Barry kept making gestures with his hands, his mouth was opening and closing but no words were coming out. He pointed to himself, then pointed to Bruce, his face nearly dissolving into tears.
"But, but in other universes, Batman doesn't shake hands with people. If he extends his hand, it means he has an electric shock device on him, he wants to take you out..."
"Stereotypes!" Diana emphasized, "The thing I hate the most is people like you who act based on stereotypes! Is he the Batman you know? Or do you have any evidence that there's a shock device on his hand?"
"Haven't you got something wrong?" Barry almost jumped up, "In the past, you have always been on my side! In other universes, you've been victimized too!"
Clark moved aside, picked up an axe and helped Bruce split the wood. Then he said, "Then go back where you came from. We don't need your help here."
"But he called me over here." Barry was even more aggrieved.
"He thought you were reliable, so he wanted you to help. But he didn't expect that you're one who has rigid thinking, is not flexible at all, and even doesn't understand the current situation." Hal strode in from the main entrance, followed by Oliver.
"After all this time, haven't you noticed that this universe is different from the others?" Hal rolled his eyes and said, "Well, Bruce, your genius plan is doomed before it even started. This guy can't be trusted."
Barry was about to refute loudly, but at this time Oliver spoke, "Alright, stop arguing. What's the point of arguing about this?"
After saying this, he looked at Barry and said, "Since Bruce from this world is willing to shake your hand, just shake it. What's so hard about that?"
Then he turned to Bruce and said, "Since you're the one asking for the favor, you should be considerate of the other person. It takes some time to adjust to local customs, doesn't it?"
Bruce glanced at Oliver before standing up and extending his hand once again.
Barry had nothing more to say at this point. He had no choice but to walk forward and gently reach out his hand. As soon as the tips of his fingers touched Bruce's, he was drawn back like he'd been electrified.
Immediately, everyone gave him disapproving looks.
Barry was almost in tears, he had no choice but to tremblingly extend his hand again and it solidly met Bruce's.
Clark snorted and said, "Thank this handshake. It didn't turn you into a cold-hearted devil."
Bruce looked into Barry's eyes and asked, "I heard from Thomas that you have the ability to traverse universes?"
Distracted by the previous series of events and feeling mentally exhausted, Barry instinctively nodded and said, "But it wasn't me who brought Thomas here, it was Professor Zoom. But I do have that ability."
"Can you take others to traverse universes too?"
"I can, what are you planning to do?"
After asking that question, Barry froze in place because he saw a smile appear on Bruce's face.
Two days later, the first rain finally came to the Ameca River Basin. The rain in the tropical climate carried a sticky and humid feel. The first rain wasn't heavy, but it lasted the whole night.
Early the next morning, when the sun had just risen above the horizon, two figures walked along the ridge, their steps alternating between deep and shallow against the light.
Oliver pointed at a large field near the Ameca River tributary and said to Shiller standing next to him, "Look, over there. It's all corn crops. On the other side some wheat is also planted..."
After speaking, he turned his head to look at Shiller and said, "Spring sowing has been completed, and the seeds are germinating well. The climate this year is also favorable, I think we will have a good harvest."
"Professor, I didn't want to get in touch with you before because I was afraid that it would cause you trouble. But now, you must come and see our achievements with your own eyes. You have a share in this." Oliver earnestly said.
"That's why I am here." Shiller looked into the distance and said, "This is a historic moment, this tormented land has finally been sown with new seeds. Everything will get better."
As Shiller was gazing at the scenery on the horizon with concentration, Oliver backed away slightly with a gesture to the several shadows hiding in the woods beside him.
"Professor, come over here with me. We have a special experimental field over there, you really need to see it..."
"Experimental field? What's planted?" Shiller was somewhat curious, Oliver gave a slight smile, shook his head and said, "Follow me and you'll find out."
Oliver led Shiller to the middle of a field. Just as Shiller squat down to check the germinating seeds in the soil, Oliver suddenly took two steps backward. A shadow fell on Shiller's head.
"Target is in place, take action!"
Shiller didn't react immediately since this was a very open land where there was clearly no chance of any ambush.
But when he looked up, he saw Clark and Diana flying above his head.
The next moment, Clark took away Oliver. Shiller turned his head to find a long-haired figure standing on the ridge not far away, stretching a hand towards the field with a light grasp.
Innumerable sprouts broke the soil, growing at an ultra-fast speed invisible to the naked eye, turning into one robust plant after another.
In an instant, Shiller was submerged in a sea of sky-blocking broccoli.
"Nicely done, Pamela! Emergency restriction is effective! Bruce, where are you?"
Hearing the familiar name, Shiller instinctively looked up and found Bruce looking down at him from above the enormous shadow of the broccoli.
But what was more distinct than Bruce's silhouette was the enormous broccoli. Because of its size, it was sharply defined.
In a flash, the intense allergic reaction brought by the broccoli made Shiller's vision go dark. He gritted his teeth staring at Bruce, "You think this will work?!"
At the next second, Shiller zoned out for a moment, but Bruce didn't express any surprise to his switching of persona. He just said in a low voice: "Second team get ready."
In the Thought Palace, Arrogant rushed in panic to descend, wanting to go back to the Thought Palace to get other personas to cover for him.
As soon as he descended one floor, he was struck dumb by the sight before him, a flourishing tree had grown in the center of the Thought Palace - or rather, a huge broccoli plant.
Arrogant leaned on the railing, his eyes wide open, staring at the massive crown of the broccoli plant.
With a "pat" sound, a gardening ladder was leaned against the balcony railings. Greed, holding a pair of pruning shears, gave Arrogant a bright smile, saying,
"Remember the time you knocked over the High Tower in Hell? This is my new stability measure - not so bad, huh?"
Arrogant lunged forward, pulling Greed off the ladder, then quickly scrambled down the ladder. He stumbled over to the hole on the ground and hurriedly jumped down.
In an instant, there was only darkness. His head spun and when he opened his eyes, Shiller found himself in the Dreamworld, with a deep blue sky above him and pure white clouds.
And beyond the sky, there was only broccoli.
The voice of Constantine, both shocked and bewildered, came from above Shiller's head:
"Mother of... Bruce's emergency restriction really involves circling a ring of broccoli huh??"
"What the hell are you guys trying to do?!" Shiller roared, standing amidst the ring of broccoli.
Suddenly, he started to feel dizzy, all the scenes blurred into a golden beam of light, and Barry's voice came from Shiller's ear:
"Sorry, professor, they made me do this. Divine Speed's process to traverse the cosmos might get a little bumpy, but it will be over soon... oh, we're here!"
"Bang!"
"Ugh!"
When Shiller opened his eyes again, what met him were a pair of pointed ears and two downcast corners of a mouth.
The view gradually shrank, projecting onto a movie screen. At this moment, the theatre of the Thought Palace was bustling.
Greed lifted a bucket of popcorn and yelled, "Who wants some?!"
"Give me a portion first!" Harley immediately raised her hand and shouted.
"I want some too!" Constantine also chimed in.
"Huff... scared me to death." Barry was patting his chest, sitting next to Bruce's seat, bellowing:
"You do not know how frightening his eyes were the last time he looked at me. You can't blame me for not shaking hands with you this time!"
Bruce glanced at Barry then refocused his gaze on the screen.
Watching Batman's first-person perspective through Shiller's eyes, Bruce shook his head and said quietly:
"He really doesn't look good."