I became light in American comics.

Chapter 154 Plant Conditions

Gotham, suburbs.

"I told you, you can't do this!"

The one who spoke was a frail old man, wearing an old jacket, his body somewhat hunched, but his gaze was surprisingly firm.

This is a woodland that has been here for a long time. Lush trees surround the lake, whose waters are as calm as a mirror, with ripples spreading across its surface in the breeze. The towering trees and dense shrubs create a verdant sea of ​​green.

But that's all in the past.

Now, the area is filled with modern facilities and billowing dust. Roxon Industries bought the land, intending to fill in the lake and clear the woodland. It has become a construction site.

Cranes, bulldozers, and excavators surrounded the woodland, excavators continuously blasted away mud and sand, and workers' vehicles loaded with sand and gravel were constantly dumped into the pits.

The foreman, wearing a hard hat and with tanned skin, was drawn to the old man's shouts and frowned slightly.

"here we go again"

He stepped forward and patted the shoulders of the two staff members who were blocking the elderly man from entering the cordoned-off area.

"You all step back, I'll handle this."

The foreman stopped the old man and said impatiently, "Why are you here again? I told you yesterday that I wouldn't be so polite next time."

"No, you don't understand," the old man said emotionally. "This is a cursed jungle, and it has been so for a long time."

Long ago, there was a swamp here, a swamp that buried evil! Many years ago, a notorious drug lord from this city slumbered here because his heinous acts had angered the swamp god!

This has been a long-standing custom among the local residents; no one dares to pass through here at night, because we all know that the swamp god dwells here.

"Forget it," the foreman interrupted impatiently. "Listen, old man. Here's the thing: our deadline is already tight, and now there's a suspected unidentified environmental terrorist eyeing the project."

So we're all under a lot of pressure right now and don't have the time or inclination to listen to your boring urban legends. If you're sensible, this would be the last time you bother us here.

Otherwise, don't blame me for not warning you.

A piercing noise interrupted him, followed by an unsettling roar. The foreman, startled, turned around: "What's going on?"

"It seems there's something wrong with the drilling rig."

The foreman, temporarily disregarding the elderly man, quickly went over to check on the situation.

"It seems to be a problem with the hydraulic system. We'll have to take it apart to find out what's wrong."

The machine's outer casing was removed, exposing the structure beneath. But what appeared beneath the casing left everyone stunned.

It's grass.

Or to be more precise, various grass-like plants had somehow spread and crawled into the equipment, now extending out from the gaps in the machine.

"This is unbelievable!"

The foreman muttered something, then suddenly heard a scream from behind him.

Everyone turned around and saw a worker being dragged into the darkness without warning, his legs entangled, and he disappeared without a trace.

"What's going on?!" the foreman asked in astonishment.

The lights went out the next moment.

The jungle launched a counterattack.

Tentacle-like tendrils pierced through the darkness, their domineering force engulfing everyone present and dragging them into the darkness without warning. The ground cracked, unknown plants sprouted from the earth, excavators were overturned, sparks flew from the equipment, and cables were severed in two.

The sounds of heavy objects falling, explosions, and workers' screams filled the air. In an instant, plants covered the entire area, and the construction site was in complete chaos.

The old man huddled in the corner, watching as figures darted out from the plants and flew about, and he couldn't help but tremble.

"I warned you. I warned you a long time ago."

Midtown.

"So, are you sure you've traveled through time?"

In a coffee shop in Midtown, Shen You looked at Barry suspiciously across the table.

"At least 90 percent sure, 870 percent is more like it, no less," Barry said confidently.

"Tell me, what happened?"

Shen You picked up his coffee and took a sip, quickly concluding in his mind that it wasn't as good as his own.

"Okay. Phew. It's good to have someone to talk to about this. I really have no one else to share this with." Barry took a deep breath and said, "Well, you know, I've been trying lately, um, to use my talents to help people and stuff."

Then recently, some guys with superpowers have started appearing in Midtown. One of them was the one I encountered yesterday; he can control the weather and calls himself a "weather wizard."

Shen You recognized this guy; he seemed to be a member of the classic Flash fan club, the "Rogues." However, he didn't actually rely on superpowers, but rather on a high-tech device called the "Weather Wand," created by a scientist named Clyde, which was later stolen by the Weather Wizard.

"In short, I cornered the weather wizard, and he decided to fight back. Then the weather wizard unleashed his power—I'd never seen him use such strength before. He wanted to trigger a tsunami to flood Midtown. Although I found him and knocked him unconscious, it was too late; the tsunami was unstoppable."

"But obviously I don't have your strength, I can't push it back. So I came up with an idea."

"You run along the coastline as fast as you can, trying to create a wall of wind to push it back, right?" Shen You said.

Barry looked surprised: "How...how did you know?"

"Just a guess."

Shen You recalled that there was a similar plot in the first season of the American TV series "The Flash". It was Barry's first time traveling through time. At that time, the Flash was still a rookie. He ran as fast as he could to push back the tsunami, but accidentally rushed into the time tunnel. When he came out, it was already a day earlier.

"Yes, I knew the weather wizard's location a day in advance after I came back and managed to control him, but I still think it's impossible. I may be fast, but I can't be faster than light."

"That's hard to say," Shen You said. "Perhaps the situation was urgent, and you pushed your limits without realizing it. Or perhaps it was just your instincts that triggered a hidden characteristic of the Speed ​​Force."

Different versions of the story have different settings regarding The Flash's time travel. Sometimes the setting requires him to travel faster than light, but in some TV series, it's not necessary.

Shen You was not present at the time and lacked data, so he could not draw conclusions before conducting further research.

"We might need to do some testing, or it would be great if we could find a way to extract and store the Speed ​​Force energy from your running for research."

"Like a treadmill?" Barry suggested.

"That's right, just like a treadmill, you're very smart." Shen You smiled.

He hadn't had much contact with time manipulation back in the Land of Light, but understanding the laws governing time was quite important for him in DC. Because of the existence of the Speedsters, DC's time manipulation was far more outrageous than Marvel's.

Understanding how these rules work is not only an essential skill, but also a means of self-preservation during those dazzling time crises later on.

And in the entire DC universe, the person who can help him master this knowledge more quickly is definitely Barry in front of him.

The device called the "Cosmic Treadmill" is an indispensable artifact in this world. It is specially designed for The Flash and can store, amplify, and release the Speed ​​Force. It can even be manually set to travel to a specific timeline, a specific point in time, or lock onto a specific parallel universe, allowing The Flash to run to any dimension and any spacetime at a sufficiently high speed.

During the major event of the Justice League versus the Avengers, the third Flash even successfully used the Cosmic Treadmill to run through the DC Universe's blockade, the Origin Wall, and to the Marvel Universe.

As they were talking, Shen You had already added the device to his to-do list.

The list is already quite long.

"But there's one thing you need to know," Shen You said solemnly, "Even if you successfully master this technique, it's a move that you absolutely cannot use casually."

Time travel is an extremely dangerous undertaking. Disrupting the laws of time can cause a series of problems; even the slightest alteration to the past can lead to devastating consequences.

"The butterfly effect, I understand that." Barry nodded repeatedly.

"It's not just that," Shen You said. "It might cause a series of other troubles, but I'll tell you about them during the research process."

The most famous event caused by The Flash, "Flashpoint," nearly destroyed the world. Even though he later reversed the changes to the past and tried his best to keep history unchanged, it still resulted in a complete reshuffling and reboot of the main universe's setting.

Many heroes died because of this, many never even existed, and many origin stories were changed as a result.

Not to mention that time travel is also dangerous for the speedsters themselves. There's a chance that time travel will attract the attention of the "Time Wraith," a spirit that dwells in the Speed ​​Field and specifically targets speedsters who mess with time. Theoretically, once targeted, no speedster can outrun the Time Wraith.

"Oh, sorry, just a moment, I need to take this call."

Shen You gestured to Barry and answered the phone.

It was Kara who called.

"What happened?"

"Uh, I think you might want to come back and visit." Kara sounded a little embarrassed. "There's been a bit of a plant issue here."

(End of this chapter)