Chapter 241: Why Doesn’t Superman Have To Pay?
Obviously.
The change in the Weeping Angel is inseparable from the Speed Force.
The Speed Force energy naturally emanating from The Flash Barry Allen, like golden flowing fire, intensely triggered a violent reaction from that imprisoned Weeping Angel.
Its stone body trembled madly.
The mental roar from within was filled with unprecedented longing and greed!
“For this creature, a speedster is…” Before Constantine could explain the sudden situation, Batman’s honed observation and reasoning skills instantly drew a conclusion.
“Equivalent to Ian’s favorite Nine Dragon Power?” His gaze hidden under the mask was sharp as an eagle, his low voice rising with icy analysis.
“It seems it’s not just a monster acting on instinct, but a species with wisdom.” Batman stared intently at the struggling statue.
“If this creature feeds on ‘time energy,’ then the Speed Force—this proven primordial force that can directly manipulate and traverse timelines—is probably not just food for them…” He paused, voicing the speculation that made Superman and The Flash’s scalps tingle.
“Perhaps it’s the ultimate supplement capable of causing a leap in their life level. So, even at the risk of backlash from the magic array, it desperately tries to obtain it.”
This was a very precise, clear judgment.
“Fuck! I don’t want to know about these things’ ecology and evolution!” Constantine cursed in rage, hands tightly maintaining the seal, veins bulging on his forehead. “I just want that blue big guy to quickly take the damn speedster away! As far as possible! I can’t hold on much longer!”
He anxiously looked toward Clark.
Faced with this sudden change, The Flash Barry Allen was clearly a bit panicked, subconsciously waving his hands with an innocent and bewildered expression.
“I… I didn’t do anything! I just got here! This… what’s going on?” Realizing he might inexplicably take the blame for the Speed Force again.
The Flash was genuinely very uncomfortable.
“I’ll take Barry to the Batcave.” Just as Clark was about to act and take Barry away from the area, Batman spoke again.
His tone remained terrifyingly calm.
“Based on the above facts… so, the means to deal with speedsters probably have a similar effect on this creature that also relies on time, or is extremely sensitive to time energy.” As he spoke, under everyone’s stunned gazes, Batman quickly pulled an unassuming thing from his utility belt.
A small generator emitting faint blue light.
He unhesitatingly pressed the activation button!
Buzz—!
An invisible, peculiar force field instantly expanded from the generator! This force field wasn’t targeted at physical entities but acted on rules closer to the essence of the universe.
Instantly!
The Weeping Angel, which had been on the verge of going berserk from sensing the Speed Force and possibly breaking free from the magic array, was like it had been hit with a pause button!
All struggles and movements abruptly stopped!
Its forward pouncing pose and ferocious expression were completely frozen, as if reverting to a true, lifeless stone sculpture—except for that mouth full of sharp teeth.
It seemed to retain a trace of solidified, extreme unwillingness.
“Whoa… my reputation is saved.” Barry Allen looked at the instantly “calmed” monster, breathed a sigh of relief, but his expression soon became subtle and awkward. He looked at Batman and couldn’t help but complain: “So… you carry around something to deal with speedsters? Ha?”
Though already accustomed, encountering it still felt helpless, like visiting a friend’s house and finding a stun gun specifically against you hidden under their pillow.
In response, Batman showed no embarrassment at all. He didn’t even glance at Barry. Those icy eyes remained fixed on the doubly imprisoned Weeping Angel, as if examining an extremely intriguing experimental specimen. He spoke lowly, his tone carrying a hint of… regret and curiosity?
“To be honest…” Batman’s voice was so soft it was almost like self-muttering, yet it clearly reached everyone’s ears. “If the situation allowed, I’d really like to see what happens if it actually contacts the Speed Force and completes the so-called ‘evolution.'”
At these words.
Actually, Superman and The Flash were perhaps already used to Batman’s mindset of walking the edge of danger at such moments, willing to “play with fire” for intelligence and contingency plans.
They just frowned slightly, saying nothing more.
However, Constantine, this lone star who always acts alone and sacrifices teammates when they appear, clearly felt extreme discomfort and unease.
You know.
Previously, this unease was what he brought to teammates.
Unexpectedly.
He would experience it himself one day.
“You’re fucking a madman! A thorough madman!” Constantine pointed at Batman’s nose and raged, trembling with anger. “This kind of creature, one or two might not be a threat, but they have a massive population! Do you think evolution is exclusive to individuals?”
“Their evolution information can be completely shared! If you let it taste a little sweetness today, tomorrow it might spawn a terrifying race that devours timelines themselves!”
His voice sharpened with agitation: “You have no idea how many civilizations this thing has destroyed in the river of cosmic history! How many planets and universes have collapsed in time due to them, turning into eternal ruins! You’re gambling with the entire Earth, the entire timeline!”
“Playing with fire and getting burned was invented for you!” Constantine was unsparing.
“Oh?”
Faced with Constantine’s intense accusation, Batman was clearly displeased. He slowly turned his head, those abyss-like eyes under the mask in broad daylight coldly falling on Constantine.
“You think.” Batman’s voice was low and oppressive, carrying an undeniable threat. “Only Superman beating you makes you cry daddy and mommy? Constantine.”
One simple sentence instantly deflated the previously aggressive Constantine! As if doused with a bucket of ice water from head to toe, all cursing stopped. He very sensibly shut his mouth, just staring at Batman with eyes full of “you win” resentment, not daring to speak again.
But he clearly couldn’t swallow this.
Seeing Batman resume studying the Weeping Angel with instruments.
He stealthily stepped back a few steps—perhaps hundreds—creating what he thought was a safe distance, then finally couldn’t hold back and muttered in a curse-like tone.
“Very well… let me see how you save yourself before you die.” Constantine wouldn’t lose in momentum; he figured Bruce Wayne would come begging him eventually.
The atmosphere at the scene was somewhat awkward.
“What does that mean? Can someone give me a detailed explanation of what’s really going on?” The Flash Barry Allen, who had been kept in the dark with a face full of pure confusion, finally couldn’t help raising his hand to ask again. He felt like a elementary student who wandered into an advanced math class.
Fair enough.
After all, he had come rushing on a temporary distress call and naturally didn’t know the situation on site.
He was asking, but before Constantine could explain, Batman calmly said something that stunned Constantine into speechlessness.
“Anything that reflects an angel becomes an angel.”
Who would have thought Batman had already obtained this information.
Constantine’s eyes widened fiercely, as if seeing something unbelievable: “No, no, you… how do you know this rule?!”
This was one of the core, most secretive traits of Weeping Angels! Even many veteran occult scholars might not know it! Shouldn’t a little Batman be playing with technology?
So knowledgeable about the mystic side too?
Clearly, Constantine still didn’t fully understand the King of Gotham.
Batman didn’t directly answer his question, just said in a flat tone laden with endless information: “Since… some things happened.”
“I know angels—any form of angel—better than you.” As he spoke, under Constantine and The Flash’s confused gazes, Batman pulled a tiny, seemingly ordinary mirror from his belt. He didn’t use the mirror to reflect the Weeping Angel but looked at himself in it.
Sure enough.
The mirror clearly reflected Batman’s cowl, but eerily, in the reflection of his eyes—which hadn’t directly looked at the Weeping Angel—there lingered a blurry image of the Weeping Angel’s ferocious pounce! As if the monster’s form had been imprinted in his visual memory through some means!
And reflected through the mirror!
“As I thought, I’ve been hit with some kind of curse.” Facing this eerie sight, Batman remained unflappable, as if he had anticipated it.
“So what the hell does that mean?!”
The Flash was about to go mad from this Riddler-like dialogue and shouted frantically again. Hearing this, Constantine had just taken a deep breath, preparing to explain to this poor speedster the terrifying trait that “any carrier reflecting a Weeping Angel’s image, including retinal images, photos, videos, etc., will gradually transform into a new Weeping Angel.”
But Batman interrupted him.
His tone carried an undeniable sense of control: “The specific traits—once I figure out its information contamination and transformation mechanism, we’ll all know. No time for detailed explanation now.”
He turned to look at Superman.
The order was clear and direct.
“Remember, after I ‘fall asleep,’ protect this body well and deliver it to the isolation room at the bottommost level of Batcave Nine.” Among those present, Batman trusted Superman the most.
Superman looked at Bruce; though his eyes were full of worry and disagreement, he knew that once Bruce decided, there was profound reason behind it.
“Understood.”
He nodded.
As Superman finished speaking, the next moment, under Constantine and The Flash’s dumbfounded stares, Batman directly activated a hidden emergency switch on his armor!
Only a few faint, teeth-gritting “pfft” sounds were heard as micro high-frequency blades hidden in the armor’s joints and spine instantly popped out, severing his own hand tendons, foot tendons, and several key spinal nerve pathways with millimeter precision—clean and ruthless!
“Ugh…” Batman let out a suppressed grunt, his massive body collapsing like a puppet with cut strings, completely losing all mobility and entering a deep coma—put simply, he had performed an instant, efficient, and extremely brutal full-body paralysis surgery on himself right there!
Batman took a nap on the spot, turning himself into a vegetable!
This happened too fast, too suddenly, too tragically! The Dark Knight, who had been commanding and in control moments ago, now lay in a pool of blood, utterly miserable.
“Motherfucker!”
“Batman can’t die!”
At this moment, Constantine was utterly shocked.
Gone was any trace of his earlier circling curses; he couldn’t comprehend Bruce Wayne’s sudden, suicidal-level madness! Knowing what Batman meant to the universe, he instinctively rushed forward to save him, even if it meant using the darkest life-prolonging spells!
“He must live! Batman must live!”
Constantine frantically pulled out his trump cards, but as he took a step, a strong arm blocked him—Superman.
“Watch this guy and that statue. Wait for me.” Superman said to The Flash, then directly picked up the completely unconscious Batman.
He gave one last glance at the imprisoned Weeping Angel and the scene, then his figure blurred into a streak of blue light, soaring skyward toward Gotham at top speed.
Meanwhile.
He also notified the other Justice League members.
“Does anyone still remember that this thing sees me as a great supplement?”
The Flash shouted at the sky. On site, only The Flash and Constantine remained, staring wide-eyed in the night wind at the small pool of not-yet-coagulated blood on the ground and the eerie statue doubly sealed by force field and magic array. The scene was once extremely silent and awkward.
“So…” The Flash Barry Allen swallowed hard, trying to break the suffocating silence. He pointed at his eyes. “That… ‘anything that reflects an angel’… I saw that thing too. Does that mean… I’m gonna die or get absorbed into its body too?”
His Speed Force brain was analyzing, his voice trembling slightly.
“Well.”
Hearing this, Constantine turned, sized up The Flash, and revealed that classic expression mixing salesman and con artist vibes.
“Depends on whether you have money?”
He asked directly.
The Flash, panicking and rubbing his eyes fearing petrification, was stunned by the abrupt question and subconsciously answered honestly.
“If… I have a little…”
That’s why he’s such a honest guy.
The Flash marrying a black woman in some parallel universes is because he’s too honest.
“That’s easy then!”
Hearing this, Constantine’s face bloomed into a brilliant smile, as if seeing a walking checkbook.
“Got money?” He rubbed his hands, tone much warmer. “Then I guarantee you won’t die! Professional exorcism, no scams, fair prices, satisfaction guaranteed!”
The Flash looked at Constantine’s demeanor, instantly got it but pretended not to. With a mournful face, he tried to haggle: “But… that’s my savings for a wife fund… Right!”
He seemed to grasp a lifeline.
“Clark! Clark saw it too, right? Doesn’t he need you to fix this? We two should at least get a discount!”
The Flash tried to find some “shared misery” balance. However, Constantine just scoffed, looking at him like an idiot.
“How can a false god affect a true god? You don’t understand what Clark really is; his essential status is too high. This level of curse and information pollution probably won’t even leave a mark on his retinas.” His tone carried a hint of reverence; he was practically hyping Superman to the skies.
If not for this mindset, when he learned Ian was Superman’s son, he wouldn’t have fled Metropolis overnight in fright, with no thought of revenge against Superman for stealing his “passport.”
“?????”
Getting this answer, realizing his good brother Superman didn’t have to pay while he alone took the loss, made The Flash feel even worse; his whole face fell.
“Don’t worry, not expensive.”
Constantine grinned, pulling a portable card reader from the windbreaker pocket that seemed to hold anything, ready to ask The Flash “card or cash.”
And at that moment.
Buzz!!!!!
The entire space began to change violently without warning!
The surrounding house structures twisted, stretched, and deformed like melting candles; the ground underfoot undulated like waves.
The nearby street lamp stretched and shortened like a rubber band, as if turning into something else.
“Someone’s disrupting time!”
The Flash, most sensitive to time changes, felt it strongest and shouted in shock! This scale of spacetime disturbance was no natural phenomenon!
“It’s those kids! What the hell did they do in the past?!” Constantine’s face instantly paled; he didn’t even care that the card reader dropped!
He realized.
The thing everyone feared most.
Had probably already happened.
