Chapter 41 Undercurrents? Hidden Secrets.

Allen admitted that he deliberately let the small pet bite Luther.

He sat calmly in his chair, stroking the little rabbit while watching Luther jump up and down in frustration.

He knew perfectly well that Luther wouldn't believe him, and Luther would never so easily place all his trust in his words; their relationship was less of cooperation and more of a mutual deception. He cheated Luther out of money and information, and Luther cheated him out of the aliens inside his body…

Lex Luthor immediately went back to his own territory for a medical check-up, looking quite displeased.

Allen continued his experiments with satisfaction, and in his spare time, he would coax the aliens in his dreams to give him more power to use.

The alien monster was named 'Triskele' by Allen. The reversed triple helix, representing the continuation of life, was gradually becoming apparent, and Allen roughly understood why this alien creature would choose this symbol as its mark.

Trisker and the mirror shards had long formed a strange yet stable triangle within his body and soul. Allen knew this balance had existed since birth, but it was broken a few months ago—the magical power that had been trapping the monster was gradually weakened, and the alien monster seized the opportunity to devour a portion of that power. It was this small amount of power that allowed him to temporarily leave Allen's body and contact Luther, only to be brainwashed by Luther.

Allen, of course, didn't believe it was a coincidence. He was certain that Luther possessed more information related to this alien monster, at least something that would make the alien monster come knocking on his door the moment it regained contact with the outside world. But he had tried to probe the matter many times, yet the monster who could communicate with him in his dreams remained silent, which infuriated Allen so much that he plucked several newly grown scales from his back to study them.

He is currently unsure at what stage his mutation will ultimately stop; perhaps in a few months he will no longer resemble a human at all.

Allen couldn't help but sigh.

The latest research told him that 'Trishel' could use hyphae and spores to resonate with other organisms. This resonance could modify the genes of organisms. Allen's body acted as a mirror in this modification. Through his hands, the genes of different species were refracted and grafted by a mysterious force, ultimately creating species that did not exist in the real world.

For example, the little white rabbit with steel teeth that helped him bite Luther.

He took the opportunity to inject the spores into Luther's body as well. Luther probably guessed it, but the research results in Luther's hands were not enough for him to extract the spores. The conflict between him and Luther escalated further, and Luther was probably already thinking about how to kill him.

But Luther didn't dare.

Because it's impossible to determine what those spores injected into the body can achieve.

Allen gently stroked the little white rabbit's back. The rabbit nestled obediently in his arms, letting him stroke it as he pleased. The wings and steel teeth had disappeared, as if they had never existed.

Lex Luthor sat opposite Allen, his face ashen, and stared at him: "Doing this will not do you any good."

This time he wasn't wearing a protective suit, which presumably means he's already confirmed that Allen tampered with him.

“What do you mean, no?” Allen raised an eyebrow at Luther, his eyes full of schadenfreude. “I thought it was hilarious when I saw you lying on the bear’s poop last time.”

Little Bear was the name Allen gave to the little white rabbit. When Luther collapsed, he sat down in the little rabbit's burrow.

Luther is currently helpless against Allen. He can only threaten Allen with his life, but the longer it goes on, the more he will realize that Allen genuinely doesn't care about his own life and that death has no effect on him.

Luther finally realized he had misjudged the situation. He began to worry that Allen had really decided to disappear with the alien life form, and if so, he probably wouldn't have much of a way to stop it. If things dragged on any longer, he suspected that he would only be completely played by Allen, who would then simply walk away and leave him with an empty laboratory and the vanished alien life form, leaving him heartbroken and helpless.

He also strongly suspected that Allen would use the spores lurking in his body to take him with him. Luther believed that Allen had gone mad, and that a madman was capable of anything.

Allen waved to Luther indifferently, indicating that he could get lost.

Luther gave a cold laugh at Allen's retreating figure, but ultimately said nothing.

Allen glanced back at Luther's departing figure, a mischievous anticipation creeping into his heart—Luther was about to make his move, wasn't he?

As Allen had predicted, Luther acted swiftly.

Dick, dressed in Daredevil's suit, sat in the study at Osborn Estate.

Harry sat behind the large table, his dark circles almost matching those of Red Robin.

Dick held up his phone to show Harry, while Alan, on the other end of the video, was busy with experiments and discussing the next steps with Dick.

“I already know what those drugs were all about, and I’ve also guessed what Luther has.” Allen fiddled with the rabbit’s tail and gave it another injection.

The little rabbit's eyes were red, and it looked at Allen with great grievance.

The cold-blooded, ruthless mad doctor showed his work to Dick on the other end of the video call: "Look here."

He pointed to a patch of skin on the rabbit's chest where the fur had been shaved off, revealing swirling blue lines: "This mark is on 'Squid' and Alex Pedro, do you remember?"

Dick certainly remembered, and Harry knew the mark too.

“I suspect that what Lex Luthor has is part of the monster… its cells possess some kind of infectious ability, and this is the mark of being infected.” Now, Alan’s own cells also possess this ability, and the monster’s form in his dreams is becoming increasingly clear. Several times, Alan even thought that the thing was about to leave his body. This is not good news, as it means that his fusion with the alien monster is gradually deepening, and the time when the monster will go out of control is getting closer and closer.

“It’s like a quarantine certificate on a pig’s ass,” Allen explained. “If you see someone with that mark, you can kill him.”

Dick nodded to indicate that he understood. But he kept his eyes fixed on Allen, waiting for Allen to say the next thing.

Dick was unaware that Allen had chosen to begin fusing with the monster on his very first day in Luther's lab; he simply suspected that Allen had something else to say.

Because Allen told him the plan was to use some fake stuff to fool Luther first, and then move on to the next step after finding the real Daredevil, but now Allen seems to have revealed a bit too much information.

The real Matthew's whereabouts have not yet been found, and Alan does not intend to tell Dick and Harry about his temporarily adjusted plan.

He held the rabbit by the ears to show it to Dick from all angles, then changed the subject: "Don't worry, those drugs probably contain spores from alien monsters. Those spores can infect people's minds and control their actions. But awakening the spores requires the participation of alien monsters, which Luther can't do on his own."

In other words, they don't need to worry for the time being about 'copies' hiding in unknown locations or people controlled by drugs suddenly appearing and disrupting their plans.

It was somewhat good news, but Dick was becoming increasingly certain that Allen must have done something beyond what was planned.

He looked at Allen's expression and found that Allen looked normal, only a little thinner.

He felt a pang of heartache, but time was of the essence, and he and Harry didn't even have time to worry about Alan's health. The less Alan was in Luthor's territory, the less likely their plan would be exposed.

Dick had no choice but to quickly relay the news he had received in the most concise language possible.

“Lex Luthor contacted me, or rather, Daredevil’s ‘copy,’ and he asked me to inject some kind of drug into Harry to trigger his genetic disease.” Dick took a deep breath. “He wants to use Harry to blackmail you.”

Allen nodded: "I guessed it. So what you need to do next is play the 'copy' and go to Lex Luthor's office to 'report the mission' and ask to see the real Matthew. My research will also speed up. I have a rough idea of ​​where Matthew is. Once I find him, I will make Luthor pay the price."

Luther is still unaware that they've switched Matthew. Based on Allen's understanding of Luther, Luther revels in the thrill of controlling everything under the noses of others while the enemy remains completely oblivious—a somewhat twisted trait, but a common flaw in intelligent people. Allen puts himself in Luther's shoes, and combining the lab's location with his knowledge of Luther, he's quite certain that Matthew is being held in Broodhaven, perhaps even not far from his lab.

He was able to discover this thanks to the little darling in his arms.

Alan looked thoughtfully at the rabbit in his arms, and when Dick looked over with concern, he subconsciously turned his head away.

Seeing Allen's reaction, Dick's expression darkened.

However, there was someone whose face looked even worse than Dick's.

Everyone in the bat cave was terrified by the analysis results from the bat computer.

A few days ago, Constantine somehow acquired a corpse.

Batman immediately recognized the body as Andy Miller, Allen's colleague at the ER in Brudhaven. No one knew how he died; the only record at Brudhaven ER was that he had resigned a few weeks earlier.

Around the same time as Allen.

He then disappeared without a trace, and when he reappeared, it was when Constantine dragged him into the Bat Cave.

Andy Miller's body had long since become gigantic; his rotten and swollen face was unrecognizable, but his eyes were wide open, making it clear to everyone that he died with his eyes open in disbelief.

Constantine shook his head: "I can't find his soul. He looks like he's been stuffed into something's stomach, and his soul has been digested along with it."

Bruce dissected the body and found an empty chest cavity and a strange, still-beating heart.

“This probably can’t be called a heart anymore,” Tim said, looking at the data on the screen. “A cell wall has appeared, and it’s made of glycoproteins… So is this thing a prokaryote or a eukaryote?”

“I’m afraid it’s nothing at all.” Bruce zoomed in on the cell images, pointing out something even stranger. “It looks more like a hybrid of multiple organisms. It’s neither animal nor plant; someone has somehow fused them together.”

Batman's judgment was correct, but before they could truly figure out what it was, an even worse situation occurred.

In Gotham, New York, and Broodhaven, it is discovered that many people have mysteriously disappeared for a period of time, only to reappear in the places where they disappeared.

They lost a part of their memory and became confused, but without exception, parts of their bodies that did not belong to humans grew.

Some people hailed it as a miracle, others declared that human evolution had finally begun, and many more began to fear and loathe these strange 'humans'.

Beneath the calm surface, the undercurrents finally began to stir.