When the sea welcomed its first ray of sunlight, Shane—who had only slept for an hour—was ruthlessly dragged out of the cryo pod by Rachel.
Though a Viltrumite could fight without sleep or rest for a week or even a month, he had come to Earth to grant himself an indefinite long vacation!
How could Rachel not let him get enough sleep?
With deadpan eyes, Rachel showed Shane a shopping list she had meticulously compiled on her phone for a long time, while simultaneously casting a cleansing magic spell onto his face.
Much like the mechanics of Teleportation Magic, as long as it inflicted no harmful corrosion upon Shane's physical body, this attribute-less, surface-floating magic remained effective on him.
It saved him the trouble of washing his face and brushing his teeth.
Looking utterly resigned, Shane was dragged out of the escape pod by Rachel, who pulled and hauled him along.
"Hurry up, there's a lot of stuff. I made a very detailed plan, and once we're done shopping, we'll rush back to fix the house!"
Agilely, Rachel jumped onto Shane's back, wrapping her arms around his neck while her two long legs locked firmly around his waist.
Shane issued a brief protest.
"You listed hundreds of things to buy; we definitely won't finish in one day. Can't we sleep a bit longer?"
"I specifically picked an early time when there are hardly any people on the road, so we can head straight to the center of Metropolis right now!"
Rachel's excitement was barely concealed even by her emotion-suppressing magic, and she freed one hand to slap Shane's shoulder with sharp smacks.
"Alright, alright. Hold on tight and stop squirming."
Revitalized somewhat by Rachel's endless wriggling, Shane couldn't be bothered to comment on her riding on his back.
A few minutes later, the two of them hovered above the clouds in the center of Metropolis, carefully picking a deserted spot before Rachel directly initiated the Teleportation Magic.
Accompanied by a hint of purple light, the boy and Girl appeared out of thin air in a dim alleyway.
Eagerly, Rachel jumped down and pulled Shane toward the first shop pinned on her phone's map.
"We're getting two cups of coffee first, and then we're going straight to buy your clothes!"
"Do we even need to drink coffee?"
"We're just experiencing a normal person's daily life."
"Normal people droop their faces and head to work after drinking coffee."
Guided by Rachel, the entire morning passed as Shane followed her to run through almost every single supermarket and specialty store in Metropolis.
The contents were far more extensive than the dryers, washing machines, and whatnot mentioned last night.
Bathtubs, pipes, curtains, televisions, tables, chairs, and stools...
Food, clothing, daily use, and housing were all included without exception.
Mentally, Shane even calculated the unit weight of those building materials they hadn't finished buying yet, combining it with proportional estimates.
He realized Rachel intended to drag him to build a three-story super villa, averaging over 250 square meters per floor, on that deserted beach by the sea.
Moreover, they each got a large wardrobe, averaging over thirty sets of everyday casual clothes per person.
Well, on average.
Shane only bought five sets, because spring, summer, autumn, and winter made no difference to him.
Most of the oversized items were directly crammed into the magical space by Rachel at the first opportunity.
Yet, to feel the shopping experience of truly normal people, the two of them still carried some specially selected large and small bags in their hands.
Because of his physique, Shane felt fine, but Rachel's legs were shaking!
With a clatter, Rachel dropped the packages in her hands to the ground, shook her trembling arms, and rapidly chanted a few incantations under her breath.
Having also studied ignition spells, Shane could actually understand a bit of this one.
It was probably some kind of magic for stamina recovery, endurance recovery, and the like.
Radiant once again, Rachel snatched up the packages anew.
Even though she seemingly bought a ton of things—and some of the clothes with attractive designs weren't cheap either—Shane roughly calculated that the two of them probably hadn't even spent 100,000 dollars all morning.
Rachel turned around, facing Shane, and for the first time revealed a smile with a slight arc.
Buried under a small mountain of bags with Shane hanging from every conceivable place where items could be hooked, he blinked his eyes, which were barely visible from behind a shopping bag.
He knew that flashing a smile with such a distinct arc meant Rachel was so happy she was going crazy at that moment.
"How much money do we have left?"
Since Shane had always held the card, Rachel asked cautiously.
"Uh, around six million nine hundred thousand left, I think?"
"Whoa~"
Stars seemed to gleam in the Girl's light blue eyes.
As if her emotions had been triggered to a certain point, Rachel suddenly took a few quick steps toward Shane, her cheeks even flushing slightly for a brief moment.
Yet the next second, amidst a purplish-black magical aura, Rachel's deadpan eyes returned, and her complexion faded back to pale.
Looking somewhat dazed at Shane, she took two steps back and let her head droop.
"I'm sorry, I almost lost control again. I'll store these things in the magical space, and then we can find a restaurant to eat."
Shane had read a portion of her memories and knew that Rachel had to use magic to suppress her emotions every single second; otherwise, the magic originating from Trigon within her would spiral into a terrifyingly wide-scale rampage, and might even directly release a fraction of Trigon's magic on Earth.
In reality, Rachel lived a very hard life.
"Yeah."
Seconds later, Shane and Rachel—now both empty-handed—began searching the streets for a restaurant they liked.
Watching the deadpan Girl walking beside him, Shane calculated in his mind to counsel and guide her.
Just as he opened his mouth, a sense of threat that fundamentally shouldn't have existed caused Shane's pupils to instantly shrink to the size of pinpricks.
A flash of golden lightning seemed to ignite in the distant sky.
Abruptly, Shane stepped forward, shielding Rachel behind him.
In less than the blink of an eye, that streak of golden lightning was already standing right in front of Shane.
It wore a battered, scratch-covered gold and red battle suit, with bloodstains lingering in numerous spots, and even the helmet made of special hardened material had a hole broken in one corner.
A few strands of blonde hair were plastered against the outer wall of the helmet's fracture by already dried blood.
Shane was somewhat stunned; that sense of threat vanished abruptly, as if it had never existed at all.
"Flash? How did you get yourself..."
"Wait."
Shane sensed something was amiss.
Though the suit, powers, and appearance were completely identical.
The look in this person's eyes and his temperament were definitely not the guy he had met.
That Flash from yesterday—who had hovered around Superman, awkwardly delivering a long string of blessings laden with "disclaimers"—was young, shy, and talkative.
Yet this person was weathered, steady, and up until now, merely stood there quietly observing Shane without uttering a single word.
"Who are you?"
Shane asked in a deep voice.
The inexplicably appeared battle-damaged Flash let out a cold snort, his voice as dry, hoarse, and torn as if he hadn't drunk water in three days.
"That's a question you should ponder for yourself."
"In this wrong world, someone who absolutely shouldn't exist like you has appeared."
The battle-damaged Flash stared at Shane, seemingly not yet having fully made up his mind.
Until, inside the shop beside them, the television facing the storefront began replaying this morning's breaking news.
A flash of anger surfaced between Flash's brows, and from that moment on, he hesitated no longer.
"I cannot bear to watch the tragedy of that world happen in this one. The crazy war between Atlantis and Themyscira will destroy everything!"
The words fell. Accompanied by entwined golden arcs of electricity, a hand blade wrapped in a gauntlet missing a massive chunk struck with a speed Shane found entirely impossible to catch.
Death warning!!!
Within zero point zero zero one seconds, every muscle in Shane's body tightened. The strength sufficient to instantly sink the entirety of Metropolis into the ocean was already fully prepared within his frame.
Driven by survival instinct, his eyes widened to their absolute limit, trying to capture his opponent's trajectory of attack.
Yet that streak of golden light was too fast.
Probably...
Even faster than Shane at this very moment by a multiple of infinity.
(Hello everyone, I am host Lois. At seven o'clock this morning, Planet Media received heavy news: Aquaman, a member of the Justice League, has officially announced his withdrawal from the League and strictly ordered all land-dwelling residents to cease engaging in fishing, navigation, and other labor within the coastal waters of Gotham City.)
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