The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4426 Dark Prelude (XI)

Ron briefly recounted their ordeal to Clark. Clark was completely bewildered. Was Bruce some kind of prophet? There really was a fake human invasion?!

Wait a minute, Clark suddenly realized that Bruce's Martian invasion plan wasn't just about forcing humanity to unite and promoting technological development, was it?
It's actually quite possible. The most striking characteristic of these fake humans is that they are exactly the same as normal humans. Even after extensive research by numerous scientists, the captured couple couldn't be identified as any different. If it weren't for this pre-arranged Martian invasion plan, wouldn't their entry into Earth be like a dragon returning to the sea, free to swim at will?

With the Martian invasion plan in place, the entire world is now united in its hatred of the enemy. From top to bottom, everyone despises Martians who can disguise themselves as humans, and all departments are on high alert. At this time, if someone who should have died years ago suddenly comes back to life, they are immediately labeled as the enemy, and any attempt to mislead the public is futile.

That's how the imposter parents were arrested. They were the ones who called the police, hoping to have their identities verified and force Barry to confess. If it weren't for the Martian invasion, the police, seeing two living, breathing people, even if they remembered the parents were dead, might have assumed it was an accident and that the deceased weren't them. They thought they were just missing and had returned. Even if they looked young, it might just be good maintenance; there wasn't enough evidence to prove they weren't them.

However, the police were different after the Martian invasion plan. Upon seeing these two people who looked exactly like the deceased, there was nothing to say; they simply turned them into Martians and that was it.

If they weren't Martians, they were just unlucky; but if they were Martians and didn't report it, they were in big trouble. So the police would definitely report it. The same logic applies to others; as long as they report at the highest alert level, at least they won't get themselves into trouble if anything happens later.

So, when they called in law enforcement officials, they not only failed to verify their identities, but were immediately arrested.

At this point, they had two choices: either use their superpowers directly, which would confirm their Martian identity, since Barry, the police, and their neighbors all knew that the Allens were just ordinary people, and those with superpowers must be Martians.

If they want to maintain their social identity and escape the stigma of being Martians, they can't use their superpowers and will have to stay in prison. So whatever they originally wanted to do, they won't be able to do it anytime soon.

In other words, this Martian invasion plan was a brilliant move to deal with these hypocrites. Before they even arrived, they were falsely accused, creating the illusion that the Martians were indeed there to invade Earth, thus inciting global hostility and preventing them from carrying out their infiltration campaign.

Clark didn't believe that such a brilliant countermeasure was an unintentional mistake by Bruce; it was clearly a deliberate setup.

“Now you really have to tell me,” Clark said, looking at Schiller. “I know you and Bruce have some secrets, involving the multiverse and stuff. You’ve been making arrangements to keep it from me, probably to prevent me from revealing them. But now that things have come to this, with the catastrophe already starting to erupt, shouldn’t I know?”

Everyone else looked at Schiller. Schiller put down his pen, looked up, and said, "The main reason I don't want you to know is that I'm unsure if cognition can be a power. I'm worried that if you know certain things, it might come after you through cognition."

Everyone in the room shuddered. Rong En hesitated for a moment and said, "Maybe we should just forget about it? This is too dangerous. If the opponent is too strong, I'm not confident I can protect your spirits."

“However, I can give you a general overview,” Schiller said, changing the subject. “Some kind of dark energy has invaded the multiverse. And tests have shown that your universe has the highest energy concentration, which proves that the mastermind wants to erode your universe first. Of course, all of this is already known.”

"In the multiverse, there are so many Justice Leagues, and they're not just sitting around doing nothing. While you were gathering, they also conducted an investigation and eventually discovered that it was probably Darkseid, the one who unified the multiverse, who was behind it all."

“Darkseid?” Clark frowned. “The Steppenwolf boss? He can resurrect the dead?”

"Of course he can't. He's learned his lesson from Batman before, so this time he didn't take action himself, but instead brought in another powerful enemy. This enemy is hostile to the entire multiverse, attacking all life indiscriminately, but he hasn't completely escaped from where he came from yet, so he chose to attack the weak points of the multiverse, with the aim of completely opening a passage for him to appear."

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Clark looked at Schiller and asked, "Just how strong is he?"

“As I said before, cognition may have an impact on you, which is undoubtedly a power at the level of cosmic rules. And if I had to give it a code name, I would call it ‘Death’.”

They all gasped softly. Rong En stepped forward and asked, "Can he manipulate life and death, and resurrect the dead?"

Schiller nodded and said, "That's right, but this is only his most basic ability. The passage is not fully open yet; he has only extended one tentacle. Once he fully descends, it will bring even greater disaster."

“How does his choice of our universe as a conduit relate to his resurrection of our loved ones?” Barry asked.

"His original location was called the Realm of No Life, which means a void where there is no life. To construct a passage connecting to the multiverse, a portion of the Realm of No Life needs to be extended into the multiverse. In other words, the place he chooses as the passage cannot have any life."

"He wants to destroy the Earth?!"

"Not just Earth, but the entire universe. He needs a single universe completely devoid of life. You are the easy targets he has chosen."

Schiller stood up, looked at them, and said, “Before I arrived, Batman had already retired in despair, Superman was still lost, Wonder Woman was fighting alone, and everyone else didn’t even have the idea of ​​forming an alliance.”

"If you maintain this state, but he ruthlessly resurrects your loved ones and then has the rest of the Justice League kill them, causing you to kill each other, what kind of disaster will ultimately erupt?"

This made everyone break out in a cold sweat.

Now, they are able to handle these resurrected relatives with relative ease because they still have the capacity for rational thought.

Although the battle with Steppenwolves was arduous, it forged a bond of life and death between them, making them comrades and partners who could entrust their backs to each other with complete trust. They could provide each other with both professional support and emotional comfort. They didn't need to seek this elsewhere, as evidenced by their unanimous choice to spend Christmas Eve together.

However, if they lack such like-minded friends who share a common destiny, and if they themselves suffer various forms of persecution and are driven to the brink of despair, then the appearance of a relative at this time would undoubtedly become their last straw. No one can say for sure that they wouldn't be blinded by emotional comfort and do something irrational.

To reiterate, mental health is crucial for intelligent life. Some correct decisions that can be made when one is in a state of mental and emotional well-being may not be possible when one is under mental pressure or emotionally impoverished.

At that point, even a small provocation could trigger a very serious chain reaction. Once there is a moment of distrust, there will be no room for trust afterward, and the area between them will become a true dark forest.

Not to mention, the universe itself is at a critical juncture, a choice between trust and distrust. The Kryptonian spaceship has arrived, Lex Luthor is about to react, and Superman's persecution is a foregone conclusion. If he becomes even more out of control, Batman will inevitably clash with him, and the mastermind behind the scenes could easily take advantage of the chaos to completely escalate the situation. Forget about the idea of ​​a misunderstanding leading to friendship and the formation of the Justice League; even Superman and Batman's survival is uncertain.

The one instigating all of this is Darkseid, who suffered greatly at the hands of Batman. He knows that to turn a universe into an easy target, he must first deal with Batman. This universe's Batman is old, riddled with wounds, and has suffered significant psychological trauma.

A battle with Superman could destroy his body, while resurrecting Damian using the power of resurrection could destroy his spirit. With this two-pronged approach, they shouldn't have any trouble dealing with him.

If the main universe's Batman hadn't sensed something was wrong beforehand and sent Schiller to carry out a series of actions that prevented Batman and Superman from becoming enemies, but instead led to Superman inspiring Batman, giving him new hope, and then forming the Justice League and finding each other's spiritual support, then Darkseid's multiverse's insidious scheme to sow discord would probably have succeeded.

The others hadn't thought that far ahead; after all, even those who have had it easy can't predict what it will be like to be driven mad. Rong En said, "Now, his scheme to incite us to fight each other should be ineffective. So what will he do next?"

Schiller shook his head and said, "It's hard to know in advance. Even Batman can only deal with things as they come. Although we've discovered that this Grim Reaper may have the power to reverse life and death, we have no way of knowing who he will resurrect, how he will resurrect them, or what kind of people they will be. However, Batman chose the universal solution, which seems to be quite effective so far."

Clark nodded and said, “Indeed. Now all those who have come back from the dead have been branded as Martians and become public enemies. Don’t try to sow discord anymore. I’d also like to know, regarding your response plan, what can we do?”

"First of all, you are the president, and all you need to do is be a good president. Continuing to implement the plan to resist the Martian invasion is effective enough. At the same time, you also need to deal with the resurrected Dr. Ode, but we have laid enough groundwork in the early stages, and he will not be too difficult to deal with."

"As for the others, although you were the first to regain your senses, not everyone has the same willpower. You may have to help your companions and prevent them from indulging in false family ties."

Obviously, this is a very difficult task, and everyone is aware of that. You can't expect someone to completely refrain from drawing emotional comfort from a loved one who has come back from the dead; that's against human nature.

However, if they are allowed to sink into depravity, the entire universe will be in danger. Some forceful measures may have to be taken, which would also damage the bonds between companions. Everyone is praying that they won't become too deeply immersed in this path.