"Bart!" Yuri called out to Bart, but he wasn't communicating with Bart through sound; instead, he utilized the mental connection between speedsters for their conversation.
Yuri's voice immediately woke Bart up, and he turned to look at Yuri, his eyes filled with excitement.
"Hey, Yuri! I just finished reading all the books here. It took me about a year and a half, and only about fifteen minutes have passed outside. But that's not the most crucial part."
"The most crucial part is that I can vividly remember the content of every single book. Although there are some books I haven't completely understood yet, I believe it's just a matter of time. I've achieved something that Wally, my grandpa, and other speedsters couldn't do. They may learn things at the same speed as me or even faster, but they forget things much quicker than I do, and I don't."
Bart exclaimed, "This has made me realize how immature I used to be. I was simply an impulsive fool. But it's different now; I'm thirsting for knowledge and absorbing it."
"This made me see the grave mistake I made. Deathstroke was right; trying to create wind on a burning island was incredibly foolish. Unless the wind is strong enough to extinguish all the flames in one go, such strong wind would also destroy everything on the island."
"What I should have done back then was run to the sea. Do you know? When water boils and turns into steam, its volume expands approximately 1,600 times. Simultaneously, it transfers the energy between molecules to anything it impacts. This means I could..."
Before Bart could finish, Yuri interrupted him.
"I know what you can do, and now is not the time to show off your knowledge of physics."
Yuri had a slight headache. Did all the members of the Flash family become so talkative once they grew up?
"Bart, why didn't you return to Titan Tower after your leg healed? Instead, you came here and disrupted the order without a word. What's the deal with your costume?"
"As you can see, I came here to study," Bart replied matter-of-factly. "As for my clothes, I made them myself after reading books on aerodynamics and sportswear, didn't take much time."
"My Impulse suit was destroyed by Deathstroke, which put my Speed Force into an uncontrollable state. My growth rate has also accelerated. Fortunately, I eventually mastered how to stabilize my Speed Force. Without this incident, I might have had to rely on specially designed suits to maintain my body for the rest of my life."
Bart said it casually, but Yuri knew that overcoming the uncontrollable Speed Force was an extremely painful experience. Bart had gone through quite a bit.
"So, you plan to stay here and keep reading? Cassie and Connor are worried sick about you. Besides, news of the haunted library will spread soon. Who knows, the Watchtower's people might be here any minute. You need to leave with us quickly."
Yuri gestured towards the Titans, who stood behind him like statues, and then towards the entire library, indicating that Bart needed to understand the situation he had created.
"Of course, let's go," Bart agreed readily. He immediately returned all the books to their original positions, restoring everything in the library to normal.
Then Bart disengaged from his Speed Force state.
Yuri also reverted to his normal form.
"Wow! Are you Bart?" The Titans were all quite shocked by Bart's appearance.
"Hey, guys, it's been a year and a half for me. Did you miss me?" Bart teased with a grin.
Bart greeted everyone with a brilliant smile and essentially repeated what he had said to Yuri.
However, the reactions of the others were beyond his expectations.
"Bart, do you have any idea how much trouble you almost caused? If we hadn't arrived in time, this place would have been surrounded," Tim scolded with a stern face.
"And you completely ignored me! You had no idea how worried I was about your safety!" Cassie scolded, hands on her hips, looking displeased.
"Cassie's right, I almost thought you were being controlled by some evil spirit," Connor added with an equally stern expression.
Behind the group, Raven seemed to sense something, her eyes softened, and she couldn't help but smile faintly.
"Uh, it's not like that, I mean..." Bart stammered, swallowing hard, facing the direct reprimands from his teammates.
"Pfft!"
Suddenly, both Tim and Connor burst into laughter simultaneously. Tim managed to contain his laughter better, but Connor and Cassie were quite obvious in their amusement.
"That's nothing. As long as you're okay," Tim reassured.
"You really scared us just now," Connor added.
Bart gave them a sharp look, "Well, okay, if we keep hanging around this 'haunted' library, we might actually get surrounded soon."
Yuri clapped his hands and addressed everyone, "Since we're all out here now, how about we go check on Starfire and Gar? Also, see if Nightwing has woken up..."
Meanwhile, in Phoenix, Arizona.
At a secret Blood Church outpost, an unexpected visitor entered.
This visitor wore a robe, with his face completely hidden by a hood. He had a coin hanging around his neck, bearing a three-eyed skull symbol.
A sinister aura emanated from the mysterious man, sending shivers down one's spine.
"Who are you?" The current bishop of the Blood Church, Blood Brother, asked with a hint of amusement as he looked at the intruder.
He could sense that there was no strong power within this mysterious man. He appeared to be an ordinary person.
But how could an ordinary person bypass the Blood Church's concealed barriers? How could they evade all the patrolling acolytes and reach him like this?
"I know who you believe in and what your next goals are, Sebastian Blood," the mysterious man said without responding to Blood Brother's words.
"Even though I am not a follower of Trigon, I share the same desire for their descent. So, we intend to help you eliminate some threats."
"You?" Blood Brother asked with a slight narrowing of his eyes.
"Yes, us," the mysterious man replied calmly, exuding a strong sense of confidence in his demeanor and gaze.
"What can you offer to help us? What in this world could threaten the Blood Church?" Blood Brother asked with a hint of arrogance.
"The Justice League."
At these words, Blood Brother's pupils contracted. Though he had been dormant for many years and was not aware of the establishment of the Justice League, he had gathered significant information about the present through the consumption of his followers' flesh, including intelligence about the Justice League.
Blood Brother possessed ancient dark magic, but he had to admit that the Justice League was a formidable threat, especially now that he knew Raven was closely associated with the Teen Titans, a subsidiary group of the Justice League.
Blood Brother was well aware that the Justice League was undoubtedly the church's greatest enemy. Even he dared not claim to have a way to deal with them. Suddenly, a stranger emerged, claiming to help eliminate the threat posed by the Justice League.
"Do you have a way to deal with the Justice League?" Blood Brother asked, displaying his clear distrust of the mysterious man's words.
"Of course, we possess a weapon that can destroy the Justice League..." The mysterious man's narrative became more enticing, and Blood Brother's eyes lit up with each passing word.
"While it may not truly eradicate the Justice League, it will certainly divert their attention away from your actions. Then you can confidently summon Trigon."
The mysterious man concluded, "Our demands are quite simple..."
°°°
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