amaotonovel Chapter 4154 When the Pumpkin Ripens (36)
Chapter 4154 When the Pumpkin Ripens (36)
Chapter 4154 When the Pumpkins Ripen (Thirty-Six)
"The mother box is fake."
"puff!!!!"
Barry spat out his coffee. Greed waved his hand, signaling him not to make a fuss, and said, "Arrogance has really spoiled you all. Nobody wants to use their brains. Is that really a good thing?"
"What does this have to do with our brains? Why would you create a fake master box?"
“Wait, I was just about to say that,” said Greed. “Darkseid needs the Mother Box, so we’ll give it to him. That way, whatever he was planning will have to put it aside for now and turn his attention to the more important Mother Box. Tell me, isn’t theft a bigger crime than child abduction?”
Barry couldn't refute it. After all, the reason he and Jenna dared to openly discuss the matter was because their research materials had been stolen, which wasn't a big deal. To be precise, it wouldn't cause significant harm in the short term, and even if the sky fell, Brainiac would be there to protect them. But child abduction cases are different; the harm would be immediate, and the case was very time-sensitive, requiring an immediate breakthrough, otherwise innocent people would suffer.
Moreover, judging from the kidnappers' actions, three child abduction cases were far from their limit. They had no intention of giving up voluntarily. However, since the Mother Box was created, there have indeed been no more serious incidents.
"The theft case was also fake."
"Cough cough cough!!"
Greed rolled his eyes again and continued, "Someone did come to steal things, but we caught them. The Mother Box is still safely in the hands of Batman in the main universe."
"Why are you doing this?"
“First of all, with important items stolen, Brainiac has reason to impose martial law. After all, even though their attention seems to have been diverted, it's still not safe without coercive measures. What if they're planning to operate on two fronts simultaneously?”
Barry couldn't help but nod. That was definitely a safer approach.
"Then, Darkseid remains a potential threat. I don't know why Brainiac felt complacent after simply driving him away from the solar system. If invading the solar system comes without any cost, wouldn't anyone be able to do it?"
“I don’t feel completely at ease,” Brainiac interjected. “I’m just making plans.”
"Then you're making plans too slowly. As a super artificial intelligence, more than a year has passed, where are your plans?"
"I need to assess various risks, confirm operational details, and gather all kinds of intelligence..."
"I do not need."
Brainiac fell silent.
“I understand. Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. You want to gather intelligence because you want to target Darkseid’s weaknesses. He may have many weaknesses, but none of them are enough to make you decide to take action, because if you can’t deliver a fatal blow, things will become more complicated afterward.”
"But in reality, it's better to create weaknesses than to exploit them. If you can't weigh which is better, then create the best one yourself."
"But how do you know what temptations he might fall for?"
"I don't know what temptations he will be tempted by, but I do know what will make him definitely be tempted."
"what?"
"greedy."
Greed smiled and said, "You must be thinking that it's because I have intelligence that he wants the Mother Box or the Anti-Life Equation, which is why he set a trap. But actually, even without those two things, as long as I fabricate something stronger and make everyone believe that it exists, Darkseid will definitely come to steal it."
Neither of them spoke, and neither asked how Greed would fabricate the story. After all, the Mother Box was also something he fabricated, and judging from the organization Darkseid had planted on Earth, he genuinely believed it.
“But that’s not really the most important thing,” Greed said. “If the Mother Box had stayed there safely, Darkseid might have realized it was a trap. But now that the Mother Box is missing and hasn’t fallen into his hands, what do you think he’ll think?”
“I remember this thing was made by the New Creator,” Barry said, frowning. “They were fighting over it before. Now the Mother Box has appeared on Earth, but then suddenly disappeared, and Brainiac even spread the word that aliens stole it. Darkseid will definitely think the New Creator did it.”
“That’s right. He can choose not to take it because he thinks humanity is a very backward civilization, and even if we were given such high-tech stuff, we wouldn’t be able to use it. But the New Creation Star is different. They were the creators of the Mother Boxes. If they took it back, they could use it immediately, and maybe even continue mass production. Darkseid won’t allow that to happen.”
"But he has a grudge against the main universe's Batman, shouldn't he target humanity first?"
"That's another question. Do you think Darkseid learned his lesson?"
"what?"
"Why would Darkseid fall for Batman's trick from the main universe? From our perspective, driving your own planet to another distant world to participate in a multiverse-level war is something only the most stupid person would do. Darkseid isn't stupid, so why would he do something like that?"
"why?"
"arrogant."
Greed continued, "He's never respected humanity from the bottom of his heart. In his eyes, the war between humans in the multiverse is just ants fighting. What's wrong with humans filming ants fighting with their phones? A person carrying a suitcase walking down the street isn't going to detour just because a few ants are passing by, right? Even if that suitcase contains all his wealth, he wouldn't care at all. Who would have thought that an ant would give him a concussion with an over-the-shoulder throw and burn his suitcase to as well?"
“That makes some sense,” Barry said. “But it’s also possible that the gap between humans and Darkseid is just too great, which made him underestimate his opponent.”
Greed shook his head and said, “Greed and pride are the heaviest original sins of intelligent life, and no one is exempt from them. We are not discussing whether Darkseid underestimated his opponent, but whether he learned enough lessons from this defeat.”
“It doesn’t seem so,” Barry said. “Otherwise, he wouldn’t have started causing trouble on Earth as soon as he got back.”
“That’s right. He won’t see it as a failure; he’ll just think it was a mishap, a slip-up. He might even think he underestimated his opponent, but he still believes that as long as he goes all out, he can easily beat Batman to a pulp.”
“It’s hard to understand,” Brainiac said. “Even Bruce in our universe, I mean, when he was still Batman, was incredibly powerful, like nothing could stop him.”
“There are still some things that can stump us.” Barry glanced toward the back door.
"That's our perception, but Darkseid sees it differently. We know how powerful Batman is, but in Darkseid's eyes, he's just an ordinary human from a remote surface civilization, without even superpowers. If he hadn't underestimated him and made a foolish mistake, wouldn't he have been easy to subdue? Not to mention, one Omega Ray and he'd be instantly reduced to ashes."
“Right.” Barry suddenly realized, “Darkseid’s Omega Ray can teleport, so why didn’t he use it to fight Batman in the main universe?”
“He used this move during the war too,” Brainiac suddenly said. “I have a way to interfere with Omega rays. That’s probably why he hasn’t used it yet. If it were in another universe, Batman might be in trouble.”
“I don’t think you have a proper understanding of Batman’s power,” Greed said, waving his hand. “Let’s not talk about that, let’s talk about Darkseid. He obviously didn’t learn anything from this incident, thinking that it wasn’t that Batman was too strong, but that he made a mistake. Therefore, he doesn’t take any human seriously.”
"In his view, taking revenge on Batman in the main universe is a piece of cake, isn't it? It's just a matter of firing a ray, and it's never too late. But New Genesis is a different story. Those guys have been fighting him for years, almost tearing the universe apart, and they're his number one enemy. Now that New Genesis might reclaim a treasure that's extremely important and strategically significant to them, how could Darkseid possibly choose to focus all his efforts on Batman and ignore New Genesis?"
“I see,” Barry said. “Once he finds out that the Mother Box might fall into the hands of the people of the New Genesis, he will definitely pursue it at all costs. But now that it's in Batman's hands in the main universe, won't he still chase after Batman?”
"Who said this thing is in Batman's hands now? Wasn't it stolen by a thief?"
"But there was clearly no theft..."
"Who said no one did? Someone did break into the lab and take things away. That person was me."
"Oh, I see. You want to make a fake one, right?"
"You're finally getting smarter. That original mother box did have some research value, so it was given to Batman. But now, what's been stolen is a fake, and it's in the hands of this thief."
“I bet you’re planning to make a bomb. That way, once Darkseid finds the Mother Box, you can blow him up. Right?” Barry seemed excited, even eager, as if he could already see Darkseid being blown up.
“No, no, no, that’s too crude a tactic,” Greed shook his head and said. “And it’s pointless to resolve Earth’s current predicament. Darkseid didn’t even come to attack Earth himself. Even if we injured him, he’s still hiding on Apokolips, isn’t he?”
"what do you mean……"
"The most troublesome thing right now is Darkseid's people lurking on Earth. If we can't bring them out, they can keep causing trouble behind the scenes. With the shielding equipment they have, they can keep Earth in perpetual turmoil."
“That’s right,” Brainiac echoed. “What happens on Apokolips is none of our business. We only want to keep Earth peaceful. As for revenge, that requires a well-thought-out plan.”
“These two things can be done at the same time. Eliminating Darkseid’s forces that have been lurking on Earth for years would also be detrimental to him. Especially when he is eager to take revenge on Batman, it would be like cutting off one of his arms.”
"What are you going to do?"
"If Darkseid discovers, while tracking the Mother Box, that it wasn't taken by the people of the New Creator, but rather intercepted by his human forces planted on Earth, what do you think he would do?"
Barry suddenly realized and said, "You want them to fight amongst themselves? If Darkseid knew that the treasure he has been searching for was intercepted by his most despised subordinates on Earth, who are risking betrayal to keep it, he would be furious."
“But will the human forces lurking on Earth really betray Darkseid?” Brainiac asked.
“Don’t rush.” Greed slowly stood up, walked over and shook hands with Barry, pointed to himself and said, “Let me reintroduce myself. Schiller Rodriguez, the new head of the ‘Thieves’ division of the ‘100’ organization, has successfully persuaded the organization’s big boss, Tobias Wheel, to use the power of the Mother Box to replace Brainiac and establish a new human dynasty belonging to Wheel.”
Familiar recipe, familiar taste