Chapter 4616: Aftermath (Part 1)

What exactly is the "Source Wall"? Most of the people standing next to the Source Wall have no clue. Marvel's superheroes are more willing to understand it as the barrier of a single universe, because the structure of the Marvel universe is countless cosmic bubbles. But the Batmen, these superheroes from DC, don't think the universe can be described by such a simple structure as a sphere—the universe shouldn't have boundaries in the first place. The Prometheus realm where the Source Wall is located looks like a special area in the universe.

However, no matter how they understand it, they know how important this wall is. Not through cosmic structural science, but through Lucifer's expression at this moment.

Lucifer can be described as completely shocked. He stared straight at the hole, not even knowing how to react for a moment.

But in a way, this hole saved him at this moment. If it weren't for this hole, he would have to face the fact of Anatoly's return. And the disaster in front of him allowed him to escape for a while.

Actually, it can't be called escaping. If this hole hadn't been made by Anatoly, he would definitely have kicked this damn First Lantern out and let these superheroes solve the disaster of the Source Wall's damage themselves.

But the bad thing is, this was made by Anatoly. Just discovered his old friend had come back from the dead, and he caused a huge disaster, so much so that the matter of coming back from the dead had to be calculated later, otherwise he would have to die again.

The moment the Source Wall was damaged, countless blood-red energy surged in. This is a form of expression of the void between DC universes, named Heavenly Blood.

The existence form of the DC New 52 universe is like a bowl of tangyuan. There is a thermal insulation cover outside the tangyuan, this cover is called the Orrery of Worlds, accommodating all universes in the multiverse. And the bowl holding the tangyuan is called the Speed Force Wall. Tangyuan are universes, and the soup inside the tangyuan is Heavenly Blood.

To travel between multiverses, one must pass through the Heavenly Blood layer, but the Heavenly Blood layer is very dangerous. This can be called the graveyard of gods. All mysterious existences will return to the source after death; they will reawaken in the Heavenly Blood layer and eye the known universe again. The most famous is the Creator Goddess Perpetua, but besides her, there are many powerful old gods.

The power of order leaked in the known universe is like the smell of blood in the ocean to this group of sharks, almost instantly spreading to the entire Heavenly Blood layer. And those mysterious existences that have been trapped for a long time will rush over at the fastest speed, wanting to take a bite out of the reality universe they have been thinking about.

This will obviously be another multiverse-level disaster, and its danger is incomparable to the previous one. Now, everyone from the Justice League of the more important universes in the multiverse is here, and people from the neighboring universe are also here. If they were all wiped out here, Lucifer might not be able to escape this disaster. Even if God favors him again, this beating is unavoidable.

So the moment he saw the hole in the Source Wall, Lucifer didn't have time to think too much, waved his wings violently, flew directly toward the hole, released the power in his body, and blocked the gap. However, he couldn't move himself either.

When the Source Wall was first established, it was a fence set up by God to prevent young Lucifer from running around. Sticking others was incidental; sticking Lucifer was the real deal. He didn't even really touch the Source Wall before he was stuck there.

Fortunately, he wasn't affected by the stagnation effect of the Source Wall; he just couldn't move, could think, and could speak. So after using himself to block the hole, he stared coldly at Anatoly like that.

"Let's go handle the Dream Kingdom matter." Main Universe Batman slipped away very quickly and immediately took the Multiverse Justice League away.

Strange sighed, obviously not wanting to stay longer, but didn't intend to find any excuses, just waved his hand and took the Marvel crowd away. Before leaving, he didn't forget to take the Earth with him. Marvel people are all familiar with the coordination of their own Earth.

In an instant, the area near the Source Wall, which was originally lively, became empty and silent again. In the vast universe, the figures of Anatoly and Lucifer looked very small.

"Sorry. But I must take some behavioral restrictions on you before you will listen to me." Anatoly flew in front of Lucifer and then said, "Just like when we first met."

Lucifer seemed to be still immersed in some kind of shock, looking a bit detached. His lips moved, just about to say something, and Anatoly guessed it as if he knew. He said: "I have never been the kind of person who enjoys teasing others. You know this better than I do."

"Yeah. You once stopped me from starting a war in Hell, saying that this kind of taking pleasure in others' pain is a low-level hobby. And how did you do it? 'Schiller'?"

"I said, I didn't do it to watch you suffer. I have no reason to torture you, right? Don't tell me you thought I didn't know you only stopped me from saving Gotham because you didn't want to lose your friend?"

Anatoly paused and then said: "I did want to hide this from you, but actually it was just because... forget it, anyway, you know it now, those aren't important anymore."

"Yeah, you always have some big plans," Lucifer said in a cold tone. "Not one can be known by me, and not one will be stopped by me. I'm already used to it."

"Seriously, you aren't as angry as you appear. After all, I didn't hide it from you for too long; for you, it was only a few days. Compared to this, I'm more curious—you threw the things I gave you everywhere, what's going on?"

Lucifer first widened his eyes, then looked away somewhat guiltily. After a long while, seemingly finally finding a suitable excuse, just about to say something, Anatoly interrupted him: "I've drunk with you so many times, I've never seen you act drunk. Don't tell me you were drunk."

Lucifer swallowed the words he was about to say, then said somewhat bluffingly: "The whole universe is my living room, why can't I throw things around?"

"If you just threw them outside the universe, I wouldn't be able to get them back. You know who you gave those things to. Are you trying to form some superhero organization with Constantine?"

"How is that possible! That damn bastard! He actually dared to..."

"Betray you?"

"I didn't give him that fragment; he picked it up."

"Then what about this?" Anatoly took out the shell casing.

Lucifer's scalp tightened. He gritted his teeth and cursed in a low voice, then said: "Why would I keep this thing? Even as a joke, it's a bit too much, right?"

"Is that so? I thought this had commemorative significance," Anatoly rubbed the shell casing in his hand. "Alright, I think we have plenty of time to talk about what happened over the years. Maybe we should have some wine first?"

The Earth finally returned to where it should be. And as expected, the first reaction of the Justice League after being unsealed was to beat up Bruce. Unfortunately, Bruce ran fast and wasn't caught by them at all.

The Multiverse Justice League also wanted to drag them along, but it was past working hours again. Considering their previous actions to fight for labor rights, others decided to let them get off work first.

Of course, other Justice Leagues obviously don't care about labor laws that much. They still need to work overtime to solve the problem of the Dream Kingdom. Although Nekron has been blasted off the Source Wall, the dissipated death power hasn't been eliminated and is still continuously invading the Dream Kingdom. Many universes have already seen large-scale nightmare phenomena; closing their eyes means zombie sieges, and the Justice League can't just ignore it.

Logically speaking, they should return to the Main Universe, but Batman was very worried about the situation of the Source Wall, so they didn't leave, but stayed in this universe, preparing to solve all crises at once before leaving.

The first thing the Multiverse Justice League wasn't used to was Brainiac. Although he had tried his best to minimize his presence, he was now the veritable ruler of Earth, having integrated into all aspects of human life—even needing his help to adjust the temperature of a water dispenser, which felt truly strange.

"I really can't stand him anymore," Main Universe Wonder Woman said.

"Brainiac?" Main Universe Batman drank some water and said, "I was also blocked outside the hotel when I first arrived. Fortunately, my computer skills are not bad..."

"I'm talking about the Nameless Bat," Main Universe Wonder Woman rolled her eyes, "How can he allow Brainiac to rule the Earth."

"So you could stand him before," Main Universe Superman shook his head and said, "Then you have a lot of patience."

Everyone rested for a while and then came to the conference room. Strange sat in the main seat and said: "We need a stable channel between the real world and the Dream Kingdom. This is the basis for all response measures. How do you enter the Dream Kingdom in this universe?"

Jack also participated in the meeting; thank goodness, although the Tomorrow League always likes to drag things to tomorrow, they can indeed accept overtime. He said: "The Dream Kingdom is below everyone's subconscious; logically speaking, there is a channel below everyone's subconscious, but now everyone's channels can't be used. We can only count on the Dream of a Thousand Cats."

"Sounds unreliable," Strange said. "I mean, cats have never been that reliable."

Jack wanted to refute, but the Bat-Cat spoke: "In fact, the Dream of a Thousand Cats can't be used now either. He is avoiding the Black Lantern power to prevent himself from being contaminated. Even if we could borrow him for teleportation, the landing point is uncertain. This is very dangerous."

Main Universe Batman nodded and said: "When we were jumping through various dreams, we encountered many enemies. That wasn't a pleasant journey; it's better not to do it again."

Strange felt his head buzzing and said: "Don't you have an existence here that controls dream power?"

"That's exactly the problem," Jack said. "The Sandman who has full permissions can't wake up at all. Our purpose for entering the Dream Kingdom is to wake him up."

"Can't we blast a channel?" Strange asked.

"That's also the problem," Main Universe Batman said. "The subconscious is also consciousness; performing destructive operations in a person's consciousness is very dangerous, and it might cause permanent damage. We have no experience with this and cannot do such things at the expense of others' physical health."

Strange sighed deeply: "This is truly..."

"Wait," Erik suddenly spoke and said, "Charles just told me he has a way to enter the Dream Kingdom."

Everyone looked at him. ===== CHAPTER 4617 =====