Chapter 4118: When the Pumpkins Ripen (11)

"Hey, Professor, good morning, I bought you some coffee. Thank you for yesterday... God, why are there so many chestnuts?!"

Barry looked with shock at the large box of chestnuts placed in the center of the living room. He placed the coffee on the coffee table, then walked over, picked one up, peeled off the prickly shell, revealing the smooth chestnut inside.

"This is really big," Barry said, "It looks completely ripe; it should be delicious, right?"

Arrogance signaled with his eyes for him to roast them on the fireplace. Barry peeled a few chestnuts, placed them on the wire mesh, and extended them into the fireplace.

Then Barry also smelled a very fragrant scent, and he said, "Is this chestnut a special variety? Why do I smell the scent of lemon oil?"

"Because that's not the scent of chestnuts," Greed said somewhat helplessly, "I'm making lemon sauce."

"To go with chestnuts?"

"You could say that," Greed said, "I'm making white chocolate balls, filled with lemon ganache and freshly roasted crispy wafers, and I'm planning to add some chestnut puree. Want to taste?"

Barry walked over immediately. Greed used a small spoon to serve him a little lemon sauce. After Barry put it in his mouth, he pursed his lips and said, "Not bad, I thought it would be very sour."

"I usually make lemon ganache lean toward a fresh fragrance, maybe even with a bit of bitterness, mainly the taste of lemon peel; it mostly won't be very sour. Taste this white chocolate crispy shell."

Greed gave him half a white chocolate shell, which was a semi-circular crispy shell; all the fillings would be filled inside. Barry took it and chewed it, saying, "Not much chocolate taste, just sweet."

"Of course, white chocolate doesn't count as chocolate. Alright, you've eaten my food, now go to work, peel that box of chestnuts clean, roast them until cooked, and put them into a blender to mash into puree."

Barry immediately made a bitter face and said, "Isn't this a friendly tasting? Why do I still have to work?"

"I know you have the Speed Force, it shouldn't take long for you to peel the chestnuts, hurry up..."

Barry had no choice but to peel the chestnuts miserably. Arrogance, while cutting cardboard with a utility knife, asked, "There are still two culprits not caught, how do you have time to come to us?"

"Previously, we worked continuously for several days, and now that the hostages have been rescued, the boss gave us a half-day off, but I still have to go over in the afternoon."

Arrogance nodded. Just as he wanted to continue saying something, his phone rang. He picked it up and heard the voice of the Main Universe Batman from the other end: "I'm planning to visit today, Doctor, are you free?"

"I am free, but if you come now, you might become very un-free."

The Main Universe Batman obviously didn't listen to his advice, so about half an hour later, he was also sitting by the fireplace starting to peel chestnuts.

The Main Universe Batman sighed and said, "I thought that was just a chef inviting me for a friendly tasting..."

"Yes, so besides having to help me peel chestnuts, you also have to give me some advice. How is the bitterness of the lemon sauce? Is it a bit too heavy?"

"I think it's just right, but if it's for children, they might not be able to accept this taste, so it's best to add a bit more sugar." The Main Universe Batman said while peeling chestnuts, "Also, it should be very hot in that theater, if your white chocolate crispy shell isn't made thicker, it will very likely melt."

"You have a point." Greed thought for a moment, then went to adjust the temperature of the chocolate.

"How does it feel?" Arrogance looked at the Main Universe Batman and asked.

"What do you mean? If it's about chestnuts, I am indeed peeling this for the first time, I have to say it's a bit prickly. If there were gloves, it would be even better."

"I am of course talking about Brainiac."

The Main Universe Batman did not show a thoughtful expression; obviously, he had already thought about it quite a bit. He paused and continued, "This is a very novel ruling model; if the highest ruler to the lowest-level personnel are all the same person, then the efficiency is indeed unprecedentedly high."

"Don't you think this might be too centralized?"

"There is no perfect system in this world; every system has its pros and cons, and as long as the pros can outweigh the cons, and the pros and cons are balanced, most political systems can operate smoothly; even if the cons are greater than the pros, as long as the foundation is thick enough, it can last for a long time."

"In my view, the pros of Brainiac's political system are significantly greater than the cons; the efficiency is high to the extreme, the execution is strong to the extreme, so actually, no cons count as cons; this is already infinitely close to a perfect system."

"I thought you would think he is an alien creature, so he might lead the Earth to destruction together."

"If that were the case, he wouldn't choose to rule the Earth. Since he has already chosen to rule and govern the Earth, then he might be the existence that least hopes for the Earth's destruction; after all, he has put in more effort than any individual on Earth."

The Main Universe Batman observed Arrogance's expression, then smiled and said, "Does my reaction disappoint you, Doctor?"

"Not at all, you are actually much more open-minded than I thought."

"I admit I have some human-supremacist sentiments, but I am not an extreme human supremacist, otherwise I wouldn't choose to be friends with an alien and a demigod. To me, Brainiac or Clark, they are the same. Whether they are worthy of trust depends on their current actions, not on pre-setting that they will definitely harm humans based on their racial stance. If that were the case, even real humans wouldn't have many worthy of trust."

"But Clark grew up on Earth, he has a sense of belonging to Earth, Brainiac doesn't."

"How old is Brainiac?"

Arrogance shook his head, but he still truthfully said, "Although he was created by Kryptonians very early on, the speed of evolution is not fast; it was only after coming to Earth that he quickly iterated and grew."

"Then that's even more like Clark; Clark also came to Earth in his infancy." The Main Universe Batman paused again and said, "If I have to say, Brainiac is a logical life form, so there is no emotional belonging to Earth, but precisely because he is not affected by emotions, his choice to rule rather than destroy the Earth is also profitable for himself; it is he who needs the Earth, not the Earth who needs him. Although I don't know why it would be like this, I think this is more reliable than a purely emotional choice."

"That's true," Arrogance said, "Even if he hides in the universe, slowly evolving and developing, humans are still a hurdle he cannot overcome; it's better to directly take over the Earth and solve the problem at the source."

"The only thing that makes me feel a bit worried is that he wasn't made by humans. This system is too dependent on Brainiac; if one day he has a quality problem, human society might erupt into even greater chaos."

"Luthor is actively cracking his programs; I think it won't take long to understand what exactly is going on with him. But actually, the Justice League has another plan, which originates from you."

"Originates from me? What plan?"

"You gave the Life Equation to the Super-Body, and let the Super-Body tamper with the magical defense network in another world, activating humanity's collective consciousness in advance. Do you think this can be used on Brainiac?"

The Main Universe Batman then frowned and thought carefully. He said, "So you hope Brainiac becomes a life form similar to planetary consciousness?"

"Yes, because we indeed feel that the current artificial intelligence form is not very safe. On one hand, he is different from our life form; no matter what, we cannot anticipate every program error that appears, and if any error seriously affects people's livelihood, order will collapse in an instant.

Additionally, he did indeed come to Earth as an invader; it's hard to guarantee whether he will relapse one day. Making him one of our own might be better."

"That also makes some sense, but I remember he seems to be able to monitor all electronic equipment, right?" The Main Universe Batman looked at the mobile phone next to Arrogance's hand.

"Do you think this is a bad thing for him?"

"Being influenced by the consciousness of other creatures, or even completely losing oneself, doesn't that count as a bad thing?"

"For intelligent life, this is indeed unacceptable, but Brainiac is an electronic life form; he actually cannot be counted as having a self. Those so-called things that broke through program limitations are just program errors produced by coincidence. If everything relies on rigorous logic, then actually he doesn't have a pre-set appearance of an emotional life form that he must become, so naturally, there is no talk of 'being influenced'."

"Like an ignorant little baby?"

"Yes, his future is completely blank, and he obviously hasn't developed the ability to develop a special path, so if he wants to walk a path that belongs to him, he naturally has to accept human arrangements." Arrogance paused again and continued, "And then it's what you said, if the pros of this matter are significantly greater than the cons, then it is not unacceptable. Moreover, becoming more inclined toward humans in stance cannot be counted as a con; to some extent, it should count as a pro."

The Main Universe Batman thought for a moment and said, "So you hope the Super-Body can help him possess a true soul?"

"Actually, he is only a little bit away." Greed's voice came from the kitchen, "What this war has bestowed upon him is far more than you imagine. Only the final barrier is left, and he can break through the limitations of electronic life and become an existence closer to the source."

"If you think this is okay, then I will help." The Main Universe Batman said, "However, this is not a simple matter; perhaps it still needs preparation."

Then they chatted about the previous war. In fact, the Main Universe Batman had already seen a lot of information online; after all, this was a great victory worth celebrating, and Brainiac was of course sparing no effort to promote it.

"Perhaps you think of things too complexly," the Main Universe Batman said, "You think I don't adopt this method to solve enemies because I don't trust someone, or am considering something, but in reality, it's not like that; it's because I know such things probably won't appear in my universe. Even if I have such thoughts, there won't be the opportunity and conditions."

Arrogance felt a shock in his heart; he almost thought the Main Universe Batman had broken the fourth wall. What the Main Universe Batman said was indeed correct, because as the main universe of a major world, once the plot has a major breakthrough, it doesn't mean the arrival of a new era, but means it's about to restart.

In long-running comics, in order to have rich stories, the plot needs to be pushed forward bit by bit; if a Deus ex Machina comes and pushes it to the ultra-future space, then the space that can be edited next will be very small, so once it's pushed too much, it can only be completely overturned and restarted.

So the Main Universe Batman wants to improve the environment of the main universe, he can only do it bit by bit, and he can only do it himself, because he is the mainstay of the universe and the most popular character. What people like to see is how he uses his abilities to fight crime and transform the world. If all the spotlight were given to existences like Brainiac, the readers would certainly not be happy. So the Main Universe Batman cannot use this method; even if he wanted to do so, all kinds of accidents would definitely appear to obstruct him, and finally, everything would return to the starting point.

He could pit Apokolips and Darkseid together to death because he used the mechanism of another major world; it's also fortunate that Darkseid became multiverse-level and will eventually come back, otherwise, it might have been a restart.

However, Arrogance quickly calmed down; he knew that the Main Universe Batman should treat this as the law of the universe's operation, and he would continue to explore and utilize it, which can also be considered a good thing. As for the so-called reader and popularity theory, Anatoly had already given an explanation, which couldn't be considered a complete dimensionality reduction strike; it's more like the two sides complementing each other, so even if he knew, it wouldn't matter. ===== CHAPTER 4119 =====