Which is more evil, ruling the Earth by force or ruling it economically?
True, Lord Superman and his team may use violent means to combat criminals and their actions may not always align with the judicial process of civilized societies. Accidental injuries and deaths can occur, but overall, public order on Earth has greatly improved.
However, ruling the Earth like a cunning merchant, Lord Superman glanced at the metal piece in his hand, contemplating how Batman, with his technology, could easily turn it into a weapon.
If his only pursuit was money, he could make everyone buy his products, because if they didn't, they would lose or be eliminated. He would become the most terrifying arms dealer in the world.
As Lord Superman was thinking about this, he heard Bruce passionately sharing his plans with Arthur on the other side.
"With the size of Wayne Enterprises and my management skills, I could concentrate most of the global economy within myself within thirty years..."
"Don't talk about antitrust laws. They don't apply to me. Every single one of my products could be groundbreaking…"
"Of course, you may ask why I am making so much money. The answer is I plan to be the ultimate proprietor. Do you know what that means?"
"In short, it is concentrating the wealth of the world onto a single person. Property, land, water, even air on Earth would be mine. Only I have the right to use them, only I can decide how to distribute them."
"Then, I can remodel the Earth as I see fit, arrange people's accommodations, food, and way of living…"
Lord Superman felt utterly helpless. He had not missed the Batman from his universe this much in a long time.
This was a hundred times more terrifying than he had imagined.
In fact, what Bruce described was the initial plan Shiller proposed to him. Of course, both assumed the plan would only be possible if Batman managed to secure abundant resources.
In simpler terms, it was a plan to set up a controllable society within a resource-rich communist society. It could also be called the nurturing of the entire human race.
So far, it's just a theoretical plan. Batman is still in the stage of absorbing knowledge and enriching himself, so it's nothing more than a big, detail-less picture.
However, his narration gave the impression that he was going to monopolize all the Earth's resources and arbitrarily enslave the human race.
Lord Superman began to feel a real headache.
But Arthur applauded enthusiastically. He said, "This is an extremely creative comedic theme. If I could perform this on stage, I would become an instant sensation."
"I could sell your merchandise for 100 US dollars!"
Bruce high-fived him, and both of them laughed with shoulders shaking, looking like two happy Samoyeds while Lord Superman was as serious as a Husky who had just made a mess at home.
Spider Man couldn't get a word in during the series of discussions, but he noticed the change of events on the screen. Pointing at the screen, he shouted, "Oh my god, these two have started to fight!"
Turning their heads, they saw that while they were chatting, the situation in the field had dramatically changed.
First of all, the group of people in the cage had woken up, or perhaps Gem Man deliberately awakened them. Anyway, they started making noise the moment they woke up.
The other spectacle was that Shiller and Beihan started fighting.
The two Batmen, upon hearing Natasha's furious roar, instinctively ran in two different directions, and Natasha ran in a third direction.
The directions of their flight didn't overlap, so Shiller could only choose one path. He chose to chase after Beihan.
At first, Beihan was running for his life, but then he wondered, what was he running from?
Relying on his many years of combat training, surely Beihan could defeat a mad surgeon under both of their physically weakened states, right?
Turns out, he really couldn't.
This was not a question of combat skills; the weight of the two was not significantly different, but Shiller's strength was incredibly, unscientifically immense.
Beihan, pinned to the ground, glanced at Shiller's reddened back of the hand and realized almost immediately: this might be the state of frenzy that mentally ill patients go into during a psychotic episode.
Instinctively, he reached for his medicine belt and swiftly jabbed a needle into Shiller's neck.
But sedating a mentally ill patient would be seen as providing medical treatment, and in this game, the effect of healing potions was significantly diminished. Despite injecting Shiller twice, Beihan observed no apparent reaction.
Grudgingly, Beihan broke free from Shiller's grip while the latter was clutching his neck, staggered to his feet, took a few steps back, turned around and ran.
"What the hell is wrong with him?!" Beihan asked Natasha, who was running beside him.
"He's gone mad!"
"I can see that! I'm asking why!"
"What on earth is there to ask about?!" Natasha shouted back, annoyed, "Can't you just accept that he's inexplicably and incredibly strong?! Is now really the time to be asking questions?!"
Beihan took a deep breath. If medicinal methods were ineffective, the only choice left was using physical force. But indeed, unbounded strength was a major issue.
Suddenly, Beihan looked up towards the upper end of the cage's chain.
It seemed that Gem Man had done something to the imprisoned people, because when the clouds densely gathered at the end of the chain cleared, a giant hand of Gem Man's appeared, holding the cage.
Beihan's gaze lingered on the iron chain of the cage. Without hesitation for even a second, he turned and bolted towards the cage while Shiller chased close behind him.
Beihan extended both hands onto the edge of the cage, hoisted one leg up with ease and rapidly climbed onto the railing.
The revived person looked at him blankly, and Beihan glanced back at Shiller standing underneath the cage, relentlessly scaling towards the top.
Shiller followed swiftly climbing the cage. The man in the suit who was nearly disarmed by Shiller earlier let out a chilling scream.
Just as Shiller secured his hold on the cage railing intending to continue his climb, the man in the suit rolled and crawled towards the cage's side. He snatched the little boy from a woman's arms and tossed him towards Shiller in an attempt to distract him through sacrifice.
Shiller didn't even look his way. However, for a fleeting moment, his eyes met the child's. There was visible fear in the boy's coal-black eyes.
Batman and Natasha also caught up under the cage. Batman looked surprisingly at Shiller, who had already climbed to the top of the cage. He halted Natasha from trying to ascend, saying, "Something is off. Shiller's heartbeat has quickened."
By now, Beihan had climbed up the chain. With a brief burst of strength, he managed to climb more than two meters upwards. Shiller followed suit, closely tailing behind Beihan as they both ascended.
Batman's attention then switched to the little boy.
Like participants in a pole-climbing race, both men speedily climbed the iron chain.
The abrupt change left Gem Man startled again. He wanted to retract his hand, but realized the cage held ordinary people who would be smashed into a pulp from the resulting force if he did so. He could only helplessly watch Beihan and Shiller climb up the chain to his hand.
Finally, the two tranquilizers Beihan had administered to Shiller took effect and Shiller wobbled nearly losing grip and falling. Beihan seized this chance, launching a punch at Shiller.
Shiller was knocked down, but quickly got up to retaliate with another blow to Beihan. They exchanged blows and strikes, soon their faces were covered in blood.
"Stop! Stop it all!" Gem Man cried vainly, as if some rule prevented him from interfering with the combatants in the arena.
While the fight above was intense, Batman and Natasha were not idle below. Batman climbed to the cage side and rescued the little boy who the man in the suit had just thrown over.
He took a swift measure of the child's skull and the gap between the rails. Realizing that the boy should be able to squeeze through, he placed a hand on the boy's back and reassured him, "Don't be afraid. Stick your head out first. I will help you get out of here."
The child stared blankly at him but complied instinctively. Unfortunately, the boy had been injured when he was tossed earlier, so when he turned he cried out in pain.
"Wait! Get us out too!" shouted the female hippie.
"You won't be able to get out," Batman calmly replied. "Only a child could fit through these gaps. But I will save you."
The man in the suit leaped in, grabbing the boy's leg, shouting, "If you rescue him, you wouldn't bother about us! He can't get out!"
"Don't do that," said the female teacher as she rushed to push the man away, "If we can save even one person, that's enough. He's just a child."
"Just because he's a child, he must stay. Only then will these people save us, otherwise he will die along with us! Does our life not mean anything?!"
"Aha." Gem Man's gloating voice echoed. "It seems things are back on track. The real drama is about to begin."
No sooner had he uttered those words than Natasha whooshed up from the other side of the cage. After grabbing the railing, she swung vigorously.
The people inside the iron cage fell once again. More importantly, the man in the suit was knocked over to Natasha's side. Pulling his leg from the gap, Natasha reached inside the cage, grabbing the man's hair and then wrapped her arm around his neck, choking him.
"Open his briefcase!" Natasha yelled.
"No! No!" the man kicked and shrieked fruitlessly, unable to escape Natasha's grip.
The female teacher wiped the blood off her forehead and crawled over to snatch the man's briefcase. With trembling hands, she unzipped it.
A knife and a blood-stained blouse fell out.
"Dumping a corpse, huh?" Natasha said coldly. "From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were a murderer who specialized in killing prostitutes.
"Of course, it doesn't matter if you aren't. I'm not a superhero."
With that, she jerked back forcefully on his jaw with her arm, causing the man to scream in agony.
"Crack"
The man's head was brutally crushed between two railings.
Splattered with brain matter, Natasha gasped for breath and relaxed her grip. In a strangely eerie tone, she said, "I guess now you know you can't get out, right?"
The scene fell into a hair-raising silence.
Batman, with his sharp senses, noticed that the moment Natasha disclosed the man's identity as a murderer, the female teacher who was holding the murder weapon also showed a trace of panic on her face.
Are they all murderers here?
No, it's probably not that simple.
In an instant, Batman understood the true nature of this riddle.