"Why would he find humans disgusting?" Shiller sneered, "Just because we gave him a hard few months?"
"Well, I think he probably has plenty of reasons to hate the entire human race." Gordon retorted, looking at Shiller. "Just you tormenting him for a few months would be…"
Everyone cast sidelong glances at Bruce, who was studying the dust within the floor cracks.
"Actually, it is a bit strange." Harvey said, explaining from a lawyer's perspective, "The feeling of disgust or abnormality that humans have towards certain things isn't often a spontaneous natural instinct."
"For instance, people are very reluctant to talk about murder, and they reject graphic violence in all-age channels. But if you think about it, are those really instincts? Are humans naturally so terrified of corpses and blood?"
"What they're really afraid of are the taboos that these cultural symbols represent in civilized society. The law says it's wrong, moral ethics say it's against human nature, and over time, people associate all elements of murder with violating the rules of civilized society."
"People are not afraid of the elements themselves, but of the severe consequences of violating societal rules. This process is called the domestication of humanity by society."
"Consequently, if a person has never been in human society and has never been domesticated in this way, their approach to issues is much more primitive and natural, more in line with their biological instinct."
"In human society, we advocate mutual aid, friendly and polite treatment of each other – refraining from intentionally troubling one another or speaking ill of each other. If anyone doesn't abide by this, we consider them highly despicable."
"But if an individual has never understood human society or lived within it, would they see humanity's consistent troubling of them as evil?"
"Their understanding comes entirely from their own experiences. They have never witnessed humanity's better side. Aren't they likely to see humanity as a whole in this light? If so, how can they perceive it as evil? Wouldn't they be more likely to feel annoyed?"
"Just like a buzzing fly circling around you. You won't consider it evil since buzzing and flying is its nature. You'll feel annoyed simply because it's bothering you."
Shiller set down his wine glass and continued, "Do not try to empathize with Darkseid as ordinary people. After all, he is an overlord who has battled in the cosmos for many years and seen an unimaginable number of civilisations rise and fall."
"Hasn't he encountered provocations like ours before? Hasn't he experienced the aggressive resistance of certain races? And when has he ever been provoked into anger because of it?"
"Even if we step back, judging from his cautious strategies during the invasion of Earth, he must have anticipated possible resistance. Therefore, for a ruthless leader like him, the appropriate response should be to calmly handle the resistance, destroy the opposition, and not bear grudges."
"Think about it. Darkseid knows he's up against Batman, and he knows that Joker is Batman's archenemy. The most rational course of action right now should be to get in touch with Joker, cooperate with him, and continue with his plan to deal with Batman."
"Why didn't he do so? Looking at Darkseid's personality, he remains an opportunist who will do anything for his own benefit."
"Compared to his ambition of dominating the universe, what could a few months of trouble not be endured?"
Everyone fell silent in thought. Constantine, stroking his chin, said, "So something has affected him, given him a moral compass and standards of right and wrong that he shouldn't have."
"When someone like him can't stand Joker, and specifically Joker, it means he has undergone certain changes." Shiller's cold smile grew. "There are many elements that constitute the Joker as well as Batman."
"Such as the Joker's pursuit, the unwavering moral standards and... a certain kind of dark power."
"Dying in the dream world does consume a certain amount of soul power, but it is not that powerful. Similar to how a person feels unrested after a nightmare, it exhausts more of the mental strength. The key lies in the waiting time between each death and rebirth."
Gordon had a sudden realization. He looked at Shiller and said, "I remember you using this technique before. Was it on someone named Hugo? The dream within a dream, each fall dives deeper into another layer of dreams…"
Shiller nodded with a slight smile, "Yes, you all might think the benchmark of the dream world is the Kingdom of Dreams, but it's not. The benchmark is each person's individual dream."
"In other words, with each death, Darkseid delves deeper into his own subconscious until he reaches the deepest part of his consciousness. And that's when the dark power he got from Barbados came into play."
Bruce immediately looked up at Shiller. In that moment, the three sections of Shiller's plan finally converged, the clues clear and apparent, with the coherent storyline branching out in his mind.
The first part of the plan involved Gotham's inner world and the Magic Realm– bringing in Strange to enhance teaching quality, setting up a Magical Defense Network, sending the children to another universe to study magic, investigating the cosmic Strange murder case, and preparing to create an alarm clock to awake Barbados.
The second part involved Barbados– luring the Outer God from another universe onto Little Bruce who can traverse universes, creating a super-alarm clock to throw into Barbados' home, grabbing Barbados' wool in the conflict between Nyah and Barbados.
The third part involved Darkseid– a long-term plan spanning years aiming to experiment whether under certain conditions, other life forms could be transformed into Batman. The final piece of this puzzle was the dark energy obtained from Barbados.
"When I realized that Barbados would probably be completely off guard against me, I knew it was time to wrap up this long-term plan." Shiller lightly tapped his glass and continued, "The original plan was to postpone it until he came to find me."
"Uh, so the experiment was successful? But what's the point?" Barbara asked confusedly, "You've turned Darkseid into Batman, but doesn't that mean he will still kill?"
"Once he possesses the traits of Batman, it means the Batman-Joker law applies to him. Even if he remains a tyrant, at least he's a moral tyrant. Once he has morals, there's no longer anything to fear."
Shiller's judgement was entirely right; the situation in the Prime Universe had started to become rather comical.
In order to hold on to their seats, The Little Blue People tried everything they could to resist Darkseid, who had recently obtained the attributes of Batman. With a belly full of anger, and an extra layer of power saying 'I am Batman. I am Darkseid', his actions became even more powerful.
Once the two sides began their war, it was party time for the human race.
Originally, when Darkseid invaded Earth, only the youth version of the Justice League could resist him. The Green Lantern Corps at best could only shout slogans, even if they went out, not many would come, the human race was destined to suffer.
But with the Green Lantern Corps stalling Darkseid, the human race was caught unawares. More importantly, as The Little Blue People were planning to wage universal warfare, humanity happened to be located in the backwater where the war could not reach. Wasn't this purely for entertainment?
Besides, the data brought back from the Apocalypse Star was being studied around the clock. With Marvel's support, it paid off. The Apocalypse Star really did have some unique technology, which after analysed could be put to good use.
What was even more important was that Stark provoked Batman with a deliberate or careless comment "Are you the only one on your side?", which made Batman ask Amanda to contact global scientists.
Normally, this kind of thing is impossible to happen, because Batman would never share his database with anyone. He saw knowledge as a dangerous weapon and strictly controlled its distribution.
But the bad part was, Batman sent Damian and the other Robins to Thomas and Martha. Damian blurted out what had happened on the Apocalypse Star, and as soon as Martha and Thomas heard there was such data, they immediately saw it as a great opportunity to host a global conference and bring talents to the family.
In front of his dissenting parents, Batman had to accept defeat. When the conference kicked off, it was lively - half of the participants were Batman's former enemies, and the other half looked like his future enemies.
Outside the conference room, the bemused Clark, wearing black-rimmed glasses, held a camera and said to Bruce Wayne, standing by the door, "Don't be so serious. Smile."
Diana, resting her arm on Bruce, waved her hand and said, "Don't joke around. Did you notice he just shook?"
"I did not." Bruce said with a straight face.
After sorting out the camera, Clark ran into the picture. Days later, Martha looked at the photo with satisfaction and said to Thomas.
"Look, I told you, let Bruce take a vacation, and everything will be fine. Why pressure the child that much?"
Thomas, adjusting his tie in the mirror, said, "Dear, haven't you noticed? We are the ones who took the trip."
At that moment, Martha opened the door, and Damian was standing at the doorstep. Thomas looked back and called out, "Hold on, let me sort my clothes."
Martha crouched down and sorted Damian's hair, saying, "Behave well, okay?"
"Is he going to come back today?" Damian asked.
Martha knew he meant Batman, so she touched his head and said, "Yes, of course Bruce will be back. With a family dinner tonight, if he dares not show up, I'll break his legs."
Damian shivered and followed Thomas to the banquet.
At the family dinner that evening, halfway through, Damian, following what Thomas had taught him, lowered the rim of his glass slightly while toasting with Bruce. No one noticed this detail, except for father and son.
The two pairs of Jason and Tim were bragging about the adventures on Apocalypse Star, Nightwing was serving them water to prevent them from choking, Dick was peeling orange for Aisha, Little Bruce was poking the steak in the plate with a black tentacle, Spiderman and Harley were eating as if they were in a competition.
Where did Helen go? Of course, she was also happily eating.
From within the vast, dark cosmos, a scream rang out from one of the dense Apocalypse Star battleships.
"The monster is coming again!! Run!!!"
When Barry, who had fused with the divine speed and dark power, woke up, he found himself lying on the bed in Rodrix Manor's guest room. As he lifted his head, he spotted a familiar yet unfamiliar Professor.
"How do you feel, Barry?"
Barry looked down at his own hands, and in a vision that no other person could see, his body was covered in a mysterious glow of intertwined gold and black.
The boy clenched his fists and said quietly.
"I feel... powerful."