Chapter 3474: Research on Cats and Dogs (Part 33)

Victor felt a chill run down his spine. Humans are born with a fear of being spied upon. If someone could not only spy but also manipulate at will, or even directly distort reality, it was enough to make one's hair stand on end.

"This proves two things," Schiller continued. "His psychic ability has limitations. Either there is a limit to the quantity, meaning he cannot modify the memories of a large number of humans simultaneously, or the quality is lacking—the modified memories aren't perfect. The more he patches, the more errors he leaves behind, so he simply stops trying to erase the traces completely."

Victor nodded, saying, "That makes sense. Although I haven't seen Professor X's abilities firsthand, I imagine he could do it, and easily. If the opponent could do it just as easily, they wouldn't have let us discover Jonathan was missing."

"Exactly," Schiller nodded. "Jonathan must have realized this too. If the opponent were truly powerful enough to brainwash a large range of humans in an instant, there would be no need to sneak into the police station, let alone kidnap Jonathan. They could have just controlled everyone and walked out; that would have been much more convenient."

"Furthermore," Schiller continued, "we can tell from the fact that the opponent didn't even realize Jonathan wasn't actually a professor that their mind-reading ability likely has flaws..."

"Wait a minute," Victor interrupted. "Why is that? Is it really reasonable that someone capable of subduing Superman cannot read Jonathan's true thoughts?"

"Everyone has their specialty," Schiller said, pushing open the restaurant door. "Superman is indeed very strong, but if he hasn't encountered this type of enemy before, he might not have had any defenses up."

"But Jonathan is different. He is a psychologist. No psychologist would fail to set up defenses for their own mental world."

"Yes, especially since his greatest enemy is you," Victor said, sitting at a table by the window and reaching for the menu.

"Let's assume that's the case," Schiller said. "In any event, Jonathan can easily construct a massive mental labyrinth to hide his true thoughts. Unless someone is very deliberate and spends a great deal of time probing, they will likely be deceived by the 'thoughts' it manufactures."

"In that case, the opponent doesn't seem very strong after all," Victor sighed. "To think they actually thought they could kidnap you—it's truly delusional."

"You can't say that. The greatest strength of psychic ability is that it's hard to detect. By the time you notice something is wrong, it's already too late." Schiller frowned slightly. "Metropolis is already in chaos, and Gotham likely won't be far behind."

"You mean the gas explosion in Metropolis was caused by that psychic? Are they going to manipulate a superhero into killing someone?"

"Likely so, and they will continue to do it," Schiller said, fastening his napkin and picking up his knife and fork. "It's a two-birds-one-stone strategy: it creates chaos to distract the Justice League, and it sows discord."

"It's hard to imagine how heartbroken Clark would be if he were hypnotized into killing someone." Victor pursed his lips. He clearly had a soft spot for the straightforward small-town boy.

Schiller shook his head again. "Even if they chose Clark, he wouldn't be so easily compromised."

"Why?"

"Whether it's a psychologist or a psychic, unless they are at the level of Professor X, they need to find a weakness."

"Find a weakness?"

"The more loopholes in a person's mind, the easier it is to manipulate them. Whether it's emotional fragility or logical inconsistency, it makes brainwashing and control much simpler."

"Conversely, the sounder a person's mind—stable emotions, rigorous logic, clear self-awareness, and strong willpower—the more effort it takes to subdue them, even with psychic means. If you aren't careful, you might even be counter-attacked."

Victor seemed lost in thought for a moment before speaking. "Indeed, it seems even you can't do much about Clark."

"In fact, even without being a Kryptonian or having a super-brain, it's very difficult to defeat a strong-willed warrior using such methods. It's not just Clark that I can't do much about."

"Then what about Batman?" Victor asked. "His mental loopholes aren't small, yet I haven't heard of any Batman in any universe being brainwashed into causing a major disaster."

"That is the problem," Schiller said helplessly. "The human spirit is both strong and fragile. It is fragile in that childhood trauma can accompany one for a lifetime, making self-rescue impossible."

"But it is also strong in that as long as you have one outstanding trait—whether it's rigorous logic, extreme willpower, or being incredibly stable or cold—you can resist brainwashing to a great extent. You don't need to have all of them."

"Batman clearly has all of them," Victor nodded. "So that biggest loophole doesn't count for much."

"Thinking about the Justice League in our universe, there aren't any major mental loopholes," Schiller said, taking a plate from the waiter and setting it before him. "So the biggest vulnerability is precisely the interdimensional visitors."

"What a nuisance," Victor clicked his tongue. "Dealing with aliens isn't enough; now we have to deal with interdimensional visitors. The one causing such a stir—could it be Superman from another universe?"

"Don't worry, I've made some preparations," Schiller said. "It won't be so easy for them to use these methods again."

In the Luthor Manor laboratory, Pamela set down the emerald-green reagent and glanced at the cactus still hopping around in its cage, sighing deeply.

"Mineral reagents really do lead to unstable plant traits; achieving complete fusion is just too difficult." Even with no one else in the lab, Pamela muttered to herself.

Having pulled an all-nighter, Pamela was exhausted. She took out her phone, dialed a number, and said, "Hello? Barry, have you had breakfast? Good, bring me a portion when you're done. I won't come down. Thanks."

"No, no progress. The fusion isn't great. I've changed the formula and am preparing to try again."

Pamela turned around with the phone, leaning against the lab bench. "You don't understand. Cacti are different from the cabbages before; they have thorns, you know?"

"Fine, I'll be blunt. These are enchanted plants. I'm adding toxins to the nutrient solution so their needles will be poisonous. What if I add something else?"

"Didn't you say Kryptonians are coming this time? Tell me, what can I add?"

After hanging up, Pamela picked up the test tube at her side and walked to the cage, dripping the emerald liquid inside.

"Please, you must succeed." Pamela crouched at the cage door, clasping her hands in prayer.

The dripped reagent changed quickly, staining the entire soil green. The cacti shifted from their original yellowish-green to a highly pure emerald.

Moreover, they became much quieter, no longer looking so frantic. Pamela carefully opened the cage door.

She had learned her lesson this time; she only opened a tiny crack, using tweezers to pluck a few thorns to observe them.

The small thorns on the cactus had turned into green crystals, though the color was much paler, almost invisible. But there were thousands of such thorns on a single cactus.

More importantly, the small thorns growing from the cactus counted as plants, falling under the jurisdiction of the Green; Pamela could control them.

Pamela carefully collected many, plucking almost an entire cactus clean, and placed the thorns into her pocket, carefully making her way to the door.

Injustice Superman was walking upstairs. He felt it necessary to talk to Injustice Batman, who was also in the lab. He went upstairs, his super-hearing quickly determining which lab Injustice Batman was in.

But before he could walk toward it, something else caught his attention. In the leftmost lab, there was an area his senses couldn't probe, like a small piece torn out of a holographic map in his brain.

"Could this be the secret base of this universe's Luthor?"

"It seems the relationship between Clark and Luthor in this universe isn't that great either; the other party clearly prepared measures against him."

Injustice Superman instinctively walked toward it, finding a tightly closed laboratory door. The door was locked securely, but for a Kryptonian, it was as good as non-existent.

He touched it lightly, and the security lock shattered. Pushing the door open a crack, he felt something constantly interfering with his senses; the closer he got, the stronger the interference.

Injustice Superman heightened his vigilance and walked in cautiously—he saw a black umbrella opened directly facing the door.

Injustice Superman immediately felt a wave of dizziness. Just as his muscles tensed, preparing to force himself to turn around, his peripheral vision caught another figure appearing behind him.

Countless translucent spikes flew toward his face simultaneously.

"Urgh!!!!"

Hearing the alarm in his earpiece, Lex stood up from the dining table and said, "You all go ahead and eat; I have some matters to attend to."

The others were used to him leaving early. Lex walked straight upstairs, entered the lab, and saw Injustice Superman lying on the ground, covered in small green thorns.

Pamela, standing to the side, saw him approach and let out a long sigh of relief, complaining, "Ambushing Superman? You really thought of that! This umbrella couldn't fully control him; it's a good thing the cactus thorns I cultivated with Kryptonite solution worked, or I'd be done for!"

Lex didn't speak, simply walking past her to close the umbrella, tapping the tip lightly against the floor. "Professor Xavier, you may proceed."

The blue-eyed young man appeared beside the fallen Injustice Superman and then vanished from the spot.

Injustice Superman slowly crawled up from the ground, and when he opened his eyes again, those originally pale irises were stained with a much colder shade of blue.

What is more terrifying than Professor X?

It is Professor X with a Cerebro amplifier.

And what is more terrifying than Professor X with a Cerebro amplifier?

It is Professor X possessing the super-brain of a Kryptonian.

In an instant, every human on Earth saw the same blue black hole.

(End of chapter)

?? The brain controller is eventually brain-controlled

? No need to sympathize, even if it's the Injustice game, it's the dog of dogs, the Superman victory ending pissed me off.

? (End of chapter)