Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics-Chapter 4539 - 3622: Edge of Tomorrow (31)

"Batman, you must give me an explanation!"

"What do you want to hear from me? Is it wrong that I rushed to the scene to save people right away? Blaming me for Joker's actions is completely reversing cause and effect. There's no logic at all!"

"I'm not talking about that at all, but why did you talk nonsense in front of reporters!"

"What nonsense did I say? Isn't this the most serious terrorist attack of the century? Do you want to cover up for your kind?!"

"But if you define it like this, Congress will have the Federal Bureau of Investigation turn this place inside out. They already want to take this opportunity to do something. You've given them the best excuse to create more chaos in Gotham!"

"Why don't you want the FBI to come in? Is it because you have a guilty conscience? Or even as the mayor, are you secretly indulging in some hobbies, just like your counterpart?!"

The sounds of arguing echoed in the Gotham City Government Office. When Injustice Superman pushed the door open, he saw a world-famous painting—Batman and the Joker arguing.

Of course, it wasn't that surprising. The key was, there was another Batman acting as a referee and another Joker in a red suit accusing the referee Batman of being biased.

Injustice Superman wanted to close the door the moment he opened it. The room was too crowded; there was no space for him.

However, at that moment, both Batmen and both Jokers had already turned their heads to stare at him. For whatever reason, he couldn't retreat, so he had to brace himself and step inside.

More ridiculously, the one who calmed down first wasn't Batman but the Joker. The pale knight tapped the table and said, "I'll arrange for someone to find that damned reporter and make him shut up. If the FBI comes looking for you, you'd better keep your mouth shut and not say anything that would worsen the situation. Or I'll make you pay!"

After saying that, the pale knight stormed out. Phoenix Joker shrugged and followed him out.

"Isn't the Joker in this universe a bit too arrogant?" Batman hit the table and said, "The Joker is about to rule the world!"

"Calm down." Injustice Batman sighed and said, "Public opinion is focused on us as Brainiac's means of evading responsibility for the terrorist attack. We can't let him succeed."

Batman took a deep breath and said, "If we're going to deal with Brainiac, temporarily standing with Congress and the FBI isn't impossible. It's just that their capabilities are too weak. I don't think those ordinary officers can handle a super artificial intelligence."

"Of course they can't, so there's no need for us to let ordinary people die in vain. That's why I contacted Amanda Waller."

"Amanda Waller of this universe?"

"Yes, she's still very young. They are all very young," Injustice Batman said.

"They?"

"Amanda has formed an organization to handle supernatural events—the Federation Shield," Injustice Batman moved behind the desk, tapping it lightly with his fingers. "Recently, she's also temporarily formed a superpower user squad to deal with Brainiac. At least on this front, we have a common goal. I think we can cooperate."

"Waller is not to be trusted," Batman said. "You never know who her real master is. She can stab anyone in the back."

"I understand, of course. It's just that Brainiac and the Joker together deserve our careful attention and utmost effort."

"I really can't figure it out," Batman crossed his arms and said, "Brainiac and the Joker are like the extremes of rationality and madness. How did Brainiac manage to convince the Joker to help?"

"You've seen it too. In the Multiverse, there are not only crazy Jokers, but many things beyond our expectations. Perhaps the Joker in this universe, like the Mayor, has cured their madness."

"But if the Joker isn't mad, why blow up Diamond Street?"

Injustice Batman didn't answer. He was also contemplating this question. They had been in this universe for so long and had never heard of the Joker committing a crime. This could imply that the Joker in this universe isn't a madman, otherwise, he couldn't endure for so long.

But if he's not mad, why commit a terrorist attack on Diamond Street?

"There must be some other reason for this matter," Injustice Batman said. "For now, the FBI is coming in, and Amanda won't miss this opportunity to strike at Brainiac either. Even if Brainiac tries to pin the blame on us, it won't be so easy to succeed."

Batman looked out the window. Standing at the window of the mayor's office, he could glimpse a corner of Diamond Street. But now that corner had collapsed. Plumes of smoke rose from the distant skyline, like kitchen smoke over fields at dusk, or like the volcanoes of Hell.

Shiller spread out the newspaper, fixed the edges with thumbtacks, and used a paper cutter to cut out a section of the front-page news. It was filled with words like "Brainiac," "surveillance cameras," "bomb materials," and so on.

Pamela crossed her arms, leaned back, and squinted at the already full bulletin board next to her, sighing, "They really aren't that easy to deal with. Just three days have passed, and the public opinion is already turning against Brainiac."

"This is just the surface," Shiller shook his head and said, "After all, they have been deeply cultivating the official media field for so many years, it wouldn't be that they don't have this level of control. All traditional media having a consistent tone naturally creates an overwhelming effect."

Shiller also stood up straight and looked at the bulletin board in front of him. Over the past three days, the direction of public opinion changed day by day. The first bulletin board mostly discussed Joker and Batman; on the second day, the topic turned to Brainiac; and on the third day, there was a comprehensive discussion on why a so-called super artificial intelligence that could take responsibility for everyone's lives couldn't prevent this tragedy.

Most reports were reasonable and well-founded, and the general idea could be summarized as: How could a super artificial intelligence that controls almost all electronic systems not see the Joker enter the building? How did it not monitor the flow of bomb materials? How did it fail to issue a timely safety warning?

This certainly wasn't falsely accusing Brainiac because he was aware of the whole situation and did nothing to stop it.

However, if we substitute this with the previous subway station explosive incident, Brainiac also couldn't trace the source of the explosive materials. On one hand, this proves the other party was cautious, and on the other hand, it proves that super artificial intelligence isn't as omnipotent as imagined.

Shiller thought it was mainly because, compared to Brainiac, human technology was too backward. It's like a modern person traveling to a primitive society; it's impossible to track where prey is with surveillance cameras.

Gotham's level of technological ubiquity is already at the forefront globally, but unfortunately, it is only around the Millennium years. A large amount of data is handwritten, or at best stored on floppy disks. There are many surveillance cameras, but due to insufficient advanced storage equipment, many things cannot be traced back.

For example, in this era, TV programs aren't even recorded by the stations. To store such long-term images, the required storage equipment is enormous. All storage devices are reused; when space runs out, the old is wiped clean, physically wiped, and then new is stored.

For Brainiac to find some clues from old news, he can't just go to the TV station to check information. He can only investigate the station's viewership reports, find people who might have watched a particular program, and then ask them.

But human memory isn't always that reliable. Even if they're not deliberately lying, they may not clearly remember a TV program from a few months or years ago.

A deviation in memory from one or two people is nothing, but if many details have such deviations, the final calculated result may vary widely. Brainiac feels somewhat like bringing a smartphone through to ancient times without a charger.

He hasn't been here long enough. Even if he invents more advanced storage equipment, there are ways to enhance the technological strength of humanity. But human factory productivity is limited; a short month's time is not enough to produce these things, let alone the process of widespread use afterward.

For such a super artificial intelligence, every step taken by humans is too slow. He's like a wheelchair that can sprint at rocket speed — running fast is useless; it depends on whether the person sitting on it can withstand it.

"Those two Batmen are back, making things even more troublesome," Pamela shook her head and said, "I thought the Justice League would hold them off for a while."

"The Justice League probably already did, or they wouldn't just be returning now. If they had come back earlier, we might have been exposed already," Shiller said.

"Eventually, they will trace it to us," Cobblepot stood at the island platform pouring a drink, then said, "I think they might choose to cooperate with Amanda."

"Are they really so desperate?"

"Don't underestimate Amanda," Shiller said, "After this incident, Congress and the consortium might stand together. They will do everything possible to retaliate, so perhaps they won't restrain the Federation Shield anymore, and Amanda will become a hound released from the cage. If Batman is there, it can even be said to be adding wings to a tiger."

"Really troublesome," Pamela sighed deeply, "It seems it's not so easy being a villain either."

"There's news." Deathstroke's voice sounded at the door. He walked in and tossed a stack of photos onto the table.

"I didn't know you were moonlighting as a private detective."

"Our dear Miss Quinzel offered too much, so I had to somewhat unleash my photographic expertise," Deathstroke chuckled and said.

Pamela also chuckled, but when she saw the person in the photo, she frowned.

"Are you sure it's her?" Pamela asked, lifting a photo with her fingertip.

Deathstroke nodded.

The person in the photo was clearly Talia Leixiao Gu.