Eating Fish, Eating Shit

As Shane pushed the small spaceship to accelerate its return journey to Jupiter's orbit, Cyborg's electronic eyes finally flickered again.

"Shane's transmitter signal and the ship's external broadcast frequency bands appeared synchronously. It seems it's not an enemy."

The Justice League members all breathed a sigh of relief.

It was better to have one less unknown enemy.

Then, Cyborg subconsciously compared the negative space frequency bands emitted by the spaceship with all known signal characteristics in the database.

Five minutes later, Shane felt his headset was as noisy as a dozen people stir-frying.

Due to some signal loss in the vast expanse of space, the voices in his headset were accompanied by static and distorted tones.

"Damn! That's from Krypton--"

"Krypton? -- Did he run into a bunch of Supermans?"

"Could he have been captured already--"

"Quick, contact Superman!!"

Batman frowned, looking at the commotion in front of him. Since Shane had flown to the edge of the Solar System about four hours ago, some league members who had completed their tasks had also arrived at the Watchtower.

This led to a slightly chaotic scene. Everyone knew how powerful Superman was, but Superman's attitude couldn't determine the overall good or bad of Krypton.

Zod's arrival not long ago was still fresh in their minds.

Batman walked over to Cyborg and quietly asked him to activate the quantum communication signal.

"Shane, are you conscious?"

"Answer me, Shane."

Shane slightly slowed down his flight speed, removed one hand from the spaceship, and opened the communicator clipped to his waist.

"What's up? I'll probably need another half hour to get back. This spaceship's material is good, but judging by the marks on the outer shell, the internal structure might be damaged. I'm afraid this thing will fall apart if I accelerate too quickly."

Shane's clear voice seemed to reassure the Justice League members.

Then, under Batman's questioning, Shane roughly described the spaceship's appearance and the unconscious girl lying inside.

He then jokingly added.

"Now I really believe there are many alien refugees on Earth, this frequency is like Earth is constantly emitting a signal to attract other races."

"I just heard you mention Krypton. Isn't Superman done yet?"

As Shane asked, Cyborg directly brought up a live news broadcast on the screen, showing Superman suppressing a volcano from a special high-angle shot.

On screen, Superman, who had been relaxed and at ease, became visibly anxious after receiving Cyborg's message.

He unleashed his icy breath with all his might, his cheeks puffed out.

Completely disregarding the local ecosystem and subsequent maintenance work, Superman took only ten seconds to leave Hawaii with a massive man-made ice mountain, then shot into space with a boom.

Superman was so anxious that he didn't even glance at the Watchtower as he passed by.

Before he even reached Mars' orbit, Shane felt a flash before his eyes, and then a familiar, incredibly familiar large hand landed on his shoulder.

Superman's other hand carefully reached out to the spaceship's outer shell, staring blankly at the tear-streaked girl inside the cockpit.

This time, it wasn't an enemy, but a compatriot.

The loneliness hidden in his heart for decades erupted.

"Thank you, Shane."

A suppressed voice of gratitude echoed in Shane's ear.

"Uh, no..."

Before he could reply, Shane saw the familiar starlight streaking effect before his eyes, just like last time.

In a flash, he and the small spaceship were gently placed on the outer bridge of the Watchtower by Superman.

Such terrifying acceleration and deceleration, yet as the one being carried, he didn't feel the slightest dizziness.

Shane had never envied Superman's bio-field so much.

"This is too versatile."

The Watchtower was covered by an energy shield that could maintain air, and everyone walked straight out from indoors, gathering around Superman.

They cautiously surrounded Superman from behind, whispering and discussing the possible identity of the newcomer.

Diana placed a hand on Superman's arm.

Even Batman, in a rare display, completely ignored Shane. He walked to the spaceship, took out an instrument, and together with Cyborg, seriously examined the Krypton spaceship and the physiological state of the girl inside.

Superman seemed to have noticed some markings inside the spaceship through his X-ray vision.

"The emblem of the same family. She, she's my family?"

Flash reacted the fastest, quietly sending his blessings to Superman, then quickly added a long explanation, such as as long as this girl was completely harmless.

In the crowd, Green Arrow suddenly looked up, glancing in Shane's direction.

The other person stood still, his face unreadable.

Green Arrow silently detached himself from the crowd and walked up to Shane.

"Considering the significance of this matter, I'll personally add another two million dollars in reward for you."

Shane was silent for a moment, then raised his hand to pinch his chin. He glanced at the back of Batman, who was carefully analyzing the girl's vital signs, and a smile suddenly spread across his lips.

"No need for additions... If I refuse this reward entirely, won't Superman owe me a huge favor? Then, if Batman targets me in the future, will Superman step in to protect me?"

Green Arrow was taken aback. Although he didn't understand the conflict between this kid and Batman, he seemed to be looking forward to the subsequent developments.

He also glanced at Batman at that moment. His serious demeanor was even more engaged than when the Justice League had faced powerful enemies before.

Then, Green Arrow smirked.

"You don't need to worry about that at all. Given Superman's personality, whether you take this reward or not, he will forever remember you carefully and cautiously escorting his 'family' back safely from the edge of the Solar System."

"Then it's a deal. How will the five million be settled?"

"Are you really that poor..."

"Do you know that the way I fill my stomach after arriving on Earth is by fishing in the sea?"

Green Arrow felt like slapping himself. Although he wasn't short on money, why did he have to open his mouth just now?

"I won't go back on my word. If you have time, go to Queen Industries in Star City and find Oliver Queen. He's a very rich and handsome guy. Just mention my name and call him 'handsome guy,' and you can get seven million from him."

Shane was finally shocked by this outrageously wealthy statement.

What the hell, two million added just like that? Is this how you spend money even if you're rich?

Is Green Arrow brain-dead, or is Oliver brain-dead?

"If I make you say a few more words, will it increase to ten million?"

Green Arrow didn't answer. Instead, he looked up at the starry sky visible through the energy shield and patted Shane's shoulder with some emotion.

"I also fished for a few years to eat. Life was indeed hard. For a while after that, I couldn't even pick up girls. They complained that my mouth always smelled fishy."

Is that so?

Shane felt a bit unable to comprehend. Although he hadn't lived the luxurious and decadent life he imagined after escaping to Earth, and felt a bit disappointed when he occasionally thought about it.

But just living by catching fish by the sea felt like paradise to him.

Eating fish for a few years, what kind of hardship is that? The psychological humiliation on Viltrum was much more severe. The weak were sometimes even forced by the strong to eat shit in toilets!

Money, Shane felt, didn't really matter much to him.

He asked the league for a reward mainly because Rachel's gaze had been a little off lately.

She also kept muttering that Shane was a liar, tricking her into living a harder life than being a Gotham thief.

If he didn't find a way to get some money, his male dignity would be a bit unbearable.