Misunderstanding

After taking the weapons, Zhang Ye led Pietro back the way they had come after closing the armory doors.

Zhang Ye actually placed great importance on items that could improve his combat ability. As the saying went, know yourself and know your enemy, and you would never be defeated. Traveling through these dangerous universes without powerful combat strength was absolutely not an option.

Even with a speedster like Pietro protecting him, Zhang Ye did not consider himself safe. Every universe had plenty of beings at the pinnacle of power. If he had to face them, an ordinary person like him could easily be killed by the shockwaves of battle.

Zhang Ye knew his own limits. There was nothing particularly remarkable about him, and his combat experience mostly came from street-thug brawls. Beyond that, he knew nothing about researching advanced technology and could not create a powerful Iron Suit like Tony Stark.

Under those circumstances, there were only two ways to improve his combat power. To put it simply, the rich relied on technology, while the poor relied on mutation.

But obtaining such things was far from easy. Zhang Ye could only start by taking equipment from Batman that suited his current needs. At the very least, it would give him more cards to play and ensure some measure of safety.

When they returned to the dining room, Zhang Ye did not see Old Bruce Wayne. He had assumed the other man had gone ahead to the Batcave, but just as the two of them were about to leave, they found Old Bruce Wayne shaving in the bathroom.

"Did you find what you wanted?" Bruce Wayne saw Zhang Ye through the mirror. As he washed the foam from his face, he asked meaningfully.

"I did find some good things. Thanks to the notes you left behind, I can already use this multifunctional umbrella proficiently. And as for Fear Toxin, I can make it successfully when the conditions allow." Zhang Ye did not hide anything and raised the umbrella in his hand.

"Mhm." Old Bruce Wayne did not say much, merely nodding in acknowledgment. It seemed he knew every move Zhang Ye had made in the armory.

Likewise, Zhang Ye knew that the other man had been watching him at all times. Neither of them said it aloud, and both tacitly maintained that strange balance.

"Have you found anything about Superman's whereabouts? I don't think Barry Allen could find any clues. If he was an alien, then he must have had a corresponding spacecraft when he landed on Earth back then. Since there's been no answer after all this time, it was probably intercepted by some organization."

Old Bruce Wayne fell silent for a moment after hearing Zhang Ye's words. After drying the water from his face and hands with a towel, he picked up a file from the counter beside him.

Zhang Ye accepted the file. The paper still carried a faint warmth, indicating that it had likely just been printed. It was hard to imagine that Old Bruce Wayne had found Superman's whereabouts in such a short amount of time.

It seemed Batman might be old, but his skills had not dulled in the slightest.

In the movie, Barry Allen had searched from afternoon until late at night without finding even a scrap of information. Yet Old Bruce Wayne had taken less than twenty minutes since he started, excluding the time spent cleaning up the dining room and shaving.

Opening the file folder, Zhang Ye found records discovered after Old Bruce Wayne hacked into the Mao Country Security Bureau archives. They clearly described an extraterrestrial aircraft entering Earth's atmosphere and landing within Mao Country's borders.

At the same time, although some information had been blacked out, it could still be inferred that the suspected alien spacecraft had been secretly seized by Mao Country and stored in a military base on a snowy plain for observation and experimentation. There were also records regarding the capture of a living alien.

Clearly, this was where "Superman" was currently being held.

But interestingly, Zhang Ye remembered that in the Flashpoint event from the comics, Superman had indeed been captured by humans and imprisoned by the American government. In the movie, however, it had been changed to Supergirl arriving instead, with Mao Country becoming her captor.

"You didn't tell Barry? Is he still using your Bat-Network to search for the 'Superman' he remembers?" Zhang Ye glanced over the file, then asked after confirming its authenticity.

"I only wanted to see how well that young man understood my Batman equipment. I also wanted to see how he usually handled these matters. Now it seems he's just a rookie vigilante, all ability and no idea how to use it." Old Bruce Wayne shook his head.

"That's true. From what I understand, he usually acts under the direction of Batman and Alfred from another universe. This is his first time working a case independently, especially after causing such a huge disaster." Zhang Ye sighed as well.

The group chatted as they walked, soon taking an elevator in the old castle down to the Batcave.

But the sight that greeted them inside the Batcave made Zhang Ye shake his head. Barry Allen was searching for information about Superman with a grave expression, while Little Barry Allen was racing around the Batcave at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow, treating the place entirely like an amusement park.

It had to be said that Little Barry Allen was truly too unruly. He had grown up spoiled by his parents, which had made him utterly unrestrained. He had not noticed in the slightest how serious the current situation was, and that made Old Bruce Wayne, who preferred seriousness and quiet, furrow his brow.

Finally, Zhang Ye spoke. "Pietro, make him stop."

The moment he finished speaking, Pietro vanished from where he stood. Judging from how impatiently he acted, he had clearly wanted to do this for a long time.

Having grown up under President X's rule since childhood and endured humanity's oppression and discrimination against mutants for years, Pietro might have had a lively personality, but when it came to important matters, he was exceptionally steady and serious.

But when he saw Little Barry Allen, who completely failed to understand the situation, an instinctive disgust toward bratty children rose from Pietro's heart.

Only two seconds passed before Zhang Ye and Old Bruce Wayne felt a gust of wind sweep toward them. Their vision blurred, and in the next instant, Pietro was standing before them, gripping Little Barry Allen's hand.

"Whoa—" Little Barry Allen exclaimed happily. "You're a speedster too! I can't believe there's someone else in this world with the same ability. Were you struck by lightning too?"

"Quiet, kid. I'm a mutant. My speed is innate, not something I got from being struck by lightning." Pietro frowned deeply, his dislike practically written across his face.

"Aren't you a kid too? Besides, you're too slow. I just wasn't going all out earlier. Otherwise, do you think you could've caught me?" Little Barry Allen looked unconvinced.

However, their actions quickly caught Barry Allen's attention. He immediately stood up and stopped Little Barry Allen from trying to challenge Pietro to another speed contest.

"You're a speedster? So you came to this universe by traveling through time as well?" Barry Allen asked the question he was most curious about.

"Not exactly. We have specialized methods that allow us to travel at the appropriate time." Zhang Ye answered, half-truthfully. Even Old Bruce Wayne could not tell whether he was lying.

Upon hearing Zhang Ye's words, before anyone else could react, Little Barry Allen immediately spoke up.

"Oh, I get it. You're like some kind of time police organization, here specifically to handle incidents that violate the natural progression of time and arrest criminals who destroy the timeline, right?"

Little Barry Allen's words gave Barry Allen a fright. He had never imagined that traveling through time to save his mother would cause such huge chaos, much less that he would attract the attention of the "time police"!

Seeing that they had clearly misunderstood, Zhang Ye did not explain.

Although he was not with the Time Variance Authority, he had indeed traveled through time using the Time Twister. And the Time Variance Authority itself was an organization that managed timelines throughout the Multiverse. Since they wanted to think that way, he would let them misunderstand.

As for whether Marvel's Time Variance Authority could manage the DC Universe's timeline, that was none of Zhang Ye's concern. No one would likely come along to expose him anyway.

Thus, Zhang Ye gave Little Barry Allen a calm look and spoke.

"Now isn't the time to discuss that. Bruce has found where 'Superman' is being held. We should leave as soon as possible."