Chapter 800: Chapter 756: Back on Track
Looking at the familiar yet strange room, even though it’s just a false memory, he was still displeased that the police made such a mess inside.
Even the sofa leg he repaired last night was broken again. The big bed he shared with Diana had been overturned to the wall.
"These guys are really rough..."
Su Ming stepped over the clutter on the floor, walked to the bathroom, opened the washing machine door, and pulled out a magic floating cloak that resembled a tablecloth.
At the moment, it just looked like a piece of red cloth, with nothing special about it.
Then he searched around the house and finally found his silk pouch and spatial bag. Luckily, these two small bags looked very ordinary, and outsiders couldn’t see what was inside, so the police hadn’t noticed anything unusual about them.
While Su Ming was searching for things, Barbara was admiring the painting Diana left by the window, recognizing that despite its abstractness, it still depicted the outline of the Hall of Justice.
Su Ming draped the tablecloth over his shoulders, tied the two small bags to his belt, and walked to her side.
Everything is ready now.
"Did Diana paint this?" Barbara asked.
"Yes, the Hall of Justice. Her demigod physique combined with the Witch’s Hour probably resisted for a while after the world changed, trying to leave a clue for herself, but unfortunately, she failed."
Su Ming lifted a corner of the curtain, and the street was already filled with police cars, their red and blue lights flashing madly.
And Diana was downstairs, being protected by two police officers, looking painfully at her home.
Their eyes met, but she realized that now her lover’s gaze contained only calm and darkness. Her legs gave way, and she fell backward.
The police obviously noticed Su Ming’s presence too. Officer Cala, with a band-aid on her forehead, was using a crutch in one hand and holding a big horn to start shouting.
Su Ming couldn’t be bothered to listen, so he dropped the curtain and casually patted Barbara on the head: "Go ahead."
....................
The colors of the world quickly faded away, with colorful pigments seemingly flying in from the heavens, passing through walls and obstacles, returning to the drawing board in Barbara’s hand.
Everything around appeared like a drawing; the colorless world became like pen-drawn sketches, and everyone’s form turned into faceless human sketches.
Everything was comprised of lines, leaving only black and white in the universe. Barbara and Su Ming floated in the air, like simple lines standing on paper.
However, that drawing board retained its colors. It was still a creation of a high dimension, the only thing in this world that held color.
Afterward, the pen sketches collapsed too, revealing the pencil lines below, simplifying everything further.
These lines began to disappear and reconstruct, as if an unseen hand was using an eraser and crayons. Colors once again flew to the world, gradually making everything vivid and real.
Here, the concepts of time and space were lost. This process of dimension reduction and elevation would be enough to drive the ignorant insane.
But soon, the world seemed to tremor slightly, and Su Ming and Barbara stood face to face at the entrance of the Hall of Justice, with a full moon still in the sky.
"Hiss..."
A ripping sound came from Su Ming as his clothes were torn apart by his muscles.
Barbara wearily put down the drawing board, sighing: "I wanted to keep your original clothes as a memento, but it seems you’re too well-built, and this outfit is too small."
While speaking, she turned her gaze to the nearby Hall of Justice, which emitted a faint glow even at night.
Strange black creatures emerged from Su Ming, like tar flowing over his body, devouring the torn fabric and replacing it with sturdy black and yellow armor.
The magic floating cloak adjusted its size, color, and style at the same time.
Strangulation sent out a ’whining’ thought, seemingly aggrieved, and the cloak’s collar bent down to nuzzle Su Ming’s face.
Su Ming flexed his wrists, feeling the explosive power within his body, and silently adjusted his mindset.
"I’ll handle the memento myself. You’ve brought the time back to the night the flood had receded?"
"Yes, after all, I got the drawing board at that time, and it only recorded the world situation at that time."
Barbara glanced at the small drawing board in her hand; maybe to the five-dimensional little demon it was a large board, but in a human’s hand, it wasn’t much bigger than a phone.
Su Ming shook his head, calculating that things seemed to be restored to their original state. But like the flashpoint event, there were undoubtedly subtle changes, with the Main World changing unbeknownst to anyone.
However, a tool with only 1% of the troublemaker’s five-dimensional power had no other role besides painting a mundane world; with insufficient power, the created world’s power limit was extremely low.
Su Ming folded his arms, walked to a nearby bench under a tree, where many people used to bring their families for fun.
"Do you want to become a top-tier superhero?"
Barbara, hesitating on how to admit her mistake to Batman, turned around. Her uniform, under the moonlight, seemed not so unattractive, and the sound of the extraterrestrial-styled fountain nearby seemed to cover her tone.
"What should I do?"
Su Ming relaxed, leaning on the bench and stretching his neck. In an instant, Strangulation conjured a set of casual clothes for him, making him look like a white-collar worker out for an evening jog.
It’s just that on the night the flood receded, there were probably no ordinary people in the city.
"I have some money, intending to use it for investment. You’re smart, and I’d like you to manage it for me. In return, I can help you."
"Why me?" Barbara donned her mask and carefully put away the drawing board.
Su Ming rubbed his face, feeling the bench was still a bit damp; a drop of water had just fallen from the leaves onto his face: "Because you’re smart enough and you don’t like money at all."
Barbara pursed her lips, pondering for a moment. Can money really help her catch up with Batman? It would be difficult, but catching up with Kate shouldn’t be a big problem.
"When?" she asked again.
"Let’s talk in detail once we’ve solved the Origin Wall issue. Right now, in this situation, one wrong investment could go down the drain." Su Ming gave an uncertain response: "But I’d advise you to see Director Gordon first. Batman and Superman probably don’t have time for you now."
"I know, but I need to take the drawing board back first."
"Whatever, but I have one last question: why are you trying to pair me and Diana together?"
The evening breeze blew, and the humid air felt even cooler.
Barbara sighed, scratching her head a little embarrassedly: "Because Diana always unconsciously gets close to strong people. She likes powerful individuals, including Batman, and I’m on Selena’s side."
"Hmm, because you don’t want Diana getting involved with Batman, so after hearing somewhere that I’m pretty strong, you decided to pair her up with me, the extra person?" Su Ming raised an eyebrow, looking at her with an exploratory gaze: "Are you sure you haven’t been affected by the divine arts of Olympus?"
"Um... probably not? I’m still me." Barbara touched her arm, then patted her leg; everything seemed normal.
"Alright, then goodbye."
Su Ming stood up, waved at her, and disappeared into the night sky after taking off.
First, he went to Wave Rider outside the Earth to arrange some affairs with Cindy, then he searched the moon for any traces of the Destruction Legion, and finally summoned the Inverted Man to verify some accounts.
After arranging everything, Su Ming returned to New York.
..............
In the DC World, many people think Gotham is New York; in fact, it isn’t. Quite the opposite, New York City appeared much earlier than Gotham.
Before the birth of Batman, some old heroes from DC, who were completely unknown, performed their acts in New York.
Batman’s earliest activities were set in New York City, but later, because Batman was too dark, even readers couldn’t accept other heroes living in conspiracy theories, so the Batman stories were then transferred to the fictional Gotham City.
The term "Gotham" in English has the meaning of "Fool’s Village," and it was also one of New York City’s nicknames in the 19th century, which is why many people are misled into thinking Gotham represents New York.
Like many other cities in the DC Universe, Gotham City’s geographical information has shifted in the first few decades due to changes in writers, editors, and storylines, but most of the major settings used are located in New Jersey.
In issue 14 of Amazing World of DC Comics (March 1974), Gotham City was officially marked in New Jersey.
Everyone knows the location of New York City, situated north of New Jersey in New York State, and the stories of New York seem even older.
Comics born around 1940 tell the story of the Justice Society of America, the predecessors of the Justice League, whose headquarters was located in a hotel in New York.
Besides the Justice Association, a division of the Titans and an office of Paradise Island are also settled in New York.
The "Time Hero" from the Justice Society of America, and Green Arrow’s foster son "Arsenal," both hail from New York.
Originally, there was no Justice Association in the main world of New 52; their story happened on Earth 2, and after the Justice League members died in battle, they returned to continue the fight against Darkseid.
But the main world’s Justice Association came into being when Wally, having nothing to do, ran circles around the Divine Speed Plane and inadvertently encountered Johnny Thunder, a speedster of the long-dead Justice Association, and after some collusion, he dragged the entire JSA from half a century ago to the current era.
These people, who would have long died of old age, essentially leaped through time to resurrect.
Being here now, they settled, and considering they were already superheroes seventy or eighty years ago, being heroes in another era is just the same.
These people just straightforwardly built a base beneath Battery Park in New York City, with the Justice League assisting in the construction. No choice, for JSA, the seniority is too high.
As the base camp of the Justice Association, New York’s law and order is pretty good, much like Washington, D.C. where the Hall of Justice is located, generally, troublemakers wouldn’t choose here as their playground.
However, maybe due to their psychological age being too old or having seen many ups and downs, the JSA aren’t very interested in trivial street confrontations.
Thus, New York is the place with the most neighborhood-level riffraff in the DC District, making it ideal for new heroes to practice their skills.
