Chapter 179: Another Timeline
The far side of the Moon was the closest location George could find that wouldn't be easily detected by Earth's surveillance or the Justice League's monitoring.
George opened a boom tube portal and traveled directly to an uninhabited planet with Earth-like gravity. The mother box's records contained detailed information about many such worlds scattered throughout the galaxy.
On the empty planet, George began to run with all his might in a wide area that stretched for miles in every direction.
He accelerated relentlessly, faster and faster, pushing himself until the surrounding environment became a complete blur.
At that critical moment, George began to see scenes of events he had previously experienced materialising around him.
First came the scene when he had initially arrived on this planet moments ago. Then he saw himself flying away from Earth, followed by memories of crafting the Hellbat suit with the Justice League, then visiting Atlantis. The temporal visions continued rewinding until George saw himself walking through London's streets during his earliest days in this universe.
At this crucial moment, George successfully broke through the temporal barrier. When he opened his eyes again, George had returned to the exact moment he had first arrived in the DC Universe, completing a perfect time loop.
George gently parted the air in front of him with one hand. The space revealed itself to be filled with countless electromagnetic waves carrying information across the planet.
He carefully pulled a small segment of these waves toward himself, then unfolded the data stream with his enhanced mind.
George directly intercepted the transmission: "Officer 3527 urgently needs backup. A serious shooting incident has occurred at the London subway station. All available units, please respond immediately."
After waving his hand to restore the electromagnetic waves to their original position, George blinked, and his vision returned to normal.
Next, George travelled directly to the Moon's surface using his flight capabilities.
This time George maintained complete invisibility throughout his journey. No one on Earth noticed his presence, and he quietly established a hidden observation post on the sunny side of the lunar surface, positioning himself to be constantly bathed in the Sun's rays.
George could feel the gradual strengthening of his body from the intense solar radiation. Every bit of progress filled his being with joy.
In this manner, George occasionally directed his enhanced gaze downward to observe the developing situation on Earth below.
He watched as Steppenwolf successfully snatched the Mother Box from Paradise Island during a brutal assault. He observed as the Atlantis mother box was also lost to enemy forces. He witnessed Bruce Wayne and several other heroes working desperately to revive Superman from the dead.
But then, everything changed from the timeline he remembered.
This time, Lois Lane didn't arrive at the crucial location in time to calm the newly resurrected Superman.
After engaging in a fierce battle with the other assembled heroes of the Justice League, the confused and angry Superman departed directly from the scene without reconciliation.
Steppenwolf seized this opportunity to capture the final mother box. Dr. Stone, Cyborg's father, did not manage to escape death this time around.
Steppenwolf completed the Trinity by unifying all three mother boxes. A massive boom tube portal opened with ominous energy, and through it came Darkseid himself, leading his vast dark army in a full-scale invasion of Earth.
The consequences were catastrophic. To resist Darkseid's rule over humanity, Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, was the first among the heroes to fall in battle.
To show what he considered respect for this great female warrior, Darkseid even held a funeral ceremony for Diana, though it was more mockery than honor.
Following this, Darkseid proceeded to conquer Paradise Island through overwhelming force, systematically killing all the Amazon warriors who had called it home for millennia.
He then turned his attention to Atlantis, brutally killing Aquaman Arthur in single combat. Except for Princess Mera, who managed to escape at the last moment, all the other Atlanteans were annihilated by Darkseid's army.
After Darkseid's forces had withdrawn from both locations, George finally appeared at those devastated sites to salvage what he could.
Thirty tons of rare Amazon metal was the only valuable material George managed to take from the ruins of Paradise Island.
After Darkseid had systematically slaughtered these two ancient races, it was considered his personal revenge for the failed first expedition to Earth that had occurred years ago in the past.
Then Darkseid began deploying countless Parademons and massive warships to systematically eliminate the human population across Earth.
By the end of the first year after Darkseid's arrival on Earth, the entire world was utterly devastated and barely recognizable.
In the region of the former Senegambian Empire, George obtained nearly a hundred tons of precious N Metal through careful extraction. As George performed a scan of the entire mining area using his enhanced abilities, he made a discovery, the whole mining complex was actually built around a crashed spaceship.
According to the records stored within the mother box's database, the distant Thanagar Planet also possessed deposits of this same special metal. It seemed highly possible that a spaceship constructed from N Metal and originating from Thanagar Planet had crashed in the Senegambian Empire territory long ago.
The exact truth of its origins no longer mattered for George's immediate purposes. After completing his salvage operations in this area, he could conveniently visit Thanagar Planet itself at some point in the future.
Before Darkseid's forces could destroy Earth's cultural heritage, George took the initiative to visit all the world's most famous museums and cultural institutions.
George didn't allow himself to miss any of the priceless artworks and historical artifacts.
After all, these irreplaceable treasures would only be destroyed and lost forever if left in their original locations, so it was far better for him to preserve them safely.
As for mundane things like gold, currency, and other financial instruments, George deliberately did not bother collecting them, because such material wealth had lost entirely any practical meaning to someone of his cosmic abilities.
The final phase began on the day when all of Darkseid's orbiting space warships suddenly ascended to higher altitudes, then commenced launching energy attacks against targets on the ground below.
As the bombardment area systematically increased in scope, countless intricate energy patterns began appearing across Earth's surface, carved by the precision strikes.
"Anti-Life Equation" was George's immediate first thought upon clearly seeing the distinctive pattern formation.
Indeed, there existed an ancient legend stating that the complete "Anti-Life Equation" had been mysteriously branded onto Earth's surface itself eons ago.
George observed the unfolding events quietly from within the Mirror Dimension, waiting with patience for the process to reach completion.
Three days later, the scattered fragments of the "Anti-Life Equation" merged together through cosmic forces, forming a spherical object roughly the size of a human palm that pulsed with dark energy.
At that moment, Darkseid raised the newly completed "Anti-Life Equation" high above his head with one massive hand, accepting the worshipful adoration of all his legion members assembled below.
Suddenly, a hand emerged from the dimensional void itself. In the next instant, this treasure so deeply cherished by Darkseid completely vanished from Darkseid's palm.
"Who dares!?" Darkseid roared with earth-shaking fury.
Who had the audacity to steal his most precious possession right before his eyes! Darkseid's glowing red eyes continuously flickered with building omega energy as his rage intensified.
Unfortunately for the tyrant, George's Mirror Dimension was not based on this world's conventional spatial technology, nor did it produce any detectable spatial fluctuations for Darkseid to track.
Even if Darkseid possessed the ability to track such dimensional manipulation, by the time he finished speaking his angry words, George had already activated the Speed Force and moved far away from that area at velocities approaching light speed.
On the far side of Earth, George carefully examined the pomander-like object now resting in his palm.
An indescribable and seductive power continuously urged George to integrate the artifact directly into his body and soul, promising unlimited power over all living beings.
If George had been just an ordinary person without cosmic awareness, he might have been completely seduced by its dark whispers long ago.
Unfortunately for the equation's corrupting influence, George possessed the supreme treasure known as the chaos pearl, so this particular temptation could not affect his judgment at all.
The "Anti-Life Equation" is mathematically expressed as: Anti-Life Equation = loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding x guilt x shame x failure x judgment n = y where y = hope and n = folly, love = lies, life = death, self = dark side.
In the comic book stories, the "Anti-Life Equation" possessed the power to create an entire antimatter universe.
But in this reality, George's enhanced perception revealed that the "Anti-Life Equation" was actually an incomplete soul law.
Why was it incomplete? Because it could only control and manipulate the dark side of any soul it encountered. It would inevitably corrupt and devour everything it touched without exception.
Upon hearing this Anti-Life Equation recited aloud, humans would immediately lose their free will entirely and become nothing more than puppets to be manipulated by the user.
This ability reminded George strongly of Blackheart in Hell, who similarly corrupted and devoured everything he came into contact with.
George would never directly integrate such a dangerous and corrupting rule into his own being. After carefully sealing the "Anti-Life Equation" with multiple layers of protective magic, George returned directly to Earth to locate the surviving heroes.
In a hidden underground space beneath the ruins of New York City, Superman, Bruce Wayne, Martian Manhunter, Princess Mera, Cyborg, the Joker, and Flash Barry were maintaining a desperate hiding spot.
The dimensional space rippled slightly with energy, and only after everyone present had noticed the disturbance did George step out of the spatial portal.
"Who are you exactly?" Bruce demanded immediately, and all the other survivors also prepared themselves for potential battle.
"Don't be nervous, everyone. I'm here to help," George said calmly, raising his hands peacefully. "I'm from another timeline, a different version of events where things went much better."
"How can you possibly prove what you're claiming?" Bruce asked with understandable suspicion, given their desperate circumstances.
"That's actually quite simple to demonstrate," George replied confidently. He reached into his dimensional storage and took out a small data storage device, then casually tossed it to Cyborg.
Cyborg instinctively caught the device in his mechanical hand, and the moment he made contact, it automatically projected a holographic screen into the air.
The crystal-clear image showed joyful moments of George working alongside the Justice League to build the Hellbat armour during the final month of his stay in that other timeline.
"The footage is completely authentic and unedited. The video data is real," Cyborg announced with absolute authority, his advanced systems having analysed every pixel. As the team's technology expert, he had the most credibility on such matters.
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