8mi Chapter 116 Distorted Reality
Chapter 116 Distorted Reality
Chapter 116 Distorted Reality
Although Bruce hadn't yet met the so-called "BFF, war correspondent from Constantinople" that Catwoman had mentioned, the word "reporter" was enough for him to guess who the other person was.
In a corner of the dinner party, Bruce unsurprisingly encountered someone familiar:
"Joey Joseph Kent".
Batman never expected that the other person's identity outside of Superman would be that of a war correspondent, which was much more exciting than Clark Kent's ordinary life.
"it's me."
Upon hearing Bruce's voice, Joey, who was pacing anxiously at the dessert table, suddenly turned around and leaned closer:
"So you're Bruce Wayne too?"
Their eyes met, and after confirming each other's feelings, they nodded to each other silently.
"Selena, do me a favor."
Bruce gently patted Catwoman's waist and whispered in her ear:
"Ah Fu is busy right now, could you please go to the underground wine cellar and get that bottle of Lai Yi 925?"
It was a bottle of slightly expensive tequila. In Batman's memory, there should only be one bottle in the cellar, enough to keep Selena searching for quite some time.
Before leaving, Selena rolled her eyes at Bruce, gave him a light pinch on the waist, and then reluctantly turned and left.
"This is a huge, damn problem!"
Joey immediately reached out and groped Bruce's shirt, inside and out, his actions so urgent that Bruce felt extremely uncomfortable.
"Where's the metal shard I secretly passed to you?!"
"Stop touching me!"
Sensing the tense atmosphere, Bruce quickly slapped Joey's hand away:
"I didn't even have time to grab that fragment!"
It really was just now, after all, only ten minutes had passed since they ambushed Martha the Clown.
However, in just ten short years, everything has changed dramatically.
Bruce certainly didn't have the helmet fragment; he only remembered that he couldn't grab it at the last moment, and all he could hold onto was the champagne glass he was holding now.
"The fragments must be with you, otherwise how come your memories aren't distorted? Just because you're Batman?"
After hearing this, Joey checked again and again, and finally realized in despair that the fragment was indeed not on Bruce. He immediately slapped his forehead in panic:
"Damn it, I'm definitely doomed tonight!"
Bruce was still completely in the dark; he had no idea where Superman's anxiety came from.
"Superman, what's going on here?"
"The situation is that when Martha and I were fighting over the helmet, I used too much force, and the helmet shattered on the spot, accompanied by a huge explosion of divine power."
Just thinking about this gives Joey a headache:
"I guess that explosion is what turned us into what we are today!"
The Helm of Fate that just exploded contained the divine power of Naboo, the Lord of Order. This power was strong enough to distort reality and reverse cause and effect.
For example, Joey guessed that his ability to harm Barbatos, the dragon who forged the world, with his mortal body was probably related to the fragments he had been carrying.
"That explosion probably distorted our reality, creating a world according to someone's vision!"
Upon hearing the change, Bruce realized that the Superman in front of him was slightly different from the one he had fought just over ten minutes earlier.
The other person seemed to have gotten a bit older, and their height had changed from being the same as mine to being a few centimeters taller.
He became more like another Clark Kent that he once knew.
What's even more striking is the two new scars on Joey's face. Although the scars are small and shallow, they are quite noticeable to Bruce, who knows Joey's identity.
No scar will last long on a Kryptonian.
Bruce now understood why Superman was so anxious: "Your powers are gone?!"
"It's worse than that!"
The loss of Kryptonian power was fatal enough for Joey, but what was even more devastating was that Joey discovered his memories were being split in two.
"I'm now a legendary war correspondent who survived a missile attack and even won the Pulitzer Prize!"
When Joey was filming on location on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, he was shot into the sky by a missile fired by local armed forces, which began his second life as a Kryptonian.
But now this memory has gradually changed, and at that moment, fate took two separate paths.
In his current memory, Joey survived the deadly attack in the Mediterranean, and what happened afterward is gradually fading from his mind.
The Kryptonian story is being spun out and is gradually becoming a tale of an alien child crashing in the heart of a metropolis.
Then an accident that led to his secret imprisonment.
"hiss!"
Having just explained the cause and effect of the matter, Joey felt a slight headache, which quickly turned into a piercing pain.
At that moment, he even recalled how he had managed to hold on until the rescue arrived after the bombardment.
And the acceptance speech he wrote late into the night when he later won the Pulitzer Prize.
The new world created by the explosion is gradually perfecting itself and is already optimizing away the original Joey.
"Aaaaaah! Find that fragment, Batman! Otherwise, we might be lost forever!"
Joey didn't know whether what he was experiencing was a genuine illusion or a distorted reality.
All he knew was that he desperately needed to find that fragment to correct his own and another person's memories.
Power can be regained if lost, but once memories are lost, there is no source or motivation to retrieve them.
Bruce didn't know why his memory was still so perfect; it was probably thanks to that fragment.
Whatever that fragment was, since it could pierce Doctor Fate's helmet, it must have been something extraordinary.
Thinking of this, he quickly asked:
"If the fragment isn't with me, where could it be?"
"I'm not sure, because I remember you grabbed the shards...::Ahhh!"
Veins bulged on Joey's forehead. In his current state, he couldn't tell if his memories were reliable anymore, but there was something more urgent he needed to tell Bruce:
"There's one more thing—Diana is here too, and she's acting even worse than me. Remember, you absolutely must find a way to keep her away from me!"
"Joey!"
Bruce reached out and caught Superman, who was about to fall forward due to the excruciating pain. Just as he was wondering whether to carry him to a guest room to provide some medical assistance, another familiar voice came from behind him:
"Oh my god, what's wrong with Joey?!"
It was Diana's voice.
Batman remembered what Joey had just said, so he prepared to preemptively deflect the question:
"He might have been drinking..."
Before he could finish making up his reasons, Joey, who had just been suffering from a splitting headache, suddenly stood up again as if nothing had happened.
"I'm fine, I just felt a little disoriented for a moment—maybe it's because I'm jet-lagged."
Bruce looked into Joey's eyes and realized that the other person seemed like a completely different person.
Superman has gone offline.
"Let me help you."
Diana quickly approached from behind, affectionately taking Joey's arm, and whispered something in his ear as she stood on tiptoe:
"Yes, where were we?"
Amazons are naturally tall, and when she stood next to the 1.93-meter-tall Joey in high heels, they looked like a perfect match, a match made in heaven.
Faced with this gesture, Joey was somewhat flustered and responded with a blush:
"Oh, speaking of..."
'
"Ahem!"
Bruce coughed lightly, interrupting the flirting between the couple in front of him:
"Diana, if you don't mind, could you please let me say a few more words to Joey?"
"You know my name, did Joey tell you?"
Diana smiled gently and casually pulled a business card from her business suit jacket pocket, handing it over:
"Let me introduce myself again. I am Diana Prince, Joey's girlfriend."
If you ever need help with the authentication or appraisal of any cultural relics—those with legitimate provenance—you can call me.
Bruce took the business card from Diana and stuffed it into his jacket pocket without even glancing at it.
Wonder Woman's secret identity as an appraisal expert at an antiques workshop in downtown Boston has never been a secret to Batman.
The immediate problem is that Yang Yi just told him to make sure Diana stays away from him.
Bruce needs to speak with Joey, but Diana is unwilling to let go so easily.
She gave Bruce a smile that was both aloof and polite:
"Okay, just say what you want to say."
Bruce could clearly sense that Diana disliked him in the present moment.
Even though his current identity is that of the son of Gotham's richest man and Joey's best friend.
However, considering Tommy's previous remarks and how others at the party viewed him, Bruce wasn't surprised.
No normal woman would want her partner to spend even a second more with Bruce Wayne, Gotham's most notorious playboy.
The three people present were thus caught in a strange stalemate.
Ahem? Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit off, Joey cleared his throat and was about to say a few words.
With just one look from Diana, he immediately swallowed back what he was about to say.
Bruce now understands why Superman said he was doomed tonight before he lost his memory.
And he repeatedly reminded himself to make sure Diana stayed away from him.
In this new world, they are a couple, but one of them is overly dominant.
Observing the burning gaze Diana gave Joey and the intimate gestures between the two, Bruce was quite certain of this.
If she doesn't intervene, she'll probably take Joey down right there and then after the party tonight.
Just in case, Bruce confirmed again:
"Do you remember the fragments, Joey?"
"What shrapnel? The shrapnel that got lodged in my body after the bombing?"
As expected, Batman received a completely irrelevant answer:
"Those fragments were fine long ago. Your father personally removed them. We are truly grateful to him."
"That's good."
Bruce nodded in a perfunctory manner, as if he were genuinely concerned about Joey's non-existent injury.
The new world seems perfectly reasonable in every way. Superman is a war correspondent who was once bombed by a cannonball and survived.
This explains why he has two scars on his face.
Just then, Catwoman walked over carrying the bottle of Rye 925. Annoyed, she casually tossed the entire bottle at Bruce.
"I've been looking for this bottle of lousy liquor for ages!"
Bruce's heart pounded when he saw this, and he was momentarily flustered.
If it weren't for his exceptional physical and mental fortitude as Batman, he almost wouldn't have been able to catch that bottle of three million dollars tequila.
After calling over a waiter to make a drink for all four of them, Bruce lightly clinked glasses with the "couple" across from him, ending the somewhat fruitful conversation.
"Excuse me, I must leave for a moment. Please help yourselves with drinks and food. This bottle of wine is for you two as well. Your guest rooms are upstairs. Have a good time."
As for what Joey had told him before?
Batman felt he should prioritize more important tasks, such as finding the metal fragment that also contained divine power.
What other thing did the other party tell you?
Forcibly separating them would have required a lot of talking and time.
Instead of wasting time on this, we should go find that metal fragment first.
With the fragments, we can help them regain their memories, and then everything will be fine.
If the fragment cannot be found, then you will have to activate the backup plan.
Go directly to the other party involved who was present at the time—Martha.
As for the Superman and Wonder Woman thing?
Batman chooses to temporarily set aside his desire to help others and respect their fate.