Lex Luthor struggled as he was escorted out, his expression furious, yet his eyes flashed with brilliance, and the center of his expensive wristwatch glowed red.
Lex's first step in his plan had already begun.
Now, it was up to Batman to figure it out.
...
Outside the main control room.
Wonder Woman and Firestorm led the way, while Qingshui and Batman, clad in their battle suits, worked with Lightwalker to charge deeper into the spaceship.
Compared to its tough exterior, the spaceship's internal structure wasn't as strong.
According to Qingshui's observations, the interior of this spaceship might actually be one giant computer.
Because it was just too similar.
It had a controller, an arithmetic logic unit, storage, and at most, some additional areas for Brainiac to conduct experiments, store collectibles, and install weapons.
Its structure might not be the Earthling Von Neumann architecture, but some of the underlying principles would definitely remain the same.
Suddenly, Qingshui and Batman's suits received an unknown signal.
Although the operating systems of both their suits had been subjected to electronic pulses and high-frequency signal interference from the robots, these had generally been temporarily blocked by the AI within their suits.
However, this new signal seemed to understand them remarkably well, breaking through several firewalls at once and standing out.
"This is..."
Qingshui frowned, looking at the string of chaotic code on the sub-screen inside his suit.
A jumble of garbled text, likely requiring the correct decryption method to extract valid information.
So the decryption method should be...
"Access the latest decryption database from LexCorp."
The garbled text was quickly deciphered.
It was an audio clip, a map with only a few simple routes, and a few brief explanations.
The audio was a conversation between Lex Luthor and Brainiac.
The map showed the route for the bottle containing Metropolis being transported into the exhibition room, as well as another route to a different location.
That was where Lex had been irradiated by the ray gun, restoring his normal size, allowing him to communicate with Brainiac.
Lex had never intended to persuade Brainiac with words.
His actions were merely to probe and gather useful information, so that the main forces could gain a deeper understanding of the enemy, have a more accurate direction for their actions, and incidentally, distract the enemy's attention, attempting to leave more contingencies for a comeback.
To be able to devise such a simple, bold, yet interconnected and highly feasible plan in such a short time after being captured on the spaceship, Lex Luthor's intelligence and courage truly impressed Qingshui.
If it were me, would I have been able to come up with such an ingenious plan?
There was no time to ponder, as they had already fought their way to the main control room door.
"Old Man Jefferson said something feels off. Logically, robots from an interstellar civilization shouldn't be this easy to deal with. While your suit's AI is strong, it shouldn't be this effortless." Jefferson said, throwing a fireball at the door.
"There's nothing wrong. According to the information we've gathered so far, Brainiac needs massive computing resources. Even Lex's daughter is being used as a human CPU. The remaining computing power within this ship probably isn't much," Qingshui explained, stepping aside to give Diana, who had the highest single-target destructive power, the optimal position.
The battle cry of the Amazonian warrior goddess echoed, and the Sword of Hephaestus, capable of subatomic cutting, instantly broke through the main control room door.
"Knowledge is power, and power is also knowledge. The individual beings on your planet possess impressive power. Perhaps I should collect your entire planet to gather data." Brainiac sat calmly on a steel chair, looking somewhat haggard.
His brain, like Alex Luthor's, was connected by many tubes leading to the cultivation tank in the center of the main control room.
The number of these data transmission lines was several times more than those connected to Lex's daughter.
"You look weak. Perhaps we should talk. The way a higher civilization conducts itself shouldn't be as crude as yours. It should be about achieving the greatest benefit with the minimal cost." Batman reached out to stop Firestorm and Wonder Woman, who were about to charge forward, and looked at Brainiac, who was sitting in the high-tech chair, while his peripheral vision continuously scanned the situation inside the main control room.
The unknown entity in the cultivation tank, Superman restrained by instruments and having his power extracted, Alex sitting in another high-tech chair, bleeding from her nose and being used as a CPU...
All of this registered in Batman's eyes.
Brainiac's goal was to use Superman's energy and immense computing power to cultivate the unknown entity in that tank.
The opponent must have paid a huge price for this, with even its own brain largely occupied by computing power. It would certainly be concerned about any battle here causing damage.
"Perhaps you are right. When the other party might cause you loss, negotiation is indeed a more intelligent approach than violent conflict." Brainiac sat still in the high-tech chair, a few nodule-like pink lights on its head flickered, and it looked at Batman.
"After scanning, your overall intelligence level should be comparable to the hairless human I spoke with earlier. Please tell me the content of your negotiation."
It was clear that Brainiac recognized Batman and Lex Luthor's intelligence, considering them not primitives but beings with high intelligence deemed worthy of discussion, which was why it agreed to speak with them.
Batman said, "I need to know your objective first before we can negotiate."
"I know why you're saying that, but I can tell you." Brainiac replied, its movements somewhat stiff.
Most of his mental processing power was already occupied, so conversing with Batman at this moment required him to wring out every last bit of what remained.
"If we use your planet's solar year as a cycle, then tens of thousands of years ago, I was born on a planet called Krypton. Throughout this long expanse of time, my intellect continuously evolved, allowing me to grasp all the mysteries of time, space, matter, and laws within the universe I can observe.
But now, I feel empty. No matter where I go, all the phenomena I discover and the knowledge they represent are things I've already mastered, already researched.
I've understood everything in the universe, so I need to create something new."
"New knowledge?" Qingshui asked, puzzled.
"No, I don't know."
Brainiac sat rigidly in place, glanced at Qingshui, and after concluding that his intelligence rating was lower than Batman's, redirected its gaze back to Batman.
But the explanation continued.
"I don't know if I can create new knowledge this way; that would represent breaking through the universe's limits. So my plan is to create another me, a more perfect, more eternal Brainiac with the potential for beyond twelfth-level intelligence—that is her, my Brainiac Queen.
I need more powerful processing power, not just simple processing power, simple data computation. My spaceship itself is the most perfect computer, capable of handling most of the work, but that's just mechanical computation. What I need is intelligence, not computing capability. My twelfth-level intelligence is enough to handle most things, but it's still not enough. I also incorporated every city from every interstellar civilization-level planet I had collected before, drawing their wisdom and the best aspects of their genes as nourishment.
But this is far from enough; in fact, at this point, it hardly has any effect.
So I need beings with a level ten intelligence to help me share the burden, or civilizations with a sufficiently high level of civilization and evolutionary progress."
"Is that why you chose Superman? To have him devoured by your creation?" Batman asked in a deep voice.
Brainiac replied, "Yes, Kryptonian civilization was an extremely brilliant civilization. Their Codex of Life is integrated into his body; he alone represents the entire Kryptonian civilization. And in the subjective domain unique to intelligent life, he possesses potential beyond any living being I've seen before. This will make the Brainiac Queen even more perfect, perfect enough to become the answer to everything in the universe."
"What about this girl?"
"A bit lacking, but she will become part of the universe's ultimate answer."
"I see… So your Queen is a being you created, she should be your daughter. But you also claim she's another you. So who exactly are you? Your daughter is you, so are you your own daughter?"
The sudden ethical and philosophical questions made Brainiac momentarily freeze. Alex, on the other side, let out a shriek.
Such meaningless, hollow ethical and philosophical questions inherently have no answers. Brainiac had seen countless civilized societies and naturally understood this, so it wouldn't fall into an infinite loop because of it.
However, the remaining limited processing power in its brain was still heavily utilized by this BUG-like question for a moment. Even though it quickly reacted and interrupted, an opportunity was still seized.
Batman threw a Batarang from his side, accurately hitting the data conduits on Alex's head.
The Batarang, coated with a thin layer of Promethium on its blade, was capable of cutting through almost all matter in this universe.
Qingshui, on the other hand, directly pushed Wonder Woman towards Superman's position, then fully activated his Speed Force Dagger and charged towards Brainiac.
Wonder Woman's Sword of Hephaestus possessed sub-atomic cutting capabilities, no less effective than Promethium. Rescuing Superman was naturally best handled by her.
As for Qingshui, with the assistance of the Speed Force and Promethium, his defense and evasion were almost maxed out. He might not be able to defeat super-powerful beings, but within a limited time, his survival and resilience were the strongest apart from Superman.
"I regret your choice."
Brainiac remained seated, motionless, but the high-tech chair beneath it instantly ejected countless writhing metal tentacles, their tips forming spikes, striking towards Qingshui.
Editable liquid metal, a level deeper than nanometal.
Qingshui controlled White Knight to dodge, and Lightwalker behind him flared its eyes red, emitting heat rays towards the Brainiac Queen's location.
Attack where it hurts most!
Brainiac gently waved a hand.
Green light immediately illuminated the area around the cultivation tank in the center of the main control room, where the Brainiac Queen was being nurtured, deflecting all incoming attacks.
*Deflection Field!*
*"Boom!"*
A powerful explosion rang out.
A fireball thrown with full force by Firestorm underwent a miniature nuclear explosion, detonating at the edge of the Deflection Field, causing the entire structure of the main control room to become somewhat unstable.
Due to its unique abilities, Firestorm could limit the range and radiation of a nuclear explosion using a method Professor Stein called the Firestorm Matrix, routinely deploying small-scale, high-power miniature nuclear explosions.
Batman shielded the recently rescued Alex with his Anti-Superman Armor and gave her his cape to block the aftershocks.
The weakened Superman was also protected by Wonder Woman, who stood in front of him—even in his weakened state, his current condition wasn't caused by Kryptonite, so his physical strength was still much better than an ordinary person like Alex.
He even had enough strength to get up, float back into the air, and condense heat vision, attempting to counterattack.
Brainiac remained incredibly calm, watching the Queen's cultivation tank tottering from the miniature nuclear explosion. It extended a finger and lightly swirled it, and countless streams of liquid metal flew out from behind it, surging like a flood.
A portion completely enveloped the Brainiac Queen for protection, another portion transformed into spikes and tentacles to attack the enemies, and yet another portion autonomously formed energy cannons, firing lasers.
The battle entered a fever pitch.
Although Brainiac was powerful, it was inside its own spaceship, meaning most of the ship's external offensive weapons couldn't be used. Furthermore, the vast majority of its own processing power was dedicated to sustaining the creation of the Brainiac Queen, preventing it from unleashing its full strength. Because of this, Qingshui and his group could still fight it to a standstill.
Even with some inexplicable, bizarre technology, as long as they weren't hit by special attacks like the Shrink Ray, their combined combat power was enough to withstand it.
At the same time, the bottle containing Metropolis was opened by Ray Palmer.
Lex Luthor, who had prepared in advance, launched a manned space rocket from the city at the bottom of the bottle, flying out of its opening.
Palmer aimed the Shrink Ray at Lex Luthor, returning him to his normal size.
"Next, we need to go help Superman and the others," Palmer said, helping Luthor off the ground.
Luthor shook his head. "No, our strength isn't what's important. Batman chose to pull you and The Flash out of the main fight because he's counting on the specific roles your abilities can play. If I'm not mistaken, The Flash has probably already run through every corner of this spaceship by now."
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