Chapter 4928

Tim took a sip of water, and after explaining the entire experimental procedure, everyone became excited. Even the monster forgot to fight, and the battle plan was forgotten—today they had to figure out what was going on with this gun.

When humans conduct unserious research, they are always filled with serious research spirit, and when doing bad deeds, they never tire. Although it's hard to say researching Diana's blessing is a bad thing. Copying the freeze gun is difficult, but copying part of it still offers some hope, and it can't be said to be purely malicious.

Normally, if this matter were truly dangerous, Brainiac would definitely speak up to warn them. Just like before, when they used certain abilities without proper adaptation, Brainiac would tell them.

Tim had already explained the entire research process in advance to test whether Brainiac would allow it, but since Brainiac said nothing, it should mean there is no danger.

It must be said that Brainiac has still changed the thinking of many people in this universe. Most of the time he is meticulous, to the point that as long as he doesn't warn them, they assume there is no danger. So they just went ahead and did what they wanted.

This brings up the point that although most people present are no longer teenagers—some, like the Arkham Knight, can already be called middle-aged—one of the Robins' defining traits is eternal youth and poor memory.

This statement is not meant negatively. In fact, in many comics, Robin's age setting is not as young as the artwork suggests. Often the eldest is nearly 30, and the others are not young either, but their behavior still resembles that of teenagers. This is because of Batman's existence. Compared to Batman, everyone seems like a teenager.

Although there is no Batman here, there are many Robins. A group of Robins gets a 30% discount on age, two groups basically get a 50% discount, minus 15 after 30—the atmosphere at the Viscount Manor truly feels like a return to childhood.

Now many Batmen have realized that the Robins need social interaction—not within the Bat-family, but with peers of their own age.

However, due to their uniqueness, attending school or working normally is indeed difficult, and there aren't enough peers around to form a society. Thus, the best solution is actually to form a Robin society. Multiverse Robins playing together, as long as we don't consider whether the multiverse is willing, is the perfect solution.

Therefore, the main universe Batman did not stop his Robins from coming here to play. Only, judging from Brainiac's reaction, the multiverse probably wouldn't be too enthusiastic.

The experiment began smoothly. Deathstroke, with the best physical condition, held the gun; the bishop closed his eyes; not long after, Lilith suddenly cried out in pain. Deathstroke kept staring at her, and the moment Lilith opened her eyes, he fired—bang—knocking everyone except Shiler and Lilith offline.

After hearing their explanation, Arrogance was somewhat speechless: if Brainiac could endure this, he could become the Creator himself, and even Lucifer would have to admit it's creative.

They discussed it for a while, but Brainiac still didn't come online. At this point, Arrogance already sensed something was wrong, because even if Brainiac couldn't fix the system, he should at least come out to complain a few times.

In the past, Brainiac wouldn't do such meaningless things, but recently he has become more human, and with that came various attacks and complaints, and he also learned the human way of "if you can't solve someone else's problem, first solve your own emotions."

They used such violent means to destroy the system, yet Brainiac could actually hold back from cursing—this is clearly abnormal.

Arrogance was thinking about why this would happen, when he suddenly thought: Brainiac seems to have urged Gordon to release the fear toxin, likely to retaliate against the Manhattan Doctor. Because the Manhattan Doctor probably took advantage of the Gotham flood to do something small.

The Manhattan Doctor certainly wouldn't be affected by the fear toxin, but his Watchmen teammates might not be so lucky. The Manhattan Doctor also didn't directly target Brainiac, so Brainiac targeting his teammates makes sense.

Could it be that Brainiac's retaliation backfired and he got caught instead?

Arrogance furrowed his brows. That Manhattan Doctor really knows how to pick the right moment—just when they caused the system to crash…… No, that's not right. Brainiac should have been silent for some time already, at least not speaking to them.

"When was the last time you contacted Brainiac?" Arrogance asked.

"About a few hours ago." Tim went offline to find Jenna, and Charles obviously knew—it should have been through Brainiac that they contacted Jenna—"Brainiac should have been fine then."

"Then it should have been within these few hours that they were attacked." Arrogance thought and said, "Just don't know if the retaliation plan failed, or if the Manhattan Doctor struck again."

"How long has he had the fear toxin?" Charles knows everything. "Artificial intelligence doesn't hallucinate; he wants to confirm the toxin's effect, so he must have done some experiments. It shouldn't have been used this quickly."

"Then it seems like the Manhattan Doctor is up to his old tricks again." Arrogance sighed, "But of course, Brainiac is testing the game, even if it's just small-scale recruitment of players, he should also not be able to hide it from the Manhattan Doctor. To interfere with Brainiac's test, he probably would try to tamper with things."

"This indeed seriously interferes with the players' gaming experience." Lilith looked somewhat sorrowful, "Visitors from other universes will definitely think Brainiac's game system is terrible……"

"Then you're wrong." The agent said, "They're definitely not thinking about that right now."

"Done for! Done for! Done for! Done for!" came a chorus of wails from the teleportation hall, "We've caused trouble!!!"

"Don't rush." Another voice said, "Even if the connection drops, we can log back in later—it doesn't mean we broke it."

"Exactly, people from this universe also participated, right?" another voice said, "Let's go find them and ask what's going on."

Several figures had just stepped out the door when they stopped. The street was full of water, many trees were broken, and it looked like they had just suffered a disaster. Nightwing inhaled a sharp breath of cold air: this might really be trouble.

If Brainiac were to crash at this moment……

"It shouldn't come to that." Red Hood frowned and said, "Just the game system broke—he's a super AI, it shouldn't all……"

Before he could finish, a flash of lightning cut through, and Barry stepped out saying, "Tim sent me to pick you up—let's go."

No matter which universe's Flash, the Robins basically trust him unconditionally. However, the main universe Robins remember that this universe's Flash's Speed Force isn't suitable for carrying people, but even so, he still rushed over, indicating the situation is somewhat urgent.

Upon arriving at the Viscount Manor in the real world, they found the Robins here were even more anxious than they were. But their anxiety wasn't about Gotham's current state, or Brainiac's problem.

"The professors seem still to be in the game." Tim gripped his hair tightly, "Agent, Bishop, Arrogance—all are still in the game, not logged off!"

"What?!?!"

"And Charles and Lilith." Ted added, "They're also missing, and Brainiac can't be reached either."

This is now a big problem. Red Robin sat directly on the sofa: "How could they possibly be trapped by the game system?"

"Professor Shiler can return to Gao Ta." Harley said relatively calmly, "Professor Xavier isn't someone a game system could trap, and Lilith's prophetic ability didn't foresee this situation, which shows there isn't too much danger."

"Manhattan Doctor." Tim lowered his face. The main universe Robins couldn't help but glance at him—this tone was too much like Batman's. "Only he could be responsible."

"The key is how he interfered with Brainiac?" Pamela said, "This shouldn't be the first time he's done this. Back with the Kobalt incident, wasn't he involved too? What does he rely on?"

"Manhattan Doctor is very powerful." Harley said while recalling, "The Batmen's attitude toward him is also cautious, isn't it? Brainiac not being his match is normal. But you're right—he must have an anchor point to influence our universe. What exactly is it?"

Tim only stayed silent for less than a second, then suddenly looked up: "Ice."

"Those 200 tons of ice." Tim suddenly said.

Many clues swirled in his mind, then suddenly pierced by a blade of thought. All clues were strung together, making Tim realize the Manhattan Doctor likely didn't use too many superpowers to pull off this scheme—and that is precisely his cleverness.

"The Gotham water source contamination isn't that simple." Tim looked at them and said, "Brainiac insists on investigating, even forcing people like Gordon and Professor Shiler out of the universe—it wouldn't really be just about water source pollution."

"You saying that does sound a bit suspicious." Pamela crossed her arms and said, "Someone like Professor Shiler, a dangerous element, is forgivable, but Brainiac absolutely knows Gordon wouldn't murder innocents. Even if he really added something to the lake, it must be that the other side deserved it. Anyway, there's no evidence—better to pretend ignorance than make a scene."

"Brainiac isn't necessarily doing this on purpose—it's just that his attitude is too serious, his investigation too deep, making those involved think he's after the lake monster, but actually it might not be. What he really wants to investigate is water source pollution, and the source of that pollution might not be Jonathan Crane."

"But Jonathan himself admitted it." Dick said, "He definitely admitted using chemical means to harm Brainiac, which is why he went to prison."

"Jonathan doing it doesn't mean others didn't." Tim's thinking was very clear, "If you go ask Jonathan who he harmed, he'll say he did it—because he really did use chemicals to indiscriminately attack everyone. He's been poisoning Gotham's water for years—who hasn't been harmed by him?"

Others were somewhat speechless, because saying it out loud, it really is that logic. Jonathan is the kind of person who never minds taking the blame—he just wants to prove he's the most terrifying supervillain in the world. Ask him if he's done anything bad, he'll say he did, then proudly go to prison.

And in fact, he really did do it. He might have dumped a thousand kinds of toxins into Gotham's underground water system, and then one of them just happened to be able to corrode Brainiac's server room.

So when Brainiac or others asked him, he'd say he did it. But whether the effective agent was actually his chemicals, and whether he was truly the ultimate culprit, he himself doesn't know. He just feels that besides him, there's no one else.

"You just said ice has a problem?" Harley caught the key point.

"Those 200 tons of ice were transferred from Professor Fulisi's lab to Kobalt's underground warehouse, and the whole process was full of suspicion." Tim emphasized, "Why ice? Why transfer it? Why keep Kobalt from knowing?"

"Could it be to make Kobalt suspect himself?"

"Kobalt's ability to affect Brainiac is very limited—starting from him, long-term it might have some effect, but Brainiac's game is about to go online soon, so this long-term plan doesn't apply."

Tim lightly tapped the table with his fingertip: "Unless, in this plan, there's a step that can directly harm Brainiac. Those ice blocks look like insignificant props, but they might actually play a crucial role."

"There's another detail that can corroborate what I'm saying," Tim said. "The Ogilvy controlled by Dr. Manhattan chose to avoid the Joker when transporting these ice blocks. Why is that?"

Harley nodded with sudden understanding: "If the ice itself isn't the problem, then it doesn't matter who transports it. Even Jack would be the best person to prove Copeland's mental issues, since they know each other. Jack might go ask Copeland, which could worsen Copeland's suspicions about himself—there's no need to deliberately avoid Jack."

"But if the ice is problematic, then the Joker must be excluded from this matter entirely; otherwise, it's highly likely to be discovered."

"Exactly. Jack isn't someone to be trifled with—the Joker is infamous across the entire multiverse, and Dr. Manhattan wouldn't dare let problematic items pass under his nose."