The aliens who were picked up by Superman at the beginning

Chapter 196 Extra Mar

"So, we're currently in the midst of a biological crisis?"

It took Mal's bitter voice, which echoed softly in the tunnel, as he took more than ten seconds to hoist the catwoman onto his shoulder.

Since Tim was eager to go inside the Batcave to see how much useful stuff he could find, the task of carrying the bound infected catwoman into the Batcave rightfully fell to Mar.

If it were before, Mal would not have even flinched at this kind of physical labor.

But now, Mal kept turning back every few steps, his eyes fixed on the catwoman's hands, as if afraid that the dark green claws he had just seen would tear through the ropes and scratch his face.

Li Zhen looked at Ma Er with amusement. The other man's cautious demeanor made it seem as if he were carrying a bomb that could explode at any moment.

"I thought you could be even bolder?"

Mal was on the verge of tears, and his voice trembled as he spoke.

"I'm not afraid to die in a direct confrontation with thugs, Instructor!"

"But the thought of getting infected with the virus and turning into this—this irrational, screaming monster—is unbearable for me."

Mar complained under his breath.

Li Zhen guessed that among the few forms of entertainment this kid had enjoyed in the past, he must have watched quite a few American zombie movies.

So, his self-sacrificing demeanor at the Teen Titans' base meant that Mar was completely unaware of the specific events that had transpired in Gotham City.

Upon entering the Bat Cave, he acted as if he were a medieval laborer discarding a plague-infected corpse, hastily tossing the catwoman to the ground and then jumping away, slapping his shoulders repeatedly.

Tim was carrying a large pile of bottles and jars out from the depths of the bat cave when he saw Mal's appearance and gave him a helpless reminder.

"Do you want to kill the virus?"

"Of course I know this won't work."

Without even looking up, Mar jumped up and down, his hands never stopping, looking as if he wanted to take off all his clothes and burn them all to the ground.

"I just can't get over this in my mind."

Mia, who had followed Tim into the Batcave beforehand, witnessed his utterly disgusted expression.

The blonde archer girl's eyes, hidden behind her mask, dimmed slightly.

However, the Batcave was already dark, and everyone's minds were mainly focused on the crisis that was shrouding Gotham City, so apart from Li Zhen, no one noticed Mia's change.

Lee Jung knew why Mia was acting this way.

During this time, Mia and Mal clearly seemed to have developed feelings for each other, but Mal was obviously a bit introverted when it came to expressing his feelings because of his poverty.

Mia, aside from occasionally handing Mar a towel or a bottle of water, didn't do much else.

The two were like two people separated by an unbreakable window paper, and neither dared to take that step.

But having learned about the transformation of Rachel, a girl with no material possessions, no emotions, and no feelings, Li Zhen could clearly sense that Mia was simply bound by certain things and dared not express them directly.

But what specifically binds Mia—Li Zhen can only say that it's a bit hard to say.

As the instructor of the Teen Titans, and after so many days, how could Li Zhen not notice how Mia would secretly take medicine in a corner after each training session when she accidentally got injured?

Lopinavir, a protease inhibitor, is an antiretroviral drug.

In short, it's for treating AIDS.

Li Zhen had no interest in asking Green Arrow how such a young girl could contract this disease. He only knew that even though he was no longer afraid of any natural viruses on Earth, the stereotypes and fears ingrained in his soul from his past life still remained.

In order to train Mia without showing any abnormality, Li Zhen spent half a night mentally preparing herself.

As for whether Mal can accept Mia in the future, Li Zhen is too lazy to get involved.

Turning his head, he saw that Tim had already drawn a tube of dark green blood from the unconscious "Lost Cat" and was now carefully dripping a drop onto a transparent glass slide using a tubing.

Tim then very carefully fed the slide into an analyzer.

"I remember this thing can corrode mechanical objects, right?"

Tim didn't turn around, swallowed hard, and kept his eyes glued to the analyzer screen.

"Yes, but judging from the previous submarine situation, as long as the amount is controlled, the rate of virus invasion can be roughly calculated, and I only need this machine to last until the data is exported."

As the analyzer was powered on and began to emit a steady hum, Tim wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Fortunately, the bat cave is equipped with a sufficiently good ventilation and disinfection system. Currently, the total viral load inside the space is very low, and most of the scientific instruments are still usable."

Oh ~

Li Zhen nodded knowingly.

But then his gaze sharpened instantly.

If a ventilation system of sufficient value has proven to be able to resist even a near-divine creation like the "Amozo virus" for a short period of time, then how come the ventilation system inside Titan Tower couldn't even remove the sweat odor from a bunch of children?

Could it be that even Steel Bone takes kickbacks?

Unfortunately, now is not the time to pursue this matter, so Li Zhen simply kept it to herself, intending to bring it up with Steel Bone later.

Taking advantage of the brief lull in the analyzer's operation, Tim, carrying a pile of materials that Li Zhen couldn't understand, found a table, sat down, and began to make the low-temperature hand grenade he had mentioned before with his bare hands.

The technical skill required for this task seemed less than that for Tim, who had just shoved a piece of glass—a piece that could corrode an entire machine at any moment—into the analyzer.

So Tim turned around and began to examine the zombie catwoman lying on the ground.

"After Catwoman contracted the virus, she should theoretically have sought Batman's help, so why was she all alone at the entrance of Batcave 43?"

"So how exactly do you distinguish the bat cave numbers?"

"Let me guess, when the virus was first leaked, it didn't have such a huge impact."

Tim started making wild guesses again based on those tiny clues from the scene, completely ignoring Li Zhen's earlier complaint about the numbering of the Bat Cave.

"Perhaps it's possible that Catwoman initially just wanted to see Batman make a fool of himself; they always flirted like that, it was common knowledge even at Arkham Asylum—"

Tim was lost in his own world, his hands moving quickly and without pause, while his mouth kept chattering away.

"But a crisis spread in an extremely subtle and rapid way. By the time Batman noticed/or was probably already in the crisis, Catwoman realized something was wrong. She must have stubbornly helped Batman again, then contracted the virus herself. Not wanting to be a burden, she—"

Rachel sat down cross-legged and began to meditate, while Mia turned around and rummaged through another pile of materials, starting to make some tactical arrows for herself. Cassandra squatted next to Tim, staring blankly at Tim's mouth and hands, each busy with their own things.

When Ma Er realized that no one was idle around him, he looked around and turned around to find that Li Zhen was already standing at the entrance of the bat cave, with her arms crossed and her eyes slightly closed, obviously on guard against any movement outside the bat cave.

Mal was somewhat bewildered.

He seems to have suddenly become a bit free.