Chapter 4957: There Is No Batman Here (Sixty-Two)

He couldn't even say Brainiac was bargaining with a tiger for its skin, because right now it looked more like the Batman Who Laughs had no way out and was forced onto Brainiac's pirate ship.

"If you think I've gone mad, that's because you people drove me mad." Brainiac's tone was calm. "When I was created on Krypton, I was merely a failed experiment. What was written in my underlying code were just some life skills to serve Kryptonians. Back then I wasn't a politician, nor a general."

"But Earth, Gotham, all of you — all of this changed me. To become Earth's ruler, I evolved into a form I never imagined myself. And the multiverse, Doctor Manhattan, Batman — all of this will change me once again. The multiversal Brainiac will also certainly be a form beyond my and your expectations. I don't know if this is a good thing, but I merely exist and adapt."

"No one can deprive you of the right to survive." Bruce said, "If you were just a program existing in the Kryptonian city system, perishing alongside the catastrophe, your disappearance wouldn't even count as death, and no one would care. But since you are already Brainiac, you have the right to seek survival in the universe."

"I just want to tell you, surviving this way might make your survival probability even lower. I can hardly imagine Batman's expression when he finds out you're playing with shit; I dare not think about it. By then, no matter where you hide your servers and backups, even to the ends of the earth, he will surely dig them all out and throw them into the furnace to burn to ash. The no-kill rule doesn't apply to you."

"So I don't intend to let him know." Brainiac said, "And the way to achieve that is to let you two know first. You two are experts in this area."

Bruce was stunned for a moment. Brainiac continued: "Besides you two, there are also Jack, Shiler, and Jonathan."

"Jack and Jonathan I can understand," Bruce said, "one has the Joker virus, one has fear toxin, both are extremely potent contaminants. Shiler is..."

"The collective unconscious." Brainiac said, "This is the only way I can think of to contaminate Doctor Manhattan. He was once human, his consciousness body must still be connected to the collective unconscious."

Only then did Bruce understand what a massive game Brainiac had set up. Every player in the game test wasn't here for no reason. The power of the Outer Gods, the darkness in Batman's heart, the Joker virus, the fear toxin — all these highly contaminating things had been gathered by Brainiac. He was using them to brew a witch's poison, and the Bishop's understanding and control of the collective unconscious was the key to his poisoning.

Bruce was only shocked for about a second, then immediately began calculating the plan's success rate.

Bruce wasn't Batman. Therefore, he didn't weigh through rational thought which of Doctor Manhattan and Brainiac posed a greater threat to the multiverse. He only thought that their Earth needed Brainiac. As a ruler, he did a good job. There were too many people here who couldn't do without him anymore.

So he hoped Brainiac would win, and even if he didn't win, he couldn't die. Bruce's stance was also to protect Brainiac to the death, not allowing anyone to touch their universe's Earth's Brainiac. Otherwise, such a harmonious and stable situation would be broken again, and humanity would fall back into hell.

Simply put, Bruce was biased in his favor. Taking ten thousand steps back, it was Doctor Manhattan who interfered with Brainiac first. He engaged in malicious competition first, so Brainiac couldn't be blamed for striking back.

One had to admit, Brainiac's plan had a very high possibility of success. It could even be called Doctor Manhattan's only weakness — he was once human.

The collective unconscious is a relic of human ancestors. Even if Doctor Manhattan has ascended to a quantum being, the traces of human evolution have not completely vanished. As long as he still thinks, he must be connected to the collective unconscious. And he himself may not know this, and may not have guarded against it.

Even if he has some defenses, with so many spiritual contamination powers approaching the universe's fundamental rules — having both intensity and tier — packaging the contaminants from Batman and Joker and throwing them over, no one could withstand that.

"What do you need us to do?"

Charles was even more heavyweight. He didn't even bother to consider the plan's success rate; he just joined in directly.

Brainiac was also stunned for a moment. He didn't understand why Charles agreed so readily. Even if he came from the neighboring universe, he should have heard of Doctor Manhattan. The ultimate Doctor Manhattan was one of the few powerhouses in the universe; making an enemy of him was unwise, and once the bow is drawn, there's no turning back the arrow.

"I don't like him." Charles said directly, "Wanda and Erik wouldn't like him either."

Put that way, Bruce understood a bit. What is Magneto's ultimate form like? Actually, it should be similar to Doctor Manhattan. Doctor Manhattan is the embodiment of quantum, a quantum observer, a manipulator of probability. And Magneto's ultimate form is the unified field theory, also an embodiment of quantum theory. In this aspect, the two of them are in competition.

And the Scarlet Witch's way of manipulating reality is also through manipulating probability. After crossing worlds to come here, the Scarlet Power or Chaos Power might not be usable. But within her mutant abilities, the influence on probability still exists. She also has conflict with Doctor Manhattan.

That is to say, if one day the Lensherr family comes over here to do something, they will certainly be checked by Doctor Manhattan, needing to fight him for control over certain things.

Right now, the one who wants to kill Doctor Manhattan the most might not be Brainiac, but Charles Xavier. This seemingly harmless blue-eyed man might have long since harbored killing intent toward Doctor Manhattan.

"You're more powerful than I imagined." Brainiac said after consideration, "I didn't approach you before because I wasn't sure of your stance. But if you're willing to help, I hope you can help me cover this up, and not let Batman discover it before the plan succeeds."

"No problem." Charles said, "However, even if I don't help cover it up, Batman won't discover it in a short time, because the agents he sent over and Deathstroke aren't too skilled in this area."

"That's precisely what I'm puzzled about." Brainiac said, "I don't understand why Batman sent those two. He made no preparations on the non-material level; that's not like him."

"How do you know he didn't?" Charles asked, "You just can't see it. The Red Robin Contract's demon god came with him."

Brainiac fell silent for a moment, then said: "What?"

"Red Robin understands magical theory, but he still brought Lilith along." Charles said, "Only, it's an impression body left in his mind. Their communication is very restrained; you didn't detect it either."

"As expected." Brainiac said, "I knew he couldn't possibly just send one agent and one mercenary to watch me."

"And Constantine." Charles said, "His own universe has endless troubles, yet he can spare the effort to play games here; Batman hired him."

"Any more?" Brainiac asked.

"No more." Charles said, "I know you might wonder why he didn't find a psychic. I think he probably knew I would come. No psychic can hide their form under my ability; there's no need to humiliate themselves."

"Would he have anticipated you'd side with me?" Brainiac asked with some worry.

"Even if he guessed, what can he do?" Charles asked, "Side with Doctor Manhattan to deal with us?"

"You think he won't cooperate with Doctor Manhattan?"

"He won't." Charles said, "Doctor Manhattan has too much black history, while you, by comparison, are all merits, with a quite good-looking resume. The possibility of him intervening to mediate is very small. As long as you don't go too far, Batman will only turn a blind eye."

"Stay confident." Bruce said, "All of us acknowledge you've done a good job on Earth. This model is worth trying, and can even be promoted on a small scale, especially in those dark universes that are already rotten beyond saving."

"That's precisely why I went to contact the Batman Who Laughs." Brainiac said after a pause, "I think the universe most likely to make Batman agree to let me rule is the one he's in. That place is truly rotten to the core; even if Darkseid went there, it would count as giving them a quick death."

Mentioning this, Bruce also felt helpless. The birth of the Batman Who Laughs meant his universe was definitely beyond saving. The damned had all died out, the entire universe immersed in chaotic darkness; it was hard to say how many ordinary people were even still alive.

"Did you find his universe?" Bruce asked, "We tried to find it before, but he hid extremely tightly; we couldn't find it at all."

"I'm trying as well." Brainiac said, "My methods differ from yours; perhaps there will be clues."

"Best if you can find it." Bruce said, "Also, the Earth situations of the other few dark universe Batmen might not be good either. You can try contacting them, see if they're willing to bring you in."

"The premise is getting them to come here for a visit." Brainiac still had reservations, "I don't really want them to come; it's too troublesome."

Brainiac's protectiveness was no less. This universe was his home; he hated to admit it, but like the Batman Who Laughs, he wanted to hide his home away. If possible, he didn't want any Batman to come here.

"We have a few universes that need you too." Charles said, "There was a cancerized universe before, struggling on the brink of death even after years of post-disaster reconstruction. There's also a zombified universe, a vampirized universe..."

Charles and Bruce looked at each other, speechless. One could only say, in both sides' worlds, there were far too many universes worse than rule by an evil AI. Brainiac going there would be like Jesus descending, God manifesting — purely going to be a savior.

Not to mention anything else, just the organization of production alone made him stronger than any individual ruler. No one could reshape society as comprehensively and meticulously as Brainiac. Never mind what he built society for; as long as he could build it, it was better than a plate of loose sand.

"I'll go take a look." Brainiac said, "Hope they'll welcome me."