Chapter 4385: Far Star Project (Part 10)

Mera, relying on her memory, led Arthur to swim into the depths of the Trench. Along the way, Arthur saw many strange fish monsters. However, he didn't feel scared, just felt a bit ridiculous.

Passing by a fish monster that looked like seaweed, Arthur even mischievously grabbed its whiskers, causing the other party to almost fall face-first. Mera hurriedly grabbed his hand back. Arthur smiled at her.

"Sorry, I just wanted to distract myself." Arthur sighed and said. Mera was somewhat helpless, but kept staring at him along the way, not letting him play dirty tricks on those sea monsters again.

"Many Trench people have defects in intellectual development," Mera said, "About equivalent to four or five-year-old children of you humans. You can't bully children."

"Fine," Arthur said, "Actually, I think they are quite cute."

Mera frowned and looked Arthur up and down. Could this guy have a problem with his aesthetics?

"Have you heard of the Uncanny Valley effect?"

Mera shook her head, so Arthur began to explain: "The Uncanny Valley effect refers to when people see something that looks like a human but is not a human, they will feel very afraid."

"What do you mean looks like a human, but is not a human?"

"It means it looks very similar to humans, but there are differences in some subtle places. Or it has some human limbs on its body, but it is not a human."

"So?"

"Atlanteans like you see the Trench people and feel disgust and fear; it might be triggering the Uncanny Valley effect. Because your true form is a mermaid, seeing this kind of fish monster, you will feel they are very similar to yourself, but not the same, and you will feel afraid."

"But I am different; I grew up on land and have never seen a fish with legs. So these monsters don't look that scary in my eyes, and some are even ugly-cute." Arthur shrugged.

"So that's how it is," Mera nodded, "Then will you be afraid if you see my fish tail?"

"You have a fish tail?" Arthur seemed very surprised.

"Of course I do," Mera said.

"But aren't you from the Xebel Kingdom? Do you look the same as the Atlantis Kingdom?"

"We collectively call it Atlantean civilization; externally, I will also say I am Atlantean. According to the naming method of you humans, we should be called the United Kingdom of Atlantis. It's just that there is a kingdom among them called the Kingdom of Atlantis."

"Like the Commonwealth and England?" Arthur muttered to himself.

"Something like that," Mera said, "Except for the Trench people, the bloodlines of other Atlanteans are not much different. We have two forms: fish-like and human-like."

"Then can you let me see your tail?" Arthur was a bit curious.

Mera rolled her eyes and said, "Of course not. Females of the Xebel Kingdom only turn into tails when mating..."

Arthur widened his eyes and said, "Mating? But... but... can you only mate with those who have tails?"

Mera rolled her eyes again and said, "Of course not. We don't rely on tails to mate. That's just for dancing the courtship dance. Before mating, males and females have to chase and dance; this can make the children born stronger."

"Ahem..." Arthur coughed twice and then said, "Then what if you don't know how to dance?"

"There's always someone who knows how to dance." Mera hugged her arms and didn't speak.

Although this conversation was a bit bizarre, it did indeed distract Arthur well; he was now full of thoughts about whether he could have a fish tail.

They swam to the depths of the Trench, passed through a dark underwater cave, swam past many water plants, and the front suddenly opened up. A throne hall composed of various glowing underwater plants appeared in front of them, and sitting on the throne was a fish with four legs.

"Your Majesty." Mera bowed to him and said, "Long time no see. This is the new King of Atlantis."

That fish man immediately jumped up from the throne, stood up, and chattered a lot of words; Arthur couldn't understand a single word. Mera was a bit embarrassed; she said, "No, no, no, we are not inviting you to a wedding banquet. He is not Orm, but Orm's brother Arthur... no, no, no, neither is he... I..."

Mera took a deep breath and said, "We are here to request your help. The Amazon has been attacked, and we hope Atlantis can send troops to help. However, the seven seas..."

Before Mera could finish her words, suddenly, a fish man swam quickly to the King and whispered a few words to him. The fish man King jumped up again and shouted and screamed in a sharp voice.

Mera's face suddenly became very ugly. Arthur asked her, "What's wrong?"

"Mechanical monsters with wings have invaded Atlantis!" Mera looked at Arthur and said, "It's Parademons!"

Both looked outside the Trench at the same time, their vision crossing heavy ocean currents, coming to the barrier of the Kingdom of Atlantis. At this time, the warriors of the seven seas had already fought with the Parademons.

They could choose not to help the Amazon, but they couldn't not defend their own home. Fighting in the sea should have been their home field. However, Steppenwolf returned empty-handed after searching for the Queen in the Amazon, and at this time, he had already arrived in front of the gate of Atlantis after shaking off J'onn.

"Something's wrong," Arthur said while swimming out, "He has no reason to come to Atlantis. Unless..."

"Unless what?"

"Unless what he wants to find is here." Arthur looked at Mera and said, "Have you heard of the Mother Box?"

Mera shook her head and said, "Not at all. But I am also a new generation; I have no understanding of ancient things. If that thing existed a long time ago, I can't be sure..."

Arthur's face became more and more gloomy. He said, "First the Amazon, then Atlantis. Who gave him the clue to the Mother Box?"

The first thing that flashed through Arthur's mind was naturally Victor's face. Diana personally said that Victor was connected to the Mother Box, so only he should know the location of this thing.

At this moment, Arthur didn't suspect that Victor had betrayed them; he was just worried that Steppenwolf had some other means to obtain information from Victor. After all, the mechanical equipment on those monsters called Parademons was extraordinary. He must have come from a very advanced civilization; Victor's hacking technology might not be enough in front of him, and he might even be counter-intercepted for information.

Thinking of this, Arthur stopped, turned to Mera and said, "I'll go hold that monster, you go release Orm."

"What?!"

"He wants to conquer the continent, not destroy the Earth, and even less destroy Atlantis. He couldn't possibly cooperate with Steppenwolf. Release him, and he can only fight against Steppenwolf with us."

"But he can't even beat you!"

"He has connections with the Ancient Ones." Arthur's train of thought finally became clear at this moment, and he said, "Remember? He personally went to the Ancient Ones in Atlantis to ask about the Golden Trident. Then this Ancient One might also know about the Mother Box. After repelling Steppenwolf, I will have him take me to find the Ancient One."

Mera pressed her lips together, also realizing this was the best method. So she said, "You must be careful."

After the two separated, Arthur rushed to the barrier at the fastest speed. He raised the Trident and shouted, "Long live Atlantis!"

Seawater gathered into ocean currents, and the ocean currents condensed into terrifying ocean storms, almost instantly tearing apart all the rushing Parademons. Steppenwolf turned his head, and the moment he met Arthur's eyes, a great battle was about to break out.

In the Metropolis hospital, Barry slept very restlessly. He dreamed of many things, things he had seen in Lois's photos, now playing out one by one in his dreams.

Homeless people frozen to death on the street, drug addicts dying in childbirth, babies convulsing on the ground, charred children's corpses...

Barry was shaking all over, but couldn't wake up, could only helplessly let out painful moans, struggling constantly on the bed. Suddenly, blue light flashed, and the entire hospital building began to tremble.

Lois downstairs stood up with a "whoosh". She subconsciously looked out the window, but soon realized the problem was upstairs.

She hurriedly put down her water cup and ran out the door. Entering the corridor, she saw countless blue lightning lights jumping. A nurse pushed the door out and couldn't dodge in time; just as she was about to touch the blue lightning, Lois rushed over and pushed her away.

"Run, don't touch that thing!!!"

Her shout played a big role; people around hurriedly ran downstairs. Only Lois ran upstairs quickly, rushing into Barry's ward.

As soon as she pushed the door open, the whole room was full of blue light. Lois shouted, "Barry! Barry Allen! Wake up quickly!!!!"

But no matter how she shouted, Barry couldn't wake up. Fortunately, at this time, the anomaly had spread outside the building. Hal in the headquarters seemed to feel some abnormality; the moment he flew out of the base, he saw blue light flickering in the direction of the hospital.

He flew over at the fastest speed, subconsciously wrapping the entire building with Green Lantern energy. Lois held onto the door frame tightly, and after seeing the blue lightning gradually disappear, Barry sat up from the bed, his eyes glowing with yellow light.

Hal flew in from the balcony and was stunned for a moment when he saw Lois, but he was still more concerned about Barry's situation. He walked to the bed, shook Barry awake, and said, "Barry, what's wrong with you? How did the Speed Force get out of control?"

Barry woke up somewhat blankly, but soon he grabbed the sheets tightly, his face full of fear. He looked at Hal and said, "I... had a nightmare..."

Hal was a bit surprised and said, "Had a nightmare? What did you dream about? To scare you like this?"

"I... I don't remember very well." Barry was blank again and said, "Anyway, it was a very terrifying thing."

Lois was clearly much more professional than Hal. She walked over and said, "Don't think about what you dreamed of. Think about what the last scene you saw was when you woke up."

"Green light." Barry recalled carefully and said, "A green light appeared, and then those terrifying things were all gone."

"That's my Green Lantern energy," Hal said, "This doesn't seem like a useful clue either."

"No, this is very important," Lois said, "The kind of energy you used didn't directly touch him, but it immediately made him get rid of the out-of-control state. This proves that the things entangling Barry might be very afraid of you."

Hal finally reacted. Although he had already discovered that this seemed to be the Speed Force getting out of control, he was thinking about saving the building first; after all, there were many ordinary people inside who hadn't run out. So he didn't directly use Green Lantern energy to touch Barry, but first used energy to protect the building to prevent it from collapsing.

Without directly touching Barry, it made Barry immediately get rid of the nightmare and even get rid of the out-of-control state; this proves that Green Lantern energy might have cut off some energy controlling Barry.

"But I also set up a barrier here before; why didn't it have an effect?" Hal asked. He looked around, but because he also used Green Lantern energy to protect the building just now, he couldn't judge whether the Green Lantern energy left before was still there.

"That barrier should be exhausted, right?" Lois asked, "It's very likely that he didn't just attack once, but tried to break through the barrier for so many days and consumed the energy, which is why he successfully touched Barry."

"Also," Lois said the important clue she saw, "When Barry woke up, I saw yellow light coming out of his eyes." ===== CHAPTER 4386 =====