The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4157 When the Pumpkins Ripen (Thirty-Nine)
It wasn't the real Brainiac speaking, but Greed, though Brainiac was also listening. When he saw Tobias's expression, he knew Greed was right.

Since Brainiac arrived on Earth, he hadn't actually committed any truly heinous crimes. On the contrary, he was remarkably accomplished, with outstanding military achievements, and was even quite humble and approachable. Under his rule, not a single person was ever executed; at most, they received life imprisonment without the possibility of commutation.

Darkseid, his adversary, serves as a stark contrast. During his invasion of Earth, he massacred humanity countless times. Both frontline soldiers and civilians knew his ruthlessness and evil. His generals were even more brutal. Whether it was Desade or the kind grandmother, none of them fared well in their hands.

In this situation, people are naturally more afraid of Darkseid.

If you offend Brainiac, at most you'll lose some points, and even if you commit a crime, you'll just go to jail. But if you offend Darkseid, wouldn't he skin you alive and make you wish you were dead?

So, when Tobias realized his plot had been exposed, he wasn't panicked. At worst, he'd just go to jail. Besides, he had another hope: Darkseid. He could find a way to get Darkseid to bail him out.

However, when he learned that Brainiac knew he had intercepted the Mother Box and intended to tell Darkseid, he truly panicked. Because Darkseid was determined to kill him, and wouldn't let him die easily.

“Don’t do that,” Tobias said. “I think we can talk. After all, I didn’t hand over such a treasure to aliens; I kept it in my own hands. That’s good for Earth and your rule, isn’t it?”

"No, if you had handed this over to me the moment you found it, I could admit you made some contribution to the Earth. But all you did was keep it. What do you intend to do with it? Create more terrorist attacks to rebel against me?"

Tobias looked surprised, which stretched the wrinkles on his face. He opened his mouth and said, "...Are you out of your mind, Brainiac?"

"What? Are you surprised?"

“I have to admit, I was genuinely shocked.” Tobias blinked rapidly, then said, “I thought you were going to tell me something about how terrorist attacks are crimes, or ask me what I was unhappy about, and deduct some points from my score or something…”

"No, Tobias, my point is that whether you lead a large underground organization or possess a powerful alien artifact, you shouldn't rely on those to rebel against me. Or are you so foolish as to think that these things will allow you to stand against me and stand on equal footing?"

“I didn’t,” Tobias answered so quickly, before the last punctuation mark of greed had even left his mouth, he had already rattled off a long string of words, “How could I think that, Mr. Brainiac? You first led all of humanity to victory over the evil aliens, and then brought the most fair and harmonious society to humankind. Everyone is in awe of your power and justice, and please believe that I am one of them. Those previous incidents were just misunderstandings. I admit I have an underground organization, but it was established before you appeared. I’m very sorry for violating the law of association. If possible, I can fill out an application form for organization registration. Please don’t waste your energy on this, and continue your great work of rescuing humanity from poverty and hunger…”

"Enough. It seems you really are stupid. I never expected Darkseid to choose such an idiot as you. Even now, you still treat me like a three-year-old who knows nothing. Tobias, I know very well who you are, but it seems you don't know who I am."

“I’m all ears, sir,” Tobias said, his tone turning cold.

At this moment, Greed, sitting on the sofa, glanced at Pride beside him. Pride rolled his eyes slightly, took the communicator from Greed's hand, and spoke in his usual slow and steady tone:
"The crowd is like a flock of sheep; they are always anxious and restless. After a long war and drastic social changes, they need someone to tell them that dawn has truly arrived."

“I need to calm the flock down as quickly as possible, even if it’s just a superficial calming. But your shallow understanding leads you to mistake my reasonable calming measures, which are appropriate for my stage of life, for my entirety.”

"Perhaps you still think that you've seen a different side of me, that this is my true self. But that's still a foolish view. My life form is beyond the comprehension of primitive carbon-based beings like you."

"I can be fair and be seen as a gentle helper by most people. That is indeed me, but I am just a tentacle extending from a massive and incomparable machine. The other thousands upon thousands are in the dark depths of the universe, beyond your reach. Just because you can't see them or know them doesn't mean they don't exist or that they won't come down like me."

"As for these poor sheep, you and I both know that if the sun could save the earth, it wouldn't be like this when I came. People are always afraid of the night, but the night urges them to light up the cities. When the time comes, I won't hesitate to use fear to urge them on."

"And you, with your shallowness and arrogance, tried to wrest the power to urge them on from me. But ridiculously, you snatched the whip but had no idea how to use it. You tried all sorts of tricks but couldn't even herd a single sheep into the pen. If you wanted to make me laugh by playing the fool, you succeeded."

"The ridiculous commotion you caused didn't harm me at all, but it so easily exposed you. But unfortunately, after seeing your performance, I'm too lazy to even send anyone to catch you. Keep causing trouble. What's that human saying again? Work and rest are essential."

After saying that, the call was disconnected. Looking at Tobias's extremely pale face, Brainiac suddenly felt a strong urge to laugh.

He knew this must be yet another programming error. He was just a cybernetic lifeform; he shouldn't be experiencing such intense pleasure. Hopefully, Lex Luthor, who was fixing the error, wouldn't call and yell at him.

“My God,” said Barry, who had overheard the whole thing, “if I were him, I’d be furious. You didn’t even ask him for the mother box!”

“That’s the most infuriating thing,” Greed said. “It’s blatant contempt for him. The subtext is, ‘You can’t do anything decent with the Mother Box.’”

“What if he really wants to make a big fuss… Oh, right, his mother box is fake.” Barry slapped his forehead.

Just as he expected, Tobias did indeed break down. He took out the mother box Greed had given him from the drawer, but unfortunately, he wasn't a scientist or researcher, and he couldn't even determine if it was fake. He only knew that he couldn't use it at all.

Enraged, he threw the object to the ground and began pacing frantically by the window. Then he picked up the mother box again, intending to leave. But then something even more devastating happened—the door wasn't locked at all.

During martial law, most buildings with people inside were locked. Even the coffee shop Barry frequented required him to use his Speed ​​Force to get in. He wouldn't have been able to enter normally by simply walking in.

But Brainiac hadn't locked his door! He hadn't even locked his office where he was!

Tobias was trembling with rage. He wasn't angry that Brainiac disregarded his safety, but rather that Brainiac thought he wouldn't pose a threat to anyone even if he walked out of that door.

Brainiac already knew that he was the leader of the underground organization and that he possessed a powerful Mother Box, but he didn't care at all, and didn't even bother to take precautions against him.

For an evil genius, this is nothing short of an utter humiliation. The fact that someone doesn't even bother to guard against your evil talent is the only difference between them pointing their finger at you and calling you a piece of trash—the latter is at least somewhat civilized.

Tobias was so angry that he took a stroll around the factory and then returned to his office, because he realized that he really couldn't do anything about it.

Currently, martial law is in effect globally. He could call his subordinates in front of Brainiac, but they were also imprisoned. Even if they weren't imprisoned, all public facilities were shut down. They could only go anywhere on foot. And although this organization originated early, it didn't actually have any powerful superhumans within it, making it impossible for them to coordinate and cause trouble globally under these circumstances.

The mother box in his hand was even more useless; it was just an ordinary-looking black box. No matter how he fiddled with it, it wouldn't reveal its true form and was completely unusable.

Although he was a decent fighter, he didn't know who to fight. The telephone pole at the entrance? Not to mention that Brainiac didn't care at all, as a major city for development, the telephone poles in the metropolis were very sturdy, and he might not be able to break them.

After his impotent rage, Tobias finally calmed down a bit. But as he sat down to think things through, he suddenly had a realization, and even felt that this might be a good thing.

If Brainiac were truly a perfectly fair and just ruler, he would have had no room for advancement. Being a manager at a paint factory would be good enough; even if he went to a larger factory, he'd still be sitting in an office all day reading reports and production safety reports.

But if Brainiac is behaving as amiably as he is today, as he is saying today, merely to appease humanity, and has even more ruthless plans for domination to come, or even intends to retaliate against Darkseid, then he will be of great use.

The fact that he's Darkseid's subordinate is enough for Brainiac to win him over. Darkseid has his eye on Earth, and he's a major problem Brainiac has to deal with. And since Brainiac is Darkseid's subordinate, he's essentially trusted by him. To win him over, Brainiac will definitely offer a high price.

Moreover, if Brainiac really takes over Darkseid, wouldn't Apokolips still need people to build it up? As the person who communicates with Darkseid the most and knows the situation on Apokolips the best, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to become the governor of Apokolips, would it?
Tobias narrowed his eyes, slowly turning the ring on his finger, a sense of anticipation rising within him. He even stood up, somewhat excited, and paced back and forth in front of his desk.

Meanwhile, the voice of Brainiac, disguised by Schiller, rang in the ears of many, sounding incredibly arrogant and displaying astonishing greed.

From this day forward, for those wicked geniuses who shirk their duties, constantly engage in underhanded tactics, are indifferent, and disdainful, today is the day Brainiac truly arrives.