Chapter 4144: When the Pumpkins Ripen (Part 37)

"I know you have many questions. Especially you, Brainiac, you must be very curious: how did I formulate such a plan under these circumstances and successfully execute it..."

"No, I'm not curious at all," Brainiac said. "I don't want to know where you put the thief you caught, nor do I want to know how you contacted the head of this underground organization through him, and I don't want to know how you persuaded him. You just need to tell me if this trouble is resolved."

"Of course not," Greed said with some surprise. "You actually think that resolving the trouble on Earth is enough? Come on, can you have some temper? People are kidnapping children and stealing things on your turf, and you just let it go like this?"

"Alright, then you say what to do." Brainiac had a look of completely giving up thinking.

"When I mentioned this name, you should have already started querying. Then why not tell this little friend who Tobias is."

"What I can find out currently is that he was once an entrepreneur and also had dealings with the gang forces in Metropolis. But currently, he is the manager of a paint factory in Metropolis. Judging from his recent behavioral patterns, there is nothing unusual."

"Of course, he is a smart man, knowing the truth that an arm cannot twist a thigh, naturally he can only lie dormant first, without showing any flaws, so that he can give you a fatal blow at a critical moment."

"You mean he never gave up resistance?"

"Don't be too naive, Little B. There are many such people. Do you really think those elites who are used to being high and mighty have turned over a new leaf, abandoned their ideas of exploiting others, and become good citizens under your rule?"

Greed stood up, spread his hands and said: "Humans are better at disguising than you think, and better at enduring. During the war, they understood that if they didn't have you, they couldn't repel aliens on their own, so everyone would die together. So they would indeed contribute sincerely, but it's not because they recognize you so much, they just want to keep their superior status.

"But now the war is over, yet they find that you have no intention of granting them privileges at all: no rewards for merit, no restoration of order, but instead intend to continue this seemingly equal system. Isn't this killing them? A person has been a superior for decades, now you let them sweat and work with those laborers, how could they be willing?"

"It's just that they haven't found a way to defeat you for the time being, so they will endure it; but once you show a flaw, they will be like bloodthirsty piranhas, everyone will want to bite off a piece of meat. Why do you think Tobias frequently creates child kidnapping cases? As long as you have a flaw, they will definitely choose to amplify it infinitely."

"But they can't do it," Brainiac said. "I can easily block Earth's news. No one can publish news I don't want on any public platform under my governance. No matter how big a mess they make, things won't spread out."

"No, you are completely wrong," Greed shook his head and said. "Once you have this behavior of blocking news, you have fallen into their trap. Because, humans are emotional animals, you cannot require them to think rationally all the time. Fear of the unknown will be amplified infinitely, and when they know they don't know something, they will speculate with the worst ideas. This is shaking people's trust in you. And what's worse is that you yourself are not trustworthy, because you are not even human."

Brainiac was silent for a while, then continued: "So they created cases just to make me block news? But child kidnapping cases have been happening for so long, they don't seem to have done anything."

"Heh, if it weren't for me helping you, letting Barry rescue the kidnapped children, and at the same time quickly destroying the cult organization where Paul's father was, what do you think they would do?"

Brainiac naturally understood immediately. This matter looked like a trap linked together: they first sent people to kidnap children, then talked to Paul's father, kidnapped his son, confirmed Paul's father's status as a victim, and then used the cultist's network to spread this matter. And once Brainiac blocked the news, those who learned about this would naturally start to doubt him.

Whether it was the underground organization led by Tobias or that group of cultists, they all had means to shield Brainiac. They could completely use this matter to spread rumors among their friends and family, bewitch people's hearts, and pull more people into the resistance organization.

Don't think this is difficult. From the perspective of ordinary people, Brainiac himself is not very trusted, even if he did bring good changes, people will always have a shadow in their hearts: non-my race, their hearts must be different.

And at this time, as long as someone instigates a little, or publishes some ambiguous evidence—it's not even completely fabricated, but true—they can prove to those who are preached to that certain disasters did happen, and Brainiac chose to hide it. People will naturally feel panic. And fear is the greatest motivation for humans, at this time even if they know these underground organizations might not have good intentions, out of fear, they will choose to join.

And the reason it is a child kidnapping case is because most people cannot tolerate crimes against children. Some people feel that gambling and drug abuse are nothing, some even feel that murderers are excusable, but crimes against children step on the thunder points of most people, which ensures that they can pull in enough believers.

And thinking of this, Brainiac also understood why these kidnappers didn't choose to kill these children, but insisted on getting them to a base, seemingly intending to cultivate them.

They are innocent victims, the evidence that can best prove the crimes of certain people. As long as they unify their caliber and stand up to accuse Brainiac, most humans will choose to stand on the side of human children, which is even more inflammatory.

"Their plan is good, but unfortunately there were two accidents," Greed continued. "One is me, one is Paul. I exposed the location of the child kidnappers in advance, causing their control over the children to fail; and Paul is more mature and rational than most children, exposing and killing his father, allowing us to successfully destroy the cultist's stronghold. Therefore, this whole plan didn't succeed. But you wouldn't think it ends here, right?"

"Of course not," Brainiac said. "In fact, I have also monitored some unusual movements in Europe. Before, a port in Southern Italy had an accident, affecting the shipping business; the tower in London suddenly had a mechanical failure, and flights were delayed on a large scale. Now it seems that these are traps aimed at me."

"That's right, they created vicious cases similar to child kidnapping cases all over the world, besides wanting to make you unable to attend to everything, it's also to cast a wide net and catch more fish, as long as there is one carelessness, panic will spread on a large scale. If you stand on the opposite side of all humanity, then even people like Batman and Superman who understand the truth cannot fully stand on your side. Because the fact that such a loophole can appear itself proves that your ability is insufficient, then whether you should be allowed to hold such great power becomes a topic worth exploring. And you also know what the answer will be."

"That shielding instrument is too troublesome," Brainiac said. "I have already sent the instrument confiscated from that thief to the main-universe Batman for research. He has some clues, but it will take a few more days."

"You still haven't figured it out," Greed continued. "It's not a problem with a certain instrument or a certain person, but that your ruling method does have certain fallacies—you are too soft-hearted towards humans."

"Ah?" Barry was the first to look at Greed, his face full of "Do you want to hear what you are saying".

Brainiac could only remain silent about this, regardless of whether he agreed or was humble, it seemed like something was wrong.

"Of course, I know you are not the kind of evil robot in human movies, but have you ever thought that humans are not the kind of fuel-efficient lamps in movies?" Greed shook his head. "During the war, human unity gave you an illusion, that is: you are good to humans, humans will be good to you; as long as you do the right thing, humans will support you; as long as you let most humans live a good life, you can live in peace. But the facts are not like this at all.

"The huge survival pressure during the war forced humans to show their best side to deal with the civilization extinction crisis: politicians became tough and appealing, civilians were thrifty and hardworking, merchants were calculating but willing to give generously, super-powered people were iron-boned and fought to the death.

"This is indeed humanity. In the face of life and death, everyone can burst out with huge potential, unite sincerely, work together, and even shed blood, creating many seemingly impossible miracles.

"But you also have to admit: politicians are short-sighted and corrupt, small citizens are cunning and selfish, merchants can abandon all moral principles for profit, super-powered people lack restraint and act recklessly.

"The most fundamental original sin of humanity is greed and pride, which is reflected in everyone. Greed is manifested in the fact that even if you have given the vast majority of people a better life, they still feel it's not enough: those whose living standards have declined will blame you, and those whose living standards have risen will not be satisfied and will want more.

"And pride is manifested in: forgetting the pain after the wound is healed. Without a great enemy, they feel they can do it again, and start thinking, why let an electronic life rule them, feeling that if they were on it, they would do better than you.

"So, I give you a maximum of 40 points for your performance in the post-war period, and that's only because you saved many miserable humans who had fallen to the bottom. And you are too soft-hearted towards those humans who once lived in the upper layers, which led to this series of changes. If I were you, I would have used the hands of aliens to clear them all out during the war, stuffed those old bones who only indulge in past glory into the fireplace, and only left the new generation who can adapt to the current lifestyle. Either don't do it, or do it thoroughly.

"Of course, I also know your concerns, after all, you are not human, if you did this, there would definitely be people coming out to accuse you of genocide. Then let's choose a more moderate method."

"What?" There was a bit of yearning in Brainiac's tone. Barry could hear it completely, he seemed to have been fed up with this group of people for a long time—although he didn't do it as Greed said, he must have considered it.

"Manipulate them instead of serving them, control them instead of helping them, and most importantly—join them, and then, become their only savior." ===== CHAPTER 4145 =====