Chapter 24: Single-Parent Family

As the neighbor had said, Elijah had indeed gone out to buy groceries. Despite the fact that the neighboring city had been engulfed in a mafia brawl just yesterday, the sun rose as usual today.

It is a natural law that when it rains, it rains, and when people are hungry, they must eat. Staring at his wallet, where the balance was gradually dwindling to zero, Elijah felt a bizarre sense of relief: so what if he was broke? What could happen? Even if he stopped paying for health insurance, utilities, internet, and television... he surely wouldn’t starve to death, would he?

It must be said that the magical reality surrounding him had significantly raised his threshold for psychological endurance. Things that would be more terrifying than the sky falling for an ordinary person—like a bank account hitting rock bottom—had become utterly mundane to Elijah.

So-called living is simply about getting through one day at a time.

Ophelia still hadn’t woken up. Having learned his lesson, Elijah didn’t dare leave the little girl home alone again. Instead, he carried the soundly sleeping Ophelia in one arm and took the bus to a nearby supermarket. Over the past few days, Ophelia had gained a little weight, making her malnutrition less obvious. Combined with the fact that her appearance shared a seventy-percent resemblance to Elijah’s own human form, no one along the way suspected him of kidnapping a child.

It is worth mentioning that he met an acquaintance—or rather, a one-sided acquaintance—in front of the supermarket: Clark Kent.

Just as Elijah stepped off the bus, he saw the respectable reporter standing at the supermarket entrance handing out flyers. Considering the man had just returned to the peaceful and quiet Metropolis from the grand battlefield of Gotham, this spirit of getting up early for work was highly commendable.

Perhaps Elijah had lingered for a moment too long, because Clark, amidst the crowd, turned his head as if he had sensed something.

It was no big deal; theoretically, Elijah Esposito did not know this man. What did the temporary teammate of the Lantern have to do with the current him? Elijah met his gaze calmly for two seconds, then turned to enter the store. However, what he didn’t expect was the sound of footsteps behind him: "Sir, please wait a moment!"

Elijah didn’t look back, striding toward the main entrance.

Clark, however, would not give up, adding an adjective to his sentence: "Sir, the one holding the child, please wait a moment!"

Now, everyone around them turned to look. Elijah had no choice but to stop, adjusted the nearly slipping Ophelia in his arms, and turned to face Clark, saying coldly, "What is it?"

"Sorry to bother you, I’m a reporter for the Daily Planet."

Clark’s gaze swept quickly over Ophelia, and he slowed his speech and raised his volume, "Could you spare a moment to fill out a survey for us? Please rest assured, the survey is anonymous and covers social issues worth noting. Your help is very important for an article my colleague is writing."

Is the colleague you’re talking about actually yourself?

Elijah looked down at the survey handed to him, expecting to see something like "The Pros and Cons of the Justice League."

Instead, the title of the questionnaire read: *The Plight of Single-Parent Families.*

Elijah, currently cradling Ophelia: "..."

It truly was a social issue worth noting; no wonder he had been stopped!

He couldn’t help but frown and ask, "What if I’m not a single-parent family?"

Clark, who already had a thorough grasp of Elijah’s family situation, replied, "You could be."

"..."

Perhaps Elijah’s expression was too bizarre at that moment, because after a brief thought, Clark was suddenly struck by a realization—he remembered the Lantern, though he had previously assumed the marriage certificate was a joke—and blurted out, "Wait, I’m sorry, are you already married??"

Elijah looked slowly at the little girl in his arms, then back at Clark.

He then denied it, saying, "No."

People bustled past them.

However, no one noticed this conversation, and there wasn’t a single sane person who would ask Clark, "Why are you asking a man with a child if he’s married?" nor did anyone ask Elijah, "If you aren’t married, where did your daughter come from?"

The two men in the conversation, however, ignored the issue. Clark breathed a sigh of relief and said quite contentedly, "That’s great."

Elijah couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong.

But since the native English speaker opposite him didn't find anything strange about it, he ignored his intuition and let it go, listening as Clark continued: "The thing is, our data proportions are severely unbalanced; everyone who filled out the survey this morning was a woman, and you could certainly provide us with a unique perspective. If you’re willing, we could have lunch together. My treat, of course."

Elijah pondered this. The last time he and Clark Kent met, they were talking about the Red Hood, the Penguin, and the International Gang. He hadn’t expected the tone to shift so rapidly after dawn. Regardless, there was no harm in getting a free meal, but he still had things to do: "Sure, but I need to go to the supermarket first."

Clark asked, "Do you need any help?"

What was there to help with?

Later, upon reaching the supermarket entrance, Elijah discovered the essence of Clark’s question: this supermarket was known for its cheap prices, but their shopping carts had no child seats. A mother nearby with an infant was struggling to tie her child to the handle so she could free up her hands to pick up goods and push the cart.

The point was that Elijah could easily hold Ophelia with one arm and lift the shopping cart with the other, so he said, "You can go help her."

Clark glanced at him, didn't argue, and walked toward the struggling mother. She thanked him gratefully, then turned to smile at Elijah, "Thanks to you too—oh, I don't need to buy much, I'll be done soon."

With nothing better to do, Elijah simply followed her around the store. Ten minutes later, they arrived at the checkout. The woman took the cart from Clark, repeating that it was fine to leave it there. As they parted, her gaze swept from Elijah—who had remained silent the whole time while following behind with the child—to the gentle, friendly, black-haired, blue-eyed young man in front. She felt hit in the face by a rich, down-to-earth, domestic atmosphere that seemed at odds with their appearance.

After a moment of consideration, she added enthusiastically, "Sorry to have interrupted your family time. Have a wonderful day with your daughter!"

The sentence spun in Clark’s mind a few times, making him gasp, "Wait—huh?"

The woman had already walked away.

The breath still stuck in Clark’s chest, he straightened up and looked back at Elijah accusingly, meaning: *Why didn't you explain anything?*

The goosebumps on Elijah’s arm stood up a beat late.

He replied dryly, "I only just realized what she was saying."

"..."

Was this why he felt it was strange earlier?

Probably not, right?

Clark somehow thought of the Lantern again—it must be because he had just seen the Lantern recently. This led to a new worry: "Will your con... I mean, will your family have any misunderstandings?"

He wasn't sure what kind of misunderstandings he meant.

In any case, it seemed that Elijah, who was close to the Lantern, shouldn't get too close to Clark, who was close to Superman.

Elijah, meanwhile, firmly snatched the survey back from the other man.

He emphasized, "I am a single-parent family."

***

Regardless, Elijah had a meal with Clark Kent and exchanged contact information. The meal and the conversation before it left him physically and mentally exhausted. It wasn't until he arrived at his door, bags in hand, that he felt a jolt of energy:

Where did you bunch of masked vigilantes come from?

A Spider-Man answered his confusion: "Our presence consumes Ophelia's energy, which is why she hasn't woken up. Batman found a spell that only a powerful mage can use to send us back to our own universe. Perhaps you or the Lantern has the ability to cast it?"

Elijah’s hearing had improved a bit lately.

However, the sentence structure was still a bit complex for him. As he was trying to sort out the relationship between the main and subordinate clauses, the girl in the pink-and-white suit with the tadpole mask in the middle of the Spider-Men suddenly said, "Magic! Send us back! Need the Lantern!"

Green Lantern asked from behind her, "What are you doing?"

"Just testing it out," Gwenpool said with a grin, spreading her hands, "What if what the netizens told me is true?"

Which netizen would tell her that Elijah Esposito’s English was bad? Galle?

Elijah couldn't help but glance at her, but out of caution, he didn't respond.

He understood now: this group of people was here looking for the Lantern.

However, the Spider-Men and the Green Lantern had already confirmed that there was no non-human entity hiding in Elijah’s home, and it was impossible for Elijah to dig out a basement like Bruce Wayne to hide Batman inside.

They were all curious about how Elijah would contact his contractor.

—Elijah was also curious about how long his two personas could be maintained.

If he changed into his other appearance in front of others, would they be treated as two different people?

Then he could be sure that there was some kind of cognitive interference he didn't understand; after all, none of the people present were fools.

The sudden opportunity to test this out made Elijah feel a bit more alert. He nodded silently, tossed his groceries into the room, placed Ophelia on the sofa in the living room where he could see her, and then took the magic book containing the spell from Spider-Man.

In the process, darkness gradually crept over his skin. The scene was somewhat like Iron Man’s armor enveloping his body, and it also felt as if some invisible thing was devouring Elijah entirely. Watching this scene, the Green Lantern instinctively grew wary, pressing his hand on a Spider-Man’s shoulder and saying:

"You guys step back—"

"No need to worry," Elijah said slowly. "I am still me; I can control myself."

"The problem is, you look like you won't be yourself anymore in a moment," Green Lantern muttered. "This is even more nerve-wracking than being controlled by a Yellow Power Ring."

A green light began to glow on him.

He was ready for battle.

Elijah: "..."

It really was cognitive interference!

—And he guessed that the cognitive interference regarding others might stem from that deal with the Book of Destiny.

Because he paid with "life," Elijah transmigrated and became Elijah Esposito.

And because he paid with "appearance," the Lantern became a ghost that could only cling to the facade of "Elijah Esposito" by shaping his face.