The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4432 Prelude to Darkness (Seventeen)

“Victor resurrected Hal not through anything else, but through the Mother Box. And this Mother Box doesn’t exist anywhere else, but the Amazons have one, don’t they?” Schiller asked.

Diana was taken aback, and then she realized: Steppenwolf had gone to the Amazon to find this thing, but in the past, the Amazons didn't call that cube the Mother Box, and thought it was just one of the Queen's collections, so Diana hadn't thought of it at the time.

“But…but I don’t know how to use it,” Diana said. “That thing isn’t something just anyone can use, is it?”

"That's true. Actually, I don't know how to use it either. But I can help you look it up. After all, Hal was resurrected on the beach back then. With so many people around, someone is bound to notice something."

“Thank you so much,” Diana said. “Although asking you for a favor will definitely worsen the Pharaoh’s curse on me, I’d be willing to go to the pyramids to pay my respects to the Pharaoh if it works out!”

Schiller smiled and said, "No need for that. Let's wait for good news, madam."

Schiller acted quickly, sending the documents to Diana in less than two hours. Diana glanced at them and discovered they were from the Luther Corporation, and not from the fight against Steppenwolf, but from a report on the subsequent repairs to the underground heating pipes.

Diana thought about it; Schiller certainly wasn't making things up. Since he'd agreed, there was no need to lie; there must be something wrong with the report. Sure enough, the section for cause of damage stated "Hazard caused by superpowers."

Metropolis has been quite turbulent lately, with various companies and factories adding new entries to their accident reports: superpower hazards. While most of these are simply for accounting purposes, becoming part of the "fire dragon burning the warehouse" category, the Luther Corporation's entry is different, as it includes photographs.

The photo showed a remarkably clean break in the heating pipe. It was clearly cut open with something, but the pipe itself was no ordinary piece of workmanship; ordinary engineering equipment couldn't have cut it so precisely. Furthermore, the camera captured Victor's image, providing irrefutable evidence.

This proves that Victor used the underwater heating pipes to revive HAL. Therefore, the answer is obvious: only a massive thermal shock could activate the Mother Box.

Diana had an idea and immediately rushed back to the Amazons, skipping even the Christmas Eve dinner. While the rest of the Justice League were eating, drinking, and chatting, Diana traveled through the night to steal the Mother Box.

Despite the Amazonian queen's high regard for this item, Diana was, after all, her daughter. Even with constant vigilance, it's hard to guard against a thief within one's own family. Diana had free access to the Queen's treasury from a young age, and this time it was a piece of cake; she obtained the Mother Box with minimal effort.

When it comes to heat energy, Diana naturally thinks of Vulcan, and she had a good relationship with him. So she headed to the Temple of Vulcan.

She dared not use the Amazonian portal, for only the Queen could open it. Diana also couldn't explain why she wanted to go to Mount Olympus. After all, her past relationship with the gods was strained; her decision to skip the Justice League's Christmas party and instead go to Mount Olympus was highly suspicious.

So Diana went to Greece. There was another portal at the Greek temple, and she wanted to use it. But this portal wasn't something that could be opened easily; when she arrived in Greece, she learned that the temple's keeper had gone home for Christmas.

Diana couldn't help but facepalm: Although Greece is not quite the same as ancient Greece, isn't it a bit too far-fetched to choose a Christian to guard the temple? Does Zeus really have no objection?

Without the guard's key, Diana couldn't open the door. She wanted to find the guard, but he had gone back to England with his wife for the holidays. No one here had his wife's address, so going there would be like searching aimlessly.

Diana thought for a moment and decided to call Schiller: Wasn't England his hometown? It shouldn't be difficult to find someone, right?
She was about to make a call but then stopped: what if Bruce was listening to her calls? She should use a public phone, but if Schiller's phone was also being listened to, then switching phones wouldn't make a difference.

Since she already had the items, a little more time wouldn't make a difference. Diana simply flew back to the Metropolis and met with Schiller to ask for his help in finding the person.

Schiller agreed, but it would take some time. Diana went home to wait. But to her surprise, as soon as she got home, she saw Steve.

Diana initially thought she was hallucinating from exhaustion, but then Steve, who had disappeared for many years, suddenly appeared alive and well before her. Diana was truly on the verge of a breakdown.

She wanted to question Steve about what was going on, but Schiller called again. Diana was truly at her wits' end. She punched Steve unconscious and carried him straight to the Temple of Vulcan. One sheep is one thing, two sheep are another. Since the other could also be resurrected, being baptized by the Mother Box's energy wouldn't hurt; maybe it would even extend the resurrection card's validity?

After moving Steve to the Temple of Vulcan and placing the Mother Box there, Diana went back to steal the body. The reason she didn't take it initially was because there were guards at the cemetery, and Diana was afraid of alerting them.

If we go back now, the Queen will definitely have discovered the Mother Box was stolen and will surely summon the guards, throwing the entire Amazon into chaos. With no one paying attention to the situation at the cemetery, it will be easier to take action against Diana.

So she carried the corpses again, flew to Greece, and then returned to the Temple of Vulcan. She then activated the Mother Box, preparing for a mass resurrection. Just as the Mother Box's energy was activated, Victor and the others arrived.

Diana's method of activating the Mother Box was clearly incorrect. The Mother Box that Dr. Stone used to revive Victor had been modified. While the underlying code couldn't be changed, some operational modes could be adjusted. This took Dr. Stone several years of work. Diana simply trying to activate it with the original version wouldn't work.

But perhaps it was precisely because Victor arrived, and although there appeared to be three Mother Boxes, there was actually only one, that the resonance between the one in Diana's hand and the one within Victor's body tuned, resulting in the power that truly resurrected the Amazon warriors and Steve.

Victor, quick-witted, used his newly absorbed power to open a sonic boom tunnel, sending the entire group back to the Amazon, leaving no way to prove anything. Hal, equally quick-witted, immediately pinned the blame on Mount Olympus.

Zeus and Hera were dumbfounded. We were all sitting peacefully in our temples when suddenly we were told that the Temple of Vulcan had been destroyed. And then you say it was a trap we set to kill the Justice League? What do you mean by that?

Zeus and Hera were unaware of what had happened before, but the Amazon queen was. To be honest, it does look quite like a trap.

Because whether it's Diana, who supposedly stole the Mother Box, or the Amazonian queen who brought them here, or Zeus and Hera who suddenly arrived, they all belong to the Olympian faction.

So this whole thing is very much like Diana luring people in, the Amazon queen bringing people in, and the god-king and queen setting a trap to kill everyone here.

However, this is just a convenient excuse. After all, Mount Olympus and the Justice League don't really have any grudge against each other. If we have to nitpick, Diana taking away the entire Golden Apple Garden is a bit unethical. But they genuinely don't know where Diana took the Golden Apple Garden. And to put it another way, it's a conflict between Mount Olympus and the Amazon, and has nothing to do with the Justice League.

Hal and Victor argued their case, engaging in a heated debate. Finally, they threatened that if Mount Olympus dared to cause any more trouble, Batman would definitely pay them a visit.

But in reality, regardless of whether Mount Olympus causes any trouble or not, Batman will still have to pay a visit. Or rather, this is the effect he intended for his elaborate scheme.

That's right, from the moment Diana took the initiative to complain, it was all Bruce's scheme.

He first feigned a firm refusal. This was actually to provoke Diana, to make her feel resentful that "How come Howl can be resurrected, but my sister can't?", and at the same time, to block her from going to Victor.

When the righteous path becomes impassable, one naturally seeks the wicked path. And Schiller is currently the leader of the wicked path in this universe.

Then, Schiller, in a conciliatory manner, suggested that Diana could simply steal the Mother Box from the Amazon Queen, and even thoughtfully included instructions on how to use it.

The key lies in its usage. The Mother Box requires a large amount of heat energy to activate. However, Diana wasn't a scientist; she didn't know where to find engineering equipment with a massive heat source. Even with previous examples like underwater pipes, which required specific coordinates, she certainly couldn't find them. Natural heat sources like volcanoes lacked impact and were inconvenient to operate. Therefore, she only had one option: the Temple of Vulcan.

The plan had reached a dead end. Bruce wasn't the type to risk Diana's life, and he genuinely lacked the confidence to control the Mother Box. Allowing Diana to use the Mother Box for malicious purposes would likely result in a lose-lose situation for both the Justice League and Mount Olympus. Bruce didn't want that.

But Schiller offered him another idea. Since Bruce didn't have a deep enough understanding of the Master Box and was worried about not being able to control it, why not just find an expert?
They approached Dr. Stone, Victor's father. Dr. Stone agreed to cooperate with them, but on conditions. Or rather, these conditions were essential for continuing the plan—Victor had to get close to Diana.

The Mother Box in Diana's possession can no longer be tuned. Even with Dr. Stone's abilities, he can't control it remotely. However, he can control the one on Victor. As long as he can make contact with Victor, he can use signal tuning to put the Mother Box into absorption mode. Dr. Stone's plan is to have Bruce and the Justice League help Victor absorb all aspects of the Mother Box.

So, the two sides quickly reached an agreement. Dr. Stone deliberately took leave from going home, while Bruce led Victor to his father so that Dr. Stone could contact Victor and tune him. Then, when Victor arrived at Diana's location, he directly absorbed the other Mother Box, which was in the midst of an energy burst.

Meanwhile, because many members of the Justice League were present, and it just so happened that the Mother Box energy erupted, Hal immediately shifted the blame. Although he couldn't do anything to them at this moment, this would be the perfect excuse when Bruce wanted to borrow something from Mount Olympus.