บท 639: Chapter 431: Suspicion in the Metropolis (Part 17)_1
As it turned out, the trouble caused by a night-long snowstorm was far greater than imagined. When a massive explosion occurred in a room of the most important and grandest buildings in Metropolis, causing sky-high flames, all the police cars and ambulances couldn't make it on time because the snow had blocked the roads.
Perhaps someone might ask, "What about the snowplows?" The snowplows were stuck even further away than the police cars and ambulances; it would take two hours to shovel a path towards them.
Shiller walked puzzledly along the corridor, completely oblivious to the thick smoke billowing out from downstairs. He was walking down the spiral staircase and had just reached the guest room level when he saw a redhead stumbling his way.
Shiller watched as Lex reached the corner of the corridor, opened the window, stuck out his head, taking several deep breaths of fresh air, then coughed violently.
When he stood up straight, he pointed at the end of the staircase, noticing Shiller at the front of the staircase, and accusingly said, "It was all Bruce Wayne's doing!"
Bruce, carrying a fire extinguisher, slowly walked out of the smoke. His face was covered with a makeshift gas mask, clearly one of the pieces of equipment Selina had retrieved earlier. He tossed the fire extinguisher on the ground, saying, "This thing is expired. We need to figure out something else."
Shiller slowly opened the umbrella in his hand. Lex and Bruce watched his actions, unsure of his intentions. However, when he held the umbrella over his head, there was no smoke underneath it, as if it was impregnable.
Holding the umbrella in the middle of the smoke, Shiller looked at Lex, then at Bruce. He asked, "Can either of you explain what the hell is going on?"
Lex was counting the patterns on the ceiling, Bruce was reading the text on the fire extinguisher. After a round of coughing from Shiller, it was Bruce who spoke first, "I swear, I dismantled the helicopter engine just to prove the perfection of my design, and it was his idea."
Lex looked at Bruce, pointing at him, and protested loudly, "You claimed that your revamped helicopter engine is the best in the world. That's utter nonsense because the best engine would definitely be my invention!"
"But you have no proof to back up your claim, while I have a finished product."
"But I just pointed out the error in your engine parts. Your energy utilization rate is ridiculously low. If it weren't for that old guy Lionel, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to set up my own lab. I would definitely have shown you what a genuine genius invention looks like!"
"Your arrogance and conceit totally negates the essence of scientific exploration." Bruce's tone was typically calm, but it was clear that he wanted to refute Lex.
This was his first time truly facing someone whose intellect was on par with his, at least in terms of invention creation. It's hard to discern who was better between Luther and Batman.
Moreover, both were under 20. No matter how intelligent or determined, they couldn't help but have a competitive streak, or rather, anyone who could soar in the field of research had absolute confidence in their research level.
So, after their initial probing, they discovered that the other's brain processing speed and IQ were just as high as theirs. At this point, they both knew they had met their match.
What followed was a long process of theoretical discussions. It could be said that, if not for their recent acquaintance and total lack of trust in each other, DC World's scientific level would certainly have risen a notch after this night.
However, theoretical discussions couldn't showcase their full capabilities. Soon, they wanted to transition into the experimental stage. However, this was the Mayor's mansion, not their lab, and they didn't have an abundance of materials for their experiment.
Then, their discussion turned to the small devices Bruce carried on him and eventually to the vehicle he had come in – the helicopter.
As everyone knows, like the Batmobile, all of Batman's vehicles look like regular means of transport on the outside. However, they've been heavily modified to become completely different inventions. The helicopter was no exception; even if it suddenly transformed into a rocket-launching pad and assembled a rocket to launch into space, it wouldn't be surprising.
Speaking of the helicopter, they had to discuss the helicopter engine that Bruce had modified. This, naturally, was the cream of the crop for any means of transportation. Bruce was confident in his modifications believing that he had considered every aspect and had created a perfect helicopter engine.
Of course, Lex didn't believe this. In the two years he had been off medication, he had mastered most of the knowledge that humans could understand. Like Bruce, any complicated science and technology concepts were as simple to him as eating and drinking. Therefore, he scoffed at Bruce's so-called 'perfect' helicopter engine, believing that he could definitely identify the flaws.
Bruce was also somewhat curious whether Lex could actually identify the flaws. Therefore, he hopped out of the mansion's window late in the night, headed to the helipad on top of a nearby building, and removed the engine from his helicopter.
All that can be said is that it was fortunate Bruce was not wearing his bat suit while carrying out this task. Otherwise, he would look more like a person stealing a battery.
Nonetheless, Bruce managed to get the helicopter engine into the guest room successfully. Then, the two got busy examining it.
Nothing else can be said about anything Batman made, but it was always made with a guarantee of safety.
However, this was not a lab and they didn't have many professional tools to pry open the engine casing. However, their argument over the engine was getting more heated, and neither of them could convince the other. The only way left was to let the facts speak for themselves, so Lex decided to use a directional blast to strike at the interior circuitry directly.
Well, he succeeded, and Lex indeed identified the engine flaw in that instant. But the sparks scraped during the physical blast were far bigger than the sparks that their intellects had scraped.
The two might not be lacking in intellect, but they can be said to be rather unlucky. The blast was supposed to be within a controllable range, but something went wrong somewhere along the line, and anyway, the helicopter engine exploded.
Before the explosion, both of them realized something was wrong and hid themselves, avoiding any injuries. But the blast was still large enough to shatter all the glass in the guest room and start a fire.
After listening to the entire process, Shiller stroked his brow before glancing at his wristwatch. It was just after 7 a.m. Looking out the window, darkness still enveloped the scene, the dawn arriving late in these winter months.
With a hint of helplessness, Shiller folded his umbrella and spoke to the other two, "What are you waiting for? Start fighting the fire."
Lex and Bruce sighed in unison. It was clear they understood that expecting the police and fire engines to come put out the fire in such weather was unreasonable, so they would have to resort to an old-fashioned method.
Bruce headed for the hall, announcing, "I'll get a hose from the nearest restroom. Meanwhile, you can evacuate the crowd in the downstairs to the backyard."
Lex muttered under his breath, shot a glance at Shiller, but said nothing more, turning to head downstairs.
As he approached the window, he peered outside, leaned on the balcony and lowered his voice: "Am I hallucinating or does it look like something is flying in the sky?"
Lex squinted out the window, then turned to Bruce who was still in the room, "Did I not tell you? Your so-called advanced helicopter engine is not flawless. Your helicopter can't fly in this sort of weather, but some can."
Bruce didn't respond, his mind set on dousing the fire. However, when Bruce arrived with the hose after fetching it from the restroom, he detected a figure where the broken glass was.
The figure seemed to be spraying water from a real fire hose while leaning unsteadily against a wall.
Apart from the substantial initial explosion in the guest room, the remaining fires were not extreme. Bruce cautiously advanced with his makeshift hose, quickly clearing a path. Accordingly, he picked up the fire hose next to the window and began putting out the fire.
The fire hose worked much better than his makeshift one, so the fire was mostly doused quickly. Bruce then turned his attention to the person in the room, who was just a silhouette. Discarding the hose nearby, he quickly removed his gas mask and secured it on the figure's face.
He looked at the figure, and then asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here? Why didn't you stay in the guest room?"
"I, I …" stammered the figure, devolving into a bout of coughing.
Bruce examined him. He was a youth, similar build to Bruce, with black hair. Through the haze, his eye color was indiscernible, but he had a handsome face and strong physique.
Bruce frowned, unable to recall inviting a guest like this, yet he seemed to have brought with him a fire hose.
Turning his gaze back to the hose, Bruce discovered that it stretched out of the window.
He walked over, picked up the hose and looked down, only to spot a full fire engine water tank.
Even with Bruce's intelligence, he struggled to comprehend how the sizable water tank had ended up there.
He glances at the hose in his hand, then once again at the youth before tossing it aside. Approaching him, he asks, 'Did you bring the water tank here?'
"Well, not exactly... It might be the work of the fire department?"
Bruce squinted at him, "Then why are you here? I don't recall you being one of the banquet attendees."
"I was just trying to help!" The young man tried to explain. "I am a student at Metropolitan University. We just started winter break. I was supposed to go home, but due to the snowstorm, all transportation shut down."
"When I saw heavy smoke coming from the house, I knew it was on fire, so I decided to help as much as I could."
"Casually saw it?" Bruce repeated skeptically, causing the young man to attempt further explanation, only to be interrupted by an irritated Lex walking in.
"God, what's taking you so long? Such a small fire hardly requires..."
"Oh..." Lex paused in the doorway, a sudden realization etched on his face. Turning to Bruce, he said, "So in order to prove that your helicopter engine is the best in the world, you've turned it into a person?"
"No, he says he's here to help," replied Bruce as he walked away.
However, just as he turned, there was a thud behind him. The somewhat peculiar young man had fallen to the ground.
No one had attacked him, and there were no random objects to trip on. He had inexplicably collapsed.
Lex looked towards the fallen youth, remarking, "If he really is a transformation of your helicopter engine, then it's pretty terrible."
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