Chapter 2403

The moment Aisha saw this egg, her eyes widened. Batman immediately caught her expression, looked at her, and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

"Hmm... I saw a manuscript in Professor Schiller's room," Aisha said, weighing her words. "I believe there shouldn't be such a coincidence; the origin of this thing is not simple."

Upon hearing Professor Schiller's name, everyone familiar with it fell silent. If Schiller had known about this in advance, then were they appearing here now also related to him?

Batman believed the probability of this was high, because it couldn't be a coincidence that all the corrupted Batmen had gathered here. And if it was Schiller who gathered them here, did he believe there was an answer to the problem here?

But regardless, they had to continue moving forward, because this mutant named David was also a big problem. Who knew where his personalities would run off to if they escaped? Even if one entered their own universe, it would be difficult to handle, so it was better to resolve it as soon as possible.

Thus, the group began to head outside the city. However, according to the Time Manipulator, there was no way to leave this city in a normal manner. Walking to the boundary would lead to an invisible air wall; to get out, one could only take a portal, directly teleporting to the castle.

Batwoman raised a question about this, "Then how did that group of personalities fighting on the prairie get out?"

"It is precisely because they ran out that this city has such restrictions. It must have been added by that David in the castle."

"You still haven't told us what that machine you are working on is," Aisha said.

"That is Moira's way of solving the problem," the Time Manipulator sighed and said, "You will see her in the castle very soon, and she will tell you then."

They followed the Time Manipulator to the portal. As he sent them off, the Time Manipulator warned, "I suspect that the mental states of both David and Moira are unstable right now. You had better not provoke them. Also, if this matter can be successfully resolved, you had better hurry and remove the things in the time stream."

The group bid farewell to the Time Manipulator and arrived at the castle. Before their feet had even touched the ground, they heard intense arguing coming from upstairs.

"You know that doing this is not what he wanted. Your so-called salvation is merely satisfying your own selfish desires; that won't bring him peace at all. Stop it now," a female voice full of helplessness came.

"You are the same," a male voice said. "You building that machine is also just to satisfy yourself. Since he can no longer decide his future, then we will decide it, and as for which one of us, it naturally depends on our own abilities."

"I don't want to fight you here," the female voice said. "That would destroy everything. Why don't you go ask your friends in reality?"

"I have no friends," came the cold reply.

"David, it's David," Charles said.

His voice seemed to startle the two people upstairs. Soon, two figures appeared before the group. One of them was the David that Charles knew well—the personality that looked exactly like David's body, possessing incredible power.

The other was a woman. They knew this was likely the Moira the Time Manipulator had mentioned, but they still didn't know who this Moira was or what abilities she had.

"Don't be agitated, David," Batman said, taking the lead to soothe him. "We are here to help you."

"I don't need help," David said, still keeping a straight face. "You should go back where you came from. I can solve these problems myself."

"Your solution is to let all the personalities out," Moira ruthlessly exposed David and said, "You don't care what the real world will become, and you don't care what happens to ordinary people."

"Don't you also not care?" David turned his head to look at Moira and said, "You don't even care if the universe is destroyed."

"I am looking for a way to keep both universes from being destroyed," Moira said very calmly. "After that machine is built, all the personalities will return to their origin, and David will return."

"And then he will collapse and despair, because that is not the result he wanted at all," David said. "It was he who personally gave these memory carriers souls and life. If you end them, he will hate you."

"He won't, because he knows the current situation is already out of control. In order not to destroy him and the outside world, I have to do this."

"Does he really love this world?"

This question made Moira fall silent. In the end, she didn't answer, but instead said, "I don't know, David. I don't know if he should love this world, after experiencing so much."

David's expression relaxed slightly. He lowered his eyes and said, "I don't know either, Mom. But I know that when he returns and finds himself all alone, then all the changes he made will have no meaning. I cannot allow such a thing to happen."

"Wait a second," someone suddenly spoke up. The group turned their heads and saw it was Peter. Peter extended a hand and said, "Can you explain what is going on here first? Who is the 'he' you are talking about? What did he do?"

"And you are his mother," Peter looked Moira over calmly, obviously feeling that the two of them didn't look much alike.

"I am not his mother in reality," Moira looked very patient. She said, "But rather, his mother in his imagination."

Saying this, most of the people present understood, after all, most of those present were Batmen.

"What exactly did David do back then?" Batman asked.

"The breaking point was that terrorist attack," Moira sighed softly and said. "Before that, David only shared a portion of his power with his imaginary friends. They were the good friends in his only mental world who had accompanied him throughout his growth."

"They shaped his mental world together, constructing the prairie and the castle—things David had always wanted to see. And life in Paris was a memory intertwined with sweetness and bitterness that he had to face."

"So he wasn't out of control at that time."

"Yes, extra personalities wouldn't be created at that time," Moira nodded, sat cross-legged on the spot, and said as if recalling, "David was always very happy with their company. Even if there were many unpleasant things in reality, the mental space was his sanctuary where he could escape all his troubles."

"And after the terrorist attack happened, he hated himself for doing nothing, and hated himself for doing too much, so he chose to head toward destruction. But in the end, he couldn't bear to let his friends be destroyed along with him."

"In order not to let his imaginary friends leave along with his death, he chose to disintegrate himself, bestowing the mental energy he possessed upon all his beautiful memories, or simply memories."

Peter gasped. David had actually disintegrated himself directly; no wonder he could let so many personalities live and jump around in his mental space.

"Then what about the personalities that are still appearing?" Charles asked.

"Some are memory fragments that are still gaining energy, and some I don't know either," Moira shook her head and said. "Quite a few astral travelers sensed a delicious buffet here, so they came here and also shared the energy, but for now, we have trapped them all."

"So what do you plan to do now?" Peter asked.

"I will let all these personalities out," David said. "With more and more personality splits, this space has become extremely unstable, and the home that David and his imaginary friends created here has also been destroyed by war. I cannot tolerate all this."

"And this is also David's wish. He hopes his friends can live on and gain freedom. This is what they deserve."

"No, David, you cannot do this," Moira retorted. "This will cause chaos in the real world. The universe there doesn't have the carrying capacity you imagine, and you don't have the ability to send them all to reality either."

"The personalities that go out gain freedom, but what about those left behind? Will they also want freedom and thus begin to impact the mental world even more violently? You must take this into account..."

Peter didn't question David with great anger; he just looked at Moira and said, "Then what about you, ma'am? How do you plan to solve this?"

"I built a machine," Moira lowered her head and said. "It can restore the energy in all the personalities, use them to fill the cracks in the current mental world, and let them return to their original appearance."

"You are killing them."

"I am just doing it for everyone's good."

"Don't argue," Peter immediately stopped them and said, "May I take the liberty to ask, can we still seek the opinion of the real David now?"

Moira shook her head and said, "I haven't seen him since that time. I think his consciousness has already dissipated."

"Perhaps not yet," David raised his voice and said. "He might be hiding somewhere watching us, and you doing this will only make him more sad and disappointed."

"Wait a moment," Helen spoke up. "You plan to let all these personalities out? How do you plan to let them out?"

"I can manifest the bodies of some of them in reality..."

"Not all of them?"

"Many of the personalities among them don't possess complete thinking abilities. They can't control a body, so even if manifested, it would be meaningless."

"My meaning is, if personalities are still being produced continuously, and your power is limited, won't it be filled up sooner or later?"

"His power shouldn't have much left," David said, but he heard his own tone was full of lack of confidence. In reality, he didn't know why there were more and more personalities either, otherwise he wouldn't have needed to find Schiller.

Peter, however, stroked his chin and said, "I think the real David hasn't necessarily disappeared. Even if his consciousness dissipated at that time, there must still be some traces left in the power he left behind."

"Since he caused this matter, he must be responsible for it and make a decision. No one can replace him. So instead of thinking about how to dispose of these personalities here, it's better to think about how to find the real David back."

"But even if David's consciousness still remains in the energy that has been divided among the various personalities, how are we to extract the consciousness and merge it into one without harming these personalities?"

The question David raised made everyone look at each other. This could be considered hitting their knowledge blind spot. Mainly, this situation was truly too rare; with so many Batmen added together, no one had experienced this kind of thing.

"Wait, it seems not everyone hasn't seen it," the main universe Batman thought for a moment, looked at Peter, and asked, "Is Dr. Schiller free?"