Ian's hand came into contact with the completely fractured spine of Homelander, which was continuously dripping blood.
The system's voice, not surprisingly, rang in his ears the next moment. However, this was not the prompt Ian wanted, nor was it the kind of bad situation he had mentally prepared for.
[You have come into contact with an unknown extraordinary substance. Warning, this extraordinary substance is completely dormant. A new quest has been acquired. Please check the profession selection interface.]
"What's going on?" Ian was slightly astonished. He quickly opened his profession selection interface, which now had an added [Dormant Profession] selection screen. As Ian's thoughts touched this strange option, a line of text that only he could see slowly emerged.
[Activation Quest: Please ignite the life-fire of this profession.]
As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss, but seeing this only made him more confused. Ian was completely stumped by the system's simple quest description. Did it want him to resurrect Homelander, who had been dead for who knows how long?
"Hmm?"
Ian turned his head to look at Homelander, who was decapitated, spine completely severed, and had been dead for who knows how long. He felt that his system might be trying to make things difficult for him.
"Wait, the Hulk is also thoroughly dead, so why didn't it say the profession he brought is also dormant?" Ian attempted to negotiate with his system.
But the unintelligent system offered no response at all.
"Nonsense! Utter nonsense!"
Ian didn't get what he wanted and became slightly exasperated. He snatched Homelander's head from the corpse's hand, then held it while sliding down the Hulk's arm to the ground.
Hesitation.
Struggle.
Repeated deliberation.
Ian clearly wanted to test whether he could bite the head he was holding. He believed in the conservation of energy, thinking that perhaps allowing Homelander's matter to flow into him would count as reigniting Homelander's life-fire?
However.
Despite this unique idea and approach, Ian still couldn't mentally overcome the hurdle. After all, eating a ghost was clearly different from eating a human.
"This bootleg Superman profession is not worth having!"
Ian ultimately failed to overcome his human instincts, threw away the slightly grimacing head of Homelander, and tried to kick it away like a soccer ball.
The kick was powerful.
A national-level kick.
Homelander's head flew very far, missing the trash can Ian aimed for, and landed instead on an abandoned bus stop covered in snow, completely opposite the trash can.
Homelander's head was undamaged, but the metal seat of the bus stop was directly smashed into a dent. It was clear that the bootleg Superman actually possessed quite a lot of genuine "Super" essence.
*Sigh*
Ian stared at the persistent quest. His intelligence was no help this time. The very simplistic quest description left him truly clueless about what to do.
"It can't possibly mean actually resurrecting Homelander, right?" Ian looked up at the Hulk's arm. He originally intended to look at Homelander's headless body, but just as he looked up, he noticed something strange about the sky. What was moving in the heavy, oppressive, lead-colored sky.
The outline of the object was blurred, not like a living creature, but as if it was about to emerge from the clouds.
"So big."
Ian could feel that the looming object was as colossal as a small planet—wait? Maybe it was a small planet? The boy's eyes widened in astonishment.
He saw.
The object in the dark clouds became increasingly clear, a massive circular object that blocked out the sky. Just then, a sound of a person appeared in this world, which had been perfectly silent for the long time Ian had been here.
"Hey!"
A person's voice appeared!
Clear!
Urgent!
The voice was like a clap of thunder. Ian violently looked in the direction the sound came from, but he only managed to see the outline of the person before the familiar chime of return suddenly rang out prematurely.
"Dong~~~~"
The first heavy chime of the bell seemed to freeze everything.
"Dong—Dong—"
The second and third chimes followed.
Ian woke up with a start in his bed.
Even with the bizarre early return.
The clock still pointed to that seemingly eternally fixed time.
"There are living people in that world!?" Ian's mind was still filled with shock and uncertainty. He sprang up in a quick motion, bouncing straight up to the ceiling.
Then.
He slammed his hands against the ceiling, using the reaction force to land steadily back on the floor, perfectly slipping his feet into the slippers placed by his bedside.
"The superheroes are all dead... who else could be alive?" Ian was baffled by the encounter in the last moments. At the same time, he didn't understand why he had returned prematurely so abruptly.
This had never happened before. Was its occurrence related to the shout he heard at the end, or the mysterious circular object in the sky?
"Intelligence? Move a little?"
Ian patted his forehead.
Surprisingly.
It actually had a tiny effect, but it was clearly aimed in the wrong direction—a certain image flashed through Ian's mind, and then he thought about his activation quest and the image of the Hulk.
Ian's slippers made a clown-like squeaking sound. He ran all the way to his second brother's bedroom door and furiously pounded on it. A confused Jordan rubbed his eyes and opened the door to look at his little brother.
"What is it?"
Jordan was utterly confused.
He yawned, looking a bit exhausted.
"Where are your comic books!"
Ian didn't care if the scent of heather filled the air. He charged straight into Jordan's room, looking around. Sure enough, he found the box Jordan used to store his comic books.
Under his brother's bewildered gaze, Ian rummaged through the box, tossing aside the hidden discs, and finally, his gaze stopped on a yellowed comic book periodical.
The Incredible Hulk
He saw.
The familiar green figure was vividly on the cover, ferocious and muscular.
"Seriously, you woke me up in the middle of the night just to look at this niche superhero comic that only had three issues published before it was canceled because of poor sales?"
Jordan, whose momentum had been interrupted, was inwardly furious. However, remembering that his little brother had a bad experience tonight, he gritted his teeth and held back his temper.
"Can I borrow it?"
Ian looked at his second brother. Although displeased, Jordan sighed and nodded, then chased Ian, who was already looking down at the comic, out of his room.
"Damn it, I have to get back into the mood."
Jordan slightly adjusted his emotions. Among the discs Ian had tossed onto the floor, he selected a new challenging target and began his nightly campaign once more.
Outside the bedroom door.
Ian stared at the comic in his hand. A strong intuition told him that the inability to activate the Homelander profession and the ability to directly activate the Hulk profession might be related to this situation.
There were no stories about Homelander in the real world he lived in!
But there were stories about the Hulk!
"The fact that I can connect all of this means I'm smart enough." Ian felt he had found the key to solving the quest. Just as he was about to return to his room.
Flush!
The sound of flushing echoed.
His father, Clark, walked out of the upstairs restroom.
He and Ian made eye contact.
"Hmm?"
Ian's gaze went past Clark, looking at what was behind him. He was immediately startled, his face filled with shock as he raised his hand and pointed behind Clark.
"Dad! How dare you! Cheating at home!" Yes, Ian saw a strange woman following Clark out of the restroom.
"What are you talking about?"
Clark subconsciously pulled down his sleeve to cover his forearm, but upon hearing Ian's accusation, his expression blanked. He looked back but saw nothing.
"Is he acting? No!"
Ian noticed the strangeness in Clark's furrowed brow.
His father was genuinely confident, showing none of the guilt of being caught red-handed. Besides, if he thought calmly about it, even if he were cheating, Dad probably wouldn't choose to do it at home.
Unless Mom Lois consented?
Although Americans were indeed quite open, this family was still somewhat traditional. Because of this, Ian didn't believe his own mother would have such a unique preference.
But.
Why was there a woman there?
"It's possible she's not a living person at all! Since I ate a ghost, can my eyes see ghosts?" Ian first thought of a web series he hadn't even finished before he transmigrated.
Then.
As if realizing something, he looked down and flipped over his hand.
The brand was flashing.
As if only he could see it.
"Is this because of the big shot's mark?"
Ian looked up again.
His pupils still reflected the figure of the woman that others couldn't see. The woman wore black, looking very professional in a uniform, with neat short hair and enviable fair skin.
"Hmm?"
She likely felt Ian's prolonged gaze.
The woman tilted her head.
"A human? That truly is... a special talent."
She also looked somewhat surprised.