PFC Chapter 4143 When the Pumpkin Ripens (25)
Chapter 4143 When the Pumpkin Ripens (25)
Chapter 4143 When the Pumpkins Ripen (Twenty-Five)
Compared to Metropolis, Gotham's sunny days always have a clear chill. The air under the sunlight is more like a piece of clear ice, or a thin, soft veil thrown down from the sky, shrouding everything in a slightly cool tone.
God was a somewhat clumsy painter. By late autumn, he had used up most of his paint, leaving only a mixture of other colors—grayish-green, dark brown, and orange. To fill the remaining blank space on the canvas, he painted the wild grass in a wild, dusky yellow with strokes left and right. The golden leaves of the maple and beech trees shredded the clouds on the horizon, and the dappled sunlight filtering through the shadows was like a harbinger of the approaching first snow.
Greed and arrogance were walking along the stream in the woods, stepping over the smooth pebbles and damp mud, and entering the tunnel formed by the dark shadows of the trees.
They should have been busy in the kitchen at this time, but they were clearly not so lucky. After inspecting the quality of the fish they bought, they unanimously agreed that it was unfit for the table. The steamed fish they were making was best served piping hot, perhaps even slapped right before it hit the steamer. The fish from the supermarket, though alive, was obviously not as lively; it was fine in the tank, but stopped moving within seconds of being placed on the cutting board.
The dinner was originally intended to showcase culinary skills, but even the most skilled cook can't make a meal without ingredients; if the ingredients aren't fresh, no amount of cooking will help. However, going back to the dock area was clearly too late, so they decided to use what they had on hand.
There are fish in the lake, but they aren't the main species there, and catching fish in the lake would take too much time. So, they found a stream upstream of the lake.
The lake's water source isn't entirely underground; some is also from surface water, but it's hidden in the woods on the east side and difficult to find. They searched the forest for quite a while before finally discovering the stream.
"Why do I feel like there aren't any fish here?" Arrogant said, looking at the stream.
“We need to go a little further ahead. Judging from the water flow and volume, there should be another small lake ahead.” Greed continued forward.
Both of them were wearing rubber boots, making progress a little difficult on the somewhat slippery stones, but they were still moving at a decent pace. Soon they passed through a bend in the road overgrown with trees and weeds, and were surprised to find that there was not only a lake, but also a natural waterfall.
The small lake was crystal clear and not connected to the underground water system. As soon as you walked over, you could see some migratory fish that seemed to be trying to jump onto the waterfall. Greed picked up the harpoon and stabbed one in one go.
Arrogance caught the fish in the net. He picked it up and saw that the fish wasn't very big, but it looked very lively. Even after being hit, it was still thrashing about.
Greed immediately saved the fish, and then they caught about five or six small fish like this. Greed thought for a moment and said, "Steaming the fish probably won't work, but stewing it would be good too."
Arrogance nodded, and then they started talking about what kind of fish stew to make, finally deciding on Gotham's signature dish, mixed fish stew. It's a typical fisherman's dish, found in coastal cities all over the world, where various small fish are stewed together with almost no extra seasoning to create a golden, slightly sticky broth with a thin film of oil on top. The broth is the essence; served with freshly baked white bread, it's so delicious that anyone who can stomach it would swallow their fingers.
However, the two of them were going to make steamed buns. No matter what, the bread was a bit too porous and didn't have a very solid texture. It also had a strong wheat flavor but not enough wheat flavor. Of course, steamed buns were the perfect accompaniment to Chinese food.
Having prepared the fish, they headed back. The stream was beautiful, crystal clear, and constantly splashing with gentle spray. The riverbed was filled with large, round pebbles of various colors, arranged in a charmingly haphazard way. There was also a pebble patch beside the stream, perfect for camping. The trees on both sides provided ample shade, so it wouldn't be too hot.
At this time, the trees in the forest are almost all yellow, but the leaves have not all fallen, and they are still lush and green. This is the best time of autumn.
They walked downhill, enjoying the beautiful scenery along the way, and just as they were about to return to the lake, they suddenly saw a figure flash by in the forest.
Greed mistook it for an enemy, but Pride recognized the silhouette and called out, "Principal Shivana!"
A moment later, a figure emerged from the woods. He looked at the two with some suspicion and said, "You two..."
“You can think of them as twin brothers,” Arrogance said, not intending to elaborate further. He then asked, “What are you doing here?”
Sivana opened her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I'm looking for something."
"Looking for something? What are you looking for?"
"Actually, I don't know. I only know that such a thing exists and that quite a few people are looking for it."
Greed immediately thought of the Mother Box, so he asked, "You don't know what this is, so how do you know it can be found here?"
“Of course someone told me,” Shivana said.
Arrogance immediately understood. He said, "Who did you meet when you went to chop wood that day, right?"
“Nothing escapes your notice, Professor. Indeed, that day I had just entered the woods when I saw a man wandering around with a child, and I caught him red-handed.”
What did you get out of him?
“To be precise, I didn’t ask him.” Sivana snapped his fingers, and a blue orb of light floated beside him. Greed suddenly realized: “You’re a magician.”
“That’s right, I used a little trick to get some information out of him.”
"Are they looking for something?"
“No, I asked them how they managed to hide it from Brainiac, and they said they had a device. They were recently arrested, so I thought I'd try my luck and see if I could find the device.”
“Obviously you’re not telling the truth, but I don’t care,” Greed said. “Whatever you’re looking for, you’re not going to find it.”
The flaws in Sivana's statement are too obvious. Although the first part may be true, such as when he went into the woods to chop wood and happened to encounter the kidnappers and victims, or when he used torture to extract information, what he was looking for could not possibly be a shielding device, but most likely a mother box.
Arrogance also recalled that Sivana had entered this community because he had sensed unusual energy fluctuations here. The Seven Deadly Sins he had obtained seemed to be very sensitive to various abnormal energies, and he probably sensed the Origin Power leaking from the Mother Box, which was why he was searching this area.
If he were truly looking for shielding equipment, he would have started searching long ago, instead of wandering around here only after the chestnut tree was dug up and the mother box was revealed.
It's likely that his Seven Deadly Sins detected the residual energy, but because Pamela had processed the scene, the residual energy was very weak and couldn't pinpoint the exact location, which is why he found it so far away.
“It seems you know what that is.” Shivana wasn’t angry. He said calmly, “I just sensed some unusual energy fluctuations, and I had to find it, even for my own safety. You’re not mages, so you may not know, but things that emit unusual energy fluctuations are usually very dangerous.”
“You are right,” Greed nodded, “but that thing has already been dealt with.”
Sivana frowned slightly, then said, "It's not that I don't trust you, but are you sure you've handled it thoroughly enough? It's best not to just leave it in some museum or the basement of the management bureau and ignore it; that will cause trouble sooner or later."
"What do you think should be done?"
"If you don't understand something, just put it away. Sooner or later, someone who knows its use will take it away, won't they?"
Greed nodded, agreeing with the point; after all, Marvel loved doing this kind of thing. S.H.I.E.L.D. would find some strange or unusual items, do nothing with them, and just dump them in their own warehouse, as if inviting people to steal them.
"So I think if such a thing really exists, we should try our best to figure out what it is and how to use it. If we really can't figure it out, we should create a protective shield that can completely isolate its aura and power, and then store it away, instead of just throwing it away."
“I must commend your safety awareness, Headmaster,” said Arrogantly. “Now it seems that having a headmaster like you is a blessing for the students and faculty of the magic academy.”
Sivana didn't show any smugness. He just shook his head and said, "It is precisely because I am the headmaster of the only magic school in the world that I have this responsibility. Otherwise, if anything happens, it will be blamed on me."
Greed revealed that Sivana wasn't lying; his eagerness to find the source of the unusual power was indeed largely for safety reasons. If a powerful magical artifact exploded on his territory, he'd be out of a job as headmaster.
However, he himself is a very ambitious person, and if he really finds any powerful magical items, he certainly won't hesitate to use them.
Greed stopped in his tracks, looked at Sivana, and said, "To be honest, we have indeed found something. It's a combination of technology and magic, and it also originates from another planet. Currently, there are enough scientists studying it, so I think you can rest assured."
"Reassured? How can I be at ease? You said it yourself, this is a product of the combination of technology and magic, but you only found scientists, and a lot of scientists at that. Aren't you afraid that this thing will explode and destroy the future of human science?" Shivana couldn't help but facepalm.
“That’s something Brainiac has to consider,” Arrogance chimed in. “While I personally feel that those scientists might not be able to figure it out, since Brainiac has made this arrangement, he must have his reasons.”
"Of course they can't figure it out, because if something is even slightly touched by magic, then it's very likely that all its elements are related to magic. Even if it looks like a mechanical creation, its parts may be magically created. The only thing that affects its actual operating principle is the magical operating principle. If we try to study it using the methods of modern human science, we might not be able to figure it out even after a century."
"So you want to participate in the research? Forgive my bluntness, but Brainiac must have had his concerns for not contacting you right away."
“Of course, of course,” Shivana said helplessly, “because he thinks I have too strong a desire for power, and he’s afraid that once I get something, I’ll keep it for myself, or use some means to extract power from it.”
"Would you do that?"
"Uh... normally not."
“Then you’ve got it,” Greed nodded with satisfaction. “Now I’ll go persuade Brainiac to let you join the research group. Humanity needs ambitious people like you. Let’s go.”
(End of this chapter)