The Comprehensive Evolution of American Comics.

Chapter 1098 The Zerg Factory of Reach
More than a week has passed since Barbara offered to help her, and during this time, she has acted as usual, without showing any unusual behavior because of this matter.

This relieved Dick, who had initially worried that there might be a slight rift in their friendship.

However, Dick soon had no time to pay attention to their relationship, because the Justice League had once again given them orders after many days.

"Just two days ago, the food factories of the Zerg and Nakvergi were completed."

Batman turned on the projector and projected images of two alien factories. From the outside, they looked like ordinary Earth buildings, with no trace of aliens.

"Perhaps in order to gain trust, the Zerg of the Reach generously stated in a meeting with the United Nations that they could open their factories and welcome Earthlings to visit. Subsequently, the Nakvergi followed suit and opened their factories as well."

"However, due to security and technical reasons, the United Nations decided to open the factory to only a small number of people, including students. Therefore, the Justice League needs the Junior Justice League to infiltrate the visiting group to search for evidence."

Batman paused here, then continued, "Considering there are two factories, the Young Justice League will also need to be divided into two groups. However, remember that there shouldn't be too many people in each group; each group should have a maximum of three people."

This effectively eliminated a large portion of the Young Justice League.

First of all, people like Aquaman and Wonder Girl, who show their true forms, are definitely not suitable for this mission, and Beast Boy is also unable to participate because his appearance is too outstanding.

The final lineup is as follows: Robin, Boy Flash, and Stargirl from Group A; and Martian Girl, Artemis, and Batou from Group B.

That's right. Because of the machine malfunction, Bart chose to stay in this universe temporarily, so he naturally joined the Young Justice League and became Kid Flash in Team B, led by Aquaman.

He even gave himself a code name: Pulse.

According to Batman's plan, Robin's Team A was to infiltrate the Reach's factory, while Martian Girl's Team B was to infiltrate the Nakvergi's factory.

Knowing the differences between the two in advance, Batman intentionally put Robin on the side with the greatest variables, not only to train the latter, but also because he believed that Robin could handle the situation well.

The visit was scheduled for Monday, two days from now. During this time, Riddick prepared well, just when he felt that no unexpected situation could frighten him.

He didn't see Barbara until he saw her among the visitors to Gotham High School, and she clearly noticed him making a playful "V" sign.

Dick couldn't hold back and leaned close to Barbara, whispering, "What are you doing here? I don't think you were on the visitor list."

“I swapped with another girl,” Barbara replied in a low voice. “She doesn’t like aliens at all, and is even afraid of getting infected with some alien virus. After I mentioned it to her, she readily gave me her spot.”

"And now I know what you've been worrying about all day. It's these aliens, right? I remember reading online that the Justice League seems to be at odds with them. Are you guys going to try and find something to use against them this time?"

Barbara guessed almost everything correctly, but Dick couldn't admit it, so he could only say...

"Things aren't as simple as you think. In short, don't try anything clever during the visit. Just follow the group obediently." Seeing that Barbara was unconvinced, Dick ignored her and boarded the school bus on his own. Their activity was essentially a summer camp.

Since the factory was located in Tennessee, they would definitely have to fly there, and the round trip plus the visit would take a lot of time, so the school granted them five days.

In fact, three days is more than enough for the visit and travel; the remaining two days are for the students to rest.

On the plane, Dick was determined to keep a close eye on Barbara and prevent her from discovering his actions, but he was overjoyed when he saw the teacher's schedule.

It turned out that the school had divided the visiting students into two groups. Dick, under the influence of Wayne's family, naturally went to the Reach Zerg factory, while Barbara went to the Nakvergi factory.

Now that the two of them won't be in the same place, I don't have to be so careful anymore.

Time quickly passed to the next day of their visit. Barbara, looking very unhappy, could only board the special bus to the Nakvergi factory under the teacher's instructions, watching Dick drive away in another special bus.

"Forget it," Barbara muttered under her breath. "Since I'm just trying to find something to hold against you, I'll do it myself and show you what I'm made of."

Dick had no idea what Barbara was thinking at that moment. Feeling relaxed, he walked with a light step, a state he maintained until he met up with Wally and Courtney, who were mixed in with other school groups.

Wally and Courtney both attended high school in Central City, so they came together. They were both curious about what had happened when they saw Dick's faint smile.

However, Dick just laughed it off and let it go. Since the factory's guide was greeting everyone, the two of them didn't ask any further questions and followed the group into the factory.

Although it's called a factory, once you enter, it feels more like a flower shop. The spacious room is filled with rows of pink shelves, covered with countless green vines, which look like cucumber trellises from a distance.

It looked like an ordinary greenhouse with nothing special about it, but once they went inside, Robin and the others immediately noticed something different.

First of all, those shelves aren't actually pink. The shelves themselves are transparent tubes, and the pink color comes from the pink liquid flowing inside the tubes. This liquid is transported through the tubes to the bottom of the shelves where the vines grow.

It seems that these pink liquids are the key to the problem. In any case, Robin has no idea where pink liquids are used in Earth's crops.

"What you see now is the Reach Zerg's food factory. Here, Earth's native plants receive the enhancement of Reach technology and then grow plump fruits in three days."

"You have come at just the right time today, as these plants just started bearing fruit this morning."

Robin looked in the direction the guide was gesturing, and sure enough, some red fruits had grown on the vines. They looked like tomatoes from Earth, plump, red and shiny, and looked very delicious, making one want to take a bite.

"Originally, the Zerg of the Reach would prepare samples for each visitor to taste, but since the timing is so good today, we've changed it to eating freshly picked food."

(End of this chapter)