Chapter 2191: Battle of the Two Cities! (Part 69)

The method of entering the shield was very simple. They squatted on the side until an alien spacecraft flew out, followed it all the way, took down the spacecraft in a place where no one was around, flew the spacecraft to another entrance, and could pass through smoothly.

This wasn't a method they came up with either, but directly copying Batman's homework. Bruce speculated that Batman had only used this method once or twice, and the other party's security system hadn't updated that quickly, so they should be fine using it again.

The shield flashed with light, the part below the gate disappeared, and a shuttle-shaped surface spacecraft carrying two mechanical soldiers flew out. They were staff members for inspection and maintenance of the shield generator.

Because they had to check the state of the shield, the spacecraft flew very slowly. Superman carefully controlled the biological force field to follow behind, until the spacecraft flew to the middle of the shield, very far from both gates. He fired a ray, and the two mechanical soldiers were turned into ashes like being skewered on a candied haw.

The spacecraft floated in place without moving. Bruce immediately boarded the ship and used the microcomputer Batman gave him to crack the spacecraft's system in two or three moves.

Bruce drove the ship, Peter sat in the co-pilot seat, and Clark sat in the back row with the Joker to keep an eye on him. 【21

"You said you've encountered a bit of trouble lately?" Bruce asked, turning his head while piloting the spaceship. "I think you could talk about it; perhaps we can offer you some advice."

"It was trouble originally, but after your Cat Getan turned into a complete mess, these things don't count for much anymore," Clark sighed and said. "After the aliens descended, it's even less worth mentioning."

"Of course you can't think that way," Bruce countered. "World situations, the future of races, and personal well-being are equally important. Regardless of how the world is, the trouble you encounter is a very important turning point in your life, sometimes more worthy of your attention than the big picture."

"But we can't solve these troubles right now," Clark shook his head and said. "We have more important things to do."

"But actually, if you could realize how powerful your abilities are, then you would understand that for you, external troubles don't count as trouble. True trouble is always from the inside out, isn't it?"

Clark was stunned upon hearing this. Peter turned to look at him and asked, "Do you have any worries lately? Although we might not be able to help you solve them..."

"We certainly can," Bruce interrupted Peter and said, "Clark, this Mr. Joker sitting next to you right now is the world's most professional master of psychology. You should know this isn't a joke."

"We are a team now, and there is no doubt that you are the one with the greatest combat power in the team. If you cannot be focused and firm, then we might all be in danger. So I think if you have any worries, you can confide in him. Peter and I can put on our headphones."

Clark and Joker were both stunned.

Clark looked at Joker with some shock, half-doubting, but he also felt that Bruce, the world's richest man, must be more knowledgeable than himself, and there must be a reason for him to bring this person in strange attire along.

Joker, on the other hand, was shocked by Bruce's shamelessness. During the process of my artistic creation, manipulating others or messing with people's minds using all sorts of methods—that is my hobby.

You're asking me to treat this kid, and you're using team collaboration as an excuse? Obviously, you don't want to pay a single cent. Aren't you being a bit too familiar?

Joker had, of course, thought about manipulating the team's strongest combatant, Superman. He originally thought Bruce's previous small talk with Superman was actually to vaccinate him in advance, making him stay away from himself.

As it turns out, Bruce has pushed Clark over here. What is he trying to do? It couldn't just be to get a free therapy session from me, could it?

Joker discovered that this young Batman never played by the rules. It really is like a sow wearing a bra—one set after another.

At this moment, Bruce and Peter had already put on their headphones. Clark rested his elbows on his knees, touched his face with his hand, and said, "Actually, it's nothing much. It's just that lately, while working at the newspaper, I often think about a question..."

Honestly, providing psychological counseling to an alien was a novel experience for Joker, because usually, aliens who come to Cat Getan don't survive to reach the area where he lives, and those who appear in the Batcave are already specimens.

Joker had occasionally seen them when buying groceries, back when the red and blue search-and-rescue dogs from Metropolis would sweep overhead. However, he didn't care; above the rooftops was the realm of gods, and he only played games with ordinary people under the eaves.

But to say Joker wasn't curious about Superman at all would be impossible. What he was most curious about was what kind of parents could raise a super-powerful creature that had nothing in common with humans except for its appearance into a saint who was more human than humans.

This is like making a human identify as an ant. Even if you gave Joker ten years, he might not be able to brainwash someone to this extent, because this is completely anti-instinct and anti-common sense.

Bruce deliberately piloted the spaceship slowly, sightseeing around the city outside the shield, completely ignoring the Apokolips military command center, which had already fallen into chaos after being attacked again during the spaceship's maintenance.

He leisurely piloted to the gate furthest from the previous one, which was also nearly on the other side of the city. The commotion behind them finally fell silent. Bruce took off his headphones and found Clark deep in thought, while Joker was closing his eyes to rest.

The psychological therapy was clearly quite successful. Clark, who had been somewhat distracted, became focused again and was no longer so unapproachable.

Joker's state, however, was somewhat strange. He appeared to have become peaceful and sluggish, but Bruce was very familiar with this state. After a master of psychology conducts a hearty analysis or treatment, they need time to digest and absorb it.

They care more about every detail they learn from individuals in the crowd than ordinary people do. They need a certain amount of time to remember these details and condense and sublimate them into an art that belongs uniquely to them.

During this time, the madness and excitement that should be wantonly unleashed are temporarily restrained, because exploring inward requires focus and tranquility.

Bruce piloted the spaceship into the city; the shield didn't stop him at all. However, after this, the shield behind them flickered and changed color, looking as if it had entered an emergency defense state.

This shows that Bruce's timing was excellent. He anticipated that the people responsible for maintaining the shield and those who needed the shield were not the same group. Power struggles are an eternal theme for intelligent beings, so once one side makes a mistake, mutual attacks are unavoidable, and chaos follows.

The entrance they came through was the upper reaches of the Hudson River, which was also the upper reaches of the Cat Getan River and the source of this war. At this time, it had already become a complete ruin.

This was one of the positions taken by Hydra. They originally should have been pushing south continuously, but because of the arrival of the Apokolips army, everyone gathered in the middle of Queens to fight a messy war.

After the Court of Owls obtained the vast dark power, they turned the tables and became the masters. Their first target for revenge was not the Apokolips army that had descended here for unknown reasons, but Hydra.

They knew this group of strange aliens was here to find something; if they found it, they would naturally leave. But Hydra wanted to take over the city they had painstakingly managed for years—the dove occupying the magpie's nest—so it goes without saying which one was the mortal enemy.

The Court of Owls, having achieved success, blew the horn of counterattack in a grand manner. But Hydra was no longer what it used to be. After a series of terrible operations by the German Hydra, the vast majority of Hydra defected to Nick's faction.

It's the same old saying: whoever feeds them meat, they follow. Regardless of whether you are S. H. I. E. L. D. or Hydra, they can be any identity when necessary.

Obviously, Hydra could no longer be relied upon, so they naturally became the unshakable S. H. I. E. L. D. warriors, uniting under Nick Fury's command to resolutely strike at the terrorists called the Court of Owls.

This also had an advantage: it immediately turned this war from a struggle between two terrorist organizations into a suppression of terrorists. There is more than just New York in this world; since they fought like this, Congress couldn't just ignore it.

Nick's means of pressuring Congress were much harsher than his original self. Don't forget, one-third of the S. H. I. E. L. D. in his universe was KGB. Even if there weren't any in this universe, there could be at this point.

Anyway, somehow, Russia obtained top-secret intelligence regarding the Court of Owls, which partially showed important East Coast celebrities and even well-known American upper-class figures who had ties to the Court of Owls.

And somehow, a search team sent by the aliens who descended on the US East Coast accidentally crashed in the South China Sea. A certain Eastern power stated at the UN Security Council meeting discussing the New York-Cat Getan terrorist attack issue that they were closely watching and deeply concerned about the security issues of the twin cities.

And somehow, an alien army searching in US East Coast cities fired a laser shell that landed in the Danish Straits, which are extremely important for international energy security. NATO exploded on the spot, and the Congressional phones were busy for three days straight.

After such a series of operations, the New Jersey National Guard had to get involved, and even the two surrounding states were sending people. Otherwise, Nick Fury would dare to let the next shell land on the state legislature.

The United States is essentially a union of several small countries. The National Guard is the state's highest armed force. In terms of equipment and quality, it is completely inferior to the federal army, and some wealthier states even have better equipment. New Jersey and New York are clearly among them.

The support of a large number of regular troops could not be without effect. Humans underestimate the firepower they possess. Not to mention anything else, no matter how tough the Talons' bodies are, they cannot withstand the round-robin bombardment of high-yield air-to-ground missiles.

There are no human rights acts to speak of for these monsters and aliens. If that doesn't work, use armor-piercing shells; if that still doesn't work, use solid gasoline. Anyway, as long as the laws of physics still exist, under the firepower bombardment that can plow the ground down more than ten meters, it is basically difficult to find a complete corpse.

For the Parademons of Apokolips, these methods didn't have much lethality; the defense of their exoskeletons was still very strong. But what was annoying was the various electromagnetic signal interference, and the ground was covered in smoke, which greatly reduced their search efficiency.

The arrival of regular troops on S. H. I. E. L. D.'s side clearly put considerable pressure on the other two parties, but they were not without trump cards.

The Court of Owls reconnected with Barbatos, saying they needed stronger power to deal with the regular troops. The Apokolips army also sent a message to the headquarters behind the portal, saying they needed stronger equipment and personnel support.

And once they brought in greater power, Nick would not hesitate to let the terrorists and the aliens' weapons hit further places, forcing all the countries watching from the sidelines to take action and bring out their real skills to deal with these demons and monsters.

If you can't beat them, call for help; if you can beat them, the other side calls for help; if you can't beat the people they called, you call for more help. If there's too much water, add flour; if there's too much flour, add water.

Just like this, in the new city fused from the two chosen lands of New York and Cat Getan, the magic-side Court of Owls, the technology-side human coalition, and the independent-system Apokolips army began an unprecedented arms race based on hot war.

When Bruce's team headed toward the city center, the intensity of the war here could already be called magical.