OBS Chapter 4358 The Justice League Assembles (6)
Chapter 4358 The Justice League Assembles (6)
Chapter 4358 Justice League: Assemble (Part 6)
"Hello. Is this Mr. Barry Allen?" a voice came from the phone. Barry, who answered, widened his eyes and said, "You know my name?"
"Yes. We also know you are the Flash."
"What?! You? Who are you???"
“The Sky Eye Society,” the other party said. “We are an organization that specifically monitors people with superpowers. Please put aside your wild guesses. We must emphasize to you that since you live in ordinary society, you need to be responsible for this society and for the safety of ordinary people. We need to ensure that you do not endanger this society.”
“Of course not!” Barry sounded very angry. “You’re violating my privacy!”
"When you use your abilities, you are also partially endangering the lives of ordinary people."
"What?!" Barry felt it was absurd.
"Okay, if you can answer the next question, I'll admit we were wrong," the voice on the phone said. "What are your abilities?"
Barry remained silent, while the voice on the phone answered its own question: "I know you run very fast, even faster than time, so almost no one has ever seen your true face. Do you know the principle behind your abilities?"
"I..." Barry actually had a lot to say, because he had done a lot of research on his abilities, but precisely because he had done so, he dared not speak recklessly. From a scientific point of view, this ability was indeed inexplicable. The mere fact that he could exceed the speed of light was enough to create many paradoxes and completely overturn the existing scientific system. However, his abilities were insufficient to construct a new theoretical system, so he actually had no way to explain it.
"You don't know, do you? Of course, you can use something even if you don't know the principle behind it. But if something goes wrong, can you guarantee it won't cause any harm?"
“I…I can,” Barry took a deep breath and said, “I’ve saved a lot of people.”
"Of course, I saw that. You're a good person and have done a lot of good deeds with your abilities. But that doesn't mean you don't need our help."
“I don’t need it!” Barry said. “And who would call surveillance helpful?”
"Then what's with all that surveillance equipment in your base?"
"You even know this?"
"Of course. Skynet belongs to the U.S. National Security Agency, and wiretapping is our core business. Don't let your hobby challenge our livelihood."
Barry immediately tensed up and said, "I didn't break the law, I just..."
“I didn’t say you broke the law. I can completely understand that a good person like you is eager to use your superpowers to do something that helps society. Doing good deeds is not easy, and superpowers alone are not enough, so you use your knowledge and learning to assist you. Society is better because of people like you, and I didn’t call to criticize you.”
Barry became stammering again; he hadn't expected such praise. After a long pause, he finally managed to say, "I just... I didn't do anything..."
"I'm calling today for something else. You've heard of Superman, haven't you?"
Barry didn't answer; he just nodded into the phone, then realized how foolish he'd been. But the other person seemed to see right through him, saying, "He's caused a huge mess in the Metropolitan. Right before the election, he's brought all the vote-counting and auditing members to the Metropolitan, which is procedurally unjust. We need people to move Capitol Hill back. Would you like to participate?"
Barry opened his mouth. He actually wanted to agree, but after thinking about it carefully, he said, "I'm willing to resolve the trouble, but this matter is too important, and I don't want to deal with the government. So you may have to give me some time to think about it."
“No problem. Of course, in return, we will help you cover up your unauthorized surveillance. We will also do our best to help you if you encounter any trouble in the future. Don’t worry too much, Mr. Allen.”
"Okay, thank you." Barry hung up the phone.
He sat on the bed, somewhat uneasy. He kept getting up and lying down. After fidgeting for a while, he finally went to the underground base, sat down in front of the computer, and began searching.
He had actually almost agreed, because he also thought the idea was outrageous. Why suddenly move government offices to another city? Wasn't that just creating chaos?
However, Barry greatly admired Superman. He had heard of Superman's heroic deeds and enjoyed his televised speeches. More importantly, he hoped that one day he could stand confidently in public and speak eloquently like that. In this respect, Superman was his idol.
He didn't think Superman was the kind of person who would deliberately cause trouble, much less do something so shocking without a reason. There must be some unknown reason behind it.
Barry turned on his computer and began a wide-area search. He wasn't the kind of person who only knew how to use Wikipedia; in fact, his computer skills were quite good. He had complete access to the electronic systems of most ordinary government departments, except for a few highly classified ones.
To investigate the relocation of Capitol Hill, one must investigate Superman's recent activities. Investigating Superman's recent activities will inevitably lead to the relationship between Superman and Lois Lane, given their immense popularity. And investigating Lois Lane will almost certainly lead to the report on the number of homeless people in Los Angeles.
Soon, Barry's investigation shifted its focus from Superman to Los Angeles. Some time had passed since Capitol Hill and the secret research facility were moved to the heart of the metropolis. New media reports were emerging, and Barry saw arguments such as "the sharp decline in the number of homeless people in Los Angeles and the large number of unidentified corpses at the secret research facility."
Barry was utterly astonished.
Although Central City isn't exactly a small town, it shares a commonality with Smallville, where Superman grew up: both are located in the Midwest. Both are relatively economically underdeveloped and isolated.
While such states have various drawbacks, they are mostly dominated by manufacturing industries and have relatively few immigrants, so they don't have as many homeless people as big cities. Even if there are some, they are mostly drug addicts.
What's even better about Central City is that its safety is among the best in the federal government, even a strong contender for first place. Many visitors say it doesn't feel like an American city at all; it's surprisingly quiet and peaceful.
Barry, who grew up here, has been to big cities a few times, but mostly to tourist attractions. Although he has seen some people sitting on the street, he assumed they were just resting after walking around.
As a result, the mere images of homeless people in these news reports made Barry feel extremely uncomfortable. It turned out that the people he had seen before had no home to return to.
What's even more outrageous is that, even after all this, they were still being kidnapped and subjected to human experiments. The more Barry read about it, the more disgusted he felt, and he even couldn't help but gag while sitting in front of his computer.
However, willpower and a sense of responsibility overcame his instincts. He decided to investigate further about that so-called secret research base. What he found out made him truly nauseous.
Barry vomited violently into the trash can, bringing up his entire lunch sandwich. Then he ran to the toilet to vomit, and when he stood up again, he was as weak as a noodle. He leaned on the sink for a long time before finally getting up to wash his face.
The reason is that he can access more than just what's reported in the media. Most government departments' electronic security systems are practically useless to him; he can access internal documents. And what he can uncover regarding keywords like medical research, human experimentation, and organ transplantation is self-evident.
Sitting back down in front of the computer screen, Barry felt dizzy. He couldn't take it anymore; he couldn't accept that this was real. He desperately needed someone to tell him that it was all fake, a fabrication.
Ignoring his physical discomfort, Barry ran to Metropolis as fast as he could and began searching the streets for Superman—he didn't find Superman, but he did find quite a few homeless people.
He didn't even go to places like the tent area; he just saw two cardboard houses, four vomits, a group of corpse collectors, and a drug addict lying on the side of the road on a perfectly normal street.
Barry dared not run any further. He had a vague feeling that if he continued like this, he would surely stumble into some extraordinary world. Since he hadn't found Superman, he decided to look for the other protagonist in the story, Lois Lane.
The hospital where Lois Lane was staying was guarded by police and had a large number of reporters; most people wouldn't dare to come there. But that didn't stop The Flash. When no one was paying attention, he ran straight to Lois's hospital room.
Louise was drinking coffee when she turned around and saw a pale-faced young man standing in front of her.
Barry thought Louise was about to scream, so he quickly held out his hand and said, "I'm not a bad person, I meant no harm. I just..."
Barry stopped there. He didn't know what he was doing, barging into someone's hospital room so recklessly. The person was sick; wouldn't he scare them half to death?
“You look terrible,” Louise said. “Would you like a cup of coffee?”
Barry was stunned; he didn't understand why Louise was being so friendly. Louise simply stood there, drank her coffee, and then said, "I'm a journalist. Not exactly famous, but I'm a professional nonetheless. If I can't quickly tell whether someone is a good person or a bad person, and whether they're useful to me, when they appear in front of me, I can't do this job."
Barry breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, Louise believed him. But then his social anxiety kicked in again, and he clutched at his clothes, unable to utter a single word for a long time. He felt like a mental patient.
But Louise was patient. She poured Barry a cup of hot coffee and asked him to sit by the bedside and talk slowly. Barry couldn't speak, so he took out his phone and placed the information he had just seen in front of Louise.
Louise leaned closer for a look, and instantly understood. She said, "You want to ask me if this is true, right?"
Barry nodded vigorously, looking at her with expectant eyes.
Louise gently shook her head and said, "Not entirely true."
Barry was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when she heard her say, "To be precise, this isn't a complete picture. If you can handle it, I can show you the ones I filmed."
Barry found mostly medical images and academic photography in the official system; these were straightforward, aimed at conveying information accurately. Louise's photos were different; she was a journalist. A journalist's photos need to create atmosphere as much as possible. Mephisto hung those photos in his bedroom, and he'd wake up startled every morning.
Ten minutes later, Barry was so vomiting that he couldn't stand up.
As expected, movies have a wider audience; writing about a movie leads to many more reviews. Of course, it could also be because the DCEU is so unsatisfying.