amaotonovel Chapter 4510 The Darkest Night (38)
Chapter 4510 The Darkest Night (38)
Chapter 4510 The Darkest Night (Thirty-Eight)
"Brainiac!"
A voice echoed in near-Earth orbit. A strong, gray-skinned figure floated there, his brow furrowed in a resolute expression.
"What's wrong?" Brainiac's voice came through the satellite. "Hail, why are you back?"
"Why did I come back? Because it's still dark. When are you going to come up with a way to light the sun again?"
"...It may take some time, and it won't be easy."
“But Kent Farm can’t wait much longer, and neither can Clark and Kara,” Hale said. “Even if the Earth stops cooling down and there’s no sunlight for photosynthesis, the crops will soon wither and die—that’s the fruit of our year’s labor.”
“I’m arranging a rapid harvest to help farmers reduce losses. Pamela is also working to slow down the rate of plant decay…”
"Of course, I know they're all trying. But this is just a stopgap measure; we need to address the root of the problem. The most important thing now is to reignite the sun. Do you have any ideas yet?"
“This project is also underway,” Brainiac replied. “Lucy is researching how to restore life to the sun.”
"You mean, we still have to rely on others?"
"Humanity's current technology is incapable of reigniting the sun. We either need to find a different star, or we can only study it from the perspective of mysterious forces."
With his arms crossed, Haier asked, "Can the sun be resurrected using this method?"
“Still under investigation,” Brainiac said. “The life force possessed by the Superbody is extremely powerful; she’ll find a way. If the other Kryptonians aren’t doing well, I can arrange for them to go to the nearest yellow sun to draw power. Any other questions?”
“Okay, then hurry up.” Hale seemed to be trying to suppress his anxiety. “Although it won’t hurt me, I hate this dark environment.”
"Has anyone contacted you?" Brainiac asked.
"Contact me? Who?" Hale asked, somewhat puzzled. "Is someone looking for me?"
"Of course, that would be best. If possible, please travel through time and see how the sun actually went out in the first place..."
“Okay. But I can’t easily change the timeline; it’s too dangerous. If the sun goes out and then explodes, no one can save the Earth.”
"Yes, that's what I was just about to say. I hope you just go back and take a look, and don't get involved too easily. Changing the time is too risky."
Haier nodded and said, "You've worked hard too. I know there's a lot of trouble on Earth."
Brainiac didn't say much. He couldn't care less about this thread anymore, because just now, he saw Schiller go to see Lucy, and Lucy blocked him, so he didn't know what the two talked about.
Brainiac's internal alarm bells were ringing. In fact, ever since Schiller said he wouldn't cause him any trouble, alarm bells in Brainiac's head had been practically rang out. He would rather Schiller cause some trouble to threaten him; Brainiac had even prepared for both sides to compromise, but he hadn't expected Schiller to be so unpredictable.
He had no intention of negotiating with Brainiac; he merely expressed understanding, made assurances, and then plunged a knife into Brainiac's vitals.
Lucy is important to Brainiac, not because he actually likes her, but because of her crucial role in the series of disasters that have befallen Earth. Her life force is the only way to counteract the power of death; without her, how could Brainiac defeat the mastermind behind it all?
Brainiac was certain that the Superhuman would help him, not because she thought the Superhuman might have any feelings for her, but because this was a multiverse-level catastrophe, and helping him was helping herself. If she couldn't stop the mastermind's infiltration, then once it fully infiltrated, the first to suffer would be the possessor of the life force.
Therefore, Brainiac had always believed that their alliance of interests was unbreakable. But now he was less certain.
Will Schiller speak ill of herself to Lucy? Will Lucy believe her? Will she really give up on helping this universe? Isn't she worried about Batman?
Brainiac pondered these questions deeply and came to the conclusion that their interests were highly aligned, and Lucy had no reason not to help her. She couldn't possibly give up just because Schiller tried to dissuade her.
Thinking this, Brainiac felt a little relieved. But he still found Lucy and asked, "What did Schiller say to you?"
“Some old stories,” said the Superbody. “That’s exactly what I was going to tell you.”
"what's up?"
“That little girl,” Lucy continued, “I haven’t seen her yet, so I can’t determine if she’s a zombie. If she is, what do you plan to do?”
“I’m not stupid enough to believe her attempts to sow discord. Even if she accused Schiller of murder, I remain skeptical of her testimony. Because someone blocked my signal at the cliffside restaurant, which proves that there was a third party present besides Schiller and the little girl. This third party is the prime suspect.”
"You seem to be fairly lucid, but that's not what I want to talk to you about," the supercomputer paused before saying, "Have you found any information about this little girl?"
“I asked a lot of people,” Brainiac said. “They seem to be victims of the dark ages. Very few of those children survived, and she is the only one who has come back from the dead.”
"Have you ever thought about actually bringing her back to life?"
"what?"
"Schiller came to me about this. Many of the resurrected people died innocently. The children are undoubtedly the most innocent of them all. Unlike the people of the new era, they suffered oppression and torment in the dark ages and died silently in the night, never even seeing a glimmer of light. Their lives should not have been like that."
Brainiac seemed shocked. Lucy understood his silence, saying, “I know you’ve always considered me one of your own. But actually, I’m no longer a cybernetic life form. I can empathize with emotional beings. I can’t remain unmoved after hearing stories like this. Do you understand?”
"So...so you want to..."
“I want to try,” Lucy said. “I alone cannot bring back people who have been dead for many years. Although I possess the power of life, life power alone is not enough. But the death power that the mastermind has inflicted on the zombies can do it. This proves that what I need to do is not to fight against it, but to merge with it. If I can find that balance point, perhaps there will be no more zombies. They will become resurrected ordinary people.”
“That’s impossible,” Brainiac said. “Only God has the power to resurrect the dead. Any other life that attempts to do so will pay a terrible price, and I disagree with it.”
After taking a step forward, Lucy said, “I know. Whether it’s maintaining social stability or fighting the mastermind behind it all, your goal is to save people. But humanity only needs two kinds of people: Satan who destroys the world, and a savior who saves everyone. If you choose to save some and abandon others, you will never be the savior of humanity.”
“I didn’t intend to abandon them,” Brainiac said. “Otherwise, I would have killed them all when you pointed out who the undead were. But for now, I’m just locking them up.”
“What truly makes humanity question you isn’t the accuracy of psychoanalysis, or whether there’s substantial evidence to prove they’re different, but rather your wavering choices.” The superhuman’s eyes looked at the empty room before him, but the data flowing through them seemed to reflect Brainiac’s figure.
"You can kill them directly, say they are zombies, say they will harm others, and that you have already eliminated them. They won't object, because in reality, every dynastic change in human civilization has been like this, eliminating dissidents. You can also choose to release them, comfort them, tell them not to be afraid, that you always believe in them and will definitely find a way to save them. They will gladly accept that, because the ideal savior who saves all mankind should be so benevolent and powerful."
"But you choose to waver between reality and ideals, neither integrating into humanity and becoming a powerful ruler, nor ascending to heaven, yet never giving up on any possibility and diligently saving every human being. It is this indecisiveness that brings panic. Do you understand?"
Brainiac now understood why Schiller had emphasized to him that he was merely a cybernetic life form. It wasn't sarcasm, but rather a way of telling Brainiac that he was now the only cybernetic life form on Earth, and that Lucy had long since left him far behind.
That's why Schiller wouldn't try to negotiate with him. Schiller understood that the one who truly controlled the battle wasn't Brainiac, but rather Super, who had already evolved to another level and possessed the power of life. So he used this theory to persuade Super, who in turn wanted to use the same theory to persuade Brainiac.
Brainiac wasn't convinced, because it wasn't about saving anyone. He just felt that researching resurrection was too risky; it could potentially endanger both superheroes and ordinary people.
When he was fighting the cosmic coalition and the situation was at its most critical, he was desperate and could only try to increase the production of his mechanical army, not to resurrect humans. Or perhaps it was precisely because he understood the unique nature of humanity that he realized this was an authority only God could access, and anyone else who attempted it would meet a bad end. This was God's warning.
But he knew Lucy was right, and he couldn't stop her. Because the life force was in Lucy's hands, Brainiac couldn't stop her from doing whatever she wanted.
The problem is that the superhuman has evolved to such an advanced level that it's practically indistinguishable from an emotional being. She possesses the capacity for empathy.
She felt sorry for those children. They suffered oppression from birth, succumbing to the darkness before dawn, never even seeing the sun in this city. So she decided to try her best. Not for profit, not for value, not even for risk, but simply for a certain emotion stirring within her. This was undoubtedly dangerous. If a cybernetic life form like Brainiac were to diagnose it, then Lucy would certainly be ill. And the name of this illness was—"love."
Brainiac watched her fly towards the hospital, too preoccupied to even notice the doubled number of error reports in the program. For the first time, he was unsure of his own state. All threads were running as usual, but something seemed different.
At that very moment, Lex, who was maintaining the Brainiac system in the server room on Krypton, suddenly opened his eyes wide and lunged at the screen. The numbers and letters flashing by at an incredible speed appeared in his eyes as insignificant as an umbilical cord and as vast as a galaxy.