American comics: Praising the sun, starting from Gotham!

Alfred didn't even flinch.

The old butler took a handkerchief out of his coat pocket and covered his mouth and nose in advance.

"Please go ahead, Mr. Xiu En."

Ah Fu's voice was slightly muffled through the handkerchief, but the calmness inside was enough to infuriate the CFO who had worked there his whole life.

"I've checked. This lab is affiliated with Wayne Group's Innovative Agriculture Investment Division. According to the contract terms, you have the full right to conduct destructive experiments to test sample durability under my supervision."

"If Lucius has any objections, I will remind him that I also signed off on the overspending he applied for last time."

"I love the way rich people like you talk. You always manage to make disrupting someone's event sound so sophisticated and elegant."

Xiu En brought his face close to the bulletproof glass, taking one last look at the huge thing inside.

"Don't be afraid, little one, we'll take you out to bask in the sun right away."

Xiu En simply placed his right hand on the glass surface.

In just a short while, the glass cracked with a snap, leaving behind a pattern resembling a work of art.

boom!

The green nutrient solution, still faintly glowing and mixed with chemical reagents, burst forth the moment the glass shattered completely.

The acidic smell, strong enough to corrode cement, erupted quickly, but Ivy's green storm erupted even faster.

No one even saw when Ivy planted her roots in the lab floor.

Although the sunflower on Xiu En's shoulder didn't grow bigger, countless vines instantly pierced through the concrete floor, weaving a huge net in this not-so-spacious space, gently catching the enormous thing that was rushing out with the liquid.

That was indeed a flower, or rather, it used to be.

It appears that the contents of the suitcase were taken from it.

It has a huge mouth like a giant prairie flower, but the edges of its petals are all inlaid with stainless steel blades, and its green stem is covered with neural interfaces that are still flashing with electric sparks.

"Okay...it's alright now..."

Ivy's voice trembled.

The massive creature, covered in tubes and with more than half of its body made of metal, struggled briefly upon landing.

Its flower disc opened slightly, revealing rows of rotating blades inside that resembled shark teeth, but after sensing Ivy's pheromones and the warmth emanating from Xiu En that truly belonged to the "sun," it...

Its barbed tentacles slowly softened, emitting a low, mournful cry similar to that of a stranded whale.

"It tastes awful."

Xiu En did not dodge.

He reached out and pressed his hand directly onto the carnivorous plant's head, which looked grotesque due to its modifications.

A flash of golden light.

The tubes and metal probes inserted into the flower stems were pulled out one by one, as if they were nails encountering a strong magnet. Even though they were covered in green blood, the wounds healed at a speed visible to the naked eye under Xiu En's high concentration of life energy.

"Don't be too moved, Ivy."

Xiu En patted the flower head.

"This big guy is just an appetizer. The guy who just appeared on the screen is right below us now."

Xiu En licked a drop of nutrient solution that had splashed onto the corner of his mouth, spat it out in disgust, but his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"I can tell he didn't escape by subway. That musty and watery smell... Was there a canal beneath Central City before? That guy might be preparing to escape in a submarine."

"While I admire your straightforward tactic of smashing it down, perhaps we can take advantage of some loopholes in urban planning in this underground facility filled with methane and unstable structures."

Alfred gently adjusted the headset, then slid his other hand across the control panel.

Although the museum's central control screen was destroyed by an outsider, the miniature holographic projector on his wrist could still project a 3D map amidst the mess.

On the blue grid map, a flashing red dot is moving rapidly along a long-abandoned canal, but there is an extremely obvious dead end in the only way ahead.

"This is the B-7 underground reservoir, built fifty years ago for urban flood control. No matter how advanced his submarine is, as long as he is still under this land in the city center, he must pass through here to enter the sea, which is right below this base."

Afu smiled and pressed the control key that he had already hacked into, and the gate marker on the map turned red, representing a blockade.

"Ha! That's great!"

Xiu En generously showered the elegant old man with light, then turned to look at the enormous creature that was trying to shrink its thorny flowerpot into a corner.

The little guy who had just been rescued still looked a bit pitiful, but after sensing Ivy's pheromones and that damned sunshine scent on Xiu En, it actually made a purring sound like a puppy whining.

"So here's the question, Ivy."

Xiu En didn't pull it; he just squatted down, his eyes full of amusement.

"Is your extended relative planning to settle down here, or are they coming with us for some teppanyaki?"

Before Ivy could speak, the petals of the giant man-eating flower suddenly trembled, and several sharp mechanical vines pierced into the ground, uprooting the huge metal life support base.

"It said it hates the dirty water down there."

Ivy's voice carried a hint of helplessness and a deeply hidden pride.

"But I hate even more that bastard who locked it in a jar when it wasn't fully ripe. If you're planning on punching that guy, it'll provide its teeth for free."

"Deal! Ah Fu, lead the way!"

The group began to run along the emergency repair passage that had not yet collapsed.

"The target is slowing down; he should have already noticed the abnormal drop in water level."

As he ran, Afu called out the time, and even had the leisure to remind Xiuen not to step in the puddles and get his trousers dirty.

10 minute later.

Central City Underground Water Reservoir B-7.

This place is practically a huge underground temple, except that it doesn't worship gods, but rather black and smelly wastewater.

Only a few dim rays of light pierced through the overhead ventilation openings, illuminating the now completely rusted steel gate.

Rumble!

The water began to churn, and a series of murky bubbles indicated that something big was rising from beneath the surface.

It was indeed a small submarine with a very high-tech feel, although it looked more like a flattened spaceship.

The streamlined black paint, enhanced by some kind of stealth technology, makes it difficult to see even underwater, but it is clearly helpless against a solid steel gate several meters thick.

"If I were you, I would be thinking about my last words right now."

Xiu En sat there casually on the maintenance platform at the very top of the gate, his feet dangling in the air, his golden light illuminating the dark world inhabited only by rats.

"So, should we fry this thing and eat the filling, or peel off the skin and eat it as sashimi?"

He turned his head and asked how to deal with the leader's life or death.