Chapter 4946

Ted felt dizzy for a moment, not knowing whether he was hallucinating. Ted wasn't a Gothamite; after Brainiac arrived, Ted went to Mercury Academy, then worked on Krypton, and rarely returned to Earth, so he didn't know much about Earth's situation, only knowing that Pamela was a formidable botanist who could control plants. But what was this punching cabbage all about??

Ted thought it was some lackey Brainiac had conjured up, but whenever regional lackeys appeared, there would be a system prompt, and their names would also appear above. Ted focused his gaze and saw that there was no name at all. Could it be a minor monster?

But minor monsters should still show monster indicators. This cabbage had nothing displayed, looking not like a spawned monster, and was no different from the surrounding walls and furniture, just like scene props.

"Don't just stand there." Pamela assumed a boxing stance, "Hurry up and take care of it, we still need to use it to fight monsters!"

"Wait a minute," Ted said, "so what is this thing?"

"It's cabbage," Pamela said, "haven't you seen field cabbage, or eaten salad before? You can tell it's cabbage just by looking at the leaves."

"Of course I know this is cabbage!" Ted roared, "the question is why cabbage would punch people!"

"This variety is special," Pamela said without blushing or her heart racing, "this is an improved version I cultivated. Because they often exercise, their fibers become stronger, and in salad they also have more chewiness..."

Ted looked again at the bouncing, hulking object. Never mind whether it would be chewier—who puts this in their salad, Darkseid?

"You'd be better off as a cook for the Titans," Ted complained while getting up from the ground and rubbing his waist, "this thing is still a bit too advanced for humans."

"Cut the chatter," Pamela said, directly summoning a vine to bind one fist of the cabbage, "give it a hit!"

Although Ted was shocked, he still released the Blue Beetle. The two began to fight this giant punching cabbage.

To be frank, the cabbage becoming larger for punching people isn't a good thing for the cabbage itself, because being larger makes it easier to aim at, and the leaves used to support its body are also harder to keep balanced. Ted delivered a flying kick, directly knocking the cabbage over.

He turned into a holographic projection, flashed in, and delivered a heavy chop, bang bang two punches to the cabbage's face. Finally knocking it out, he jumped down from the cabbage and made the gesture of raising a gold belt in a boxing match, waving his fists twice.

But he was too happy too soon. Because right after the giant punching cabbage jumped out came a giant punching pumpkin. The pumpkin itself was already much larger than the cabbage, and the giant punching pumpkin was over three meters tall. Although it didn't use fists, it would jump and smash and spit pumpkin seeds. Ted was almost sat to death by it.

"What the hell!" Ted turned his head and saw a patch of yellow color. Because the pumpkin was too large, he momentarily didn't recognize what it was, only seeing a wall. Looking up, good grief, who drove Cinderella's carriage out here?!

Fortunately, Pamela used a vine to scoop him up, preventing him from being truly crushed by the pumpkin. This wasn't even the end, as there was actually also a giant punching carrot and a giant punching wheat afterward. These three even chained attacks, with the pumpkin in front taking the hit, the carrot engaging in close combat, and the wheat launching ranged attacks from afar. Ted was beaten badly and fled in disarray.

"Pamela!!!" he angrily roared, "if you want to fight lackeys, call more people!!!"

"This isn't a lackey," Pamela said, "haven't you noticed they have no names?"

"Then why do they……oh, wait," Ted finally realized, "could the lackey here actually be you?"

"Congratulations on getting it right," Pamela said.

"But where are you?" Ted wondered, looking left and right. If these giant punching vegetables were summoned by a lackey modeled after Pamela, then where is the lackey?

"Probably already dead," Pamela said, "but these punching plants aren't considered summons, so even if the cultivator died, they can still keep living. We need to figure out how to get these things back."

"What a joke!" Ted exclaimed in shock, "after bringing them back, are we going to let them chase us in the backyard to fight?"

"Why don't you think these things would also chase other monsters to fight?" Pamela said, "first knock them out, when they're unconscious they're no different from normal plants, then release them during an ambush, wouldn't they make strong and capable helpers?"

"Whether they're helpers is still debatable," Ted sighed deeply, but still diligently went to fight monsters.

After expending the strength of nine oxen and two tigers, they finally subdued these punching plants. Seeing the vegetables lying all over the ground, Ted felt no joy at all, only a sense of helpless amusement.

The earlier fight was in no way simpler than fighting a minor lackey. But thinking that after struggling for half a day just to get ingredients for a salad, it really made himself look like a starving mad cow.

Besides these few large ones, Pamela also moved many small ones out of the lab. Ted was both angry and amused, these botanists research what every day? Do we later have to get vegetables' consent to eat salad? If they disagree, do we still have to fight?

But Ted still used a holographic projection to create a pickup truck, loaded all the plants onto it, and even towed some more behind. While driving, he asked, "so do these things also exist in reality?"

"Of course," Pamela said, "and in reality there are even more than these, with many more varieties. It's just that the ones I keep in the university lab are relatively stable strains, to prevent my junior schoolmates' medical insurance from rising."

"They can actually fight these?!" Ted said incredulously, "the Blue Beetle struggles against these big guys, what did you botanists grow up eating?"

"We don't need such violent means," Pamela said, shaking her head, "since we can make them jump up and punch people, naturally we can also make them stay put obediently."

"Then why did you have me come fight?"

"These are already out of control," Pamela sighed, "previous compilation methods no longer work, so I can only ask you for help. But you are indeed formidable; last time they went out of control, half of the Gotham Police Department came to suppress them, and only barely managed to resolve it."

"Can these really be used as weapons now?"

"What did you think they were for?"

"I really can't figure it out," Ted said, utterly baffled, "with so many good weapons available, why insist on making plants stand up and punch people? What's the point?"

Pamela laughed: "This is the choice of the best plant protectionists."

"You really are doing this for plant protection..."

"I'm lying to you, it's to scam funding," Pamela said again, "otherwise why would the Green of All Things give me so much energy? It's not just because I fired the first shot in the plant rebellion against human rule?"

"And then appear in salads with a chewier texture?"

"Don't worry about that," Pamela said.

"Punching is punching, why make it so big?" Ted asked again.

"Naturally it's also to scam funding," Pamela said bluntly, "Brainiac wants to giantize plants to feed more humans, the Green of All Things wants plants to have the power to protect themselves, I combined the two, and both sides are very satisfied with me, aren't they?"

"I don't see it," Ted said, shaking his head, "the energy consumed to defeat them is probably more than what you gain from eating them. I feel Brainiac is just indulging you, allowing you to do this."

"That's not how it should be said. Back when wars were fought, I did contribute a lot," Pamela said, leaning her body back, "if it weren't for me diligently using punching plants to scam the Green of All Things' power, his war wouldn't have been won so smoothly."

"Besides, although giant punching plants are somewhat difficult for ordinary people to handle, for Superman they're nothing. His estate now has many of these planted, and after meals, when he goes to inspect his own land to aid digestion, he can also squeeze in some sparring practice."

Ted was already speechless, not wanting to argue further with Pamela about this. Since a solution could be found, it could only be said that humanity's tolerance for error is still too high.

Returning to the Viscount's Manor, unloading the vegetables into the backyard, Pamela waved her hand again and said: "Come on, let's go to Wayne Tower."

"Go there to do what? You're not going to fight the final lackey, are you?"

Pamela shook her head and said: "Tim should have hidden something there, we need to go help him move it."

"What did he hide?" Ted asked.

"Not sure, but possibly some little gadgets he used to tinker with before." Pamela shook her head and said, "just go see and you'll know."

Arriving at Wayne Tower, Pamela observed and saw no Batman. She also didn't rush in, waiting at the entrance for a while, and indeed saw Tim's figure.

"Let's go, to the East District," Tim said upon getting in the car, "I came here to get the keys, the stuff is in the East District."

They drove all the way to the East District, carefully avoiding monsters. Pamela found a sewer entrance and asked: "What is this?"

"Not equipment," Tim said, "Batman once set up a water purifier here."

Pamela suddenly understood: "The Final Joke?"

"In our universe it's not called that name," Tim said, "it was equipment used in the early stages of the Gotham Architectural Renovation Project to purify water, but it can actually also be used to purify..."

He hadn't finished speaking when he heard footsteps ahead. The three quickly found a corner to hide in. Tim poked his head out and saw in the dimly lit passage ahead, a shadow stretched long. At the end of the shadow were a pair of pointed ears.

"Batman? How could he be here?"

Pamela also froze: "How could he know about the underground of our universe..."

"He wouldn't know," Tim said, "but don't forget who the final boss of the East District is."

"You mean the Joker?" Pamela realized, "Also true. Batman and the Joker always attract each other, especially this classic Batman. No wonder he came looking, but why would he come underground?"

"The monsters in the East District all have the mental contamination attribute; going above ground is too dangerous." Tim said, "We need to find a way to lure him away, can't let him discover the water purification system, otherwise all the other Batmen will know."

"Lure him away? How?" Pamela frowned.

Tim's gaze fell on her, he glanced at the sewer environment, then said: "You can use vines to impersonate a monster, first drive him out of the sewers and then talk."