Watching Beezer bring up Heisenberg—his compound eyes practically plastered with thousands of Heisenbergs—Abin shook his head helplessly.
"I really suspect that guy has some kind of divine authority over obedience and the mind. Otherwise, how did both you and Mogo fall so fast?!
Anyway, I don't want to see him. At least not right now.
When I talked to him on the phone earlier, I could tell he was in a bad mood.
So I'll start by tracking down Brainiac's whereabouts.
If Heisenberg really does have a plan, then we can actively cooperate. Doing good deeds will never be seen as a mistake in a Green Lantern's heart, right?"
"Of course!"
Beezer decisively supported Abin's choice. Then he patted Abin and asked quietly.
"My ship is with you, right?"
"It is."
"Good. Then my ship and I will ride in your ship.
Let me save a bit of energy, alright?
Take care of me a little. I'm a father with billions of children—you absolutely cannot imagine how hard and tight my life is!"
"Heh..."
For some inexplicable reason, Abin's expression suddenly soured.
He quietly reached out, and while Beezer was still rambling on, he scooped Beezer up in his hand.
Beezer, suddenly grabbed, was still a bit dazed. But the next moment, he heard Abin say to him:
"If you hadn't mentioned it, I almost forgot that damn prank of yours!
You actually dared to mess with me, you bastard!"
As his words fell, Abin grabbed Beezer's stinger and began yanking at it repeatedly.
And Beezer...
"OWWWWWWW!!!"
...
...
...
Unlike the energetic communication between the Green Lanterns, joy rarely seemed to appear in the Batcave beneath Gotham City.
At this very moment, Bruce was frantically researching his new aircraft!
Two days ago, after losing his leather seat...
Ahem, well, the leather seat was never the point. The point was that his aircraft had been modified by the Kingdom of God's central intelligence in a way he completely couldn't comprehend!
Thinking of this, Bruce's hands moved even faster as he flipped through the investigation reports.
Watching Bruce scowl while endlessly diving into new knowledge, Alfred, standing in the distance, let out a long sigh.
As the Wayne family butler, Alfred was by no means an ordinary man.
In his youth, he had left his father—the old butler of the Wayne family—and gone off to war.
After serving his country and being tempered by the battlefield, he received word that his father was dying.
From then on, Alfred returned to his hometown and inherited the life his father had once lived, becoming the new butler of the Wayne family.
At that time, the master of the house was still Bruce's grandfather.
Later, he grew old alongside Thomas Wayne, who was his contemporary. He watched Thomas become the new master, and he watched Bruce grow up little by little.
Until Thomas met with those events.
After Thomas died, Alfred had lived in guilt ever since.
He always believed that Thomas's death was directly connected to his absence at the time.
But before he could pull himself out of that guilt, reality dealt him a new blow.
The young Bruce Wayne had mysteriously vanished!
When he discovered that he couldn't find Bruce even after mobilizing every resource at his disposal, Alfred was utterly consumed by pain and guilt.
He was a failure!
As a butler, the old master had died in his city, and the new Wayne had slipped away from his hands!
In those nights after Bruce disappeared, Alfred would often sit in the courtyard, gazing at the moon.
He had prayed to the gods more than once.
If there truly were gods in this world—if a god could bring Bruce back to his side...
Then he would devote the rest of his life to that child and to the heavens above.
And that promise had been thoroughly fulfilled in the years since Bruce's return.
When Ra's al Ghul invaded Gotham, he helped Bruce resist.
When the Joker invaded Gotham, he helped Bruce investigate.
When Bane invaded, he saved the Wayne household, which had once again become precarious after losing Bruce.
His entire life—just as he had once promised—had been given back to that child who had once been disappointed in him, and in fate.
But looking at the strands of gray now creeping into Bruce's temples, Alfred couldn't help but sigh.
Bruce was no longer a child. He looked so much like Thomas.
But why did this grown-up Bruce still cling to things with a child's stubbornness?!
Thinking this, Alfred simply walked up and stood behind Bruce.
"Bruce, a rational man like you should know that no one can see through technology that surpasses countless eras in just a few days!"
"But every day earlier is one more bit of strength!"
Bruce muttered without looking back, then continued studying the various parameters and data of his new aircraft.
He had to fully understand this plane before he dared to fly it into the sky!
Watching Bruce's endlessly busy back, Alfred sighed and casually set the steak he'd brought down beside Bruce's hand.
"Bruce, don't forget—Heisenberg's invitation is almost due.
If it's him, tonight's banquet probably won't be a small affair.
Even if it's just toasts, the amount you'll have to drink won't be small.
So why not eat a steak first, then take a shower...?"
At those words, Bruce finally nodded as if realizing something.
"Right!"
He said quietly, then set down the documents, picked up the steak, and devoured it in three bites.
Afterward, he took a quick shower, then put on his suit, ready to depart.
It wasn't until he was about to board the plane that he suddenly thought of something.
He turned around and looked at the old man behind him—the one who always saw him off like this, and always awaited his return. Bruce fell silent.
The corners of his eyes twitched slightly. After forcibly suppressing a certain emotion, he couldn't help but say to Alfred:
"Alfred?"
"Hmm? Could it be that today you're going to leave me with a farewell speech? Something like: after this trip, you'll come home obediently and carry on the family line?"
Alfred teased with a smile.
"If I were you, I'd never say such a thing, because the moment you do, you might never come back. Haha."
"No, of course not!"
Bruce pursed his lips, speechless. This old man's snark was just too much sometimes!
"I was thinking—Heisenberg specifically emphasized to me that if you're willing, you can come to the banquet with me too.
So I thought maybe we could go together."
"Tsk tsk, how long has it been since I heard you say you wanted to travel with me? You're always worried about this, worried about that—especially worried your Batcave might be ambushed by villains.
But today is a special day. Of course I won't refuse you, kid!"
Hearing Bruce's invitation, Alfred suddenly burst into laughter. Still laughing, he walked past Bruce and climbed directly into the Batplane.
Once inside, he paused at the cabin door and, with his back to Bruce, called out loudly:
"What are you standing around for, kid? You're not planning to make this old bag of bones fly for you, are you?!
The last time you drove me around was when you were fifteen—the days you were learning to drive.
In the blink of an eye... and just like that, it's...
Haha, old age, old age. Old folks always get sentimental.
Get your ass in here, you brat!"
Alfred laughed and cursed softly, then settled himself into the cabin.
But what Bruce didn't see was that Alfred, still smiling, reached up and wiped his eyes.
Perhaps it was just sand in his eyes. Perhaps.
Outside the plane, Bruce stared blankly at Alfred's back. If Alfred hadn't reminded him, he truly wouldn't have noticed.
Even though the two of them talked nearly every minute of every day, it had actually been decades since they'd traveled together like this!
His mission hadn't just exhausted him—it had made the old man standing behind him give far too much!
Bruce's gaze gradually hardened. He absolutely could not stop moving forward!
If he ever slacked off for any reason, he wouldn't just be wasting his own life—he'd be disregarding Alfred's sacrifices!
See? Batman's way of thinking was always so peculiar. From the very beginning, his perspective had never been the same as ordinary people's. Right?
And so, with a cold expression, he boarded the plane and silently began piloting.
Watching the same resolute expression on Bruce's face as in the old days, Alfred shook his head helplessly.
This kid really did seem to have a heart of stone.
He truly wondered—on the day of his own funeral, would Bruce, for once in his life, shed a tear?
Thinking this, Alfred smiled bitterly. Still smiling, he tried to lighten the atmosphere inside the ship.
He looked around, then spoke.
"Sometimes it really is hard to believe, Bruce—how fast the world has changed.
I never used to think the world was anything special. I always assumed that aside from the various mutants and strange things you brought us, there was nothing else bizarre on Earth.
But look at me now—I actually have the chance to take a stroll inside a god's palace.
Want to bet on what it looks like in there?
My guess is there might even be fermented rice wine from the wine god!"
"Don't overthink it. It's just a spaceship. I was there helping decorate just a few days ago. Recently I've just been held up by those lawyers and my plane."
Bruce responded quietly, then looked curiously at the ground below.
Through the plane's observation system, Bruce could clearly see the banners hung across Metropolis.
He looked more carefully, then asked in a low voice:
"Alfred, come take a look. Why do those banners on the ground look different?
I think I saw the word 'planet' in them quite a few times!"
"Oh? Heh heh!"
Hearing Bruce's words, Alfred let out an amused laugh. He shot Bruce a mischievous grin, then asked:
"It seems you've really been focused, Bruce.
Even now, you have no idea that while you locked yourself in the lab studying new technology, another earth-shattering event happened on Earth!"
"What?!!"
Bruce instantly switched on autopilot, then turned to face the smiling Alfred.
And at that moment, his high-speed aircraft had already arrived near the dome of the Kingdom of God.
Through the porthole, Alfred glanced at the ship's camouflage outside the Kingdom of God, then gently shook his head at Bruce.
"I won't tell you what happened, because I need to teach you a lesson.
Not everything can be solved by locking yourself in a lab. You can be focused, but you also need to be more rational.
Shutting yourself away won't help you understand the world."
Alfred abruptly stood up and spread his arms toward the porthole in front of him.
Seeing this, Bruce turned to look as if suddenly understanding something.
A moment later, Bruce's eyes were filled with utter disbelief!
After the dome opened, the ship he'd been in and out of just days ago now contained an entire boundless expanse of cosmic space, and a...
No—not one. A single one!
Inside the ship, there was now a planet!!!
/-\
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