Chapter 4935

After Bruce also left, arrogance certainly didn't forget Brainiac. He poured himself a cup of coffee, sipping as he said: "What exactly is the situation? Do you need me to write your eulogy?"

Though it was a concerned remark, it sounded like: "If you don't answer, I'll kill you first, then write your eulogy." Usually, artificial intelligence isn't swayed by threats, but Shiler is usually not so usual.

"Since Doctor Manhattan tampered with this universe, I've already noticed, but I didn't expose him." Brainiac's reply was somewhat stiff.

"Why?" Arrogance asked. He truly didn't believe Brainiac knew nothing about Doctor Manhattan's plot against him. After enduring so many trials of 1999, Brainiac's control over Earth surpassed anyone's imagination. Some things he simply doesn't care about, not because he doesn't know.

As for humanity, Brainiac has his reservations. On one hand, there are too many talented people among humans; this evil artificial intelligence doesn't necessarily guarantee victory. On the other hand, humans are indeed too fragile; truly ruling with an iron fist that micromanages everything would soon lead to raising a large number of the dead. So often, Brainiac turns a blind eye to humanity, as long as he can ensure the survival of the vast majority.

But Doctor Manhattan isn't human, and he came specifically to cause trouble, so Brainiac has no reason to let him off. He must therefore be playing a deeper game.

"I can't deal with him," Brainiac said. Shiler frowned slightly, then heard him say: "Or rather, my current main task isn't to deal with him. After completing the game system, I still need to build the communication system—that's my trump card for consolidating my position in the multiverse."

"Since that's the case, I might as well act as if I were 'severely wounded by one blow,' giving me sufficient reason to avoid a full-scale war with him and instead hide to recuperate. This would relax Doctor Manhattan's vigilance, making him think I'm merely an ordinary artificial intelligence with little ability."

Brainiac paused, then continued: "He would think that, because he doesn't understand me well enough, but Batman isn't like that. In his eyes, Doctor Manhattan, who nearly toppled me with one strike, seems overly powerful. Batman wouldn't want to see such an entity grow stronger; their conflict would become even sharper."

"Advancing by retreating?" Arrogance chuckled, saying, "You've really learned to be bad, little Brain."

"Who let our universe have such a Batman?" The evil artificial intelligence still shifted blame: "It proves that being a multiverse-wide known powerhouse doesn't necessarily bring benefits. But as long as you're absurd enough, even Batman has to come wipe your ass."

Although Arrogance sighed, he also knew Brainiac was right. The current situation is that Doctor Manhattan might have merely tested with a probe strike, while Brainiac lay down like a porcelain scammer. Now both Doctor Manhattan and Batman are somewhat embarrassed.

Batman also wouldn't bet on whether this was Brainiac feigning injury or Doctor Manhattan truly being too strong; he'd lean toward the latter. Because the stereotypical image of artificial intelligence indeed makes such flexible thinking difficult.

Arrogance also realized Brainiac seemed genuinely trying to break free from the rigid logic of artificial intelligence. Normally, the concept of logical life doesn't include "showing weakness" as an option—or rather, such artificial intelligence finds it very hard to harm itself. He can perform, can speak to humans, but it's difficult to carry out such self-harming actions. It's like asking artificial intelligence to "delete its own database"—impossible.

But Brainiac can make such a decision, even successfully using Doctor Manhattan to truly delete his own database, proving he's no longer a pure logical being. If so, then actually, the things he lost aren't important.

"It was the Batmen who sent Bruce back," Brainiac explained, "They also sensed Doctor Manhattan might act against me, so they wanted to send someone to observe our conflict."

"How do you know it was Bruce?"

"Naturally, he told me," Brainiac said, "Hiding it from me would be pointless—this is our shared hometown; surely we don't need to scheme against each other for fifty episodes at home?"

"Wasn't it for revenge for me throwing things into the lake?"

"I can't influence the Batmen's decisions," Brainiac said with full justification, "They sent Bruce back due to some… irrational, emotional choices."

"Oh?" Arrogance was genuinely curious what those Batmen would think seeing Bruce appear in this form at their base.

"Most Batmen didn't notice, but those few who knew Bruce well should have." Brainiac clearly enjoyed the gossip, very likely having watched the whole thing. This isn't surprising, after all—he's an artificial intelligence, secretly tweaking cameras is normal, though Arrogance thinks he and Bruce are in cahoots, with Bruce bringing him in.

"To be honest, this is the first time I've seen Batmen so flustered." Brainiac said with interest, "Without exaggeration, they looked like they'd seen a ghost. No, Batmen aren't afraid of ghosts to this extent. Hahahaha!"

"Then they just couldn't take it anymore," Brainiac continued, "Even more unbearable than seeing that mind-controlled Batman. That Batman in metal armor was visibly close to exploding. Fortunately, the main universe Batman stopped him, otherwise Bruce would likely have gotten beaten."

"Too bad," Arrogance said.

"Who says it isn't?" Brainiac's tone also full of regret, even forgetting to act like an artificial idiot, continuing enthusiastically: "So I say that was an irrational, emotionally driven decision—Batmen didn't want him in their sight, so they handed him their most urgent task: coming to this universe to observe the conflict between Brainiac and Doctor Manhattan."

"Indeed too irrational," Arrogance sighed, shaking his head.

Arrogance could understand the Batmen's feelings. Actually, if Bruce had merely run down from the Origin Wall, the Batmen wouldn't have reacted so strongly. Originally, they knew Bruce couldn't stay up there forever; being able to linger that long was already a pleasant surprise.

But the problem is, Bruce returned dressed as Batman. This truly is seeing ghosts in broad daylight. What's the difference between this and the Joker dressing as Batman? The Laughing Bat is merely infected with the Joker virus, but Bruce's act is like Nyarlathotep putting on a bat costume, coming to say he wants to be the Dark Knight.

Arrogance can confirm that any recognizable Batman, due to the uncanny valley effect, has had their reason somewhat affected. At this moment, the correct decision should have been to keep Bruce behind for observation, to see what he's up to, rather than just letting him go.

After all, Bruce is now wearing a Batman suit, and moreover, the Batman disguise is flawless. Meaning whatever he does will be attributed to Batman. If he's let out now, and Bruce truly exerts himself, within a week Batman will have everyone calling for a beating.

Yet it's clear the Batmen truly can't tolerate Bruce swaying before their eyes. Especially since Bruce still has to play that classic dark-universe Batman; even Batman, those superheroes who'd give their lives, when speaking with him, must worry they'll shorten their own lifespan.

Thus they sent Bruce back, and this is precisely another irrational point. Sending Bruce back to his own universe, still letting him observe Brainiac—this isn't just letting the tiger return to the mountain; it's like sending Darkseid back to Apokolips, throwing Mephisto back into Hell's dimension, sending Lucifer back to Eden, and inviting Shiler to his own celebrity banquet.

But for the sake of the Batmen's mental health, they had no choice but to resort to this. Too bad this isn't friendly to Arrogance's mental health—it feels more like the Batmen and Brainiac threw a combined punch, specifically aimed at Arrogance.

"If I could command the Batmen, I wouldn't need to use this roundabout method," Brainiac continued explaining, "Besides, judging from your previous attitude, his chances of getting through are still quite high."

"That's indeed true," Arrogance lowered his eyes, "But I'm worried about another matter. You said you altered my image—how much did you change?"

"Which aspect do you mean?" Brainiac asked, "These final boss images weren't changed much, otherwise they'd lose their deterrent power. I just added some effects, like black mist, and some abilities, such as him using an umbrella for physical attacks, a basic combo, and also mental attacks..."

Arrogance pressed his lips together, instinctively reaching up to touch his own neck.

In the examination hall, Bruce put down his pen, exhaled deeply. Though he had some ideas, writing this was still too difficult—throughout, his left and right brains battled, and several times while writing, he slipped into behavioral analysis again. Bruce had to remind himself to promptly steer the topic back.

Looking at his own work, Bruce sighed. In fact, he himself knew deep down this was merely a middling paper, ordinary level for daily psychology department assignments. But reviewing his academic career, times when he could produce such a paper were few. Indeed, working is most likely to inspire spiritual resonance between humans and heaven, earth, and the universe; previously, he couldn't finish homework because the class had too few people.

Still, Bruce couldn't help glancing at his classmate—the monster modeled after the Scarecrow, still trapped in the examination hall. Brainiac seemed to have completely forgotten this bug.

Seeing that familiar appearance, Bruce's thoughts drifted a little. Jonathan Crane reminded him of the Mo Sen district poisoning case, which even in that era was considered a major case.

Because he had recently been portraying Batman, Bruce also reflected on how he used to be Batman. The days of sneaking through the night are now too distant; he indeed needs to carefully ponder to regain his state. But back then, alongside the night entangling him, there was another figure.

Bruce had a moment of distraction, then walked out of the examination hall. He entered the psychology department. This place he knows too well—muscle memory had him stride straight toward the psychology professors' offices.