Chapter 243: Massive Changes And The Mysterious Visitor
Superman pinched Ian.
Just like pinching a kitten trying to escape.
“Oh, this damn fate’s nape.” Ian’s whole body instantly stiffened, unable to move. He arduously turned his head, meeting Superman Clark’s deep blue eyes.
“Easy, easy! My neck’s gonna break! I know I was wrong! I’m still a child! A child!” Ian struggled a few times, finding it completely futile.
He had no choice but to give up struggling and instead play the right card of an America kid. No way around it, this wave had earned too much, both magic power and money overflowing.
Being called out, Ian also felt he deserved it—though, if it happened again, he’d still dare.
“No need to quibble.”
Superman Clark took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing various complex emotions, and said gravely: “We’re here for you not because of what happened at dawn.”
As the saying goes, a father knows his son best.
Clark knew that to get Ian to cooperate, he had to first stabilize him temporarily.
“Hm?”
Ian heard this.
He did indeed temporarily stop struggling, tilting his little head, showing a weak expression on his face, and tentatively said: “Is it because… I bribed many senators, grasped many handles on Congress masters, and the matter of wanting to fast-track Mother or Eldest Brother to president got exposed?”
Heaven knows, at this moment, how many secret things Ian had done flashed through his mind. No way around it, he feared nothing in heaven or hell, just Lois and Clark, these two parents.
“?????”
Superman’s pupils suddenly dilated; he was directly stunned by this question, his mind not turning over for a moment, clearly hearing about this for the first time.
“What did you bribe senators for?”
Clark subconsciously asked, clearly possessing such great strength yet unable to foresee it in advance, showing how thorough Ian’s concealment work was.
“Uh…”
Seeing Superman’s reaction, Ian’s super intelligence activated again, immediately realizing it wasn’t about this, and quickly switched to a “forget I said that” expression.
He swiftly changed the subject, continuing to probe: “Is it because… I bought a lot of nuclear bombs? I swear! It was Grandfather who tempted me with a great discount!”
“Grandfather is so mean, so mean.”
How to put it, it wasn’t that Ian liked selling out his grandfather; it was just that compared to exposing things that absolutely couldn’t be exposed, choosing to proactively expose some exposable things was absolutely wise.
“!!!????”
Though it was just a small matter in Ian’s mind, the shock it caused Clark was still not low; even the expressions of the other Justice League members were incredibly colorful at this moment.
“No! What did you buy nuclear bombs for?”
Clark’s expression was ever-changing, more layered and complex than Sichuan Opera face-changing, his eyeballs instantly bulging wide, as if hearing something that really made him feel ghostly.
Buy nuclear bombs?! At a discount?!
What the hell was his father-in-law up to?!
Were these grandfather and grandson planning to team up to destroy the world?!
“I think he ate too many mushrooms and wants to use nuclear bombs to grow mushrooms.”
Aquaman Arthur sincerely shared his view; few knew that in the Justice League and among the New Gods, he was also an abstract entity.
“Good idea.”
Ian manually gave a thumbs up.
“Ian Kent!” Wonder Woman Diana on the side couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted to stop him; she felt that if this kid kept talking, the troubles would really multiply.
Moreover, the Justice League wouldn’t need to do anything else today; just handling the black material he self-exposed would keep them busy for a year.
“Stop self-exposing! The most important thing now is Bruce’s matter!” Wonder Woman Diana made a zip-mouth gesture, almost explicitly telling Ian not to be a blabbermouth anymore.
Aquaman Arthur shouldered his trident and grunted in agreement: “Exactly! Kid, though I don’t like Bruce that control freak much, the Justice League can’t be without him!”
Hearing this.
Cyborg Victor’s mechanical eyes flashed wildly, adding with a hint of anxiety.
“Batman can’t die!”
“I seriously suspect Bruce Wayne installed a bomb in my body! He periodically sends me an encrypted code; I always thought it was a system patch, but now thinking about it, it was likely inputting the safety password for the bomb! If he doesn’t come back… I’ll definitely explode!”
It was also because Bruce Wayne had disappeared; otherwise, Cyborg might not dare to say his name directly, as no one understood better than him how much Starro technology control Batman had over his body.
“What? There’s such a thing?” As soon as Cyborg said this, Green Lantern Hal Jordan nearby seemed to think of something, his face turning pale instantly!
“Wait! Now that you mention it…” Hal’s voice trembled a bit, “That guy Bruce… he periodically invites me to dinner! And always specifically reminds me to go ‘on time’! Could it be… could it be that the food has an antidote that needs to be taken on schedule?! Am I poisoned too?!”
No wonder Green Lantern would overthink.
After all, this was really something Bat Master could do.
“You don’t say, don’t say!”
After their “reminder,” the other League members, like The Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, all showed a hint of uncertainty and panic on their faces! They began recalling if Batman had done any similar “regular maintenance” or “special care” to them.
In an instant, the atmosphere shifted from calling out to panicking over Batman’s control methods.
“What’s wrong with Uncle Bruce?” Ian, still pinched by the nape, was out of the loop, blinking his eyes curiously, “Did he finally get AIDS?”
“I told you that Catwoman isn’t clean…” Not just slandering Batman, Ian used provocation to get real information faster.
Sure enough.
Just as he expected.
“Smack!” Superman finally couldn’t tolerate it, directly slapping the back of Ian’s head, interrupting his nonsense. He felt his blood pressure soaring.
If his blood vessels burst.
That immense blood pressure could probably pierce through the entire Earth.
“Come out with me!” Clark was done wasting words indoors, directly grabbing Ian like a bag of potatoes, walking outside the manor and shoving him to a spot where he could see the outside changes.
Whatever demon soldiers, demon butler, demon guards, succubus maids, at this moment, none knew where they’d run off to; no trace of these groups in the manor.
“These demons sure know how to read the wind.”
Ian felt no resentment, no indignation, only admiration for his servants’ wisdom—how to put it, he was an excellent manor lord who thought from multiple angles.
Servants are this smart.
How awesome must the master be?
That deserves applause.
Just as Ian was roundabout praising himself inwardly.
“See for yourself!”
Superman pointed to the street outside.
With his words.
Ian then looked outside, noticing how eerie the outside world had become—a cyberpunk-style Metropolis, looking a bit like his purple diary’s plan for America.
Super Vision.
Ian had it too.
Though not as powerful as a Kryptonian, thanks to that dawn enhancement today, now wherever his gaze reached, he could cover all of Metropolis and parts of Gotham.
Especially after Superman’s reminder, Ian used divine power to enhance his vision, so not just Gotham and Metropolis, he could even see the veins of a leaf in Los Angeles.
He saw.
First, America everywhere had traces of people’s hospitals, and real medical insurance service centers, seeing medicine no longer as “service.”
But as “basic survival assurance.”
Hospitals no longer depressing white mazes, but vibrant public spaces, no more insurance denials, no more five thousand US dollars for one ER visit.
Diabetes, high blood pressure, all free treatment—yes, this was the communized America in Ian’s diary; the changes weren’t just this.
At the foot of Hollywood Hill, the former private noble school now bore a plaque “Los Angeles First Labor Technology College.” The once security-surrounded wrought iron gate completely demolished, replaced by stone pillars engraved “Everyone has the right to learn knowledge,” no longer limited to elites learning knowledge.
No more hundreds of thousands of US dollars in student loans.
Lunch loans gone too.
Bus system completely free from private company control; even more thoughtful, “custom commute service” for remote farm laborers, major cities opened “point-to-point shuttles.”
Even the military.
Could get paid on time, food without self-pay, uniforms and weapons without self-loan purchase; every soldier upon discharge even had real severance pay that reached their hands— the world was indeed twisting, all sorts of unreasonable buildings, creations, and social systems appearing out of thin air.
However.
“Isn’t this pretty good?” Ian didn’t know why such changes happened, but if sacrificing one Bruce Wayne could bring such a wonderful America.
He’d willingly pin his Uncle Bruce in Hell, never letting him out—as for DC needing a Batman, whoever suits up in that armor is Batman.
“Oh, I can send Uncle Bruce to Heaven, don’t worry.” Ian’s view on life and death had developed deviations from ordinary people in these days.
His words made the Justice League’s expressions even more colorful.
“…”
Silent for a moment.
“This isn’t a Heaven and Hell problem.”
Superman concisely explained Jonathan and the three being sent back to the past by the Weeping Angel, causing timeline collapse, and Batman just vanishing before their eyes.
“Directly erased?” After hearing, Ian’s expression also became very colorful; he processed for a few seconds, then suddenly raised his hair with a sonic boom.
But his focus was still peculiar.
“You mean… those three went to the past as a group?” Ian’s voice rose an octave, with disbelief and a bit of depression.
“They didn’t take me?! I’m isolated?! This is bullying! Naked bullying!” Ian knew, even if Batman died in the past, he could find his Uncle Bruce in Hell.
Sadness shouldn’t be sad.
Because that was invalid sadness.
Super intelligence saw all this very clearly. But his off-focus concern made the following Justice League members feel deeply speechless.
“????”
No one could understand Ian, who held parts of Hell and parts of Heaven’s vision and thoughts, so the Justice League crowd looked at Ian with very strange eyes.
“Really?” Wonder Woman Diana crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at him, “You really only care about this? The world on the brink of collapse, and you only care if your little pals took you along to play?”
“What else?” Ian righteously retorted, as if greatly wronged, “You, an old savage, don’t understand the cruelty of American bullying at all! This is mental exclusion and isolation! It’ll cause permanent trauma to my mental health! The world’s resilience is way stronger than you think.”
“What brink of collapse, I’m not a fourteen-year-old kid anymore; that doesn’t scare me. Everyone knows how many timelines Uncle Barry has altered?”
Saying this.
He pointed at The Flash.
“…”
This time, it wasn’t a stray bullet; The Flash’s embarrassment was overflowing, wishing he could activate his Speed Force right now to dig a hole and bury himself.
“Uh…”
Not just The Flash; Ian’s words left Wonder Woman Diana, from isolated Themyscira, momentarily speechless, hard to refute such reasonable quibbling.
Of course, she was a woman of reason.
There were also men present not wanting to reason.
“Smack!”
As old father, Clark of course didn’t need to reason; Superman slapped the back of Ian’s head again, not lightly, forcibly pulling Ian’s thinking back on track.
“Listen, Ian!”
Clark’s voice was extremely serious, “Barry can’t traverse time; the Hall of Justice time machine won’t start either. Before disappearing, Bruce told us this is related to you.”
“His last words were to have us come find you.” He stared tightly into Ian’s eyes: “So, about time, about solving this crisis, do you have anything to tell us?”
Clark tried to get answers from Ian.
However.
Hearing this, Ian’s expression shifted from aggrieved to confused and bewildered.
“Related to me?” He pointed at his nose, eyes bulging round, “I haven’t evolved any time-related abilities yet! Is Uncle Bruce framing me? Just because I ‘borrowed’ his name a bit for some small activities, so before disappearing he still wants to get back at me?”
No wonder Ian overthought.
He trusted Bruce Wayne.
Batman must have foreseen such things.
So.
Preemptively screwing Ian wasn’t without reason.
Thus, Ian immediately started yelling.
“Batman is iron-bastard! Everyone knows! Gotham people can’t be trusted! For this, you gotta find the Infinity Family! Find Lucifer’s old man, that is God!”
“They definitely have a way!” Ian tried to struggle, breaking free from his dad’s hold, “Let me go first! I’ll contact my connections right now!”
“Guarantee to handle it beautifully!” Ian said resolutely; he did feel the world’s changes needed his correction in some aspects.
“Really?”
Superman looked at Ian’s shifty eyes and eager movements, not daring to believe his nonsense, the hand pinching his nape unmoving.
Clark knew his little son too well.
Let him go?
Heaven knows what opportunity Ian would find, then run to the past for more mischief.
“Clark.” Wonder Woman carefully observed Ian’s reaction, thinking he didn’t seem to be acting, and after pondering spoke out.
“Perhaps Ian really doesn’t know the specifics; I think we still need to find a way to traverse time.” Diana analyzed, “Perhaps Barry can’t personally traverse time for some reason, but the Speed Force itself surely still has that capability. What we need now is a way to use the Speed Force to open a time passage, not necessarily Barry himself traversing.”
Her suggestion made sense; the other Justice League members, like Cyborg, Aquaman, even Green Arrow, nodded in agreement.
This sounded like a feasible breakthrough.
However, agreement was one thing; the awkwardness that followed was another.
“So.” Aquaman Arthur pointed his trident at the still rapidly changing world outside, gruffly asking, “Who will handle this? Making plans, finding methods, coordinating resources… normally, this is Bruce’s job, right?”
His words were like a basin of cold water on everyone’s heads.
Without Batman the brain and planner, they seemed like scattered sand, at a loss facing this complex crisis involving time’s essence.
Aquaman Arthur continued.
He helplessly pointed at the takeout: “Nowadays, looking at this, perhaps in just a few hours, reality will fully solidify and fix, impossible to reverse. I don’t think our group… can find a way to bypass the speedster and directly use Speed Force for time travel in such short time.”
“Don’t look at me.” Wonder Woman felt the gazes, shook her head, “Magic can’t do it; at least Themyscira magic can’t directly interfere with time flow on this scale.”
She was powerful, but her power domain wasn’t suited for this. Wonder Woman said, walking to the corner where Constantine was tied tight with the Lasso of Truth, mouth taped with tape—clearly subdued by Diana earlier when he tried cursing or causing trouble.
“Rip~”
Diana tore off the tape on Constantine’s mouth.
“You bastards!” Constantine had been listening intently to the Justice League’s discussion; tied like a captive, he felt very indignant.
Thus, mouth freed, he immediately mocked: “Heh! So Justice League without Batman is nothing? Can’t make plans? Can’t solve crises? So are you the Batman League or the Justice League? Really eye-opening!”
Constantine was indeed sharp-tongued; his heart-poking truths made the League members’ faces burn, embarrassed yet unable to retort.
“Shut up!”
Broken Aquaman Arthur had a fiery temper, raising his trident, its tip gleaming coldly, “I say let’s bleed this guy first to sober him up!”
Seeing the brute Aquaman not joking and about to act, Constantine chickened out fast again!
“No no no! I was just kidding!” He hurriedly shouted, tone softening instantly, “Believe me, I was just… too anxious!”
“What I mean is, my magic can’t traverse time either! Because magic’s rules are being altered too; I can’t even use most basic magic now! I’m as helpless as you!” He clearly knew why Diana untaped his mouth at this moment.
“Hm?”
Wonder Woman used her ability, confirming Constantine told the truth, her face more depressed. She sighed: “Looks like the magic path is blocked too. Perhaps… I can go back to Themyscira to check ancient texts, or ask Mother, see if there are any time-controlling gods hidden on Earth.”
“No time.” Superman immediately rejected, the outside world’s changes accelerating.
“So what do we do?” Aquaman irritably scratched his hair, feeling useless.
As everyone hit a deadlock, at a loss, the pondering Flash Barry Allen spoke: “Perhaps… we can borrow Star Labs’ wisdom?”
“They have the deepest research on Speed Force and interdimensional physics.” But he hesitated, “However… Dr. Wells there… might not guarantee no issues…”
His intent was to hint Harrison Wells was actually Reverse-Flash Eobard Thawne; involving him in a time-core project was high risk, he might sabotage. But before finishing, about to mention Professor Wells’ situation.
Whoosh—!
A bolt of lightning like a space-tearing venomous snake.
Abruptly appeared before everyone!
Lightning faded, revealing a figure in dark yellow Reverse-Flash battle suit, full-coverage helmet. He stood there, emanating Speed Force utterly different from Barry’s.
Reverse Speed Force.
Filled with malice and control aura.
“Wells indeed can’t do such a thing…” Reverse-Flash—Eobard Thawne had arrived; speaking, he even whitewashed and concealed his identity, though unclear if deliberate, perhaps he already knew his identity was exposed.
Anyway.
Reverse-Flash’s arrival was an unimaginable twist; he ignored everyone’s vigilant and hostile gazes and Superman’s danger.
“But I can.”
Reverse-Flash seemed very anxious, even—fearful.
