The tavern was controlled by an atmosphere of silence.
The static on the old television still flickered, and General Zod's cold face was slightly distorted on the screen.
Barry dropped the half-eaten French fry from his mouth onto the wooden table with a thud.
He slowly raised his stiff hand, staring intently at Chen Mo sitting opposite him, his eyes filled with fear and suspicion.
"Alien..."
Barry swallowed hard, his body instinctively leaning back half an inch.
"Dude, tell me honestly, that guy broadcasting from the sky... could he be from your hometown?"
"He fell from the sky, his body smashed through the road, suddenly learned the Speed Force, and constantly talks about the cosmic demolition crew..."
Barry, his fingers trembling, pointed out, "You said you came from the ends of the universe, so you weren't just talking nonsense at all, you really were a vanguard scout for an alien invasion?!"
Chen Mo looked at this Flash was imagining things from light-years away, and his lips twitched twice.
Whose Flash does this? Isn't this just comedic?
Snap!
A crisp popping sound echoed through the tavern.
Chen Mo raised his hand and delivered a clean and decisive flick to Barry's forehead.
"Aww!"
Barry clutched his forehead, which had instantly become red, swollen, and burning hot, tears welling up in his eyes from the pain. "Why did you hit me!"
"I hit you because your brain is full of stale cheese sauce, the kind that's on sale at the supermarket, you idiot."
Chen Mo rolled his eyes in annoyance and grabbed the bottle, taking a big gulp.
"If I were with those Krypton People with their tacky hairstyles, you'd be preserved in formalin like a specimen by now."
"How could someone as handsome and dashing as me be of the same species as them?"
Big Super, who claims he can hook up with girls simply by reaching out his hand:?
Barry rubbed his forehead, muttering with a wronged expression, "Looks have nothing to do with species, and how do you know they're called Krypton People?"
"Because I am omniscient and omnipotent, understand?"
Chen Mo slammed the empty wine bottle down on the table and tapped it.
"Stop being so paranoid. Those guys on TV just now traveled across half the Milky Way to Earth to find 'Superman,' the same ' Big Super ' I asked you about earlier."
Barry paused, blinking his big eyes. " Big Super? So this guy really exists? I thought you were just making this up!"
"Right."
Chen Mo took a bite of a French fry and explained casually.
"That person is a genuine Kryptonian orphan. His Krypton was destroyed, and his own father packed him into an escape pod and sent him to Earth."
"And the General Zod floating in the sky is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces in their hometown."
"They've come all this way in a spaceship, just to find this orphan."
Barry was stunned, feeling as if his worldview had been completely reshaped eight hundred times tonight.
He scratched his curly hair and asked, somewhat puzzled, "Um, if it's just fellow villagers meeting, why don't they just take the person back? Why make such a big fuss with a broadcast across the entire channel?"
"Take it back? You're dreaming."
Chen Mo sneered, a hint of mockery in his eyes.
" Krypton was blown to cosmic dust long ago; they don't even have a public toilet to use now."
" Zod wants to capture Big Super in order to retrieve the Krypton gene pool engraved in Superman's cells."
"While we're at it, let's treat this blue Earth as New Krypton, activate the planetary terraforming engine, and completely change its gravity and atmospheric composition to resemble Krypton environment."
Barry's glass wobbled violently. "Transforming Earth?! What would happen if we changed it to Krypton environment?"
Chen Mo looked at him, her tone as calm as if she were discussing tomorrow's weather.
"Simply put, Earth's air would become similar to highly toxic gas, and gravity would double."
"Earthlings will be like shrimp thrown into a pressure cooker, bleeding from all seven orifices, dying instantly, without a single one spared."
Barry's face turned completely pale instantly.
He clenched his fists and sprang up from the high stool.
"These bastards! They want to exterminate all of humanity?!"
"Calm down, Barry. Shouting won't bring the spaceships down from the sky."
Chen Mo slowly wiped his hands, continuing to ponder the implications of the matter.
If it were just General Zod arriving with Krypton minions, Big Super and the human military would have been able to settle things sooner or later.
The problem is, the Batman Who Laughs is causing trouble in this universe.
In the face of a global, chaotic, apocalyptic event like this, the Batman Who Laughs would never simply stand by and watch.
That mentally ill bat is best at delivering knives, poisoning, and raiding homes from behind while others are fighting.
The Batman Who Laughs will most likely take advantage of the chaos in Metropolis to fish in troubled waters, and may even secretly guide the Krypton People to carry out his nefarious schemes.
"Alright, we've almost finished our midnight snack."
Chen Mo stood up, casually tossing his coat over his shoulder, a bloodthirsty smile playing on his lips.
" The Metropolis is about to become the most exciting arena ever; I can't miss such a spectacle."
Seeing Chen Mo about to leave, Barry quickly followed, "Hey, wait! What are you going to the Metropolis for?"
"Go and give some of those hicky aliens a profound lesson in interstellar demolition, and while you're at it, catch a laughing mouse."
Chen Mo walked towards the tavern door without looking back.
Barry stood still for two seconds.
He was just an ordinary forensic scientist at the Central City Police Department, and he hadn't had superpowers for very long.
It would be a lie to say you weren't afraid of Krypton fleet capable of destroying planets.
But when he looked down at his hands, faint red arcs of electricity were dancing at his fingertips.
He is The Flash.
If even he backs down, who will protect Central City, and even humanity as a whole on Earth?
"Hey! Wait for me!"
Barry gritted his teeth, his eyes hardening completely.
"I'm going too!"
Chen Mo stopped outside the tavern, turned around, raised an eyebrow, and looked him up and down with a mocking expression.
"You? Barry, that's a super soldier from Krypton, not some street thug robbing a convenience store. With your pathetic skills, you probably wouldn't even be good enough to be cannon fodder."
"I have to go too!"
Barry took a deep breath, and the red Speed Force within him began to surge wildly.
"Now that I possess this power, I cannot stand idly by and watch the Earth be turned into a gas canister!"
Even if it means being cannon fodder, I have to go to the Metropolis and do my part!
Looking at the clear-eyed yet exceptionally stubborn rookie Flash in front of him, Chen Mo grinned.
Although he's a bit silly, he definitely has the stubbornness of a hero.
"Alright, then I'll stay close."
Chen Mo stretched his neck, and his fingertips suddenly unleashed a burst of violent, dark red lightning.
"If you fall behind halfway, I'm not going to stop and wait for you to scan my power bank."
boom!
Two streaks of lightning, tearing through the night sky, shot out instantly from the streets of the Central City.
One red and one dark red, like raging lightning serpents running side by side, roared straight toward the Metropolis!