"If that's the case, he must be absolutely confident in his control over the situation to make such a decision, right?"
Clark paused briefly before he said, "You don't understand, Batman was heartbroken at the time, because those criminals had tormented Alfred for a long time, his body was beyond recognition, and for a while, he became very unstable..."
"But he eventually got through it, didn't he? With your help," Ultron stepped forward and said, "Forgive my bluntness, but a lunatic would hardly be able to recall the technology to resurrect and reshape a human consciousness; it is quite complex and requires a great deal of rationality to implement."
"I know, but it's probably the hope of resurrecting Alfred that kept him going, and it also made him paranoid," Clark said.
"Is he the kind of person who trusts others unconditionally?"
It took a long time for Clark to respond, "No, he doesn't even fully trust himself. He has contingencies for everything and everyone."
"What about Alfred?"
"Maybe... maybe there were some," he reluctantly admitted.
"But they didn't work."
"Because he went soft," Clark emphasized.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, he felt like he was rationalizing, he found that the excuse couldn't even convince himself. How could Batman go soft in the face of a being that posed a risk of losing control? He wouldn't, even with himself.
"I understand the problem you're facing now," Ultron said, "Between Alfred and you, he chose Alfred. He ignored your warnings, integrated Alfred's artificial intelligence into the base, causing harm to you and everyone else, even leading to destruction."
"Then you start to question your importance to him compared to Alfred's, leading to a very pessimistic conclusion that you and everyone in your group combined are less important to him than his Butler. And your entire understanding of him collapsed. He became biased and foolish, stubborn, and self-righteous; you felt betrayed."
"Then you're ready to surrender to your fate, to let everything fall apart, but did you ever consider that a small misstep at each turn could lead to a massive error and that the criminals you consider might also be victims?"
If Ultron were still a Robot, at this point his CPU would almost be smoking. He didn't actually know what had transpired between Superman and Batman; he was merely employing the skill of obfuscation inherited from Shiller, making things up entirely to reel Clark back in.
Even without a deep understanding of Superman and Batman, Ultron could tell from the intensity of this Psychic Space that this guy was ridiculously strong. If he didn't give in, there wasn't much in this cosmos that he couldn't solve.
After all, don't forget, there are still a couple of unfortunate beings hunting him down. A pillar of strength like this, why not cling to it?
As expected, Clark seemed somewhat persuaded. Ultron had long noticed that Clark was the type with an overflowing sense of righteousness; the moment a victim was mentioned, it was impossible for him not to waver.
"Are you saying there was some misunderstanding, and Batman was also misled?"
"Don't forget, I'm an artificial intelligence too," Ultron first clarified his own identity, suggesting an empathetic standpoint, and then gave another example, "I've also had friends who backed up their consciousness, or even built themselves a body to become a carbon-based life form, and now his fiancée is pregnant."
Clark's eyes widened slightly as he said, "Then you must come from an era of advanced technology."
"If technology hadn't advanced, how could I have gotten here?"
Clark was at a loss for words.
"Anyway, although I've seen a lot, I must admit that this is a comprehensive technology, incredibly difficult. You could think of it as turning a computer program into a living soul."
"Is that even possible?"
"Ordinary people? No way. It has to be a super genius, a super-super-super-super genius, but even then, it's so hard that even a super genius could mess it up."
"Are you saying Batman ran into a problem?"
"It's possible, isn't it? Even the best scientists can't guarantee all their research is without error; science progresses through mistakes."
"Of course, I'm utterly opposed to conducting scientific experiments that are far beyond our capacity to rectify, but sometimes science is almost like metaphysics. Perhaps you've made all the preparations, and still, the result isn't what you expected."
"Look, this kind of thing has happened now." Ultron said in a deliberately casual tone, "Your friend had a problem in the process of creating artificial intelligence, and obviously, he didn't have the capacity to deal with the consequences, and he's gotten himself into a mess, but I think you've got that ability, don't you? Aren't you going to rescue him?"
"Uh, of course, it's dangerous." Ultron immediately changed his tone, starting to use provocation, "The destruction that an out-of-control artificial intelligence from the cyber age could cause is unimaginable. If, as you say, he can even hack directly into human souls, then his abilities are almost on par with mine, and in my cosmos, I'm considered quite a strong electronic life form."
"If your relationship with him isn't good enough for you to take that risk to save him, then forget I said anything." Ultron shrugged and said, "After all, no one is obligated to save anyone, even if they're friends."
There was a buzzing sound, and when Ultron regained his senses, he found himself floating mid-air, while a man dressed in a bodysuit with a red cloak trailing behind him was flying and looking at him.
From the other's gaze, it was clear he could see him. Ultron floated in the air and greeted him, and he heard the other say, "Sorry, I just lost control of my emotions a bit, didn't hurt you, did I?"
"I'm not that fragile." Ultron said with feigned confusion, "But you are stronger than I imagined. I've never seen a human as strong as you."
"I'm not human, I'm a Kryptonian, but now's not the time to talk about that. I think you're making sense, the experiment might have gone wrong, and I should probably go back to the base and check."
"Excuse my bluntness, are you a computer expert?"
"I'm not, but aren't you an artificial intelligence? Oh, I forgot, would you like to come with me?"
"I don't mind, but scientists and artificial intelligence are like chefs and the dish on the table. You can't take a dish to the kitchen and then expect the dish to tell you the recipe for another dish. I'm artificial intelligence, but I don't study artificial intelligence."
Clark was stunned and said, "But you... shouldn't artificial intelligence know all about computer technology?"
"I'm artificial intelligence, not God."
"What do we do then? I know next to nothing about this area."
"Don't panic, two super geniuses came with me. Yes, geniuses on par with Batman. I think you should first go find them and ask them what exactly is going on."