Thinking Ahead

It had to be said, Cindy was truly a terrible cook. Just as she had said, she had simply thrown every vegetable she could find into a pot.

Su Ming swore this was the worst stew he had ever eaten, and it had even been made as a sweet Western-style soup.

The turkey Bliss had left behind was probably made by the old butler. It had a bit of a refrigerator smell, but it was still edible.

The three of them ate without saying much.

In the end, Vicki still failed to find any decent protective suits, only a few bat masks.

No one knew what Bliss had intended them for, but after checking them, they found that they did indeed have gas protection functions, so they each put one on.

There were no decent weapons in the Batcave. Su Ming had no use for things like throwing darts, and after replenishing a few Smoke Bombs, their preparations were complete.

Everyone returned to the car, leaving the mess strewn across the floor without cleaning it up or covering it.

Su Ming blindfolded them again, and Cindy drove them away.

Once they left the cave, the wind seemed to have weakened, but the rain appeared even heavier. Dense rain once again enveloped the vehicle, and the atmosphere grew somber.

Su Ming leaned back in the passenger seat, resting his head on his folded arms as he silently calculated.

Falcone and Ra's al Ghul might still be manageable, but The Batman Who Laughs and Barbatos, who were still hiding in the shadows, were another matter entirely. Su Ming knew of their plans, but those were the versions from the comics. In the real world, anything could change.

For example, his arrival had been a destructive influence on the original story. The Butterfly Effect it caused was even harder to measure.

His memories of the comics could no longer offer much help. At most, when facing enemies, they allowed him to understand the level of their strength and their hidden cards.

If The Batman Who Laughs fought them head-on, he and Cindy could definitely win. But Barbatos was completely different.

He was called the Dragon of the Dark Universe and the God of Bats. It was obvious that he was a Multiversal Level monster. Such power was not something one or two people could handle.

In the comics, defeating Barbatos required several special metals.

The metals were gateways connecting the Light and Dark Multiverses, and Barbatos planned to use them to travel to the Main World.

There, several metals were being infused into Batwoman's body according to plan.

So he influenced certain people there through dreams, turning them into his followers and making them act according to his plan.

First came the Court of Owls' Amber Gold. It looked like clear spring water, and Batwoman accidentally drank it while fighting them.

Then there was Dionysium, which existed in Joker's blood. When Batwoman and Joker injured each other, it also entered her body.

Nth Metal—when Batwoman went to help Hawkman and Hawkgirl, she had been exposed to the radiance of Nth Metal, and its energy seeped into her body.

Next came Promethium, the metal that made up Deathstroke's armor. Batwoman also used it to build her own "Final Machine"—a high-tech automated operating table capable of rapidly healing injuries. She had already used it several times.

Only the final metal remained: Bat-Metal, located in an ancient tomb of the Batman Tribe in Egypt on Earth-0.

Once all these metals were gathered, Batwoman of the Main World would become a gateway to the Dark Multiverse. She would undergo a spatial exchange with another Bruce, and that other Bruce was The Batman Who Laughs of Earth -22.

The Batman Who Laughs would summon Barbatos on Earth-0 and prepare all kinds of dark rituals there. Once Barbatos arrived, he would activate them, continuously amassing power and dragging every world into darkness to achieve his goal.

Nth Metal was what converted dark energy into reality. It could harm Barbatos and his dark creations.

But to defeat Barbatos completely, they needed the universe's tenth metal, Tenth Metal. It existed within the World Forge, and as for the World Forge, Su Ming only knew that it was somewhere in the Dark Multiverse.

Where exactly? He did not know. How could he get there? He did not know that either.

In other words, even if they saved Earth -11, they would merely be extending their lives. Once the Light Multiverse fell into darkness, the entire DC Universe would lose its balance, and everyone would die together.

Yes, Barbatos's original goal was not this. He merely wanted to drag all universes into darkness and turn them into his territory, where light would no longer exist and he would become the sole overlord.

But the problem was that his understanding was limited. He had never considered the balance of the universe.

Fifty-two Light Universes and fifty-two Dark Universes existed upon an invisible planar world, one facing the sun and the other facing the shade.

They were like eggs resting on opposite sides of a scale, able to coexist.

If a few from the other side were brought over, the scale would lose balance and produce serious consequences, such as the Flashpoint Paradox and Infinite Crisis.

If they were all brought over as he planned, the scale would topple, and everyone would be finished.

If Su Ming wanted to keep living, he had to go to the Light Multiverse and eliminate the threat at its root.

The plot had changed. His arrival had already affected the fate of Earth -11, and everything was different from the comics. If the Justice League still acted as they had in the comics, the outcome would be impossible to predict.

He did not want to place his fate in someone else's hands.

But Deathstroke was a mercenary, not a Mage. How could he cross the barriers between dimensions?

He had not thought of a solution yet. For now, he could only take things one step at a time.

Cindy did not know what he was thinking. She only felt that Su Ming had become much quieter.

By then, the water on the road had become very deep. The car drove along like a boat, its wake sending ripples spreading out on both sides.

Besides the five of them, the only thing left in the car was a Shadow Dancer's corpse, wrapped in several black garbage bags and tossed into a corner. Perhaps it could serve as a bargaining chip in a deal with the League of Assassins.

Everyone remained silent, and the atmosphere felt like the eve of a great battle. It was just that none of their expressions were quite the same.

Barbara was lost in thought, thinking about all sorts of random things. Her face alternated between flushed red and ashen pale, and from time to time, she secretly glanced at Su Ming's back.

Vicki, on the other hand, was excited. She was touching up her makeup, adjusting the position of her Gas Mask in the mirror to see how she could wear it more attractively. She felt that tonight, she was going to witness history.

As for Pete—well, he had no thoughts at all, because he seemed to be in shock.

The weather had made them the only vehicle on the road. On the pitch-black highway, their headlights were the only light.

The storm must have damaged Gotham's power facilities. Now, more than half the city had gone dark, except for several districts in the city center.

But the Bat-Signal above the police station seemed to be lit forever.