Chapter 732

Back inside the Origin Wall, Lucifer sighed; the danger he'd just faced was the greatest he'd encountered in years—proof that no matter how powerful you were at home, it was all fake, and out in the world, you'd eventually crash.

After escaping death, he immediately turned to Shi Ler, furious: "Are you insane? You tried to kill me?!"

But Shi Ler ignored him entirely, instead staring at the blue cube floating in the dark void of space, rubbing his hands with excitement: "There's a saying: the bold eat well, the timid starve. Do you know what this is?"

Lucifer studied his expression, then followed Shi Ler's gaze to the blue cube.

The cube wasn't very large—when Lucifer had first seen it, it was the size of a planet, but now, after arriving here, it had shrunk considerably, roughly the size of a shipping container.

Yet inside this cube now lay an entire universe—the very universe Lucifer had driven into, the one Shi Ler inhabited.

Lucifer had driven that vehicle into the cosmic cube; though he'd barely managed to summon his Father's magic at the last moment, calling upon God to pull himself and Shi Ler out, the vehicle remained trapped inside the cube, impossible to retrieve.

Now, this strange object had become a cube enclosing a sphere—the sphere being Shi Ler's DC universe.

In the pitch-black expanse of space, the blue cube stood out vividly; Lucifer could feel the immense power radiating from it, and he asked: "What exactly is this? Why risk your life just to get it?"

"If I recall correctly, this is called the 'Cosmic Cube.' Its primary functions are to interfere with reality and create universes…"

Lucifer scoffed: "So what? I can do that too…"

"Fine. Next time I want to alter reality, I'll call you."

"No deal. Take it and get out." Lucifer snapped.

Shi Ler gazed at the Cosmic Cube, deeply satisfied.

In the Marvel universe, the Cosmic Cube and the Tesseract are two distinct objects.

Due to translation issues, many viewers confuse the Tesseract—the container holding the Space Stone—with the Cosmic Cube, but the battered container wandering Earth is the Tesseract; the Cosmic Cube is something else entirely.

There's much debate over the Cosmic Cube's combat power: some claim it's an omnipotent universe-level artifact capable of freely rewriting reality and creating universes; others say its power is merely on par with the Infinity Gauntlet.

Both views are correct: the Cosmic Cube does have numerous high-tier feats, but most appear in the comic *Metal*, where it becomes an artifact capable of rebooting the entire Omniverse.

Yet in the main universe, the Cosmic Cube lacks such power; in Marvel's main universe and the vast majority of others, its energy derives from the Beyonders' Beyond Realm.

Characters like Thanos have also obtained the Cosmic Cube, so people often compare it to the Infinity Gauntlet—but both artifacts depend entirely on who wields them.

After obtaining the Cosmic Cube, Thanos defeated Kronos; yet Doctor Doom, after acquiring it, used it to influence the entire Omniverse—a fact officially confirmed by Marvel.

When Shi Ler discovered that OAA had used the Cosmic Cube as a cage to imprison him, he realized the artifact's true tier might exceed his expectations—after all, anything OAA deems worthy of use cannot be trash.

So he summoned Lucifer and goaded him into breaking out of the prison. Since Lucifer's rank was inferior to OAA's, he couldn't perceive higher-dimensional observers before acting; once he moved, OAA would inevitably retaliate.

Lucifer couldn't defeat OAA, but he still had his Father's magic. His relationship with God was complicated, but fundamentally, he was God's own son—and God's favorite.

If God's own son was beaten by the neighbor's boss, God wouldn't stand idly by.

Lucifer breached the Cosmic Cube; God, wanting to rescue him, wouldn't bother dragging him out of the cube—so God brought Shi Ler, Lucifer, Lucifer's vehicle, and the Cosmic Cube all back into the DC Origin Wall.

And because Lucifer had previously driven the vehicle into the cube, Shi Ler's entire universe was now lodged inside the Cosmic Cube, turning the Marvel artifact into the shell of Shi Ler's universe.

Shi Ler hadn't forgotten that in some distant universe, a pile of shit equivalent to Deadpool was ready to invade the multiverse.

In terms of sheer disgust, the Laughing Bat's level was no lower than Deadpool's.

No method within any DC universe could guarantee absolute safety—even if Lucifer protected this universe, a single phrase like "The Laughing Bat anticipated his actions" would doom him to defeat by the editors' godlike plot armor.

A laugh from the Laughing Bat, and life or death became uncertain—exactly as it was.

But while the Laughing Bat was the DC editors' grandfather, his power faded outside DC's universe; Marvel's editors wouldn't recognize a god-tier intellectual character, nor let him render Marvel's characters and artifacts worthless.

DC's sword can't cut Marvel's bureaucracy. Now, Shi Ler's universe sat directly at the center of Marvel's Cosmic Cube—if the Laughing Bat wanted to invade, he'd first have to shatter Marvel's Cosmic Cube.

And this shell wasn't just for the Laughing Bat—it could repel many other threats. Most importantly, with this, Shi Ler could freely devise multiverse plans; even if he accidentally failed, all he needed to do was return home, shut the door, and guarantee basic safety.

After discovering the Laughing Bat's egg within Bruce's body, Shi Ler had been pondering how to protect his own universe—DC's multiverse events were perilous and relentless, offering no respite.

Shi Ler understood: no matter which universe or timeline, once the Laughing Bat emerged, it was like a bone-deep parasite—once you got covered in shit, you could never shake it off.

Outsmarting the Laughing Bat was hopeless—it wasn't a battle of intellect, but a nesting doll contest: the Laughing Bat anticipated your plan; you anticipated the Laughing Bat anticipating your plan; the Laughing Bat anticipated you anticipating his anticipation of your plan…

Shi Ler had zero interest in predicting the Laughing Bat's moves; arguing with such a god-tier character was a waste of life—he'd long planned to shield his universe.

But in the DC universe, political correctness didn't work well—DC's dark storylines were already thick enough; adding more would easily backfire.

Yet OAA himself delivered the Cosmic Cube—so Shi Ler gladly accepted it.

At that moment, Lucifer clicked his tongue: "I just tried—it's completely stuck inside. Impossible to extract."

"That's your driving skills," Shi Ler shot back immediately.

Lucifer snorted, glancing sideways at Shi Ler with an expression saying, "I know exactly what trick you pulled"—and just then, Shi Ler pulled a voice recorder from his pocket.

"Click. Dad!"

"!"

"Click. Dad!"

"!"

"Click-dad… click-dad… click-dad…"

"Stop!" Lucifer shouted, staring at Shi Ler: "How can you be so despicable?!"

"What gave you the illusion that I'm a righteous person?" Shi Ler countered.

After a few more arguments, Lucifer asked: "So what now? How do we get back?"

Then he saw Shi Ler suddenly make the sign of the cross over his chest and begin whispering a prayer:

"Almighty Savior, Your beloved little son forgot his keys and can't return home. I beg You for a key, to let us freely enter and exit this universe. May the faithful find eternal safety and warmth…"

*Clang. A key fell before Shi Ler. He picked it up, hung it on his keychain, and waved it at Lucifer: "Let's go."

"Give me back the recorder!" Lucifer yelled, chasing after him.

When they returned to Earth, Lucifer was furious: "You recorded your friend's humiliation and played it on loop? Your shamelessness shocks me! Fine. What do you want to return the recorder?"

"Simple," Shi Ler shook the recorder. "Last time, you failed to fulfill my request. Now, I ask again: Great Lucifer, Morning Star—can you resurrect Batman's parents?"

"My bar's busy. I'm leaving!" Lucifer turned and walked away without hesitation.

Shi Ler shook his head, bought the next available flight ticket, and returned to Gotham.

Back in Gotham, he didn't rest—he went straight to Gotham Cathedral, where he met the old priest. After brief pleasantries, Shi Ler said:

"Lately, I've felt anxious. I'd like to speak alone with the Lord…"

"Oh, I understand. After the snowstorm, none of us have been well. Go ahead, Professor. God will surely bless a good man like you…"

The old priest turned and left. Shi Ler walked beneath the statue of Jesus, then pulled out the voice recorder.

As he made the sign of the cross, he said:

"Hello, God. Just now, I successfully made Your most beloved and rebellious son call you 'Dad,' and recorded his voice. I think I deserve some reward…"

Suddenly, Shi Ler felt the recorder glow faintly, trying to fly from his palm—but he held on, pulling out a bill instead.

"God, Your favorite son underwent five years of psychotherapy with me. Since he lacks full legal capacity, I believe both the treatment outcome and the bill should be discussed with his guardian…"

The word "guardian" seemed to please the unseen presence—the bill floated upward.

In midair, an invisible entity flipped through the bill; as soon as it reached the first page, the bill *thudded* to the ground.

In a haze, Shi Ler saw Jesus on the cross shake his head—and somewhere, he heard a voice:

"Your greed shocks Me."

"Of course, I can compromise," Shi Ler said quickly. "Just one small condition: I'll reduce Lucifer's therapy fees, extend the treatment to ten years, and offer this recorder as a sacrifice to the Beloved Lord…"

From somewhere, another voice echoed:

"What do you want?"

"Of course, I could also make a concession—I only need one small condition, and I'll reduce part of Lucifer's consultation fee, extend the psychological therapy package to ten years, and offer this recording pen as an offering to the beloved Lord..." Shi Ler said immediately.

In the depths of silence, another voice came again:

"What do you want?"

"I want to go to heaven."