Chapter 71: Forcing Aquaman to Sign an Unequal Treaty, Oceans Belong to Vought
Several sheets of waterproof paper floated in a shallow puddle.
The water surface was still steaming.
The silt at the edge of the puddle was baked until it was dry and cracked.
Arthur grabbed the contract with his unbroken right hand.
Water droplets slid down the paper.
The black printed font was dazzling under the sunlight.
The corners of his eyes twitched violently twice.
Arthur's chest heaved.
His breath carried the fishy smell of bloody foam.
He stared fixedly at the clauses on the paper.
[Atlantis must surrender all explored shipwreck treasures within the Four Oceans within three days, to serve as that month's maritime security deposit.]
Security fee?
This was treating the Sea Clan like blackmailed gang underlings.
Arthur's teeth grated audibly.
He continued reading downwards.
[Starting from today, forty percent of the global shipping route revenue shall be transferred to Vought Company. The Sea Clan must be responsible for channel dredging and anti-piracy work without compensation.]
Making a dignified Deep Sea warrior act as a free scavenger for land-based merchant ships?
This wasn't over yet.
The final clause.
[On the first of every month, Atlantis must exclusively supply fifty tons of top-tier deep-sea ingredients to the top floor of Vought Tower, including but not limited to Kraken steaks and various rare seafood.]
Act as a cook? Act as a delivery driver?
Supply that tyrant's cafeteria?
This was no longer ceding territory and paying reparations.
This was tearing off the face of the Atlantis royal family and throwing it on the ground to be trampled like a rag.
"This is going too far!"
A roar squeezed out from Arthur's throat.
He exerted force with his fingers.
His nails dug into the paper.
Wanting to tear this contract that trampled the Sea Clan's dignity into the mud into pieces.
Just at this moment.
"Bang."
A casual muffled sound.
The toe of Shen Che's leather shoes lightly tapped on the ten-meter-high undersea rock directly above Arthur's head.
This rock had been tempered under deep-sea high pressure for tens of thousands of years.
Harder than steel.
But under this casual tap by Shen Che, the rock, starting from the point of contact, directly turned into grayish-white powder without any warning.
Several thousand tons of weight disintegrated in mid-air.
The stone powder fell like a small avalanche, scattering all over the heads of Arthur and Mera.
covering the green scales on Arthur's shoulders.
Arthur's hand froze.
The paper trembled in his hand.
The sound of tearing came to an abrupt halt.
He raised his head.
Looking at the giant rock that had vanished instantly, looking at the fluttering stone powder,
his Adam's apple rolled up and down with difficulty.
Swallowing a mouthful of bloody saliva.
That bloody spirit of resistance, in front of this kick, was crushed to pieces like a joke.
If he didn't sign, the next thing to shatter into powder would be the final barrier of Atlantis City.
"Sign it, Arthur."
Mera crawled over from the scalding muddy water hands and feet.
The green tight bodysuit on her body was stained by the muddy water so that its original color was indistinguishable.
Her long red hair was plastered wetly across her face.
She rushed to Arthur's side.
Her hands pressed tightly onto Arthur's hand holding the contract.
Tears mixed with the mud prints on her face fell down, dripping onto the waterproof paper.
"There are still millions of people in the city. We can't all die in boiling water just for dignity."
Mera's voice was hoarse, exuding endless despair.
She forced the special waterproof signature pen from her briefcase forcefully between Arthur's blood-stained fingers.
Arthur's hand trembled so much he couldn't hold the pen.
The pen tip scratched several messy black lines on the paper.
He looked at his wife's pale face, looking at the seawater still steaming white above his head.
He, this king, had truly reached the end of his reign today.
Arthur bit the tip of his index finger.
Beads of blood oozed out.
He pressed his bloody fingerprint heavily onto the signature area on the last page of the document.
The edges of the fingerprint were pressed blurrily with force.
Signing the name that represented humiliation.
After Arthur finished signing, his entire body felt like its bone marrow had been sucked dry.
His head slammed heavily into the muddy water, and he closed his eyes.
This ocean would no longer belong to the Sea Clan from this moment on.
Shen Che bent down.
Two slender fingers picked up the blood-stained contract.
Shaking off the mud spots attached to it.
"Cooperate earlier, and this ocean could be a bit cooler."
He rolled up the contract and stuffed it into the inner pocket of his suit.
He didn't look again at the couple lying on the seafloor like mud.
Shen Che slightly bent his legs.
A sonic boom cloud exploded at the bottom of the dried-up trench.
The white shirt turned into an afterimage, shooting straight up into the clouds.
Splashes of water were blown away by the shockwave.
Shen Che left this boiling Atlantic Ocean.
Two hours later.
New York, top floor of Vought Tower.
President's office.
Shen Che sat behind the obsidian desk.
He threw the contract with the bloody handprint onto the desktop.
"Crack."
The crisp sound of paper slapping against the stone surface.
Public Relations Director Ashley stood beside the desk, looking at that document, palms sweating profusely.
"Issue a global announcement."
Shen Che leaned back against the chair, fingers tapping on the armrests.
"Starting from today, seventy percent of the water areas on Earth belong to Vought Company."
"All ships running on the sea, if they don't pay the toll, can just be submarines."
Ashley nodded repeatedly, hugging the file and jogging all the way out of the office.
Her heels stepped out rapid drumbeats on the hallway carpet.
Earth's water areas, coupled with land insurance business, this World was already tightly enveloped by this huge capital net.
Shen Che picked up the black coffee on the desk.
Took a sip. It was a bit cold.
He turned his head, looking outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
On the streets of Manhattan, a heavy armored cash transport truck painted with the Vought Company logo was slowly driving along Fifth Avenue.
That was the Supreme VIP insurance cash paid by the wealthy of Metropolis, collected just today.
Two full trucks of Franklins.
Suddenly, an irritating red lightning tore through the air of Fifth Avenue without warning.
The red light was so fast that even the retina could not capture it.
Leaving only a scorched tire mark and a pungent ozone smell in the air.
The red light circled around the heavy armored cash transport truck once.
"Whoosh."
The cash transport truck that was originally driving normally vanished into thin air in full view of the public.
Not even a screw was left behind.
The street only left a gust of wind, blowing over the trash cans on the roadside.
Passersby stood dumbfounded in place, rubbing their eyes, thinking they were hallucinating.
In the office on the one hundred and twelfth floor,
Shen Che put down the coffee cup in his hand.
The bottom of the cup clinked against the obsidian desktop, making a muffled clack.
He looked at the vanishing trajectory of the red lightning outside the window.
A trace of dangerous chill slowly emerged in the depths of his pitch-black eyes.
Another blind fool.
On this Planet that had already been priced by him,
Daring to rob his money.
Chapter 72 Flash Awakens the Speed Force, Thinking He is Invincible
A heavy armored truck vanished into thin air.
On the asphalt road of Fifth Avenue, only a two-finger-wide scorched black Mark was left behind.
That was a tire track scorched by the high temperature generated from extreme-speed friction.
The air was permeated with a pungent smell of ozone, like a thunderstorm had just passed.
Passersby stood dumbfounded on the street, holding their newly bought coffee, forgetting to drink.
The security convoy slammed on the brakes in the middle of the road. The tires slipped, emitting a harsh screech.
One second ago, two trucks full of Franklins were still there.
One second later, not even a scrap of sheet metal was left.
Central City.
An abandoned warehouse in the suburbs.
Light leaked through the warehouse roof. Dust danced in the shafts of light.
Barry Allen wore a dark red anti-friction bodysuit, with a yellow lightning symbol printed on his chest.
He stood in the center of the warehouse. Parked beside his feet was the heavy armored truck of the Vought Company.
White smoke was still rising from the front hood of the car due to the movement at extreme speed.
Barry panted heavily.
His chest rose and fell rapidly, not because he was tired, but because of extreme excitement.
He could hear the sound of his own heartbeat, like a motor running at ultra-high frequency.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
Blood rushed through his blood vessels like boiling water.
He spread his hands and looked at his palms.
A trace of red electric arc leaped across his fingertips, emitting a faint crackling sound.
That was the Speed Force.
A cosmic energy that had just awakened not long ago, enough to span the dimensions of time and space.
This power intoxicated him.
In this state, the entire World in his eyes was as slow as a lagging slideshow playing right then.
Half an hour ago.
He saw the news on the dilapidated television in the warehouse.
The solar flare of Metropolis was blown out by a puff of cold air.
The gangsters of Gotham were so scared they didn't dare to go out.
The president of the Vought Company named Shen Chepriced all the seas and land of Earth.
"Pay money, and live. Don't pay, and die."
Shen Che's voice inside the television was icy.
Barry was sitting on the broken sofa at the time, crushing the cola can in his hand.
He felt those superheroes were too cowardly.
That iron can holding a shield, that Amazon woman wielding a sword, and that big fool.
Why did they lose?
Because they were too slow.
In Barry's view, what was the use of having great strength? If you couldn't hit the target, strength was just a decoration.
And he possessed the Speed Force.
In this World, no one could touch even a corner of his clothes.
He wanted to, in front of all humanity and in the most comical way,
fiercely humiliate this lofty plutocratic tyrant,
and dismantle the bullshit authority of the Vought Company.
Just now on Fifth Avenue, he had moved that eight-ton armored truck here in only a tenth of a second.
Without causing any sonic boom.
Because the Speed Force enveloped him, breaking the conventional laws of air resistance.
Barry jumped in place twice.
The tendons at his ankles were full of elasticity.
He transformed into a red Flash, rushing out of the abandoned warehouse.
His target was the Vought patrol team on the streets of Manhattan.
Three blocks away.
Twelve fully armed security personnel of the Vought Company were patrolling with riot shields raised.
Black uniforms. The automatic rifles in their hands were loaded with live ammunition.
Walking with great swagger amidst the fearful gazes of passersby.
A red light flashed.
Barry cut into the Speed Force space.
The footsteps of the surrounding pedestrians stagnated in mid-air, and the action of the pigeon flapping its wings froze.
The leather boots of the security personnel were suspended half an inch off the ground.
Barry hummed a tune and whistled.
Walking up to the first security guard.
He extended his finger, with red light flickering at his fingertip.
Casually unloaded the magazine of the automatic rifle and poured the bullets inside one by one into the trash can.
Then.
He squatted down.
Tied the left and right shoelaces of these twelve security guards tightly together.
After finishing all this, he even had time to grab a hot dog just squeezed with mustard from the hot dog stand nearby.
Took a bite.
The red light flashed again.
Barry withdrew from the Speed Force space and stood back on a fire hydrant half a street away.
Time resumed its flow.
"Thud! Thud!"
The muffled sounds of a chain reaction of falling to the ground exploded on the street.
The twelve Vought security guards had just taken their next step when their shoelaces tripped over each other.
Like a row of dominoes, they clattered down and ate dirt.
The riot shields slammed onto the asphalt road, producing a loud clanging sound.
Passersby were stunned.
Immediately after, irrepressible roaring laughter burst out.
The security guards scrambled up from the ground with flushed faces, reaching for their guns.
Touching empty gun barrels. All the bullets were gone.
Their dignity was swept into the dirt.
Barry stood on the fire hydrant and swallowed the hot dog in his mouth.
He felt great.
This feeling of teasing power was even more thrilling than running faster than bullets.
He raised his head.
His gaze crossed a few skyscrapers and locked onto the tallest building in the center of Manhattan.
Vought Tower.
Top floor. One hundred and twelfth floor. President's office.
"Just this little prank is not enough."
Barry grinned, revealing a row of white teeth, smiling somewhat mischievously.
"Got to leave a souvenir for that big boss."
He was going to rush into the top floor and right on the forehead of that self-proclaimed invincible tyrant,
use a black marker to draw a big turtle.
Red light exploded under his feet.
Barry's figure instantly vanished from the street.
Like a red band of light, he sprinted straight up along the glass curtain wall of Vought Tower.
Gravity lost its effect on him.
The height of one hundred and twelve floors.
The red lightning ran around the top floor of the building for a full three circles.
Looking for the most suitable point of entry.
Finally, he stopped outside that agarwood double door.
The door was locked.
Barry didn't push the door open.
His body lowered slightly, and his frequency began to skyrocket.
The Speed Force covered his whole body, and molecular vibration initiated.
His body became translucent and ethereal.
This was an advanced application of the Speed Force, synchronizing his own molecular frequency with the obstacle,
thereby directly penetrating solid objects.
Barry stepped forward.
Like passing through a layer of water curtain, he penetrated that thick agarwood door without any obstruction.
He entered the president's office.
The office was very quiet.
Sunlight shone in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, hitting the obsidian desk.
Shen Che sat in the leather swivel chair.
He lowered his head, flipping through the unequal treaty just taken from Aquaman in his hands.
The collar of his white shirt was open.
Barry cut into the Speed Force perspective.
The World stopped once more.
The dust floating outside the window was frozen in mid-air.
Shen Che's fingers flipping the pages stagnated.
Even the hot steam rising from the coffee cup on the table stopped in mid-air like a solid.
Barry pulled out a black thick-tipped marker from his pocket.
Uncapped it.
With a smug smile, stepping on the Persian carpet, he swaggered around the desk.
Walking up to Shen Che.
This man who made the entire World tremble was now, in his eyes, like an immobile wooden figure.
"Silver Age Superman?"
Barry curled his lips.
"Nothing much. The reaction is too slow."
He raised the marker in his hand.
Extended his finger, preparing on Shen Che's stern face, right in the center of that smooth forehead,
to draw an ugly turtle.
The tip of the marker was less than half an inch away from Shen Che's glabella.
He could even smell the pungent alcohol scent of the ink.
Right at this moment.
The smile on Barry's face suddenly froze.
He saw.
In his own absolutely static Speed Force space,
Shen Che's pitch-black eyes that had originally been staring at the contract,
slowly, yet irresistibly,
turned over,
directly meeting Barry's gaze.
That was a pair of temperatureless eyes.
There was no confusion caused by the World stopping.
Only an icy coldness as if looking at a dead person.
Barry's heart violently twitched.
A layer of fine goosebumps instantly exploded across his scalp.
This is impossible!
In the Speed Force space, even photons would slow down. How could anyone be able to turn their eyeballs?
But those eyes were indeed looking at him.
Chapter 73 Barry Allen tried to tease me, only to be locked in place with a single glance.
The distance was only half an inch.
The tip of the marker was almost touching Shen Che's glabella.
In Barry Allen's Speed Force perspective.
The entire World was pressed with an absolute pause button.
On the obsidian desk, the steam rising from that cup of black coffee froze in mid-air.
Like a lump of grayish-white solid cotton.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
A gray pigeon flying across the sky of Manhattan had its wings rigidly spread, hovering in the thick clouds.
Time. This shackle that binds all things.
Lost its meaning in front of Barry.
The corners of Barry's mouth were about to split to his ears.
The smile on his face was smug and mischievous.
Like a bad student who successfully hacked into the principal's computer and changed his report card.
He was already starting to fantasize in his head that after releasing the Speed Force later.
This high-and-mighty chaebol tyrant, with a turtle on his forehead.
When facing those subordinates and cameras, what a comical and humiliating scene it would be.
That would definitely top the Twitter trending search list.
"Stand nicely. Don't move, oh."
Barry muttered in a tone only he could hear.
Exerting force with his right wrist.
The thick tip of the marker.
Aimed at Shen Che's smooth forehead, preparing to draw the first stroke.
Suddenly.
The pen in Barry's hand stopped.
The smile on his face instantly froze in his muscles.
Even stiffer than that hovering pigeon outside.
He saw an incredible scene.
In an absolute stillness space like the Speed Force that leaves even the speed of light behind.
Shen Che's pair of dark pupils that were originally lowered, looking at Aquaman's contract on the table.
Moved.
No sound of wind. No afterimage.
That was the rotation of pure physical eyeballs.
Slow. Smooth.
Yet it carried a terrifying sense of oppression that even the Speed Force could not stop.
Little by little.
Turned over.
Directly, and precisely. Met Barry's gaze.
Two gazes collided in the air less than a foot apart.
No anger. No astonishment from being ambushed.
Shen Che's gaze was as cold as a dry well that hadn't seen the Sun for thousands of years.
Lifeless, yet seeing through everything.
He was looking at Barry. Looking clearly.
Barry's heart violently twitched.
As if tightly gripped by someone with rusty iron pliers.
Blood flowed backward in his blood vessels.
This is impossible!
Thousands of thoughts flashed through Barry's brain in an instant.
The Speed Force is a Universe-level energy.
It transcends conventional physics.
In this space.
Even the brainwaves of superhumans would stagnate.
How could anyone possibly move their eyeballs?
How could anyone keep up with his thinking?
But he didn't know.
Standing in front of him was not some ordinary superhuman.
It was Silver Age Superman who loaded the Silver template.
On this monster's panel.
The concept of speed had no upper limit.
The Speed Force's pride of "fast".
In front of Silver Age Superman's perverted neural reaction speed.
It was like an old green-skin train wanting to compare acceleration with a light-speed spaceship.
Shen Che's pure biological functions. Forcefully.
Squeezed a crack out of Barry's Speed Force space.
He came in.
With his physical body, he walked into this time-frozen domain.
Not only did he come in.
Shen Che's pitch-black eyes. Even under Barry's gaze.
Narrowed slightly.
This was not an illusion.
This was a kind of teasing before a cat catches a mouse.
Barry felt his scalp go numb.
Fear was like tens of thousands of poisonous ants.
Crawling wildly up his spine all the way to the back of his head.
A fine layer of goosebumps burst across his scalp.
That sense of superiority that had just intoxicated him, playing the World in the palm of his hand.
Shattered into slag under this glance.
He knew he had provoked the wrong person.
This was simply not an opponent he could tease.
Run.
This was the only thought left in Barry's mind.
He abruptly pulled back his hand. The marker slipped from his fingers.
Falling into mid-air. Hovering.
The muscles in his legs instantly erupted with maximum power.
The red lightning at the soles of his feet was blindingly bright, even carrying a trace of blue light caused by energy overload.
Turn around.
He was going to run deep into the timeline.
Run back to the past. Run out of this terrifying dimension locked by Shen Che.
As long as he stepped across the time barrier, he would be safe.
His right foot had just lifted.
His body hadn't even had time to turn halfway.
At the back of his neck. A sharp pain suddenly came.
Not a dull pain from being hit by something.
But a cold, pliers-like oppression.
Firmly locked onto his cervical spine.
Chapter 74 You think the Speed Force is fast? I grab your neck with one hand.
"Crack."
The cervical vertebra let out an unbearable crisp snap.
This sound in the dead Speed Force space was so clear it made one's teeth ache.
Barry's body stiffened in a half-turned posture.
That cold pressure came from the back of his neck.
Shen Che's five fingers. Spread open. Like a hydraulic clamp with locked welded joints.
Firmly jammed Barry's neck.
His thumb pressed against the carotid artery, and his four fingers hooked the cervical bone.
Barry's eyes bulged. Bloodshot veins instantly crawled all over the whites of his eyes.
His proud speed, under this single grab.
Like a machine whose power cord was forcibly unplugged, came to a halt.
But he was not resigned. The Speed Force was still running wildly inside his body.
"Zizhi—Pop!"
Dark red lightning burst from the surface of Barry's body.
Like thousands of crazed poisonous snakes. Along the arm where Shen Che was pinching his neck.
Frenziedly scurrying upward.
High-energy electric arcs crackled in the air.
This was the backlash of the Speed Force. Enough to electrocute an armored vehicle into molten iron.
The electric arc darted onto the cuff of Shen Che's white shirt.
No burning firelight. No smell of scorched fabric.
Not even a single thread was burned through.
The red lightning struck Shen Che's skin. Just like crashing into an invisible insulating high wall.
Bounced off directly. Dispersing into dots of red light.
This Universe energy capable of destroying matter. To Silver Age Superman, it wasn't even considered static sparks.
Barry's body of over two hundred pounds. Was lifted up by Shen Che with a single arm.
Feet leaving the ground.
The dark-red anti-friction boots kicked wildly in mid-air.
Barry desperately pedaled his legs.
His thigh muscles expanded due to high-speed operation. The battle suit was stretched tight.
He ran out of afterimages in the air.
Red lightning gathered into a ball of light at the soles of his feet, trying to use this propulsion to break free from Shen Che's iron hand.
Useless.
Shen Che's arm didn't even shake a bit.
As steady as Mount Tai.
Shen Che looked coldly at Barry hanging in mid-air.
Just like looking at a hamster running endlessly on a treadmill.
No matter how fast you run, once the treadmill is turned off, aren't you still running in place.
"Have you played enough?"
Shen Che spoke.
The voice echoed in the Speed Force space. Carrying a muffled metallic texture.
These simple four words.
Were like a heavy hammer. Smashing fiercely against Barry's eardrums.
Shen Che's wrist exerted a slight force.
Five fingers retracted inward.
The strength didn't need to be too great, only one-ten-thousandth of the Silver panel.
But just this one-ten-thousandth.
To the Speed Force space, it was a dimensionality-reduction destruction.
"Crack—!"
Like a huge glass curtain wall being hit by a heavy object.
The entire static space. Under the strength of Shen Che's grab.
Collapsed with a bang.
Fragments of space-time peeled off piece by piece around the two of them.
Time resumed its passage.
That hovering gray pigeon outside the window suddenly flapped its wings and drilled into the clouds.
The heat in the coffee cup on the table continued to float upward leisurely.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling window. The sound of traffic and honking in Manhattan. Poured back into the office.
The two returned to the normal physical dimension.
Shen Che pulled Barry in front of him.
The distance was very close.
Barry could see Shen Che's deep black pupils. There were no emotional fluctuations inside.
"You think that just because you are fast, you can tease me?"
Shen Che's voice was so cold it dropped ice slag.
"What's the use of running fast."
He sneered. Carrying extreme contempt.
"When caught."
"Aren't you still just a weak chicken who can't even struggle."
Barry's face had already turned purplish-red from holding his breath.
Oxygen couldn't get into his lungs. The cervical vertebra made a painful moan under Shen Che's fingers.
He wanted to beg for mercy. Opening his mouth, he could only make a hiss like an old bellows.
Shen Che couldn't be bothered to listen to this pitiful panting anymore.
Hand loosened.
Barry like a tattered sandbag.
Smashed heavily onto the Persian rug.
"Bang."
Dust rose.
Barry covered his neck and coughed violently on the ground.
His lungs greedily inhaled air. Tears mixed with saliva flowed down his chin.
He struggled to get up.
Shen Che did not give him a chance.
He stood in front of Barry.
Raised his right foot wearing a hand-customized black leather shoe.
The toe of the shoe aimed at Barry's knee joint which was still slightly trembling.
Chapter 74: You think the Speed Force is fast? I grab your neck
Barry's triumph in his eyes completely froze.
That black marker held in mid-air was less than half an inch away from Shen Che's brows.
He could even smell the alcohol evaporating from the ink.
But he couldn't push it down anymore.
Shen Che's dark, heavy eyes were staring right at him across this half-inch distance.
There was no passage of time.
There was no airflow.
This was supposed to be the absolute stillness domain belonging to the Speed Force.
Barry's heart was gripped fiercely by a cold, large hand.
His scalp tingled.
A chill surged straight up his spine to his crown.
There was only one thought left in his mind: escape.
His right heel exerted sudden force.
Dark red lightning instantly wrapped all over his body.
He wanted to run into the timeline.
He wanted to escape this unreasonable monster.
His body had just turned halfway.
"What are you running for."
Shen Che's flat voice directly sounded in the Speed Forcespace.
This was not the vibration of vocal cords.
This was the forced interference of high-dimensional power on low-dimensional space.
The next second.
An irresistible gripping force, like a welded titanium alloy hydraulic clamp.
Clamped tightly onto the back of Barry's neck.
"Click."
The cervical vertebrae emitted a teeth-aching grinding sound.
Barry's feet instantly left the ground.
His weight of over two hundred pounds was lifted into mid-air by Shen Che with one hand.
"Buzz— Crack!"
The self-protection mechanism of the Speed Force erupted roaringly.
Tens of thousands of crimson electric arcs gushed out from within Barry's body.
Like mad vipers, they frantically darted upward along the arm with which Shen Che was pinching his neck.
This high-energy current was enough to melt a huge hole into the deck of an aircraft carrier.
But the electric arcs hit Shen Che's white shirt.
Without even a trace of scorching smell coming out.
The red light was bounced away by the absolute force field half an inch outside Shen Che's body surface, shattering into sparks all over the ground.
"Let... Let go..."
Barry grabbed Shen Che's arm tightly with both hands, desperately trying to pry it away.
Because of excessive force, his ten fingers had their nails directly curled back and bleeding.
It was useless.
That arm didn't even have a trace of trembling.
He frantically pedaled his legs in mid-air.
His legs stepped out afterimages that naked eyes couldn't capture.
Red lightning converged at the soles of his feet into a thrust light cluster.
Under the blessing of the Speed Force, he tried to use kinetic energy exceeding the speed of light to break free from this hand.
Shen Che looked at him coldly.
Just like looking at a headless fly that had fallen into a glass bottle and was struggling futilely.
"You think in your World, you are a god?"
Shen Che's wrist turned imperceptibly.
His five fingers tightened inward by a fraction.
This was not ordinary exertion.
This was the dimensionality-reduction compression of this space by the Silver Age Superman panel.
"Crack!"
A crisp cracking sound exploded around the two of them.
It wasn't that the bones were broken.
It was the Speed Force space that shattered.
Like a mirror hit by a heavy hammer.
Under this grab by Shen Che, the stationary dimension collapsed roaringly.
Time began to flow again.
The gray pigeons outside the window fluttered their wings and drilled into the clouds.
The steam from the coffee on the obsidian table continued to float upward.
The hustle and bustle of the New York streets poured into the office through the crack of the door.
Barry was forcibly pulled back to real time.
Shen Che dragged him in front of himself.
The distance was close enough to feel Barry's heavy nasal breathing due to hypoxia.
"No matter how fast you run, what's the use."
Shen Che's voice was so cold it dropped ice slag, carrying condescending contempt.
"You've been caught."
He twitched the corner of his mouth.
"Aren't you still a weak chicken that can't even struggle?"
Barry's face was held back into a purplish-red.
His whites of the eyes were crawling with bloodshot veins.
He opened his mouth like a fish out of Water, only able to make a hissing sound like an old bellows.
His pride-worthy speed, his little mischievous cleverness.
In front of this iron hand, became a complete joke.
Shen Che let go with disgust.
"Bang."
Barry slammed heavily onto the Persian rug like a tattered sandbag.
He covered his neck with both hands, coughing violently on the ground, tears mixed with saliva flowing all over the floor.
He wanted to get up, wanted to activate the Speed Forceand run again.
But before he had time to bend his knees.
Shen Che was already standing in front of him.
That right foot wearing handcrafted custom black leather shoes slowly raised up.
The toe of the shoe coldly aimed at Barry's still-trembling knee joint.
Chapter 75: Breaking the Flash's legs, the World does not need so many heroes
The sole of the black leather shoe fell with a dull rush of wind.
No extra movements. No buildup.
Just like a person walking down the road, casually crushing a beetle blocking the way with a kick.
"Snap."
"Snap."
Two teeth-grating crisp sounds burst out one after another in the office covered with a Persian carpet.
Barry Allen's knee joints were directly flattened by the stomp.
This was not an ordinary fracture.
Silver Age Superman's absolute strength directly pierced through the molecular structure the moment it touched the kneecaps.
The hard meniscus, ligaments, and even the tough periosteum modified by the Speed Force.
Were forcibly ground into fine bone powder at the atomic level.
The Speed Force's proud ultra-high-speed self-healing function.
Completely crashed in the face of this violence of dimensional reduction strikes.
No cell repair. No red light flashing.
Only two lower legs that looked like soft noodles, presenting a bizarre reverse bend.
After two seconds of silence.
Barry's brain finally received the nerve signals from his legs.
"Ah——!!!"
The screeching and splitting scream instantly tore through the air of the CEO's office.
This sound was so loud that even the sound of the wind outside the window was drowned out.
Barry hugged his crippled legs tightly with both hands.
The whole person thrashed wildly on the carpet like a live fish thrown on dry land.
The dark red battle suit was soiled with dust.
Tears mixed with snot covered his distorted face.
He was in so much pain that he banged his head on the floor.
"Bang. Bang."
His forehead was bruised and broken. Blood flowed down the bridge of his nose.
The heaviest injury he had ever suffered in his life was just breaking his arm while running.
This pain of bones being forcibly ground into powder directly burned through his sanity.
Shen Che withdrew his right foot.
He lowered his eyelids and glanced at a bit of blood foam stained on the toe of his shoe.
He pulled out a white tissue from the tissue box on the desk.
He bent down and wiped the edge of his leather shoes leisurely.
The action was elegant, exuding an undisguised disgust.
Barry was still rolling on the ground. His throat was already hoarse, and he could only make a leaky roar.
"Why..."
Barry twitched all over in pain, his fingers scratching several deep marks on the expensive carpet.
"I just... just tied their shoelaces..."
He stared with bloodshot eyes, looking at Shen Che.
He just wanted to make a joke and play a prank.
For a prank, he directly crippled his legs?
He didn't understand this bottomless cruelty.
Shen Che casually threw the dirty tissue used to wipe his shoes onto Barry's face.
The paper ball hit Barry's bleeding nose and bounced off.
"Tying shoelaces."
Shen Che's voice was very calm, like reading a boring financial report.
"Those are my security guards. That is the face of the Vought Company."
He put his hands back into his suit trousers pockets, looking down at the cripple on the ground.
"You made my face take a tumble in the street and made passersby laugh."
"This is smashing my signboard."
Shen Che twitched the corner of his mouth, revealing a cold arc.
"Those who smash my signboard don't need legs, so don't grow them."
Barry gritted his teeth, spasming on the ground in pain.
"You are a demon... What do you treat heroes as..."
"As tools to make money."
Shen Che picked up his words without hesitation.
He walked behind the obsidian desk, pulled open the leather chair and sat down.
"This World does not need so many running vigilantes."
"It doesn't need freaks like you who are self-righteous and do whatever you want."
Shen Che's fingers tapped gently on the armrest.
"Da. Da."
"The World only needs one rule. My rule."
"Be obedient. Pay money. Be a good customer."
He looked at Barry.
"Since you don't want to be a customer, then you can be a billboard."
Shen Che pressed the intercom phone button at the corner of the table.
"Let the security department people come up. Bring a wheelchair."
Two minutes later.
Four fully armed Vought security personnel rushed into the office.
Pushing a black medical wheelchair in their hands.
Seeing the Flash with his legs folded backwards and face covered in blood on the ground, the scalps of the four strong men tingled, and their movements stiffened for a moment.
"Drag him out."
Shen Che didn't even raise his head, opening a document on the desk.
"Throw him at the intersection of Fifth Avenue."
"Give a reminder to those who still want to be heroes."
Two security personnel stepped forward. Each held one of Barry's arms.
Like dragging a bag of stinking garbage.
Forcibly dragging Barry up from the carpet.
The crippled legs dragged on the ground, and the broken bone rubbed against the carpet, causing Barry to let out another earth-shattering roar of pain.
He was roughly stuffed into the wheelchair.
The security guards pushed the wheelchair and quickly retreated out the door.
With a "bang", the agarwood door closed.
Isolating Barry's screams outside the corridor.
The office fell silent again.
Shen Che picked up the black coffee at hand and took a sip.
The coffee was a bit cold, and the bitterness was heavier.
He grabbed the tablet next to him, preparing to check the arrival of funds from Metropolis.
Just the moment his fingers touched the screen.
"Zhi——"
A sharp high-frequency current sound burst without warning from the host chassis inside the desk.
Then.
The originally lit tablet screen suddenly flickered.
The screen instantly turned black.
Not just the tablet.
The million-dollar three-dimensional holographic projector in the corner of the office.
The smart monitoring panel on the wall.
Even the control system of the cold light tubes overhead.
In the exact same second, all went black.
"Di. Di. Di."
The rapid buzzer alarm echoed in the empty office.
This was the underlying physical alarm that the Vought Tower main server was forcibly cut off.
Shen Che frowned.
He put down the coffee cup.
On the blackened tablet screen.
A line of dazzling green code suddenly popped up.
Not garbled code. It was a highly regular binary data stream.
Like a green waterfall, rolling wildly against a black background.
Extremely fast, instantly filling the entire screen.
Then.
This stream of green data converged and deformed in the center of the screen.
Slowly outlining a glowing red mechanical eyeball pattern.
The eyeball was staring dead at Shen Che outside the screen.