energy continued to pour in, and then a second person appeared. She was a slender Adolescence girl, the Suit the same uniform as the woman who had just appeared. She had long black hair and disappeared after a short while.

"Strange—where did he go?" Insomnia was taken aback.

"The ability to become invisible, is that so strange?" Superboy-Prime said with a laugh. "Violet, give him a surprise!"

"Oh no!" Insomnia was about to retract his ability, but he suddenly realized that he couldn't stop. Soon, a boy running at lightning speed and an infant appeared.

"Is this the family you dreamed of?" Insomnia felt she couldn't quite understand the thoughts of a character like Superman.

"No," Superboy-Prime said frankly, "I just borrowed Mr. Incredible Bob Parr's idea; I didn't expect you to be so easily fooled."

"How is this possible—" Insomnia froze on the spot, but the family from the Incredibles had no intention of stopping. Jack-Jack Parr teleported in front of Insomnia and fired a laser beam that pierced through his body.

"Why are these dream creatures that I created rebelling against me?" Insomnia asked, utterly bewildered, as she dodged a punch from Elastic Supergirl Helen Parr.

"That's the bond between us Superman characters," Superboy-Prime said seriously. "Even though they aren't the original characters, they still possess the Superman spirit!"

"Damn it, how could I lose so ridiculously!" Insomnia was utterly outmatched by the Incredibles family, barely managing to hold on. "I haven't avenged my family—I haven't made the Justice League pay—I won't sleep until I achieve my goal—I won't enter this long sleep of death!"

"Stop pretending," Superboy-Prime said. "Think carefully again. Who exactly is your enemy? First, let me remind you, in this Universe, Superman and Batman are not members of the Justice League."

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Insomnia strained to widen his eyes, the severed part of his eyelid splitting open, blood streaming from them.

Tears streamed down his face. "I saw it with my own eyes: the Justice League fought the evil Batman, killed my family, and destroyed my home!"

"----That must have happened during the last Death Metal Event. I was actually on the Batman Who Laughs' side back then," Superboy-Prime explained. "But I later managed to reverse time and bring back everyone who died in that event—otherwise, how could I clear my name?"

"What nonsense are you spouting!"

"Everything I said is true. Your family should have been resurrected in your world," Superboy-Prime explained. "But why you're in this world—I don't know. Maybe it's due to spacetime distortion. After all, this is the Roland World; anything strange can happen—Alright, get ready to end this, Deadman!"

"No—this is all wrong, this isn't what I wanted!" The Deadman took a step forward, all the warmth vanishing. "You've got it all wrong, Insomnia!"

"I gave you what you wanted! And you refused?" Insomnia didn't even have time to think about what Superboy-Prime had said, and roared angrily.

"No. What you've given me is what you want!" the Deadman said firmly. "I won't live in a dream when my friends need me!"

"Impossible!"

"I gave up that kind of life a long time ago. In fact, long before I died!"

"Fine, then let me see your Nightmare!" Insomnia dragged her broken body, one hand clutching the Deadman's head. "I understand! You're living in Nightmare. Before, you always craved the spotlight, and that's been your life's path. So you're trapped as a spectator—forced to watch others' live streams. That's you, destined to be alone!"

"Perhaps—" the Deadman said calmly, "You're right, I've certainly had enough of being a spectator. My deal with her ended a long time ago; it's time for a new adventure, like this Clark suggested."

What are you saying?

"I don't need to watch the living. I need to be a star again! Didn't you hear? People are cheering for me!" After the Deadman finished speaking, he looked at Superboy-Prime, "--Well, I can say the lines, but you'll have to do the actual work. Take him back to where he belongs."

"No problem." Superboy-Prime nodded approvingly, "By the way, I really liked your lines."

o

"It's all thanks to your excellent teaching."

Insomnia wanted to say something, but after being glanced at by the Superboy-Prime, she felt herself sinking into darkness, her body falling uncontrollably.

When his vision cleared again, he was back in his cozy little home—before it was bombed.

"I'm home—" Insomnia, no, it was Christopher who opened the door with trembling hands.

"Dad!" The three children ran excitedly towards Christopher and threw themselves into his arms.

"What—I—" Christopher cried, embracing his family. "I love you—I missed you so much—I had a Nightmare— "

Arkham Asylum

"Right here?" The four men navigated through the labyrinthine Arkham Asylum and found a corpse.

"Christopher Lucas, he's a killer who refuses to sleep, so the media calls him Insomnia. He was put in Arkham because he said he saw things in his dreams that drove him insane, and the doctors here are forcing him to sleep," Batman said, looking at the corpse on the hospital bed. "It feels like he has severe psychological trauma, but they haven't been able to find any related events."

"That's strange," Roland said. "Could it be that it got sick from the Lazarus Rain?"

"What gonorrhea? That's a mental illness, you know. Why are you talking about such low things?" Cain said.

Are you referring to that illness?

"The Nightmare Stone will free your mind from the Lazarus Curse— " Before the Sandman could finish speaking, the Deadman suddenly appeared and said to the four, "It's over!"

"Um?"