Distinguishing Truth from Falsehood

Barry scratched his hair. He was still hungry, and he felt utterly unable to focus. It was so dark here that it made him sleepy.

Still, he forced himself to stay alert, rubbing his face with both hands as he asked Bliss:

"What do you mean, Deathstroke isn't Deathstroke? He's an impostor?"

"As far as I remember, no man in our world could achieve that level of marksmanship." Bliss enlarged the image, zooming in on Deathstroke's entire body. "This person's skeletal structure is male."

After speaking, Bliss captured images of the police station pillars behind Deathstroke, the television station's broadcast van, and Deathstroke himself. She calculated the horizontal distance between them and created a scale.

"Gotham Television Station's broadcast van is a 1999 Amazon model manufactured in Metropolis, with a compartment height of 3.5 meters. According to official records, the Gotham Police Department entrance is 6.2 meters high, and due to geological conditions, it has subsided by 0.01 meters every year since 1996. Cindy Wilson is 1.73 meters tall."

After entering the data, the mainframe began beeping. It was practically one red X away from appearing, making Bliss shrug.

"It doesn't match. This person is 1.84 meters tall, male. It's no longer just my personal impression—the system has confirmed that Gotham has no such person."

Barry had noticed the leftover food on the table long ago. He scooped up some soup from the large pot and brought it to his mouth with a big wooden ladle. The awful taste made him shudder. This stuff tasted like thick mucus.

But he encouraged himself. He was a Superhero—how could he fail to endure something like this? He needed nourishment, and he needed it now.

"So the footprint on the dinosaur's head was his. He killed your dragon."

"Mm, thanks for the reminder." Bliss remained expressionless, though who knew what grudge she had added to Su Ming's ledger. "After the news broadcast, he and Cindy kidnapped Barbara and two reporters from the station, then came here together."

Barry swallowed the unpalatable sweet soup. It had cooled and congealed, without even a trace of sweetness left. The numbness on his tongue made his words slur. "Then they happily had dinner here, patted their butts, and left. Barbara and the reporters showed no signs of being coerced."

"That's exactly what I can't understand." Bliss picked out a piece of lettuce from the pot as well. She spat it out after one lick, then stared at Barry in disbelief and shook her head. "I can understand the reporters' thinking. News is valuable, after all. But Barbara..."

"...Have you contacted Commissioner Gordon?" Barry swallowed with difficulty, letting out a pained groan before catching his breath and reminding her.

"This Deathstroke specifically asked for him. I didn't think I'd be able to get through." Bliss began using the mainframe to place the call, so no call record would be left behind. At the same time, she said to Alfred, "You'd better hurry and prepare some food. Our guest is eating Deathstroke's cooking. I only took one bite, and I already felt like it was going to kill me."

"Of course, Miss. The food is already on the stove."

Alfred headed back up the stairs to prepare the food. Letting a guest go hungry was not something a butler should do.

"I can't reach Gordon. Interestingly, this device once tracked a license plate number, as well as my location and Alfred's." Bliss sat down with interest, then noticed a patch of ash beside her. She paused and narrowed her eyes.

"Barbara probably looked it up." Barry patted his stomach, feeling somewhat unwell.

"Barbara is good with computers?" Bliss asked again.

"Good? She's one of the best on Earth." Barry spoke about matters from his world. He had not interacted much with Oracle, because his Central City colleagues were all science fanatics who could provide him with comprehensive logistical support. His only contact with Barbara had been the occasional video call through the Justice League. "She's not just an incredibly skilled hacker. She also has talent for command and leadership. Many female Heroes in our world are willing to listen to her."

Bliss silently crossed her arms and wiped at the yellowed burn mark on the table. "That makes things interesting. Because Barbara in our world is just an ordinary high school student. She has never shown any talent. I didn't know, and Gordon didn't know..."

Barry raised one eyebrow, seeming to understand something. "But Deathstroke knew. He brought Barbara here with a very clear purpose—to use your Brother Eye system to find someone."

"Uh, my system doesn't have a name. Even if I gave it one, it would be called Sister Eye." Bliss stared at the screen and pulled up the location from the previous search. A place called Indian Hill was flashing on the map. "Is this Deathstroke from your world?"

Barry shook his head. "No. Our Slade is 1.94 meters tall. He went to Atlantis with Aquaman to look for something. They can't travel through dimensions. I'm the one responsible for finding reinforcements from the multiverse. Things just went a little wrong."

"I know. You've said it many times. Traveling between worlds by merging with the Speed Force is unpredictable. You encountered a Time Wraith, barely escaped with your life, and fell into our world..." Bliss brought up the files on Indian Hill and examined them carefully, but an abandoned junkyard revealed nothing.

"Yes, that's exactly it. Then I discovered that time had reversed a little, but it didn't trigger the Flashpoint Effect. The world was still the same, and Gotham was still this chaotic." Barry sat on a nearby table. He tried to use the Speed Force to wave his arm and help Bliss wipe away the yellow stains, but the smoke stains only spread wider.

"Our worlds were different to begin with. Even if you had triggered your so-called Flashpoint Effect, you wouldn't have been able to tell. Then you discovered that a world that should have been destroyed still existed, and that I, who should have been your enemy, hadn't gone mad yet." Bliss spoke calmly.

Barry's eyes widened. He blew at the tabletop and gave an embarrassed smile.

"That's right. I now suspect that Deathstroke may have come from another Parallel Universe. Maybe we collided in the Speed Force at the same time. My arrival was moved earlier, while his was pushed later. We canceled out each other's speed, so only a small amount of residual energy caused changes in your world. So far, those changes appear to be good. Our chances of victory have increased."

"I only want to protect my own world. As for helping you fight Barbatos, I don't have the energy. Our world doesn't have as many Heroes as yours. Here, lunatics from all over the world love coming to Gotham. If you didn't have the Speed Force, I wouldn't even leave Gotham."

Bliss answered flatly, making Barry somewhat awkward. Fortunately, Alfred's arrival a few minutes later broke the strange atmosphere.

"Miss, Mr. Allen, dinner is ready. Tonight's main course is beef bourguignon, with grilled oysters, parsley chicken rolls, lobster sashimi, and European noodles as the staple. However, time was rather limited, so the beef may not be tender enough."

"It's already wonderful. Bring it here. I need to make some preparations. I'm curious what this strange man actually wants." Bliss smiled at Alfred, feeling proud. Only her butler could make beef stew in just over ten minutes.

At the same time, she had already formed a rough guess.

"This Deathstroke has a clear goal of his own. He knows many things."