After Batman and Zatanna's souls returned to their bodies, they ignored the hastily departing Constantine. Batman, supporting an exhausted Zatanna, led her to the rest station. He put her in the life-pod for her to rest, and then received a call from Shiller.
Over the phone, Shiller informed Batman that the key to the madness among the citizens and the mutation of plants might lie in the rain that has been falling since the disaster began, a theory Batman had also suspected.
The disasters surrounding Gotham since the beginning have only taken two forms: fog and rain.
It is known that the fog was set up by Zatanna to seal off the Spirit Realm and prevent the Black Magician from obtaining the Curse of Evil, so the only unaccountable factor left was the rain.
While it often rains in Gotham, it's not always raining non-stop, 24 hours a day, all year round. But since the beginning of this disaster, the dark clouds enveloping Gotham have never dispersed and the rain has been relentless, lasting several days.
Shiller's proposal to dissipate the rain clouds or block the rainwater could indeed stop the catastrophe the fastest. Batman also had a corresponding plan based on transforming Gotham's infrastructure.
In his original plan, if he could transform Gotham into a complete Hive, everyone could live within the city's buildings, sheltered from the rain. Ventilation and water consumption would be solved by the facilities created by Batman - not only convenient but also safe.
However, to achieve this, the basic transformation project of Gotham would need to be completed. At present, there is still a long way to go. Simply put, this is a slow solution while Gotham's current predicament requires a rapid remedy.
To mention a method to reverse weather in a short time, one must speak of Lex, another student at Gotham University.
Previously, he competed with Bruce on a project. His research topic was about how to change Gotham's weather. Although he didn't completely succeed, Batman knew that Lex must have made some progress.
Therefore, Batman decided to leave the Batcave and find Lex, hoping his previous research could be useful. If he could first solve the madness among the citizens, he could free his hands to investigate the real mastermind behind the scenes.
However, immediately after he left the Batcave, he was stunned by the scene in front of him. Standing on a hillside with a clear view, he could clearly see that the entire city was engulfed in green, and it was not vines but layers of broccolis.
Rather than looking like broccoli had invaded Gotham City, it looked more like Gotham City had entered the territory of broccoli. From an aerial view, broccoli seemed like the native inhabitants of this land, while tall buildings looked like spikes protruding from the dense green canopy.
Upon seeing this scene, Batman's first reaction was that Shiller must be in trouble.
Consequently, he hurriedly flew the Bat Helicopter to Rodrigues Manor, where, unsurprisingly, he found Shiller slumped on the sofa.
At this time, Shiller was leaning on the armrest of the sofa, his hand holding a cup of water trembling, with a guilt-ridden Merkel by his side. As Batman turned his head, he could see a giant broccoli that blocked the entire right side of the drawing room.
Batmnan was certain that Shiller's hand was trembling unconsciously. Judging from the frequency of his chest heaving, he was likely having difficulty breathing. Cold sweat was breaking out on his forehead and he seemed somewhat delirious.
Batman had not expected that Shiller's allergic reaction to broccoli was so severe.
Based on the information he had, Shiller's dislike for broccoli was indisputable but the degree of such dislike varied.
Earlier, he had heard about how Victor often joked that Shiller once stormed into the kitchen and shot a piece of broccoli at a gathering. But that sounded more like an exaggerated joke among friends, with Victor occasionally liking to crack such jokes.
Moreover, he had seen Shiller, in a different person's body, consuming broccoli, which meant that his body wasn't physically allergic to broccoli, excluding the chance of severe allergic reaction.
Batman thought that at worst, Shiller just didn't like to eat it and found it repulsive. After all, no one would think that a person who could turn into a mist, whose true strength no one had ever seen through, would be truly vulnerable to broccoli, which sounded ridiculous.
Constantine held the same belief. He hadn't even considered physiological or psychological allergies. He merely wanted to disgust Shiller with broccoli as a revenge for Shiller hitting him with an umbrella.
How bad can a person's dislike for broccoli be, after all? The worst-case scenario would be not eating or looking at it. Yet, what severe consequences could arise if the life of such person is filled with broccoli? At most, they would find it incredible and nasty.
Even though broccoli had invaded Gotham, it wasn't invading the whole world. At worst, one could simply leave Gotham, so nothing too harmful could happen.
Constantine's deal with All Things Green was to turn all the mutated plants into broccoli. On one hand, it could limit those frantic patients running rampant in the streets from infecting others, and on the other hand, he could disgust Shiller, avenging the blows he had previously suffered from him.