Chapter 3607: Injustice League (Part 7)

Without a doubt, the three members of the Justice League acting in concert had an immediate effect. The Wonder Woman of this universe was on the verge of losing her mind.

The three of them had chatted for a while in the room, but they hadn't actually discussed any real tactics; it was just idle talk. Yet, in Wonder Woman's imagination, the negative evaluations of her were surely spreading from Diana's lips.

It wasn't just these outsiders; she was certain Diana would expose her in front of everyone else in this universe, completely usurping her position and receiving all the welcome and respect.

Even without a shred of evidence, the mere mental image of such a scene drove Wonder Woman to the brink of madness.

When Bruce gathered everyone to look at the footage, Wonder Woman acted as though she had lost her mind, targeting Diana.

*Click. * Bruce pressed the button on the projector. He sat back down and stared at the content on the screen, appearing to focus intently on finding a flaw.

Brainiac's process for collecting American cities was simple: he released a beam from his massive ship, and the entire city would be lifted into the air. Once in mid-air, a spherical glow would appear on its surface. The light would solidify, and the city would be shrunk into a collectible no larger than a fist.

Bruce used the remote to pause the footage and began playing it in slow motion.

"He didn't use any tools," Bruce said. "This should be a method of energy conversion, because the light wasn't solid at first; it only converted into another form of materialized power once it reached mid-air, imprisoning the city within it."

"In other words, the breakthrough is most likely to be found in the energy?" Clark frowned and asked. "As long as it's energy, there should be a way to interfere with it, right?"

Diana rested her chin on her fingers and said, "I actually find this kind of power somewhat familiar."

Everyone looked at her. Before Diana could continue, Wonder Woman spoke up: "Familiar? Of course it's familiar. In a sense, the light in this picture is just like the light from a desk lamp; how could it not be familiar?"

Suddenly, everyone looked at her with strange expressions. Setting aside the fact that this was a nonsensical, rambling statement, Wonder Woman was no longer hiding the deep malice in her tone.

"I mean, I feel that the nature of this energy has a certain similarity to divine power," Diana said, appearing not to care, and continued, "The things we see in the footage—shrinking human cities, putting them into bottles, covering them with a shield—these should all be things that divine power can achieve."

"Are you saying you can shrink a human city and put it into a bottle?" the Green Lantern of this universe asked.

"Forget it, she doesn't have that ability," Wonder Woman interjected again. "We are the same person from two different universes; I can't do it, so she must be bragging. There's really no need to tell such tall tales just to grab attention, is there?"

Diana lowered her head slightly and said, "I was talking about the nature of this energy, not saying that I can do it. In fact, Green Lantern energy should be able to do it too, shouldn't it?"

Wonder Woman immediately turned to look at Green Lantern. To her surprise, Green Lantern didn't refute her; he fell into deep thought, then nodded and said, "In a sense, yes. Green Lantern energy could even do more, but the nature of divine power, Green Lantern energy, and the energy Brainiac uses are different, and the ways to interfere with them are also different."

"I saw from the footage that the beam Brainiac drops is quite thick. Besides covering the city being collected, the surrounding area should also be affected. If there is residual energy in the surrounding cities, then the Green Lantern from my universe should be able to find some samples. As long as there are samples, Batman can crack the secrets within them."

"That's a good idea," Green Lantern nodded.

Hearing Green Lantern praise Diana, Wonder Woman truly couldn't take it anymore. She stood up and said, "What on earth are you all talking about?! Why are you listening to this outsider? Don't you know how dangerous they are?!"

At this, even Green Lantern couldn't help but frown at Wonder Woman and say, "Diana, what are you talking about? They are the helpers we invited, and we are discussing solutions together..."

"Enough, enough, don't fight." Oliver stepped forward to play the peacemaker. But in reality, this completely blocked Wonder Woman's path, leaving her with nowhere to vent her overflowing anger.

Being stupid isn't scary; what's scary is losing one's reason. Even being stupid and crazy isn't necessarily fatal, but when her stupidity and madness couldn't be vented, they kept compressing and fermenting inside, making the eventual explosion even more powerful.

Aside from the few people speaking at the meeting, everyone else could see that Wonder Woman seemed to have had a mental breakdown.

But what they couldn't understand followed immediately after.

After the meeting adjourned, Wonder Woman blocked Diana at the door and questioned her in front of everyone: "What exactly are you trying to do?!"

"What am I trying to do?" Diana appeared bewildered. "What did I do? What's wrong with you?"

"Don't play dumb!!" Wonder Woman was practically screaming. She said angrily, "What did you do to them?!"

"Who are you talking about?"

"Them! All of them!!" Wonder Woman shook her head in place and said, "You told them about me, didn't you?!"

"I'm sorry, but what about you?" Diana asked, hesitating. "Are you not feeling well? Why don't you go back and rest first?"

"You damn liar! You dare do it but don't dare admit it!! You badmouthed me to them, but now you won't admit it!!"

"Badmouthed you to them? Who are you talking about? My companions?" Diana scratched her head and said, "You mean I badmouthed you to my companions? Where did you hear that?"

Diana spread her hands and analyzed it for her: "In fact, I've been very busy lately and haven't logged into the Battleworld much. I haven't even met you, I don't even know you; why would I badmouth you? And why would I badmouth you to my companions? They aren't very familiar with you either. What benefit would it be for me to badmouth you to them? There's absolutely no need for me to do that, right?"

Subsequently, Diana put on a sympathetic attitude and said, "I know you might be under too much pressure. After all, your universe just went through turmoil and is facing a powerful enemy; it's normal for your mental state to be a bit off. Why don't you go back and rest, and leave things here to me."

If not for that last sentence, Wonder Woman might have had no rebuttal. Upon hearing that last sentence, she said sharply and bitterly: "Ha, that's what you're thinking! You want them to know I'm a lunatic so you can replace me! You can gain everyone's welcome. I won't let you succeed!!"

At this moment, everyone in the conference room hadn't left yet. Everyone looked at each other, finding expressions of bewilderment on each other's faces. No one knew what Wonder Woman was raving about.

Judging by her tone, it seemed she was saying Diana badmouthed her. But that was completely nonsensical, because Diana had only just arrived and had barely spoken to anyone other than Bruce and Clark.

And if it were Bruce and Clark, Diana had absolutely no need to badmouth anyone to them. They were already on the same side, and Wonder Woman was an outsider they had only known for a few hours. What was the point of Diana smearing an outsider to her most familiar teammates? It made no sense.

And the idea of "replacing Wonder Woman" was something they even found laughable. You only had to look at the chaotic state of their Earth right now; if you invited someone to replace you, they might not even be willing—it would just be asking for trouble.

In the eyes of the others, Wonder Woman had truly lost her mind. Her logic was completely shattered, her emotions were unreasonable, and she had now entered a state of babbling nonsense.

"Don't be like this." Clark walked over quickly and said, "You must have misunderstood. Diana is absolutely not the type of person to badmouth others behind their backs; we all know her very well."

"Yes, you all believe her! Believe this damn liar! She lied to you! I'm not who she says I am at all!!"

Clark's expression turned cold. He pursed his lips and said, "Diana was right; you might be too tired, ma'am. Let me take you back to rest."

After saying this, Clark went to grab Wonder Woman's arm, intending to take her away. Wonder Woman shoved him away.

Clark's words just now seemed to be comforting, but in reality, they were also stimulating. The phrase "Diana was right" in the ears of normal people referred to Diana's previous statement that "Wonder Woman needs to rest," but in the ears of Wonder Woman, who was already somewhat insane, it sounded entirely like he was validating all of Diana's negative evaluations of her.

A person who has lost their mind cannot understand complete logic. They are better at grasping at individual words. If someone often fixates on a few isolated words in a conversation, completely ignoring the deeper logic of the whole sentence, and insists on understanding only the superficial meaning, their mental state is absolutely abnormal.

Conversely, if you feel that you are gradually losing the ability to understand the complete logic of a passage and can only see a few keywords, it proves that your own mental state is also beginning to lose its balance.

Such imbalance can be artificially created—this is the famous "dog-whistle effect"—making people go crazy upon hearing a few keywords, or even behave in various irrational ways in public, acting like a lunatic.

The trio used the simplest method to create a "dog whistle" for Wonder Woman: Diana's evaluation of her. As soon as this was mentioned, Wonder Woman's spirit would be stimulated, making her go even crazier.

"I'm not going back! I don't need to rest! This is all her conspiracy, can't you see it?! This damn bitch..."

*Smack! *

A loud sound of a slap. Everyone was stunned.

How could this Superman hit someone?!

Of course, although the Superman of their universe also hit people, he didn't hit them like this—he had actually slapped Wonder Woman directly!

Clark withdrew his hand. Diana pulled him back and said to the others, "You guys hurry up and take her away, let her have a good sleep, so she doesn't do anything more extreme."

At this point, the others scrambled to pull Wonder Woman away, lest she provoke the outsiders again. Now that the strongest Superman wasn't there, if these outsiders got angry and fought them, they might not be able to win.

After everyone else had left, Clark sighed and shook his hand, saying, "I didn't mean to, I was a bit impulsive."

"You did the right thing," Bruce said. "I really find it hard to believe that an Amazonian warrior would use that word to curse her own sister..."

"Alright," Diana looked toward the end of the hallway and said, "The groundwork is about done, let's go back and prepare."

(End of chapter)