THE DEATH KNELL-Chapter 55: SHADOW OVER EARTH MINUS 11

"Yes, Barry, I will help you, but first of all, we must keep the Earth minus 11; otherwise, everyone will not be able to stand."

Slade Wilson held up a glass of wine and toasted Barry. Compared to Cindy and Batwoman beside him, the two men seemed to have become new friends.

He specifically picked up what Barry liked to hear, which made Barry feel like a confidant.

"Batwoman and I made some preparations. Unfortunately, Earth 11 did not find N Metal. If Barbatos and the Dark Knights arrive, we will not even have weapons."

"Then we won't let them come!" Slade Wilson said directly. "There are not only 52 formed worlds in the Dark Multiverse but also countless unformed worlds, just like pieces of rubble floating in space. There is no life and no environment. Those worlds were originally destined to be destroyed. Barbatos deceived the Dark Knights, and those Batmen... their worlds were actually destroyed by themselves or by Barbatos."

Barry turned the teacup and suddenly realized, "Is that so? I have always had similar conjectures, but I couldn't prove it."

"We will prove it. Believe me." Slade Wilson was actually guessing too, but once he went to the main world, he would have a lot more space to move. "The current Earth minus 11 does not show anything that will catch Barbatos' attention. As long as we eliminate the Owl Court and remove the hidden dangers of war between the Amazons and Atlantis, Earth minus 11 can survive under Barbatos' radar, just like other dark worlds hidden in the inconspicuous Dark Blood Domain."

At least in this way, Barbatos might pick another Earth, not this one. As long as they didn't stand out, the chance of being selected was actually low.

After hearing this, Barry agreed. "Maybe... because I came from the future, I know there are seven Dark Knights. But now, Barbatos doesn't even know whether there are six or seven under him, and he doesn't care. He describes himself as a god and looks down upon any mortal."

"Uh, well... he is actually a god, that's right... but he is the god of darkness, not the god of time. He doesn't see the future, but we do. This is how we can keep Earth minus 11 safe and why we are the confidence of the entire Bright Multiverse."

Slade Wilson actually didn't think much of it. There were seven members of the Dark Knights, but in reality, they were all manipulated by the Laughing Bat. To match everyone in the Justice League, he arranged for each of them a corresponding opponent. That was his plan.

But Slade Wilson only needed to keep Earth minus 11 safe and ensure his own survival. He didn't care which other dark universe took the fall.

So he didn't correct Barry's statement. Instead, he replaced all the "I"s with "we," and Barry nodded repeatedly.

"It's a pity that a few other Batman... their universes may be saved," Barry mused.

Slade Wilson quickly interrupted him. This kind of power wasn't something to waste. As long as he survived, he didn't care about the other rogue Batmen.

"Stop. You came to Earth minus 11 at this point in time by pure accident and luck. Do you want to bring the Flashpoint Paradox into the Dark Multiverse? Miracles don't repeat themselves."

Barry sighed and sat down on the armrest of the sofa. "Yes, you're right. If I can reduce an enemy, I should count myself lucky."

"After Cindy and Batwoman finish their discussion, we can take the next step to eliminate hidden dangers. The sooner, the better."

Slade Wilson immediately decided that the next target was the Owl Court. As Barbatos' dark minions, they had to be eliminated, or trouble would come sooner or later.

Before they could report to Barbatos about the differences here, they needed to be dealt with. The Dark God didn't care about his human followers. As long as they didn't take the initiative to report, Barbatos would never ask about their status.

Secretly wiping out the Owl Court would make Earth minus 11 safer. Although Barry was indeed the fastest man alive, he never killed, which made this somewhat tricky.

"Wait, you said 'eliminate the hidden danger'..." As expected, Barry looked puzzled.

"It means literally—destroy," Slade Wilson answered calmly, reaching for the long knife on the table behind him. "Maybe you more educated people prefer other words—murder? Annihilation? Taking out the garbage?"

"I won't kill for you," Barry said, shaking his head like a rattle. He had never killed before. He just ran up, pushed people, and kept running.

Slade Wilson, of course, knew this. He wouldn't force it. These superheroes had their own principles, and they wouldn't change over a simple conversation.

"We can follow the Justice League model. Who killed people in the past? Aquaman? Wonder Woman? Anyway, I'll give you an address. You'll drop me off, then you can go outside and smoke a cigarette, eat some pizza, or whatever. Just pick me up afterward."

When he mentioned the Justice League model, Barry didn't know what to say. Officially, the League didn't kill.

But for fighters like Wonder Woman and Aquaman, sometimes they lost control in battle. What could the others do about it?

Diana's creed was to use deadly force when there was no other choice, even if the world had to break for justice. Aquaman was even more reckless. He was from Atlantis, and killing humans wasn't killing his own kind.

Besides, they were all Justice League comrades. When they killed, they'd just say it was an accident or unavoidable. What could the others do? Start a civil war?

No. They would just accept the apology, have a meeting to reflect, and then go home.

"I... don't smoke..." Barry said weakly.

Slade Wilson smiled and patted Barry's shoulder affectionately. "You're a forensic expert and a physics student, right? Then you must know about Schrödinger's Cat. Now, think of them as Schrödinger's people."

"People..." Barry's face twisted in confusion.

"Yes. You know there are people in the house, but until you open the door and see them dead, they exist in a superposition state. As long as you don't open the door, they are neither dead nor alive. Right?"

"Emmm..." Barry felt something was off, but technically, that was true. If he didn't see Slade Wilson kill them, how could he be sure they were dead?

Slade Wilson saw that Barry was falling into his logic trap and immediately poured him a glass of spirits, smiling.

"Come, let's celebrate our consensus. Cheers... By the way, have you and Batwoman been to Egypt?"

"Oh..." Barry took a sip, forgetting about Schrödinger for the moment. "Yes, we went to several places. The Amazons only ruled the world for 600 years, but there were many civilizations before that. We started with the pyramids of the first pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and searched nearly all of them. But we didn't find any N Metal."

"N Metal has limited uses, and it doesn't seem to exist in the Dark Multiverse. We'll talk more about that later. But I did find this..."

He took out a small black flashlight and placed it on the coffee table. The black light was deep, absorbing the fireplace's glow, filling the room with an eerie chill.

"Black Light!"

Barry recognized it instantly. This thing haunted his nightmares.

When the Black Lantern Corps had attacked the main universe, countless fallen heroes had crawled out of their graves, turning into the undead soldiers of the Black Hand. They had feasted on his friends' flesh and brains.

It was a horror he would never forget.

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