mtl008 Chapter 4014 MU Superbody Major Event (94)
Chapter 4014 MU Superbody Major Event (94)
Chapter 4014 MU: The Superbody Incident (Ninety-Four)
"Wow, that's huge!" Schiller exclaimed. "If we had a shield like that, we could probably take the entire galaxy with us!"
"Take it away?" Strange stared at him, his eyes wide.
“Ahem, I mean, protecting the safety of the Milky Way,” Schiller coughed twice. “Using the Milky Way as a billiard ball is indeed a bit too big. The Solar System is just right.”
“Listen, playing billiards on your own home planet is crazy enough, but don’t even think about taking the solar system out of the world,” Strange warned him.
Schiller didn't answer. He just stared at the azure shield, thinking as he said, "This thing must have some kind of alarm mechanism. We can't get in like this. We have to think of another way."
"Are you sure you want to go in?" Strange asked, frowning. "This is the enemy's home base."
"Whose enemy?"
"Uh...ours?"
“To be precise, it’s yours.” Schiller turned to look at him and said, “I also have an account in that world, so it’s hard to say which side I’m on. Therefore, my participation in the headquarters meeting there can’t be considered an intrusion.”
Strange opened his mouth, then said, "Okay, that makes sense, but the only problem is why did you bring me along?"
“You should bring a small gift when you visit, right?” Schiller laughed and said. “If I bring the most powerful Sorcerer Supreme with me, they’ll definitely reserve a seat for me at headquarters.”
Strange rolled his eyes again. Schiller coughed twice, then said, "Alright, enough joking. Do you have a way to get in?"
“I’m not entirely sure what the nature of this shield is.” Strange paced across the surface of the asteroid, looking up at the endless expanse of the planet, and then said, “We saw some celestial bodies fly in when we came here, which proves that it’s not completely unresponsive to the real world; there must be some kind of discrimination mechanism.”
"The Equation of Life?"
"what?"
"They have something called the Equation of Life and another called the Anti-Life Equation. You can think of it as a string of code left by God when He created life, which has great power."
"In Darkseid's hands?"
“It’s in Batman’s hands.” Schiller thought for a moment and said, “Batman was able to get Apokolips, so he must have given Darkseid some benefits. Although he may not have given him the Anti-Life Equation directly, it is possible that he used it to help him improve the Apokolips shield.”
"It sounds a bit sinister, not like something Batman would do."
"On the contrary, it's a very clever move. There aren't many opportunities to tamper with the Apokolips shield. Once Darkseid gives in, how many surveillance cameras do you think he'll put on that thing?"
"In that case, Darkseid wouldn't agree either."
"Of course he would. He'd love to use the Anti-Life Equation and Batman's technology to improve Apocalypse Field, even if he knows Batman might tamper with it. It's definitely the best opportunity."
"How to say?"
“Under normal circumstances, Darkseid might have thought Batman was trying to sabotage Apokolips’ defenses, but that’s impossible this time. Because right now, all the superheroes in the multiverse are counting on Apokolips as their base. If Batman wants to win this battle, he will never tamper with its main functions; instead, he will do everything he can to strengthen its defenses.”
“Oh, I see.” Strange suddenly realized. He nodded and said, “Indeed, if it were me, I would agree as well. In this war, Batman and Apokolips are facing risks together. Using Batman’s technology at this time is the least likely thing to do without him tampering with it. Otherwise, both of them will lose.”
After he finished speaking, Strange saw Schiller pull an umbrella out of nowhere. Schiller turned around and opened the umbrella, and just as Strange was about to go around to the front to see, Schiller grabbed him.
"Don't underestimate this thing, it has a dizzying effect."
Strange gave him a puzzled look. Schiller explained, "The umbrella's canopy is Batman's cape, with the Anti-Life Equation written on it. The Anti-Life Equation involves very advanced knowledge of cosmology, and the human brain doesn't have the analytical organs to process it. If you look at it suddenly, it will shock your brain."
"You plan to use this umbrella to get through the shield? But the idea that Batman used the Anti-Life Equation to modify the shield for Apokolips is just your speculation. What if it's not true?"
“There’s no harm in trying,” Schiller said. “Even if it doesn’t happen, the anti-life equation might have some unexpected effects.”
“Darkseid really wants this thing, doesn’t he?”
Schiller smiled and said, "That's right. If this hadn't happened, Darkseid would have seen this place through the shield's monitoring system and would have come looking for us. We could have made a deal with him then."
"You really want shield technology that badly?" Strange looked at him and said, "You can't just give away something like the Anti-Life Equation to anyone."
"I wasn't planning on giving him that anyway, otherwise Batman would be after me. I have plenty of good stuff."
Seeing Schiller's confidence, Strange didn't say anything more. The two flew towards the shield, and as they approached its surface, Strange could feel a very strong repulsive force field. So he reached out and stopped Schiller, saying, "We can't go any further, or we might be bounced back."
Schiller opened his umbrella again, shielding the two of them. After sensing the situation again, Strange said, "The repulsive force has disappeared. It seems that even without Batman's intervention, the equation you described still has some influence on the power of this universe."
The two continued flying forward under their parachutes, the entire journey peaceful and without any apparent obstacles. Their flight speed was slow, so it took them a full half hour to finally pass through the shield layer.
Unfortunately, Apokolips does not actually have an atmosphere. It is more like a star system, with many different celestial bodies distributed here. Many of them are obviously man-made military settlements, while others seem to be natural celestial bodies that have strayed into this place.
“And then?” Strange asked.
Schiller was also somewhat bewildered; he hadn't expected Apokolips to be so vast. But thinking about it, it made sense. This thing was probably larger than the Milky Way; finding a planet here that wasn't much bigger than Earth was like finding a needle in a haystack.
The celestial bodies here were completely unfamiliar, and there were no star maps available. The two of them dared not use teleportation for fear of triggering an energy alarm. Moreover, even if they could teleport, they didn't know where to send the teleportation. If they accidentally teleported to Daxide's face, things would get interesting.
“No, we have to go back,” Schiller said. “After we get out, we need to pinpoint the location of Apokolips’ main star, find the shield closest to it, teleport there, and then come back in from there. That way, we can find the main star faster.”
Strange really didn't have a better idea. After all, this wasn't a natural star system, so he couldn't ask the locals for directions. He couldn't exactly ask a Parademon, could he?
The two flew out of the shield again with their umbrellas, and then encountered a new problem: how to determine the exact location of the main star.
"Why not the exact center?" Strange asked.
“Unlikely,” Schiller said. “Darkseid is a very cunning man. Even if he is invincible in the Apocalypse Realm, he might not put the most important star in the very center. That would be too easy to guess. I guess he would put the star in some corner.”
“Then they specifically stopped people like us,” Strange said irritably. “I thought you had a whole bunch of plans prepared in advance, but it turns out you don’t even know the way.”
"Those whole plans you're talking about aren't something that can be accomplished overnight; don't they all start with reconnaissance missions like this?"
"So, you used to encounter this kind of thing all the time when you were working on those big projects?" Strange couldn't help but laugh as he spoke, knowing how satisfying it was to strategize and plan in the later stages, but how embarrassing it was to get lost and run into obstacles in the early stages of preparation.
But thinking about it, it makes sense. When cooking, ingredients don't just jump into the pot by themselves. You always need to buy, wash, and chop vegetables, among other tedious and boring tasks. It seems like everything is like that.
The two then began to study how to find the main star of Apokolips. Although there was a certain possibility that it was located at the exact center, if it wasn't, it would be very difficult to fly out from the exact center. Therefore, it was best to search the outer perimeter first and then explore the exact center last.
“We should select eight points evenly distributed on the surface of this sphere, then fly inwards for a while. If we don’t find any, we’ll select another eight points. This should be the fastest way,” Strange suggested.
“Isn’t this just exhaustive search?” Schiller asked.
"Do you have any better ideas?" Strange asked in return.
“We can ask a local for directions,” Schiller said. “I mean, people who have been to Apokolips before, or people who don’t just go through the portal, right?”
"Come on, you don't actually think you're one of those guys' teammates, do you? Even if you are, they probably won't tell you, after all, you're Schiller." Strange scoffed.
“Others might not tell me, but there’s one person who might,” Schiller said with another laugh.
Strange looked at him, and he looked at Strange. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Strange said, "You're not talking about Constantine, are you? Damn it! You did this on purpose!"
Schiller shrugged and said, "That's the fastest way, and he's the most likely person to enter Apocalypse Prime from outside the shield using some other method instead of a portal."
This piqued Strange's curiosity, and he asked, "Why?"
"The Constantines dislike using magic very much. If there is another way to achieve their goal, magic will never be their first choice."
"That's because the cost of using magic there is too high. But now that they've come to another world, they probably don't lack energy, so they might not act the same way as before..."
Schiller shook his head and said, “They will. Constantine is completely different from you, I mean, different from Doctor Strange. You are very confident in your talents and proud of them, but he is tormented by them yet fascinated by them.”
"It sounds very morbid."
"Actually, they're evenly matched. Can you say that Doctor Strange in the main universe is a normal person?"
Strange hesitated for a moment, but didn't say anything. Although Doctor Strange in the main universe seemed much more normal, he wasn't actually like that. After experiencing such a great loss, his negative emotions lasted for only a few hours, and didn't include any self-doubt. He was soon jumping up and down with energy, arguing with others, and seemed like a manic madman.
Constantine, however, was the opposite. He was not proud of his talent at all, but always believed it was a curse. Yet, he was also fascinated by the curse itself, or more accurately, by the pain it brought, like a drug addict.
“These are two completely different motivational mechanisms,” Schiller said as he flew in another direction. “‘I believe, I do, I feel happy’ seems healthier, but it can easily develop into ‘I will only feel happy if I do it’; ‘I don’t believe, I give up, and then I suffer because of it’ doesn’t seem like positive feedback, but it provides a sense of relief that ‘it can’t get any worse.’ Positive and negative mindsets are two sides of the same coin. Taking a step forward in positivity leads to euphoria, while taking a step forward in negativity leads to depression. Humans are always tormented by the tug-of-war between these two emotions.”
"But they both seem to be enjoying it."
"So they're not normal."