Chapter 3450: Research on Cats and Dogs (Nine)

Sitting in the passenger seat, Bruce first adjusted the seat backward, then lowered the backrest, slumped in the seat and started playing with his phone.

The car turned a corner, Bruce glanced at the rearview mirror, then turned his head to look at Clark.

"We're being watched." Clark said, "I noticed it three minutes ago, and since I didn't speak, it means I intended to pretend I didn't see it. You don't need to keep hinting for me to react."

"Alright." Bruce tilted his head and said, "But I believe he'll soon find a chance to make you stop."

"He won't have such a chance."

As Clark finished speaking, a car at the upcoming intersection swerved toward them, appearing to have lost control due to brake failure. Through the windshield, they could see the driver's panicked face.

Clark pressed the accelerator without expression, showing no intention to stop. When the car was about two meters from hitting them, a black vehicle suddenly darted out from the side, flooring the accelerator and ramming into the left rear of the out-of-control car, shoving it to the roadside on the opposite lane. Clark's car simply dodged it.

Bruce straightened up to look over there; the black car's driver happened to be looking their way too and gave them a reassuring glance.

"Lex is getting more and more imposing." Bruce yawned and said, "How many people did he send?"

"The cars you can see in the rearview mirror now are all his people." Clark focused on driving and said, "Even most of the vehicles in the opposite lane are his people."

"Born to be a spy chief." Bruce commented, then suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "He definitely used some of my money. Wayne Enterprises is almost being squeezed out by him!"

"Haven't you already poached that CEO back?"

"But retaking the market takes time." Bruce rubbed his temples, the phone in his lowered hand displaying various industry planning charts on its screen.

"Why isn't he as short on money as you?" Clark asked sincerely, admitting he truly didn't understand this matter.

"There are many reasons." Bruce turned his palm over, placing it face-up on his leg and said, "The most important reason is that he colludes with the Communists, and the second reason is that America knows he colludes with the Communists."

"So?"

"To prevent him from revealing this, both sides will give him money."

"I can understand the Soviet Union, but why would America also..."

"Because they don't want to break ties." Bruce shook his head and said, "Or rather, in places they haven't noticed, Luther Corp has already gained the capital to make them dare not break ties. Wayne Enterprises would be the same. Moreover, Lex hasn't intended to do anything."

"Controlling Metropolis isn't doing anything?"

"He's only controlling it, not intending to sell it, nor even exporting anything. Kings can never become pure warriors, so they'll consider his threat even smaller than mine."

As they chatted, Clark again saw a shadow approaching ahead. A utility pole had somehow snapped, dragging its wires and swaying, about to fall onto their car.

Clark slammed the brakes, stopping just before the utility pole. The vehicles behind seemed prepared, also slowing down gradually.

Coincidentally, this roadside was under construction. An excavator drove over, followed by many hard-hatted workers running over, who jointly moved the utility pole aside.

Clark continued driving. Bruce played with his phone while saying, "Guess when he'll finally show up?"

"I only know that if he doesn't show up again, we'll arrive." Clark gazed at the distant Luther Building and said.

Bruce lifted his eyes to the rearview mirror; a black dot was rapidly approaching from far to near, red-and-blue armor flashing metallic luster, gleaming under the sun.

Clark's phone suddenly rang. He gripped the steering wheel with both hands and gestured with his eyes for Bruce to answer.

Bruce picked it up, expecting a message from Lex, but the message interface displayed Hal's name:

"I've reached the atmosphere, where are you? I'm coming to find you now."

Bruce snapped a photo of the rearview mirror and sent it to him. Hal sent an exclamation mark, and shortly after, a patch of green light appeared on the distant horizon.

A sharp sonic boom rang out, another black shadow swiftly overtook, then green light enveloped the entire vehicle. Clark could finally take both hands off the steering wheel, because their car had flown up.

Hal hovering in midair didn't look like a Green Lantern, because he wasn't wearing a tight suit—or rather, only the inner layer was tight, while his shoulders, waist, and legs were wrapped in dark gold armor plates, with a long green cape trailing behind. His head wasn't wearing a Green Lantern mask, but a golden Babutas helmet.

One hand extended green lantern energy to hold up the car, while the other arm was surrounded by the phantom of an ion shark, floating in midair, gazing at the person standing before them.

"Clark, you didn't tell me you had relatives visiting." Hal said, "But his uniform is indeed better-looking than yours."

Clark flew out of the car, hovering beside Hal. Before he could speak, Bruce thrust his head out of the car and said: "What's your taste? Calling this outdated metal armor design good-looking?!"

Clark shoved him back in.

"Clark, we need to talk." The unjust Superman floating in midair stared at Clark and said, "Abandon your weak and powerless partner. We should have more common ground."

"I don't want to hear this." Bruce thrust his head out again and said, "Who are you calling weak and powerless?"

Clark shoved him back again. Hal, slightly impatient, told Clark: "Hurry up and get rid of him. I'll handle this guy."

Clark took the car from his hand and directly flew it toward the Luther Group building not far away.

Bruce inside wanted to push the door open. Clark quickly pressed the door shut and said: "We're almost there, don't go crazy. Do you really want to fight him?"

"Then why don't you go talk to him and see if you two have more common ground?"

Clark couldn't help but roll his eyes and asked: "Then who's to blame for me having nothing in common with the vast majority of Supermen?"

"Anyway, it's not me." Bruce denied, "You could also go build a Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic."

"Then you'd come bother me three times a week, still bringing your cat, bird, and Elsa, gnawing the Arctic ice bald, and then blame it on me."

Clark placed the car on the roof of the Luther Group building. Bruce pushed the door open and stepped out, gazing into the distance.

In midair, a fierce battle erupted. Bruce glanced that way while saying: "You say that idiot won't wait for Hal to run out of power?"

"He certainly has the time to wait." Clark turned Bruce around, then pushed him into the rooftop door.

Under the secretary's guidance, as the two entered the office, they found several people already seated.

"After receiving your message, Hal brought me here." Arthur rubbed his eyes and said, "Oliver and I aren't on the same route, so he'll probably still be a while."

"He's always the slowest to arrive." Bruce said.

"After all, he has no superpowers. You should be understanding of him." Diana said, "These two probably don't need us to introduce them, right?"

Clark and Bruce simultaneously turned their heads toward the Superman and Batman sitting beside the table, while the others also looked at them.

Confirming these two Superman and Batman were still normal, Clark also didn't feel as hostile. He walked over, shook Batman's hand and said: "That day I thought you were invaders, so I attacked, sorry, I hope I didn't hurt you."

"Indeed, we weren't hurt." Batman said. But his gaze fell on Bruce behind Clark—after all, that day they had just landed and saw Clark beating Bruce.

"My neck hurts." Bruce shook his head and said.

Diana picked up her phone and shook it, saying: "Oliver might really only arrive tomorrow morning. Let's just disperse for today."

Clark nodded, had no objections, then turned to Bruce and said: "Are you going to the lab? I might need to return to the newsroom to submit manuscripts, so I'll be late coming back."

"Wait a moment." The Batman sitting at the table suddenly said, "I think we should discuss first. Wait until Green Arrow arrives to tell him. Also Green Lantern—if they can't come shortly, we don't need to wait for them, as that would be wasting time."

"But we couldn't figure anything out," Clark said.

Batman glanced at him, then at Bruce, then at Lex, hesitating as he said: "What do you mean you can't figure anything out?"

Diana shook her head, sighed, and said: "Assuming this crisis truly is an alien invasion, then this isn't just a city's problem, not even a country's."

"That alien general's ship just showed up so blatantly in Earth's orbit—every nation would react. We need to observe the situation, analyze the circumstances, before we can respond promptly."

"What you say makes sense. But what does this have to do with Oliver?"

"Oliver is an American who once led the Mexican Revolution, was invited to the Soviet capital, and recently went to China for inspection. Without him, we cannot communicate with these major powers."

The loading icon atop Batman's head began to spin.

"Hal is even more important," Clark said. "He's the administrator of the entire Green Lantern Corps. Without him, we can't mobilize the Green Lanterns, let alone arrange extraterrestrial defense."

The loading icon atop Batman's head froze.

Just then, a flash of green light appeared before the window. Hal had just landed when he removed his helmet and snapped:

"What the hell?! This crazy Superman shows up on Earth, and nobody comes to tell me?!"

He turned his gaze to Diana, then to Clark. Clark quickly raised his hands and said: "He didn't fly to Earth—he came through the Dujie. We couldn't stop him!"

"I mean notification! Is it really that hard to send me a message?! I should have been alerted the moment extraterrestrial life entered the solar system. If I wasn't, that's your fault!"

"Sorry," Clark quickly apologized. "At that time, I was tied up by some things."

Hal fixed his gaze on Bruce. Under Hal's deathly stare, Bruce looked away and said: "I was drunk. I don't remember what happened."

Diana quickly urged: "Hal, Bruce didn't do it on purpose—it was just a coincidence. Besides, we've received word that he came through the Dujie. So there's no need to check extraterrestrial defenses."

"How do you know they landed on Earth? Did the message tell you? What if they landed on Mercury? What if they fell near the sun and broke it?"

"But you should have received the notification too, shouldn't you?" Bruce muttered quietly.

"You still have the nerve to bring that up?!" Hal snapped, nearly shouting at Bruce: "If you hadn't ruined months of my work, I wouldn't have to work day and night to catch up! When would I have time to check messages?!"

Bruce shrank his neck and said nothing.

Meanwhile, Superman and Batman both froze.

?? Someone still can't tell who's who.

? This unjust Superman is from the game《Injustice League 2》, his Lois has been dead for ages, and he's already become the ruler.

? The previous unjust Superman who appeared is from the comic《Injustice League: Gods Among Us》, his Lois just died not long ago, and he hasn't fully ruled Earth yet.

? One is from the game, one from the comic. They dress differently—one has red-and-blue coloring with metallic armor, the other wears darker uniforms.

? Although the game and comic storylines connect, these two Supermen are distinctly portrayed, so they count as two separate individuals.

? (End of Chapter)