Chapter 72 Chapter 72 Gathering, Magic Boys Team Building Meeting...
"Everyone's having a heated discussion on the forums... The title is also quite interesting! It's called 'Has Gotham started a Lostbelt plot?' But it's true, a lot has happened recently."
In the rental house in Blüdhaven, Li Hua leaned on the sofa and browsed his mobile phone, and did not forget to share netizens' creative ideas with Jason and Benjamin who were sitting in front of the sofa playing video games.
"You two should keep quiet. Stop acting like I'm the only one playing a one-man show. So, Jason, what do you think about you becoming a magical boy, and Benjamin, what do you think about you becoming a summoned beast, as described by Gotham netizens?"
Jason held the game controller, staring intently at the TV screen. "What can I say? Just like that."
"You reacted so calmly?" Li Hua asked. "Although the netizen's analysis of you as the Magic Boy was almost entirely wrong, the results were almost entirely correct. Hasn't your family always been very concerned about keeping your identity confidential?"
Jason: "That person has no evidence, it's just pure speculation. And as I said before, it's not like no one has guessed Bruce is Batman over the years, but most netizens just treat it as a joke. The more people make jokes, the less likely anyone will take it seriously."
The best way to hide a tree is to hide it in a forest. Similarly, the best way to hide a post that touches on the truth is to surround it with other well-reasoned and plausible analyses.
Right now, at least hundreds of people are letting their imaginations run wild on the forums, posting endlessly about wild theories like Gotham's upcoming Witch Night and the opening of a fairytale world and lonesomes. Each analysis is neatly organized and, in a sense, plausible. With so many different and seemingly endless posts, who would even consider the veracity of any of them?
Jason: "That's it, nothing to worry about. Don't interrupt me while I'm playing the game, this is the critical moment... Ugh!"
Benjamin: "Don't die yet—it's okay. I'm dead too. Let's restart."
"Why don't you two change games? For the past hour, you've been in this endless cycle of 'you take the stage, I take the stage,' fighting to the death. The death sound effects have been perfectly integrated into the game's background music. I might not be used to hearing game background music without death sound effects from now on."
Li Hua propped himself up a little and glanced at the "Cuphead" game screen displayed on the TV screen.
"For the sake of your hearts and friendship, why don't you play It Takes Two?"
After Jason's legal status was restored, Bruce declined all media interviews with Jason on the grounds that "Jason had suffered too much trauma and was temporarily unable to appear in the public eye."
Because the effect of Li Hua's magic potion was so strong, Jason is now in better health than before his death. He doesn't look like he was "held hostage by terrorists for a year" at all, and it would be easy for outsiders to expose the truth.
Moreover, Bruce knew too well what kind of crazy questions some media people would ask in order to get leaks. When Jason first came to the Wayne family, someone asked some excessive questions because of his background. This directly led to Jason always hating to appear in occasions where he had to show his face.
Furthermore, Jason had truly experienced death. Bruce was thankful that he didn't seem to have any psychological trauma. How could he be so dissatisfied with his son's physical and mental health that he would send him out to be tortured by the media?
So now all the photos of Jason reported in the media are of Jason in the first week.
Therefore, on the night when the relevant department personnel confirmed through DNA comparison that Jason Todd was indeed Jason Todd and restored his legal identity, Bruce asked the three children to leave for Blüdhaven immediately after dinner, effectively avoiding the embarrassing situation of being blocked by reporters the next morning after the news was released.
The gaming equipment and TV that Jason and Benjamin play with now were all given by Bruce. They were specially packed using bat compression storage technology for them to take away on the day they went to Bluehaven.
Under the guise of a housewarming gift, it was actually a distraction for the three teenage idea-makers. Bruce was really frightened by their ability to pull off a prank, so the mean-spirited adults decided to take some action.
As the saying goes, old ginger is wise. After getting the game console, Li Hua and others played games for five consecutive days, except for taking turns to take care of the ice ghost cubs and patrolling at night to gain experience. They even ordered takeout for three meals a day.
Why do people need to play games? Of course, it is to pursue the excitement and fun that cannot be experienced in real life.
But there are some feelings that cannot be simulated by games and can only be experienced in reality. This is why in today's society where extreme sports games exist, the number of extreme sports enthusiasts is increasing rather than decreasing.
As a celebrity once said: If you want to pursue excitement, then pursue it to the end.
Some birds are destined to be caged, especially those that have flown freely. Just like for those who have experienced life, the desire for life is always clamoring in their body, making them pursue new excitement.
In plain words: After playing games for a few days, Li Hua felt that this life was too decadent.
So, before Jason Benjamin could start a new chapter, he raised his arms and shouted, "We can't continue to degenerate like this!"
In Bludhaven, he didn't even need any cards to deal with ordinary gangsters. The experience points given were too low. He couldn't even draw new cards in the past few days.
Benjamin: "Li Hua, I understand you. I was just bored a while ago. But there's nothing I can do lately."
He had always thought that fighting against the purely human gangsters of Blüdhaven was really boring and like bullying weaklings. After returning from Gotham, it became even more difficult.
It’s like you have the ability to challenge the elite BOSS, but you can only stay in the novice village.
"If, Li Hua, what you mean by decadence is completing daily gym training, taking care of fourteen children, and then doing a few hours of night patrols to stay up late playing games for a few hours and ordering takeout, then I have nothing to say."
Jason said.
"I know, I know. You two have experienced a more exciting life, so you think we're boring now. In fact, I think so too. But it's rare for two people to escape from Arkham in recent times. We really have nothing to do. Don't forget, in order to avoid being targeted by those psychopaths, the old man said it's best for us not to return to Gotham in the near future."
Didn't he crave excitement? The incredible experiences of the previous two weeks had already raised Jason's threshold for fun. He was craving fun now, but there was really nothing left to do, so he was so bored that he could only play games.
"If you don't agree to something, at least take a walk in a different environment," Li Hua said. "If nothing else, at least take the ice ghost pups for a walk. They spend their days either in the sun or indoors, avoiding people. They can fly the most freely in Wayne Manor, but that only allows for a slightly larger range. They can't fly too high to avoid being photographed. It's too miserable."
The Ice Ghost cubs are very energetic, but it is really pitiful that they can only move around in such a small area every day, and they cannot be exposed to any new environment.
Speaking of children, Benjamin sighed, "I want to, too, but they're alien babies and they have to be disguised when they go out. Plus, there are so many of them, it's hard to take care of them."
"Hey, who said we should take them where people live?" Li Hua said, "The Ice Ghost cubs can fly up to the sky and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun. We can be more adventurous when taking them out. We should choose uninhabited areas where there are no living people. No matter how harsh the environment on Earth is, it won't be as harsh as the sun and the universe. They can have fun in places like Lop Nur, the heart of the Sahara Desert, the Himalayas, the South Pole and the North Pole."
Jason: "But you overlooked one detail—we can't survive there either. And in this world, many 'no-man's lands' are actually 'looks like no-man's lands.' For example, there's the Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic, watchtowers floating in space, Atlantis on the ocean floor, and Paradise Island somewhere in the sea...and these are just the places I know of where the justice camp is."
"Putting these children with special abilities somewhere on Earth where we can't supervise them might not be a problem if it's on the righteous side of the world, but if there's a hidden organization there that's not aligned with us, it could very well trigger a side storyline involving the children going missing."
Even though they all knew that the probability of this "very likely" was not too high, after all, on Earth they could still let the ice ghost cubs carry things like emergency rescue devices.
But why would anyone let a baby less than a month old out of their sight, relying on the vague hope of "probability" for its safety? It's better to be safe than sorry. If something really happens, where can they go to cry?
"Then let's go to a less extreme, uninhabited area where we can stay together," Li Hua said. "The heat isn't easy to deal with, so we can choose a cold place like a snowy mountain. With some cold-weather protection, we won't be afraid of anything. We're not staying overnight there anyway, so Ben can transform and bring us back. We can take the kids out for a walk and exercise. If the Omnitrix's transformation cooldown can keep up, we can even come back and get takeout for a picnic."
"Then let's go somewhere colder. Didn't No. 666 say that before? The Nakfuji people's home planet is an extremely cold planet covered in ice and snow. Children should like places with ice and snow."
Benjamin strongly agreed with this proposal, which was somewhat challenging and fresh but not dangerous.
"We can get up tomorrow and go buy some warm clothes and snacks. After we're done, I'll check if there's any uninhabited snowy mountains. I'll take the supplies and you guys over there, then pick up the kids and we'll have a great day! It doesn't snow in my hometown of Bellwood, and Li Hua probably hasn't played in the snow much before, so we could have a great snowball fight!"
"Okay, let's go tomorrow."
Li Hua's proposal was theoretically feasible. Benjamin, the children's biological parents, agreed. Jason didn't want to be a spoiler, but he heard that the two children lacked experience in playing in the snow and was worried that they would be disappointed or catch a cold, so he reminded them.
"But with the human population surging and nearly overwhelming the Earth, places designated as 'no-man's land' must have their reasons. If it's a snowy mountain, it's likely due to low temperatures, wild animals, or something like that. Even if wild animals aren't a factor, warm clothing, ice, snow, and wind will significantly restrict movement and drain physical strength. And forget about picnics; food would quickly freeze."
"If we don't return midway, we'll need to find a safe haven to recover our strength... The things I mentioned earlier are easy to solve, but you might not have as much fun."
"Don't worry, I never meant to spoil your fun."
Li Hua grinned, stood up and slapped something on the coffee table.
"Can this be used as a safe house?"
Jason and Benjamin looked closely and saw that it was their old acquaintance [Shield] on the coffee table.
The shield had carried them across the universe, shoulder to shoulder with the sun, stopped bullets in Blüdhaven, and stopped a runaway car in Gotham. Compared to these glorious achievements, temporarily taking a break from the wind on a snowy mountain on Earth was nothing short of simple.
Jason: "You know what, this is really possible. This rest area even has a 360-degree panoramic view that you can use whenever you want."
Benjamin: "Yeah, when you get tired playing outside, you can go in and rest. With the [shield], you don't have to be so strict about where to stay. Any flat ground will do."
But Li Hua was clearly not satisfied with this. He plopped something down on the coffee table and said, "What about this?"
The two of them took another look and were speechless after seeing the new item on the coffee table.
This was because what was lying on the coffee table was the magic wand with stars that grew on a bug and could transform people at the drop of a hat. It had left psychological scars on both of them to varying degrees.
Benjamin swallowed his saliva: "Li Hua, you don't want to..."
"Anyway, no one's watching in the no-man's land, so I might as well use this buff. I learned this the other day when I was shooting around in shorts late at night. The all-around buff includes cold resistance."
Li Hua squatted down, hooked his hands around Benjamin and Jason's necks, with a determined smile on his face.
"Now tell me, with this [shield] and the transformation staff that buffs all attributes, can we have fun outdoors together?"
Benjamin murmured, "I suddenly don't dare to imagine what the scene of this event will look like."
Li Hua knew that Benjamin had not yet gotten over the psychological trauma of being forced to transform last time, so he ignored his complaints.
He firmly believed that with Benjamin's desire for numbers, as long as he truly experienced the pleasure of full bonus, Benjamin would soon be like him and Jason, abandoning his moral integrity and aesthetics to any place, and from then on have his own unique numerical aesthetics.
Li Hua: "How about we give this action a name and a slogan? I think that would be cool. Do you have any suggestions?"
Jason pondered for a long time and said slowly:
"Gather, is this a magic boys' team-building meeting?"
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The author has something to say: [Catch the bug three times]
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