deltrittennovels Chapter 232 I watched your lives in solitude, and couldn't bear it.
Chapter 232 I watched your lives in solitude, and couldn't bear it.
Chapter 232 I watched your lives in solitude, and so I couldn't bear to disturb you.
Gotham.
Inside the Wayne Group's laboratory.
"Mother Box: A Material for Human Integration and Further Integration! Drink!" (The Mother Box integrates with humans to a certain extent!)
Buzzing buzzing buzzing...
Chen Tao was panting heavily.
Silvery-white particles receded from his body, sweeping over his sharp shoulder armor, arm guards with three iron spikes, gray mage robes, and the inverted bat emblem printed on his chest, embedded in front of a red circular symbol.
As the particles detached from the Bat Mage's dark gold magic belt and bid a final farewell to the hem of his robe, Chen Tao's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud.
"How are you, Batman?" Lucius rushed over and helped him up from the ground. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
Chen Tao nodded and looked at the restless mother box in the cubicle not far away: "Don't come near me, focus on operating your equipment."
"Everything that needed to be done has been done." Lucius shook his head. "We've failed too many times and repeated the experiment too many times. The computer has been pre-programmed with the entire process by Silas. I just refined the process further."
He said, "Success is success, and failure has nothing to do with my manipulation."
So Chen Tao stopped talking. He looked at the buzzing instrument from Apokolips with a somewhat gloomy expression.
Although no results have been announced yet, he already has a vague feeling that this time it may still not be successful.
Although the Bat Mage's ironic magic was nominally learned from the renowned magician of the Dark Universe, Guvani John Zatara, he was actually taught by Zatana.
Unfortunately, lacking the magical genes and enviable mystical talent of Zatanna's mother, Syndra, even someone as brilliant as Bruce Wayne could only be called a "user of irony magic" rather than a "master of irony magic."
While irony is undoubtedly one of the most powerful spells in the DC Universe, the real power lies in the person wielding it, not in the spell itself.
Zatana can use irony to negate other people's magic, and even create things out of thin air, achieving a near-magical effect where words become law and reality is painted over, but that doesn't mean the Bat Mage can do the same.
Chen Tao gritted his teeth.
He couldn't help but wonder if, if he could bring Zatana over, and the two of them cast a spell of irony together, they might be able to force the Mother Box...
boom!
The Mother Box's tremors finally reached their peak. In a dazzling burst of light and an almost explosive fusion, the Mother Box's light struck the clone not far away, turning half of his body into a mechanical form, and then began to frantically devour the weapons that had been prepared around him.
"roar!!!!"
The monster roared to the sky, uttering indistinct cries.
"Quickly, activate mind control!"
Chen Tao turned to Lucius and gave him an order, but Lucius did it without him saying a word.
He stood in front of a jumble of messy instruments, sweat beading on his forehead: "I've tried, but it's no use!"
The clone had now merged with the surrounding weapons, almost completely losing its human appearance: "Roar!!!"
Twisted metal strands extended from its back, transforming into swaying tentacles that slapped against the transparent protective shield again and again.
"The pink pills aren't working for him either..."
Chen Tao silently pondered for a while, feeling extremely upset.
That's obvious, he's really stupid.
Although Ivy's specially made pink control pills can affect even Wonder Woman or Superman transformed into Doomsday, they are still flesh and blood. Although one has divine blood and the other's genes contain biological biases, they still cannot transcend the scope of pharmacology.
But what about the one right in front of us?
The other person's physical body, or rather, the part of the other person whose cells still exist, does not occupy a dominant position in this body, so no matter what kind of medicine is given, it will be completely ineffective.
Chen Tao cursed under his breath.
Then, the silvery-white particles overlapped on his body once again. This time, although his pointed ears remained firmly in place, his skin turned completely green. He wore a black and white metallic spacesuit, and there were three pink interfaces on his forehead for connecting to the spaceship.
Brainiac is a hybrid variant of Batman and Brainiac in a dark universe.
If you borrow the other party's computing power...
Whoosh!
The transparent protective shield was breached, and fragments of tempered glass and various high-strength materials rained down. Lucius skillfully crouched down, then picked up a riot shield and held it to his forehead before running away with his head in his hands. The half-metallic, twisted monster roared and charged in, its countless metal tentacles attacking the two of them in an instant.
But the next moment, he was pinned to the ground by more metal tentacles that extended from Chen Tao's back, who had synchronized with Brainiac. He was slammed to the ground like a weak child, falling repeatedly until he was dizzy and disoriented. Then, he was pinned to the ground in a spread-eagle position by more metal tentacles.
"Don't move, be good. Let me see if your development is normal."
Two other thin mechanical cables emerged from the head of the cyborg and were forcibly inserted into his forehead despite the cyborg's constant twitching and resistance.
Immediately after a small electric current, the mechanical monster raised its head high, let out a final roar, and then exploded into a large lump of disgusting slime and machine parts.
Holding a riot shield half his height and hiding behind a table, Lucius calmly walked over without getting splashed with anything disgusting. He placed the shield aside and then said to Batman, who was lying on the spot, unfocused, panting heavily, and somewhat exhausted:
"You need to stop."
He took a rag from the drawer next to him, handed it to Batman, and then took out another rag to wipe the computer screen: "You've been syncing your so-called alternate universe Batmen over and over for more than 4 hours. It's too intense. Your body can't take it. You've reached your limit."
He said, "Even if you become Brainiac, you can't reverse the Mother Box's transformation of those clones. There's no point in trying anymore."
"Bring out the next clone." But all he heard was Batman's calm yet furious voice: "Again!"
"Calm down, there are no more clones left. You've used them all up in four hours," Lucius said. "Science isn't about mindless trial and error. Miracles happen by chance, but they're not common. Creating clones takes time. Do you think they grow potatoes in just two days?"
Hearing Lucius's words, Chen Tao finally regained some of his composure, but he still covered his head and said, "You don't understand! This is an extremely serious problem."
If no one can shut down the Apokolips's sonic boom, it means that if Darkseid arrives, we'll have to fight him to the death, instead of being able to open the boom and send him back home while he's stubbornly refusing to leave.
He said, "We have no idea how strong he really is, but a conservative estimate is that he's at the level of someone who could take on the Justice League one-on-one."
"If we don't find a way to get rid of him and fight a long battle, even if we can gain the upper hand for a while, we will eventually be defeated by his fists bit by bit and fall into the abyss."
Regardless of whether Lucius could understand, he scratched his head and repeatedly said, "This is terrible!"
He seemed somewhat neurasthenic.
"Actually... there's one thing I don't quite understand." Lucius hesitated for a moment, then said, "You told me before that Darkseid couldn't descend to Earth unless Steppenwolf found the three Mother Boxes."
He said, "That's simple. We just need to prevent Steppenwolf from getting the Mother Box, right? If he can't summon Darkseid, then it doesn't matter how we send Darkseid back."
He said, "You said one Mother Box is in the hands of the Amazons, and another Mother Box is in the hands of the Atlanteans. They are both well protected. With the Mother Box in front of us, Steppenwolf won't face any crisis unless he gathers all three."
He said, "So, although I may have oversimplified things, or I may not understand the situation, I don't quite understand why you're so anxious."
Then he saw Batman turn and look at him.
"Um, did I say something wrong?"
"That's true," Chen Tao said, "but I'm not doing this entirely because I'm 'anticipating the worst-case scenario'."
He said, "Who says Darkseid can't descend by other means if he can't collect all three Mother Boxes?"
Based on the information he obtained from Wonder Woman, it can be basically confirmed that the world he lives in now is indeed similar to the setting of the three Mother Boxes summoning Darkseid's arrival, which is similar to the movie he saw in his previous life. However, the problem is that in the DC Universe, nothing is absolute.
How many times has Darkseid used all sorts of creative methods to attack Earth in the comics?
Believing in a particular theory and then making no preparations for other possibilities is not only pushing yourself into an abyss, it's like everyone else committing suicide with you.
Chen Tao turned to look at the clock on the wall not far away, then frowned, stretched out a hand, and controlled it to fly to the clock face, wiping away the red strawberry jam splattered on it.
"Is Dr. Silas Stone's basketball game with his son almost over?"
He turned to Lucius and asked, and received an affirmative answer.
"Then he should come back to work."
Before Lucius could speak, Chen Tao soared into the sky and flew directly towards Victor Stone's basketball court.
Victor Stone was a newcomer to basketball who had switched from rugby, so the games he played were naturally not regular college leagues, but rather the most common street basketball leagues.
One of the standards for competitions like this is that the rules are relatively relaxed, the venue is flexible, and the time is negotiable. This is why Victor was able to schedule his qualifying match for the afternoon after get off work.
The moment Dr. Silas Stone decided to skip overtime and go directly to be with his son, Chen Tao had already located the location of Victor Stone's basketball game online.
At this moment, he was filled with anxiety, thinking that the competition should have ended by now and it was time to call Dr. Stone back to participate in the experiment with him.
But halfway through the flight, the old housekeeper called.
"Mr. Wayne, you promised me you'd be back for dinner tonight."
"I'm sorry, Alfred, I don't have time right now. I'm really sorry, but I'm afraid I have more important things to do." Through the whistling air, Chen Tao answered like a machine gun, "I'm in mid-air right now, and I have a meeting with Amanda Waller later."
He landed on a street corner near the edge of Victor Stone's basketball court, while giving the old butler a perfunctory reply, and continued his call with Alfred as he walked out:
"Back to sleep? Sorry, Alfred, I..."
"Victory, Victory!"
Chen Tao's voice was interrupted by the deafening cheers of the crowd.
He turned his head and saw Dr. Silas Stone standing in the stands on the basketball court, shouting his son's name frantically along with the crowd.
The entire stadium had turned into a sea of celebration.
Victor Stone's team won.
Chen Tao looked at himself.
Covered in blood and reeking of rotting flesh from days of not having showered, he had just killed a metal robot monster. The world before him seemed like a completely different place from what he had just experienced.
"Dr. Stone! Dr. Stone!"
Chen Tao called out twice more, but the other party did not hear him. Silas Stone happily climbed over the fence and hugged his son Victor Stone, jumping and skipping with joy.
Chen Tao knew that this man, who had almost lost his son, would cherish his beloved son more than anyone else in the world after he had regained him.
Victor Stone's mother also climbed over the fence and ran towards Victor Stone. The family of three hugged each other, sharing the joy of victory. Amidst the cheers of countless people, Chen Tao shouted twice more, but his voice grew softer and softer until it finally stopped.
He sighed, then slowly walked to an empty seat not far away, sat down, and stared blankly at them, at the family of three not far away.
The smiles on their faces made even the most urgent moment seem to slow down.
They were so happy that he didn't have the heart to disturb them.
He looked at it for a while, feeling a mix of confusion, envy, and greed, then clicked his tongue and opened the communication device amidst the celebratory cheers.
"Hello, Alfred? I've changed my mind. Yes, yes, I'll cancel my meeting with Waller. Back tonight? Yes, I'll be back for dinner."
"I want a sandwich! Mmm. Mmm."
"well."
Chen Tao hung up the phone.
very nice.
(Note: In DC's official lore, Bat-Sorcerer killed the host of their cosmic demon Etrigan, sealed the so-called "Magic Superman" into his own soul, and captured a ghost, making it power his wand. This feat seems incredibly powerful, but in reality, he performed poorly in the Metal event and ended up being a minor character. If he were truly that strong, there's no reason for him to act so badly.)
Furthermore, the official mage strength ranking provided by DC is as follows:
The orthodox academic school (Zatana) is weaker than the Archmage (Doctor Fate), weaker than the half-demon blood (Zakorn), weaker than the demon (Etrigan), weaker than the guardian of natural forces (Swamp Thing), weaker than the Three Deadly Sins (Phantom Stranger), and weaker than the spirit of God's vengeance (Ghost).
Therefore, this book made a second interpretation, retaining only his history of being apprenticed to Zatara, Zatara's father. It changed the story of sealing the demon Etrigan into his own soul to killing him, and the capture of the ghost to a wand enhanced by the ghost, ignoring those overly absurd settings that only existed on paper. Furthermore, the history of him sealing "Magic Superman" Etrigan conflicts with the character design of another Batman who merged with Etrigan, so the final danger level is B-.
(End of this chapter)