amaotonovel Chapter 4292 Heroes Strike! (24)
Chapter 4292 Heroes Strike! (24)
Chapter 4292 Heroes Strike! (Twenty-Four)
The two reappeared in the center of the dueling arena. The Beyonder jumped down from the sky island and came between them, beginning to interview each of them separately. He first approached Superman from the main universe, saying, "It's a bit of a pity, Superman. Your final counterattack was brilliant, but unfortunately, the heat ray wasn't even as fast as the dart..."
The main universe's Superman shook his head and said, "It's not that the heat ray isn't faster than the dart; it's that he threw the dart in this direction before he even left the car."
"You mean, he anticipated your actions?"
"Yes and no. He can calculate the optimal dart launch point, and when I throw the Batmobile, there happens to be a point on its flight path that is one of the optimal positions. So by the time the Batmobile reaches that position, he has already thrown the dart. And my firing of the heat ray comes later."
"So that's how it is." The Beyonder couldn't help but applaud. He said, "So you didn't expect him to throw darts?"
“I’ve got it, but I have to take a gamble: he won’t grab the best position in this kind of emergency. But obviously he’s Batman, he won’t make a mistake in this kind of thing.”
The Superman from the main universe took a deep breath—those words were actually spoken by Batwoman; he couldn't possibly calculate an optimal position. He then expressed his opinion:
"Actually, I was at a disadvantage from the start of this battle. I could tell that he was better developed than me in the previous game and must have gotten a lot of useful items. Those skills that guarantee a knockdown wouldn't be available from the beginning..."
“Okay! Let’s ask Batman if that’s true.” The Beyonder handed the microphone to Arkham Batman.
Arkham Batman nodded and said, "That's true. But it's not an item, it's a skill upgrade. After I reach a certain number of combos and defeat enough enemies, my skills will be upgraded. Right now, all my skills are at max level."
"My God, you're so well-developed!" the Transcender exclaimed.
"My method doesn't require any luck, just hard work," Arkham Batman said frankly. "If I relied on luck to find items, I probably wouldn't be able to win the regional championship."
The main universe's Superman nodded repeatedly, saying, "We were just relying too much on luck. If I had known, I should have practiced your skills first instead of rushing to find me the gadgets."
"I told you long ago, my skill to summon the army of dead water, while seemingly powerful, has a very low ceiling; it's only useful in water. As it turns out, my choice was right. If we had really focused on training our underwater skills, we probably wouldn't have been able to even put up a fight in the final duel."
Batwoman, of course, had her own predicament—her abilities were completely useless throughout the entire battle. This was because her ability was to summon an army of dead water, which is made of water, and the final duel arena was completely devoid of water.
During the previous regional duel, they were assigned to the deep sea, so her skills were particularly useful. They could even be used to drive away other players, preventing them from having time to find supplies, thus winning the final melee.
She was quite prescient: she knew her skill had limitations; even if she found the key items and upgraded it to the highest level, its potential wasn't high. Even in the final melee of a regional duel, she only won thanks to Superman's abilities. The summoned minions were, at best, just there to create atmosphere.
That's a bit complicated. To put it simply, Batwoman is an early-game hero: when everyone is relatively weak, she can summon a lot of minions, which naturally allows her to gain more time to develop; but in the late game, when everyone has developed, those minions become useless.
“Batman is just too strong,” said the Superman from the main universe. “I never thought that Batman from my universe would team up with another Batman. They don’t usually do that.”
“This proves he’s under a lot of pressure,” Batwoman said. “You should go back and stand by for now, so you can get there immediately if anything urgent happens.”
"What do you mean?" Superman from the main universe asked.
"I'm not entirely clear on the specifics. In short, some kind of darkness is awakening in the universe. The main universe's Batman is investigating this matter. I don't know how much he knows, but perhaps he feels he can't solve it alone, so he wants to practice teaming up with other Batmen."
“I see,” said the Superman from the main universe. “Then I’ll go find some other Supermen to fight later.”
"What do you think?" Arkham Batman asked.
"You're right. Your fighting style is unique and different from everyone else's. It's also difficult to coordinate with others. You're better off fighting alone."
"I told you before, it's not that I want to be a lone wolf, but that my fighting style is more suited to being an assassin."
"You will be a very skilled assassin."
But the "Transcendence" clearly wasn't going to let them off so easily. Having finally gotten an interview opportunity, he was bound to dig up some gossip. Did he really not know what these viewers wanted to hear?
"Hello, Superman, I have another question for you. It's somewhat related to the game, but you don't have to answer it..."
"You mean this question has absolutely nothing to do with the competition, and if I don't answer it, the audience will definitely hate me, right?" The Superman of the main universe wasn't going to put up with that. He was a reporter; how could he not understand this kind of thing?
Beyonder wiped the sweat from his brow and said, "Ah, that's not what I meant. You know no one can force you, but we're all curious—why would you duo with Batman from another universe?"
"Regarding this matter, I must say that I haven't had any conflicts with the Batman from my own universe. We're as united as ever, and the Justice League remains as united as ever. As for why I played games with other Batmen, there's no complicated reason. We just happened to run into them in the last game, and we thought our teamwork was pretty good, so we gave it a try. I believe the significance of multiverse communication is that it allows us to move beyond our own universe, make friends from different universes, and explore new possibilities. This will enable us to better cope with future crises. After all, when darkness falls, you can't be sure who you'll be with, so more communication and practice are necessary."
“Good heavens,” Batwoman thought to herself, “you look like the PR spokesperson for one of those cheating Hollywood stars.”
"Cheating?"
"The focus is on Hollywood."
"This is the professional quality of a journalist."
But the Transcendent seemed completely oblivious to all of this. He went straight to the point: "She's beautiful, isn't she?"
"I believe we shouldn't judge a person by their appearance; that's very superficial..."
"Okay, let me rephrase the question: Batman is cool, right?"
"This is a well-known fact."
“Okay, I understand. I think the audience understands too.” The Beyonder looked around.
Yes, the audience erupted after Superman from the main universe answered the question. Everyone was excited, but they didn't even know why they were so excited.
"So they're not a couple?" Magneto asked from the waiting area.
"Who are you talking about, and who?"
"Superman and Batman. Aren't they a couple?"
"Of course not, they're just partners."
"What are the audience so excited about?"
"This...I don't know either."
Meanwhile, Bruce looked at Selena and asked, "Honey, do you think I'm handsome?"
“Of course,” Selena answered without hesitation, “If you’re not a handsome guy, then there are no handsome guys in the world.”
"So you fell in love with me because I'm handsome?"
Selena squeezed her eyes shut, her expression a mix of anger and helplessness. But when she opened them, she looked at Bruce as if he were a rich man's foolish son and said, "The first time I saw you, most of your face was covered by a mask. How could I tell if you were handsome or not?"
"So you mean you fell in love with me the moment you saw me?"
"But in the next few shots, you didn't take off your mask either."
"I mean, you fell in love with me when I was still Batman?"
Selena retorted, somewhat angrily, "Weren't we already together back then? Or do you think we hadn't even started dating yet? You jerk..."
Before she could even utter the word "scumbag," Bruce kissed her, silencing her. Then he asked, "Don't you think I've changed a lot? That I'm not the person you used to like?"
"Bruce, when will you realize that you've never changed? You've always been this way. From the very beginning, your curiosity about me was uncontrollable; you would chase after me the moment I appeared. Later, you would fulfill every unreasonable request of Elsa, even taking care of the children until you were on the verge of collapse. Then, you would barge into the slums like a fool, making yourself look utterly disheveled, without even knowing why. From beginning to end, your true nature has never been that of a mature and composed adult. That serious, Batman-like image you had before was just you forcing yourself to be that way; that's not who you are."
Bruce was stunned for a long time without saying anything. After a while, he nodded and said, "What you said makes sense."
“Look at them,” Selena said, looking at the Arkham Batman standing in the center of the arena—she was referring to both the Arkham Batman and the main universe Batman—and then she continued, “They’ve long since passed the stage of self-exploration and exploring the world. They have their own opinions on everything, even things they’ve never encountered before. They can deduce things from what they’ve experienced and from common sense, and they’re usually right. Their opinions and ideas are very mature.”
"But you've never been like that from the beginning. Your image of Batman is wrong, your imagined family life is different from what you're more likely to experience, and you have unrealistic fantasies about the slums and your situation there. These are all signs of immaturity. You've always been like this, and you've never changed."
Selena thought for a moment and said, "That's why most Catwoman characters in the universe can't get along with Batman for very long. Even if they get married at one point, they eventually separate. It's because Batman is too mature, like a high wall. Catwoman likes uncertainty. She needs a big tree with countless branches, even if some branches are unstable and you'll fall down if you step on them. That's still more enjoyable than walking on a smooth, flat concrete floor."
"So, does that mean we're a match made in heaven?"
“Of course.” Selena smiled at him, then kissed him with her chili-powder-covered lips and said, “If you don’t want me to use you as a scratching post, don’t throw me off, darling.”
Happy New Year everyone!!!
The result of deliberately updating at midnight is that there was essentially no update on the 31st, and I lost my perfect attendance bonus!!!