Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 154: Ch.153 Days on the Ship

Chapter 154: Ch.153 Days on the Ship

In this era, taking a ship journey was one of the most boring things you could do, second only to digging sand in the Sahara Desert. The first few days at sea were somewhat novel, but Su Ming quickly grew tired of it.

The sound of the waves crashing against the ship's hull seemed never-ending, always repeating the same frequency over and over. At night, it even echoed in his dreams.

Shhh...shhh...slash...slash...slash...

This constant noise made Su Ming wake up every morning with a strong urge to cut something.

The route was incredibly calm, and any time he walked onto the deck, all he could see was the endless expanse of sea and sky.

The cruise ship offered what seemed like high-end activities, but they were just as boring—cocktail parties, dances, card games, and cigar clubs.

Su Ming did participate in the cigar club activities for a short while, enjoying the different types of tobacco. But he's not a chimney, and these activities only lasted a short time each day.

As for the dances, although Su Ming was blind in one eye, his handsome looks and masculine aura made him a popular dance partner among both wealthy ladies and young women.

Unfortunately, dancing was just dancing. In this era, Americans were just as conservative as ever, and Su Ming had the distinct feeling that stirring up romance on a luxury cruise was a bad omen.

When the leads fall in love on the *Titanic*, the ship sinks.

When the leads fall in love on the *Poseidon*, the ship sinks.

When the leads fall in love on the *Britannic*, the ship sinks again.

All these luxury liners were once hailed as the fastest and safest in the world, and the captain of Su Ming's ship said the same when he boarded...

So, the place Su Ming frequented the most was the gym. Most of the time, it was empty. People's understanding of health in this era was limited to getting enough sleep and eating well. The fact that the cruise ship had a gym at all was quite forward-thinking, although it was mainly intended to serve the billiard table and tennis court.

As a first-class passenger, Su Ming had full access to all the equipment.

Unfortunately, the barbells here weren't modern adjustable ones with weights, but just an iron bar with two large iron balls welded on each end. The total weight was only 100 kilograms, which was too light for Su Ming.

For an ordinary person, this would be good exercise, but for Su Ming, it was practically useless.

Su Ming planned to use the long journey to train and also to explore his new abilities. The X-Metal was still a novel thing for Deathstroke.

However, the monotonous days offered him little inspiration. Over the course of the journey, he discovered a few ways to use it, but none were particularly useful.

For example, he found he could remove the bones from one of his hands, turning it into a boneless glove of skin. But this ability was only useful for slipping out of handcuffs.

But who could handcuff Deathstroke? And even if someone did, it would be easier for him to just break the cuffs.

He also found that he could control the X-Metal to flow through his skin into a lock, forming a key to unlock it. That seemed somewhat useful, but wouldn't it be faster to just blow the door open with C4 or break it down with the Twilight Greatsword?

He also had those stones that Doctor Manhattan had given him. No matter how he looked at them, they seemed like ordinary rocks, with no sign of the promised energy.

He had tried many methods, like holding them in his hand and trying to communicate with them telepathically, or coating them with his blood. But the stones remained just stones, dead and inert.

He even wondered if they were meant to be consumed. So, he tried soaking them in water, boiling them in soup—he was just short of grinding them up in a steel mill. But these weren't some kind of magic fungus; they were incredibly tough and clearly not meant to be eaten.

He had tried burning them, electrocuting them, and even slashing them with the Twilight Greatsword.

The only thing that worked was the Twilight Greatsword, which could split the stones into two smaller stones. But these smaller stones were just as useless as the original ones.

Moreover, it was as if the stones had been perfectly divided. The original oval stone, once cut, became two smaller oval stones. There was no cut mark, no sound of breaking—just two stones where there had been one, and they were still unusable.

So far, it seemed that only the X-Metal could interact with these stones, while all other conventional methods were ineffective. But Doctor Manhattan had said these stones would ensure his survival in any world. What did that mean?

It implied that Doctor Manhattan believed that with these stones, Su Ming could survive even in a primitive society. But for now, they seemed completely useless.

Su Ming figured he just hadn't thought of the right approach yet. He considered it a long-term project. For now, there was no immediate danger, so he didn't need to use them. Perhaps one day, with the help of quantum computing, he could crack their secrets.

And so, the days passed in a cycle of training and research. After nearly a month, Su Ming gathered all his belongings and went up to the deck.

In the distance, he could already see the Statue of Liberty. From afar, it looked as if she was standing right on the surface of the water.

He had arrived in New York.

The Statue of Liberty was completed in 1884 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the United States. It had always been a symbol of New York, a gift from the French to the Americans.

She stood three kilometers outside the mouth of the Hudson River, and every ship entering or leaving New York would pass by her. Unfortunately, it wasn't nighttime, so he couldn't see her torch "lit."

The long journey had made the passengers quite familiar with each other. Now, they were all busy saying their goodbyes or arranging future meetings. But mostly, they were trying to pour as much alcohol into themselves as possible.

Why?

Because from 1921 to 1933, the United States was under Prohibition—a nationwide ban on alcohol. In other words, the Prohibition Era.

During this time, the number of Puritans in the U.S. was high. They believed in abstaining from pleasures, working diligently, and avoiding any form of entertainment. They were the most conservative and entertainment-averse sect within British Catholicism. Historically, they were so extreme that they didn't even celebrate Christmas.

And remember, Christmas is the birthday of their leader...

However, times had changed. With the rapid development of science and technology in the 20th century, more and more Americans had grown accustomed to taking a car wherever they went, making phone calls at work, and going to bars after work. Life had become more modern and diverse.

Entertainment had become the trend of society, and no one wanted to live like a monk anymore.

What's the point of having money and free time if you can't even buy a phonograph to listen to music at home because it doesn't align with your religious beliefs? That's just crazy.

So, the younger generation was even less inclined to follow the church, or if they did, their faith had become more secular.

Would the ruling church be happy with this? Of course not. They used their influence to unite local legislators and, with a majority vote in Congress, passed the Prohibition Act—historically known as the Eighteenth Amendment—making Prohibition a part of the U.S. Constitution.

The law stipulated that starting from the end of 1921, producing, selling, or transporting alcohol within any U.S. state was illegal, and drinking in public was even more severely punished.

Violators would face heavy fines and at least six months of hard labor.

However, at this time, Hawaii was not considered one of the "U.S. states," and the cruise ship Su Ming was on belonged to a Hawaiian offshore company. They didn't have to comply with U.S. state laws.

But once the passengers disembarked, they would be on New York soil. If they wanted another drink, they would have to sneak into an alley at night like spies to find some.

It's worth noting that laws that go against the tide of history never last long. The Prohibition Era may have been well-received when it was first introduced, but eventually, it was repealed.

People needed relaxation and entertainment. In 1929, the U.S. would face the Great Depression due to the stock market crash. People lost their jobs and homes, and there were so many bodies from suicides on Wall Street that they couldn't be collected in time. If they couldn't even buy a drink to numb themselves, it would be inhumane.

So, at the end of 1932, Democratic presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed his campaign platform, which included the repeal of Prohibition. He promised that once he became president, everyone would be free to drink again.

That year, he won a landslide victory, taking 42 of the 48 states, and entered the White House as the 32nd president of the United States. He would go on to serve four terms—the only U.S. president to do so.

As for why, it's hard to say whether it was because he won World War II or because he lifted the Prohibition...

Surrounded by an atmosphere of farewells and the scent of alcohol, Su Ming set foot on New York soil—the place he would call home for a long time to come.