"Yes, Barry, I will help you all, but first, we have to safeguard Earth Negative 11. Otherwise, none of us will have a place to stand."
Su Ming raised his glass and clinked it with Barry's. Compared to Cindy and Batwoman beside them, the two n seed to have beco new friends.
He deliberately picked topics that Barry liked to hear, making the simple-minded Barry feel like he had found a kindred spirit.
"Bryce and I have made so preparations, but unfortunately, Earth 11 doesn't have Nth tal. If Barbatos and the Dark Knights arrive, we won't even have weapons."
"Then let's not let them co!" Su Ming said bluntly. "In the Dark Multiverse, there aren't just 52 fully ford worlds; there are countless unford ones, like fragnts floating in space, with no life and no environnt. Those worlds were originally destined to be destroyed. Barbatos deceived the Dark Knights, those Batn. Their worlds were destroyed either by themselves or by Barbatos."
Barry turned the teacup in his hands, suddenly understanding, "So that's it? I always had a similar suspicion, but I couldn't prove it."
"We will prove it, trust ." Su Ming was also guessing, but once he reached the main universe, he would have much more room to maneuver. "Earth Negative 11 hasn't shown any signs that would catch Barbatos' attention. As long as we eliminate the Court of Owls and remove the hidden threat of war between the Amazons and Atlantis, Earth Negative 11 can survive under Barbatos' nose, just like the other dark worlds, hidden in the inconspicuous Dark Blood Sea."
At least this way, Barbatos might target another Earth, not theirs. As long as they didn't stand out, the chances of being chosen were not high.
Barry agreed after listening. "Maybe. Because I co from the future, I know there are seven Dark Knights. But right now, Barbatos doesn't know if there are six or seven, nor does he care. He sees himself as a god, above all mortals."
"Uh, technically, he is a god, but he's a dark god, not a god of ti. He can't see the future, but we can. That's why we have the confidence to protect Earth Negative 11 and the entire Light Multiverse."
Su Ming didn't really see it that way. The Dark Knights were seven because the Batman Who Laughs arranged an opponent for each mber of the Justice League, one resembling each of them. It was all part of his plan.
But as long as Su Ming could keep Earth Negative 11 safe and survive, he didn't care which other dark universe took the fall.
So he didn't correct Barry's understanding and instead replaced all the "I"s with "we." His words made Barry nod repeatedly.
"It's a sha about the other Bruces. Their universes might still have a chance." Barry began to fantasize again.
Su Ming quickly interrupted him. The Speed Force wasn't ant for this kind of use. As long as he could survive, he didn't care about those other twisted Batn.
"Stop. You coming to Earth Negative 11 at this ti was pure accident and luck. Do you want to bring a Flashpoint Paradox to the Dark Multiverse? Miracles don't repeat themselves."
Barry sighed, feeling deflated, and sat on the armrest of the sofa. "Yes, you're right. If I can eliminate even one enemy, that's as lucky as I can get."
"Once Cindy and Bryce finish their conversation, we can move on to the next step: eliminating the threats. The sooner, the better."
Su Ming imdiately decided on the next target, the Court of Owls. As Barbatos' dark minions, they had to be dealt with, or there would be trouble sooner or later.
They had to be eliminated before they reported anything different to Barbatos. The dark god didn't care about his human followers. As long as they didn't report, Barbatos would never ask about their situation.
Secretly taking out the Court of Owls would make Earth Negative 11 safer. Although Barry was indeed the fastest person, he never killed, which made things a bit tricky.
"Wait, when you say 'eliminate threats'..." As expected, Barry showed a puzzled expression.
"Exactly what it sounds like. Eliminate," Su Ming replied calmly, putting the sword back on his back. "Maybe you more cultured people prefer other terms, like 'murder,' 'extermination,' or 'taking out the trash?'"
"I won't help you kill people." Barry shook his head like a rattle drum. He had never killed anyone, only running around, pushing people, and then continuing to run.
Of course, Su Ming knew this. He wouldn't force it. These superheroes had incredibly strong wills and principles, which couldn't be changed with just a few words.
"We can follow the Justice League's model. In the past, who was the one doing the killing? Aquaman? Diana? Anyway, I'll give you an address, you drop off, then you can go outside for a smoke or grab so pizza, and then pick up later."
ntioning the Justice League model left Barry at a loss for words. According to the rules, the Justice League didn't kill.
But for warriors like Diana and Aquaman, sotis their blood got boiling, and they couldn't stop. What could be done about that?
Diana's creed was to use lethal force when there was no other choice, fighting for justice even if the world crumbled. Aquaman was even more shaless. He was from Atlantis; killing humans didn't count as killing his own kind.
And since they were comrades in the Justice League, when they said it was an accident or done out of necessity, what could the others do? Start an internal fight?
They could only accept the apology, have a eting to reflect on their shortcomings, do a bit of self-examination, and then everyone went ho to eat and sleep as usual.
"I don't smoke." Barry could only weakly say this.
Su Ming laughed and patted Barry's shoulder affectionately. "You're a forensic expert, and you studied physics, so you must know about Schr?dinger's cat. Right now, they're Schr?dinger's people."
"People..." Barry seed to understand sothing, his expression becoming a bit strange.
"Yes, you know there are people in the house, but until you enter the house and see them dead with your own eyes, they're in a superposition state. As long as you don't open the door, they'll always be in an unknown state, neither alive nor dead. Isn't that right?"
"Um..." Barry instinctively felt sothing was off, but it seed true. If you didn't see Deathstroke kill soone, how could you be sure they were dead?
Seeing that Barry seed to be getting confused by the "folk science" explanation, Su Ming imdiately handed him a glass, poured it full of strong liquor, and, with a smiling face, held his hand and clinked glasses with him.
"Co on, let's toast to our agreent. By the way, have you and Bryce been to Egypt?"
"Oh..." With the glass pushed right in front of his face, Barry had no choice but to drink it down. Talking business, he forgot all about Schr?dinger. "Yes, we've been to several places. The Amazons have only ruled this world for 600 years, but there were various nations before that. We started from the pyramids of the first dynasty of ancient Egypt and searched almost everywhere, but we didn't find any Nth tal."
"Nth tal has limited use, and the Dark Multiverse seems not to have it. We'll discuss it in detail once we're out of here, but I found this."
He took out a small flashlight emitting a dark light and placed it on the coffee table. The black glow was incredibly deep, absorbing everything around it, like a miniature black hole, devouring the firelight from the fireplace and filling the room with a chilling atmosphere.
"Black Lantern!"
Barry imdiately recognized it. This object left a deep impression on him.
When the Black Lanterns ravaged the main world, countless forr comrades crawled out of their graves, becoming zombies under the Black Hand, wanting to eat his flesh and brain. It was a nightmare.
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