Chapter 32 Monster? The Price.

Allen felt as if he were in an endless darkness, surrounded by a suffocating, damp, and putrid stench, as if he were in an ancient tomb forgotten by the world.

Before me lay a bottomless darkness, with only a gigantic, scarlet eyeball glowing eerily in the darkness, like a will-o'-the-wisp burning in the depths of hell.

Twisted and coiled vines slowly emerged from the darkness, gradually rising and rotating, each branch covered with constantly wriggling black lines, as if countless tiny insects were scurrying beneath the surface.

The vines tightly coiled around the eyeball, and eventually the unsettling, enormous creature hovered on the horizon not far from Allen, forming a constantly intertwined, reversed triple helix totem.

"Allen, you've finally come to find me." The thing let out a low growl that didn't sound human, and the words it spoke were not in human language at all, yet Allen found himself strangely able to understand them.

The surrounding scenery suddenly changed, and familiar corridors and treatment rooms appeared around Allen. This was the Brudhaven Emergency Department.

In each treatment room, there was a suffering Harry seeking his help, and sometimes that face contorted with fear and pain would turn into Matthew's.

Then it will become Dick's.

Allen began running through the empty emergency room, the rotting bodies relentlessly following behind him. The surrounding air grew thick and dark, and each lift of his rotting shoe soles produced a hissing sound like flesh being torn apart.

The hospital corridor stretched on endlessly, fluorescent lights flickering and casting vein-like shadows on the walls. Those shadows writhed, and the inverted triple helix above Allen's head grew enormous, blotting out the sky. The vine-like spiral arms crawled along the mold, like veins belonging to a monster.

The air condensed into a gel, and Allen felt his nostrils filled with the mixed smell of formaldehyde and rotting lilies. Eventually, he was dragged forward by the mud beneath his feet and arrived at the sight of that horrible eye.

The corpses with familiar faces knelt beneath his eyes like stars surrounding the moon.

"Who are you?" Allen tried to shake off the mud and vines that were climbing up his calves, but he failed.

He simply gave up trying to break free, letting the vines climb up his legs and even cover his body.

He felt his heart begin to burn again, and the reversed triple helix tattoo on his skin and the huge reversed triple helix above his head began to resonate at the same frequency.

"In your human terms, I am an alien being." The thing was surprisingly blunt. Its blood-red eyes were fixed on Allen as it continued, "I came to Earth a long time ago, so long ago that you humans were still in a state of ignorance... I appeared in ancient tombs, in murals, and in the totems of ancient tribes. Humans worshipped me, revered me, and believed that I gave them life and health. Allen, you should also thank me; I gave you life, otherwise you wouldn't have the opportunity to exist in this world."

The enormous eyeballs were inside the chest cavities of ordinary humans, emitting a mixture of infant cries and the scraping of metal, which greatly annoyed Allen. He staggered back, only to crush the swollen eyeballs on the ground, the pus spurting out and splashing onto his ankles, where bluish-purple fungus immediately sprouted.

It all felt like a real scene, not just a simple dream.

But Allen could clearly hear the voices of Dr. Miller, Dr. Edward, and Nurse Maggie in his ears. His body should be on the operating table, and someone was examining him over and over like a manipulating an object.

Allen stared at the strange creatures, his eyes filled with curiosity.

"So what exactly do you want from me?" Allen asked. "Please make yourself clear from the start, instead of making me keep asking back and forth. You've been lurking in my heart and blood for so many years, you should tell me your purpose."

"I came to Earth without a purpose, and I have no purpose in inhabiting your body either," it said. "I am simply observing you, observing human activities. I have never interfered before."

"Before?" Allen keenly caught the word. "So you've changed your mind now?"

His eyes were fixed on Allen, making Allen look like an ant in comparison. "I've just learned to fit in. Someone told me that I've lived on this Earth for so long that I deserve to be a native of Earth. Since I'm also a part of this planet, I also have the right to change it, just like... just like that Kryptonian who's very active on Earth."

As soon as Allen heard this guy say such things, he knew that the other person had been completely fooled by Lex Luthor.

He speculated that perhaps a very important part of this alien creature had been hidden inside his body, while its consciousness could roam freely in the universe and was discovered by Lex Luthor by chance.

It's not hard to guess; the reversed triple helix on his chest was indeed as active as if it were alive. He had sought help from magic and technology many times, and had at least come up with a guess that was close to the truth.

“You’re right.” Allen didn’t refute him.

He knew very well that in the eyes of this alien being, humans were probably insignificant. Even if the other party refused to admit it, it was looking down on humanity with a natural sense of superiority and an unconscious arrogance. Therefore, human words could never persuade the other party, because the power of discourse was not in its hands.

Only when he possesses the weapon to defeat his opponent will they likely listen to him properly.

Allen could only go along with the alien's words and said, "Then how about you learn from that Kryptonian and try to protect Earth? If you're willing, I can help you find an introducer and get you into the Justice League, or the Avengers. I believe S.H.I.E.L.D. would be interested in you."

However, when Allen uttered the words "S.H.I.E.L.D.", the tentacle wrapped around his waist suddenly twitched. It was a barely perceptible change, but the perceptive Allen noticed it.

He looked up again to examine the enormous, sky-covering monster, then cursed the unreliable Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. in his mind.

He suspected that S.H.I.E.L.D. had once again presumptuously attempted to research some extraterrestrial life form, only to have their research results stolen. The thief could very well be S.H.I.E.L.D.'s long-time nemesis—Hydra.

No wonder Lex Luthor always acts like he knows something.

He was, of course, well aware of Hydra's existence, and that Baron Zemo and Red Skull held positions within the Illuminati. He had once called these guys trash and sarcastically referred to Lex Luthor as the manager of a junkyard.

These annoying guys are all mixed up now. Allen used to think that these things about saving or harming the world had nothing to do with him, so he never bothered with them. But in the end, the boomerang still hit him on the head.

“I need your help, Allen,” the alien continued. “My body is still trapped in the spacetime rift, and you are my only way to reach Earth. I am also your only way to survive. You are destined to stand on the same side as me. This is your destiny since birth… Some people pray to me for health and longevity, and these naturally come at a price.”

Allen carefully considered the other man's words in his mind, going over them in reverse, and finally concluded that Norman Osborn could not possibly have done that. Therefore, he became increasingly suspicious that Norman had been deceived and was now being taken advantage of, neither gaining longevity and health nor being able to pay the price.

To make matters worse, the consequences fell on his head.

Another point of contention is the timing of this monster's appearance. If, as the monster claims, he was destined from birth for the other party's arrival in this universe, then why didn't the other party come to him sooner? He was probably easier to control when he was a child.

There is probably only one answer: he cannot.

Perhaps before today, the other party couldn't even create a dream to communicate with him.

In other words, something must have happened in the last two weeks that caused changes in his body, which finally allowed this alien monster to get through to him on the phone.

Allen thought back carefully for a long time, but found that apart from being stabbed more than a dozen times by Alex Pedro, there seemed to be nothing special.

There must be a deeper reason hidden in that hazy memory of his, and someone doesn't want him to find out the reason.

Allen lowered his eyes, processing the information he had gathered that day deep in his mind. He decided to remain still and see how this monster planned to unite with him.

The monster continued to coax him, but Allen had lost interest in listening. He was convinced that he was the most powerful bargaining chip; the alien creature didn't want him to die and needed his help.

Of course, he would make good use of this.

Unbeknownst to the monster, the tentacles on the wall gradually changed. They intertwined into the shape of a clock according to Allen's intention. When the second hand coincided with 12, Allen smiled at the monster: "I hope you will always remember that this is my body and my consciousness. No one can control me—this is something I learned from an excellent psychiatrist."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire dream began to collapse. The eerie hospital and the giant eyeball in the sky slowly cracked open as Allen smiled. Under the monster's incredulous gaze, Allen smiled and waved goodbye.

Then he saw the operating light again, and Andy Miller's face appeared vaguely in front of him.

Allen struggled to pinch his palm with his fingers until numbness and pain entered his mind, only then did he finally realize that he had woken up.

Dick and Matthew kept waving around in front of him, and everyone looked worried as if he were already terminally ill.

Indeed, that was how it appeared to everyone. Brudhaven Hospital conducted another full-body examination on Allen, and this time they finally discovered the disease hidden in Allen's genes, and made a final diagnosis—

Dr. Osborn likely only has a few months left to live. Soon, this RNA virus will overwhelm Allen's immune system, ultimately leaving him paralyzed and dying a painful death.