The two of them still didn't drive. Because Arrogant didn't have much gasoline left. And the garden store wasn't far from the subway station, so they took the bus first and then the subway to the garden store.
They had expected it to be a small shop on a commercial street, but in reality, it was a suburban farm exhibition. And because of the Halloween holiday, quite a few people had gathered here, all selecting gardening supplies and various seeds.
"What are you planning to plant next year?" Greed asked.
"I don't know. Whatever Pamela gives me, I'll plant."
"You're really not afraid of plants attacking you."
"I assure you, any seed you buy here could grow a plant that might jump up and hit you."
"How does Brainiac allow it?"
"He doesn't allow it. But he can't control Pamela. Look on the bright side; even if it's to make plants hit people, he'll definitely try to ensure their healthy growth, rather than letting them be too weak or die from disease. Compared to a harvest, hitting people isn't much of a deal."
"You're all crazy."
"And besides, Brainiac also took measures. Bruce has been developing a brand-new plant harvester, specifically designed to deal with plants attacking people."
"That's the most absurd research motive I've heard."
"But it does provide a lot of job opportunities. The Kent family's farm had to hire six bodyguards to prevent Clark's father from having his ribs broken by cabbages during the busy farming season."
"Krypton should have left more people."
They strolled from stall to stall. There was everything for sale here, but the most eye-catching were the huge pumpkins. Apparently, Pamela's seeds had spread far and wide. And in this magical city, almost everyone could tame those people-hitting pumpkins, so now the pumpkins were lying quietly on the ground.
"Hello, what would you like?" A woman wearing a headscarf smiled at them from behind a stall, "I have all kinds of vegetable seeds here, as well as flower seeds and grass seeds. Some can be paid for in cash, while others require points."
"Alright, what's available for cash?"
The woman took out a few packets of seeds and then said, "Asparagus, lettuce, cabbage, artichoke, and collard greens."
"How much are the grass seeds?"
"The grass seeds require points to purchase. Plus, I don't have many left; if you're trying to create a whole lawn..."
"No, just enough to patch up a square foot area."
"Then these should be enough. You'll need to pay me three points. Don't want any vegetable seeds?"
The woman eagerly pitched the vegetable seeds. Arrogant knew these vegetable seeds were relatively easy to grow. If it were those oil crops or tomato plants that required trellises, he probably wouldn't be able to handle them.
"Alright. I'll take asparagus, lettuce, and cabbage."
Arrogant selected a few, then paid. Afterwards, they went to the tool stall. Greed crouched in front of the stall and said, "You need a bigger pair of scissors to trim the chestnut tree branches. Then you'll need a ladder to pick the chestnuts. The birdbath base can be made, but the hose and faucet need to be bought..."
They picked up a bunch of odds and ends. Fortunately, many of the less commonly used items could be paid for with cash. On the way back, Arrogant said, "We're probably going to have to divide and conquer. You take care of the yard, and I'll go carve the pumpkins."
"You're really going to carve them yourself?"
"Yes. And I'm going to carve two, one to take to the party, and another to place in front of my own house."
"Alright. The scraps from the carving will be our lunch."
After returning home, Greed began tidying up the yard. First, the hedges needed to be trimmed down. These hedges had grown taller and taller, making it nearly impossible to see the lake from the first floor, only a sliver of its edge and the distant forest, wasting the beautiful view outside the window.
This was easy to fix, just snip the hedges down to a suitable height with scissors. That way, you could see most of the lake. Of course, people outside could also see inside the house more clearly. But since the place had become so sparsely populated, nobody would be concerned about whether the homeowner was dealing with a moose inside the house, so a bit lower wasn't a big deal.
Next was reseeding the lawn. Remove the sparse grass seedlings, then scatter the grass seeds. In normal circumstances, grass wouldn't sprout this season, but with a little help from gray mist, it could be hastened to sprout.
The front yard shouldn't have any clutter. Everything needed to be moved to the backyard so that the inspecting experts would think it was a well-kept yard. Fortunately, there wasn't usually much stuff piled up here. With a bit of tidying by Greed, the front yard became quite empty.
Then there's the wall in front of the house; it can't have any peeling or stains. After a rinse with a water gun, it became shiny and bright.
Next is the mailbox. Actually, the mailbox was quite new, but perhaps the recent strong winds caused it to tilt, and the paint had chipped off in some places. It needed to be straightened and repainted.
Then the leaves on the road in front of the yard also needed to be cleaned up. Although they might accumulate again soon, you could take some photos while it's clean, which will aid in subsequent applications.
Once everything was done, it wasn't over yet, as the backyard also needed tidying. The regulations given by Brainiac clearly stated that the backyard was not up to standard. And in Greed's view, it indeed was not quite satisfactory.
Arrogant hardly planted any flowers in the garden. Besides the vegetables in the vegetable patch, there were just some shrubs. Not to mention aesthetics, this was not conducive to wildlife habitation. Brainiac's environmental regulations were largely inherited from the original New Jersey State's regulations, which stated that once a yard exceeded a certain size, there was an obligation to provide a suitable living environment for small animals.
So it's not that Americans are unwilling to farm in their backyards, but if they cultivated the whole area, they might violate many environmental regulations, seriously enough to be accused of ecological extinction. The jury would not be lenient on these issues, so even if there was a small vegetable patch, it was necessary to ensure there was enough grass, shrubs, and flowers elsewhere.
If it was just rodents and birds, a lawn would suffice, but since there were also hummingbirds and bees around, flowers must be planted, and birdhouses and bird water stations set up. And then there's the need to prevent squirrels and small birds from grabbing food but not harm the squirrels, just at most toss them away.
Greed first trimmed the shrubs, then leveled the soil around the farmland, and planted some already grown flowers, all collected from the garden behind his sanatorium, into the yard.
After calculating the proportion, he thought it should pass. Then he hung some wooden boards on the backyard wall to create a simple bird drinking station. After connecting the pipes and faucets, water flowed swiftly.
The backyard of Arrogant's house also had trees, but they were all short. Greed checked them, found they were growing well, but he still said to Arrogant, "We need to get a big tree, preferably a beech. This way we can tell the experts we have experience nurturing such a tree. The application process will be easier."
"You handle it yourself." Arrogant was busy carving a pumpkin and said, "If Brainiac accuses you of stealing trees, I'll shield his message for you."
Greed sighed. He had no choice but to take a stroll outside in the forest to find a suitable tree to plant. But as he entered the forest, he noticed there seemed to be more footprints.
Initially, Greed thought they might belong to the police, as they had been patrolling nearby, seemingly thinking an accomplice might return, never abandoning the surveillance and stakeout there.
But soon he realized something was off because the police wouldn't wander aimlessly here, and the person who left the footprints appeared to have roamed the forest for quite a while.
Greed observed the shoe prints and found they belonged to an adult male, but beyond that, not much information was left. The person seemed rather cautious, making it hard to discern more.
Greed thought it over and concluded there were two possibilities: either it was another unknown investigator tracking the case and had heard the child was rescued, coming to the crime scene to investigate; or an accomplice of the kidnapper, who had dropped something here, necessitating a return to retrieve it.
Greed searched the forest thoroughly but found nothing left behind. Then Gray Mist told him, "It might be in the lake."
"Should we go down and look for it?"
"Better not, there's a monster at the bottom of the lake. No matter what falls in, no one can retrieve it."
"So they can never find it either."
"Yes. If it got eaten by the monster, definitely not."
"Could it be the equipment they used to evade Brainiac's monitoring? They tried setting it up in the forest and accidentally dropped it into the lake. This could explain why they wandered here before."
"But they brought the child along. The child shouldn't be useful for setting up equipment, right?"
"This could just be a form of spiritual control. For instance, taking them out as a reward. After all, they had been confined in that small basement. Everyone wants to get out for some fresh air, and the kidnapper, to exercise authority, decided to set an example, allowing the well-behaved child to go out with him."
Gray Mist agreed there was such a possibility. But exactly what happened might only be clear after the police release their report. The good news is the equipment they might have left here is likely irretrievable.
Greed pondered whether to report this to Brainiac. If Brainiac wanted to know what kind of equipment it was, he might choose to search the lake. Considering there was a monster in it, this couldn't be done by one or two people, it might require draining the lake, causing a big commotion that could disrupt their normal lives.
However, it seemed Arrogant was quite concerned about the child abduction case. So after bringing back a tree, Greed decided to share this information and his speculation with him.
"Are you saying they possibly lost equipment in the lake? But would they really be so careless?"
"Did you forget? Kidnappers often make irrational moves to establish authority. They might well have put the child in charge of part of the equipment setup, resulting in it falling into the lake."
"That's possible," Arrogant nodded in agreement. He knew well that establishing authority and exerting spiritual control required not primitive means like beating or scolding but rather offering love that had never been experienced before. For a child, if they had never been encouraged in their previous family, they would crave recognition, and the best way to give recognition is by entrusting them with important tasks, making them feel significant. If the kidnappers aimed to achieve this, they might really have entrusted crucial tasks like setting up equipment to the child.
Although Gotham's children are talented, not everyone is a Jason. If what the kidnappers were using were truly products of alien technology, the child might not figure it out, or even accidentally drop it. One could only say if Barry hadn't caught them red-handed that night, the kidnapper might have killed the child in anger.