Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 5592 - 618: Day of Absolute Purity (38)

"Joseph... Joseph..."

Joseph shivered from the cold, hearing someone calling his name. But there was no one around. Only snow up to his knees and snowflakes continuously falling. He kept moving towards that High Tower, leaving a trail of footprints behind him.

"Joseph... wake up... Joseph..."

The voice kept echoing. Joseph began to gradually recall some things. It sounded like his father’s voice. This wasn’t good.

He remembered the first time he met his father: behind that smiling, caring face, there were numerous secrets hidden within an enormous maze, like a Building collapsing towards him, almost crushing him.

It was as if his beloved father had turned into another Monster overnight. Joseph began to recall more. He shivered under the covers, watching his father mowing the lawn with a lawnmower outside the window, seeing the blood seeping from the maze of the Psychic_Battlefield and dripping from his fingers, seeing chaos and Death.

So, when his father came upstairs to tell him a story, he screamed and hid under the covers, refusing to come out. But that man just said, "Did you have a nightmare? Okay, I’ll see you in the morning."

Then, Joseph gradually learned not to make eye contact with people. As long as he didn’t look, he wouldn’t know anything. Facing human nature was really ugly. It was truly sad to learn this from his own father.

He began to master and utilize this ability gradually, before his father’s choices could ruin his life. He became a powerful Mind Control user. Anyone who made eye contact with him would have their mental control seized by him. No one could escape this fate.

As he grew older, Joseph felt that even his father might be controlled by him. But he wouldn’t do that. So he always avoided looking into his eyes and tried to avoid contact with him. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Today’s event was indeed unexpected. And the surprises that came upon him were never pleasant. If it were just Slade Wilson, perhaps he could try. But with Schiller Rodriguez added to the mix, this trip to Egypt might be the biggest ordeal of his life.

As his consciousness slowly returned, Joseph slowly opened his eyes, initially unable to adapt to the bright light. But soon, a pair of blue eyes were moving back and forth in front of him.

Joseph closed his eyes, turned his head to the side, and reached out helplessly trying to push away the Big guy in front of him. But the other person was like a wall, and Joseph couldn’t move him at all. So he instinctively said, "Slade Wilson..."

"I’m your dad!" he yelled, "Don’t call me by my full name!"

"Deathstroke!" Joseph shouted, "Get away from me..."

The shock and sadness in those blue eyes almost overflowed. Joseph moved his dry lips and whispered, "Stop hogging my oxygen..."

"Uh, sorry." Deathstroke seemed to realize that he might have been too close, "You..."

Joseph lowered his eyelids, looking at the hand that was receiving an IV drip, then looked up at the IV bag above. It should be a solution replenishing glucose and electrolytes. They must have thought he fainted from heatstroke.

Joseph took a deep breath, feeling a headache. Deathstroke came closer and said, "Are you okay? What made you faint?"

Just as Joseph was about to say something, the door to the hospital room was pushed open, and Schiller walked in and said, "How’s your son?"

"He seems to be dumbfounded." Deathstroke said worriedly, "You were right, I don’t know enough about him. He’s completely different from before."

"You shouldn’t say these things in front of him." Schiller said, "The Doctor said he had a bit of heatstroke, but fortunately it’s not serious, he should be fine after a while. His two companions are very anxious, should we let them in?"

"No." Joseph suddenly spoke, "Sir, could you leave for a moment, I have something to say to him."

This time he didn’t try to look at Schiller, but Schiller glanced at him, nodded, and turned to leave. Joseph looked into Deathstroke’s eyes, which were unguarded.

"Uh!!!" Deathstroke let out a low groan of pain. Joseph also seemed to be drained of energy in an instant, his face turning a bit pale, frowning with some pain.

"Still no good..." he said softly, looking somewhat resentfully at his father, shaking his head, and turning his head away.

"What’s going on!" Deathstroke held his head. He felt a buzzing in his brain, but this time it was in a physical sense. In that brief moment when he made eye contact with Joseph, it was as if he was hit on the head with a mallet—even more painful than that. After all, his skull was much tougher than the average person’s; ordinary blows couldn’t affect him. But this time it was as if a mixer had been thrown into his brain, and he felt like his brain was going to be scrambled.

He gasped a few times, leaning against the bed, and looked at Joseph, saying, "So you really have Superpower? Why didn’t you tell me?"

"Didn’t you also not tell me you were Deathstroke?" Joseph said weakly, "I don’t want to discuss these old matters with you. Mr. Wilson..."

"I’m your dad!!!" Deathstroke said angrily, "Why did you suddenly refuse to call me dad?! Even when we had our worst fights, you never did this!!!"

"What on earth is wrong with you?" Joseph said, "Do you think you look like my father now? If I call you dad in front of outsiders, what kind of relationship do you think they would imagine us having?"

Deathstroke paused. It was at that moment he realized: he had become younger, now looking only a few years older than Joseph. No one would think he was Joseph’s biological father. If Joseph really called him dad, then the relationship people imagined between the two of them might not be very healthy.

"Ahem..." Deathstroke said, "Sorry, I forgot. I’m just not used to it yet..."

"Just remember when Kelden and Nana come in later." Joseph said, "And what’s with your friend?"

"You mean Schiller? I lost a bet to him. I owe him a favor, and later I have to help him find some artifacts. Fortunately, you’re alright, so I can focus on the work."

Joseph forcefully closed his eyes, looking as if he’s exhausted and resigned to destruction. Deathstroke was still there, asking, "So when did you find out?"

"When I was seven," Joseph said, "That’s when I realized I had superpowers."

"Oh my, that early." Deathstroke rubbed his forehead, "So that’s why you’ve never caused trouble for me?"

Joseph seemed unwilling to speak with him. Deathstroke got a bit angry, then reached out to mess his hair. Joseph raised his voice, "Don’t touch my hair, I’ve told you many times!"

"Too bad you didn’t inherit my straight hair. Your curls look messy." After saying that, he stood up and then said, "Since there’s no way to explain our relationship, I won’t disturb you and your friends. Honestly stay here until I’m done working, then I’ll take you home."

"Don’t go," Joseph said, "Come back."

Deathstroke grinned and sat back down, saying, "You really can’t stay away from me. Little Joseph, I know you were scared on the plane..."

Joseph looked utterly desolate, he said, "Don’t go looking for any artifacts, especially not with that Shiller. He is dangerous."

"Of course, who’s not dangerous here?"

"He’ll be big trouble."

"Not necessarily bigger than me."

Joseph forcefully punched the bed railing. Deathstroke was somewhat tongue-tied. He had never seen Joseph do such a violent act before. Even when they argued, the angriest Joseph got was saying a couple of sarcastic remarks, never hitting anything.

"Sorry, I just..."

"It’s fine, you don’t need to explain. I know you’re in a terrible mood," Deathstroke said, "Your graduation trip is completely ruined, and now you’re lying in the hospital, unable to reunite with your father..."

"That’s not it at all," Joseph said, "Can’t you keep away from that guy Shiller? Can we part ways now?"

"Why exactly do you not want me to stay with him? Do you think I can’t handle him?"

"Of course, you can’t." Joseph deeply furrowed his brows, "He’s not as simple as he looks. The number of people he’s killed isn’t any less than yours."

"Oh, really? He has that many enemies?" Deathstroke raised an eyebrow and said, "I know you’re a kind kid, intolerant of the indiscriminate killing of innocents. But second chances don’t come back, so don’t get hung up on that."

Joseph’s whole demeanor turned into a capitalized silence. Through gritted teeth, he said, "You kill for money, but he’s different. He..."

"He does it for revenge, I know," Deathstroke said, "But in reality, there’s no difference between the two. No one is more noble than the other. Outlaws at large, why bother distinguishing between them?"

Joseph seemed to finally lose all strength, closed his mouth, and stopped speaking. Deathstroke stood up again and then said, "I know you’re very worried about me. But if I were so easily defeated, I wouldn’t have lived this long. I can imagine how shocked and saddened you were when you found out I was a killer, just like when I found out you were a superpower user. So if that’s the case, let’s call it even. Your mother surely wouldn’t want us to have a conflict, think more about her, okay?"

After Deathstroke left the ward, Shiller was waiting outside. He was chatting with Joseph’s two friends. The two young people seemed to like him, the three were having a great conversation.

"Alright, we should be leaving soon." Deathstroke put on his mask, not letting the two young people see his face. Those two were startled by his strange attire and hurriedly ran into the ward.

"Let’s go look for those damn artifacts." Deathstroke said, looking at Shiller.

"So you’re just leaving him here?"

"I just came to ensure his safety." Deathstroke said, "The point is, being with me might not be safer than him being alone. It won’t be long before someone comes looking for me. Can’t let them find out about my relationship with Joseph, or it’s gonna be trouble."

"You didn’t even talk to him more," Shiller said, "Since you admitted you don’t know him well enough, why not communicate more?"

"I’m just avoiding certain things, okay? Master of Mind Reading Technique?"

Shiller laughed and said, "We’re heading back to Cairo, you can talk in detail on the way."

"Why not start now. If I truly overcome the avoidance mentality, I might not go back to Cairo with you."

"I can’t help you with that," Shiller said, "And you don’t realize that any analysis I conduct only adds to your troubles, doesn’t help in any other way. Yet you still want to listen."

Deathstroke pondered for a moment and then asked, a bit puzzled, "Yeah, why?"

"Because what you’re really interested in isn’t psychology, but me. That’s why you believe whatever I say."

Deathstroke was speechless.