Chapter 1255: Justice Farm (37)_1

Shiller, standing by the door, slowly narrowed his eyes. At this moment, The Flash, who was holding the Freeze Gun, realized that he might have misspoke. He immediately chuckled awkwardly, took a step back and said, "Sorry, I mistook you for someone else. I'll leave now..."

After saying this, the glow of Divine Speed enveloped him, but the next second, massive white wings sent him crash-landing onto the ground.

Lucifer, who had just come upstairs from downstairs, still in his pajamas, looked at this group of people upstairs with an annoyed face and said, "My dear neighbors, aren't you guys going to sleep late at night? Are you rehearsing for a play here?... Shiller, why are you here?"

"It's a long story." Shiller used his umbrella as a crutch and descended the stairs leering at The Flash, who was slapped to the ground by Lucifer. He knocked on the ground next to him with the tip of his umbrella and said to Lucifer, "Catch him. I have a few questions for him."

Lucifer remained in the same pose, but the glow of Divine Speed that had just shrouded The Flash disappeared. The Flash was lying on the ground, punching the ground, and then turned his head to show Shiller a big grin with eight teeth showing.

"Professor, you must be very curious about the future, aren't you? So let me..."

"I am more curious about your thesis."

The Flash squeezed a sob from his throat, slumped to the ground dejectedly. Shiller turned to look at the previous Barry and asked, "I remember you saying that The Flash has infinite time."

"Almost." Barry also came down the steps, stood next to this cosmic counterpart of his, crouched down and looked at him: "The time flow in Divine Speed is different from the outside world. Because the speed is too fast, maybe you feel that only one second has passed, but I have already done a year's worth of work."

"It's inconceivable for The Flash to be late. No matter what we do, we always have plenty of time."

The Flash on the ground immediately raised his head and glared at him, his expression seemed to be saying "How could you betray me?"

"Stand up." Shiller pointed to the ground with his umbrella tip again.

The Flash sighed, got up from the ground, dusted himself off. He wasn't wearing his uniform, just a hoodie and jeans. His face was younger than Barry's in uniform, or you could say his demeanor and the direction of the muscles on his face made him look younger.

"Grade?" Shiller asked.

"Just started my junior year."

"In what field?"

"Forensic Information Investigation and Material Evidence Technology Science."

"I mean in the field of psychology."

"Time psychology in basic psychology."

"What's the specific research direction?"

"Time perception and time personality studies."

Shiller frowned slightly as he looked at Barry and asked, "You study criminology. Why are you doing research in the field of time psychology?"

The Flash glanced left and right, then looked up at Shiller again, he hesitated, and then with hopeful eyes looked at Shiller and said, "Professor, how about I tell you about the future first?"

"You'd better finish your thesis first."

After saying that, Shiller patted Barry standing next to him and said, "You can also use Divine Speed, so your time within Divine Speed should be consistent with his. Now, enter Divine Speed and watch him finish writing his thesis."

The two Flashes both widened their eyes. The Flash from the future of this universe, seeing Shiller's increasingly displeased gaze, shrank his neck, and just as he was about to refuse, Shiller interrupted him and said,

"Didn't you say the draft could be submitted tomorrow? This means you've probably written more than half of it. You shouldn't be one of those bad students who only start cramming the night before the deadline, right?"

"I... probably not."

Seeing the intense gaze Shiller had on him, The Flash's face gradually turned mournful, he pounded his arm saying, "Alright, I'm going to write it now."

After saying this, the light of Divine Speed spread out again. Barry, standing next to Shiller, also entered Divine Speed. The two people's Divine Speed connected, and about three seconds later, The Flash suddenly had a few more sheets of paper in his hand.

The Flash walked up and handed the stack of paper to Shiller, but Shiller looked at Barry, who was wearing The Flash uniform, and asked, looking at his somewhat haggard face, "How long did it take him?"

"Not too long." Barry slanted his eyes to glance at his younger self and pulled an unwilling smile.

As Shiller took the paper, he looked at The Flash as though saying, "Don't think I don't know what you did."

Then, he began to look at The Flash's thesis. The paper was handwritten, the handwriting was very neat, but considering The Flash's almost infinite time, this couldn't be considered a bonus point.

What surprised Shiller was that this Flash, from the future, actually wrote a good thesis.

Although there were no innovative results, being able to summarize and argue the works of past researchers in the field he was studying at the undergraduate level was already quite a feat.

At first, Shiller thought that perhaps The Flash had more time than others, which explained the strong start of the paper. But as he continued reading, he reached the conclusion that The Flash's paper was truly outstanding, filled with original ideas clearly expressed. Hours spent on revision could not possibly be responsible for the quality; it was pure talent.

By the time he got to the final few pages, his initial excitement and satisfaction had been replaced by a complex emotion. If he had to summarize it in the simplest terms, it would be "reflection...".

After reading, Shiller returned the paper to The Flash and gave him words of encouragement. However, he didn't see any expression of surprise on The Flash's face.

That was a bit unusual. Shiller was a strict professor, known for his high standards. Few students could meet them and therefore, few got praised. But those who did would boast about it to the entire world.

Even his most capable student, Evans, only got good at accepting praise without losing composure in his senior year.

The way Flash reacted suggested that he had been complemented by Shiller before, which meant his academic performance was not bad, certainly better than someone else's.

Shiller felt a twinge of jealousy thinking about that, but couldn't afford to vent his feelings to The Flash.

He had a soft spot for students with good academic records. So, he simply patted The Flash's arm and said, "Your parents are safe here, there is no danger, you can go home."

After The Flash left with Professor Zoom, rendered harmless by his frozen state, Barry followed Shiller down the stairs. Observing Shiller's demeanor, he asked perplexedly, "What's the matter, Professor? You don't seem too happy. Didn't we solve a big problem?"

Then, hugging his arm proudly, he said, "It appears that I am a fine student in this universe. If he were your student, then surely the credit would go to you as a great teacher."

Shiller paused mid-stride, suddenly turning to look at Barry from top to bottom. Barry shivered under his gaze and rubbed his arms, asking, "What's the matter, Professor? Is there something on my face?"

"Did you graduate from Central City University?"

Barry nodded and replied, "I have two Master's degrees. I was planning to pursue a PhD, but then I got a job offer from the city's attorney's office in Central City, so I didn't continue my studies and started working."

As they continued walking, Shiller asked, "Did you infiltrate the West Coast College of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to capture Swan?"

"Yes, I found out he had connections to the new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fry. Fry sent him to this so-called West Coast College to oppose you. At the time, I didn't know that you had special abilities, and thought you might need help," Barry shrugged, an awkward smile on his face.

To his surprise, Shiller looked back at him and replied, "In fact, I did need help. At that time, there were too many students in the college, and I needed an assistant. Would you be willing to help me?"

"But I still have things to..." Barry stopped mid-sentence, pondering his schedule before saying, "Wait, I don't think I have anything pressing anymore. Swan poses no threat at the moment…No, I still have to find a way out of this universe. I can't stay here forever, can I?"

"I'll ask Amanda to include you in the training tonight. See you in the classroom at 8 am tomorrow."

"I..."

"If you still want to leave this place, try not to be late."

Watching Shiller walk away, Barry murmured under his breath, "…The villains Batman has to deal with are just like him, never giving others a chance to speak."

As Shiller's figure vanished into the darkness of the staircase, Barry appeared to remember something. He was about to voice his question when he hesitated.

Barry turned around, looking at the light streaming from a room upstairs.

He could hear the bustle of a conversation within, Mr. Allen promising young Barry they would go shopping for fishing gear on the streets the next day, while Mrs. Allen chastised them for the chaos they'd made.

As he listened to their mundane chat, Barry could barely hide his mirth.

Yet there he was, standing in the dark corridor, disconnected from that warm light, the warmth of the loving family. They belonged to two different worlds.

Barry knew his real parents were never coming back. His mission to save his mother had failed completely, the regret was set in stone, the grief and helplessness would never dissipate.

Yet, even knowing this, whenever he considered the possibility of an alternative version of himself living a dream life full of happiness in another universe, he felt some sort of reconciliation with his harsh reality and his regrets.

The human race's genetic obsession with utopia could resist any harsh reality. The mere possibility of an alternative version of oneself in a parallel universe living the dream gives a weary traveler some comfort, let alone witnessing it firsthand.

At this moment, it became clear to Barry, Batman did not need a lifeline.

In the vast majority of universes, most Batmans were unfortunate, floating and sinking in a sea of sorrow, never reaching shore.

What they wanted was not encouragement from those on the shore or a lifeline from those who could afford it, but a version of themselves on the bank telling them, persistence in the face of darkness pays off.

Among the numerous bats flying over the dark alley, there's always one that would make it to a brighter and warmer nest.

And for those bats tumbling halfway into darkness, when they look up to see the fire at the entrance of the cave and hear the snoring inside, they can dream of a good night's sleep.

In doing so, they could remain faithful guard of the fire during the long dark nights, waiting silently for the dawn.