Chapter 4803: Little Devil in Charge (Part 1)

Greedy reached out to turn off the radio by the window, but some noisy ambient sounds from the street outside still drifted in. The figure who entered the door wore a long coat, carrying a gloomy, deep atmosphere that did not belong to this world. In that moment, Greedy almost felt that this was another rainy night in Gotham.

The one who came was Pride.

But he was not alone; he was holding a little boy's hand. Greedy immediately recognized him—it was Billy, that is, Shazam.

"How do you have time to come over?" Greedy was genuinely surprised. He had been thinking about how to persuade Pride to come act in a movie, but he hadn't expected him to walk right into the trap.

"It's like this..."

As soon as Pride opened his mouth, Greedy interrupted him.

"Wait a moment," Greedy said, "your speech pace and tone fit 1980s Gotham perfectly, but New York is a modern metropolis—can you tone it down a bit?"

"I heard the movie is about to start filming." Pride still spoke in his usual unhurried tone, but his pronunciation was slightly more modern. He turned his head to look at Billy, then said, "You tell me?"

Billy sniffled, handed the scarf he had taken off to Pride, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "I'm a fan of *Shazam*, I really like this movie. I want... I..."

Billy hemmed and hawed for a while, seeming unable to speak, but neither Pride nor Greedy urged him on; both listened silently. After a long while, Billy gathered his courage and said, "Can I go to the set to have a look? Just when there's no one around, to walk around the magic school inside. I promise not to interfere with the filming..."

Greedy wasn't surprised that Billy would become a movie fan, even though this movie hadn't been released in the neighboring world. Because Pride didn't want to be a movie star or be bothered by fans, but many acquaintances had still watched it privately, such as the Robins, and also the gradually growing Elsa. And as Elsa's good friend, Billy naturally had seen it too.

Billy is the type who loves fantasy movies very much; although he himself is a superpowered being, he remains fascinated by the beautiful, fantastical magic world in the film. The Fries couple are very supportive of this hobby of his, so they sought out Pride, asking if he could bring Billy here to visit the movie set.

As for why he sought out Pride, of course it's because the school doctor is played by Shiler. Although it's not the same personality trait, it's the same face, so he naturally knows the crew members.

"No problem," Greedy said with a smile, "actually, perhaps you could play a small role in the movie. Just one or two lines, but enough to show your face. Would you be willing?"

Pride gave Greedy a look that meant, "What are you up to again?" Greedy returned the look—"Relax."

Billy's eyes lit up instantly; he excitedly wanted to open his mouth to speak, but the words got stuck at his lips and were swallowed back.

"Isn't that a bit inappropriate?" Billy looked troubled, "The movie is about to start filming, so the script and such should already be written, and the actors are set. If I join the performance, won't I be taking someone else's role?"

"Although the movie is about to start filming, the script isn't quite finished yet," Greedy sighed, then said, "There might be a section in the middle that needs major revision, and adding a small role there wouldn't be difficult, nor would it take anyone else's role."

Then Billy looked at Pride again, seemingly seeking his approval. Pride neither denied nor encouraged, only saying, "It's up to you."

"I'm going to act in the movie!" Billy cheered, "Great, what role will I play? A classmate of the protagonist? Then I'll get to see Veta? Or am I the big villain, going to fight them?"

Billy muttered excitedly, and Greedy picked up the internal phone: "Mrs. Mason, could you please prepare afternoon tea to be sent up?"

Not long after, a lady carrying a dessert tray for afternoon tea walked over. Greedy glanced at Billy, and Mrs. Mason immediately carried the tray over to him: "Come along, sir, let's go get something to eat."

Billy happened to be a little hungry, and children don't dislike those delicate, very sweet desserts, so he obediently followed Mrs. Mason.

"If he wants to stay and act, you can't just leave." Greedy finally revealed his true purpose, "How about you also stay and act in a scene?"

"You're bribing Billy to act just for this?" Pride wasn't very surprised either; he said calmly, "But this time you don't need to go through all that trouble, because I indeed need to stay here for a while."

"What's wrong?" Greedy instead slightly frowned and asked.

"That lake." Pride sighed helplessly, "Brainiac finally can't tolerate the situation there anymore; he wants to conduct a thorough salvage of the lake. Besides me, everyone who has contributed to the nutritional components of the lake's water body has also run off to avoid the wind."

"Isn't it unnecessary to run this far? Can't you go to your side's main universe?"

"Brainiac has already been conducting multiversal invasions." Pride said, "He wants to integrate the Brainiacs of the multiverse into one; although the method of ascension differs from that of ordinary beings, the final result is the same."

"Will the Batmen agree?"

"Their attitude is ambiguous." Pride lightly tapped the table with his finger, "The main-universe Batman, after coming to the universe I'm in, also hasn't shown very strong antagonistic feelings toward Brainiac. On the contrary, he thinks this model is worth trying and exploring, only that it should be supervised by Batman."

"I can understand him. Because the multiverse in that world is too full of disasters, those already completely unable to communicate, existing only with pure malice, have already given Batman enough headaches. For those with shared interests, they tend to win over or first stabilize, and Brainiac is one of them."

"No matter how you say it, electronic life is an order-side existence. They don't want the universe to fall into nothingness and chaos; in this regard, they are consistent with Batman. Moreover, the universe I'm in has already proven that Brainiac's rule and management abilities are not bad."

"Humble," Greedy commented, "far surpassing the American government of my universe. Even the current American government."

"Because of Brainiac's good performance, Batman will temporarily not take overly radical measures against some of his actions. They will certainly keep an eye on him, but if he remains normal, he will definitely not be put on Batman's priority list."

"On this matter he's in the right," Greedy said, "I'm afraid no one wants Batman to know what's really in the lake."

"Batman already has some suspicions. After all, the gate to Barbatos's dark dimension was opened on that monster. And what exactly that thing is that can open the gate, and how it opens the gate, Batman will surely find out."

"So it's not just Bruce who should avoid the limelight—oh, he's already gone to the Source Wall." Greedy thought for a moment, then said, "No wonder, although it was he who tampered with that monster, causing the passage to open. But if you investigate carefully, to see how that monster came about, then you all can't escape blame."

"So just leaving Gotham isn't enough, even leaving the universe isn't enough, because other universes also have Batman. Those who can come here should have all come."

Greedy laughed: "Being watched by Batman is truly a frightening thing. Although I don't think Batman will have any special expectations of you, if this thing is your doing, he won't be surprised at all. But the problem is, although this thing appeared in the lake outside your door, it's not just your doing."

"This is the key," Pride sighed again, "I don't want to be suspected of incitement, but I also find it hard to explain why this happened so coincidentally."

"This is the one thing you didn't do," Greedy said smiling, "maybe this is karma."

"Speaking of which," Pride glanced at the outside sky, "Is Christmas coming soon?"

"Still early," Greedy said, "This year's East Coast got cold earlier, and the snow came earlier too. There's still over a month until Christmas. How's Bruce?"

"He found himself another job. But Selina worries he's too lonely on the Source Wall, so she brought Elsa to keep him company. We jokingly call them Adam and Eve."

Greedy's attention, however, focused on "new job." Since Bruce graduated, he's been very good at finding jobs—there's no job he can't get hired for. If it weren't for that, the Source Wall wouldn't have been blown a hole in.

At this critical juncture, he found another new job, and the employer is very likely an entity beyond the Wall. Who could it be? The Topple People? Could this be related to the behind-the-scenes manipulator of Manhattan Playground?

Greedy almost immediately linked the two things together, but for now it's only suspicion, with no evidence. So he didn't shift the topic in that direction, but said, "I'm not just wasting my effort. Are you sure you want to act in the movie?"

"Otherwise, how do you want me to pay rent?"

"We're one person—I don't need your rent."

"Precisely because we're one person, I know that if you don't take rent, you'll drag me into a whole series of big troubles. It'll be a hundred times more troublesome than acting."

Greedy frowned, looking displeased. He directly pulled out the script from the drawer, handed it to Pride, and said, "You should read the script first before drawing conclusions."

Pride picked up the script and began reading. It's not that his reading speed is particularly fast; mainly, the script for the children's movie is written very simply, avoiding complex vocabulary as much as possible, striving to let the child actors quickly understand and comprehend. And for adults, it's also very easy to skim.

Pride merely glanced at it, then couldn't help but say, "Who wrote this Safir recalling the past plot? How did he survive to modern times?"

Greedy, as if finally meeting a kindred spirit, almost slapped the table and said, "That's exactly what I wanted to say! You say he accepted Mephisto's invitation, yet still dared to swagger before the Sorcerer Supreme—this is practically begging for someone to notice. And then later, when they lost their magic, oh my goodness, I can't describe it in words..."

"Can't you read the script before taking the role?" Pride also rubbed his brows with a headache, "You're not a professional actor to begin with, and if you inwardly disagree with this, your performance will surely come out strange."

Greedy also remained silent. Actually, he had previously thought the villain in the children's movie wouldn't be too formidable, but the first part's script revealed little, and the character's temperament still relied on his own control. He hadn't expected that after the second part revealed more, this villain's grandeur would plummet straight down, making it extremely hard to play.

"There's another problem," Pride said again, "In the first part, the school doctor didn't act this foolish. Or rather, our performance set the tone too high. If the second part uses such a plot to shape the character, the audience will be very disappointed."