On the Disciple, Su Sheng set the time and location but wasn't in a hurry to set off.
This time, Riley, who had grown smarter with experience, sat in her chair and fastened her seatbelt early. However, she noticed that the spacecraft hadn't started even after a long wait.
"Master?" Riley called out hesitantly.
Su Sheng turned his chair around to face Riley with a smile. "Honestly, helping the Legends rescue their teammates isn't a big deal. By the way, I might as well check out Vandal Savage. Even though he doesn't have any special powers, he has an immortal body. The only way to kill him is through a specific method; otherwise, he'll just keep resurrecting from a single cell."
"An immortal body? Resurrection? That sounds unbeatable!" Riley exclaimed in surprise.
"Immortality isn't that impressive. Sarah Lance's captain is part of an organization called the Time Masters. They've been secretly helping him and the Legends throughout their mission to stop Vandal Savage. So, it's no wonder that despite being so inept, they're still considered 'Legends.'" Su Sheng chuckled. "But aside from killing Vandal Savage to see how he comes back to life and checking out the Soviet Firestorm project, it doesn't seem all that fun. So, I'm thinking about doing something different."
"Do... do what?" Riley asked nervously.
"If the Soviets might create a Firestorm to win the Cold War, why should the U.S. just stand by and do nothing?" Su Sheng's eyes gleamed with interest as he adjusted the time setting, moving it back by a year.
In 1985, the United States.
The Disciple slowly landed on the rooftop of a tall building. Su Sheng stepped out with Riley, and the Disciple disappeared.
"This is the United States in 1985. It's been more than 60 years since the time we were just in," Su Sheng explained with a chuckle before jumping off the roof with Riley in his arms.
Boom!
They crashed onto the ground.
Su Sheng released Riley and calmly walked away under the shocked gazes of passersby.
The architectural style of this era wasn't particularly interesting to Su Sheng, but to Riley, who came from a century ahead, it was fresh and futuristic. There were many things that seemed incredible to her. The newsstands on the street had various reports on current events, and passersby occasionally chatted in small groups about the Cold War.
Su Sheng flipped through some newspapers at a nearby newsstand, but he didn't find the news he was looking for. He turned away, ignoring the vendor's annoyed shouts.
"Master, what are we going to do?" Riley asked, confused.
"We're looking for someone!" Su Sheng paused, his tone somewhere between explaining to Riley and talking to himself. "A figure like him should be all over the headlines. Is he missing, or is there some sort of deviation?"
"Are we looking for a pillow?" Riley hesitantly asked in a low voice.
"A pillow? Get lost!" Su Sheng shivered in disgust and scolded Riley. "Who in their right mind would want to use the Blue Giant as a pillow? Am I crazy? Even if I were, at least my tastes are normal!"
Riley sighed in relief, thinking that not looking for a pillow was indeed a good thing!
The Blue Giant, also known as Dr. Manhattan, real name Jonathan Osterman, is the only being with superpowers in the Watchmen team.
If Su Sheng is a madman, then Dr. Manhattan is a true pervert.
It's not just because his strength ranks among the top in the DC Universe, but because of his bizarre nature—like injuring his prostate while pulling out a tooth and walking around with his blue body exposed every day, showing off to others. If that's not perverted, what is?
As the only 'Superman' of his era, Dr. Manhattan didn't hide his identity after he was created. Instead, he assisted the U.S. government in deterring the Soviet Union, hoping to bring peace to the world. For this noble goal, he even left Earth, accepting the blame for many things. But even if he had left Earth by this time, there should still be news reports about him. Yet Su Sheng couldn't find anything.
It was as if Dr. Manhattan didn't exist at all.
"Maybe he's not in this world but in another parallel universe?" Su Sheng frowned in disappointment and muttered as he decided to head to the Soviet Union. Although it was a year earlier than planned, he would destroy the Gulag camp and take care of the Soviet scientist Valentina, who might create Firestorm. If he did that, the Legends team wouldn't even need to show up, and they wouldn't be captured!
"Let's go..." Su Sheng was about to call Riley back to the Disciple when he suddenly saw someone at the far end of the street.
"Go?"
"There are surprises wherever you go!" Su Sheng said with interest, pointing at a woman wearing a trench coat in the distance. "Do you see that woman?"
Riley followed his gaze and saw a tall woman in a trench coat and hat walking towards them.
"Is she the person you're looking for?"
"She might help me find the person I'm looking for!" Su Sheng started walking toward the woman.
Within a few quick steps, he was right in front of her.
The woman looked startled and tried to walk past him, but Su Sheng blocked her path again.
"Sir, please move," she said, annoyed.
Su Sheng smiled and shook his head.
"What do you think you're doing?" she asked, frowning and starting to wonder if she was dealing with a rogue.
"I just want to chat," Su Sheng said with a smile.
That phrase, "I just want to chat," was easy to misinterpret. Was he really a rogue? How long had it been since she'd encountered one?
She looked at Su Sheng coldly. "Move, or you'll regret it."
"I want to meet Dr. Manhattan."
"Man..." Her expression changed dramatically, and she grabbed Su Sheng by the neck in a flash. "Who are you, and how do you know about Dr. Manhattan?"
"So, you do know him!" Su Sheng's eyes lit up, and he smiled brightly, unfazed by her aggressive behavior. "Then, we have a lot to discuss!"
Bang! Su Sheng suddenly punched her in the stomach.
She groaned and collapsed, unconscious, into Su Sheng's arms. He bent down, scooped her up, and—under the shocked eyes of Riley and the surrounding people—ran off.
What the hell!
Kidnapping someone in broad daylight? How arrogant could you get?
The crowd quickly realized what was happening, and they started shouting in anger, chasing after him.
Riley was dumbfounded!
Master, you just ran off—what about me?
...
PS: Dr. Manhattan is from Watchmen. It was originally a comic by another company but was later acquired by DC Comics. Due to his immense power, Dr. Manhattan eventually became part of the main DC Universe, even stealing ten years of its timeline, which triggered the Rebirth event. There's also an older movie called Watchmen, which many people have probably seen or heard about.