The 50/50 countdown reached its final seconds.
Fang Yuan was ready to return to the X-Men Universe when he saw Flash finally start running.
He breathed a sigh of relief, finally having temporarily resolved the issue.
But a shadow also lingered in Fang Yuan's heart; after all, Darkseid was always a mountain they couldn't bypass.
However, at this moment, he suddenly realized that everything was completely different from his last Crossing.
The objects before his eyes were rapidly retreating and changing; he knew this was the effect of time reversal.
"Did Barry forget to wrap us in the Speed Force?" The moment this thought crossed Fang Yuan's mind, his vision suddenly went black.
A few seconds later, the World before Fang Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up.
Bustling traffic, towering buildings, just as Cyborg had hoped for Fang Yuan.
"They succeeded?"
Thomas Wayne's voice rang out, easing Fang Yuan's mind.
It was good that Batman's dad wasn't lost.
"Not sure." Fang Yuan's brow furrowed slightly. He turned to see Thomas wearing the same expression, so he asked, "You noticed it too?"
Thomas nodded: "This isn't 2023!"
Although the street was lively, the era was clearly wrong. Fang Yuan saw two people talking on flip phones!
At this time, Fang Yuan and Thomas's attire, especially Thomas's, attracted the attention of passersby, so they quickly walked towards a less crowded area.
Ten minutes later, Fang Yuan and Thomas had changed into clothes appropriate for the era.
In the United States, no matter the era, you could always randomly encounter enthusiastic delinquents on the street, who would voluntarily approach Fang Yuan to provide him with money.
However, both Fang Yuan and Thomas looked a bit puzzled because when they bought clothes, they both noticed the calendar in the store.
The date displayed was—August 1997!
"The timeline has been reset." Fang Yuan quickly understood what Flash had done. "It seems Batman felt that repeated attempts wouldn't defeat Darkseid, so he had Barry restart the World."
"Follow me!"
Fang Yuan took Thomas to the outside of the city's Police station. He opened a portal and walked straight in, then used the Police station's computers to continuously search for information.
Thomas Wayne saw Fang Yuan speaking so earnestly, and though he didn't quite understand, he found it very impressive.
"What about Bruce—what will happen to him?" Thomas asked.
He didn't care if the World was reset or not; Thomas only cared where his son was now.
Meanwhile, Fang Yuan was still searching, gradually understanding the basic situation of this World.
After a moment of thought, he said, "Given Batman's personality, while the hope of Flash continuing to remind himself to defeat Darkseid is slim, there's still some hope. But restarting the World introduces too much uncertainty. He shouldn't choose to give up when there's even a faint glimmer of hope."
"Unless—"
"Unless he's confident that after restarting the World, things will get better!" Thomas quickly answered.
He was also Batman; Batman understood Batman.
So Fang Yuan thought of a possibility: "Could it be that Bruce Wayne also came back? Unaffected by the reset?"
He knew this Batman wasn't normal!
Indeed, with Dawnbreaker appearing, how could it be normal?
"Really?"
Thomas's eyes lit up. He currently had none of Batman's demeanor; to Fang Yuan, he was just an old father missing his son.
Like a tadpole looking for its mother, Thomas was looking for his son.
"But where is Bruce?" Thomas frowned again, suggesting, "Should we go to Gotham?"
"No need." Fang Yuan estimated the location, then raised his hand to open a spark portal with his Sling Ring. "If Bruce Wayne also came back, he would definitely go there!"
Kansas.
"In this World, Bruce Wayne was born in 1973, and you died in 1981." Fang Yuan walked with Thomas on the highway, introducing the situation of the World.
"Just like my World." Thomas was a little happy.
That's right, his point of happiness was that he was the one who died.
"In Smallville, Kansas, there's a small farmer named Jonathan Kent, and he has a son, Clark Kent," Fang Yuan continued.
Thomas immediately thought of something unlucky: "Superman?"
Fang Yuan nodded.
"I've checked the photos in the material, Clark's appearance is identical to the Superman we've seen, so his experience is likely similar."
"If that's truly the case, then if Bruce also has future memories, he will definitely come here." Fang Yuan was very certain.
"Why?" Thomas asked.
Fang Yuan searched for a long time before finding the overpass that matched the scene in his memory: "Because Clark Kent's father died there!"
Perhaps due to the World's inertia, their arrival coincided with a plot point; a hurricane was fiercely approaching from a distance.
Cars on the highway were already jammed, and many people ran out of their vehicles, heading towards the nearby overpass for shelter. This included the Kent family of three.
Clark pulled his mother, Martha Kent, forward, while his father, Jonathan Kent, holding a rescued little girl, lagged behind.
"Wait, Hank is still in the car!" Martha suddenly stopped and shouted.
Hank was their pet dog, whom they considered a part of the family.
Clark immediately ran towards the car, but Jonathan stopped him.
"Let me go, take your mother under the overpass!"
He handed the little girl in his arms to Clark, then decisively turned and ran towards the car.
"Is that Superman?" Thomas frowned. "Why is he a bit—silly?"
"That's how his father died? Why didn't he go save the dog himself?" Thomas was very puzzled.
"Whether he has superpowers or not, in a father's eyes, a son is always a child," Fang Yuan explained.
"If he tells him not to go, he really doesn't go? Just watches his father die?" Thomas couldn't understand and expressed great shock.
In fact, Fang Yuan also found this part of the plot very hard to understand. Although the plot intended to convey that Old Jonathan felt the World wasn't ready for Superman and heroically sacrificed himself to protect Clark's identity from being exposed.
But putting aside the matter of who goes to save the dog, in the plot, Jonathan's journey from saving the dog to his Death took a full minute. Even if Clark and Old Jonathan's scenes happened simultaneously, there were at least thirty seconds.
And the distance between Clark and the car was less than a hundred meters, even less than fifty meters.
Let alone having superpowers, even a normal person, seeing their father in danger and running over, would have enough time to carry their father back and forth...
But Clark stood still the entire time, just watching, and even stopped his mother who wanted to save him.
No wonder Thomas said he was silly.
Of course, Fang Yuan estimated that it was most likely Jonathan's usual upbringing that made the inexperienced Clark hesitate.
Finally, Jonathan's gesture to stop Clark from coming to save him was the ultimate move.
However, Clark didn't know what to do, but others did not.
As Fang Yuan and Thomas were complaining, they rushed towards Jonathan's position, but a Shadow was faster than them.
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